id,label,statement,date,subject,speaker,speaker_description,state_info,true_counts,mostly_true_counts,half_true_counts,mostly_false_counts,false_counts,pants_on_fire_counts,context,justification
21750,1,"Three doctors from the same hospital 'die suddenly' in the same week,"" after the hospital mandated a fourth COVID-19 vaccine for employees.","July 28, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,the gateway pundit,The Gateway Pundit is a conservative website.,,1,1,1,3,15,3,a post,"""  Segall’s obituary said he died ""after a  unfair and hard fought year-long battle with advanced lung cancer. ""  An Instagram post says, ""Three doctors from the same hospital ‘die suddenly’ in the same week,"" after the hospital mandated a fourth COVID-19 vaccine for employees. The deaths were not sudden; two of the doctors had been previously diagnosed with cancer and the third had been seriously ill with an undisclosed ailment. The hospital where the doctors worked said the deaths were not linked to COVID-19 vaccines. We rate this  .   "
18173,0,Say Joe Biden is a pedophile.,"July 17, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"Social media users  that Biden is a pedophile. There is zero  — no accusations, testimonies, arrests or investigations — that gives this  any credibility. Photos that supposedly support the  are taken out of context or have been directly contradicted by the families involved. We rate this ."
22673,1,A photo shows President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holding hands.,"February 20, 2023",facebook fact-checks;ukraine,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"The image appears to show Biden and Zelenskyy holding hands, their fingers entwined.   An Instagram post sharing the image was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Biden announced more military aid for Ukraine on the trip, but the image , taken for The New York Times by photographer Daniel Berehulak, is doctored.   We rate claims the photo is authentic ."
9897,1,"It will cost $50,000 per enrollee in Obamacare over the next 10 years.","January 27, 2015",health care;taxes;punditfact,stuart varney,Stuart Varney is a British business journalist and is the host of Varney and Company.,,0,0,0,1,1,0,"an interview on Fox News' ""America's Newsroom""","Varney said that it will cost taxpayers $50,000 per enrollee in Obamacare over the next 10 years. This seems to come directly from an article in the Daily Mail . None of the health care experts we reached, regardless of their economic philosophies or thoughts about the health care law, found any merit in the math that produced this figure. It’s most glaring defect is that it compares a 10-year cumulative total to a single-year snapshot of the number of people who gained insurance. Any analysis that accounted for the years of coverage people gained would yield a dollar figure considerably less than the $50,000 cited by Varney. We rate the  ."
3855,3,"The Federal Register - which houses all Washington regulations - is 34,000 pages in length and weighs in at more than 340 pounds.","June 14, 2011",regulation,randy forbes,"Randy Forbes is from Chesapeake and represents Virginia's Fourth District in Congress. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2001. He serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee, where he is chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.
Forbes previously served in Virginia's House of Delegates from 1989 to 1997 and in the State Senate from 1997 to 2001. He also was chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia from 1996 to 2001.
Forbes received a bachelor's degree from Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, in 1974, and a law degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 1977.",virginia,5,3,4,1,0,0,a statement,"To recap: To argue that regulation is out of control, Forbes said the Federal Register came to 34,000 pages and weighed 340 pounds. The congressman was close on the number of pages, slightly underestimating them. But he greatly overstated the Federal Register’s weight by failing to realize that its pages are printed on both sides of paper. And we would point out that less than 60 percent of the register’s pages last year contained regulations. We rate Forbes’  ."
2884,5,"Following the 2009 session,"" Texas House Speaker Joe Straus ""was acknowledged and 'thanked' for his 'tireless efforts' by Planned Parenthood, the nation's premier abortion provider.","January 4, 2011",abortion,heidi group,"The Heidi Group, helmed by Carol Everett of Round Rock, describes itself as a non-profit organization ""promoting life affirming hope and dignity to girls, women, and their families seeking self-sufficiency."" The group says its pregnancy centers in Dallas have addressed the issues that accompany unplanned pregnancy.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a letter,"""They do nothing to prevent one abortion while Planned Parenthood prevents thousands of abortions with our family planning clinics. And their protests do nothing to help vulnerable, at-risk teens keep their fragile lives pointed toward a successful adulthood."" We asked Tracy Young, Straus’s communications director, for the speaker's take. She made no comment. We rate the statement ."
18102,1,"America was the ONLY country that ended"" slavery","July 1, 2020",history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post made many claims about slavery, and specifically said that ""America was the ONLY country that ended"" slavery. The United States was definitely not the only country that abolished slavery and was actually one of the last countries to abolish slavery in the Americas. Mexico, Britain, France, and Denmark had established freedom for enslaved people before the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865.  We rate this  ."
4693,1,"Says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is making voting more difficult by closing Department of Motor Vehicles offices where ""low-income voters"" live.","November 30, 2011",elections;poverty,chris bowers,"Chris Bowers is campaign director of the Daily Kos, a liberal blog that describes itself as a national political ""news organization, community and activist hub.""",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,an interview,"Bowers claimed Walker is closing Department of Motor Vehicles offices in urban areas of Wisconsin where ""low-income voters"" live. A plan to close DMV offices had been dropped two months earlier, however, and Daily Kos' campaign director admitted he had spoken in error. We rate the statement . (Editor's note: In this item, we originally attributed the statement to the Daily Kos organization. Publisher Markos Moulitsas told us Bowers was speaking for himself, not the organization. So we have changed the source of the statement to reflect that.)"
13366,3,"Says if the AHCA replaces Obamacare it will ""significantly reduce insurance premiums in"" North Carolina.","May 4, 2017",families;health care;medicaid;public health,ted budd,Ted Budd is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who represents parts of central North Carolina between Greensboro and Charlotte. He joined Congress in 2017.,north carolina,1,0,3,2,3,0,,"North Carolina Republican Rep. Ted Budd defended his vote for the American Health Care Act, saying it will ""significantly reduce insurance premiums in"" North Carolina. In the short-term, insurance premiums on North Carolina’s individual market would actually increase. It’s not a small increase, either, but is rather expected to be the second-largest in the nation. Budd does have a point that premiums are expected to decrease in cost nationally a decade from now. People can quibble over whether an expected 10 percent decline is ""significant,"" but it is a decline. However, that’s a national estimate. There’s no solid analysis yet into how North Carolina specifically might fare, a point against Budd. It's also just an average. Some people will see lower premiums, while others will see higher premiums – for many of them, high enough that experts believe they'll drop insurance entirely. And finally, even people with lower premiums might still pay more in the end, since their deductibles could be higher under the AHCA. Since Budd’s  is partially accurate but missing some important context, we rate it ."
1601,5,"Republican challenger Bill Flores ""has never once voted in a general election in our district.","April 21, 2010",candidate biography;elections;message machine 2010,chet edwards,Chet Edwards is a former state senator from Waco who was initially elected to the U.S. House in 1990. He was among individuals described in press accounts as under consideration by then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama to be the 2008 Democratic nominee for vice president. He lost the 2010 general election to Republican Bill Flores.,texas,1,0,0,0,2,0,a campaign video,"Flores said at a February debate that he voted for Curnock in the 2008 general election -- then later said he'd been joking, according to an online post by the Lone Star Project, a pro-Democratic group. We sought to interview Flores. Mackowiak declined our request. He also confirmed that Flores has yet to vote in a general election in the district. We rate Edwards’ statement as ."
22211,1,"Facebook changed its name because it is a ""dead entity"" whose assets were seized.","October 27, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"""  The metaverse, the Times said in a separate explainer , refers to ""a variety of virtual experiences, environmental and assets that gained momentum during the online-everything shift of the pandemic. ""  The Washington Post, meanwhile, noted that the name change came as the company was trying to ""distance itself from a social-media business embroiled in crisis and rebrand itself as a forward-looking creator of a new digital world."" As of Oct. 28, 2022, Zuckerberg was still at the helm of Meta as its founder, chairman and chief executive officer. The company’s assets haven’t been seized, and it’s not dead.   We rate this post ."
415,5,"Hillary Clinton has taken over $800,000 from lobbyists.","April 17, 2008",ethics,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,an online ad,"The threshold of contributions by industry the ad lists for Clinton is probably too low, said Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the center. The center's analysis found the following amounts that lobbyists gave to Clinton: * Energy: $442,800 * Pharmaceuticals/health products: $450,450 * Hospitals, health services/HMOs and insurance companies: $552,050 * Health professionals: $114,755. Based on these numbers, we find Obama's statement that Clinton has taken more than $800,000 from lobbyists to be ."
16869,1,Says an image shows a satellite view of fires in Australia.,"January 5, 2020",fires;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,(NASA) A map from FIRMS that shows the locations of active fires in Australia also helps place Hearsey’s digital visualization in context. (Screenshot from FIRMS) The Facebook posts that portray the visualization as a NASA satellite image are . We rate the  .
11813,1,More businesses went out of business last year than were started for the first time in our history.,"June 2, 2016",nbc;economy,david perdue,David Perdue is running in the 2022 Republican primary for governor of Georgia. He was a U.S. Senator from January 2015 to January 2021. He has been the CEO of several businesses and is the cousin of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.,,0,8,5,7,3,4,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press Daily""","Perdue said that last year the country saw more businesses closing than starting for the first time in the nation’s history. That’s . Data doesn’t exist for last year. And the last year data is available, 2013, showed the opposite trend. Perdue’s historical  also falls short. In 1981, there were more deaths than births. We rate this  ."
8925,5,"Brazil built a $300 million stadium in the Amazon rainforest that ""is only going to be used for four World Cup games,"" and there's no team ""that can fill it afterwards.","June 8, 2014",sports;punditfact,john oliver,"John Oliver is the host of ""Last Week Tonight"" on HBO. Previously he was a correspondent for Comedy Central's ""The Daily Show.""",,4,4,2,0,0,0,"a segment on ""Last Week Tonight""","Oliver said Brazil built a $300 million stadium in the Amazon rainforest that ""is only going to be used for four World Cup games,"" and there’s no team ""that can fill it afterwards."" His point is accurate. There are hopes and dreams for the stadium’s life when the World Cup is over, and locals hope it spurs more interest in local soccer teams in Manaus and can be used for big-ticket concerts and conferences. But the stadium, based on what we know, largely will sit unused. We rate Oliver’s  ."
3640,3,"The Democratic health care law ""added 12 years of solvency to Medicare.","May 25, 2011",federal budget;health care;medicare,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,an interview on MSNBC,"To summarize, Wasserman Schultz said that the Democratic health care law ""added 12 years of solvency to Medicare."" She’s off on the number, citing an older, more optimistic report. The latest estimate indicates Medicare will only have eight additional years of solvency, one-third less than the previous estimate. But she’s right that the Affordable Care Act improved the financial outlook for Medicare, and that Democrats have successfully passed legislation to reduce future spending for the program. So we rate her statement ."
10851,0,"Says Bernie Sanders is going to ""tax you people at 90 percent.","October 14, 2015",taxes,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",virginia,36,85,120,194,360,179,comments at a rally,"Trump said Bernie Sanders is going to ""tax you people at 90 percent."" Sanders hasn’t released an official tax plan, either for billionaires or for anyone else. But based on his previous comments and proposals, the tax policies Sanders is advocating are targeted at corporations and affluent Americans. Sanders has dismissed the notion that he wants to set marginal tax rates for billionaires at 90 percent. But even if he did end up doing that, that rate wouldn’t affect ""you people"" — that is, the rank and file Americans who attended Trump’s rally. We rate Trump’s  ."
18318,1,"Biden failed to condemn far-left violent groups like Antifa, instead faulting only the brave men and women of law enforcement.","September 1, 2020",elections;wisconsin,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,News release,"It was not a widespread condemnation of law enforcement officials who are facing protests and violence across the country. And it is not the only place he has laid blame, as the litany of other comments shows. Our ruling  Trump’s campaign claimed that ""Biden failed to condemn far-left violent groups like Antifa, instead faulting only the brave men and women of law enforcement."" Numerous statements from Biden decrying violence, arson and looting tied to protests against police brutality show that  is demonstrably untrue.   We rate the  .   "
9307,4,"There have been at least 100 shootings each year [Angel Taveras] has been mayor"" of Providence.","August 27, 2014",candidate biography;crime;negative campaigning;public safety;guns,american leadhership pac,"The American LeadHERship PAC is a political action committee that describes itself as ""an organization dedicated to increasing the ranks of progressive women in governors' seats across the country."" During the 2014 election, the only candidate featured on its website was Gina Raimondo, a Democrat who was ultimately elected Rhode Island governor.",rhode island,0,2,1,0,0,0,a campaign mailing,"The LeadHERship statement also ignores some significant context: The number of shootings, which peaked at 108 in 2011, declined in the subsequent two years of Taveras' tenure, dropping to 105 in 2012 and 100 in 2013. Before Taveras took office, the numbers were lower but steadily increasing. The annual total was 47 shootings in 2006 (during the tenure of his predecessor, David Cicilline), 58 in 2007, 77 in 2008, 86 in 2009, and 90 in 2010, Cicilline's final year, before jumping sharply to 108 during Taveras' first year. Because the statement is  accurate but ignores important context, we rate it  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
5636,4,Says Obama broke his promise to help homeowners facing foreclosure.,"May 16, 2012",economy;housing;message machine 2012,crossroads gps,"Crossroads GPS is a conservative advocacy group founded by prominent Republicans, including former White House political adviser Karl Rove.",national,2,1,4,9,1,2,a television ad,"The Crossroads GPS ad said Obama has broken his promise to help millions of people facing foreclosure. ""Help"" is a vague notion, and there’s certainly no doubt that the president has tried several avenues to stem the tide of home loan defaults. But there’s also no doubt that his efforts have fallen far short of expectations -- and even the benchmarks he set for himself. Two primary programs aimed at helping people keep their homes -- HAMP and HARP -- have reached more households in recent months, but they are unlikely to ever help the 9 million homeowners Obama said he would assist. And it’s reasonable that he could have leaned harder on lenders to produce better results in the aftermath of multi-billion-dollar bank bailouts. Although Obama’s efforts haven’t been the utter failure Crossroads suggests, there are still millions of struggling homeowners who need help in the ongoing foreclosure crisis. We rate the ad’s  . Update: This item has been updated to correct that Republicans control the House of Representatives rather than the entire Congress."
16813,1,Yesterday Virginia announced the end of youth hunting!,"November 8, 2019",facebook fact-checks;guns,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"But a spokeswoman for the governor’s office told the Associated Press that ""a responsible hunter — regardless of age — would not be affected by this bill. ""  The bill also says it would be unlawful for anyone younger than 21 to ""knowingly and intentionally possess or transport a handgun or assault firearm anywhere in the Commonwealth."" However, that wouldn’t apply to ""any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or going to and from a hunting or preserve,"" according the proposed legislation. We further didn’t find  that the state ""announced the end of youth hunting,"" as the Facebook post says, or that the governor ""said that no kid under 18 will be allowed to shoot a gun."" We rate this post ."
21520,1,Aaron Salter Jr. was killed by a mass shooter because he was working on creating a water-powered car engine.,"May 30, 2022",crime;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Salter was indeed working on water-powered vehicle technology. But there is no  backing the  that he was targeted because of it. Salter, along with nine other victims, was shot and killed by a gunman who police say targeted them because they were Black. Three other people were injured in the attack.   We rate the social media  ."
5803,0,"Says ""a lip-reading instructor at the River School, a Washington, D.C., school for the deaf"" has determined that during 9/11 ceremonies, Michelle Obama said, ""All this for a damn flag.","June 26, 2012",patriotism,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a message forwarded to many people,"Like many chain emails we've checked, this one is so flimsy that it needs to fabricate its credibility. Critics of Obama are free to speculate about the first lady's words, but the ""damn flag"" translation was not done by anyone at the River School. So we give this one a nod of disapproval -- and a !"
5298,2,The (Jackson) plan (for reforming Cleveland schools) lacks any data or methods proven to raise student achievement.,"March 12, 2012",education,ohio federation of teachers,"The Ohio Federation of Teachers represents more than 20,000 members in more than 50 locals across Ohio. Its members include include public education employees, higher education faculty and support staff and other public workers.",ohio,0,0,0,1,0,0,a news release,"For PolitiFact Ohio, a key part of that statement is ""lacks any."" While the specific approach Jackson mapped out for Cleveland hasn’t been proven, it does clearly contain elements that researchers suggest may work — at least in some cases -- such as merit pay for teachers, greater flexibility for schools in how they go about their business and longer school days or school year. While the teacher federation leader’s statement contains some element of  — there’s no specific study or data that proves definitively that Jackson’s approach will raise student achievement — it ignores critical facts about the successes that have resulted in some places that have tried some of the elements of Jackson’s plan. Those details could give a listener a different impression. On the -O-Meter, the  by the Ohio Federation of Teachers rates ."
22416,1,"On the day of the Dec. 6 runoff, ""armed groups of Black Panthers"" were ""reportedly patrolling certain voting locations"" in Georgia.","December 6, 2022",elections,kelly loeffler,Kelly Loeffler is a former U.S. Senator from Georgia.,georgia,0,0,0,4,2,0,a tweet,"Loeffler tweeted that on the day of the Dec. 6 runoff, ""armed groups of Black Panthers"" were ""reportedly patrolling certain voting locations"" in Georgia. Loeffler referred to statements the group made the day before Election Day saying it planned to send armed patrols to voting sites.  The New Black Panthers later said they showed up at voting sites in Brunswick and Savannah, but ultimately decided against armed patrols because they did not want to intimidate voters. Officials in multiple counties, the secretary of state’s office and voting rights groups said they received no reports of armed Black Panthers at voting sites on Election Day. We also found no news reports or video footage to support the . We rate this statement .  RELATED : Most states don’t explicitly ban guns at polls. Some lawmakers want to change that RELATED : What Raphael Warnock's win means for Democrats' Senate advantage PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird and PolitiFact reporter Yacob Reyes contributed to this article."
10705,2,"After Texas defunded Planned Parenthood, both the unintended pregnancy and abortion rates dropped.","August 25, 2015",abortion;women,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a tweet,"Abbott said: ""After Texas defunded Planned Parenthood, both the Unintended Pregnancy & Abortion Rates Dropped."" Abortions were already declining before the described defunding while data directly gauging unintended pregnancy rates since the defunding don’t yet exist. So, half this  draws on cherry-picked statistics, the other half lacks factual backup and the full statement implies causation, which is unproved. We rate this declaration .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
13697,0,Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!,"August 17, 2017",history;terrorism,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said that Pershing stopped ""radical Islamic terror"" for 35 years. Of the eight historians we checked with the first time we heard Trump speak about Pershing, all were at least skeptical that the specific tales of Pershing actually took place, and some expressed disbelief even more forcefully than that. But more critically, the historians took issue with Trump’s suggestion that the tactic -- if it was even used at all -- actually worked to end tensions, noting that unrest persisted for years. Trump’s  rates ."
1679,1,"Taxpayer-funded benefits to illegals"" in California are ""a skyrocketing cost under Obamacare.","April 10, 2010",immigration;candidate biography;elections;federal budget;health care;message machine 2010;poverty,steve poizner,"Steve Poizner is the former state insurance commissioner of California. He was a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, losing in the primary to Meg Whitman.",national,0,1,1,0,1,0,a campaign commercial,"And that amount seems destined to rise, judging by the recent history of inflation in the health care sector and perhaps an increase in the number of illegal immigrants residing in the state. So the state's burden for providing health care to illegal immigrants may go up, but it is not accurate for the Poizner campaign to blame that development either on the new federal health care law or on the Democratic president who pushed for it. The new federal law specifically prevents illegal immigrants from benefitting, and most of the additional indirect costs that might be expected from expanding the Medicaid rolls are already being paid in California by different state or local government accounts. For these reasons, the phrase ""a skyrocketing cost under Obamacare"" is a gross exaggeration. We rate the statement ."
16187,5,"In 2018, when he ran for senator, ""young voter turnout in early voting was up 500%. We won more votes than any Democrat has in the history of the state of Texas.","June 13, 2019",elections,beto o'rourke,"Beto O’Rourke is a former representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional District. He represented the district from 2013 until 2019, when he gave up his seat to run a senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz, which O’Rourke lost. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Columbia University. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president.",texas,7,11,7,6,2,0,an interview with Stephen Colbert,"O’Rourke said that in 2018 when he ran for senator, ""young voter turnout in early voting was up 500%. We won more votes than any Democrat has in the history of the state of Texas."" His assertion about young voter turnout is backed up by an analysis of state election data by the firm TargetSmart. And he’s correct that no Democrat has ever won more raw votes in a Texas statewide election than he has, an accomplishment achieved through a combination of his own electoral success, a pro-Democratic environment in 2018, and Texas’ rapid population growth in recent years. We rate his statement ."
4763,1,Rhode Island is leading our nation in foreclosures.,"December 10, 2011",bankruptcy;economy;housing;government regulation;poverty;states,theresa price,Theresa Price is a board member of Direction Action for Rights and Equality (DARE).,rhode island,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech during a rally on homelessness,"In the push to rally support for legislation to fight homelessness, DARE official Theresa Price said, ""Rhode Island is leading our nation in foreclosures."" Clearly that's not the case. Other states consistently have worse rates when it comes to foreclosures, although Rhode Island's -- whether you look at new foreclosures, ongoing foreclosures or delinquent payments -- are well above the national average. If Price had said we lead New England, that statement would not have been clearly  either. Depending on how the data are collected, people in other nearby states may face a greater foreclosure threat. Ryczek, of the Coalition for the Homeless, gave a more accurate characterization of the New England figures after the fact. But, in her speech to hundreds of people outside the State House, Price wasn’t talking about New England. She was talking about the United States. Her fallacious foreclosure factoid is  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
1038,3,"The health care reform plan being proposed in Congress would mean ""big tax increases.","August 12, 2009",health care,u.s. chamber of commerce,"From the chamber's Web site: ""The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations. More than 96% of U.S. Chamber members are small businesses with 100 employees or fewer.""",national,2,1,3,6,4,1,a TV ad,"That's  for some high earners. But it's not  for the vast majority of people who do not make that level of income. Uninsured people who decline to purchase insurance will see a tax hit, but that's also expected to be a small minority. Things may change as these bills seek to solve the question of paying for the plan, but as the plans are now, some people would see a big tax increase, but most would not. That leaves us at a ."
17641,1,"Says Dr. Anthony Fauci's name appears on ""4 U.S. patents for a key glycoprotein"" used to ""create the current COVID-19 epidemic.","April 28, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,jerome r. corsi,"Jerome R. Corsi is the author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. He is a senior staff writer for the conservative news Web site WorldNetDaily.com. In 2004, he co-authored a book attacking Democratic nominee John Kerry, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.",,0,0,0,0,3,1,an article,Corsi’s article claims that Fauci’s name appears on four patents for a protein that was used to create the novel coronavirus. That’s . Three of the patents that Corsi identified are active and owned by the Department of Health and Human Services. But they are unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. They deal with a potential treatment for HIV that NIAID researchers studied in 2008. Fauci is listed as an author on that study and as one of the inventors on the patents. There is no credible  that COVID-19 is related to HIV or was created in a lab. The coronavirus’ genetic makeup precludes the possibility that it was man-made. And Fauci is helping lead the U.S. response to the pandemic. The article is . We rate it .
6710,5,Our race was the closest U.S. Senate race in Ohio in 36 years -- when Howard Metzenbaum defeated Robert Taft in 1976.,"November 16, 2012",elections,josh mandel,"Josh Mandel, a Republican from Lyndhurst, is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He served as Ohio treasurer from 2011 to 2019.  Before that, he was a state representative from the 17th Ohio House District. He unsuccessfully challenged Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 US Senate race. Mandel is running for the GOP nomination for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat in 2022.",ohio,5,5,3,5,6,7,an email to supporters,"Before his two tight contests with Metzenbaum, he lost his first bid for the Senate in an even closer race. In 1964, the year of Lyndon Johnson's presidential landslide over Barry Goldwater, Taft lost to incumbent Democrat Stephen Young by just 0.5 percent. It was Ohio's closest Senate election of the last half century. PolitiFact Ohio found the history interesting. On the -O-Meter, Mandel’s statement rates ."
4017,1,This is the first time in the history that we've had the raising of a debt limit also with spending cuts.,"July 27, 2011",federal budget;history,allen west,"Allen West announced in July 2021 that he is running for the Republican primary for Texas governor. He served for about a year as chairman of the Texas Republican Party, stepping down in June 2021. West represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013. Lieutenant Colonel West retired from the Army in 2004 after 22 years of service.",florida,3,1,3,6,10,4,an interview on CNN,"The 1997 agreement would not meet that criteria. Even if that's what he meant, that's not how West phrased his statement on CNN. West said, ""This is the first time in the history that we've had the raising of a debt limit also with spending cuts."" We found that the 1997 budget agreement raised the debt ceiling and also included spending cuts. So we rate his statement . "
8765,2,A lot of the problems with forest fires ... is because of bad policy (not to clear out the forests) that was put in place by environmentalists.,"April 22, 2014",environment;natural disasters ;weather;punditfact,dana perino,"Dana Perino is the former press secretary to President George W. Bush. She now is a Fox News commentator and co-host of ""The Five.""",,0,0,0,1,2,1,"a broadcast of ""The Five"" on Fox News","Perino said, ""A lot of the problems with forest fires is because of bad policy that was put in place by environmentalists."" The crux of this fact-check really comes down to how you define ""a lot."" While the record shows that the need for environmental impact statements and legal challenges have a significant impact on Forest Service projects on federal lands, the connection to the extreme fires of the past 15 years is less certain. Where we found broad consensus is that decades of aggressively putting out every fire as quickly as possible, and the use of land for grazing, created circumstances where the forests are brimming with fuel. That in conjunction with extended dry periods have turned them into tinderboxes. The federal strategy to remove that fuel runs up against budget constraints. The limited money is a much greater constraint than environmental policies. In the end, experts acknowledge that environmental policies are an issue, but they generally tip the scale toward other factors when assigning blame. Perino’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate her  . Update: The Forest Service drew funds from other programs over a 10-year period to pay for fire suppression. A previous version of this fact-check was unclear on this point.."
1633,5,Incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon and incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos have said they plan to champion efforts next legislative session to allow oil rigs off Florida's coast.,"May 3, 2010",environment;energy;oil spill,progress florida,"Progress Florida is a liberal public interest group based in St. Petersburg, Fla.",florida,1,0,0,0,0,0,a press release,"Cannon said he will not push drilling during his two years as Speaker. “An accident like this hasn’t happened in my adult lifetime,” he said. “I doubt we’re going to get adequate answers [as to the cause] in two years, and as a matter of term limits, I’m done in two years. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s off the table.”"
18798,1,"Only sign outside Bucks County voting place. Democrats shown, republicans blurred out. … More scamming in Pennsylvania!","November 3, 2020",corrections and updates;elections;facebook fact-checks;pennsylvania,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,national,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"A tweet said that there was scamming taking place at a Pennsylvania poll. The  was a sign of a sample Democratic ballot. Such sample ballots are commonplace at polls, and Republicans were handing their versions as flyers. Democrats chose to use signs out of concern for COVID-19. The sign followed the election rules and there is no  it was within 10 feet of the polls. We rate this  . CORRECTION, Nov. 4, 10:40 a.m.: The signs photographed by a local reporter were at a different precinct in the same community in Bucks County. The sign contents were identical. We corrected this piece to clarify the polling location."
9658,3,America's least-trusted news sources are also its most popular.,"November 1, 2014",polls and public opinion;pundits;punditfact,"leonard pitts, jr.","Leonard Pitts, Jr. is a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald and a novelist. In 2004, Pitts won the Pulizter Prize for commentary.",,0,0,1,0,0,0,"the ""Miami Herald""","Pitts said America’s least-trusted news sources are also its most popular ones and focused on the Rush Limbaugh Show on radio and Fox News on cable. According to the survey Pitts used, Limbaugh’s program is indeed the least-trusted news source. However, comparing the size of the gap between people who trust to those who distrust a source, Fox News falls in the middle of the pack. In terms of popularity, Fox News clearly is the most popular channel in its genre and the Rush Limbaugh Show  is likely the most popular radio talk show (or at least very close to it). Pitts’ assessment also obscures the enormous reach of network television news. The lowest-performing network, CBS, has an audience three times that of Fox News. Pitts makes some valid points but he leaves out information that might lead someone to reach a different conclusion. We rate his  ."
12046,2,"In 2009, pre-Hillary, ISIS was not even on the map.","July 21, 2016",foreign policy;terrorism,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",florida,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech at the Republican convention,"Trump said, ""In 2009, pre-Hillary, ISIS was not even on the map."" The terrorist group known as ISIS was, in fact, on the map five years before Clinton became secretary of state. It was operating under a different name. There were several factors that allowed ISIS to gain strength, including the intervention in Libya, an Obama decision that she supported, and the Iraq invasion, which she voted for as a U.S. senator. But Trump misleads when he pins the rise of ISIS solely on Clinton. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/6ed72ab5-5513-4aa0-90ed-d2e0fea088bb"
2929,0,"The governor has made a ""commitment to billions of dollars in debt and new spending without any explanation of how he plans to pay that money back.","January 12, 2011",transportation,brian moran,"Brian J. Moran was named the public safety secretary for incoming Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Moran was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1996 until 2008, representing Alexandria. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2009, losing to state Sen. Creigh Deeds. Moran was elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia in late 2010.
Moran was born in Nantick, Mass. He attended Framingham State University in Massachusetts and later earned a law degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in 1988.",virginia,0,0,1,0,0,1,a news release,"Let’s review. Moran said the governor made ""a commitment to billions of dollars in debt and new spending without any explanation of how he plans to pay the money back."" With little effort, we found the explanation in five places easily available to Moran before he made his statement: When we called Moran, he didn’t try to defend his . It’s  for Moran to say he was in the dark. We rate his : . "
23353,1,There have been more illegal encounters under Biden than the previous two administrations combined.,"July 11, 2023",immigration;border security,tim scott,"Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican senator, announced he is running for president in May 2023. He joined the Senate in 2013. Scott was previously elected to the Charleston County Council, the South Carolina House of Representatives and the United States House of Representatives.",,1,1,2,1,4,0,"a post on X, formerly Twitter","""  Immigration data changed in March 2020, complicating an exact data comparison across administrations. However, the available data doesn’t support his , either. Nationwide and southwest border data shows there have been fewer enforcement actions under Biden than under Trump and Obama combined. Scott’s calculation also used inconsistent metrics and cast a wider net for Biden than for the other two presidents. Given the flaws in the math, we rate this  ."
6617,3,"We borrow $4 billion every single day, much of it from China.","October 24, 2012",china;debt;economy;federal budget;foreign policy;message machine 2012,clint eastwood,The film star spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention and appeared in TV commercials in support of Mitt Romney.,national,0,0,1,0,0,0,a TV ad,"Eastwood, speaking in a recent American Crossroads ad, warns that, ""We borrow $4 billion every single day, much of it from China."" That amount is the rough daily average of all U.S. debt added since Obama took office, including the type the government owes itself. It’s not the current rate, which has been somewhat lower. And while China is the No. 1 foreign holder of U.S. securities, it purchased less than 10 percent of that debt. This  is only partly accurate. We rate it ."
590,3,"First, he (Obama) opposed the surge. Then he confidently predicted that it would fail. Then he tried to prevent funding for the troops who carried out the surge.","August 11, 2008",iraq,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,Las Vegas,"Likewise, it wasn't ""the troops"" Obama was trying to defund with his May 24, 2007 vote, it was Bush's war strategy. So the first two prongs of McCain's attack were accurate, while the third was not. Since McCain was two-thirds correct, we considered giving him a  on this one. But the  portion of the attack was the most provocative — painting Obama as opposed to the well-being of the troops. We're calling it ."
2400,4,"Rand Paul ""wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare.","September 28, 2010",health care;medicare;message machine 2010,jack conway,Jack Conway has been the Attorney General of Kentucky since 2008. He unsuccessfully ran against Rand Paul as the Democratic nominee in Kentucky’s 2010 U.S. Senate election.,national,0,2,0,0,1,0,a campaign commercial,"They come close, but we do offer one caveat. We think that the general impression Conway's ad gives -- and in particular the line where the man says, ""Rand Paul wants us to pay $2,000 just to get Medicare?"" -- is that what Paul wants to do is slap seniors with a $2,000 deductible, even though his plan is much more comprehensive. Paul's ideas for Medicare may be good or bad, but the ad is somewhat  when it reduces them to a simple $2,000 deductible. That said, we see it as a relatively minor exaggeration. Paul has advocated for a $2,000 deductible in multiple settings, and on balance we rate the ad ."
15484,2,"Says Hillary Clinton sold 20 percent of America's uranium to Russia and then ""the Russian government gave $145 million to the Clinton Foundation."" Former FBI Director and special counsel Robert Mueller ""delivered it.","December 5, 2018",nuclear;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that Hillary Clinton transferred uranium to Russia in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation. It also says Robert Mueller was involved. The  makes it seem like Clinton bears responsibility for the deal when a panel of several departments and agencies were part of its approval. And while the connections between the Clinton Foundation and the Russian deal may appear fishy, there is no proof of any quid pro quo. As for Mueller, the ties are even more specious. We rate this  ."
14498,4,"Since 1999, firearm deaths in Ohio have risen 58 percent.","April 2, 2018",guns,richard cordray,Richard Cordray is running for Ohio governor in 2018. Cordray was appointed as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during President Barack Obama's administration. He is the former attorney general of Ohio and a Democrat.,ohio,1,2,2,2,0,0,a campaign website,"Cordray said on his website that ""since 1999, firearm deaths in Ohio have risen 58 percent."" Data from the Centers for Disease Control showed that there were 8.28 firearm deaths per 100,000 residents in Ohio in 1999 rising to 13.12 in 2016 -- an increase of 58 percent. Firearm deaths in suicides and homicides increased. If Cordray had selected an earlier year in the 1990s, the contrast would not have been as extreme when there was a higher rate of firearm deaths. However, his comparison of 1999 and 2016 is one valid way to examine the data. We rate this  ."
23195,1,The Titan submersible was found June 21 with all five passengers alive.,"June 21, 2023",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"As of this fact-check’s publication, there were no reports about the submersible being found or the passengers inside. We rate the Facebook post . RELATED: Titanic sinking was an accident that caused over 1,500 deaths, not an inside job to kill three men RELATED:  news fact-checks"
13650,5,"Says transgender residents make up ""about 1-in-300 people, we're all over the place, we're your friends and your neighbors.","July 19, 2017",population;sexuality,ashley smith,Ashley Smith of San Antonio posed with Gov. Greg Abbott at his re-election kickoff event in July 2017. She said afterward she was making a point about the likely difficulty of enforcing a law affecting bathroom access for transgender Texans.,texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a San Antonio Express-News story,"Smith said transgender residents make up ""about 1-in-300 people, we're all over the place, we're your friends and your neighbors."" There’s no direct national count of individuals identifying as transgender but recent analyses rooted in federal survey results support estimates of 1.8-in-300 adults and 2.1-in-300 minors. We rate the  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
3554,0,The people of Rhode Island don't want same-sex marriage.,"April 29, 2011",civil rights;lgbtq;marriage;polls and public opinion,christopher plante,"Christopher Plante is executive director of National Organization for Marriage - Rhode Island, which supports traditional marriage and opposes same-sex marriage.",rhode island,0,1,0,0,0,1,a television interview,"Not only did the trends in the NOM-RI and RI-GLAD polls show opposition to same-sex marriage evaporating, the Brown and RI-GLAD polls showed that the public wants gay couples to have the right to marry, even if you assume that every voter who didn't express an opinion was opposed to gay marriage. Plante's assertion isn't just . It's . We rate it  ! (To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on Facebook .)"
1925,1,"Some city of Atlanta employees ""have not had raises in eight years.","June 24, 2010",,charles clark,"Charles Clark is the executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1644",georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a telephone interview,"Clark, who took the job about 3 1/2 months ago, said some city workers told him they hadn't received raises in eight years. In a subsequent interview with PolitiFact Georgia, Clark said the workers may have been comparing the 2.6 percent cost-of-living increase to what he said had been 3.5 percent salary increases in prior years. ""It's a teachable moment,"" Clark told PolitiFact Georgia. ""I stand clarified or corrected."" PolitiFact Georgia appreciates his candor, but sorry, Charlie, we still find the  is ."
15685,0,"Quotes Mike Pence as saying that people with pre-existing conditions need ""more Jesus care,"" not health care.","February 14, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The quote’s text is alongside a photo of Pence and what resembles a Fox News symbol. The symbol is actually from a page called ""Fox News the FB page,"" which reportedly started circulating the  quote. The page is not affiliated with the news outlet and can no longer be found on Facebook. Alyssa Farah, Pence’s press secretary, also told us the quote is bogus: ""This quote is  and wasn’t said by Vice President Pence."" We rate it !"
9644,5,We have the third-lowest minimum wage … of developed countries.,"October 26, 2014",debates;economy;income;jobs;labor;workers,david cicilline,"David Cicilline was elected to the 1st Congressional District in 2010. Before that, he was mayor of Providence, beginning in January, 2003. A Brown University graduate, he received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.",rhode island,8,4,5,7,4,1,a TV debate,"David Cicilline said that the United States has the third-lowest minimum wage among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Although the U.S. minimum wage is not that low in terms of U.S. dollars, it is third-lowest in a more meaningful comparison relative to the median wage. ( Here’s a good graphic from the Department of Labor showing how the U.S. stacks up against other developed nations.) We rule Cicilline’s statement . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
13767,3,"Just in our first six months in office, Missouri moved up the rankings nine places ... of the best states to do business.","August 23, 2017",economy,eric greitens,"Eric Greitens, a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, founded The Mission Continues, a Missouri-based non-profit that helps returning veterans. He won his race for Missouri governor as a Republican in 2016. He resigned on May 29, 2018 after he was charged with felony computer tampering and faced allegations related to an extramarital affair.",missouri,0,3,6,5,1,0,a Facebook live conversation,"Greitens, talking on Facebook Live about his first six months as Missouri governor, said, ""Just in our first six months in office, Missouri moved up the rankings nine places … in the rankings of the best states to do business."" Greitens credited this change to his cutting regulations, which he said is prompting a rise in the state’s economy. CNBC moved Missouri up nine spots on its annual America’s Top States for Business list. That’s only one ranking, among many, that can be considered, and it’s impossible to say that its methodology is perfect. Experts suggest that, while the methodologies of these lists vary significantly, it might be better to derive a decision if Missouri’s ranking has increased on all of them, which is  among five other lists. However, experts said it is premature for Greitens to assume credit for the improvement in rankings. Greitens is partially accurate. We rate his  ."
955,1,"Under a public health care option, 120 million Americans will ""lose what they now get from private companies and be forced onto the government-run rolls as businesses decide it is more cost-effective for them to drop coverage.","June 11, 2009",health care,karl rove,Karl Rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush. He has worked as a commentator and political analyst for Fox News.,national,0,8,2,2,5,0,an op-ed,"That's . The report said that people would choose to leave private insurance if given a cheaper option, but the report provided smaller numbers for other options. The debate in Congress over what a public option will look like is fierce and ongoing. So Rove is picking the worst-case scenario and then distorting the cause and effects. We rate Rove's statement ."
22066,3,"Iowans are paying $5,000 extra for everyday goods under Biden and Axne's inflation.","September 14, 2022",economy,zach nunn,"Iowa state Sen. Zach Nunn worked as a U.S. Air Force aircrew intelligence officer, flying 700 combat hours over Afghanistan, and also a cybersecurity expert in the Obama Administration’s National Security Council staff.",iowa,0,0,2,0,1,0,a tweet,"Nunn’s campaign said Iowans would pay $5,000 more this year because of inflation, and that Democrats were to blame.  Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that Iowans will pay $4,176 more on household goods this year because of inflation, based on a bureau report for the Midwestern region going back to August 2022. The $5,000 figure comes from an estimate that Bloomberg News analysts predict for 2022. But it is an estimate. We must wait to see how close the prediction was to what happens. The effect the American Rescue Plan ultimately will have on inflation has yet to be determined but it is having some effect, analysts said. But, solely blaming Democrats for inflation does not take into account the whole picture. Supply shortages and strong demand for products, supply chain problems and international market pressures combine with federal monetary policies to affect inflation. We rate the statement ."
17282,3,You had the last two administrations deport twice as many people as we deported — twice as many.,"February 14, 2020",immigration;homeland security,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,an interview with Jorge Ramos,"Biden said, ""You had the last two administrations deport twice as many people as we deported — twice as many."" Biden is accurate by one metric, but  by another. The number of people sent back to their countries based on returns at the border and formal removal orders was at least twice as high during Bush and Clinton. But deportations based only on formal removals were higher under Obama compared with Bush and Clinton. We rate Biden’s  ."
2053,2,"[U]nlike every other major transit system in the nation, MARTA has never received any significant, dedicated funding from the state of Georgia.","June 9, 2010",transportation,michael tyler,Michael W. Tyler is Chariman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's Board of Directors.,georgia,0,0,0,1,0,0,The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,"""Whether we ask or not, we don't get anything akin to what WMATA is getting,"" Harris said. That may be correct, but that's not what Tyler said. His op-ed argued that MARTA is the only major transit agency in the country that receives no ""significant, dedicated"" funding from the state. Not that it's  getting anything from the state or that state funding makes up only a tiny percentage of its budget. We rule Tyler's statement ."
15843,1,Congress quietly repealed the McCarran Warner Act of 1952 forbidding Muslims from holding office.,"March 20, 2019",immigration;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Though Congress repealed a provision of the McCarran-Walter Act, the law never forbid Muslims from holding office as the Facebook post claims. We rate this statement as ."
12245,3,"Under Hillary Clinton's plan ""illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay.","August 19, 2016",immigration,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",florida,36,85,120,194,360,179,a TV ad,"Trump says ""In Hillary Clinton’s America ... illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay."" The tone of the ad is to scare voters into thinking that Clinton would welcome convicted criminals to remain in the country illegally, and that’s an exaggeration. Clinton has said that she will deport ""violent criminals"" as well as anyone who threatens our safety. She hasn’t been more specific about the types of crimes that would or would not lead to deportation. We rate this  ."
18030,1,Old C-SPAN footage of Joe Biden introducing man in blackface.,"July 13, 2020",race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube post,"Biden can be seen introducing the singer around the 2-hour-and 52-minute mark. The Washington Examiner reported on Jan. 9, 2020, that the singer’s name is Jerome Powell . He told the publication that it was ""just a big "" that Biden called him Michael Jackson. ""I mean, Michael Jackson and I were in two entirely different categories."" We rate this  ."
14558,3,"I am the only one onstage who has never voted to raise your taxes. These two, each, a billion dollars worth of votes to raise your taxes.","April 23, 2018",candidate biography;taxes,todd rokita,Todd Rokita is a Republican congressman representing Indiana's 4th Congressional District since 2011. Rokita is running for U.S. Senate in 2018.,national,0,0,1,1,0,0,a debate,"Rokita said, ""I am the only one onstage who has never voted to raise your taxes. These two, each, a billion dollars worth of votes to raise your taxes."" There is some  in that Rokita has never voted to raise taxes in Indiana. As secretary of state, he did not have that power. In Congress, neither Rokita nor Messer have voted for direct tax increases. But Rokita voted for bills that raised user fees and import tariffs, which affected some taxpayers. (Messer, too, voted in favor of the user fees.) Braun indeed voted to increase taxes by almost $1 billion annually in a 2017 road funding law. Left unsaid by Rokita: He supported the gas tax from the sidelines, because it would lead to better infrastructure. Rokita also left out important context for Messer’s two 2005 votes that indirectly raised taxes by over $1 billion. One allowed local governments to increase taxes to fund the Indianapolis Colts football stadium. Another cut subsidies and changed the way property taxes were assessed. Overall, we rate the statement ."
12414,4,"Welcome to #Houston, the most #diverse city in #America.","July 26, 2016",census;city government;population,sylvester turner,"Sylvester Turner, of Houston, was first elected to the Texas House in 1988.",texas,0,2,0,0,2,0,a tweet announcing new display signage at airports and Houston's City Hall,"Turner tweeted that Houston is the most diverse city in the country. While the Kinder Institute report lists Houston as the most diverse out of the country’s biggest metropolitan areas, other metro area rankings, such as the US2010 Project, place it high but not at the very top. Rankings that compare only cities rank Houston lower nationally. Experts acknowledge diversity can be calculated in a multitude of ways, which makes it difficult to come to one singular conclusion. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/7fd8047b-dea7-410c-9c78-8e61e9db2304"
480,5,"John McCain ""has not led on nonproliferation issues when he had the chance in the Senate.","May 27, 2008",foreign policy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a statement by campaign spokesman Bill Burton,"In 1997, McCain was among 29 of 55 Republicans who joined with 45 Democrats to ratify the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which banned the development, production, sale, use or stockpiling of chemical weapons. And in 1992, he voted with the majority of the Senate in a 93-6 tally to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which provided for reduction of about one-third in the arsenals of long-range missiles and bombers of the United States and former Soviet Union. ""The majority of people following the issue would point out McCain has not taken a leadership role on nonproliferation during his career in the Senate,"" said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association. In spite of McCain's moves to the center, and his more fleshed-out positions on nonproliferation, we don't find much in McCain's Senate record to refute the charge of the Obama camp. We say, ."
5854,3,"The United States has ""the best health care delivery system in the world.","July 1, 2012",health care,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,"an interview on CBS's ""Face the Nation""","It’s  that specific aspects of the U.S. health care system are either the best or among the best in the world. But other aspects of the U.S. system fall short of what other advanced nations provide. Boehner’s  that the United States has ""the best health care delivery system in the world"" is too glib to accurately characterize a much more nuanced reality. On balance, we rate his statement ."
13159,4,"Since the day of my election, we've already cut illegal immigration at the southern border by 61 percent.","March 20, 2017",immigration;homeland security,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,Kentucky,"Trump said, ""Since the day of my election, we've already cut illegal immigration at the Southern border by 61 percent."" While U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not provide border apprehension statistics for specific dates, monthly data show a 60 percent decline from the month of the presidential election, November 2016, to February 2017. Experts said other factors should be considered in the decline and that it’s too early to tell whether low apprehensions will become the new norm or if they will increase in coming months, as they typically do. We rate Trump’s statement ."
22444,1,Grant Wahl died because of the COVID-19 vaccine.,"December 10, 2022",sports;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""His death was unrelated to COVID,"" she wrote. ""His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death."" (Wahl’s brother had initially speculated that the journalist was murdered, but he told The New York Times he no longer suspects foul play.)   We rate claims that Wahl’s death was caused by a COVID-19 vaccine ."
1868,1,"In Rick Perry's Texas, the governor threatens to leave, to secede from the greatest country in the"" world.","June 25, 2010",candidate biography;history;foreign policy;states,bill white,"Bill White, an author, is a San Antonio native who was mayor of Houston from 2004-2009. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor of Texas.",texas,6,7,5,2,3,3,a speech,"He was not talking about it in a historical navel-gazing” or constitutional-interpretive fashion. What we find: In a politically theatrical moment, Perry edged toward a secession threat. Then or since, however, he hasn’t said Texas should quit the United States. (You wudda read all about it.) White’s similarly theatrical statement at his party’s convention is ."
4077,3,"Says that voter identification laws ""keep poor people from voting, minorities from voting, the elderly from voting, students from voting.","July 13, 2011",elections,marcia fudge,"Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Warrensville Heights, is the congresswoman from Ohio's 11th district. Prior to her election to the House of Representatives, she was mayor of Warrensville Heights.
 ",ohio,2,4,2,0,2,0,a news conference on voting rights,"That's why we changed the  we rated in this item. Yes, the Brennan Center figure is widely accepted. And Fudge’s statement sounds and feels accurate to a lot of people, many of them worried that voter ID laws will be too restrictive. But the idea that the Photo ID law would reduce voting ignores an important detail -- that a lot of people just don't vote.    When a statement is accurate but leaves out important details needed to understand fully, the -O-Meter has a specific rating: ."
22820,3,"Former President Donald Trump ""instructed all the governors to shut down"" because of the COVID-19 pandemic.","March 26, 2023",nevada;florida;illinois;coronavirus;michigan,jared moskowitz,"Jared Moskowitz won his first race for Congress in 2022. He previously worked as the director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management and has held positions on the Broward County Commission, Parkland City Commission and the state legislature. ",national,0,0,1,0,0,1,an interview on CNN,"Moskowitz said Trump ""instructed all the governors to shut down"" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The strongest  for his  is the Trump administration’s ""15 days to show the spread"" plan in March that said governors ""should close schools"" in areas with community transmission. This document and subsequent recommendations for reopening from the administration were just that: recommendations.  We do not have a complete record of Trump’s phone calls with governors, but in some early calls that were leaked, he seemed to leave it to them to decide or fend for themselves. Trump was more forceful about reopening in some of his public statements on Twitter or in press conferences. But these were often inconsistent messages. They were unenforceable, vague threats. If his comments can be viewed as ""instructions"" then governors may have been hard-pressed to follow them because Trump would contradict himself, sometimes quickly. In April 2020, he falsely said he had total authority over reopenings, only to backtrack days later to defer to the governors.  The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it . RELATED : Trump’s   that it’s up to him — not governors — to open states RELATED : Trump’s  statement about ""total"" authority neglects Constitution RELATED :  Donald Trump's attacks exaggerate Ron DeSantis' COVID-19 response"
4408,3,Says Rick Perry increased spending in Texas by more than 50 percent.,"October 11, 2011",state budget,michele bachmann,"Michele Bachmann, first elected to the U.S. Congress in 2006, represents the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota. She was reelected in 2008. Previously, she served in the Minnesota State Senate. Prior to that, she spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney. Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, who have five children and have opened their home to 23 foster children, live in Stillwater, Minn., and own a mental health care practice.",texas,5,4,6,8,23,16,the Blooomberg/Washington Post Republican presidential debate,"And budgeted expenditures drawing on state general revenue -- the kind most swayed by a governor -- increased 44 percent without adjustments, but decreased 6 percent once inflation and population growth are weighed. We did not hear back from Bachmann on the basis of her debate . Our sense is that Bachmann’s assessment of ""over 50 percent"" misstates overall spending on Perry’s watch, especially because it doesn’t appear to include any accounting for the state’s growth or inflation. The  also overstates the raw increase in general-revenue spending, the kind that Perry had the most control over. We rate her statement ."
5542,1,"Says challenger Dominic Chavez is a ""Rick Perry Republican"" lobbyist.","May 8, 2012",candidate biography,bill spelman,"Bill Spelman, won election to his second stint on the Austin City Council in 2009, having previously served from 1997 to 2000. He is a professor at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He left the council on the change to a single-member district system in 2015.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign mailer,"Chavez voted in the three latest GOP primaries. He voted for Perry in  the 2010 general election, he says, though he also says he preferred another gubernatorial candidate in 2006. Keeping in mind that no one in Texas has to register a political affiliation, it’s reasonable to speculate about his partisan leaning, but there’s no certainty in that. And he calls himself an Independent. Chavez mentions Perry in his state job, as Spelman’s camp points out. But it strikes us a stretch to presume that someone who speaks for an agency and references the governor’s initiatives or positions is automatically a Perry acolyte. If that were so, then every spokesman or spokeswoman for every agency could be judged the same. That’s unshown. We can see why someone might suspect Chavez of being a Republican and maybe even a Perry fan. But we see no proof. Finally, Chavez once lobbied for a non-partisan group and not Republicans, contrary to Spelman’s statement, which also leaves the  impression that Chavez is a lobbyist now. It’s been years since he lobbied. We rate Spelman’s  as ."
19452,1,"Pelosi's $1.9 trillion bailout gives EVERY federal employee a $21,000 bonus check… they never lost their job!","March 18, 2021",congress;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that the new COVID-19 relief package provides every federal employee with a $21,000 bonus check. There is no bonus check. The law provides money to cover paid leave for federal workers who say they can’t work due to certain COVID-19-related situations. The most an employee could  under the provision is $21,000. We rate this .  RELATED: The COVID-19 relief package: Where the money goes"
15258,3,"The Postal Service only gives tribal residents PO boxes. The Republican-controlled Supreme Court just said it's totally okay for North Dakota to demand that ONLY residents with street addresses can vote. Native Americans were the last to get the right to vote, and now they are the first to lose it.","October 15, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",,0,2,7,1,8,4,a post on Facebook,"Occupy Democrats said that the U.S. Postal Service only gives tribal residents PO Boxes and that because the Supreme Court decided not to intervene in North Dakota’s voter ID law, Native Americans will lose the right to vote. While rural tribal residents in North Dakota are issued PO Boxes for addresses, it is not  that all tribal residents only have PO Boxes. And a conservative-leaning court did rule to let stand a new North Dakota voter ID law that requires a voter to bring a form of identification with them to the polls that includes their legal name, date of birth and current residential street address — but the new ninth member did not participate. North Dakota’s law does pose obstacles for many tribal citizens who don’t have street addresses. However, through the work of voter rights advocates and officials with the Secretary of State’s office, there are ways that Native American voters who have PO boxes instead of residential street addresses will be able to vote. The law does not mean they are losing their right to vote altogether. The group also said that Native Americans were the last U.S. citizens to be granted the right to vote and the first to lose them. Native Americans in Utah were the last ethnic group to be recognized by both state and federal law as citizens with voting rights. But it wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that federal law more thoroughly addressed issues of voter discrimination for all people, giving underrepresented voters of many ethnicities the actual right and means to vote. For a mixed bag of accuracy, we rate this  ."
1907,3,"Most"" of the Bush tax cuts went to people ""in the top 3 percent of this country.","July 13, 2010",taxes,jim mcdermott,Jim McDermott is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from a district in Washington state.,national,0,0,1,1,1,0,an interview with MSNBC's Ed Schultz,"In 2009, the top 1 percent earned 16 percent of cash income and the top 5 percent earned 29.5 percent of cash income. Indeed, if McDermott had simply refrained from citing the 3 percent figure, he would have been correct in saying that most of the Bush tax cuts went to ""people ... at the very top"" -- as long as you define the very top as the top 20 percent of earners. The top 20 percent took roughly two-thirds of the benefits from the tax cuts, according to the center's calculations. Still, McDermott did try to bolster a reasonable argument with an  figure. So we rate his statement ."
17170,3,"Fact: Mike Bloomberg spent $12 million to re-elect a Senate Republican (Toomey) in 2016. Toomey beat the Dem (McGinty) by 1.5 points. If McGinty had won, Ds would have controlled the Senate after Doug Jones won and could have blocked Kavanaugh from the Supreme Court.","February 19, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",pennsylvania,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said, ""Fact: Mike Bloomberg spent $12 million to re-elect a Senate Republican (Toomey) in 2016. Toomey beat a Dem (McGinty) by 1.5 points. If McGinty had won, Ds would have controlled the Senate after Doug Jones won and could have blocked Kavanaugh from the Supreme Court."" Bloomberg did support Toomey and gave him significant funding. The rest of the  is murky and relies on a hypothetical situation. Kavanaugh was confirmed in a 50-48 vote. If McGinty had won and all other things were the same, it likely would have ended up in a tie vote to be broken by Pence. We rate this statement ."
4459,2,Says there's $4 billion in private investment along the streetcar.,"August 12, 2011",city government;economy;transportation,sam adams,"Sam Adams is the mayor of Portland. Before that he was a city commissioner and , for 11 years, was chief of staff to then-Mayor Vera Katz.",oregon,3,2,5,3,2,0,a speech,"She said in an email that he should have referred to ""$4 billion in public and private investment, or simply in investment,"" and that the online posts have been corrected. Adams spoke of thousands of ""jobs created by that $4 billion in private investment"" along the current line. There may have been that much money total -- although it’s still not clear how much is directly attributable to the streetcar -- but it wasn’t all private. We rate the statement : It contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Return to OregonLive to comment on this ruling."
12451,1,"Says Hillary Clinton ""wants to bring in thousands of refugees to America from all around the world without any kind of security screening.","September 27, 2016",immigration,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a Facebook post,"Scott said Clinton ""wants to bring in thousands of refugees to America from all around the world without any kind of security screening."" Clinton has said she would welcome thousands more Syrians fleeing civil war, but the United States routinely admits tens of thousands of global refugees annually. There is already a strict vetting process in place, and Clinton has routinely advocated following it. We rate his statement ."
14729,4,"After Texas cut"" its ""two-year family planning budget by $73 million, one in four clinics closed their doors.","May 7, 2018",health care;state budget;women,lupe valdez,"Lupe Valdez, a Democrat elected four times as Dallas County sheriff, declared her candidacy for governor in December 2017. She won the party’s nomination in May 2018.",texas,0,3,1,0,1,0,an online survey,"Valdez said that after Texas cut family planning spending $73 million, one in four clinics closed their doors. A 2015 study found that after Republicans made that cut--also barring such aid from entities associated with abortion providers--one in four family-planning clinics closed. But this statement also lacks information in that there was subsequently a burst of state family planning aid, a reorganization of programs and a rebound in clinics though, it appears, not a full catch-up in women getting services. We rate Valdez’s  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
2819,1,"Says Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will ""force you to stop using your cell phone"" while driving.","November 21, 2010",public safety;pundits;technology;transportation,lars larson,"Lars Larson is a conservative radio talk show host. The ""Lars Larson"" show runs on 18 radio stations in Oregon and Washington. His Compass Media Networks national show is carried by 200 radio stations around the country. Larson got his start in radio, then reported for KPTV, Channel 12, in Portland for many years.",oregon,1,1,0,2,1,0,a website posting,"But, she adds, ""We have never promoted the use of technologies to disable cell phone signals, nor have we ever indicated we intended to require them."" Larson could be forgiven for jumping to the  conclusion if his comments appeared the same day LaHood spoke -- or even the  next day. But saying the federal government is moving to cripple your phone three days after the record was clarified to the contrary is dubious no matter how well your smart phone is working. For that reason, we rate his  . Comment on this item."
15958,4,"Disparities in infant mortality between white America and black America (are) greater today, in 2019,  than in the year 1850...","April 16, 2019",children;health care;public health;women,beto o'rourke,"Beto O’Rourke is a former representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional District. He represented the district from 2013 until 2019, when he gave up his seat to run a senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz, which O’Rourke lost. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Columbia University. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president.",virginia,7,11,7,6,2,0,a speech,"O’Rourke said, ""Disparities in infant mortality between white America and black America (are) greater today, in 2019, than in the year 1850..."". O’Rourke’s statement is deeply grounded. Academic studies lead to estimates that in 1850, live-born black babies were 1.6 times more likely to die in their first year than white ones. The latest racial infant mortality statistics are from 2016 - not 2019 as O’Rourke suggests. They show blacks were 2.3 times more likely to die in infancy than whites. O’Rourke’s , however, lacks important context. He omits in his statement and entire speech that, even with gap growth, there’s been a monumental drop in infant death rates for blacks and whites since before the Civil War. In 1850, it’s estimated that roughly one in three blacks and one in five whites died in infancy. Statistics show in 2016, the ratios improved to one in 88 black babies, and one in 204 white ones. So, overall, we rate O’Rourke’s statement ."
11704,1,"Russ Feingold got a memo in 2009 that outlined veteran harm"" at a Wisconsin VA facility ""and nothing was done.","May 2, 2016",drugs;public health;veterans,freedom partners action fund,"The Freedom Partners Action Fund, a Super PAC, says it supports ""candidates who believe in freedom, who will empower innovators and entrepreneurs over special interests to expand opportunities, create strong communities, and give everyone the best shot at a better life.""",wisconsin,1,0,1,1,1,0,a TV ad,"Our rating Freedom Partners says in a TV ad that Feingold ""got a memo in 2009 that outlined veteran harm"" at a Wisconsin VA facility ""and nothing was done."" Whether the memo was ever delivered to Feingold, who was then a U.S. senator, may never be known. But Freedom Partners cites no  that it was delivered. And it made a revised version of the ad that essentially walks back its , now saying the memo was marked as delivered, not that Feingold actually received it. Because there isn’t  that Feingold received the memo, we rate the  .  "
21430,1,"A recent photo shows the ""Russian Orthodox Church blessing a rocket called Satan.","May 13, 2022",facebook fact-checks;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""Satan"" was a NATO nickname for another Russian missile: the RS-36M. ""Satan 2,"" is an RS-28, the missile replacing the RS-36M, NBC News reported . We’ve previously debunked claims that ""Satan 2"" is capable of destroying everything in the world.   Under Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Orthodox Church has developed closer ties with the country’s defense ministry, Reuters reported. Russian priests ""have long appeared in images sprinkling holy water on submarines, ballistic missiles, Soyuz space rockets and other pieces of hardware as part of rituals to bless them,"" the news outlet said.   We rate this post . "
7714,3,"Says under Mayor Cory Booker, Newark has seen ""violent crime up five years in a row, murder up five years in a row.","August 15, 2013",crime,steve lonegan,"The former mayor of Bogota in Bergen County, Steve Lonegan is the New Jersey director of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group. Lonegan ran unsuccessfully in 2005 and 2009 for the Republican nomination for governor.
 ",new jersey,2,0,2,1,2,0,a radio interview on “Focal Point with Bryan Fischer”,"In a radio interview, Lonegan claimed that under Booker, Newark has seen ""violent crime up five years in a row, murder up five years in a row."" That statement is accurate in the sense that overall violent crime has increased over the past five years. But violent crime and murders have not gone up ""five years in a row,"" since there were decreases in some years. Also, the increase in overall violent crime between 2007 and 2012 stems solely from a rise in robberies. The other violent crime categories in 2012, including murders, were below their 2007 levels. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com . Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that overall violent crime has not increased in every year of Booker's tenure. During the five years cited by Lonegan, overall violent crime increased in three of those years.  But overall violent crime was higher in 2012 than it was in 2007, Booker's first full year in office."
14882,4,"Says Judge Brett Kavanaugh ""ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was unconstitutional (reversed by full Circuit Court).","July 9, 2018",financial regulation;supreme court,amy klobuchar,"Amy Klobuchar is a senator from Minnesota. Klobuchar was elected as senator in 2006 and re-elected in 2012 and 2018. Klobuchar received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. In 2019, she announced she was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out March 2, 2020.",national,5,9,4,1,1,0,a tweet,"Klobuchar said Kavanaugh ""ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was unconstitutional (reversed by full Circuit Court)."" In 2016, Kavanaugh wrote the opinion for a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit finding the CFPB structurally unconstitutional. The issue lay in the bureau’s leadership structure, not the bureau itself. That said, a change to its leadership structure could rein in the regulatory activities CFPB performs. We rate this statement ."
15318,2,"We have the most progressive tax system in the country, right here in Vermont.","October 10, 2018",taxes,phil scott,Phil Scott is the 82nd governor of Vermont.,vermont,1,0,2,1,2,0,a debate,"""In our research Vermont does not have the most progressive system in the nation, but it is certainly far less regressive than the vast majority of states,"" Davis said.   Our Ruling Vermont has one of the most progressive tax systems in the country, but no research exists showing that it has the most progressive system.   The research the governor’s administration cited does not support the , but in several cases refutes it.   However, research on the relative progressivity of state tax systems is limited and appears to vary greatly based on methodology.   We rate this statement as .   "
5780,2,"Most of Ted Cruz's money comes from Washington, from outside the state of Texas.","June 4, 2012",campaign finance,david dewhurst,"David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.",texas,4,5,10,8,8,5,a radio interview,"Dewhurst says Cruz has raised most of his money from donors in Washington and out of state. Through early May 2012, in reality, Cruz had gathered less than 10 percent of his campaign’s itemized contributions from Washington givers and less than 40 percent from outside Texas. That’s not ""most."" Our sense is that spending by outside groups for or against Cruz or Dewhurst belongs in a different category than money either one has raised. Such groups are barred from coordinating expenditures with candidates. Still, Dewhurst’s statement has an element of ; Cruz has gotten considerable out-of-state support. We rate Dewhurst’s  ."
13648,1,"The border is down 78 percent. Under past administrations, the border didn't go down -- it went up.","July 28, 2017",immigration;homeland security,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Referring to border apprehensions, Trump said, ""The border is down 78 percent. Under past administrations, the border didn’t go down, it went up."" Calculations of the latest figures available from U.S. Customs and Border Protection do not show a 78 percent decline in apprehensions. The closest number to that would be based on cherry-picked numbers of the highest number of apprehensions in November to the lowest number, in April. Though there have been fluctuations over the years in the number of apprehensions, they certainly have gone down under past administrations. We rate Trump’s  ."
12750,0,Says Denzel Washington supports Donald Trump and speaks out against Barack Obama.,"November 15, 2016",elections;fake news;punditfact,americanpoliticnews,AmericanPoliticNews is a largely sensational webiste that post stories with shocking headlines that don't always add up. Details about the website and its writers are not listed. ,,0,0,0,0,0,1,Internet sites,"AmericanPoliticNews wrote a story claiming that Denzel Washington has thrown his support behind Trump, with the headline, ""Denzel Washington Switches to Trump Shocks Hollywood, Speaks Out Against Obama."" The story is completely fabricated and uses a quote from another story and attributes it to Washington. ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d8025533-b897-4a23-910d-81d72aa711e5"
1307,4,"U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison ""voted to continue Roe v. Wade.","January 14, 2010",abortion,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,a Republican gubernatorial debate,"And for two-thirds of America, that's where they live."" Summing up: On its face, Perry's statement that Hutchison ""voted to continue Roe v. Wade"" is  because senators have no such power regarding Supreme Court decisions. If Perry had substituted ""affirm"" for ""continue,"" the statement would have been accurate, though perhaps less politically potent. But the brunt of Perry's charge is correct: Sen. Hutchison voted for a resolution that said Roe v. Wade should not be overturned. We rate his statement as ."
15886,4,"In West Virginia, ""our students enter in at fourth grade the first time they're tested, 37th or 38th in the nation—which is not good, but it's not horrible. By the time they're in the 8th grade, they're 46th or 47th, and then upon 11th grade testing they're near last.","February 14, 2019",education,mitch carmichael,"Mitch Carmichael, a Republican, is president of the West Virginia state Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2012; prior to that, he served in the state House.",west virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview with WV MetroNews,"Carmichael said that in West Virginia, ""our students enter in at fourth grade the first time they’re tested, 37th or 38th in the nation—which is not good, but it’s not horrible. By the time they’re in the 8th grade, they’re 46th or 47th, and then upon 11th grade testing they’re near last."" Judging by the past six years of NAEP rankings, Carmichael’s specific figures are slightly off for fourth and eighth grades, but the trend he points out -- a decline for West Virginia between fourth and eighth grades -- is accurate and consistent. As for the end of high school, however, while West Virginia does drop to last among participating states, that finding is undercut by the reality that most states did not take part in the testing. That makes it difficult to know how well West Virginia fared nationally. We rate the statement ."
13198,0,"President Trump just told Paul Ryan, 'You're fired.'","March 14, 2017",fake news,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,wisconsin,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"In January 2017, BuzzFeed News reported that according to that man, identified as Zeke Wilekenmeyer, the site is ""an elaborate trolling operation aimed at conservatives."" Ryan press secretary Ian Martorana told us: ""That headline is pure fiction."" Our rating Bloggers said: ""President Trump just told Paul Ryan, ‘You’re fired.’"" No such statement has ever surfaced in the mainstream news media, only on a website that warns that much of its material is satirical. Our rating is ."
18141,1,"The Beirut bombing today was directly next to the Lebanon Central Bank, which is also owned by the most evil deep state family, the Rothschilds. There are no coincidences.","August 4, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""BDL is a legal public entity enjoying financial and administrative autonomy,"" the bank’s website says. ""Its capital is totally appropriated by the State."" As Reuters first reported , the 2019 annual report from Rothschild & Co, the family’s strongest present-day tie to banking, does not mention ownership of central banks. Only a handful of countries, including the U.S. , have central banks with shareholders outside their respective governments. We rate these posts ."
3633,5,Sometimes I was the only 'no' vote on the entire board.,"May 13, 2011",voting record,jeff brandes,"Jeff Brandes, a Republican who represents St. Petersburg, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010 and was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2012. ",florida,2,1,1,0,0,0,response to a question about his voting record,"Sometimes I was the only 'no' vote on the entire board."" Measuring ""a lot"" can be subjective, but Brandes is right that on two occasions he was the only ""no"" vote in the Legislature. In other cases, he bucked his party and stood with Democrats. We don't know if that adds up to taking them to the woodshed or not. But we do know it makes his statement ."
4015,1,Harry Reid's plan is basically giving the president a blank check.,"July 26, 2011",deficit;federal budget,eric cantor,"Eric Cantor is a former congressman who represented Virginia's 7th District from 2001 to 2014. He rose to House minority whip in 2009 and House majority leader in 2011. Cantor was upset by Dave Brat in the 2014 GOP primary for congress. He is now vice chairman and managing director of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank.
 
 
 ",virginia,7,4,4,9,6,4,a TV interview,"Reid’s plan does not change that constitutional requirement. Cantor’s office failed to provide a single fact to back the Republican’s contention that Reid’s proposal would give the president a free hand in spending. Cantor’s spokeswoman said he was speaking metaphorically and people understand that. We find that logic hard to accept, particularly at a time of great public divide when the financial integrity of the nation is at stake. We rate Cantor’s statement ."
10936,5,There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible.,"November 10, 2015",taxes,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,"Milwaukee, Wis","Cruz said, ""There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible."" It’s generally accepted that the tax code is about 4 million words long and that the Bible is about 800,000. That’s five times as long. So Cruz’s  is ."
16538,0,"Says a photo shows Beto O'Rourke ""in college drunk and pissing his pants.","September 21, 2019",alcohol;candidate biography;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"More recently, the musician seemed to have some fun with the mistaken identity, posting an image of another, similar Facebook post on his Instagram on Sept. 18. ""After listening to your latest album I’d say you’re pretty deserving of the presidency,"" one fan commented.   FactCheck.org spoke to (Sandy) Alex G , whose real name is Alexander Giannascoli, and he said the photo was taken backstage at a show in New York City in 2017 after he spilled a beer on his pants.   We rate this Facebook post !"
2637,1,Half of children struck by cars near schools are hit by parents driving children to school.,"November 10, 2010",transportation,safe routes to schools,"Portland Safe Routes to School says it is ""a partnership of the City of Portland, schools, neighborhoods, community organizations and agencies that advocates for and implements programs that make walking and biking around our neighborhoods and schools fun, easy, safe and healthy for all students and families while reducing our reliance on cars.""",oregon,0,0,0,0,1,0,a mailer,We’re not suggesting that proponents of safer roads have trumped up a figure to champion a cause. But the twisted tale of this  is a case study in how falsehoods get passed along with good intentions and nothing to back them up. Just because a statement keeps getting repeated doesn't mean it's  -- even if a source is cited. We find the  . Comment on this item.
17110,0,Violent crime rates increased in all but two Wisconsin cities between 2008 and 2017.,"February 13, 2020",criminal justice;crime,joe sanfelippo,Joe Sanfelippo was elected to the State Assembly in 2012 as a Republican from West Allis. He's a small businessman who owned and operated a landscaping business. He served a term on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors from 2008-12.,wisconsin,0,2,0,0,1,1,the GOP weekly radio address,"Arguing for a series of tough-on-crime bills, Sanfelippo said in a statewide radio address that violent crime ""increased in all but two Wisconsin cities between 2008 and 2017."" Almost every word of that is . Any comparison should have factored in the 2018 data, which was available at the time. The comparisons shouldn’t include the many places where reporting practices changed. And even the use of the word cities is  since the dataset includes towns and villages. Most importantly, Sanfelippo misstated the  he was trying to repeat. In actuality, there are more than 100 Wisconsin municipalities where the crime rate did not rise — more than half the communities included in the best available FBI data. That makes Sanfelippo’s  not only , but . We rate this ."
21389,1,"Says photo shows ""one of Tesla's lithium supply mines where entire mountains are eliminated.","March 24, 2022",environment;energy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a photo,"And a new one from a March 24 post follows that pattern with a photo it says shows ""one of Tesla's lithium supply mines where entire mountains are eliminated."" The post includes two images, of an oil well and a mine. The caption says the oil well is where ""100% organic material is pumped out of the ground, taking up around 500 to 1000 square feet,"" contrasting that with the mine, which it says ""came at a cost of entire mountains, thousands of square miles of land and billions of gallons of oil and fuel."" The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .)  "
14229,2,"Says Paul Soglin took Madison backward -- ""businesses have left and murders have gone up.","January 11, 2018",city government;corporations;economy;crime,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a tweet,"But the two large companies cited by Walker that pulled out of Madison cited business reasons, not Soglin, for leaving. And while a mayor can play some role in combating homicides, primarily through a police department, there are many factors that lead to murder. Walker’s statement contains an element of  but is overbroad. We rate it . div class='artembed'>"
7293,2,"Proposed gun control legislation ""will outlaw practically every firearm, make you pay $100 per firearm, put you into a police database"" and make it ""nearly impossible"" to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.","April 25, 2013",criminal justice;crime;government regulation;regulation;guns,ed doyle,Ed Doyle is administrator of the Rhode Island chapter of Gun Rights Across America.,rhode island,0,0,0,1,0,0,a news release and Facebook post,"Firearms rights supporter Ed Doyle said the wording of the gun control measures being debated at the State House ""will outlaw practically every firearm, make you pay $100 per firearm, put you into a police database, [and make a permit to carry a concealed weapon] nearly impossible to get."" The database and registration fee claims are correct. None of the proposed bills would inherently make it ""nearly impossible"" to get a concealed weapon permit. And we found that the definition of ""assault weapons"" in the legislation would not ""outlaw practically every firearm."" Consumers would have plenty of rifles, shotguns and pistols to choose from. Finally, none of the Rhode Island bills would eliminate any part of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, despite Doyle’s triple-exclamation point assertion. Because of the mix of fact and fiction in his statement, we rate it . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
21010,1,A photo shows a Russian warplane under attack.,"February 24, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""  The link to that tweet, now gone, includes a warning instead: ""This tweet violated the Twitter rules. ""  Reverse image searches show this photo predates the invasion.   We found several sources placing the image nearly 30 years back when in July 1993, two Russian fighters at an airshow in England collided mid-air. Both pilots, from the Russian Flight Research Institute, ejected from their planes and survived with minor injuries, the Independent reported at the time.   We rate claims that this shows a Russian warplane under attack during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine ."
21826,1,"Leaked messages ""between former President Barack Obama and Judge Reinhart foreshadowed the unlawful raid on former Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.","August 15, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"""  We followed the initial account the post referred to but there were no leaked messages to be found there. These nesting doll-like accounts don’t know something that hasn’t previously been reported. Though records show Reinhart donated $1,000 to Obama when he was running for president in 2008, and another $1,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a fundraising committee, we found no  to support the  that messages between the two men were leaked in connection with the search of Trump’s estate. There are no credible news reports, nor other other sources to corroborate this post.   We rate this post ."
7328,3,"Four balanced budgets in a row, with no new taxes for anyone. The best job growth in 12 years. Nearly 130,000 new private-sector jobs. Merit pay to reward New Jersey's best teachers, and the most education funding ever.","May 1, 2013",education;state budget,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,a TV ad,"A new TV ad for Christie’s re-election campaign claims in part, ""Four balanced budgets in a row, with no new taxes for anyone. The best job growth in 12 years. Nearly 130,000 new private-sector jobs. Merit pay to reward New Jersey’s best teachers, and the most education funding ever."" The merit pay  comes across as being available statewide, but so far, the program only applies to teachers in Newark. Of the state’s 588 school districts, four others could offer merit pay eventually. Also, Christie may have a history of slashing education funding as a way to close budget holes, but the ad’s  about the most education funding, ever, is correct. We rate this portion of the ad’s claims . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
13203,1,"Government orders South African firm ""to lay off 3,389 white employees.","March 9, 2015",global news service;fake news;race and ethnicity;workers,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post shared on Facebook,"A Facebook post said that the South African government ordered a company to lay off over 3,000 white workers. The source of the figure remains unclear. While the government did tell the state utility company Eskom to increase the fraction of black workers in various job categories, it did not specify a number. And while the government could take Eskom to court if it failed to adopt a higher goal, it did not order the firm to fire anyone. On that point, even the union most closely identified with white workers agreed. Furthermore, even if that many whites did lose their jobs, the figure alone says nothing about whether more blacks might lose theirs. Eskom plans to downsize and in one plan leaked from the company, that’s exactly what could have taken place. Lastly, South African law bars a company from laying off a worker in order to meet affirmative action goals, an expert told us. We rate this  ."
10689,5,The State of Texas is funding … women's health services at historically high levels; they just increased their level another $50 million for the next two years.,"July 28, 2015",abortion;health care;state budget;women,joe pojman,"Joe Pojman leads the Texas Alliance for Life, a nonprofit that says it opposes abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,addressing a rally outside the Texas Capitol,"Pojman said the state of Texas ""is funding … women’s health services at historically high levels; they just increased their level another $50 million for the next two years."" Texas lawmakers this year voted to appropriate more for women’s health services than before--including the $50 million bump. This includes funding for general health services such as diabetes and cholesterol screenings. It also may be meaningful that programs are under reorganization. Too, lawmakers started putting more money on the table after their actions led the federal government to cut off tens of millions of dollars for reproductive services. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
779,1,Sen. Obama's campaign announced that he's choosing his cabinet.,"October 21, 2008",elections,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Bensalem, Pa","But back to McCain's . Has Obama ""announced that he's choosing his Cabinet""? He definitely has not. What's happening is the usual transition planning that occurs with any presidential campaign in the final days before an election. We find McCain's  to be ."
20727,1,"A judge sealed ""all the evidence and proof of who helped Ghislaine Maxwell sex traffic children.","December 29, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"""Troves of additional materials detailing what went on at homes where Maxwell and Epstein resided have been unsealed in the last two years after federal appeals judges and a Manhattan judge agreed that once-sealed records in a civil case against Maxwell should be released publicly,"" the Associated Press reported . Similar  claims about sealing the  also were posted on social media by Jack Posobiec and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene , R-Ga. A Facebook video says the judge in the Maxwell trial sealed ""all the  and proof of who helped Ghislaine Maxwell sex traffic children."" The judge did not order all of the  and proof sealed, and most of it was published by media outlets during the trial, including information about Epstein and other high-profile people. We rate this  . "
13622,1,"Cher ""is moving to Canada because of President Trump.","July 14, 2017",elections;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Conservativearmy88.com’s Facebook page lists a Hotmail email address. We reached out but did not get a response. While several celebrities claimed they would move to Canada if Trump won the presidency, Cher joked she would to Jupiter. Cher’s still on planet Earth, but there’s no indication she’s in Canada. We rate conservativearmy88.com’s post ."
18041,1,Since Trump labeled ANTIFA a terrorist organization their rights were stripped by the Patriot Act which states if someone is labeled a terrorist they are not afforded due process.,"July 18, 2020",civil rights;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",oregon,3,3,15,51,405,140,an image,"The Instagram post claims that, since antifa is a terrorist organization, its members’ due process rights are stripped by the Patriot Act. That’s . Antifa is not an organized group and has not been designated as a terrorist organization. Even if it were, American antifa activists would still have due process rights afforded to them by the Constitution. The Patriot Act does not give federal law enforcement officials the right to detain suspected terrorists who are U.S. citizens without probable cause. The Instagram post is . We rate it ."
2867,1,"When the Milwaukee County mental health facility is full, ""cops sit out there in their squad cars with a mentally ill patient""  and sometimes ""spend an entire shift out there doing that.","January 31, 2011",county budget;health care,jim sullivan,"Jim Sullivan, a Democrat, was elected to the Wisconsin state Senate in 2006 and was defeated for re-election in 2010. He represented the 5th District in the Milwaukee area. He ran unsuccessfully in the nonpartisan 2011 race for Milwaukee County executive.",wisconsin,0,0,2,1,2,0,a meeting with Journal Sentinel reporters and editors,"Sullivan said delays in admitting people to the Mental Health Complex for crisis care can be so long that police officers spend up to an entire shift with patients waiting for them to receive treatment. Hours-long delays were a problem some years ago. But the four largest police agencies in the county now say waits are short.     Perhaps there are isolated cases today in which officers waits for hours, but at minimum Sullivan’s  is clearly dated. We rate it ."
17636,1,"Barack Obama ""is the first ex-president to ever speak against his successor.","May 10, 2020",coronavirus,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,national,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"A Twitter post, retweeted by Trump, claimed that Obama ""is the first ex-president to ever speak against his successor.""  There are several examples of former presidents criticizing the person who followed them into office. For much of the past century, Republicans have spoken ill of Democrats, and Democrats have done the same with Republicans. While the tradition of exercising restraint exists, it has its limits, and in at least one case, an ex-president spoke out as early as three months into the new administration. We rate this  ."
7885,2,"Every month, we get the reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that say even more people have given up looking for work.","September 24, 2013",economy;health care;jobs,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,Senate floor speech on the Obamacare law,"Cruz told senators: ""Every month, we get the reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that say even more people have given up looking for work."" Per the 12 latest months of data available before Cruz spoke, the number of Americans considered by the bureau to be ""discouraged workers"" fluctuates month to month, sometimes going up and sometimes going down. Separately, a years-long decline in the nation’s labor-force participation rate has significantly been affected by baby-boomer retirements, which by and large are not driven by the economy’s health. We rate this , which has a thread of  but ignores critical facts that would give an accurate impression, as . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
14420,2,"In the Senate, (Mike) DeWine voted with Hillary Clinton to let illegal immigrants receive Social Security. And in Ohio, DeWine allowed illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses.","March 20, 2018",immigration;social security,onward ohio,Onward Ohio is a conservative PAC that was launched by Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor. When Taylor announced her bid for governor she stepped down as chair of the PAC.,ohio,0,0,0,1,0,0,a TV ad,"Onward Ohio said in a TV ad that ""in the Senate, DeWine voted with Hillary Clinton to let illegal immigrants receive Social Security. And in Ohio, DeWine allowed illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses."" On both of these attacks, the ad makes a sweeping statement without filling in viewers about the scope of what a bill and a policy actually said. The Social Security provision was more narrow than the ad suggests, because it addressed the treatment of past payroll taxes paid by people who at one time had been undocumented immigrants. While attorney general, DeWine concluded that undocumented immigrants who had temporary status through the federal DACA program were entitled to driver’s licenses, but that didn’t apply to all undocumented immigrants. There are kernels of  here, but the ad fails to provide a complete picture of DeWine’s actions. We rate this  ."
8536,5,"The average family (is) now bringing home $4,000 less than they did just five years ago.","March 8, 2014",economy;families,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,national,17,11,11,3,5,1,a Republican weekly address,"Portman said ""the average family (is) now bringing home $4,000 less than they did just five years ago."" According to Census Bureau data, the decline is even greater, making Portman’s overall point even stronger than the data he offered. We rate his  ."
14840,1,"The servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC"" are ""missing.","July 16, 2018",elections,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a press conference with Vladimir Putin,"Trump said, ""The servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC"" are ""missing."" The DNC servers were never missing. The DNC provided the FBI with a copy of their server, rather than the original hardware, but Comey testified that the  was an appropriate substitute. Awan, the ""Pakistani gentleman"" in the news, never worked for the DNC. Conservative news outlets suggested he had stolen a House Democratic server, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office found no  of such theft. We rate this statement ."
1991,1,"Claims that Rep. Sanford Bishop votes similar to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are ""inaccurate.","July 21, 2010",voting record,sanford bishop,Democrat Sanford Bishop represents Georgia's 2nd Congressional District,georgia,1,1,0,0,1,0,a statement,"Turner argued that focusing on the percentage of times Bishop voted along with his fellow Democrats is . ""It only makes sense that Congressman Bishop would vote with his party to end Republican obstruction,"" he said. Pelosi and Bishop are not ideological twins, but two separate databases show the two Democrats vote similarly on legislation that came before them. The numbers are pretty similar. We rate the statement from the Bishop camp as ."
17723,2,40% of the initial small business funds didn't go to small businesses at all.,"May 20, 2020",small business,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",wisconsin,25,64,65,52,55,7,a virtual town hall,"Biden said ""40% of the initial small business funds didn’t go to small businesses at all."" We don’t know how big the businesses getting the loans actually are, so Biden is creating his own definition of ""small businesses"" based on loan size. A definition that conflicts with the official government definition this program uses. What’s more, that definition conflicts with how he referenced small businesses a few sentences earlier to discuss the impact they have on the economy. There’s an element of  here. The 40% figure roughly matches the portion of loans that topped $1 million, which given the purpose of the loan means these companies have operating budgets of at least several million dollars. But the way Biden explained this figure conflicts with both the government definition and his own definition from a moment earlier. We rate this  ."
2981,1,Says government is a barrier to innovation and development.,"January 25, 2011",education;federal budget;regulation;science;technology,paul broun,"U.S. House Rep. Paul Broun, a Republican, is from Athens. He represents Georgia's 10th congressional district.",national,1,2,3,4,8,1,a tweet during the State of the Union address,"But we still feel it’s fair to take his comment  to task. For starters, it was not an isolated comment -- the tweet we’re looking at here was just one of several he sent during the State of the Union that addressed the same theme, including ""Entrepreneurship is great -- let's not kill it with taxes and regulations"" and ""Obama's policies kill free-enterprise."" More broadly, portraying business as good and government as bad has been a consistent Republican talking point. But to base a tweet on the assumption that the federal government is bad for innovation and development ignores that the federal government -- through its direct research spending, its tax credits and its indirect investments that support technological research -- plays a crucial role in pushing it forward, and one that is unlikely to be ever picked up by the private sector alone. So we rate the  that the government is a barrier to innovation and development ."
2528,1,"Says Robert Hurt ""supports the tax loopholes that send American jobs overseas.","August 18, 2010",economy;jobs;message machine 2010;taxes,tom perriello,"Tom Perriello, a Democrat, was elected in 2008 to represent Virginia's 5th Congressional District. He lost his 2010 re-election bid to Robert Hurt.
Before his election, Perriello was involved in international justice and sustainable peace.
Perriello was born and raised in Ivy. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1996 and a law degree in 2001, both from Yale University, New Haven, Conn.",virginia,0,0,1,0,2,0,a TV ad,"The pledge means that if a bill would result in a net tax increase, ""you’re not free to vote for it,"" Ellis said. Hurt hasn’t offered specifics about his position on the offshore tax rules, but in a TV ad last month, he called Perriello’s  . We agree. Perriello has chosen to rest his  on the DCCC’s spurious connection to the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, but that is a huge leap of logic and it doesn’t prove Hurt supports the offshore loopholes. So we find the  ."
13639,2,"Business spirit is the highest it's ever been, according to polls.","July 31, 2017",economy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,the Oval Office,"Trump said, ""Business spirit is the highest it's ever been, according to polls."" Current levels of business confidence, as measured by regular surveys of executives, are relatively high at the moment, but they are not the highest ever -- and in several that are taken on a monthly basis, they have fallen since Trump took office. The statement is a significant exaggeration, so we rate it ."
20343,1,We do not have an approved (COVID) vaccine in America … the Pfizer vaccine available in the U.S. is not FDA approved.,"October 4, 2021",health care;public health;coronavirus,ron johnson,"Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.",wisconsin,8,18,15,28,11,4,TV interview,"In an interview, Johnson claimed: ""We do not have an approved (COVID) vaccine in America … the Pfizer vaccine available in the U.S. is not FDA approved."" That is entirely untrue. The Pfizer vaccine was approved for full use on Aug. 23, 2021 by the FDA, even though emergency authorization continues with some subsets of the population. We rate Johnson’s  ."
23019,1,"Photo shows former President Donald Trump ""in the hood.","May 14, 2023",fake news,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"Hive Moderation , a program that detects images from AI image generators such as DALL-E and Midjourney, showed a 99.8% likelihood that the image was AI-generated. One telltale sign of an AI-generated photo is that the hands look deformed, as AI image generators often fail to capture human hands . In the photo, the right hand of the man standing to Trump’s left looks unusual. A reverse-image search of this photo using Google Images, TinEye and Yandex showed no results from official or credible sources. We rate this  ."
19357,1,Instagram has been limiting our posts so that no more than 7% of our friends see our posts.,"March 1, 2021",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"When third-party fact-checkers, such as PolitiFact, identify misinformation, Instagram may make it harder to find by filtering it from its "" Explore "" and hashtag search pages, as well as reducing its visibility in feeds and stories, according to Facebook, which owns Instagram . But this is a different issue than the  that Instagram is limiting people’s posts so that no more than 7% of their friends will see it. ""The 7% figure is ,"" a spokesperson for the platform said. And commenting or liking posts sharing this meme, or posts that have been fact-checked, does not affect how many followers will see it.     We rate this  . "
11870,2,"Says delegates can't ""legally"" change the Republican National Convention rules to prevent Donald Trump's nomination.","June 19, 2016",corrections and updates;elections;legal issues,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on ""Meet the Press""","Trump said delegates seeking to change the convention rules to prevent his nomination ""can’t do it legally."" Under current rules, the delegates are bound to vote for whomever won their state’s primary or caucus (in most cases, Trump). But if this year’s rules committee votes to change the rules to thwart Trump, it’s well within its authority to do so. And intervention by the courts would be unlikely. Because political parties are private organizations, courts have said they can set their own rules. We rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/fec8deb7-1f35-4b1d-88c8-76cb4e5954a9   Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the co-author of the  Wall Street Journal  op-ed."
12853,2,Our university campuses by federal law do not check the immigration status of their students just as our public schools don't.,"December 15, 2016",immigration;education,lloyd doggett,Rep. Lloyd Doggett was initially elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.,texas,5,8,4,2,0,0,an interview with KEYE TV,"Doggett said: ""Our university campuses by federal law do not check the immigration status of their students."" We see an element of  here in that colleges and universities, like public schools, don’t act as immigration enforcement agents. But we didn't spot nor did Doggett identify a federal law that bars or excuses universities from checking the immigration statuses of students. Meantime, a state law leads public Texas institutions to tally ""affidavit"" students, each of whom has declared a lack of legal U.S. residency. Also, each student-applicant to those colleges and universities must answer questions about citizenship and legal residency and agree to have information verified. All told, we rate this statement .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
6958,4,Says he and Mitt Romney agreed on tying minimum wage increases to inflation.,"February 12, 2013",poverty;workers,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,the State of the Union address,"Obama said that tying the minimum wage to the cost of living is something he and Romney ""actually agreed on."" As far back as 1994, Romney favored this approach. He reiterated it in 2006 while governor of Massachusetts, and again as the Republican nominee for president last year. Under criticism on the national stage, he did back away slightly from that position given the fragile economy in 2012. None of this is to say that Romney would support Obama’s current proposal to boost the minimum wage to $9 an hour. But Obama was on firm ground claiming that at least for most of Romney’s political career, the former rivals were in agreement on indexing the wage. We rate Obama’s statement ."
2811,5,"Says that in his first 17 months as president, the United States doubled its world-leading $500 million a year commitment to fighting global AIDS.","November 9, 2010",federal budget;health care;foreign policy,george w. bush,"George W. Bush served as the 43rd president of the United States. He was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2001, re-elected on Nov. 2, 2004, and sworn in for a second term on Jan. 20, 2005. Prior to his presidency, President Bush served six years as the 46th governor of the state of Texas.",texas,1,1,1,0,1,0,"his book, ""Decision Points.""","Drake said in an e-mail that by the end of June 2002, Bush had committed $500 million to the Global Fund and another $500 million to the International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative. A former Bush adviser, Jay Lekfowitz, writes in a January 2009 article in Commentary magazine that the initiative was intended to increase the availability of preventive care, including drug treatments, and to devise delivery systems that would reach pregnant women and newborn children in two Caribbean nations and eight African ones (with four to be added later). Drake said Bush announced the second $500 million on June 19, 2002, just before the end of his 17th month as president. He was sworn in Jan. 20, 2001. We rate Bush's statement ."
22476,1,"Says he has been to ""Afghanistan, Iraq and those areas"" twice as president.","December 16, 2022",afghanistan;iraq;foreign policy,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a speech,"Biden said he has been to ""Afghanistan, Iraq and those areas"" twice as president. As president, he has not visited either country. We rate Biden’s statement . RELATED:  No  to support Joe Biden's anecdote about giving uncle a Purple Heart while vice president RELATED: Fact-checks on and about Joe Biden RELATED: Republican National Committee fact-checks"
7598,1,"Homicides against blacks have tripled"" since Florida's ""stand your ground"" law has been in existence.","July 18, 2013",criminal justice;crime;race and ethnicity,jesse jackson,"The Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the nation’s most recognized civil rights leaders, is founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights organization in Chicago. He was a Democratic candidate for president in 1984 and 1988.",florida,0,1,0,0,1,0,an interview on CNN,"During an interview on CNN about Florida’s ""stand your ground"" law Jackson said: ""Homicides against blacks have tripled since this law has been in existence."" The law was enacted part way through 2005. The number of homicides in which black people were the victims fluctuated from year to year between 2006 and 2012 and didn’t come anywhere close to tripling. It’s possible Jackson is confusing homicides with justifiable homicides, but that’s a key qualifier that he omitted in part of his comments. We’re rating his statement that homicides against blacks have tripled. That’s not accurate, so we rate the statement ."
12938,4,A poll just came out on my inauguration speech. … People loved it. Loved and liked.,"January 25, 2017",polls and public opinion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview with ABC News' David Muir,"Trump said, ""A poll just came out on my inauguration speech. … People loved it. Loved and liked."" He has a point that in both the Politico/Morning Consult poll and the Gallup poll, favorable opinions outpaced unfavorable opinions by double-digit margins. However, it’s worth noting that Trump’s positive score in the Gallup poll was between 9 and 28 points lower than the scores in the previous three inaugural addresses. We rate the statement ."
4630,5,Currently it costs more than a penny for the U.S. Mint to make a one cent coin and more than a nickel to make the five cent piece.,"November 2, 2011",economy,steve rothman,Steven R. Rothman served as a Democratic congressman representing parts of northern New Jersey between January 1997 and January 2013. He left office after losing a primary election to Rep. Bill Pascrell.,new jersey,1,1,0,1,2,1,the Congressional Record,"Rothman claimed it costs more for the U.S. Mint to produce a penny and nickel than the face value of the coins. It costs 1.79 cents to produce and distribute every penny the Mint makes. And every nickel costs 9.22 cents. So, you can bank on those numbers. We rate the congressman’s statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
12796,0,Latina who enthusiastically supported Donald Trump on stage in Las Vegas in October 2015 has been deported.,"October 9, 2015",immigration;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,"social media posts, blogs","News has spread on social media saying Myriam Witcher, a Trump supporter who made headlines for effusively showing her admiration for him during a rally, has been deported. In a phone interview, Witcher said she’s a U.S. citizen who has not been deported and is still a Trump supporter. In 2015, a Colombian website wrote a satirical piece a day after Witcher appeared with Trump on TV. The post said Witcher had been ordered deported and would be returning to Colombia within days. Journalists have interviewed Witcher on U.S. soil in the past few months. An online search tool for immigration detainees shows no result for Witcher. We rate reports of Witcher’s deportation as !"
4084,0,"Says he ""helped bring"" Uline company to Kenosha area, ""creating 800 local jobs.","July 25, 2011",jobs;workers,bob wirch,"Wisconsin state Sen. Bob Wirch, a Democrat from Pleasant Prairie in Kenosha County in southeastern Wisconsin, has served in the Senate since 1996. He survived a recall election in 2011. Wirch served in the state Assembly from 1992 to 1996.",wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,1,campaign mail piece,"That bill , sponsored by Wirch, allowed for business expansion in the area of Pleasant Prairie where Uline moved. However, the bill was introduced Jan. 25, 2008 -- three weeks after Uline had already announced its relocation Uline’s chief financial officer, Frank Unick, would not comment on whether the bill played a role in the relocation. Pleasant Prairie Village Administrator Mike Pollocoff said part of the company’s expansion could not have occurred without the bill, which also affected other companies. But by that point, Uline had already committed to the $100 million relocation. So, we feel it’s a stretch to say the bill ""helped bring"" the company to Pleasant Prairie."
712,4,"You know, we spent $3-million to study the DNA of bears in Montana.","September 26, 2008",federal budget,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Oxford, Miss","It also has resulted in doubling the previous population estimates. The new figures, when paired with the results of another study on population trends, may eventually lead to removing grizzlies from the endangered list. McCain's math is a little dated. And he clearly is suggesting ""the study of bear DNA"" is a frivolous use of federal money, but we won't argue the merits of the project. McCain claims $3-million in federal money has been used to study the DNA of bears, and that's ."
7955,1,Wendy Davis opposes any limits on abortion.,"October 3, 2013",abortion,texas right to life,"A statewide anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia group that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2013, Texas Right to Life says it fights ""for the rights of the unborn (including the nascent humans created in laboratories), the disabled, the sick, the elderly, and the unloved,"" on its website, which also states, ""We are non-sectarian and non-partisan, and we are the Texas affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee with representation on their board of directors.""",texas,0,0,2,0,2,0,an audio recording described as a radio ad,"Texas Right to Life said, ""Wendy Davis opposes any limits on abortion."" Although Davis has spoken and voted against certain abortion limits, her campaign statement and her stated support for the Roe v. Wade decision indicate she opposes late-term abortions except in extreme circumstances. The group did not provide, and we did not find,  of Davis opposing ""any limits on abortion."" We rate this  as .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
14287,0,Breaking: four million Democrat votes just declared fraudulent.,"February 7, 2018",elections;punditfact,the politico news,"The Politico News is a fake news website with a similar name to Politico, which is a real news website.",,0,0,0,0,0,1,a headline,"It’s unclear if the company still exists; the website was a dead link and the voicemail for the phone number was full. Not surprisingly for a made-up story, we found no  that the company is owned by the high-profile Democrats it mentioned. Brenda Bowser Soder, U.S. Election Assistance Commission spokeswoman, told PolitiFact that Novus Ordo Seclorum doesn’t make voting machines and that the story is . There is no  that 4 million Democratic votes were ""just declared fraudulent."" We rate this story ."
7273,3,"Says state Senate leaders have accepted $142,400 in campaign contributions from dentists and pharmacists during the past two years.","March 26, 2013",state budget,renee unterman,"Renee Unterman, a Republican, is a Georgia state senator who represents portions of Gwinnett County.",georgia,0,0,2,0,0,0,a speech,"If you include those senators, Unterman’s  nearly hits the mark. If you exclude those senators, the  is off by nearly 40 percent. Unterman’s dollar figure is accurate, but there’s some important context missing here. Our rating: . Atlanta Journal Constitution staff writer Karishma Mehrotra contributed to this article."
722,4,"McCain ""said the other day that he would not meet potentially with the prime minister of Spain, because he . . . wasn't sure whether they were aligned with us.","September 26, 2008",foreign policy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Oxford, Miss","It's less clear if McCain ""wasn't sure whether (Spain is) aligned with us."" To us, McCain seemed confused. But Scheunemann's statement is adamant that McCain knew the subject was Spain. As a result, his comment that ""I have to look at the relations and the situations and the priorities"" indicates at least some doubt about U.S.-Spanish relations. So we find Obama's  to be ."
21176,0,"Ketanji Brown Jackson ""believes in abortion on demand up to the moment of birth.","March 22, 2022",abortion,bob good,"Bob Good is the 2020 Republican nominee for Virginia's 5th Congressional District seat. A self-described biblical conservative, Good is a former associate athletic director at Liberty University, and served a term on the Campbell County's Board of Supervisors.
Good defeated incumbent Rep. Denver Riggleman at a convention in June 2020 to win the 5th District's GOP nominaion. He is opposed in the general election by Democrat Cameron Webb, a Charlottesville physician.
Webb graduated from Liberty in 1988 with a degree in finance.",virginia,0,1,0,1,2,3,a radio interview,"What she has said is that Roe and other Supreme Court rulings affirming it are ""established law,"" and she will respect high court precedents in all of her decisions.   Roe allows states to ban rare late-term abortions and ""partial-birth abortions"" if they provide exceptions when a doctor determines a mother’s life or health is endangered by her pregnancy. The most we know is that Jackson will respect that precedent. Good’s statement says, with no credible , that Jackson wants to scuttle precedents allowing late-term bans.   We rate Good’s statement !      "
19221,3,"A Miracle! Only 23 Americans Tested Positive for Flu Last Week Compared to 14,657 Cases Reported Last Year at Same Time.","January 31, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A headline from an article widely shared on Facebook claimed: ""A Miracle! Only 23 Americans Tested Positive for Flu Last Week Compared to 14,657 Cases Reported Last Year at Same Time."" The article cites this drop to suggest that health officials have improperly inflated the number of COVID-19 cases. Flu cases are down dramatically. The CDC reported that only 62 of 38,572 specimens tested positive for influenza for the week ended Jan. 16, 2021. A year earlier, the figure was 9,277.  Public health experts say they believe the drop is due not to a miracle or statistical tricks, but largely to social distancing and other precautions being used in response to the coronavirus pandemic. We rate the  ."
5093,5,"Says Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz ""opposes the DREAM Act, which is supported by 85% of Latinos.","February 3, 2012",immigration,texas democratic party,"The Texas Democratic Party says it's ""working to advance issues like job creation, comprehensive immigration reform, good schools, health care and building an economy that lasts.""",texas,1,2,0,0,1,0,a press release,"Cruz said in an interview that he does not support the DREAM Act, and three polls over the past 13 months have shown at least 85 percent of Latinos favoring the legislation. We rate the Texas Democratic Party’s statement ."
12532,5,"Says Paul Ryan ""is still endorsing Trump.","October 10, 2016",candidate biography;elections;negative campaigning,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",wisconsin,72,76,70,43,31,9,a tweet,"The New York Times and ABC News said Ryan responded to criticism for not supporting Trump more by emphasizing that he wasn't withdrawing his endorsement. As for Ryan himself, when we asked his campaign about Clinton’s , a spokesman simply reiterated what had been put out earlier, saying: ""There is no update in his position at this time."" Our rating Clinton says Ryan ""is still endorsing Trump."" As of the time when Clinton made the , Ryan’s endorsement of Trump for president remained in place. We rate the statement .   https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/82b74708-0ee4-414b-9fb4-437544a96b41"
20182,1,"Says Donald Trump said, ""Do not be distracted by all this going on in Afghanistan. Always keep one eye on Washington D.C. A magician always distracts his audience.","August 22, 2021",afghanistan;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"We also didn’t find it searching Rev’s database of transcripts from Trump’s speeches, rallies, public statements, interviews and more.   From the pandemic to Afghanistan, it’s not unusual to see social media posts in which people suggest that major news events are happening or even orchestrated to distract from lawmakers in Washington. And certainly Trump has been critical of Biden’s leadership. But we found no  that he made the statement that appears in this post.   We rate it ."
15710,0,In 1963 Bernie Sanders was arrested for throwing eggs at black civil rights protestors.,"February 22, 2019",history;race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The post said that ""in 1963 Bernie Sanders was arrested for throwing eggs at black civil rights protestors."" The photo was Sanders being arrested, as the Chicago Tribune confirmed. However, Sanders was protesting in favor of civil rights. There is no  that Sanders threw eggs at protesters. We rate this statement ."
1612,3,"We've got a 1,000 National Guard troop request that's been in front of this president for over a year and no response.","April 15, 2010",immigration,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,an interview with The Texas Tribune and Newsweek,"Texas has a huge border with Mexico. What does he anticipate the Guard doing? And those are the kinds of things that I think then I will transmit to the secretary of defense and the president in the ongoing decision about Guard — yes, no, and if so how many and where."" Bottom line: The Obama administration has repeatedly acknowledged Perry's request for troops; it just hasn't given him the answer he seeks. We rate Perry's statement as ."
22826,0,Former President Donald Trump is actually another man wearing a Trump mask.,"March 30, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"In May 2018, Trump confirmed in a series of tweets that he had personally reimbursed Cohen for the payments.   Just like allegations that other high-profile people are not who they purport to be, this one suggesting Trump is not Trump is unfounded. In February, we fact-checked a  that President Joe Biden didn’t deliver the annual State of the Union address but that someone else wearing a Biden mask did. That’s , and so is this.   We rate this post !"
380,1,"The Jewish holiday Purim is ""their version of Halloween here.","March 19, 2008",religion,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,Israel,"That's the Hebrew name of Esther, Torop said, explaining the joke McCain appeared to be making. On a Political Gaffe scale of 1 to 10, with a one being John Kerry referring to the Green Bay Packers' hallowed home as ""Lambert Field"" and Dan Quayle telling that poor 6th-grader to add an ""e"" to the end of potato being a 15, we'd rate McCain's as maybe a two. He gets a bit of a pass because he apparently got bad info from his Jewish tour guide, Lieberman. And inasmuch as both holidays involve getting dressed up, it's somewhat understandable. But still, it's ."
11410,5,The Walton family of Walmart ... This one family owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people.,"February 23, 2016",economy;wealth,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",virginia,21,62,48,26,18,0,a campaign rally,"Sanders said the Walton family ""owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people."" The latest comparable figures, from 2013, support his . We rate it ."
16545,0,Says the character Freddy Krueger was based on a real serial killer.,"September 22, 2019",fake news;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A scary tale that Freddy Krueger was based on a real serial killer is recirculating on social media. This story is fabricated. While Krueger’s creator previously disclosed that ""Nightmare on Elm Street"" was inspired by a legitimate news account, that account did not involve a real-life serial killer. We rate this rumor !"
22229,4,Don Bolduc wants to cut trillions from Medicare and end Social Security.,"October 19, 2022",federal budget;medicare;social security;ad watch,maggie hassan,New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She formerly served as governor and as a state lawmaker in New Hampshire. ,new hampshire,2,5,2,2,2,0,an ad,"Hassan said Bolduc ""wants to cut trillions from Medicare and end Social Security."" In 2020, Bolduc advocated for cutting $1.2 trillion for Medicare and in August 2022 he called for ""getting government out"" of Medicare. In 2020 and again in October 2022, Bolduc advocated that future retirees transition from Social Security to private savings accounts. In September, Bolduc’s campaign told Politico that he no longer supports privatizing either program. But his October comments reiterated support for eventually changing Social Security to private investments accounts. Hassan’s ad  the trillions Bolduc once said he would take out of Medicare (it’s over $1 trillion), but Bolduc has endorsed gradually ending Social Security by moving future retirees into private investment accounts. With that clarification, we rate Hassan’s statement . RELATED: Fact-checking ads in the 2022 election campaigns RELATED: Democrats attack Republican Social Security plans. What’s in them? RELATED: Rick Scott repeats   that Democrats cut $280 billion from Medicare"
17758,4,"Says researchers found a ""fabric that kills coronaviruses","May 21, 2020",public health;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An article spread widely on Facebook says researchers have discovered a ""fabric that kills coronaviruses"" This particular application has not yet been peer-reviewed or approved by the FDA, but initial research shows electroceutical fabric is indeed able to neutralize the virus after a minute of contact with the electrical field generated by the fabric. The company that already manufacturers this product for use as a wound dressing hopes to have it ready for release later this year in antiviral face masks. So the signs are good, but given these findings are preliminary and haven’t yet been subject to peer review, we rate this ."
593,5,McCain opposed a requirement that the government buy American-made motorcycles. And he said all buy-American provisions were quote 'disgraceful.',"August 12, 2008",federal budget,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a radio ad,"I firmly object to all 'buy America' restrictions, as they represent gross examples of protectionist trade policy."" He added, ""Furthermore, as a fiscal conservative, I want to ensure our government gets the best deal for taxpayers and with a 'buy American' restriction that cannot be guaranteed."" The McCain campaign did not respond to Obama's charge. But his past words say it all. Obama's  is .  "
6455,1,"Gov. Nathan Deal ""has taken at least $15,600 from the (Koch brothers), their businesses, and their employees.","September 30, 2012",campaign finance,patriot majority usa,"Patriot Majority USA describes itself as an organization hoping to empower all Americans. Its action plan includes providing more money for public schools, improving the nation’s roads and bridges, supporting the federal health care law’s provision that allows parents to keep their children on their insurance until the age of 26, and closing tax loopholes for special-interest groups.",georgia,0,2,0,1,1,1,a news release,"So does that mean the Koch brothers support the policies of these two Democrats because of these contributions? To sum up, Patriot Majority USA says Deal accepted $15,600 in campaign contributions from businesses owned by the Koch brothers or employees who work for those companies. One of those employees cited had retired by the time he made two contributions to Deal totaling $7,500, nearly half of what Patriot Majority USA mentioned in its news release. The information in the release is not accurate. We rate it ."
8215,3,This is the first time in Texas history -- and only the fourth time in United States history -- that two women are running for the top spots.,"December 10, 2013",elections;women,gilberto hinojosa,"Gilberto Hinojosa, a former elected judge for Cameron County in the Rio Grande Valley, won election as chairman of the Texas Democratic Party in June 2012.",texas,0,2,1,0,4,1,an email blast,"Hinojosa said: ""This is the first time in Texas history -- and only the fourth time in United States history -- that two women are running for the top spots."" Hinojosa is entirely correct in reference to general elections nationally only if the 1998 victories of two Arizona Republicans are not considered. But two or more women have sought to be nominated for a state’s top elected positions more than 20 times since 2000. We rate this partly accurate  as . UPDATE, 4:30 p.m., Jan. 3, 2014 : We updated this article to note that in 1998, women ran and won the top state offices in Arizona. This change did not affect our initial rating.  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
13552,0,"Spicer: ""Trump has the legal right to cancel SCOTUS because they serve at his pleasure","June 21, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog,"The website that published the story did not respond to a request for comment, but it does contain a disclaimer published in the ""about us"" tab. ""USPOLN may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that don’t necessarily exist,"" the disclaimer reads. ""These articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney."" While some of the details about the press conference are correct, Spicer’s comments about the presidential ability to disband the courts is complete and total baloney. We rate this statement !"
4354,2,Republicans enacted the most drastic cuts to K-12 public schools of any state in the nation.,"September 22, 2011",education;state budget,mark miller,"Mark Miller, a Democrat, is the majority leader of the Wisconsin state Senate. Representing the Madison area, he has served in the Senate since 2005. He previously served in the state Assembly from 1999 through 2005. He became majority leader after a June 5, 2012 recall election shifted control to Democrats.",wisconsin,1,0,0,1,1,0,a radio address,"""  He cited media reports concerning a study by a liberal think tank. Researchers we consulted poked no holes in the study, but it only covered about half the states. And while Wisconsin did indeed lead in cuts by one measure, it was third according to a second measure that is highlighted in the group’s report. There’s an element of  in Miller’s , but he pushed past the limits of the study. We rate the statement ."
20544,5,Iowa ranks 45th in the U.S. for internet connectivity.,"November 5, 2021",infrastructure;technology,cindy axne,U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne is a Democrat from Iowa. She was elected to represent the states 3rd District in 2018.,iowa,1,1,1,1,0,0,a tweet,"Axne tweeted, claiming Iowa was the 45th state in the country for internet connectivity.  Various sources confirm Iowa falls behind other states, including BroadbandNow.com ranking the state as 45th for state broadband access in comparison to the rest of the United States.  Axne’s  of Iowa’s U.S. ranking for broadband connectivity is confirmed through reliable sources, so we rate it . "
726,3,There are so many loopholes ... our businesses pay effectively one of the lowest tax rates in the world.,"September 26, 2008",taxes,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Oxford, Miss","McCain’s repeated citation of statutory corporate tax rates is  because it does not take into account various deducations to which businesses are entitled. But we also think Obama’s assertion that these deductions result in the United States having one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world similarly oversimplifies things. It’s  for some business, particularly ones that can write off a lot of debt payments. But it’s not  for others. So we rate Obama’s statement ."
3800,3,"Says Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Julio Robaina ""has the highest salary among Florida mayors. More than $260,000.","June 20, 2011",candidate biography,common sense now,Common Sense Now is a third-party group supporting Carlos Gimenez for Miami-Dade mayor.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,an ad,"But Robaina received more than $105,000 for expenses, which he got whether or not he used the money on business. Other mayors in Florida are reimbursed for their expenses. We don't know how much of that money was used for legitimate expenses. So it's not fair to include all of that money as straight ""salary."" We rate this  ."
6231,1,"When it comes to jobless workers, ""Mitt Romney says he likes to fire people.","September 5, 2012",candidate biography;workers,jack markell,Jack Markell is the Democratic governor of Delaware.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,"Charlotte, N.C.","Markell talked about helping laid-off workers find jobs, then said, ""What do you think Mitt Romney would have done if that call came in? Well, Mitt Romney already told us what he would do. Mitt Romney says he likes to fire people."" He’s cherry-picking Romney’s words and putting them in an entirely different context. What Romney actually said was, ""I like being able to fire people who provide services to me,"" and he was talking specifically about switching health insurance companies if a provider isn’t giving good service. We rate Markell’s statement ."
14336,1,Says Delta offers a discount to Planned Parenthood.,"February 27, 2018",economy;guns,michael williams,State Sen. Michael Williams is a Republican candidate running in Georgia’s gubernatorial primary.,georgia,0,0,0,0,2,0,a CNN interview,"Williams said Delta offers a discount to Planned Parenthood. We found no  that supports Williams’ . Planned Parenthood said its donors and members do not receive any corporate perks from Delta, and Williams failed to show that one exists. Williams’ campaign said that a Planned Parenthood supporter is a Delta partner, but that’s also not . We rate Williams’  ."
6377,3,"Says ""you cannot implement Paul Ryan's plan without allowing for any increases in revenue.","September 23, 2012",federal budget,kasim reed,Kasim Reed is Mayor of Atlanta.,georgia,5,8,6,1,0,1,an interview,"To sum up, the mayor said, ""You cannot implement Paul Ryan’s plan without allowing for any increases in revenue."" Reed’s argument is strengthened by some of the nonpartisan historical research on tax cuts and its impact on the economy, as well as Ryan’s statements that he would propose ending some loopholes, which is another form of increasing revenue. But even critics of Ryan’s plan say there is a path to the deficit reduction the congressman has proposed, though Reed and others may not like cuts that would be required to line up with the revenue projections. PolitiFact Georgia thought long and hard about this one. In the end, we rate the mayor’s statement ."
1998,3,"Dave Aronberg ""was the first to demand that BP create a billion-dollar fund to pay for the devastation.","July 26, 2010",message machine 2010;oil spill,dave aronberg,"Dave Aronberg is a former state senator from Palm Beach County who campaigned to be Florida Attorney General and was defeated in the Democratic Primary on Aug. 24, 2010. He was elected Palm Beach State Attorney in 2012.",florida,3,0,1,1,0,0,a mailer,"There's no certain way to rule Aronberg first among state legislators without contacting every legislator. We didn't find anything showing any Cabinet members demanding an escrow fund before Aronberg, who wrote his letter May 5. We did find  that Florida Congressman Jeff Miller asked for an escrow fund May 3. Aronberg should have been more precise in his mailer, such as ""first state legislator."" For that omission, we give him a ."
8879,3,Rhode Island has the highest dropout rate in New England at twenty-three percent.,"April 30, 2014",education,clay pell,"Clay Pell is a Democratic who made an unsuccessful run for governor in Rhode Island in Rhode Island. He lost in the Democratic primary. A former deputy assistant secretary for international and foreign language education at the U.S. Department of Education, he is a grandson of the late United States senator, Claiborne Pell and the husband of former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan.",rhode island,0,2,1,0,0,0,a campaign website,"Clay Pell said, ""Rhode Island has the highest dropout rate in New England at twenty-three percent."" The campaign made an error in calculating the dropout rate, which, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education was actually 11.9 percent in 2011-12, the latest year for which figures were available. But the state did have the highest ""event dropout rate"" in New England, according to federal statistics. Because the statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate it ."
1301,2,"With a stroke of a pen, the (U.S. Supreme Court) decided to overrule the 100-year-old ban on corporate expenditures.","January 21, 2010",corporations;elections;legal issues;supreme court,charles schumer,Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York and the Senate majority leader.,national,3,7,5,5,5,1,a press conference,"But he ignores the fact that the ban on direct donations from corporations to campaigns still exists. And the oldest law that specifically banned independent expenditures dated to 1947. You could also argue that we should be dating this from the 1970s campaign finance laws, or even the 1990 Austin case. So he's exaggerating the scope of the ruling and how long the laws have been on the books. We rate Schumer's statement ."
18953,0,Says Joe Biden is wearing a foot boot to hide an ankle monitor.,"December 1, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .)   Newsweek reported that the  is being amplified by believers in the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which maintains that President Donald Trump is fighting a deep state coup and that Democrats and celebrities are running a child sex-trafficking ring.   We’ve previously debunked claims that actor Tom Hanks was photographed wearing an ankle monitor because he was purportedly arrested in Australia for pedophilia and that former President Barack Obama and talk show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres were wearing ankle monitors because they were under house arrest for child trafficking crimes .   We found no  to substantiate the  that Biden is wearing an ankle monitor or that he was arrested.   We rate these claims ."
19160,2,"Says Maxine Waters said Trump supporters are ""not welcome here"" and ""we must welcome everyone who crosses our borders.","November 18, 2018",immigration,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post says Waters said Trump supporters are ""not welcome here"" and that ""we must welcome everyone who crosses our borders.""  Neither quote is accurate. Waters did say that members of Trump’s Cabinet are ""not welcome anymore, anywhere"" in a June 2018 critique of the administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy, one that led to the separation of children from their parents at the Mexico border. But she did not direct her comments at all Trump supporters as this post suggests. We rate this post ."
19015,1,"An Austrian politician ""exposed the defectiveness of the government's Covid-19 tests by demonstrating how even a glass of Coca Cola will test positive for Covid-19.","December 15, 2020",coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"Schnedlitz did place a sample of Coke on a rapid test for COVID-19 antibodies and said it tested positive. But the company that makes the test said that isn’t surprising — because Schnedlitz didn’t do the test correctly. He left out a key step that would have yielded a negative result. Schnedlitz proved not that the testing device is defective, but rather that he did the test incorrectly. We rate the Instagram post ."
9553,1,"All four on Mount Rushmore, they were all independents at one critical point in their career.","October 16, 2014",elections;history,larry pressler,"Larry Pressler served as a Republican U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1979 to 1997, following two terms in the U.S. House. In 2014, he is making another Senate run from South Dakota as an Independent.",national,1,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign forum,"Pressler, an independent, said, ""All four on Mount Rushmore, they were independents at one point in their career."" It would be an effective campaign pitch, particularly in the home state of the iconic monument, but alas, it’s rubble. Of the four, Washington is probably the one with the most independent bona fides. You can perhaps make the case Jefferson was an independent ""at one point"" very early when parties were less common, but he went on to prominently serve as a Democratic-Republican — a party he helped found — as both vice president and president. However, there is no gray area when it comes to Lincoln and Roosevelt. Both switched parties, but were always affiliated with one and spoke of their importance. They never ran nor served as independents. We rate the statement ."
4097,3,Says a poll found him the only Republican candidate who could beat Barack Obama in Texas -- and by eight points.,"August 8, 2011",polls and public opinion,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",texas,31,33,58,35,32,19,a New Hampshire town hall,"In the June poll, all told, Romney performed better in Texas than other Republicans against Obama, but contrary to his statement, he was not the only Republican to best him. He was the only candidate who did so by more than the poll's margin of error. But Romney is hardly the only Republican who could win the state. No Democratic presidential nominee has carried Texas since 1976. We rate his statement ."
13549,0,"Says the manager of a Checkers in Miami Gardens, Fla., killed 10 employees.","June 22, 2017",fake news;punditfact,channel24news.com,A website that allows users to create fake news stories.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,an Internet post,"The site is registered to a Korry Scherer in Milwaukee, Wis . We attempted to reach Scherer at the contact information provided (there’s none on the site) but didn’t hear back. We didn’t find a record of a mass shooting at a Miami Gardens Checkers, although a man was shot and killed at another location in the town in 2015. As a word of warning to readers, it’s probably best to be wary of any article coming from Channel24News.com. We rate this particular statement !"
6121,1,Says House Republicans spent $50 million on 33 votes to repeal Obamacare.,"July 18, 2012",health care,betty sutton,Rep. Betty Sutton is a Democrat from Ohio's 13th Congressional District.,ohio,2,2,1,0,2,1,a campaign email,"First, Sutton’s campaign describes the money as wasted, which is an opinion that PolitiFact Ohio cannot rate. Beyond that, the  is not accurate. Her campaign applies the $50 million figure from the CBS report to something that CRS specifically warned was ""methodologically impossible.""   And as a member of Congress, she would have access to the CRS report from December which made that warning. On the -O-Meter, the Sutton campaign’s  rates ."
23039,1,"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posed improperly with South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo because he ""had a bit too much to drink.","May 18, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The photo is real, but Trudeau wasn’t standing like that because he’d had one too many drinks. The May 17 photo was posted by the Yonhap News Agency , and the caption said Trudeau adjusted his height to that of Kim. A full video of their meeting showed that Trudeau ( 6 feet, 2 inches ),  was initially standing properly while their photos were being taken, when Kim (about 5 feet, 7 inches ) tiptoed playfully to match Trudeau’s height. Trudeau then adjusted his stance. We rate this out-of-context  . "
7171,4,"Paul Ryan's budget ""keeps the Obamacare taxes and spending cuts that paid for Obamacare, but then cuts all of the benefits.","March 25, 2013",congress;federal budget;health care;taxes,bobby scott,"Bobby Scott, D-3rd, has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. The district is comprised of all of Charles City and Surry counties and Petersburg and Portsmouth and portions of Henrico and Prince George counties and Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond. Scott has seats on the Judiciary and Education and Labor committees.
Scott previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1979-83 and in the state Senate in 1983-93. He was a member of the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. He was a lawyer in a private practice from 1973-91.
Scott was born in Washington, D.C. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in 1969 and a law degree from Boston College in 1973.",virginia,5,7,1,1,4,0,a radio interview,"Scott said the House budget ""keeps the Obamacare taxes and spending cuts that paid for Obamacare, but then cuts all of the benefits."" There’s no doubt the GOP plan would eliminate the Affordable Care Act. But the tax part of Scott’s  has a bit of complexity. The House budget is based on revenue projections that assume Obamacare taxes will continue. What Scott didn’t say is that the plan calls for replacing the Obamacare levies with revenues that would come from reducing income tax breaks. We can’t entirely fault Scott for the omission, however, because the House budget doesn’t identify any tax breaks that would be pared -- it merely assigns that crucial work to a committee. So Scott’s statement is accurate, but needs some clarification. We rate it ."
2163,4,"When career politician Daniel Webster became speaker of the House, he wasted $32,000 of our money on a spiral staircase for his office.","August 27, 2010",candidate biography;ethics;message machine 2010;state budget;taxes,alan grayson,"Alan Grayson was initially elected to Congress in 2008, then defeated for re-election in 2010. He was elected again to Congress from a different district in 2012. He lost the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Florida in 2016.",florida,7,11,4,6,5,1,an ad,"Grayson's ad is unintentionally ironic in that Webster's ""stairway to nowhere"" actually now is a stairway to nowhere, as it's bolted to the ground of a seldom-used closet. The stairway leads to a concrete ceiling, which now serves as the floor of an office above. Those changes were made by Marco Rubio in 2006. The stairs haven't been used since then. But that's not how Webster left it. When he became speaker in 1996, Webster did what most every speaker has done in recent times -- he spent taxpayer money on House renovations. The amount has varied wildly over the years depending on the size of the renovation. Among the $100,000 or so Webster spent, he allocated just under $32,000 for a plain spiral staircase to internally link the Speaker's Office with the House Republican Offices below. While Grayson's ad is correct on the reported dollar amount and the type of staircase, we think it's slightly  for two reasons. First, the imagery displayed suggests an ornate staircase when the staircase is far from ornate and only a spiral staircase by necessity. Second, it fails to provide the context that most every speaker spends taxpayer dollars on renovations, and several spent more than Webster. We rate the  . Now cue the Led Zeppelin ... ( Update Sept. 1 : We reached out to the Webster campaign before publishing this story via phone and e-mail, but did not hear back. After publication, Webster spokesman Brian Graham said in an e-mail that the staircase actually cost less than published reports. The original construction contract was for $28,126. The state paid even less, $22,242, Graham said). ( Update Sept. 3: We noticed that the Grayson ad has been removed from his You Tube web page. We're not sure why)."
13884,1,"The Obama administration ""borrowed more than $10 trillion, right? And yet, we picked up $5.2 trillion just in the stock market. ... Maybe in a sense we're reducing debt.","October 11, 2017",debt,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity,"Trump said the Obama administration ""borrowed more than $10 trillion, right? And yet, we picked up $5.2 trillion just in the stock market. ... Maybe in a sense we’re reducing debt."" Trump seems to be signaling that the stock market gains can somehow be applied to paying down the debt. That’s not the case -- gains from a bull market accrue to stockholders, and the government doesn’t get its fractional cut until the assets are sold and taxed, if they ever are. So, whatever tax revenues from the stock-market run-up eventually flow to the government over the course of many years won’t make a dent in the debt, economists say. We rate the statement ."
2169,2,"Charlie Crist's ""personal approval numbers are plummeting.","August 31, 2010",elections;pundits,steven schale,"Steven Schale is a Democratic strategist who ran President Barack Obama's Florida campaign in 2008. He is principal manager of Schale Strategies, LLC and maintains a blog, www.stevenschale.com.",florida,1,0,0,1,0,0,a blog post,"Bottom line, polls are numbers and depending on what poll you're looking at and what time period you're examining, you can reach different but defendable positions. Rasmussen had Crist's job approval rating at nearly 70 percent in July, the second highest it's ever been. Quinnipiac polled Crist's job approval rating down 5 percentage points since 2008. The polling group found that Crist's favorable rating, meanwhile, dropped a total of 20 points from 2008 to 2009, before bouncing back. Schale said Crist's personal approval numbers are ""plummeting."" Pollster.com's tracking of several polls starting in October 2008 shows that Crist's favorable rating has declined among voters from around 70 percent, to between 50 and 55 percent. But Crist's position in voters' minds hasn't changed all that much for most of 2010, and even has rebounded a little in some polls, according to the same figures. His job approval ratings, meanwhile, haven't changed all that much in nearly two years. And pollsters say his numbers remain solid. We rate Schale's  ."
10475,4,"Says Hillary Clinton's ""campaign hasn't been clear about when she wiped her server of her work emails.","July 12, 2015",elections;transparency;punditfact,brianna keilar,Brianna Keilar is CNN's Senior Political Correspondent.,,0,1,0,0,0,0,"comments on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Keilar said, ""The (Clinton) campaign hasn’t been clear about when she wiped her server of her work emails."" The Clinton campaign told us the work-related emails were deleted off the server ""shortly after"" she turned them over to the State Department on Dec. 5, 2014, but did not provide a date. The paper trail so far gives us a window of sometime between December 2014 and March 2015, but no more.   That’s better than nothing, but Keilar is largely correct when she says the picture isn’t clear. We rate her  ."
9510,1,"In the last year, Wisconsin ranked third in Midwest job growth.","October 8, 2014",jobs,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a campaign TV ad,"Our rating In a new TV ad, Walker says ""the "" is that ""in the last year, Wisconsin ranked third in midwest job growth."" That’s old news. The updated ranking is fourth, closer to middle of the pack, something the governor knew before his ad aired. We rate the  . (Read our tipsheet on five things to watch for when you hear jobs claims)"
15278,0,"Voting for ""any Democrat"" gets you ""socialism ... undefended open borders ... immediate tax increases ... 100 percent government-run health care ...","October 16, 2018",immigration;elections;medicare;taxes,future45,Future45 is a conservative political action committee. ,national,0,0,1,0,0,1,a campaign ad,"Future 45 said voting for ""any Democrat"" gets you ""socialism ... undefended open borders ... immediate tax increases ... 100% government run health care ..."" The Democratic Party is a tent that houses a wide variety of views. Some candidates are self-proclaimed socialists, but even their platforms don’t fit the narrow definition of traditional socialism. Some, not all, support expansions of Medicare, but that would not qualify as 100 percent government-run health care. These and other policies may raise taxes, but immediate tax increases are unlikely under a Republican president. The tax increases on the table  target the rich and corporations. And finally, Congressional Democratic leaders have called for a restructuring of ICE, but no candidate has called for undefended open borders. The ad cherry-picks extreme positions and suggests all Democrats support them. That is  and . We rate this statement ."
7691,4,"Sen. Marco Rubio ""refuses to accept the basic science"" on climate change and is ""a climate change denier.","August 9, 2013",environment;climate change;science,organizing for action,Organizing for Action is a group that supports President Barack Obama and his agenda.,national,0,1,1,0,0,0,Florida,"Organizing for Action said that Rubio ""refuses to accept the basic science"" on climate change and is ""a climate change denier."" Rubio’s 2010 comments to the Tampa Tribune -- when he said, ""I don't think there's the scientific  to justify it"" -- represent the clearest  in support of the group’s charge. In that comment, Rubio does sound like he is denying the existence of science that supports the climate change hypothesis. Since then -- including on four separate occasions this year -- Rubio has expressed opposition to climate change policies while speaking more cautiously about the science that proves climate change is happening. On one of those occasions in February, he even conceded that he’s seen ""reasonable debate"" about the question. But in none of those instances did Rubio walk back his 2010 remarks, even though he had several opportunities to do so. We rate the  ."
21226,1,"Want a healthy, happy baby? Skip the Well Baby visits. They… make your baby sick.","March 30, 2022",children;public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"While there is a risk a child could become sick following a visit to a pediatrician’s office,  linking these two is not conclusive. A study Margulis cited as  did indicate a small increase in the probability of a child under 6 getting sick with a flu-like illness two weeks after their well-child visit. But even the authors of that study emphasized the importance of well-child visits and said the data undergirded the need for strong infection control precautions — not an end to well-child visits. Regular check-ups for healthy babies and children are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, the Mayo Clinic and more as a means to monitor growth and development and assist with parent education and communication. We rate this  ."
22121,1,"Ministros de Defensa de OTAN deciden invadir a RUSIA para prevenir ataque de Putin"".","October 17, 2022",military;facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia;politifact en español,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,una publicación en Facebook,"La alianza tampoco ha aplicado el Artículo 5, ya que Ucrania no hace parte de la OTAN.   Calificamos la publicación como Falsa. Lea más informes en español aquí."
8251,4,Federal law requires residents to participate in the U.S. government's American Community Survey.,"January 7, 2014",census;economy;housing;population,u.s. census bureau,The U.S. Census Bureau oversees the decennial government census and related research including the annual American Community Survey.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a mailing to Austin's Bob Cole,"The bureau said federal law requires U.S. residents to answer the ACS. Federal law mandates as much, but the bureau also doesn't seek to penalize individuals who fail to participate. The reality appears to be that recipients can refuse to comply. We rate the bureau's warning, which lacks this additional information, as .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
7130,1,"An annual income of $500,000 ""in Manhattan, believe it or not, is middle class.","March 24, 2013",economy,sal albanese,"Sal Albanese is a Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City in 2013. A former New York City council member, Albanese later served as managing director of Mesirow Financial.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a joint mayoral candidates' appearance on MSNBC,"Albanese said that an annual income of $500,000 ""in Manhattan, believe it or not, is middle class."" In reality, the upper boundary of ""middle class"" in Manhattan is probably between $130,000 and $180,000, which is well short of the level Albanese cited (a level he later backed away from). We rate the  ."
7755,2,"Says Obama ""exempted Congress and their staff from the full effect of the (health care) law.","August 8, 2013",health care,jim jordan,"Jim Jordan is a member of the House of Representative from Ohio's 4th Congressional District. A conservative Republican, Jordan is chair of the Republican Study Committee.",ohio,2,3,3,2,0,0,a news release,"Although Jordan says the  Affordable Care Act ‘s wording would require the federal government to discontinue the copay for Congress members and employees when they buy insurance through the exchange, the language of the law does not address that question. Authoritative sources like the Congressional Research Service and a Senate report on the health care bill long ago said the Affordable Care Act could allow continuing the employer copay for Congress members and their staffers. So while Congress and their staffs will be treated differently than some others getting health care coverage through the insurance exchanges, Jordan’s  goes too far when he describes the Office of Personnel Management’s ruling on co-pays as one that ""exempted Congress and their staff from the full effect of the law."" Nothing in the law says that congressional employees should be required to pay the full freight for their health insurance. On the -O-Meter, Jordan’s  rates as ."
19729,1,Says Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to Hamas leaders thanking them for uniting Israel.,"May 11, 2021",israel;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"On May 13, 2021, he wrote a new blog post titled ""I created a monster"" that addresses how his made-up speech started to spread without context.   ""I wrote a work of viral -news, completely unintentionally,"" he said. ""I wasn’t specifically intending for my openly fictional prose to get copypasta ’d and circulated as if it were real. … It seems that every time Israel goes into yet another round of fighting with Hamas, my monster, seemingly of its own volition, creaks open the top of its coffin, lurches out into cyberspace, and storms around the world, now in multiple languages."" We rate claims that Netanyahu made the speech that appears on this blog ."
18539,1,The government has released their initial plans to force a vaccine on everyone.,"September 16, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"""  The strategy also acknowledges that some people are wary of vaccines.   ""Strategic communications and public messaging are critical to ensure maximum acceptance of vaccines,"" it says, ""requiring a saturation of messaging across the national media. ""  An information campaign is planned to ""ensure maximum vaccine acceptance,"" the strategy says. Not force.   We rate this blog post ."
17764,1,The NAACP has endorsed me every time I've run.,"May 22, 2020",candidate biography;race and ethnicity,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,an interview on The Breakfast Club radio show,"Biden said, ""The NAACP has endorsed me every time I've run."" The NAACP does not endorse candidates. Biden’s campaign said he was referring to past ratings by the NAACP when Biden was a U.S. senator. The civil rights organization gave him a grade of 90% or higher five times, though on three occasions in the 1990s he earned a lower score. Those grades show that Biden’s record generally aligned with the NAACP’s priorities for most of his tenure in the Senate. But it’s not the same as an endorsement in a campaign. We rate this statement . "
22141,4,"When I was your governor, we reduced insurance rates by 10%.","October 4, 2022",economy,charlie crist,"Charlie Crist lost the race for Florida governor as the Democratic candidate in 2022. He served as a U.S. congressman from St. Petersburg since 2017 and resigned Aug. 31, 2022 to focus on his campaign.  As a Republican, Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011. Crist left the Republican Party in 2010 to mount a campaign for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist lost the race to Marco Rubio. In 2012, he endorsed President Barack Obama and announced that he had registered as a Democrat. He lost his race as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014.",florida,15,20,21,20,11,2,a campaign ad,"Homeowners' insurance rates initially fell then rose, leaving an overall reduction of 10% by the time Crist left office. Experts hesitated to give Crist full credit for the reduction, saying a large share of credit was due to revisions made to Florida's windstorm mitigation credits in 2006. It's also worth remembering that no major hurricane struck Florida during Crist's tenure.   Crist’s actions appear to be partially responsible for the 10-percent drop, though he likely attributed too much of an impact to his policies. With that clarification, we rate the  ."
15152,3,"Under Phil Bredesen, in sexual harassment cases, his administration chose ""to shred some of the documents so that women's voices would never be heard.","September 25, 2018",candidate biography;legal issues;women;workers,marsha blackburn,"Marsha Blackburn, a native of Laurel, Miss., was first elected to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in 2002. Blackburn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018,",national,1,0,3,4,4,0,"Nashville, Tenn","Blackburn said that documents in sexual harassment cases were shredded ""so that women’s voices would never be heard."" The attack stretches the facts of the case and ignores Bredesen’s remarks at the time. Out of 30 cases, investigation notes were shredded in two prominent cases. In both, the implicated officials were either demoted or resigned. When the issue came to light, Bredesen ordered that files be preserved going forward. The Nashville Women’s Political Caucus praised Bredesen for ""his open concern for protecting complainants' rights."" We rate this  ."
19874,1,"Says a 2010 Rockefeller Foundation report shows the COVID-19 pandemic and the international response were ""meticulously planned at least 10 years ago.","June 6, 2021",government regulation;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A widely shared Facebook post says a 2010 Rockefeller Foundation report shows the COVID-19 pandemic and the international response were ""meticulously planned at least 10 years ago."" The report, which focused on technology, was not a plan. It presented four possible scenarios of how the world might evolve, including one in which an influenza pandemic led to widespread government restrictions. We rate the post ."
17490,4,Images show COVID-19 victims being buried in mass graves in New York City.,"April 10, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"New York City’s Hart Island has been used as a public cemetery for unclaimed bodies since the 1800s, but the city’s staggering death toll amid the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the number of burials on the island.  Social media posts about the burials are  accurate, but many need additional information. We rate this . "
20307,2,"A funeral home used a truck to advertise the message ""Don't get vaccinated.","September 27, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,posts on social media,"Social media posts shared a photograph suggesting that a funeral home was seeking to increase its business by advertising on a truck with the message ""Don't get vaccinated."" The images are real, but the truck was part of a pro-vaccination campaign created by an advertising agency in Charlotte. No funeral home was involved. We rate the statement ."
15289,3,"Says ""over 40 Republican leaders denounced"" Steve Watkins' campaign","October 22, 2018",party support,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,national,1,1,8,14,8,9,a campaign ad,"The DCCC said that ""over 40 Republican leaders denounced"" the Watkins campaign. The big group of 40 that stated concerns did so in late July. Reynolds, the district official who made those concerns public, says the Republicans are now behind the candidate. It may be conditional love, and there may be holdouts among others in the district. When something was  months ago but the actors have changed their minds, and when the context needs to be explained this fully, we rate it ."
19361,2,The fastest-growing population in the United States is Hispanic.,"March 1, 2021",race and ethnicity,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,remarks with Mexico's president,"Biden said ""the fastest-growing population in the United States is Hispanic."" That’s : The fastest-growing group is Asian Americans, with Hispanics ranking second. Hispanics did record the largest numerical increase in population of any group between 2010 and 2019, but that’s a different measure than ""fastest growing."" The White House said Biden should have referred to the fastest-growing school populations, even though his remarks overall did not address education. We rate the statement ."
3650,4,Says the Obama Administration has fulfilled all of Texas' requests for fire management assisting grants.,"May 10, 2011",natural disasters ,jay carney,"Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, was formerly employed by TIME magazine and CNN, according to a TIME biographical post.",texas,0,2,1,2,2,0,a press gaggle,"Rhode Island has received the least (8). So far, Obama has issued one major disaster declaration for Texas — in August 2010, for Hurricane Alex, according to FEMA. Before that, President George W. Bush issued two major disaster declarations after hurricanes hit the state in July and September 2008. Carney correctly summed up the Obama administration’s approval of fire-fighting grants for Texas but he glosses over its denial of the disaster declaration, which could have covered more counties and provided retroactive assistance. We rate his statement as ."
7549,1,I'm the only candidate for governor who's rolled out any policies so far.,"June 11, 2013",elections,ken cuccinelli,"Ken Cuccinelli became acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on June 10, 2019. Cuccinelli, a Republican, was Virginia's attorney general from 2010 to 2014. In 2013, he lost the general election for governor to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. In 2016, he was a adisver to the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Born in 1968, Cuccinelli has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Geroge Mason University School of Law and an M.A. in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.
He represented Fairfax County in the state senate from 2002 to 2010.
 
 
 
 
.",virginia,3,2,5,1,10,1,a news conference,"At least twice, Cuccinelli has said McAuliffe hasn’t ""rolled out any policies."" McAuliffe has rolled out a number of detailed steps for ethics reforms in state government. His proposals to improve standardized testing in public schools and give localities options to end some taxes, while relying on commissions to make the hard decisions, both set goals and a route for achieving them. We’re not conferring wonk status on McAuliffe or anything close to it. But Cuccinelli’s statement is an obvious stretch and we rate it ."
21236,3,The price of insulin has been jacked up by Big Drug Corporations.,"March 16, 2022",health care;public health,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,Twitter,"Baldwin said ""the price of insulin has been jacked up by Big Drug Corporations."" There is no question that U.S. consumers pay more than those in other countries. And there is strong  that drug company profits are a key factor in the higher costs. But experts note that there are other factors involved – and other steps along the way where profits are taken. And those entities also play a role in the higher costs. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, our rating is .  "
1464,0,"A government panel that didn't include cancer specialists says women shouldn't receive mammograms until age 50...If government takes over health care, recommendations like these could become the law for all kinds of diseases.","March 16, 2010",health care;women,americans for prosperity,"Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group advocates for limited government, free markets and fiscal and regulatory restraint.",national,0,1,2,6,8,2,a TV ad,"With a mother who died of cancer, Walsh is practically a poster child for the kind of person who the task force believes ought to get a mammogram before 50. And she gets her insurance through her husband's insurance. Nothing in the health care bill would change how she (or the four out of five Americans like her) would have received care through employer insurance. More importantly, Americans for Prosperity seized on an issue -- free mammograms for women between 40 and 50 -- that was specifically taken care of with not one, but two, Senate amendments. We rule this  !"
20476,0,"The migrant caravan from Tapachula, Mexico ""is the population of Minneapolis.","October 23, 2021",immigration;border security,mary miller,"Congresswoman Mary Miller represents the 15th Congressional District of Illinois. She took office in January, 2021. ",illinois,0,0,0,0,1,1,a tweet,"Miller claimed the migrant caravan that set off from the southern Mexico city of Tapachula is ""the population of Minneapolis."" Minneapolis has nearly 430,000 residents, while the highest estimate we could find for the group leaving Tapachula was just under 1% of that total. We rate Miller’s  !  — The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
23069,1,"North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ""just ordered the evacuation of the capital city.","May 18, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post shared on Facebook,"A May 18 Facebook video’s caption claimed that Kim ""just ordered the evacuation of the capital city."" The post shared a video from 2017 — without listing its publication date — that referred to unsubstantiated claims from a Russian news outlet. We found no  that Pyongyang was evacuated in 2017 or earlier this month.  We rate this  ."
4221,3,"Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster"" than Mitt Romney.","September 7, 2011",jobs,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",national,26,24,43,30,31,18,a debate at the Reagan Library,"""Those are wonderful things, but Governor Perry doesn't believe that he created those things."" In ruling on this statement, Perry is correct that Dukakis did grow jobs at a faster pace than Romney. But we find little  that meant Dukakis was better at job creation. Rather, larger factors were at work, such as the way the computer industry in Massachusetts was developing, as well as national economic trends. So we rate Perry's statement ."
21473,1,The current monkeypox outbreak was planned by government and industry leaders.,"May 21, 2022",public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"In 2021, leaders from government, public health and industry discussed a simulated scenario of a monkeypox outbreak. The event was aimed at examining gaps in biosecurity and exploring ways to improve responses to threats. We rate this  . RELATED: What to know about the monkeypox outbreak"
2791,3,"Says Jim Renacci ran against the Washington establishment in the election, but is now ""hypocritically embracing it with big money, special interest fundraisers.","December 7, 2010",campaign finance;elections,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,ohio,1,1,8,14,8,9,a news release,"While Renacci publicly denounced Boccieri for accepting a large proportion of PAC money, he accepted PAC money himself all along, and continues to do so. He also publicly touted some of the ideological group PACs that backed his campaign. So while there is an element of hypocrisy given Renacci’s past criticism, the DCCC’s indignation needs to be put in context, especially since its candidate received a majority of his contributions from PACs. If Renacci’s PAC fundraising begins to outstrip his individual fundraising, he could end up deeper in hypocrisy territory. Meantime, we say the DCCC’s charge is ."
11924,3,"As Bernie Sanders said, Hillary Clinton 'voted for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions, millions of jobs.'","June 28, 2016",jobs;trade,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"Monessen, Penn","Trump said, ""As Bernie Sanders said, Hillary Clinton ‘for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions, millions of jobs.’ "" He accurately recasted Sanders’ words, but that doesn’t make the attack any more correct. Out of the 10 trade deals Clinton could have voted on, she voted in favor of six and against two. On two other deals (with Peru and Jordan), she didn’t vote but did vouch for them. As for subsequent job losses, independent research has shown the impact of NAFTA, for example, to not be significant one way or the other for jobs. Trump’s  is partially accurate and needs additional information. We rate his statement ."
1682,4,"California Republican gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman ""contributed to, and campaigned, for"" Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.","April 10, 2010",campaign finance;candidate biography;elections;message machine 2010,steve poizner,"Steve Poizner is the former state insurance commissioner of California. He was a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, losing in the primary to Meg Whitman.",national,0,1,1,0,1,0,a campaign commercial,"Signing on to a letter, by contrast, is a more passive kind of support, something closer to an endorsement statement. The Whitman campaign said she did nothing more active for Boxer than to sign the letter, and no  has surfaced to contradict that. The closest she came in the letter to ""campaigning"" was writing, ""Join our effort to keep Senator Boxer in the U.S. Senate by adding your name to the growing list of her supporters in the high-tech community."" Ultimately, whether that constitutes ""campaigning"" is a judgment call, and our view is that it probably would have been more appropriate for the Poizner campaign to have used the word ""endorsed"" rather than ""campaigned."" But it's unquestionable that Whitman supported Boxer financially and rhetorically in 2003, so on balance we rate Poizner's  ."
5439,2,"Ron Oakley's ""conservative leadership protected local taxpayers over government bureaucrats"" as the Water Management District's budget decreased by ""58 percent in the four years he served on the board.","April 16, 2012",water;taxes,ron oakley,Ron Oakley is a candidate for the Pasco County Commission in 2012. ,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a campaign mailer,"But the bottom line is most of those eye-popping cuts came as Oakley was leaving office, and they were specifically ordered by Scott and the Legislature. For most of Oakley’s four years at Swiftmud, the agency saw much more modest budget reductions, thanks largely to declining state money and falling property values. Oakley’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. In this case, Tallahassee politicians should get the lion’s share of the credit for the 2011 cuts. We rate Oakley’s  ."
5555,2,"Says Democratic recall opponent Tom Barrett is campaigning on ""lifting property tax"" limits.","May 7, 2012",city budget;city government;message machine 2012;taxes,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a TV ad,"It was part of a more sweeping  that taxes overall would go up with Barrett as governor. Barrett issued a statement during the campaign making it clear he wants to change the caps, so in that sense he would ""lift"" them. But he has not campaigned on the issue, nor spelled out how much he would modify the current limits. Walker’s  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression -- our definition of .   (You can comment on this item on the Journal Sentinel web site )"
11074,1,"The Milwaukee County bus system has ""among the highest fares in the nation.","November 22, 2015",transportation,chris larson,"Chris Larson, a Milwaukee Democrat, was elected to the Wisconsin state Senate in November 2010. A former member of the Milwaukee County Board, he is a candidate for Milwaukee County executive in 2016.",wisconsin,4,2,0,6,7,1,a TV interview,"The highest fare -- in Nashville -- was $4 per ride. Our rating Larson said the Milwaukee County bus system has ""among the highest fares in the nation."" But the system’s’ $2.25 cash fare wasn’t at the top of a national comparison, with fares reaching as high as $4 per trip. And regular patrons who use a Smart Card are charged just $1.75 a ride, making the Milwaukee County bus system about on par with average costs. We rate the  ."
11817,4,I've cut the budget of the (lieutenant governor's) office by more than half.,"April 30, 2016",state budget,carlos lopez-cantera,Gov. Rick Scott apointed Carlos Lopez-Cantera Lieutenant Governor in 2014. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2004-12 and then became the Miami-Dade property appraiser. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but then dropped out.,florida,0,2,0,0,0,0,an interview with Fox 13,"Lopez-Cantera said, ""I've cut the budget of the office by more than half."" He omits some context about how his office budget works. Scott recommends a budget, which is then approved by the Legislature. Lopez-Cantera's own resources may be limited, but he downplays the access he has to Scott's vast governing operation for assistance. Months after Lopez-Cantera started, the budget rose by roughly double to bring it more in line to where it was when a lieutenant governor in the office. But after that increase, the budget allotment dropped the next year to slightly less than when Lopez-Cantera started to $240,693 — a 50 percent decrease. The budget largely pays for Lopez-Cantera’s salary as well as a special assistant. We rate this  ."
11761,3,"Says North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers was the only Republican to vote against ""an amendment to prioritize the deportation of sexual criminals who are illegal immigrants.","May 19, 2016",immigration;congress;criminal justice;crime;public safety,george holding,George Holding is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina.,north carolina,0,0,2,0,1,0,a debate on WRAL,"Holding said Ellmers was the only Republican to vote against ""an amendment to prioritize the deportation of sexual criminals who are illegal immigrants."" Holding was correct about Ellmers’ conspicuous break from party ranks. But his description of the amendment was a bit , since anyone convicted of a felony for a sex crime was already prioritized for deportation. Ellmers has also long said she voted against the bill due to fears that it would lead to less reporting of domestic violence. That’s a key piece of context that was missing from Holding’s assessment of her record. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a5a4c9e6-33ac-4988-8016-3a5a41cb3c5d"
10852,4,We lose an average of 90 Americans every day because of guns.,"October 15, 2015",criminal justice;crime;guns,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",texas,72,76,70,43,31,9,San Antonio,"Clinton said: ""We lose an average of 90 Americans every day because of guns."" That’s about right. But it leaves unsaid that the bulk of those deaths are suicides, not homicides. Also, in 2013, the latest year of available data, the rate of homicides by firearm was lower than the rate for 1999 through 2013. We rate this statement .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
18910,4,"The law governing the transition of presidential power ""doesn't require there to be an absolute winner. It says the 'apparent' winner.","November 18, 2020",elections,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,a roundtable with healthcare workers,"Biden said the law governing the transition of presidential power ""doesn’t require there to be an absolute winner. It says the ‘apparent winner.’"" Biden has accurately phrased the language of the law, but the law is vague enough that it allows some leeway in making an ""ascertainment"" decision. It’s worth noting that the Trump administration has impeded a smooth transition in spite of the letter of the law, by challenging election results in courts. We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
3453,1,"For every 33 pregnant women that walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic, 32 receive an abortion.","April 14, 2011",abortion;deficit;federal budget,jean schmidt,"Rep. Jean Schmidt represents Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. First elected in 2005, she was the first woman ever elected to represent southern Ohio.",ohio,0,0,0,0,1,0,the House of Representatives,"That means that pregnant women seeking prenatal care from more than 700 centers would be referred to outside providers. Women seeking prenatal care are not likely to be seeking an abortion, and none of those women are included in the totals cited by Schmidt’s sources. Schmidt’s  also overlooks that pregnant women who ""walk into"" a clinic could be there for any reason, not just for pregnancy-related services. On the -O-Meter, we rate Schmidt’s statement . Comment on this item ."
17530,3,Covid-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States.,"April 20, 2020",public health;coronavirus,mandy cohen,"Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, was appointed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.",north carolina,1,2,2,0,0,0,a press conference,"Cohen said ""Covid-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States.""  That’s  only if you compare the number of people dying of coronavirus daily against estimates of other causes from previous years. The CDC has advised against using those daily numbers to make sweeping claims about the biggest causes of death in America. Cohen’s  is partially accurate but leaves out important details that would give a different impression about the broader situation of health risks in America. We rate it ."
19787,1,"943 innocent kids … are now injured or dead"" because of the COVID-19 vaccine.","May 23, 2021",public health;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claims that 943 children and teens have been injured or killed because of the COVID-19 vaccine. The post cites data from the government’s VAERS tool to back up this . For the 6-to-17 age group, a search of the VAERS tool turns up 46 reports of serious adverse events after a COVID-19 vaccination. But the agencies that maintain VAERS warn that the reports should not be used to draw conclusions about whether a vaccine causes a particular adverse event. There is no hard proof so far of anyone in the U.S. having died as a result of getting a COVID-19 vaccine. We rate this post ."
10449,0,"After actions by Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans, Wisconsin ""is dead broke.","March 15, 2015",education;state budget;taxes,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",wisconsin,0,2,7,1,8,4,a Facebook post,"Yes, there were tax cuts, and cuts to many programs along the way. All are  of changing policy priorities, with Republicans in charge. But they are not  the state is ""dead broke. "" What’s more, this  has been rated  enough times that to keep making pushes it to  . We rate the  ."
18741,2,Major decision protecting voting rights in Pa. Ballots received after Election Day will not be counted.,"October 28, 2020",elections;pennsylvania,justin clark,President Donald Trump's deputy campaign manager and senior counsel.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark tweeted that Pennsylvania ""ballots received after Election Day will not be counted,"" citing guidance released on Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Department of State in a subsequent campaign email. The guidance instructs counties to segregate ballots that arrive after 8 p.m. on Election Day but does not say those ballots won’t be counted. The extended deadline for counting Pennsylvania ballots is under threat, but unless and until the U.S. Supreme Court takes action, ballots received by Nov. 6 at 5 p.m. will count. We rate the statement ."
13541,2,I have seen crime increase in every major metropolitan area (in California) … Crime is on the rise in every major market.,"June 22, 2017",criminal justice;crime;the 2018 california governor's race,travis allen,"Travis Allen is a Republican and a member of the California State Assembly, representing the Orange County area. He is a 2018 candidate for California governor.",california,0,2,0,3,2,1,a campaign video,"Republican candidate for California governor Travis Allen recently claimed he’s ""seen crime increase in every major metropolitan area"" and that ""Crime is on the rise in every major market."" Allen’s  is partially correct looking at 2015 alone. A majority of the state’s largest cities and counties saw crime ratchet up that year -- though not all of them. But Allen’s overall assertion ignores the fact that California’s crime rate was at a historic low the year prior, the result of a decades-long decline. Additionally, the second portion of his statement, that ""crime is on the rise in every major market"" is contradicted by a 2017 analysis that shows total urban crime fell 3 percent in the first half of 2016 compared with the first half of 2015. In the end, we found Allen’s  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate his  .  –  The statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Visit our Tracking the  series  here  to see all of our 2018 governor's race fact-checks.  Governor’s race Allen is the latest of several Republican candidates to announce a run for California governor. The others include John Cox, a venture capitalist from San Diego County and Rosie Grier, a Hall of Fame professional football player. S everal prominent Democrats  are also competing in 2018 to succeed Jerry Brown as governor. They include former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa , California Treasurer John Chiang ; Delaine Eastin, the state’s former superintendent for public instruction; and Gavin Newsom , the state’s current lieutenant governor. A poll released 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. Tracking the : Hear a  you want fact-checked? Email us at  [email protected] , tweet us  @CAPolitiFact  or contact us on  Facebook ."
17854,0,CNN lightened the photo of the man who drove into the protester last night in Seattle.,"June 14, 2020",race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"(Screenshot from CNN) The original photo of Fernandez holding a gun was taken by Dean Rutz , a photographer for the Seattle Times. It does not appear to be lightened. The Facebook post is  and makes a  . We rate it !"
18014,1,"Wrong"" COVID-19 case count by Orlando Health ""explains the 'outbreak' in Florida.","July 14, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed: """" COVID-19 case count by Orlando Health ""explains the 'outbreak' in Florida."" State data show one hospital in the 13-hospital Orlando Health system reporting a 98% positive rate on its 522 coronavirus tests. However, systemwide, Orlando Health’s positive rate is about 10%. Around the state, some small labs have reported only positive tests to the state, possibly skewing to a small extent Florida’s overall positive test rate. But the size of the COVID-19 outbreak in Florida is reflected in the overall numbers — including the 301,810 total cases and Florida setting a one-day national record for cases. We rate the statement ."
4551,4,"Says Mitt Romney ""is committed to overturning Roe vs. Wade, and he supports such amendments that define a life as beginning at the moment of conception.","November 3, 2011",abortion;legal issues,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,a conference call with reporters,"Wasserman Schultz’s  that Mitt Romney ""is committed to overturning Roe vs. Wade "" is well supported by his comments at the town hall, and Romney laid the groundwork for supporting personhood measures in his Huckabee interview. We think, however, that Wasserman Schultz makes too much of a blanket statement about his views on personhood measures. Our experts tell us that it’s possible for a politician who said what Romney has to oppose some personhood measures based on their wording. On balance, we rate Wasserman Schultz’s statement ."
7016,4,"About two-thirds of all consumption is services. . . It was just the opposite"" when the sales tax was enacted in the '30s.","February 4, 2013",state budget;taxes,joseph testa,"Joseph W. Testa was appointed Ohio Tax Commissioner by Gov. John Kasich in January 2011. He is the 18th tax commissioner to lead the Ohio Department of Taxation. He previously held elective offices in Franklin County, including county auditor.",ohio,0,1,0,0,0,0,a news conference,"One could reasonably conclude that the same trend holds  in Ohio. Testa also said it was just the opposite when the state enacted its sales tax. On a national basis, the goods purchases didn’t account for two-thirds of total consumption in 1935, but it was a significant majority. And the numbers support Testa’s overarching point that the economy has changed significantly since then to be a service dominated market. With those points of clarification, the tax commissioner’s  rates ."
963,1,"Under the ""Cash for Clunkers"" program, ""all we've got to do is ... go to a local junkyard, all you've got to do is tow it to your house. And you're going to get $4,500.","June 18, 2009",pundits;transportation,sean hannity,"Sean Hannity is a conservative political commentator and hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, as well as two television shows on the Fox News Channel. In a 2013 interview Hannity said that he is a “registered Conservative” and ”not a Republican, though people often mistake me for one.” Hannity has authored three books.",national,5,2,4,5,14,1,a Fox News interview,"And the bill says anyone who knowingly violates the provisions of the program could face a fine of up to $15,000. The wording in the legislation makes this one an easy call for us. The bill is written to prohibit the very scenario Hannity describes as possible. His statement goes on the junk heap. We rule it .  "
127,0,"The signers of the Declaration of Independence were ""brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen.","October 21, 2007",religion,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,Orlando,"One issue that may contribute to the confusion about which signers had a history in the clergy is that during the time the Declaration was written, people who studied at universities often received doctorates of divinity, a common degree designation, even if they were not working clergy, said Mary Jenkins of the Independence National Historical Park. As for religious affiliations, all of the signers were Protestant Christians with one exception, Charles Carroll of Maryland, who was Roman Catholic. We'd like to give Huckabee every benefit of the doubt, but even if you consider former clergymen among the signers the best you could come up with is four. Out of 56. That's not ""most,"" that's  ."
13951,0,Alabama's Crimson Tide was disqualified from national championship.,"October 31, 2017",fake news;punditfact,breakingnews247.net,"A website associated with fake news, in which a user can create their own fake story.",,0,0,0,0,0,2,a headline,"A quick scroll to the bottom of one of these pages would reveal a disclaimer that says the site contains news ""created by users"" and therefore, ""should not be seriously taken or as a source of information."" Yet these pages are still shared as if they were . Breakingnews365.net is another prank site run by Nicolas Gouriou , the Belgian owner of a multitude of prank news sites. As we have previously reported , readers should be skeptical of stories found on these type of sites. The Crimson Tide is still eligible for the playoffs, so we rate this !"
7224,2,"The Manchin-Toomey amendment ""would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members"" to get government approval.","April 17, 2013",corrections and updates;guns,national rifle association,An advocacy group that fights restrictions on the right to bear arms.,national,1,6,1,5,6,4,a statement,"The NRA said that the Manchin-Toomey amendment would have ""criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution."" The amendment specifically exempted family and friend transfers from the requirement to conduct a criminal background check. But it did extend the requirement to Internet and gun show sales. So only if a friend or family member purchased a gun in one of those settings would the background check requirement kick in. That’s a limited circumstance, to be sure. And as Wintemute argued, it was added a layer of paperwork but did not make familial gun transfers crimes. The NRA’s statement contained an element of  but was otherwise a big stretch. We rate it . Update: This report has been updated to include a comment we received from the NRA shortly after we  published. The rating remains the same."
10587,2,"In FY 2014 Planned Parenthood performed 327,653 abortions while receiving $528 million from taxpayers, in violation"" of ""the Hyde amendment.","August 3, 2015",abortion;families;federal budget;state budget,john cornyn,"John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas, former Texas attorney general and former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He earlier served as a Bexar County state district judge.",texas,11,4,10,6,6,1,a tweet,"Cornyn said: ""In FY 2014 Planned Parenthood performed 327,653 abortions while receiving $528 million from taxpayers, in violation"" of  ""the Hyde amendment."" This tweet, which Cornyn later deleted, starts with basically accurate figures--the number of abortions provided by Planned Parenthood one recent year and government aid it says it fielded around that time. But linking the figures is  in that such funding largely pays for other health services. It’s also an unsubstantiated leap to say the money came in violation of decades-old restrictions on abortion funding. Far as we could tell, that just isn’t so. We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
20124,1,Says Kathy Hochul is Nancy Pelosi's stepsister.,"August 10, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",new york,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"There is no mention of Nancy D'Alesandro remarrying in a story about her death that ran in the Baltimore Sun . Neither is there a mention in an obituary that ran in the Tampa Bay Times that said Nancy D'Alesandro "" was married for 59 years to Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., former congressman, Baltimore mayor and member of the Maryland House of Delegates."" Hochul’s mother, Pat Courtney, died in 2014 . Her father is Jack Courtney . We rate the  that Hochul and Pelosi are stepsisters ."
15337,1,"Tina (Smith) profited from the opioid crisis."" ​","October 18, 2018",negative campaigning,karin housley,Karin Housley is a Minnesota Republican running for U.S. Senate.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,an ad,"Housley claimed Smith profited from the opioid crisis. The idea that the Smiths benefited financially from Abbott Laboratories’ actions a full 14 years before the company acquired St. Jude Medical goes too far. Smith’s husband does hold between $1,000 and $15,000 in stock in Johnson & Johnson, but it's hard to draw a straight line from that amount of stock ownership to ""profiting off the opioid crisis.""   Overall, the statement is not accurate. We rate this  ."
17152,1,"Coronavirus patients are being ""cremated alive"" in China.","February 25, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"We could find no other  that Chinese officials are cremating coronavirus victims alive. And to be clear, at no point does the video offer any firsthand . We reached out to G News for the source of Wengui’s video, but we haven’t heard back. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
3811,2,"Says President Barack Obama promised he would cut the deficit in half, but instead will at least double it.","June 10, 2011",deficit;federal budget;new hampshire 2012,tim pawlenty,"Tim Pawlenty is the former governor of Minnesota, having served two terms in office from 2003-2011.",national,2,6,3,2,3,1,an interview WKXL-AM,"There is some  to Pawlenty’s : Obama made a pledge to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. And he’s falling short so far. But there’s a lot more of Pawlenty's statement that’s . The deficit, which should not be confused with the debt, is projected to decrease, not increase. And even if Pawlenty mixed up the words or used the  fiscal year as a baseline, Pawlenty’s suggestion that the deficit could multiply by ""two, three, four or five"" is not supported by the facts. We rate Pawlenty’s statement ."
17785,2,"Piles of bricks are being staged in cities around the country, indicating riots are planned.","May 31, 2020",facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Law Enforcement Today article,"A Law Enforcement Today article claims that ""piles of bricks are being staged in cities around the country, indicating riots are planned."" While police in Kansas City have said they suspect bricks are being stashed for nefarious purposes, there is no  that such a tactic is being widely used. Officials in several other cities have said there is no connection between footage of bricks and Black Lives Matter protests. The article contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
8599,3,"Says Sen. Thad Cochran ""voted to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ... the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska instead of shifting the money to repair a bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina.","March 19, 2014",federal budget;infrastructure;transportation;weather,chris chocola,"Chris Chocola is president of the Club for Growth, an advocacy group for fiscally conservative, free-market policies. He is a former Republican member of the U.S. House representing a district in Indiana.",national,0,0,1,0,0,0,an op-ed supporting Senate candidate Chris McDaniel,"Chocola said Cochran ""voted to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ... the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska instead of shifting the money to repair a bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina."" Cochran did vote that way on a specific amendment. But just a few weeks later, Cochran played a key role in securing funding for the I-10 Twin Span bridge. It's  to suggest that Cochran supported the Bridge to Nowhere but not the project that was in his own neighborhood. The  is partially accurate but leaves out important context, so we rate it ."
1874,3,"Today, Florida is in 50th place in spending on education.","July 7, 2010",education,bud chiles,"Lawton ""Bud"" Chiles III is the son of former Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles. He campaigned as an independent candidate for Florida governor in 2010 and withdrew in September, between the primary and general elections, citing a lack of money.",florida,2,0,1,0,0,0,a statement on his campaign website,"It is  that the Florida Legislature has not made any gains in public school spending in recent years because of the stalled economy. This year, overall per-student funding increased from $6,842.29 to $6,843.51, or $1.22 per student, but the state got there by asking local governments to contribute more. There's no way to know whether that's enough to change any of these rankings, no matter which measurement is used. So no gold star here. We give this a ."
6053,2,"One of the key things about Leonard Lance is that in 2008, when you look at [the] Project Vote Smart website, he was not for guns. Now he has gone too far to the right, saying that you can carry concealed weapons in national parks.","August 5, 2012",candidate biography;guns,upendra chivukula,Upendra Chivukula is a Democratic state Assemblyman who represents parts of Middlesex and Somerset counties. He is challenging U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance for a seat in the House of Representatives this November.,new jersey,0,1,0,1,0,0,an interview posted on BlueJersey.com,"Chivukula said ""one of the key things about Leonard Lance is that in 2008, when you look at [the] Project Vote Smart website, he was not for guns. Now he has gone too far to the right, saying that you can carry concealed weapons in national parks."" There’s an element of  to this : Lance voted to repeal a ban on carrying weapons in national parks in 2009, as long as the gun owner complies with the laws of the state where the park is located. But to suggest Lance flip-flopped in taking that position is . The survey Chivukula’s campaign cited shows Lance, as a state legislator, favored enforcing New Jersey’s current laws. To say Lance was ""not for guns"" is . We rate this statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
2321,3,"Says Zack Space voted for budgets and debt, energy taxes and the stimulus, and ""we still lost more than 2.5 million jobs.","September 23, 2010",economy;federal budget;message machine 2010;stimulus;voting record;taxes,americans for job security,"Americans for Job Security is a conservative-leaning issue advocacy group that favors ""free markets and pro-paycheck public policy.""",national,0,0,3,0,0,0,a campaign ad,"But the ad gets some of its details , most notably Space's vote on increasing the debt ceiling. That point is flat-out . The ad also mischaracterizes cap-and-and trade legislation as an energy tax. Space did vote for cap-and-trade, the 2010 budget and the stimulus. Given the ad's inaccuracies, we rate its statement ."
4373,2,Senate Bill 5 makes it harder for nurses to give the patients the quality care they need.,"September 27, 2011",jobs;labor;unions,we are ohio,"We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that has come together to repeal Senate Bill 5 in Ohio. The legislation would overhaul rules for collective bargaining by public employees.",ohio,0,1,0,2,0,0,a television commercial,"This  goes one step further, saying it will make patient care harder to provide. Even more significantly, though, the commercial makes no distinction between nurses who are public employees and those who are non-public employees, and as such implies all nurses will suffer if Issue 2 passes. But only a tiny fraction of Ohio nurses are public employees - just four to six of every 100. A listener knowing those critical facts would have a different impression of the . On the -O-Meter, the  rates ."
6236,5,We have more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world.,"July 30, 2012",economy;jobs;science;workers,choose: new jersey,Choose: New Jersey is a nonprofit organization that markets the state to attract businesses and jobs to New Jersey.,new jersey,1,0,0,0,0,0,the Wall Street Journal,"Choose: New Jersey said in an advertisement that ""we have more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world,"" making the state’s workforce one of the most skilled and highly educated. Choose: New Jersey used a variety of data to reach its conclusion, from the U.S. Census Bureau to the CIA World Fact Book and more. PolitiFact New Jersey vetted the calculations and found that the Garden State does top the world in number of scientists and engineers per square mile: 29.8. We rate this statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
11440,1,"Says Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland ""voted, so the folks know, in Washington, D.C., to keep guns away from private citizens.","March 16, 2016",supreme court;punditfact;guns,bill o'reilly,Bill O'Reilly hosted The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News until 2017. He formerly worked as a television news reporter and has authored numerous books.,,2,5,3,5,6,1,"an episode of ""The O'Reilly Factor""","O’Reilly said Merrick Garland ""voted, so the folks know, in Washington, D.C., to keep guns away from private citizens."" Garland never heard the case about Washington gun laws from the bench, and so he never voted on it. He voted in favor of reconsidering the case, but it’s impossible to extrapolate from that vote his position on the merits of the case. We rate O’Reilly’s  ."
7368,1,"Forty-six cents of every dollar"" Ohio could get for Medicaid expansion ""is going to come from China or some other country that doesn't like us very much.","April 12, 2013",debt;health care;taxes,ron maag,"Ron Maag, a Republican from Salem Township, is a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He represents the 62nd District, which includes part of Warren County. Maag, a former salesman for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., also served on the board of the Warren County Farm Bureau.",ohio,0,0,0,1,1,0,a statement during a state House Finance and Appropriations Committee hearing,"We need not take up the last part of his sentence -- that the money would come from countries like China or others who don’t like the United States very much. But for the record, the Pentagon said last year that it does not view China’s holding of United States debt as a threat. Maag’s instincts tell him he is right. But the facts, projections and law, as they exist today, do not support his . We rate it ."
9128,4,The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit compared the health care law to buying a pepperoni and ham pizza from Domino's or Pizza Hut.,"July 22, 2014",health care,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,an interview with a Las Vegas news network,"Wasserman Schultz said the Fourth Circuit Court in its ruling wrote, ""If you ask for ham and pepperoni on your Pizza Hut pizza but then I actually go get your pizza from Domino’s, it’s implied if I bring back a pepperoni and ham pizza then that’s what you asked for."" This wasn’t the ruling of the entire three-member court, just one judge’s concurring opinion. And she did miss the distinction that the person ordering the pizza said in advance they wanted Pizza Hut, but would be ""fine with a pizza from Domino’s."" We rate the statement ."
9122,0,"More than 3,000 homicides were committed by ""illegal aliens"" over the past six years.","July 17, 2014",immigration;criminal justice;crime,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,an interview with Glenn Beck,"Perry told Beck over 3,000 homicides were committed ""by illegal aliens over the"" last six years. This  is unsupported by the presentation he relied on, which indicates that since 2008 in Texas, more than 200,000 arrested immigrants -- foreign nationals living here with or without legal permission -- had among them accumulated 3,070 homicide charges (not convictions) in their lives. Put another way, for this declaration to hold water, one would have to assume illegal immigrants committed nearly half of the state’s homicides since 2008; we found no such data. This statement is both  and . !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
3623,0,Says his barehanded catch posted on YouTube is real.,"May 19, 2011",baseball,evan longoria,Evan Longoria is the third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays and a spokesman for Gillette.,florida,0,0,0,0,0,1,comments to reporters,"From computer-added Gillette signage, to the reaction of the cameraman and the batter, from the way major league teams conduct batting practice, to the video , this viral YouTube video is a clever piece of advertising. And fiction. Longoria is a good sport -- and spokesman for Gillette -- for saying the catch is real. But we're not buying it. We say !"
2784,1,"Last year, ExxonMobil made $19 billion in profit. Guess what. They paid zero in taxes. They got a $156 million refund from the IRS.","November 30, 2010",corporations;taxes,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a Senate floor speech,"To his credit, Sanders did make that distinction in a June 9, 2010, speech , saying that ExxonMobil ""reported to the SEC that not only did it avoid paying any federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million refund from the IRS."" Still, while focusing on the negative-$156 million figure and saying that the company ""paid zero in taxes"" in 2009 was eye-catching, it is, at best, . And it ignores the fact that the company paid hundreds of millions in state income taxes, sales taxes and other types of taxes. We can't verify the company's  that its net tax was $500 million in 2009, but it's  for Sanders to say ""paid zero in taxes."" We rate his  . "
19618,1,"Derek Chauvin's attorney said that space aliens ""inhabited the body of Derek Chauvin and caused this death.","April 21, 2021",criminal justice,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,national,0,1,3,9,60,18,a TikTok video,"A TikTok video went viral, claiming that Chauvin’s defense attorney said that space aliens inhabited Chauvin’s body and caused Floyd’s death. Nelson wasn’t using that as part of his defense, but as an example of a capricious or fanciful doubt. Nelson was arguing that the points made in his defense were not capricious or fanciful.  The jury did not agree with his points and convicted Chauvin on all counts of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. Still, he wasn’t actually suggesting space aliens were to blame. We rate this post ."
5251,1,"Says ""the No. 2 cause of death in the U.S. (for) women under 50 is being killed by their spouse or domestic partner.","March 1, 2012",families;crime;women,rod monroe,Rod Monroe represents District 24 in the Oregon Senate.,oregon,0,0,0,0,2,0,a floor speech,"Monroe didn't have one -- and after days of searching, we couldn't find one. There is no doubt that intimate partner violence is a serious issue, but there doesn't seem to be any  that it ranks as the No. 2 cause of the death for women under 50. The highest it might rank -- and even this is a stretch -- is sixth place, according to CDC data. We rate this  . Return to OregonLive to comment on this rating."
17526,3,Hospitals get paid more to list patients as COVID-19.,"April 10, 2020",ethics;medicare;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A post shared on Facebook claims hospitals have a financial incentive to  patients had COVID-19, saying payment is three times higher if a patient goes on a ventilator. An article the post links to includes comments from a doctor who suggests the number of coronavirus cases is being padded. It is standard for Medicare to pay roughly three times more for a patient with a respiratory condition who goes on a ventilator than for one who does not. That has nothing to do with the coronavirus. As part of a federal stimulus bill, Medicare is paying hospitals 20% more than standard rates for COVID-19 patients. Indications are that due to a lack of testing and other factors, the number of coronavirus cases has been undercounted, not padded. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is ."
2441,1,"Loranne ""Ausley's a financial train wreck for taxpayers -- pushing gas taxes, property taxes, taxes on seniors.","October 13, 2010",message machine 2010;taxes,jeff atwater,"Jeff Atwater, a former state Senator from North Palm Beach, was elected Florida Chief Financial Officer on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014.",florida,0,1,1,0,1,0,a TV ad,"Time to take out the dictionary . There are several definitions of the word push, but in this context we find a couple that make sense - ""To cause to increase,"" and ""To press forward energetically against opposition."" Ausley didn't vote to cause those taxes to increase, nor did she press forward energetically with the taxes. She voted against cutting them. We find this  ."
5034,5,"A bill delaying the start of classes until Labor Day would permit school districts ""to shave 5 full weeks off the school year.","February 1, 2012",education;tourism,marc schare,Marc Schare is a member of the Board of Education for the Worthington City School District in northern Franklin County. The District includes Worthington and portions of Columbus.,ohio,1,0,0,0,0,0,an Ohio House committee hearing,"And knowing how schools would then react would require the ability to predict the future. As for Schare's  about what the bill would allow, his calculations check out. While the numbers he used apply specifically to his Worthington district,  he shows in his posted testimony that most districts in central Ohio would feel similar results. Regardless, in the statement we're checking, Schare said only that HB 191 would permit the 5-week shorter year, not require it. On the -O-Meter, Schare's statement rates ."
6742,2,More than 50 percent of those people getting minimum wage in this state are high school students.,"November 29, 2012",income;labor;workers,robert singer,"Sen. Robert Singer represents New Jersey's 30th Legislative District, which includes parts of Ocean, Monmouth, Burlington and Mercer counties.",new jersey,0,0,0,1,0,0,a speech on the New Jersey Senate floor,"During a speech on the state Senate floor about raising New Jersey’s minimum wage, Singer said, ""More than 50 percent of those people getting minimum wage in this state are high school students. Many of them work the Shore area."" Data shows that high school-age students are part of the largest percentage of New Jerseyans earning minimum wage, but the data is for an age range of 16 to 21. That means nonstudents are included. Singer said his figure doesn’t include students who may be paid ‘off the books,’ but there’s no way to quantify that group. As a result, there’s no clear proof that more than half those in New Jersey earning minimum wage are high schoolers even though it’s likely some high school students are included. We rate Singer’s statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com . Update: The minimum wage bill that Singer voted against also included a provision providing automatic annual increases in the minimum wage, starting in September 2013, according to Senate Republicans spokesman Jeremy Rosen. Further, Singer voted in the same hearing against tabling an amendment to increase New Jersey's minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, over three years, Rosen noted."
10270,3,"Due to ""over-incarceration … in 1950, two out of three young black men were in the workforce. Today, it's one out of three black men are in the workforce.","May 7, 2015",criminal justice;economy;jobs;race and ethnicity,thomas perez,"Thomas E. Perez was chosen as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Feb. 25, 2017. Previously he was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Secretary of Labor and was sworn in on July 23, 2013. He previously served as the Secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.",national,1,1,3,2,0,0,"an interview on MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","Perez said due to ""over-incarceration … in 1950, two out of three young black men were in the workforce. Today, it's one out of three black men are in the workforce."" Perez has a point that incarceration has made it harder for many young black men to find jobs. Perez’s problem was choosing a statistic that doesn’t precisely support his point. The decline in employment rates for young black men stems at least partially from improved educational opportunities -- which is generally a positive development -- and the data he offers specifically excludes currently incarcerated individuals. The  is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
21578,3,"$3 million per day in ""your tax dollars"" are being spent to guard ""unused border wall materials.","May 28, 2022",immigration,joni ernst,"Joni Ernst is a Republican senator from Iowa. A former state senator, she won the 2014 GOP primary for an open U.S. Senate seat and defeated Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley in November. She was sworn into Congress in January 2015, replacing long-time Senator Tom Harkin.",iowa,1,3,5,2,2,0,a newsletter,"Ernst’s May 28 newsletter claims that unused materials remain at construction sites, and that taxpayers are footing the bill to guard these materials. How much waste exists is a judgment call but Ernst is correct that around $265 million dollars in manufacturing materials, including panels, electrical supplies and light poles, were left at construction sites along the southern border with Mexico after Biden halted border wall construction. However, some of these materials are being used to repair gaps at insecure points in the barrier, while others have been sent to other government agencies, including the state of Texas for wall construction. No independent source has confirmed the $3 million daily cost that Ernst cites, and a nonpartisan government agency says reliable cost estimates for Defense Department work at the border are lacking or late. News organizations still are waiting to learn actual costs. We rate the  to be . Editor/Reporter Lyle Muller contributed to this story."
10109,4,"There's just one piece of legislation that is now law"" with Sen. Ted Cruz's ""name on it.","March 29, 2015",candidate biography;punditfact,dana bash,"Dana Bash is a reporter for CNN and host of ""State of the Union.""",,0,1,0,0,0,0,"comments on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Bash said there’s only ""one piece of legislation that is now law that has (Ted Cruz’s) name on it."" Of the bills Cruz has sponsored, only one has been signed into law. However, he has cosponsored two eventual laws, as well as many resolutions that passed but didn’t have to go to Obama’s desk (and don’t carry the force of law). Experts told us that this isn’t a great measurement of a legislator’s effectiveness, and there are other ways to show his impact in Congress. Also, Cruz has had many factors working against him: He is a junior senator, and he spent his first two years as a member of the minority party. Bash’s  misses that additional information. We rate it ."
9605,1,My opponent supported policies that increased tuition by 18 percent.,"October 20, 2014",education,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a campaign TV ad,"We concluded it is off base to put responsibility for the state budget and its thousands of provisions on an appointed cabinet secretary. Likewise, it is  to blame a secretary for spending changes in another department. Our rating Walker said, ""My opponent supported policies that increased tuition by 18 percent."" Burke was in state government when that happened, but Walker offers no  that she backed tuition hikes other than Burke lauding her boss as she went to work for Doyle. We rate his  ."
8825,4,"U.S. teenagers have now fallen behind their counterparts in Ireland, Poland and even Vietnam in math and science.","May 12, 2014",education,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,florida,14,24,17,18,5,2,a speech at the Manhattan Institute,"Bush said that ""U.S. teenagers have now fallen behind their counterparts in Ireland, Poland and even Vietnam in math and science."" Bush correctly cites data from PISA showing the United States trails the three countries in question. But it’s not so much that the United States has ""fallen behind"" -- the U.S. has been behind Ireland and Poland for years, and Vietnam was first tested in 2012. On balance, we rate the  ."
8519,0,"Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin ""unemployment's up"" from 4.8% to 6.2%","March 5, 2014",corporations;economy;jobs,mary burke,"Burke is a former Trek Bicycle executive and former Wisconsin Commerce Department secretary who announced on Oct. 7, 2013 that she would seek the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin in the fall 2014 election against incument Republican Gov. Scott Walker. She lost to Walker on Nov. 4, 2014. She is a school board member in Madison, Wisconsin.",wisconsin,2,8,11,5,5,3,a TV ad,"Moreover, during Walker’s time as governor, unemployment started at 7.7 percent, not 4.8 percent. And rather than trending upward, the rate has steadily dropped to 6.3 percent. For a  that is  and , we give Burke a . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page . Follow us on Twitter and Facebook ."
5769,1,"Says that under President Obama, there's been a substantial increase in federal government jobs.","June 14, 2012",economy;jobs,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,a conference call with reporters,"At the local government level, cities, towns, townships and counties dropped overall employment from 14.594 million when the stimulus passed to 14.077 million in May, a loss of 517,000 jobs. The losses came as local and state governments cut their payrolls in response to lower tax collections -- itself a result of the weak economy. As for federal employment, the subject of Portman’s , it  shows a net growth in the three-plus years since the stimulus passed, but that growth is modest at best, and it is now trending downward month after month. Characterizing a net increase of less than 1 percent as substantial is . On the -O-Meter, Portman’s  rates .  "
6853,4,"Says Rick Scott's proposal for election reform ""only mandates 48 hours of early voting.","January 17, 2013",elections,pink slip rick,PinkSlipRick.com is an attack website that was created to measure the jobs Florida Gov. Rick Scott is eliminating or causing the state of Florida to lose by his decisions.,florida,0,1,0,0,0,1,social media posts,"Pink Slip Rick’s remark is accurate but leaves out part of the story. Scott’s proposal would mandate a minimum of 48 hours, but it would also let supervisors offer a maximum of 168 hours. Local supervisors would make the call, and the ones we spoke with said they would offer more than the bare minimum. Still, the group is right that 48 hours would be the mandated minimum. The statement is accurate but needs clarification. We rate it ."
18578,2,"When Sara Gideon ""knew the truth about"" sexual allegations against a state lawmaker, ""she could have called for an immediate investigation, but didn't…Gideon knew for months, using her power to cover up.","October 6, 2020",children;ethics,national republican senatorial committee,The National Republican Senatorial Committee helps elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate.,,1,3,11,18,14,7,an ad,"The National Republican Senatorial Committee said that when Gideon ""knew the  about"" sexual allegations against a state lawmaker, ""she could have called for an immediate investigation, but didn’t…Gideon knew for months, using her power to cover up."" There is no  that Gideon knew ""the ."" She said that in early 2018 she heard rumors about the allegations, but did not know of any proof. There is also no  she took any action to cover up the matter. When a news article made the allegations public, Gideon called on the lawmaker to resign. We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more."
437,5,"Hillary Clinton advocates ""a freeze on foreclosures. Barack Obama said no.","April 29, 2008",economy,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,a television ad,"He favors a $10 billion fund that would help homeowners avoid foreclosures. He also proposes reforms to bankruptcy court that would allow judges to modify mortgage terms. Of course, Clinton's ad doesn't explain any of that. But it's not  when it says that Obama opposes the foreclosure freeze. We find her statement ."
4851,4,Says the state tax burden per citizen in New York is twice as high as in Florida.,"January 10, 2012",economy;taxes,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,State of the State address,"Scott correctly cites that New York's state tax burden per person is twice as much as it is in Florida, and no doubt this fact could be attractive to businesses thinking of moving to Florida. But businesses likely consider more than just tax burden when thinking of where to locate their businesses, and some states with higher tax rates have more robust economies. Still, if you want to count Florida's positives for business, a low tax burden is surely one of them. We rate this ."
11158,1,"The United States has a ""record number of abortions year after year after year.","January 20, 2016",abortion,carly fiorina,Carly Fiorina is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. She is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). She was defeated in her attempt as the Republican nominee to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010.,national,3,3,4,5,5,2,Des Moines,"Fiorina said the United States has a ""record number of abortions year after year after year."" In reality, the raw number, the rate and the ratio of abortions compared to live births has been falling since the early 1980s, and the decline shows no signs of stopping. We rate Fiorina’s statement ."
20017,2,"Unvaccinated, you can get COVID and have over 99% chance of survival. Get vaccinated and you can still get COVID and will still have over 99% chance of survival.","July 18, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,tomi lahren,Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren is a Fox Nation talk show host.,,0,0,0,1,1,0,a Facebook post,"Lahren said: ""Unvaccinated, you can get COVID and have over 99% chance of survival. Get vaccinated and you can still get COVID and will still have over 99% chance of survival."" Mortality data shows that some 99% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. do not result in death, but the survival rate for the population at large is not the same as an infected individual’s chance of survival, which depends on many risk factors. The  also leaves out important context: the role of vaccines in preventing infections that could lead to death. Preliminary data indicate that in recent months, more than 99% of COVID-19 deaths have been among people who have not been vaccinated. The  contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression — our definition of ."
17106,0,Says a photo shows an elephant carrying a lion cub to a pool of water so it wouldn't die.,"February 17, 2020",animals,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A post published on the account’s website the following day explained that the photo is indeed a joke.    ""We had to spend hours perfecting the Photoshop,"" it says. ""We wanted it to be good enough to fool most, yet obvious enough to cause the """" or ""Photoshopped"" comments to come through."" Not everyone got the joke, of course, and people continue to post the image on Facebook believing it’s real. We rate it !."
10415,0,"Says South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ""is an immigrant.","June 24, 2015",immigration;candidate biography;history;punditfact,ann coulter,Ann Coulter is a conservative columnist and author.,,1,1,3,2,3,6,comments on Fox Business Network,"Coulter said Haley is an immigrant and went on to suggest that Haley doesn't understand American history because she is less-American than others (namely, Coulter). Haley was born in South Carolina, and is no more an immigrant than Coulter, who describes herself of Scottish descent . We rate Coulter’s  ."
4822,5,"Says he's proposed ""the largest employer contribution to the Virginia Retirement System in history.","December 19, 2011",pensions,bob mcdonnell,"Bob McDonnell is the Republican governor of Virginia until January 2014. McDonnell was elected over Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2006 and as state Attorney General from 2006 to 2009.
McDonnell graduated from the University of Nortre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in 1976. He then served in the U.S. Army on active duty from 1976 to 1981 and in the reserves until 1997, retiring as a lieutenant colenel. He received a master's degree in business adminsitration from Boston University in 1980 and a master's and law degree from Regent University, Virginia Beach, in 1989.",virginia,8,6,7,6,5,3,a speech,"Even when adjusting for inflation, the 2007-08 contributions were still the high-water mark for employer contributions to the pension system, coming in at just more than $1.8 billion in current dollars. McDonnell’s proposal eclipses that. Our Ruling: The governor said his proposed $2.21 billion employer contribution for state worker and teacher pensions would be the largest in VRS history. For as far back as the data goes, the governor’s statement is correct even when adjusting for inflation. We rate the  ."
4202,0,"Say Ohio Reps. Marcia Fudge, Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich are ""socialists who are openly serving in the U.S. Congress.","August 12, 2011",candidate biography,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,ohio,8,18,24,53,233,396,web pages,"""I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve tried to stop it."" Misinformation and smear campaigns also are part of political life. But these persistent claims about socialists are riddled with errors and outright lies. Any one of the problems would be sufficient to discredit the report, but taken together, the effort is flagrantly . For that reason, we rate this : ."
15994,1,Says Mitch McConnell was cured of polio when he was a child by government-funded care and now he's trying to take that same care away from millions of Americans,"April 22, 2019",health care;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"That materialized in the mid 1950s, when Jonas Salk successfully developed the polio vaccine . While Roosevelt’s political office promoted the fundraising for polio care and research, and the president used his name and popularity to help raise funds, the money came from the charity of the American people, as well as celebrities and corporations. The care McConnell received as a toddler was not taxpayer or government-funded, as the viral meme suggests. The facility operated as a nationwide nonprofit organization. We rate this meme ."
7899,4,"Louie Gohmert of Texas ""compared the current general-in-charge in Egypt to George Washington.","October 3, 2013",history;foreign policy;pundits,gail collins,Gail Collins is a columnist with the New York Times. She previously served on the New York Times editorial board and as a columnist for the New York Daily News and Newsday.,texas,1,3,1,2,1,0,her oped column,"Collins said Gohmert compared the current general-in-charge in Egypt to George Washington. Gohmert linked the Egyptian general and Washington. But this statement could benefit from the clarification that Gohmert’s comparison was limited to each figure’s desire to put his country ahead of himself; he did not compare other aspects of their characters or achievements. We rate this , which would have benefited from clarification, as .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
16101,5,"In fact, 'high Crimes and Misdemeanors' is not defined in the Constitution and does not require corresponding statutory charges. The context implies conduct that violates the public trust—and that view is echoed by the Framers of the Constitution and early American scholars.","May 20, 2019",legal issues,justin amash,Representative Justin Amash represents Michigan’s Third District. He was elected to his first term in 2010.,national,1,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Amash said that ""high crimes and misdemeanors"" is not defined in the Constitution but that the framers envisioned the phrase applying to violations of the public trust rather than just statutory crimes. We found that the writings of the Constitution’s framers, the discussions in the drafting of the Constitution, and the opinions of legal experts today all support Amash’s description. We rate his statement ."
13498,3,This is not the first time (the Russians) have been involved in our elections.,"June 8, 2017",elections;history;foreign policy,richard burr,"Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, has been a U.S. Senator since 2005.",north carolina,1,2,2,0,0,0,an interview,"Burr said that when it comes to Russian spies, ""this is not the first time they’ve been involved in our elections."" There’s no public  the post-Cold War Russian government has ever meddled at anywhere near the levels of 2016, when U.S. officials say the Kremlin tried to help Trump’s campaign. However, during the Cold War there were a few Soviet attempts to hurt or help specific candidates. Yet 2016 was the first time in 40 years the United States is known to have seen this type of interference. Since Burr’s  has some  to it but gives an impression that’s slightly , we rate this  ."
21283,1,"Dave McCormick is ""liberal, pro-Biden, pro-China.","April 12, 2022",china;ad watch,mehmet oz,Physician and talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz is a 2022 candidate for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania.,pennsylvania,0,0,0,3,2,0,an ad,"Oz said in an ad that McCormick is ""liberal, pro-Biden, pro-China."" McCormick touts a conservative agenda and has been harshly critical of Biden. McCormick has had some more conciliatory things to say about China in the past, but even that was tempered with comments of concern. He is campaigning on standing up to China, including launching his race with a promise to end U.S. dependence on China. We rate this  . RELATED: Dr. Oz claimed that GOP Senate rival McCormick ‘bragged’ about offshoring jobs. That lacks  RELATED: No proof for Dr. Oz’s  that Pa. GOP Senate rival Dave McCormick ‘paid for attacks’ on Trump RELATED: No  for Senate hopeful McCormick’s  that China created COVID-19 RELATED: In Pa. Senate run, Dr. Oz casts self as pro-Second Amendment, but he has backed gun-control measures RELATED: The race for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat: A guide RELATED: 2022 candidates use ads vowing to be tough on China, or attacking rivals as too soft on China"
15295,1,"President Donald Trump signed DEPLOYMENT ORDERS for the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army, instructing them to deploy from Ft. Bragg, NC, to the U.S. southern border at Mexico.","October 22, 2018",immigration;fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"Elements of this Facebook post contain granules of factual information: The caravan is large and has been growing, though size estimates vary and there are now reports that weary walkers are turning back. Trump has also threatened to deploy troops to the border. Reports indicate he may send about 800 troops there to offer support. But Trump has not signed deployment orders for the 82nd Airborne Division, as this post specifically claims. We rate this statement .  "
10195,2,Rosalyn Dance voted against President Obama's Medicaid expansion.,"March 25, 2015",health care;state budget;voting record,joe morrissey,"Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, was elected to the Virginia Senate in 2019. He previously represented the Richmond area in the House of Delegates from 2008 to 2014 as a Democrat and in 2015 as an Independent.
He was the Commonwealth's Attorney for Richmond in 1989 to 1993. Morrissey, an attorney, was disbarred in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2001 due to unethical and inappropriate behaviour. His license was revoked by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board in 2003. He was reinstated to the bar in 2011, but his license was revoked again in 2018.
Morrissey received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Virginia in 1979 and a law degree from Georgetown University Law School in 1982.",virginia,0,1,1,1,1,0,a campaign flier,"Morrissey says Dance ""voted against President Obama’s Medicaid expansion."" Dance, as Morrissey points out, has voted for state budgets that didn’t expand Medicaid. But that doesn’t mean she was voting against the Medicaid growth specifically.  Budgets are huge documents that fund more than $44 billion in state programs a year and go through many  votes. Sometimes Dance shunned protest votes against the budgets that did not expand Medicaid because, she says, she supported many other priorities in the spending plan. In 2014, however, she joined all fellow Democrats in voting against the a final budget. It’s important to note that Dance always voted in favor of expanding Medicaid when faced with specific floor votes on the issue. So Morrissey’s statement is highly  and we rate it ."
297,3,"But it was Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Tom Brokaw, who quote 'paid tribute' to Ronald Reagan's economic and foreign policy.","January 23, 2008",history,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,South Carolina,"""In 1969, who would have imagined that the Hillary Rodham on the Wellesley commencement stage would find herself 38 years later paying tribute to Ronald Reagan?"" Compare that text with Obama's ad, and you'll see that Clinton didn't offer overall praise for Reagan's economic record. In fact, what she did was single out what she saw as his appreciation for the challenges of the working class and his willingness to reverse course when taxes were cut too much. It's  that Brokaw summarized this as paying tribute, but it still looks to us like the Obama ad somewhat mischaracterizes what Clinton said about Reagan. This leads us to rate it ."
23031,4,The New York state budget covers 96% of eligible preschoolers,"May 9, 2023",education;state budget,kathy hochul,"Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is the governor of New York state. She is a former member of Congress.",new york,2,4,1,0,0,1,a news conference,"Our ruling  Hochul said 96% of eligible preschoolers will be covered by funding for public prekindergarten programs in the 2023-24 budget.   If you’re familiar with the way the state calculates how many 4-year-olds are considered eligible, and how public prekindergarten operates — or doesn’t, in some cases — what Hochul said might make sense. If you’re not, you might think that nearly every 4-year-old will be able to go to pre-K. It is accurate that the state budget has funding for 96% of eligible 4-year-olds to go to prekindergarten. While we can’t predict how many 4-year-olds will be enrolled in September – and even the state estimates the number with its 85% figure – readers should know that school districts have other barriers to starting or expanding pre-K programs.   The governor's statement is accurate, but it needs clarification or additional information, so we rate her  ."
18637,3,"Says Debbie Mucarsel-Powell's family received $700,000 from the firm of ""violent warlord Ihor Kolomoisky,"" who is compared to Fidel Castro and Nicolás Maduro.","October 7, 2020",ethics;crime;military,congressional leadership fund,The Congressional Leadership Fund is a super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and strengthening the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives.,florida,0,2,4,5,5,0,an ad,"Making a guilt-by-association attack, the Congressional Leadership Fund says Mucarsel-Powell's family received $700,000 from the firm of ""violent warlord Ihor Kolomoisky,"" comparing him to Fidel Castro and Nicolás Maduro.  The comparison of the Ukrainian oligarch to authoritarian leaders of two nations is a stretch. Mucarsel-Powell’s husband, Robert Powell, was paid $695,000 by a company partly owned by Kolomoisky, but he has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with allegations made against Kolomoisky. We rate the statement ."
10228,1,We spend more money on antacids than we do on politics.,"May 3, 2015",campaign finance;economy,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,"comments on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Boehner said Americans spend more on antacids than they do on politics. But the  Boehner’s office cited was based on worldwide antacid sales. Americans themselves spent more than $2 billion on antacids each year, reports show. Federal campaign spending tops that no matter how you cut it. Using the source provided by Boehner’s office, the total in 2014 was about $3.8 billion. Factoring in state elections makes the disparity even greater. We couldn’t swallow this . We rate it ."
11318,1,"Says Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele spent ""$100,000 of taxpayer money on a new luxury SUV.","January 15, 2016",county budget,wisconsin working families party,The Wisconsin Working Families Party is a coalition of labor and community groups. The organization says it supports progressive issues and candidates. It is led by Milwaukee County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic.,wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a direct mail flier,"Our rating Wisconsin Working Families said Abele spent ""$100,000 of taxpayer money on a new luxury SUV."" In a footnote, the group cited a Journal Sentinel column that stated the vehicle was part of a package of security services, presumably just like the uniforms, radios and other items used by the two guards assigned to the Abele detail. The county’s lawyer told the group the same thing -- the county paid a flat fee. In any case, the vehicle was not bought by county taxpayers. We rate the  ."
17619,2,"Under the mayor's COVID-19 order, Kansas City ""churchgoers must register with the government.","May 1, 2020",corrections and updates;government regulation;religion;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,liberty counsel,"The Liberty Counsel advances religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.",,0,0,0,1,0,1,a blog post,"An article shared on Facebook claimed that under a Kansas City mayor’s COVID-19 order, Kansas City ""churchgoers must register with the government."" As part of an order governing the gradual reopening of the city, the mayor initially ordered churches to keep lists of people attending church gatherings so that attendees could be contacted if a coronavirus outbreak traced to a particular gathering occurred. Four days later, that order was changed to make attendance list keeping recommended, but not mandatory.  However, no order ever required churchgoers to register with the government. In the event of a COVID-19 outbreak, however, it’s possible that names on attendance lists kept by churches would be turned over to the city. The  contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. That’s our definition of  . UPDATE , May 11, 2020: This story has been updated to reflect that Liberty Counsel updated its blog post with a new headline following publication of this fact-check. "
19642,1,"Human trafficking and drugs"" at the Mexico border have ""doubled, tripled and quadrupled"" since Joe Biden became president.","April 19, 2021",immigration;drugs;facebook fact-checks,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview on Fox News,"Trump said ""human trafficking and drugs"" at the Mexico border have ""doubled, tripled and quadrupled"" since Biden became president. Experts on trafficking said they have not seen such an increase and that there is no data to back Trump’s .  Federal figures show the amount of drugs seized at the southwest border is lower during the first three months of 2021 than in the first quarter of 2020, while the number of drug seizures is up about 11%. We rate Trump’s statement ."
2779,3,"An overwhelming majority of Americans support passage of the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youth willing to work for a college degree or serve in our armed forces.","December 6, 2010",immigration;education;families;military,organizing for america,Organizing for American was created from Barack Obama's campaign organization after the election of 2008. It is an advocacy group affiliated with the Democratic National Committee.,texas,0,0,2,0,0,1,a press release,"Forty percent said they'd vote against, We set aside the First Focus poll (in which 70 percent favored the act) and the FAIR poll (in which 54 percent opposed acting on it now) as unreliable. That leaves the Rasmussen poll, for which we have scant methodological information (52 percent of those voters favored the act), the poll taken for America's Voices (66 percent in favor) and the fresh Gallup poll ( 54 percent in favor of a key aspect of the act). ""Overwhelming"" public support? That's questionable. But polling consistently shows a majority of Americans favor giving undocumented immigrant children a way to gain legal residency."
10486,3,"Limberbutt McCubbins (a five-year-old cat) is a candidate"" in the 2016 presidential election.","July 9, 2015",animals;corrections and updates;elections,limberbutt mccubbins,Limberbutt McCubbins is a five-year-old cat from Kentucky running for president in 2016.,national,0,0,1,0,0,0,comments on his website,"McCubbins, a five-year-old cat, said, ""Limberbutt McCubbins is a candidate"" in the 2016 presidential election. Yes, this is the first time we're fact-checking a  made by a cat. (Though we have fact-checked a terrier who supported Mitt Romney in 2008.) Limberbutt’s campaign manager has filed official paperwork, but the FEC doesn’t deem him formally a candidate, because he hasn’t spent or received $5,000. (This is also the case for some human candidates.) Experts told us it’s very unlikely that he’ll appear on any ballots as a candidate, and it’s even more unlikely that his candidacy will stand in a court of law. We rate Limberbutt’s  ."
16749,0,"Says ABC 7 reported the Santa Clarita high school shooting ""3 weeks in advance.","November 15, 2019",fake news,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"All reporting about that shooting began Nov. 14, not earlier. This appears to be another example of a so-called "" flag"" theory fueled through social media that often follows mass shootings. Such theories seek to promote the notion that these mass horrors never happened and are the invention of a media conspiracy. They have no basis in . We rate the post !"
3019,5,"Says ""every school will be negatively impacted"" if Education Stability Fund is not tapped.","December 23, 2010",education;state budget,dave hunt,"Dave Hunt is the Oregon House Democratic leader, representing Clackamas County's District 40.",oregon,1,0,0,0,0,0,an e-mail,"So, back to the statement, would every school be negatively impacted without this cash? Well, each and every school budget would take a hit. Hunt had the analysis to prove his point. We rate this  . Comment on this item."
2550,1,"Dan Seals has been running for office ""since before there were, like, iPods.","October 26, 2010",candidate biography;message machine 2010,robert dold,"Robert Dold is a Republican congressman from Illinois’ 10th district, having won election in 2010 to succeed current Sen. Mark Kirk in that position.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign commercial,"All cultural references are intended to be humorous and casual."" Having waded through so much muck while reviewing this year's campaign commercials, we're all for light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek. And as you have probably picked up, we love this ad. But sometimes the -O-Meter has to exercise tough love. So, as much as we love the pinniped, the ad got it  about the iPod, so we rate it, like,  ."
7604,5,"Says ""our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.","July 24, 2013",deficit,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,Illinois,"Barack Obama said the deficit has fallen at the fastest rate in 60 years. While economists vary on how to best measure that decline, the president used an acceptable approach and his numbers are accurate. There are no statistical tricks in play. Our experts warned against reading too much into Obama’s . While Obama did not spend much time one way or the other on the significance of the decline in the deficit, he didn’t mention ongoing concerns over the national debt. We rate the statement ."
17299,1,The CDC can detain anyone with a fever — indefinitely. … Vaccination (is) a way people could get out of detention.,"March 12, 2020",health care;public health;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on the internet,"Claims on the internet said ""the CDC can detain anyone with a fever — indefinitely. … Vaccination (is) a way people could get out of detention."" The CDC does have the power to isolate people with certain infectious diseases and quarantine those who had contact with an infected person. But this  is  or  about many of the details. Most quarantine decisions will be up to states and localities, rather than the CDC. People can’t be quarantined for just having a fever; they have to be shown to have been exposed to a specific set of diseases. Most quarantines are done voluntarily, not by force of the state. And vaccination is not a ticket out of quarantine. We rate the statement ."
10148,2,"Says U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy has ""sided with the GOP on key votes twice as often as he sided with Democrats.","April 6, 2015",congress;voting record,brook hines,Brook Hines is a marketing consultant for progressive political campaigns.,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,an online op-ed column,"Hines said Murphy has ""sided with the GOP on key votes twice as often as he sided with Democrats."" That’s  by looking at one small subset of data gleaned through one progressive website that compared Murphy with a small group of liberals. Murphy does break ranks relatively often in a partisan Congress, but other outlets show Murphy sides with his own party, the Democrats, more often than not in notable votes. We rate the statement ."
19782,3,"A Republican bill in Michigan ""would make it a crime for election officials … to share information about how to vote by mail and where to find a ballot drop box.","May 20, 2021",elections,jocelyn benson,"Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, currently serves as Michigan's Secretary of State.",michigan,0,0,1,0,0,0,a campaign fundraising email,"Benson’s campaign claimed that a GOP-backed bill would make it a crime for election officials to ""share information about how to vote by mail and where to find a ballot drop box."" Benson’s  is partially accurate. The bill, as it’s phrased now, would not broadly prohibit election officials from sharing such information, but election officials say that as a practical matter, it would bar them from many of the methods they currently use to help voters, and that the language of the bill would leave them exposed to criminal charges for routine communications with voters. We rate it . "
16078,1,"Says NASA spent more than $165 million over 10 years to develop a pen that ""writes in zero gravity, upside down"" and in extreme temperatures while the ""Russians used a pencil instead.","May 14, 2019",congress;fake news;space;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An old myth that NASA and Congress spent over ""$165 million"" to develop the space pen while the Russians simply used pencils has recently resurfaced on the internet. Initially, both space programs used pencils. Both eventually started to use Fisher’s Space Pen, which was developed and funded with private money, not government money.   We rate this story ."
11821,4,"Says Obama ""called Kagan a moderate. He called Sotomayor a moderate.","May 31, 2016",supreme court,mitch mcconnell,Mitch McConnell is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky and the Republican minority leader in the U.S. Senate.,national,5,9,6,8,7,1,"an interview on MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","McConnell said Obama has called his last two Supreme Court appointments ""moderate."" The president didn’t use that word, but he did use language that characterizes them as liked by both sides. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/f9fcd97f-26c7-4121-8f9d-e58f3c78d3d2"
17520,1,"Says a photo shows the ""SAME EXACT PEOPLE"" at ""two different beaches"" in Los Angeles County and Jacksonville, Fla.","April 19, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"News aggregation apps like News Break have seen an increase in downloads amid the coronavirus pandemic. It’s possible the same glitch that erroneously attached a photo of Murphy to NBC News’ story about Los Angeles also attached the Jacksonville Beach photo at some point.   Either way, the photo from Jacksonville Beach is a real one by Getty. We saw no  that it was repurposed from media coverage on the West Coast or vice versa. We rate the Facebook post ."
8388,1,Any Floridian who has ever requested an absentee ballot henceforth gets one automatically.,"February 6, 2014",elections;punditfact,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,,10,5,3,7,7,1,"a ""Washington Post"" column","Will’s  that ""any Floridian who has ever requested an absentee ballot henceforth gets one automatically"" is not accurate. A Florida voter who requested an absentee ballot would get one automatically through the end of the calendar year of the second general election -- not ""henceforth."" Will used strong language to describe why Sink would have the edge, saying people get mail-in ballots in perpetuity in Florida. But that's not the way it works.  We rate the  ."
19945,0,"Says Republican leaders ""are working hard to cover up election corruption in Wisconsin.","June 25, 2021",elections;legal issues;party support;wisconsin,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,Statement,"Trump claimed that Wisconsin Republican leaders ""are working hard to cover up election corruption in Wisconsin."" That’s . If anything, Republican leaders have taken great criticism for the continued efforts to dig into the results of an election that has already seen a recount and numerous legal challenges. Republicans have gone so far as to say they will use taxpayer money to pay a former state Supreme Court justice to oversee an effort led by retired police officers, also to be paid by taxpayers. Critics may say that effort is a  exercise. But our focus here is on Trump, and his  Republican leaders have failed him and are doing nothing to examine the election results. That’s plainly . ."
15944,0,"Says Donald Trump wrote in his book, ""Being an atheist gives me an edge in every deal. Christians are too moral for business.","April 15, 2019",fake news;religion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that in his book ""The Art of the Deal,"" Trump said ""being an atheist give me an edge in every deal. Christians are too moral for business."" Those words could not be found anywhere in the business book and appear to be fabricated. This faux quote is !"
23160,1,"Displaying the progress pride flag between two American flags during a White House pride event was ""in breach of US Flag Code.","June 11, 2023",lgbtq,roger marshall,Roger Marshall is a U.S. Senator from Kansas.,,0,0,0,1,1,0,a tweet,"Marshall claimed that displaying the progress pride flag between two American flags at a White House pride event was a ""breach of US Flag Code.""  U.S. flag code provides average American civilians guidance for proper flag etiquette.  Marshall appeared to base his  on a portion of flag code that says the American flag ""should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags"" when flags are ""grouped and displayed from staffs.""  The flags in question weren’t flown from staffs, and, above the three-flag display, another American flag was flying from a staff. We rate this  . RELATED: The new colors in the progress pride flag represent trans people, not pedophiles RELATED: Bloggers say West violated federal law by diving with American flag RELATED: No, the black and white flag for police solidarity does not violate flag code"
21702,0,Third grade reading scores in the USA help correctional institutions predict how many beds they'll need in the future.,"July 14, 2022",criminal justice;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post touted the  that correctional institutions research third-grade reading scores to help them determine how many beds will be needed in the future.   The  is years-old and . Experts and reports have shown that there is no  to support it. Private prisons use inmate projections from state governments, not third-grade reading scores to plan for the future. We rate this  ! "
21230,1,"Joe Biden's open border"" means that there are ""more Democrat voters pouring into this country.","April 5, 2022",immigration;ohio;elections,j.d. vance,"J.D. Vance won the U.S. Senate race in Ohio in 2022. He has also worked as an investor, commentator, and bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy. ",national,0,1,2,1,2,2,a TV ad,"Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections, and proven incidents of noncitizens casting ballots are rare. Even migrants who cross the border now and go through the process of gaining citizenship won’t be able to vote for over a decade or longer.   We rate this statement .   RELATED : No  for viral  that ‘22 million illegal aliens’ are ‘voting illegally’ RELATED : All of our fact-checks in the Ohio Senate race RELATED : The race for the Ohio U.S. Senate seat: A guide"
8711,1,ObamaCare enrollment lie: Obama counts an enrollee as a web user putting a plan in 'their online shopping carts.',"April 18, 2014",health care;punditfact,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said that the administration lies about enrollment figures because it counts people when all they have done is put a plan ""in their online shopping carts."" We've probably all put something in an online shopping cart, thought about it for a couple minutes, decided not to buy it and left it sitting there. If that same scenario occurs on healthcare.gov, does the White House consider a person enrolled? No. For a person to be considered enrolled, they must have submitted their application for health insurance. That information is transmitted to the federal government and the private insurance company. In a literal sense, that’s more than just popping something into an online shopping cart a la Amazon.  Trump also is guilty of oversimplifying a highly regulated private industry. While some insurance companies accept online payments and give Obamacare enrollees the option to pay immediately, many do not. In the Virginia-Maryland market for example, most companies mail bills to the new customers who come through the government marketplaces. That means customers don’t even have the option of paying straight away. Also, while customers may not have paid, most states require a grace period of 30 or 31 days where insurers are required to pay claims.  So maybe they don’t intend to pay and will eventually lose their coverage. But for now, they are treated as if they were enrolled. And they did a lot more than just load up an online shopping cart. We rate Trump’s  ."
8078,2,"In ""reality,"" there have ""been no problems whatsoever"" with the Texas voter ID law.","November 4, 2013",elections,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,an Associated Press news story,"Abbott said there were ""no problems whatsoever"" with the voter ID law leading up to the 2013 Texas elections. As Speaker Wright and some fellow Texans could attest, none is not correct. News stories reveal various if rare experiences that could be construed as problems, such as voters having to scramble to get the proper ID. There also was a surge in provisional (largely uncounted) ballots, though we did not determine whether the ID law was key to that. This  has an element of  but overlooks the overriding reality that there were some problems. Mark the statement .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
20462,0,"Says Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted: ""People can't really be convicted on such flimsy circumstantial evidence as 'having a similar gait' or 'owning the identical shoes' or 'being in DC and not having any alibi for that time' can they?! I don't recognize this America.","October 27, 2021",criminal justice;fake news,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,national,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"Responding to the story, Greene has maintained she had no involvement in protest planning.   There have been no credible reports or trending Twitter responses about the fabricated tweet, and no such post appears on Greene’s Twitter timeline .   The message also doesn’t show up in the PolitWoops database , which keeps track of politicians' deleted tweets. Greene’s spokesperson, Nick Dyer, confirmed to PolitiFact that the tweet is a "", doctored image. ""  We rate it !"
6131,4,"Says that as Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney ""condemned coal-fired plants, saying they kill people.","August 14, 2012",environment;economy;energy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",ohio,124,165,163,71,71,9,a news release,"This even included new rules for mercury reductions -- the same substance from coal plants that now is prompting closures in Ohio. The debate over coal involves calculations of costs, the abundance or scarcity of natural resources, health and environmental risks, and attitudes about government regulation. It is not our role to say Romney was right or  at one time. But with additional information from emissions data, interviews and the public record of his governorship,  the Obama campaign  about Romney’s coal position of nine years ago is nearly as clear as a haze-free day. On the -O-Meter, it rates ."
21762,2,"Sen. Mark Kelly ""voted to legalize abortion up until the moment of birth.","July 22, 2022",abortion;health care;women;arizona,blake masters,"Blake Masters is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Until 2022, Blake Masters was Chief Operating Officer at Thiel Capital, the investment firm of billionaire Peter Thiel.",national,0,0,0,1,2,0,Arizona,"Masters said that Kelly voted to ""legalize abortion up until the moment of birth."" Kelly voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have prohibited states from banning abortion of a viable fetus when the life and health of the woman are at risk. It also would have prevented the criminalization of abortions. Abortion in the last weeks of pregnancy are exceedingly rare. Abortion opponents we reached cited no example where abortions ocurred so late without a clear medical reason. Also, state civil liability laws — in place to ensure medical providers give patients the best treatment possible — already permit abortions in certain medical circumstances. The bill Kelly supported did not change that. We rate this  . RELATED: Fact-checking Pence’s  on Democrats and abortion ‘up to the moment of birth’ RELATED: Do Democrats support abortion up until (and after) birth? RELATED: Anti-abortion group  how states regulate late-term abortions"
2362,5,Exit polls indicate that Democrats get over 70 percent of LGBT votes in federal elections.,"September 23, 2010",bipartisanship;elections;lgbtq,mark hinkle,"Mark Hinkle, past chairman of California's Libertarian Party, recalls voting for the Libertarian Party candidate for president as long ago as 1972 on a biography posted on a Hinkle campaign website. He's also a retired engineer, the online post says.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a press release,"""Republicans have voted en masse against every proposed change in favor of gay rights, and in most cases have blocked movement on this legislation. (One way to think about this: if every Democratic member of Congress had instead been a Libertarian in this session, we still would have had the same standstill outcome.)"" Perhaps, but we're not testing which party would best advance an agenda in this article. We rate the Libertarian Party's 70-percent-plus statement as . This article has been updated to correct the year that Sen. John Kerry was the presidential nominee."
16123,1,Says the lines on the signature Solo cup are actually markings to designate various measurements.,"May 28, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"An old hoax has resurfaced on social media, claiming that the lines on the original Solo cup were created to designate specific measurements. While the measurements aren’t completely off, the specific placement of the lines on the original Solo cup had several purposes, such as better grip, stacking and sturdiness. We rate this  ."
5134,2,(President Barack Obama) said unemployment was never gonna go over 8 percent if we passed the stimulus plan.,"February 26, 2012",stimulus,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,"an interview on CBS News’ ""Face the Nation""","During his ""Face the Nation"" interview, Christie repeated the GOP talking point that Obama ""said unemployment was never gonna go over 8 percent if we passed the stimulus plan."" As PolitiFact has determined numerous times before, neither Obama personally nor his administration never made such a promise. Two economic advisers offered that projection, but stressed repeatedly that their estimates were subject to considerable ""uncertainty."" Although Christie's statement represents a gross exaggeration, it contains an element of . That's why this  is rated . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/bc2a6c75-dc32-491f-a41b-65820cee2611"
14717,4,"Under Philip Levine, Miami Beach ""passed a resolution to ban assault rifles, which was not enforceable and never enforced. He passed a resolution to raise the minimum wage, which actually no one got the benefit of because it was not enforced.","June 20, 2018",candidate biography,andrew gillum,Andrew Gillum won the Florida primary for governor in August 2018 and lost the November election to Ron DeSantis. He is a former mayor of Tallahassee and member of the Tallahassee city commission.,florida,0,3,5,1,1,1,a debate,"Gillum said Levine ""passed a resolution to ban assault rifles, which was not enforceable,"" and passed ""a resolution to raise the minimum wage, which actually no one got the benefit of because it was not enforced."" Gillum’s  is largely accurate. He could have been more precise in describing the legislative action Miami Beach took, but his general idea for both initiatives is accurate. The assault weapon ""ban"" that Levine talks about was a symbolic resolution, not an actual ban. And the minimum wage increase was struck down before taking effect in 2018. We rate this  ."
6697,2,"Says Gov. Scott Walker has ""led people to believe that if Wisconsin doesn't implement a (health-care) exchange, Obamacare doesn't happen here.","November 16, 2012",federal budget;health care;state budget,jon erpenbach,Jon Erpenbach is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin state Senate. He was elected to a Madison-area district in 1998.,wisconsin,0,2,3,3,0,0,a press release,"They are thrilled that Walker did what he did, in part for that reason. But Walker for the most part clearly cast his rhetoric about ""stopping"" the law in terms of the Supreme Court case and the election. And he has  made it clear that no state exchange would instead mean a federal exchange -- not no Obamacare. An exception was his January 2012 remarks, which coupled some heated language about stopping the law with his decision to punt the exchange to the federal government. That gives Erpenbach’s  an element of accuracy, but we rate his  ."
15952,2,"In almost every state with an income tax, wealthy people pay a higher tax rate than the middle class.","April 16, 2019",taxes,think big illinois,Think Big Illinois is an advocacy group that supports replacing Illinois' flat-rate income tax with a graduated rate structure. ,illinois,0,0,0,1,0,0,an ad,"Think Big Illinois’ ad claims that, ""in almost every state with an income tax, wealthy people pay a higher tax rate than the middle class."" A spokeswoman for the Pritzker-backed group noted that Illinois is one of just nine states that tax income at a flat rate. Images that accompany the ad hint at that, but the narration ignores any nuance. Even by the most conservative definition, there are 19 states with income taxes that do not apply higher rates to the earnings of the wealthy — nine flat tax states and 10 with graduated taxes with rates that top out at income below $25,000. Add in another eight states where top rates for married couples kick in somewhere between $31,000 and $104,000 and the Think Big  becomes even more dubious. That means far from ""almost every"" income-taxing state levies a higher rate on top earners, earning this  a rating of .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
7881,3,"This year, the federal government will have more revenue than any year in the history of our country.","October 6, 2013",economy;federal budget;taxes,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week""","Boehner said that this year, the federal government ""will have more revenue than any year in the history of our country."" That’s  for raw dollars, but raw dollars aren’t an especially useful measurement for analyzing long periods of history, because inflation, population growth and economic expansion almost inevitably make the most recent year the largest ever. A more reliable method -- revenue as a percentage of GDP -- actually shows that revenues today are historically low compared to most of the past six decades. We rate Boehner’s  ."
20646,1,"Pathogens evolve to become less, not more, virulent over time"" because otherwise, ""they'd destroy their hosts which they depend on to live.","November 28, 2021",corrections and updates;science;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that pathogens evolve to become less virulent over time, because otherwise, ""they’d destroy their hosts which they depend on to live."" Viruses can evolve to become both more or less virulent over time, and do not necessarily require the survival of their host to maximize their transmission. This post cherry-picks examples to make a generalization that ignores the wide swath of epidemiological and laboratory  showing that pathogens can evolve to become more lethal. We rate this statement . CORRECTION:  This story was updated Jan. 11, 2022, to remove two sentences about malaria. It is a disease caused by a parasite, not a virus."
22712,1,"In Ohio, ""there are 75,000 acres of farmland, fertile farmland, that are all now being poured down with acid rain.","February 19, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",ohio,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed that In Ohio, ""there are 75,000 acres of farmland, fertile farmland, that are all now being poured down with acid rain."" The Ohio Department of Agriculture told PolitiFact it had no reason to believe the train derailment caused acid rain to pour down on farmland. An atmospheric scientist plotted trajectories for how air molecules in and around the incident site could have traveled when the train derailed and when the controlled burn began, and concluded that the likelihood of toxic acid rain in Ohio was ""essentially nonexistent."" We rate this  . ​"
19088,1,"A CNN chyron said, ""Antifa has just taken responsibility for storming Capital Hill.","January 7, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A spokesperson for CNN told PolitiFact that the chyron was doctored and that the news network did not report this. Those words do not appear in the original broadcast, as this photo published by The Dispatch Fact Check shows.   We rate this Facebook post .   This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
21295,1,"Vladimir Putin ""ended the Rothschild's control over Russia by nationalizing the Russian centralized bank.","March 14, 2018",foreign policy;facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post says Putin ""ended the Rothschild's control over Russia by nationalizing the Russian centralized bank."" Putin did not nationalize the Russian centralized bank; that occurred in 1917.  does not support the  that the Rothschild family had control over Russia. The family’s banking business has had an office in Russia since the 1990s — though it recently suspended operations — but it has no oversight over the country’s currency or monetary policies, which are controlled by the Bank of Russia. We rate this  . "
10799,4,More preschoolers are shot dead each year than police officers are in the line of duty.,"October 3, 2015",punditfact;guns,nicholas kristof,Nicholas Kristof is a columnist for the New York Times who frequently writes about international development issues.,,2,2,0,0,1,0,a New York Times op-ed,"Kristof said that more preschoolers are shot dead each year than are on-duty police officers. For children aged 0-4, that is accurate for the past six years. For children aged 3-5, the statement is  in most years, but not in every year. We rate the  ."
11201,1,"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have the identical position on health care, which is they want to put the government in charge of you and your doctor.","January 31, 2016",health care,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,"comments on ""Meet the Press""","Cruz said, ""Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have the identical position on health care, which is they want to put the government in charge of you and your doctor."" While Trump, Clinton and Sanders have all proposed to reduce prescription drug prices, that one policy is a far cry from having ""the identical position on health care."" Cruz’s description of that position (putting the government in charge of you and your doctor) can only reasonably be applied to Sanders’ single-payer system. Clinton has proposed specific ways to defend and expand Obama’s health care law. Trump, whose exact plan is unclear, has said repeatedly that he’d repeal and replace Obamacare with a market-based alternative. To suggest that Trump, Clinton and Sanders have the same health care proposal is . There are many specific differences between the three plans. We rate Cruz’s statement ."
13491,0,Says Barack Obama complained that Democrats continue to ignore blacks except at election time.,"June 18, 2017",elections;negative campaigning, great america alliance,"Great America Alliance is the 501c4 arm of Great America PAC, a political action committee supportive of President Donald Trump.",georgia,0,0,0,0,0,1,a radio ad,"Great America Alliance said that Obama complained that Democrats continue to ignore blacks except at election time. Obama did say the words used in the ad, but they weren’t his. He was quoting a Chicago barber talking about the days before African-Americans in Chicago helped elect the city’s first black mayor. The full text from Obama’s book shows that he was arguing that voting can make a difference. Nothing in the section suggests that he thinks Democrats today only pay attention to blacks at election time. We rate this  !"
8813,1,"Human activity is not ""causing these dramatic changes to our climate.","May 11, 2014",environment;climate change;corrections and updates;energy;science,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week""","Rubio said human activity is not ""causing these dramatic changes to our climate."" An overwhelming majority of scientists agree that humans, by burning fossil fuels, contribute directly to global warming. Not only is Rubio , but he’s ignoring a mountain of concrete, scientific research. We rate his  . CORRECTION : This story was updated on May 15 to clarify that 97.1 percent of the studies that took a position on global warming agreed that there's been a negative human impact on the atmosphere; more than half the studies did not take a position. Also, the story clarifies that the 2013 report looked at studies, not individual scientists."
21486,4,"90% of Americans, regardless of political party, want universal background checks.","May 24, 2022",congress;guns;texas,steve kerr,"Steve Kerr became the head coach of the Golden State Warriors in 2014. Kerr played 15 seasons in the NBA (Suns, Cavaliers, Magic, Bulls, Spurs, & Trail Blazers). ",national,0,1,0,0,0,0,remarks to the media,"But among Republicans, we found some polls suggesting their support is closer to the 80% range, slightly less than Kerr suggested. We rate this statement . RELATED : Buttigieg on point that majority of Republicans support background checks RELATED : Biden Promise Tracker: Legislation to require background checks for all gun sales stalls RELATED : All of our fact-checks about guns"
2959,4,Says Jeff Stone = Scott Walker.,"March 18, 2011",candidate biography;state budget;taxes,chris abele,"Chris Abele is Milwaukee County Executive, a position he won in an April 2011 special election to finish out the final year of the term of Scott Walker, who was elected governor in November 2010. The election was the first attempt at political office for Abele, a Milwaukee philanthropist and business owner.
The office is nonpartisan, but Abele has indicated he is a Democrat.",wisconsin,1,4,5,3,5,2,a television ad,"Abele’s strongest  comes from Stone himself, who has aligned himself closely with Walker’s agenda and politics. Their voting histories are very similar, and they win very similar ratings from interest groups. They are not indistinguishable, though: The transit issue illustrates Stone’s willingness to step out from Republican orthodoxy and work behind the scenes in a bipartisan fashion -- neither of which are Walker trademarks. Stone’s business experience is a notable biographical difference. In the end, Abele’s equation (Stone = Walker) scores out as ."
9787,3,Surveys of teens in high school reveal that knowing a classmate who sells cannabis is 90 times more common than knowing a classmate who sells alcohol.,"December 6, 2014",children;drugs;education;crime;polls and public opinion;public health;pundits;marijuana,james crowley,"James  P.  Crowley, M.D., of East Providence, is a member and a former president of the Rhode Island Medical Society and professor emeritus of medicine at Brown University.",rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,The Providence Journal,"James P. Crowley wrote that ""Surveys of teens in high school reveal that knowing a classmate who sells cannabis is 90 times more common than knowing a classmate who sells alcohol."" But he could only cite one survey, and we couldn’t find any others that asked the same question. One data point does not a trend make. In addition, his statement suggests that the findings of this survey reflect the results from all students polled. It doesn’t. It only looked at the subset of students who said they knew of someone who sold drugs in school.   Because the statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate it  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
13949,2,"Says the diversity visa lottery program is ""a Chuck Schumer beauty.","November 1, 2017",immigration;terrorism,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said the diversity visa lottery program is ""a Chuck Schumer beauty."" Schumer did introduce legislation, 27 years ago, that included initial language establishing the diversity visa lottery. However, Schumer was hardly the only politician with a role in its passage. The bill was signed by a Republican president, and the final version of the legislation received majority Republican support in both chambers of Congress, In fact, McConnell and several other Republicans still in office voted for the bill. Moreover, Trump’s tweet ignores that Schumer, just four years ago, worked to pass a bill that would have ended the lottery, but it died due to Republican opposition in the House. We rate the statement ."
6996,3,"If the sequester hits, ""hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings.","February 19, 2013",children;federal budget;health care;public health,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Washington, D.C","Obama said that if the sequester hits, ""hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings."" Obama's words could have left the impression that primary care services overall will be lost, rather than flu shots or cancer screenings alone. Still, we found that one widely cited estimate found that sequester cuts to two programs alone would leave 246,000 people without the types of services Obama mentioned. There’s a lot of uncertainty about these numbers for a variety of reasons, meaning the actual number could be lower or higher. But even at the low end, it’s pretty close to ""hundreds of thousands."" So we rate the  ."
16681,1,"Says Jeb Bush tweeted ""Ok boomer"" at Donald Trump.","November 4, 2019",pop culture;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Searching on Twitchy , which keeps tabs on high-profile people who delete their tweets, we didn’t find  that Bush tweeted and then deleted. We also didn’t find any  searching for echoes of the tweet more broadly online. Finally, we searched the Nexis news archive for ""Jeb Bush"" and ""Donald Trump"" and ""Ok boomer"" and got no matches. If a lawmaker in New Zealand unknown to many Americans can draw U.S. media attention for saying ""OK boomer,"" we expect Jeb Bush would as well.   Please clap : We rate this Facebook post ."
13014,1,"Food waste is the 3rd largest contributor"" of greenhouse gas emissions.","February 5, 2017",global news service;agriculture;climate change;food,world food program,The United Nations World Food Programme delivers emergency food relief and develops the capacity of nations to feed their people around the world.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"The World Food Program tweeted that food waste is the third largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. That is based on a comparison to the emissions of other countries, but food waste is an activity, not a place. The World Food Programme acknowledged that it took a point used for rhetorical effect and treated it literally. The organization deleted the tweet. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d10247d9-2da2-4b9d-9066-ebc6521196eb"
6636,3,Tommy Thompson made millions from corporations who outsource American jobs and now he's trying to lavish huge tax breaks on them.,"October 31, 2012",corporations;jobs;message machine 2012;workers,majority pac,Majority PAC is an organization seeking to protect the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate in 2012.,wisconsin,0,0,1,1,0,0,a TV ad,"Rather, his role, among other things, is to provide a strategic vision to these companies similar to the roles of other directors and officers."" Our rating Majority PAC said Thompson ""made millions from corporations who outsource American jobs and now he's trying to lavish huge tax breaks on them."" Thompson was paid $1.5 million, but that doesn’t match the ""millions"" claimed in the ad. He supports a tax break for U.S. companies' profits from overseas, but it's possible the tax break could lead to more American jobs. Majority PAC's statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details -- our definition of ."
8400,5,Six of Georgia's counties have no lawyers at all.,"February 5, 2014",legal issues,hugh thompson,"Hugh Thompson, a native Georgian, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1994. Thompson served as a superior court judge in the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit from 1979 to 1994.",georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,State of the Judiciary address,"""We must take steps to correct the imbalance."" So where does this leave us? Thompson said, ""Six of Georgia’s counties have no lawyers at all."" Credible data from the State Bar of Georgia and other information, including anecdotal  from local judges, support his statement. We rate it ."
3790,5,Almost 10 percent of Canadians came to visit Florida last year ... (Canadians) buy 7.4 percent of our homes in the state.,"June 16, 2011",housing;tourism;trade,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a Tallahassee press conference,"Scott's office did not specify how he arrived at 7.4 percent, but he's close enough. He's right that there's a clear Canadian infatuation with Florida. As one Canadian-turned-Floridian-real-estate-agent joked in a National Public Radio report on the housing phenomenon, ""If there ever was an 11th (Canadian) province, it probably would be Florida."" Scott has his Canada trivia down cold, and we were unable to find any statistics that contradict him. We rate his  ."
18559,1,The Rock has lost 48 million followers on his IG and YouTube after coming out for Biden.,"October 2, 2020",elections;pop culture;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"A post on Facebook says, ""The Rock has lost 48 million followers on his IG and YouTube after coming out for Biden."" A look at previous media coverage and websites that track social media analytics and follower counts show that Johnson didn’t lose anywhere near 48 million Instagram and YouTube followers after he announced his support for Biden and Harris. On both platforms, he actually appears to have gained followers in September, overall.  We rate this  ."
655,4,Gov. Palin ... is somebody who actually doesn't believe that climate change is man-made.,"August 31, 2008",environment,john kerry,John Kerry is the secretary of state. He previously was a senator from Massachusetts and the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 2004.,national,2,4,2,3,3,0,"an interview on ""This Week with George Stephanopoulos.""","In September 2007, she created a ""climate change subcabinet"" to prepare a state strategy to respond to global warming. In a report to Alaskans in July, Palin wrote that the subcabinet ""will also be making recommendations to me on how Alaskans can save energy and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. "" Palin's nod to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the context of global warming would suggest she's not entirely closed off to the idea that the two are related. Still, Palin's Aug. 29 statement was pretty clear: she doesn't attribute global warming to man-made causes, despite a broad, global scientific consensus that human activity is responsible for climate change. We find Kerry's statement to be ."
19055,1,"Says Mayor Muriel Bowser ""ordered all hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and convenience stores to close Jan. 4, 5 and 6 to discourage Trump supporters from gathering in D.C.","January 1, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Bowser has directed the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency to help coordinate a response to demonstrations in D.C.. In a statement issued on Jan. 3, Bowser asked Washington residents ""to stay out of the downtown area"" on those dates and ""not engage with demonstrators who come to our city seeking confrontation."" She said officials would ""do what we must to ensure all who attend remain peaceful."" Many restaurants and office buildings in downtown D.C. have boarded up, ""just as they were for demonstrations in the summer regarding racial justice and, more recently, the presidential election,"" USA Today reported . We rate this Facebook post ."
22792,3,"As a sitting Supreme Court justice, Daniel Kelly recused himself from a case, then ""he pocketed $20,000 in contributions"" from the plaintiff and family members and ""unrecused himself so he could judge the case.","March 9, 2023",elections;legal issues;supreme court,janet protasiewicz,"Milwaukee County circuit court judge. A 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate. Election will be held on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 for a ten-year term.",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,TV ad,"Protasiewicz’s campaign claimed that Kelly recused himself, pocketed money from donations from the plaintiff and family in a specific case, and then unrecused himself to make a judgment in the case.  The sequence has validity, but not to the bottom-line implication. The ad leaves voters thinking Kelly ultimately voted in favor of the donors when the main portions of the case and the ruling happened after he was off the court. But if the court had taken up the case before the end of Kelly’s term, he would have been able to vote on the matter. And he unrecused himself before the election, when he still expected to be on the court at the time. We rate this   — the statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.   "
45,5,Sen. Obama worked on some of the deepest issues we had and was successful in a bipartisan way.,"September 11, 2007",,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,an endorsement by Illinois State Sen. Kirk Dillard,"Lawrence said that Obama favored more sweeping reforms than Republicans and others did, but was willing to compromise. The work resulted in the Gift Ban Act of 1988. Obama worked with other Republicans on such issues as health insurance for kids and the state's death penalty--not an issue normally associated with bipartisan work between a liberal Democrat and Republicans. Viewers may have watched the ad and decided Dillard was supporting Obama for president. But Dillard made the ad, despite saying that as a loyal Republican, he has endorsed Sen. John McCain for his party's presidential nomination--a fact that he did not mention in the ad."
17667,1,"$100B contact tracing bill ""is about controlling/tracking population, not about coronavirus.","May 12, 2020",government regulation;public health;privacy issues;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims new federal legislation to support COVID-19 testing and contact tracing ""is about controlling/tracking population, not about coronavirus."" The bill strictly targets the novel coronavirus. It would provide $100 billion to organizations that do COVID-19 testing or contact tracing or that provide services to people who are isolating at home. We rate the Facebook post ."
2724,5,"Historically,"" Senate ratification of arms control treaties ""has been bipartisan.","November 21, 2010",foreign policy;military;this week - abc news,mike mullen,"Adm. Mike Mullen is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military.",national,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour""","Another treaty that faced significant partisan opposition was the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which failed to advance to a vote in the Senate due to opposition by conservatives who expressed concern about its impact on U.S. sovereignty. But the subject of this treaty seems too far afield from what Mullen was talking about for us to count it. So where does this leave us? We found one clear example of partisan opposition to a nuclear-weapons treaty -- the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty -- but 13 which were passed with broad, bipartisan support. So we rate Mullen's contention that Senate treaty ratifications have ""historically ... been bipartisan"" as ."
10300,5,"Says he was known as ""Veto Corleone"" for cutting spending as Florida governor.","May 20, 2015",state budget,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,florida,14,24,17,18,5,2,"Portsmouth, N.H","Bush said ""they called me Veto Corleone"" as governor for his frequent use of the line-item veto. He did have a fondness for ruthlessly slashing projects he deemed wasteful or not in line with his agenda. Thrasher confirmed he nicknamed the governor after the fictional mobster. This is one favor we grant Bush. We rate the statement ."
9796,5,Texas families have kept more than $10 billion in their family budgets since we successfully fought to restore Texas' sales tax deduction a decade ago.,"December 17, 2014",states;taxes,kevin brady,Brady represents a Houston-area U.S. House district.,texas,2,1,2,2,0,0,a press release,"Brady said: ""Texas families have kept more than $10 billion in their family budgets since we successfully fought to restore Texas' sales tax deduction a decade ago."" While that’s a squishy figure -- an estimate that can’t be pinned as a fact unless you somehow divine every Texan’s marginal tax rate for each of the 10 years, for starters -- it appears to be reasonable. It’s also so that families that had these savings were  better off; lower-income taxpayers tend not to itemize deductions. We rate the statement .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
18628,1,"According to a recent CDC report, ""almost everyone — 85% — who got the coronavirus in July was wearing a mask, and they were infected anyway. So clearly (wearing a mask) doesn't work the way they tell us it works.","October 13, 2020",public health;coronavirus,tucker carlson,Tucker Carlson was a Fox News pundit until his departure in April 2023.,,0,1,1,5,12,9,a TV segment,"Carlson said that according to a recent CDC report, ""Almost everyone — 85% — who got the coronavirus in July was wearing a mask, and they were infected anyway. So clearly this doesn't work the way they tell us it works."" Carlson didn’t pull the 85% figure out of thin air, but the conclusion he drew is  in multiple ways. For starters, the CDC report wasn’t designed to measure mask effectiveness, and the study’s authors said the participants might not be representative of the U.S. The findings don’t prove masks are ineffective, either. Masks are most effective at preventing infected people from spreading the virus, and studies show they can help slow the spread.  The correlation the CDC found between positive coronavirus tests and going to restaurants and bars suggests that taking masks off to eat or drink might increase risk.  We rate Carlson’s statement ."
16369,2,Says the late Lady Bird Johnson sicced the CIA on actress and singer Eartha Kitt after Kitt spoke out against the Vietnam War during a White House luncheon in January 1968.,"July 2, 2019",history,drunk history,"""Drunk History"" is a television show on Comedy Central. Comedians get drunk and recount historical events, while actors portray their description. While humorous, the program is inteded to accurately represent history.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,an episode,"""Drunk History"" claimed former first lady Lady Bird Johnson demanded the CIA find damning information on singer Eartha Kitt. While the Secret Service did request information from the CIA following the luncheon, there is no  to support the idea that Lady Bird Johnson asked for the information. The Secret Service said the request was made for security purposes, not to ""destroy her."" We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."
36,5,Senator McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts. Now he's for them.,"April 26, 2007",taxes,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,"Stratham, N.H","In 2003, the phased-in cuts of 2001 were accelerated but McCain again voted no, saying taxes shouldn't be cut in time of war. But in 2006, when the cuts were extended, McCain voted yes because he said opposing the extension of cuts already in place would amount to a tax increase. Updated: This post has been updated to correct the reasons McCain gave at the time for opposing tax cuts in 2001. Our initial posting attributed his reasons to statements he made later about fiscal restraint."
1683,1,"Steve Poizner ""increased his department's budget nearly 14 percent.","April 16, 2010",candidate biography;elections;financial regulation;message machine 2010,meg whitman,"Meg Whitman is the former CEO of eBay and the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee in California. Largely self-financing her campaign, Whitman lost the general election to then-Attorney General Jerry Brown.",national,0,1,1,0,1,0,a campaign commerical,"We won't go so far as to confirm that Poizner actually presided over a shrinking budget, as his camp has claimed. Even if you just stick to the more limited operating budget under his control, there are credible ways to come up with a modest increase, just as there are ways to come up with a decrease. We also won't wade into the question -- tussled over by the two camps -- of whether Poizner or Schwarzenegger should get the credit for the department's budgetary reductions in the past year or two, since that's not relevant to the specific  we're addressing here. What is clear to us is that no plausible calculation approaches the 14 percent figure that Whitman has cited repeatedly in her ads. So we rule her  ."
11972,2,"Says he ""voted to remove Common Core from our schools.","June 20, 2016",education,ritch workman,Ritch Workman is a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives representing Disctrict 30 in the Melbourne area. He is a mortgage broker.,florida,0,0,0,1,1,0,an online ad,"Workman said he ""voted to remove Common Core from our schools."" Workman did vote to literally remove the term ""Common Core"" from state records as Florida switched over to the revised Florida Standards. Indeed, the broad education bill that made it law was voted for unanimously. But that was only after the Board of Education, and not the Legislature, agreed to revise the Common Core standards. Workman’s vote did not affect the decision to make that change. Furthermore, the new benchmarks were largely additions to the original standards, so it’s difficult to definitively say Common Core is out of schools. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
10016,4,You had more women getting computer sciences degrees in the '80s by a factor of 2-plus than you do now.,"February 24, 2015",education;technology;women,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,Silicon Valley,"Clinton said, ""You had more women getting computer-sciences degrees in the '80s by a factor of 2-plus than you do now.""  The difference in raw numbers never quite hit the 2-to-1 ratio she cited, but it did get pretty close. She is correct that the share of computer science degrees earned by women peaked in the mid 1980s and has fallen since then. The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
18409,0,"When President Donald Trump walked across Lafayette Square to a church, he held the Bible upside down.","September 17, 2020",candidate biography,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a CNN town hall,"Biden said that after Trump walked across Lafayette Square to a church, he held a Bible upside down. This   spread on social media earlier this summer, without , and made it into several news reports and opinion pieces.  But fact-checkers debunked it as early as June, and a review of still images and video from that day show clearly that it is . Trump held the Bible right-side up throughout the event.  We rate the statement ! This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
14347,2,"President Donald ""Trump's latest set of sanctions against companies and countries benefiting North Korea includes every nation but one making shipments to (North Korea). The one nation Trump exempted from his punitive ban was . . . wait for it . . . drumroll: Russia.","March 2, 2018",foreign policy;trade;punditfact,laurence tribe,Laurence H. Tribe is the Carl M. Loeb university professor and professor of constitutional law at Harvard University. He has taught at Harvard Law School since 1968.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Tribe said, ""Trump’s latest set of sanctions against companies and countries benefiting North Korea includes every nation but one making shipments to (North Korea). The one nation Trump exempted from his punitive ban was . . . wait for it . . . drumroll: Russia."" The most recent set of sanctions doesn’t specifically target any entity linked to Russia. However, sanction lists are dependent on intelligence findings, and when the U.S. government had intelligence relevant to sanctions-busting, the Trump administration has slapped sanctions on Russian entities in the past. In addition, while this sanctions list targeted violators, it didn’t proactively ""exempt"" any countries (something Tribe acknowledges). Finally, experts offered a variety of potential alternative explanations beyond Trump doing this to protect Russia. We rate the statement ."
10452,2,Hundreds of thousands of (illegal immigrants are) going to state and federal penitentiaries.,"July 1, 2015",immigration;crime,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview on Fox Business Network,"Trump said ""Hundreds of thousands of (illegal immigrants are) going to state and federal penitentiaries.""   In 2013, there were fewer than 100,000 noncitizens -- legal and undocumented -- in federal and state prisons. If you add in local jails, it’s quite possible but uncertain that the total number of incarcerated illegal immigrants is above 100,000, though it’s also possible that many of these individuals are held for immigration violations as opposed to other crimes. We just don’t have solid data on this point. Without any good information to back it up, Trump’s  falls flat. We rate it ."
10192,2,Medicaid patients were 97 percent more likely to die than those with private insurance.,"April 16, 2015",health care;medicaid;state budget,richard corcoran,Richard Corcoran is Florida's appointed education commissioner. He was elected to the state House in 2010 and served as House Speaker 2016-2018.,florida,1,1,5,2,2,0,an email to constituents,"Corcoran said, ""Medicaid patients were 97 percent more likely to die than those with private insurance."" Corcoran was citing a 2010 University of Virginia study that looked at Medicaid patients who underwent surgery, not all people in the program. Experts we spoke to -- including one of the study’s authors -- said it’s a  statistic to cite. While it’s accurate to say Medicaid patients who undergo operations have higher odds of dying than those with private insurance, it’s because they are sicker and tend to wait until the last minute for care, not because the program is inadequate. Other studies show using Medicaid improves access and quality of life for many patients, or at the very least doesn’t hurt them. We rate the statement ."
11949,2,"Says Ron Johnson justifies his support of trade agreements by saying the U.S. has the Trade Adjustment Assistance program for displaced workers, but then he ""voted to eliminate it.","May 9, 2016",trade,russ feingold,"Russ Feingold served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing Wisconsin from 1992 until 2010, when he was defeated for re-election. An attorney, he previously served 10 years in the Wisconsin Legislature. Following his Senate defeat, he founded Progressives United, which says it mission is to ""stand up to the exploding corporate influence in our political system by organizing and amplifying the voices of those who believe that corporations have too much power."" Feingold is running against U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, the man who defeated him, in the 2016 election.",wisconsin,3,5,7,2,4,1,a news conference,"Our rating Feingold said Johnson had referred to the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to defend his position on trade agreements — but had voted against the TAA. However, Johnson referred only generally to worker ""protections,"" not to the TAA specifically. He did vote against reauthorizing the program in 2011 and also voted around the same time to pare down funding, which would have had the effect of cutting a career training program. Our definition for  is ""The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here."
4491,1,Gov. Scott Walker's plan to freeze pay for state employees includes a 5.4 percent raise for himself.,"October 26, 2011",,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,wisconsin,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog posts,"Elected officials cannot increase their own pay. A quick look at the Blue Book or a phone call to the Legislative Reference Bureau would have told them that. So there’s no pay raise for Walker, or the lieutenant governor, state treasurer, secretary of state, and attorney general. Although the confusion is understandable because of a sloppy and confusing state compensation document (and an equally poor followup memo), it muddles things for residents. Here’s the clearest answer possible: The  is ."
17081,4,"Trump just cut the scheduled federal pay raise, stating that he can't do it now because of 'serious economic conditions' in America.","February 13, 2020",federal budget;income,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post says: ""Trump just cut the scheduled federal pay raise, stating that he can’t do it now because of ‘serious economic conditions’ in America."" Trump reduced to 1% from 2.5% across-the-board raises for civilian federal employees, citing his authority under a law that allows for such changes due to ""national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare."" More specifically, Trump cited spending concerns in reducing the raise. For a statement that is accurate but needs additional information, our rating is ."
17319,0,"Says Oprah Winfrey's house ""has been seized and they are excavating the property and digging up the tunnels!","March 16, 2020",fake news,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody."" Boca Raton Police also tweeted March 18: ""The social media stories trending about @oprah being arrested by @bocapolice is absolutely ."" Online posts claiming that Oprah has been arrested or that her alleged house in Boca Raton was seized and authorities are digging up tunnels are not . We rate this  !"
19494,5,"There's still (only) a handful of school districts"" doing no in-person instruction.","March 14, 2021",children;education;coronavirus,tony evers,"Tony Evers, a Democrat, was elected Wisconsin governor in November 2018. His term begins in January 2019. Evers has served as the Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, a non-partisan position, since 2009. He previously worked as a teacher and school district administrator.",wisconsin,5,9,8,10,7,1,TV interview,"Evers said there were still a handful of districts learning  virtually. A USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin survey found only the state’s two largest school districts were keeping students  virtual, although even they have limited in-person options and are planning April returns. We rate his  ."
17807,1,The 9/11 Memorial in NYC was just defaced with graffiti.,"June 5, 2020",crime;terrorism;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"But we found no news coverage of such vandalism at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. And there remained no coverage when we looked at this again on June 24, 2020, as versions of the post were being reshared. This isn’t the first   about vandalism during protests that we’ve checked. For the record: The Lincoln Memorial wasn’t covered in graffiti , President Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame wasn’t destroyed , this Vietnam memorial wasn’t defaced by Black Lives Matters demonstrators , and these war memorials weren’t either .    We rate this Facebook post ."
11094,2,The Democrats in the Senate last year introduced a constitutional amendment to repeal the free speech protections of the First Amendment.,"December 5, 2015",campaign finance;legal issues,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",iowa,8,22,21,48,47,11,"Cedar Rapids, Iowa","Our Ruling Cruz told his audience that Senate Democrats proposed a constitutional amendment that would ""repeal"" constitutionally guaranteed free speech rights. The proposal actually allows state and federal legislators to regulate fundraising and spending in elections. Campaign finance has been linked to free speech in recent jurisprudence, but a wide range of constitutional law scholars say the amendment would have a limited or nonexistent effect on speech rights. Several scholars said Cruz has a point, but he oversells it by using ""repeal"" with no caveats or qualifiers. The statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
14358,5,We are last in the nation in startups — 50th.,"January 29, 2018",economy;small business;states,dana wachs,"Democratic state Rep. Dana Wachs, an Eau Claire lawyer, was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2012.",wisconsin,2,1,0,0,0,0,a radio interview,Wachs said Wisconsin is last in the nation in startups. The go-to national research on the subject shows Wisconsin is indeed last — and has been for the last three years. We rate Wachs’  .
5174,1,"While fighting a move to toughen penalties for workplace gender discrimination, state Sen. Glenn Grothman said ""he didn't believe women belonged in the workplace"" but belonged ""at home, cooking and cleaning and having babies.","February 21, 2012",jobs;legal issues;women,christine sinicki,Christine Sinicki is a former Milwaukee School Board member who represents an Assembly District on the south side of Milwaukee.,wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a legislative floor speech,"Our conclusion In arguing against repeal of an anti-gender-bias bill, Sinicki summoned up her memory of comments by Grothman when the Legislature debated the original bill in 2007. She didn’t quote Grothman directly but claimed he said, in effect, that women had no business in the workplace and should be at home ""cooking and cleaning and having babies."" Grothman did speak up for families where the woman has chosen to stay home to raise children. But that’s a far cry from him saying the whole world should do that, and that women ""belong"" at home. We rate Sinicki’s statement ."
258,5,"Says Time magazine called him ""one of America's best governors.","January 10, 2008",,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,Michigan,"(The others were Kenny Guinn of Nevada, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Mark Warner of Virginia.) The article said Huckabee ""approached his state's troubles with energy and innovation"" and cited his accomplishments with children's health care and economic growth. It called him ""a mature, consensus-building conservative who earns praise from fellow Evangelicals and, occasionally, liberal Democrats."" Time isn't the only publication to honor him that month. Governing magazine (which is owned by the same parent company as PolitiFact) named him one of its ""Public Officials of the Year."""
7862,4,"In 2010, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office found that only 6.5 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border was under full control of the Border Patrol.","September 21, 2013",immigration,lamar smith,Lamar Smith is a Republican congressman from a San Antonio-based district in Texas. He became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in January 2011.,texas,4,3,2,2,5,0,a flier mailed to constituents,"Lamar Smith wrote, ""In 2010, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office found that only 6.5 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border was under full control of the Border Patrol."" That report showed 6.5 percent of border miles in fiscal 2010 were under the Border Patrol’s top level of security, meaning agents and equipment were constantly present and monitoring the border -- a level of enforcement usually reserved for high-traffic urban areas. But the rest of the border’s not a sieve. The same report said 44 percent of border miles were under what the agency considered acceptable levels of security. We rate this , lacking such clarification, as .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.  "
18155,1,Herd immunity has been reached.,"August 4, 2020",public health;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""So percent positive testing going down doesn’t mean anything."" The Facebook post, he said, ""is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo. ""   Jaquelin Dudley, a professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, said it’s possible there are areas where herd immunity has been established, ""but there are still many unknowns, including lack of testing for asymptomatic individuals or missing the right point during infection for testing."" At this point, though, we can’t accurately predict a timeline for when there will be herd immunity throughout the United States, she said.   We rate this Facebook post ."
21251,0,Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh were actors wearing masks during Kavanaugh's U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing.,"April 1, 2022",supreme court;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh have been photographed and appeared publicly before and after Blasey Ford’s allegations about Kavanaugh’s actions were made public.   High school yearbook photos of them are recognizable as the people who appeared on national television during the confirmation hearing that day.   Blasey Ford is a professor at Palo Alto University, where she works at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. And Kavanaugh, of course, sits on the highest court in the country and has considered legal cases since he was confirmed in 2018.   We rate this post !"
2491,3,"Tom Ganley has ""two F's from the Better Business Bureau"" and ""over 160 complaints in just three years.","September 21, 2010",message machine 2010;negative campaigning,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,ohio,1,1,8,14,8,9,an election ad,"""Although offered as a 'convenience' to consumers, these agreements can often create problems if the consumer interprets them to mean the final terms of the car purchase will be as originally promised."" Those agreements led to several of the lawsuits against Ganley dealerships, such as one filed by a couple who said they took a new car home after being told they were approved for zero percent financing. More than a month later, the couple said, they were told the rate was being moved to 9.44 percent. So let’s check the scorecard. We rate the ad  as ."
20342,3,"We became a net exporter of natural gas in 2017, and until recently, our exports have exceeded our imports.","July 28, 2021",energy;trade,carol miller,"Carol Miller, a Republican, was elected to the U.S. House in 2018 to represent West Virginia's 3rd district.",west virginia,0,2,1,0,0,0,RealClearEnergy,"Miller said, ""We became a net exporter of natural gas in 2017, and until recently, our exports have exceeded our imports."" In 2017, U.S. exports of natural gas began to exceed U.S. natural gas imports, but exports of natural gas have remained larger than imports ever since, rather than reversing ""recently."" We rate the statement . "
4546,2,We spend half a trillion dollars a year in tax preparation.,"October 28, 2011",taxes,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",national,26,24,43,30,31,18,"Manchester, N.H","Looking at the Tax Foundation report which Perry used -- as well as alternate analyses of the question -- it’s clear that $500 billion is a high estimate, at least as the numbers stand today. If you define this number narrowly -- to tax preparers and tax lawyers, the groups Perry named specifically -- Perry’s estimate is even further off base. Perry has a valid point to make -- that a whole lot of money is spent on tax preparation in the United States today. But he not only takes the highest estimate, he also uses a number projected into the future and makes it sound like that's what is being spent today. On balance, we rate Perry’s statement . "
10869,4,"Says Marco Rubio opposes abortion ""even in the case of rape and incest.","October 25, 2015",abortion;candidate biography;punditfact,jennifer granholm,"Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, is the Energy Secretary in the Biden administration. She served two terms as governor of Michigan, from 2003 to 2011.",,1,2,4,2,0,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Granholm said Rubio opposes abortion ""even in the case of rape and incest."" The record suggests Rubio has staked out a slightly more nuanced position. Rubio is staunchly anti-abortion and has suggested he personally opposes abortion in cases of rape and incest, but he has supported abortion legislation that include those exceptions. Rubio says he supports legislation that makes abortion more rare. Granholm’s statement is accurate but needs clarification. We rate it ."
21976,2,"Mark Kelly voted against the Keystone pipeline, which caused higher gas prices.","September 8, 2022",energy;gas prices;arizona,saving arizona pac,Saving Arizona PAC is a political action committee with at least $13.5 million in backing from billionaire Peter Thiel. It supports Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Blake Masters.,national,0,0,0,2,0,0,a campaign ad,"In a campaign ad, Saving Arizona said Kelly ""voted against the Keystone pipeline, which caused higher gas prices."" Biden stopped additional construction of the pipeline in early 2021, and that did not require congressional action.  Kelly later voted against two amendments and one motion that could have restarted construction. But two of those measures lacked the force of law. Even if construction had continued, the project was years from completion and its status had no connection to the rise or fall in gasoline prices. We rate this  . RELATED: No easy answers on reducing U.S. gas prices, despite political ads’ claims RELATED: Ask PolitiFact: Why are gas prices going up? RELATED: No  that Biden canceling an oil pipeline caused higher U.S. gas prices RELATED:   Green energy policies didn’t cause record prices at gasoline pumps"
18405,1,CBS stole a photo from Latinos for Trump in Phoenix and tagged it as a Biden event.,"September 17, 2020",race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks;punditfact,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Fact-checkers at Snopes , FactCheck.org , the Dispatch and the Associated Press have debunked the  claims about the ""CBS Evening News"" broadcast. The Gateway Pundit did an about-face, changing its headline to ""Trump’s cut into the Hispanic vote leaves Democrats panicked."" We rate this Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
7393,0,"Says the word ""Dhimmitude"" is on page 107 of the health care law and means ""Muslims are specifically exempted from the government mandate to purchase insurance.","May 29, 2013",health care;religion,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"Members of Congress did not want the penalties for going without insurance to be too strict, so the law specifically states that people who fail to pay the penalty ""shall not not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty"" nor may government officials ""file notice of lien with respect to any property"" ( page 131). In fact, this email is  on just about everything: The word ""dhimmitude"" is not in the law. Muslims are not specifically exempted. And if anyone is exempted, it’s a small number of Christian groups. For promoting  notions and wild fabrication, we have three words: !  "
22568,1,"President Joe Biden signed an executive order ""making health insurance free for qualifying Americans.","January 9, 2023",health care;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"But the order doesn’t make health insurance free for any Americans.   Known as the Strengthening Medicaid and Affordable Care Act, the executive order said the Biden administration’s policy is ""to protect and strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to make high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable for every American. ""  The order directed executive departments and agencies with authorities and responsibilities related to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to ""review existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions"" to ""determine whether such agency actions are inconsistent with this policy. ""  It didn’t make health insurance free for qualifying Americans.   We rate that  ."
4652,4,"Georgia is one of seven states to lose jobs in 2011 and has lost 8,200 jobs so far.","November 3, 2011",jobs,eric gray,Eric Gray is the communications director for the Georgia Democratic Party.,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a speech,It may seem premature to say Deal has not done enough to create more jobs in nine months. The claims that Gray made were correct on both points. But there is this caveat:  Many of the job losses were in government and not the private sector. Gray’s statement is accurate but needs more context. We rate it .
9429,3,"Says Scott Walker cut ""taxes for the wealthiest"" and raised taxes ""on 140,000 Wisconsin families.","September 11, 2014",housing;income;message machine 2014;poverty;taxes,mary burke,"Burke is a former Trek Bicycle executive and former Wisconsin Commerce Department secretary who announced on Oct. 7, 2013 that she would seek the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin in the fall 2014 election against incument Republican Gov. Scott Walker. She lost to Walker on Nov. 4, 2014. She is a school board member in Madison, Wisconsin.",wisconsin,2,8,11,5,5,3,a TV ad,"Walker cut taxes for wealthier residents and raised taxes for people on the lower end of the scale. But he also made tax cuts that applied across the board. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page ."
2450,4,Sharron Angle voted to protect sex offenders.,"October 7, 2010",legal issues;message machine 2010;public safety,harry reid,Harry Reid is a former U.S. senator from Nevada. He served as the Democratic minority leader in the U.S. Senate immediately prior to leaving office.,national,2,7,3,4,5,3,a campaign commercial,"When the identical bill came up in committee, Angle did not vote against it, nor did she demand a roll call vote on the amended version when it came back to the Assembly from the Senate. In addition, she cited other concerns beyond privacy that may have played into her decision to vote against the bill, including legal liability (which was addressed in the bill's final version), the possibility that such programs could one day become mandatory and First Amendment concerns. These failures, in our view, do not greatly undercut the ad's argument, however. The notion that Angle ""voted to protect the privacy of sex offenders instead of the safety of our kids"" is an oversimplification. But Angle did vote against it at least once for reasons including concerns about invasion of privacy, so we rate it ."
2822,5,"The Milwaukee business community ""did not speak about the facts"" -- and in support of train manufacturer Talgo -- as the Milwaukee-Madison rail link was being killed.","December 10, 2010",state budget;transportation,talgo inc.,"Talgo Inc. is a Spain-based manufacturer of trains with operations in the United States. The company opened a Milwaukee factory, but plans to close the manufacturing operation once current and planned work is done. It had hoped to build trains for a federally funded Milwaukee-Madison rail link. That $810 million has been redistributed to other states.",wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,0,a statement from the company,"So where does that leave us? The state lost $810 million in federal funds, Talgo’s train manufacturing jobs and the area’s leading business group and political leaders have a black eye for wooing and then freezing out an international business. Some of Talgo’s ire was directed toward the MMAC, for not speaking out on its behalf. The organization said its hands were tied by a split membership. We rate the statement ."
6028,2,Says his plan to end the toll on Ga. 400 fulfills his campaign promise to commuters.,"July 19, 2012",transportation,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,,"That means Ga. 400 motorists will still be paying tolls much longer than they were originally promised. Deal failed to meet a date of his own making. But he has come up with a plan to eliminate the tolls, albeit on a deadline not addressed in his original campaign promise. Deal earns a  on this one."
15468,2,"There aren't enough ballots in question to change the outcome"" of the Harris vs. McCready race in NC Congressional District 9.","December 2, 2018",elections,north carolina republican party,The N.C. GOP is a political party in North Carolina,north carolina,0,1,0,4,4,1,a press release,"The NC GOP says ""there aren’t enough ballots in question to change the outcome of this election."" There’s a gap between the number of mail-in votes cast in Bladen County (684) and the 905 votes by which McCready trails Harris. But it’s possible -- if not likely -- that the NC elections board is examining more than just the absentee-by-mail ballots that were cast. The board hasn’t publicly defined the scope of its investigation. Investigators could be examining the 684 mail-votes from Bladen County, the 680 mail-in votes from Robeson County, as well as the combined 1,675 mail-in ballots that weren’t returned from either county. The N.C. GOP hasn’t presented  to prove that the NC elections board is focusing solely on the mail-in ballots that were already counted in Bladen County. In fact, they’ve criticized the board for lacking transparency. We believe Woodhouse and the NC GOP’s  meets the definition of a    : it contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."
6213,1,"Says Chris Christie was the ""first governor in America to endorse"" Mitt Romney.","August 28, 2012",candidate biography;elections,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,"an interview on ""CBS This Morning""","In light of a New York Post article claiming Christie doubted whether Romney could beat Obama, Christie claimed in a TV interview that he was the ""first governor in America to endorse"" Romney. But about four months before Christie offered his endorsement, the Romney campaign announced he had the support of Republican governors in Nebraska and Idaho, and news articles noted both endorsements afterward. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com . Editor's Note: After this story was published, we added a line noting how the governor's office had not responded to an email presenting our findings. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9bc52084-48a1-4732-a941-7b31c4baa16b"
20443,0,The White House referred to Christmas trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year.,"October 17, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"This  was debunked in 2009 and is still untrue today. We did not find any  to indicate that the Biden administration is calling Christmas trees by any other name. A second part of the  says Ben Stein responded to the change in Christmas terminology with a speech. But his speech was delivered in 2005, years before the   about Christmas trees emerged. We rate this  ! "
5915,5,"Says if labor force participation rate were the same as when Barack Obama became president, unemployment would be 11 percent.","June 9, 2012",economy;jobs,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",texas,11,16,24,23,7,5,his keynote address at the Republican Party of Texas convention,The general unemployment rate in June 2012 would have been 10.9 percent if the labor force participation rate had remained at the 65.5 percent in place when Obama became president. That’s about 11 percent. We rate Ryan’s statement .
16149,1,Every day on average 500 people die from gun violence.,"June 5, 2019",crime;guns,ilhan omar,"Ilhan Omar is a Democratic congresswoman representing Minnesota's 5th congressional district, which includes parts of Minneapolis and surrounding municipalities.",national,0,1,1,1,3,0,a tweet,"Omar said, ""Every day on average 500 people die from gun violence."" Her  was made in promoting legislation that would add new background check requirements for gun transfers made in the United States. Based on the latest federal figures, for 2017, the average per day was 109  — that’s counting deaths resulting from suicides, homicides, unintentional and undetermined deaths as well as those from law enforcement. And it’s 100 if you use a five-year average for 2013 to 2017. We rate Omar’s statement ."
22913,0,Adam Schiff will be impeached.,"April 19, 2023",congress;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"That requires a two-thirds vote. The Senate has expelled only 15 members in its history, and 14 of those came during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy. The House has expelled only five members , the most recent being James Traficant, D-Ohio, in 2002, who was convicted of several felonies, including soliciting bribes. There are no news reports that Schiff is at risk of being expelled, much less impeached. We rate this  !"
18078,1,Says Joe Biden is formally listed as criminal suspect in Ukraine case involving his son.,"July 22, 2020",criminal justice;foreign policy;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a viral image,A  that Joe Biden is formally listed as a criminal suspect in a case in Ukraine involving his son Hunter misconstrues the facts. A judge in Ukraine has ordered that a criminal case file be opened regarding Biden’s efforts as vice president to get Ukraine’s top prosecutor removed from office. But the opening of the file does not mean that a criminal investigation has been launched on merit and does not mean Biden has been listed formally as a criminal suspect. We rate the statement .
2379,5,"Since being elected in 2002, Scott Walker has ""given back over $370,000 of his salary to the county.","October 5, 2010",county budget,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a statement on campaign web site,"Walker has foregone $375,070 in salary since being elected county executive in 2002 -- $5,070 more than what he has claimed during the gubernatorial campaign. Our summation is as simple as the math: In his initial campaign, Walker made a pledge to return $60,000 a year, though he later was re-elected on a smaller give-back pledge. He said his checkbook is more than $370,000 lighter -- and the county’s coffers that much better off. The record shows Walker’s  is accurate. We rate it ."
9017,3,Congressman (Tom) Cotton is the only Arkansan in Congress -- Democrat or Republican -- to vote against disaster relief five times.,"June 19, 2014",environment;bipartisanship;congress;federal budget;homeland security;infrastructure;public safety;voting record;weather,senate majority pac,Senate Majority PAC is a super PAC that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,national,0,3,8,5,4,0,a television ad,"A Senate Majority PAC ad said, ""Congressman Cotton is the only Arkansan in Congress -- Democrat or Republican -- to vote against disaster relief five times."" We found that Cotton voted against five bills or amendments that would have gone to immediate aid or funded disaster relief programs. The rest of the Arkansas delegation only voted ""no"" on some of them. However, the ad is a bit disengenuous because it really only addresses three disaster relief bills, and a couple of other Arkansan delegates voted against final passage. The ad also leaves out the times that Cotton voted for disaster relief funding, as long as there were spending cuts to other programs to make up for it. Overall, Cotton typically doesn’t support spending that isn’t balanced out with cuts in other areas. Additionally, if you think this ad -- which shows tornado-ravaged areas -- is talking all about Arkansas, that isn't the case. Most of these votes had to do with Hurricane Sandy. We rate this  . UPDATE, July 9, 2014 : In a response ad, Cotton listed three votes that showed his support for disaster-relief funding. We rated that ad . Read that fact check here."
7323,4,"A Wisconsin bill to limit use of food stamps for junk food would also ""prevent -- or limit --  the extent to which"" food stamps could be used for organic foods.","May 7, 2013",federal budget;poverty;states;welfare,fred clark,"Democrat Fred Clark is a member of the Wisconsin state Assembly, representing the 42nd District near Baraboo. He was elected in 2008. He ran unsuccessfully against Republican state Sen. Luther Olsen in an August 2011 recall election.",wisconsin,0,1,1,1,0,0,a legislative meeting,"FoodShare recipients could still use one-third of their benefits on any kind of organic food (or junk food, for that matter). But they could use the two-thirds portion only for some kinds of organics. Our rating Clark said a bill to limit use of food stamps for junk food would also ""prevent -- or limit --  the extent to which"" food stamps could be used for organic foods. There would be limits on which types of organic foods a person could buy with two-thirds of their food stamps, but not for the other third. The meat-and-potatoes portion of Clark's statement is accurate, but it needs a garnish or two of clarification -- our definition of ."
15110,0,Kavanaugh accuser's brother's firm linked to Fusion GPS.,"September 17, 2018",supreme court;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Ford’s brother, Ralph Blasey, worked for a law firm that worked with Fusion GPS nine years after he left the company. Fusion GPS’s work on the Russian dossier began more than a decade after Blasey left BakerHostetler. While it’s accurate to say Blasey worked for BakerHostetler — he says that clearly on his LinkedIn — it is   to somehow link her brother’s past employment to Fusion GPS’s work in investigating Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. We rate this  ."
10562,3,Says Donald Trump is for a single-payer health care system.,"August 2, 2015",health care,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",national,26,24,43,30,31,18,"an interview on ""Fox News Sunday""","Perry said Trump is ""for single-payer health care."" Fifteen years ago, Trump was decidedly for a universal healthcare system that resembled Canada’s system, in which the government pays for care for all citizens. Recently, he's said he admires Scotland’s single-payer system and disses the Affordable Care Act as incompetently implemented. However, a Trump spokesman denied that the candidate supported ""socialized medicine"" and suggested Trump prefers a ""free-market"" solution. Other than that, though, the Trump campaign has been silent about what his specific health care policies are; perhaps Trump will be pressed on this point during the Aug. 6 debate. Given the current , Perry's attack is partially accurate, but leaves out details. We rate the statement ."
1141,1,Baseball and insurance are the only industries exempt from antitrust laws.,"October 12, 2009",baseball;health care,americans united for change,"A liberal advocacy group, Americans United For Change states on its Web site that it was founded in 2005 to fend off President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. In 2006, the organization ""broadened its scope to build broad public and congressional support for action on a wide range of long-stalled policy issues.""",national,0,1,4,1,4,0,a television advertisement,"The Americans United for Change ad is generally correct to equate the antitrust exemptions of baseball and health insurance, but the one for health insurance is more limited. And the ad is  to say that these are the ""only industries exempt from antitrust laws."" Agricultural and fishing co-ops and maritime shippers have similar exemptions. And a host of other sectors, notably freight rail, have some pretty significant antitrust protections as well. We rate the ad's  ."
18209,5,"In one of the states that determined the outcome"" of the 2016 presidential race, ""the winning margin averaged out to just two votes per precinct, two votes.","August 17, 2020",elections,michelle obama,"Michelle Obama is the wife of Barack Obama and the former First Lady of the United States. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School and has worked for the Mayor of Chicago and the University of Chicago. Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",michigan,4,4,1,0,2,0,a Democratic convention speech,"Obama said, ""In one of the states that determined the outcome"" of the 2016 presidential race, ""the winning margin averaged out to just two votes per precinct — two votes."" In Michigan, Trump’s winning margin averaged out to just over two votes per precinct. We rate the statement ."
22891,0,34 dead after Lizzo attempted to crowd surf.,"April 6, 2023",pop culture;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"Lizzo herself addressed one on July 27, 2021, on her own TikTok account.   ""So, I’ve seen a lot of annoying things about me on the internet, but the thing that bothers me the most is this rumor that I stage-dived at a concert and killed somebody,"" she said. ""Like, that rumor is a lie first of all, I’ve never stage-dived in my life."" Lizzo’s Grammy-winning work celebrates self-love and body positivity and she speaks often about giving media representation to plus-sized people who are often ignored in popular media imagery.    We rate the  she killed anyone !"
6717,4,"Says ""the number of Americans living at or below the poverty line is at its highest level since"" 1964.","November 29, 2012",poverty,barbara buono, Barbara Buono is a Democratic state senator representing part of Middlesex County. Buono previously served in the State Assembly from 1994 to 2001.,new jersey,3,4,4,3,1,1,a speech on the Senate floor,"During a debate over raising the state’s minimum wage, Buono claimed ""the number of Americans living at or below the poverty line is at its highest level since"" 1964. The latest official poverty rate -- 15 percent in 2011 -- does represent one of the highest levels since 1964, but there have been a few years in the past five decades when the rate was the same or higher than the most current estimate. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
10143,2,Suntrust Bank cancels account because company sells guns.,"March 29, 2015",financial regulation;guns,florida news flash,Hernando County-based blog/news site run by Samuel Martin McCall.,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a website headline,"FloridaNewsFlash.com said, ""Suntrust Bank Cancels Account Because Company Sells Guns."" Actually, the bank decided recently to end relationships with pawn shops, payday lenders and check cashers, but it will still work with firearms dealers. The FDIC has warned banks to examine relationships with customers that use third-party payment processors, because of the risk of consumer fraud, and a federal program called Operation Choke Point has investigated the same issue. Gun rights advocates have argued that Operation Choke Point is a backdoor way of targeting gun shops, but the government denies there’s any such plan to target gun dealers, and no one has been able to truly prove otherwise. Overall, we rate the statement ."
8356,1,"Says President Barack Obama ""spent nearly a trillion dollars on make-work government jobs.","January 28, 2014",economy;federal budget;jobs;stimulus,rand paul,"Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky elected in 2010. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out to seek re-election to the Senate. Paul is a medical doctor and an ophthalmologist. His father is Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas. ",national,12,15,13,7,12,4,a response to the State of the Union address,"Paul said Obama ""spent nearly a trillion dollars on make-work government jobs."" It’s plausible that through the stimulus, Obama spent nearly $1 trillion of taxpayer dollars in hopes it would create jobs. But Paul is  to suggest that all $1 trillion was spent on ""make-work government jobs."" Two-thirds of the stimulus was spent on tax cuts and entitlements, and of the remaining one-third, much was paid to private contractors. Only a modest fraction of the $1 trillion was spent on government jobs, much less on jobs spent doing nothing. We rate his  ."
1047,3,"If you don't count illegal aliens, people who qualify for other insurance, and people who make more than $75,000 a year, ""it leaves about 15 million people"" who are uninsured.","August 20, 2009",health care,orrin hatch,Orrin Hatch is a Republican senator from Utah.,national,1,0,1,2,0,0,an interview on Fox News,So we find that the individual numbers that Hatch uses are accurate or in the ballpark. Our concerns are with the methodology used to come up with his bottom line. It relies on a hodgepodge of different years and sources and leaves open the possibility that some people are double- or triple-counted. It would not pass muster in an undergraduate statistics class. So we find his statement is .
16481,2,Says several well-known charities such as Goodwill and American Red Cross overpay their CEOs and spend a small percentage on helping people.,"September 6, 2019",public service;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"A recent Facebook post recirculated an outdated table that divided well-known charities into those that spent donations wisely and those that did not. Most of the numbers in the table were not just , they were wildly . The data inflated CEO salaries and lowballed the share of money going to charitable programs by factors ranging from two to 10. In a couple of cases, the numbers were correct or nearly correct, but those were the rare exceptions. We rate this ."
9062,1,"The 2011 Rebuild America Jobs Act ""would have cost the average American family $1,000 a year while making no significant impact to fix our infrastructure and roads.","July 9, 2014",economy;jobs,monica wehby,"Dr. Wehby has practiced for 15 years and has held numerous leadership positions at the local, state and national levels. She currently is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Randall Children's Hospital in Portland.",oregon,1,0,0,0,3,0,an economic issues statement,"The bill ultimately failed, but had it passed, it would not have cost the ""average American family"" a dime. We rate the  . Comments? Questions? Click over to our entry on OregonLive.com and let us know what you think."
23040,1,CNN announces today there will be no more live audiences at town halls.,"May 12, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We also couldn’t find anything that mentioned this on the network’s website or social media pages . ""These social media posts are entirely fabricated,"" CNN spokesperson Bridget Leininger told PolitiFact. Despite the backlash, CNN Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht stood by the town hall, saying in an editorial meeting the next day that the audience reflected the views of ""a large swath"" of the American population.   We rate the  that CNN decided there would be no more live audiences at town halls .   RELATED: Fact-checking Donald Trump’s CNN town hall claims on Jan. 6, abortion, Mar-a-Lago documents  "
22065,3,"In 2016, Democrats suggested that the election was stolen.","September 21, 2022",elections,glenn youngkin,"Republican Glenn Youngkin was elected Virginia's governor in November 2021. He defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who was governor from 2014 to 2018.
Youngkin was reared in Richmond and Virginia Beach and won a basketball scholarship at Rice University, where he earned an engineering degree. He earned a MBA from Harvard University. Youngkin worked 25 years at the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm based in Washington with $230 billion in assets. He retired in 2020 as CEO after taking the company public. His net worth is estimated at $254 million, according to The Washington Post.
Youngkin's 2021 campaign for governor is his first bid for public office.",virginia,0,5,4,1,3,1,a news conference,"But Youngkin’s contention that the Democratic response in 2016 equates with the Republican response to 2020 runs into trouble. The Democrats, while questioning events that occurred during the campaign, didn’t contend there was widespread vote-counting fraud that flipped the election.   The Democratic leaders cited by Youngkin’s office also made a distinction about 2016 that Trump and his followers did not about 2020. While the Democrats rejected the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency based on the oddities of the campaign, they acknowledged that he won the election. All told, we rate Youngkin’s statement .  "
10571,1,Almost 95 percent of all (Planned Parenthood) pregnancy services were abortions.,"July 28, 2015",abortion;punditfact,sandra smith,"Sandra Smith is a reporter on the Fox Business Network, where she has worked since October 2007. The Louisiana State University alumna is also part of a rotating panel featured on Fox News' noontime talk show, Outnumbered. Previously, she worked for Bloomberg News.",,0,0,0,0,1,0,an interview with Mike Huckabee,"Smith said, ""Almost 95 percent of all (Planned Parenthood's) pregnancy services were abortions."" An anti-abortion group puts the figure at 94 percent using a cherry-picked method that ignores the majority of Planned Parenthood's services, which aim to prevent pregnancies. The group describes ""pregnancy services"" as counting what Planned Parenthood does for women once they are already pregnant. But Planned Parenthood does not fully track this number, making the  a leap of logic based on insufficient information. What's most noticeably missing among the number of Planned Parenthood services used by pregnant women are the number of pregnancy referrals. Planned Parenthood says it doesn't keep records of how many pregnant women are referred to outside healthcare providers. Without that information, we don't know an accurate percentage of ""pregnancy services"" that were abortions. Neither, however, does Smith. We rate the  . UPDATE:  After this fact-check published, an official with Planned Parenthood contacted us and said that she was not authorized to speak on the record. A spokeswoman who is authorized to speak on the record, Elizabeth Clark, then provided us the same information. We've updated this fact-check to include her comments."
1924,1,There have been 30 published polls in this election cycle and Harry Reid's been trailing in every single one.,"July 9, 2010",elections,john cornyn,"John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas, former Texas attorney general and former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He earlier served as a Bexar County state district judge.",texas,11,4,10,6,6,1,a Talking Points Memo article,"In its July report, Rasmussen said Reid is ""creeping forward and now is nearly tied"" with Angle, and rated the Nevada Senate race as a ""toss-up."" Though the latest polling hints that Reid's numbers may be picking up, he clearly trailed Republican opponents in two-thirds of the 30 polls we reviewed; in those seven polls showing a closer race, Reid was behind in five. Had Cornyn said that Reid was behind in nearly every poll, we wouldn't quibble. But in two polls, Reid was the clear leader — and that means he didn't trail ""in every single one."" We rate Cornyn's statement as ."
12105,3,"Says Donald Trump promised ""the mass deportation of Latino families.","July 27, 2016",immigration,karen bass,"Karen Ruth Bass is a Democratic politician who was elected mayor of Los Angeles, California. As a member of Congress, Bass represented California's 37th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.",national,0,1,1,0,0,0,a speech at the Democratic National Convention,"Bass said Trump has ""promised mass deportation of Latino families."" Off the bat, Bass’ attack is imprecise. She said Trump wants to deport Latino families, when he has not promised that exactly. He pledged to remove the undocumented population, which is certainly comprised of Latinos but is not exclusive to them. (And obviously, not all Latinos in the United States are here illegally.) The underlying issue is tough talk Trump offered earlier in his campaign about rounding up undocumented immigrants in the country and sending them back to their native countries — with the ""good ones"" able to come back, possibly. Trump reiterated that stance several times as journalists asked how it would work. But the Republican presidential nominee appears to have recently softened his view over the last month, and his official immigration plans don’t mention deporting undocumented families en masse. We rate Bass’ statement ."
12386,5,Texas has lost the most law enforcement officers in the line of duty of any state in America.,"July 15, 2016",criminal justice;history;crime,charley wilkison,Charley Wilkison became executive director of CLEAT in 2014.,texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,an interview with Laura Rice for the Texas Standard,"Wilkison said: ""Texas has lost the most law enforcement officers in the line of duty of any state in America."" This appears to be so, both of late (since 1980) and since the 1800s. We rate the  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/41be9188-c0a0-4c66-8577-90f52e20b05e"
8484,1,"Federal government reneging"" on Medicaid payments to Wisconsin caused about $240 million in extra costs in the 2013-'15 state budget.","February 23, 2014",federal budget;health care;medicaid;state budget,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a TV interview,"His view is Walker could have made the state less vulnerable to declines in federal help if he had taken the additional federal money available for the Medicaid expansion. ""If we took advantage of the Medicaid expansion funds,"" Peacock told us, ""we would get a much higher matching rate that is locked in (under the law.)"" Our rating Explaining his rejection of federal money to fully expand Medicaid coverage, Walker said on Fox News Sunday that ""federal government reneging"" on Medicaid payments to Wisconsin caused more than $200 million in extra costs in the 2013-’15 state budget. But typical cost-sharing fluctuations, based mainly on a longstanding formula, explain the extra state burden -- not any reversal of course or pulling back on a commitment by Washington. We rate Walker’s  ."
10835,2,We have the highest funding in (the) K-12 system in the history of the state.,"October 14, 2015",education;state budget,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a press conference,"Scott said, ""We have the highest funding in (the) K-12 system in the history of the state."" That’s accurate in one sense, because the state’s total education budget is at an all-time high of $19.7 billion. But enrollment is also higher than in years past. Per-pupil spending is still below historic dollar totals and remains far below equitable levels when adjusted for inflation. Education spending has essentially stood still over the last nine years. Scott’s  obscures that. The statement contains an element of , but ignores critical facts. We rate it ."
3106,3,"Lyme disease is one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the United States, and Rhode Island has the second-highest incidence of this disease in the country.","February 3, 2011",public health;public safety,susan sosnowski,"Susan Sosnowski has been a state senator since 1997 and is chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture.
 ",rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,a news release,"But when she says that Rhode Island ranks second when it comes to the incidence of Lyme, she is giving a very precise statistic, citing it with authority, and using the present tense to make it sound current. Yet there's no data to support her . Both Sosnowski and Mather expressed fear that, when people hear what the latest numbers are, they will falsely conclude that Lyme disease is no longer a big deal. In fact, it is. And so is the , so we rate Sosnowski's statement  ."
15733,4,The rainy day fund … is $320 million. That's much more than what it has been in the past.,"February 17, 2019",state budget,terry katsma,Elected to Assembly since 2014.,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,a TV interview,"Our rating Katsma claimed that Wisconsin accumulated much more money than it has in the past in its ""rainy day fund,"" with $320 million. The  is on target, though that is relative. Wisconsin is far below the national average on the relative size of its fund. The definition for  is ""the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."" That fits here."
14666,2,"Gov. Wolf is trying to implement ""a severance tax that would be financed by Pennsylvania's working class","May 21, 2018",taxes,scott wagner,PA State senator and gubernatorial candidate,pennsylvania,0,0,1,1,2,0,Fundraising email,"And with Pennsylvanians consuming roughly 20 percent of the gas produced here, the severance tax likely will cause utility bills in Pennsylvania to grow. But according to the IFO, more of the expense would be absorbed by consumers in other states where Pennsylvania natural gas is shipped. Additionally, there are many factors that would impact the ratio — everything from market forces to commodity prices to the tax amount levied to the availability of pipeline infrastructure across Pennsylvania to move gas to other markets. Without that nuance, Wagner’s  leads a reasonable reader to conclude that the entirety of the burden would be borne by residents of the Commonwealth. Given that, we rate the  ."
18153,1,Video shows missile attack in Beirut explosion.,"August 6, 2020",facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"There is at least one other manipulated video that claims to show a missile strike causing the blast. The latest reports out of Beirut say the cause was a fire that ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer with great explosive potential, that had been stored in a warehouse since 2014. Ammonium nitrate is the chemical used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people at a federal building. There is no  that a missile triggered the blast. This is ."
21557,1,"A ""public health warning"" was recently issued for fluoride toothpaste.","June 6, 2022",public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Of course, people generally don’t eat and swallow toothpaste. But as we’ve previously reported , even if they did, it would take a massive amount to be at risk from fluoride poisoning, and experts say children would vomit out the toothpaste long before that point. This post gives the  impression that a recent public health warning was issued for fluoride toothpastes, but that’s not the case. Rather, 25 years ago the FDA started requiring companies to put a warning on such products to advise people to seek help if they swallow more toothpaste than was used to brush their teeth.   We rate this post ."
14511,1,"Studies show ""the 2016 shooting and murder rate in Chicago cost us about $9.6 BILLION DOLLARS"" and ""the entire City budget for 2018 is $8.6 billion dollars. This math does not work, it is financially killing our city.","March 30, 2018",crime,garry mccarthy,Garry Francis McCarthy is the former Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.,illinois,0,0,1,1,1,0,a campaign post,"In his attempts to brand Emanuel as a failed mayor whose inability to stamp out crime has led Chicago down the path to financial ruin, McCarthy claimed studies on gun violence support his argument that city taxpayers bear an enormous cost for murders and shootings. Studies show ""the 2016 shooting and murder rate in Chicago cost us about $9.6 BILLION DOLLARS"" and ""the entire City budget for 2018 is $8.6 billion dollars. This math does not work, it is financially killing our city,"" his campaign website read. But the researcher who produced the findings cited by the McCarthy campaign says it misinterpreted his conclusions, which attempted to put a price tag on the total societal costs of firearm homicides and shootings--not just the still significant, but much smaller, costs to city government. McCarthy’s campaign badly misfires in its  on the costs of gun violence to Chicago taxpayers. It is undoubtedly both a serious and costly problem, but in misinterpreting the very data it relies on the bolster its case, the campaign’s  earns a credibility rating of ."
17198,0,Says the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis and two aides tested positive for coronavirus.,"February 29, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube video,"We could find no credible sources that say the pope — who lost part of a lung to an illness as a young man — was tested for the current coronavirus , or that he tested positive. The Vatican has repeatedly denied the claims and described his condition as a ""slight illness"" without giving more details. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni dismissed the coronavirus speculation, telling journalists that there’s ""no  that would lead to diagnosing anything but a mild indisposition."" The pope appeared at the Vatican Apostolic Palace window on March 1 to address thousands in St Peter’s Square in his first public appearance in days. We rate this !"
9277,3,"We've seen highway fatalities actually decrease in Colorado"" since marijuana use was legalized.","August 20, 2014",marijuana,anthony johnson,"Anthony Johnson is executive director of the Oregon Cannibis Industry Association and director of New Approach Oregon, the political action committee working to end cannibis regulation for all adults in Oregon.",oregon,0,0,1,0,0,0,a political debate,Thoughts on our ruling? Click on over to OregonLive/politics.com and leave your comments. (This fact-check has been edited. An earlier version mischaracterized one of Anthony Johnson's arguments regarding driving and recreational marijuana. It did not change the ruling.)
4174,3,People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals estimates 200 animals will be spared annually as the result of former President Bill Clinton adopting a vegan diet.,"December 20, 2010",animals,people for the ethical treatment of animals,"People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Va.",georgia,0,0,2,0,0,0,an article,"While PETA’s spokeswoman acknowledges its number includes bivalves and other creatures, its number seems to imply a vegan is saving the lives of cute cows, adorable baby chickens and Wilbur-like pigs. Those are, after all, the animals PETA chooses to showcase on its website. PETA’s statement is technically accurate. But it leaves out important details. That’s our definition of  ."
19146,0,"Says Joe Biden and Democrats ""have not legitimately won"" the presidency.","January 20, 2021",elections;pundits;punditfact,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",,0,2,5,10,17,12,a radio show segment,"International observers said they saw no  of fraud, and so did Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr. Trump’s most senior cybersecurity official said the election was the ""most secure in American history."" PolitiFact fact-checked a wide array of claims alleging election fraud. We found no  to suggest that Biden did not win ""legitimately,"" as Limbaugh claimed. We rate Limbaugh’s statement !"
15141,4,Joe Manchin has a 'D' rating from the NRA.,"September 7, 2018",guns,patrick morrisey,Patrick Morrisey is the attorney general of West Virginia. Morrisey is running for the West Virginia U.S. Senate seat.,west virginia,2,4,3,4,1,0,a tweet,"Morrisey tweeted that ""Joe Manchin has a ‘D’ rating from the NRA."" That’s certainly the case for 2018, and the NRA has endorsed Morrisey over Manchin this year. But this ignores that in previous campaigns, Manchin received ‘A’ and ‘A+’ ratings from the NRA and won the group’s endorsement those years. The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
8320,1,We have the lowest beer tax in the nation.,"January 15, 2014",taxes,rod monroe,Rod Monroe represents District 24 in the Oregon Senate.,oregon,0,0,0,0,2,0,an Oregon Senate work session,"Oregon, according to a national group that tracks beer taxes, has one of the lowest such rates in the county. The 8-cents-a-gallon rate -- sixth-lowest nationally -- has remained unchanged since 1978. But Monroe claimed that Oregon has the lowest beer tax in the U.S. Later, he tried to justify that assertion by saying it’s the lowest if Oregon’s lack of a sales tax is taken into account. He didn’t make that specification in his original statement, though, and sales taxes aren’t specific to beer. We rate his  ."
14723,0,Breaking: Mike Huckabee just fired!,"June 11, 2018",fake news;punditfact,red state wave,Red State Wave is a conservative website.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,a headline,"A disclaimer states that redstatewave.com is a ""passive service for storage and dissemination of the works that redstatewave.com members may choose to post and distribute."" Red State Wave has used similar clickbait language before when it wrote in a  headline that Fox News’ Laura Ingraham was ""fired,"" when she actually fired off at Democrats. A headline said ""Breaking: Mike Huckabee just fired!"" Huckabee wasn’t fired -- he fired off at De Niro. We rate this statement ."
14383,1,"Rep. Pittenger is ""constantly rated as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress.","February 9, 2018",congress,mark harris,Rev. Mark Harris is the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte. He has been a candidate for U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress in North Carolina.,north carolina,0,0,1,1,3,0,a newsletter,"Harris said Pittenger is ""constantly rated as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress."" We can’t find the results to back that up. So we rate this  ."
13580,5,"I helped win one of the biggest private lawsuits against Medicare fraud in history. The government declined to pursue the case, so my firm did, and we recovered $324 million for taxpayers.","June 12, 2017",health care;medicare,stacey evans,"Stacey Evans, a Democrat, is a state representative from the Smyrna area.",georgia,1,2,1,0,0,0,a campaign video,"""But a smaller deficit means it is less likely that taxes are raised or services cut."" Our rating Evans said that she ""helped win one of the biggest private lawsuits against Medicare fraud in history."" The lead counsel on the case corroborated her role in it, and the Justice Department confirmed its historic importance. Her  that they recovered $324 million for taxpayers also checks out. We rate this statement ."
19340,4,The COVID-19 rescue bill includes money for a list of projects that are not COVID-related.,"February 24, 2021",federal budget;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,stand for america,"Stand for America, founded by Republican Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the U.N., says it promotes “public policies that strengthen America’s economy, culture and national security.”",,0,1,0,0,0,0,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed: ""Democrats’ COVID ‘stimulus’ bill wish list"" includes money ""for a bridge connecting Canada to New York""; an ""underground rail project in Silicon Valley""; museums and ""Native American language preservation"";  Amtrak; ""environmental justice grants""; and ""‘family planning’ organizations like Planned Parenthood."" The figures listed in the post for six components of Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill are largely accurate. But the post needs additional information. For example, the largest of the six — $1.5 billion for Amtrak — was also requested by the Trump administration. And the six components comprise a tiny fraction of the $1.9 trillion. We rate the post ."
17592,1,"Says Joe Biden has ""written a letter of apology"" for calling Trump's travel restrictions from China ""xenophobic.","May 3, 2020",china;elections;coronavirus,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a Fox News virtual town hall,"Trump said Biden called the ban on travel coming in from China ""xenophobic,"" and that ""he actually apologized with a letter on a Friday night saying ‘he made the right move.’"" We found no record of any letter or apology from Biden. Trump appears to be citing a campaign official’s statement to the media in support of Trump’s decision.  Biden has used the word ""xenophobic"" several times in reference to Trump, but not directly in reference to the China travel policy. We rate this statement ."
3597,0,"Promotes a chart saying that Barack Obama has ""increased the debt"" by 16 percent, compared to George W. Bush, who increased it by 115 percent.","May 3, 2011",deficit;federal budget;history,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,a chart posted on her Flickr account,"It cherry-picked the measurement that was favorable to its cause. And it is contradicted by statistics for GDP-adjusted debt, which show Obama to be the most, rather than the least, debt-creating president of the last five. None of this suggests that Obama can’t turn things around as the economy improves (and Democrats can also take some solace in the fact that Bill Clinton did remarkably well in all of our measurements). But in communicating which administrations contributed the most to growth of the debt, this chart is a failure. We rate it .  "
1330,3,"Health care reform ""would bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion over the next two decades.","January 27, 2010",federal budget;health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a State of the Union speech,"So Obama is relying on some very shaky estimates here. He would have been on firmer ground if he had simply said that during the second 20 years, the CBO found that health care would continue to improve the deficit. He gave himself some leeway was by saying it could be ""as much as"" $1 trillion, but that's an estimate that the CBO itself didn't produce. In fact, the CBO said the uncertainties involved are too great to create detailed projections. For putting a firm number on the CBO's carefully hedged projection, we rate his statement ."
11809,2,Congressman Joe Heck has (voted) 62% of the time with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats on a variety of important issues.,"May 25, 2016",voting record,sharron angle,Sharron Angle is a former member of the Nevada Assembly who unsuccessfully tried to unseat Harry Reid in 2010 as the Republican nominee for his U.S. Senate seat.,nevada,1,0,1,3,1,0,a television ad,"An Angle ad claims Heck has voted 62 percent of the time with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats on a variety of important issues."" Under the narrow parameters of the Conservative Review’s ""Liberty Score,"" Heck and Pelosi do appear to share similar policy priorities. But that only takes into account 50 votes over a six-year period. Other conservative groups with legislative scorecards show a much wider gap between the two, and a review of their cumulative voting records shows a much larger gap in votes. This  is . We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cce12a3d-22d7-4490-a2a0-cd0b6bff89a4"
12701,3,Thousands of Americans have been killed by illegal immigrants.,"October 27, 2016",immigration,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"Springfield, Ohio","Trump said, ""Thousands of Americans have been killed by illegal immigrants."" Trump puts no timeframe on his comment, leaving his audience to fill in the blanks. In reality, there is no solid data for homicides committed by people here illegally. His implicit suggestion is that people should fear illegal immigrants more than citizens, and we don't see  for that. Research shows immigrants are less likely to engage in criminal behavior than the native-born population. However, like the legal U.S. population, some of the country's more than 11 million undocumented immigrants have committed murders. Trump’s statement was open-ended enough that we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d5475563-24db-4e90-8690-4d02c81f5bbf"
11531,4,I have 2 and a half million more votes than he (Sanders) does.,"April 5, 2016",elections,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"an interview on ABC's ""the View""","Clinton said she has received 2.5 million more votes than Sanders. That  can’t be completely verified because we don’t have the raw vote totals from the caucus states of Iowa, Nevada, Washington and Maine. However, given the numbers we do have, it is likely that Clinton’s lead is at least in the neighborhood of 2.4 million votes. That’s not much of a difference. We rate this  ."
2225,2,Scott Walker supported the same transportation bill he's attacking me for. He said at the time it would save the taxpayers money.,"September 9, 2010",federal budget;message machine 2010;transportation,mark neumann,Mark Neumann is a developer and home builder from Nashotah. He was a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Wisconsin in 2012. He ran for governor in 2010 and formerly represented southern Wisconsin in Congress.,wisconsin,1,2,1,2,4,1,a campaign TV ad,"Walker did not qualify his remarks to suggest he liked the Petri provision but was against the whole bill. We could find no record of Walker opposing the full bill or the $9 billion in pork. But by pairing the highlighted words from Walker’s letter with Neumann’s narration, it leaves viewers with the impression that the words refer to support for the full bill. They do not. We rate the  ."
16623,3,General Motors is making record profits.,"September 16, 2019",economy,glenn kage,Glenn Kage is the president of UAW Local 2250.,missouri,0,0,1,0,0,0,a Missouri Times interview,"Kage said, ""General Motors is making record profits."" According to GM’s SEC filings, GM had record profits in 2015, but not in the past two years, when GM’s profits have actually been decreasing. Although the recent years’ profits are higher than they were in the early to mid 2010s, they still aren’t considered record-setting. With that data, we rate this  ."
15873,0,American middle schools caught forcing students to do Muslim prayers 5 times a day.,"March 20, 2019",education;fake news;religion;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a social media post,"""If we did have an actual tornado we need to practice for the little ones, just so they get used to the idea,"" a teacher said on camera. There is no mention of Islam or prayers in the news segment. A photo does not show middle school students being forced to do Muslim prayers five times a time. That is a fabricated . We rate it !"
11749,2,"Says a WHO proposal ""portrays milk and dairy products as an obstacle to a healthy start in life.","May 9, 2016",global news service;agriculture;children;public health;trade,u.s. dairy export council,"The U.S. Dairy Export council represents the global trade interests of U.S. dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders.",,0,0,0,1,0,0,a press release,"The U.S. Dairy Export Council said a WHO proposal ""wrongly portrays milk and dairy products as an obstacle to a healthy start in life."" The proposal clearly is targeting some dairy products, specifically powdered formulations, as ones that work against the benefits that come from maintaining breastfeeding through a child’s early years. But the dairy industry is making a much broader , saying the proposal targets milk and dairy products generally. That’s at best unclear. It’s likely unfounded, experts told us. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/19fba549-5c0e-49d6-9345-12daccfef3dc"
5701,1,"Homosexual behavior ""cuts your life by about 20 years.","May 24, 2012",health care;lgbtq;sexuality,bob marshall,"Bob Marshall, a Republican, respresents the 13th District -- parts of Prince William and Loudoun counties -- in the House of Delegates. He was first elected in 1992 and serves on the Finance, Counties CIties and Towns, and Science and Technology committees.
Marshall ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate seats in 2008 and 2012.
Marshall was born in Takoma Park, Md. He earned an associates degree from Montgomery College, Montgomery County, Md., in 1965, a bachelor's degree from Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, N.C., in 1969, and a master's degree from California State University, in 1991. Before and during his time in the state house, he has worked for the American Life League, a nonprofit Catholic group that opposes abortion.",virginia,0,0,0,0,2,1,an interview,"One of the authors said there have been tremendous advances in HIV treatment over the last 20 years and that Marshall’s statement is a ""gross misrepresentation"" of the research. The U.S. death rate from HIV was nine times higher in 1990 than it was in 2010, the latest year for the data. Marshall cites a number of other studies that show homosexuals face certain health risks. But none of them focused on the life expectancy of homosexuals, and they certainly didn't conclude that gays die about 20 years earlier than heterosexuals. We rate Marshall’s  ."
14850,0,Clint Eastwood Leaves His Estate To The Trump 2020 Campaign,"July 17, 2018",campaign finance;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a fake news blog post,"The editors of the Las Cruces Sun News see no clouds on the horizon. ""We hope that as many local workers and businesses as possible apply for these jobs and services, allowing us to get the maximum economic impact from the production,"" they wrote July 13 . There’s no  that Eastwood is ailing and he would be legally barred from donating millions to the Trump campaign. Lights, camera, no action! This  rates ."
9730,0,"794 law enforcement officers have fallen in the line of duty since B.H. Obama took office, with no special recognition from the White House.","December 2, 2014",criminal justice,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a meme on social media,"The Facebook meme said that ""794 law enforcement officers have fallen in the line of duty since B.H. Obama took office, with no special recognition from the White House."" While the meme offered a reasonable approximation for the number of fallen officers, the meat of its accusation -- that Obama has ignored the suffering of law enforcement officers killed in action -- is demonstrably . We found at least six instances in which Obama honored the lives of fallen officers in writing or in speeches. Archived information about these events was easily available to the public on the White House website, meaning that the meme’s creator was reckless in not taking them into account. We rate the  ."
10950,4,Women fill two-thirds of minimum wage jobs.,"September 18, 2015",workers,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",iowa,72,76,70,43,31,9,a roundtable event on women's economic security,"Clinton said, ""Women hold two-thirds of minimum wage jobs."" Her campaign referred us to a credible May 2015 study that supports her . According to the study, 62.7 percent of minimum wage workers age 16 and older are women.  That’s almost, but not quite, two thirds. In addition, that study ignored complexities like minimum wage workers in places that have a higher wage already and who would benefit from changes relating to tips. Clinton is largely on point with her numbers. We rate her  ."
8888,1,"New carbon regulations will increase electric bills by ""$17 billion every year"" and ""potentially put an average of 224,000 more people out of work every year.","June 2, 2014",environment;climate change;economy;jobs;government regulation;regulation,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,a post on his website,"Boehner said the EPA’s plan to regulate carbon emissions in existing power plants will increase electric bills by ""$17 billion every year"" and ""potentially put an average of 224,000 more people out of work every year."" Those numbers are based on a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study that came out before the EPA announced the regulations on existing power plants. That study wrongly assumed the administration would set a benchmark of reducing carbon emissions by 42 percent before 2030. The regulations released June 2 actually put forward a 30 percent reduction within that timeframe. The chamber itself told PolitiFact its estimates are not based on the goals as announced. But despite these serious flaws, Boehner used the numbers anyway. We rate his statement ."
5161,5,All travelers -- even babies -- arriving in the U.S. by air must have a passport.,"February 14, 2012",homeland security,john axford,John Axford is a relief pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers.,wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,0,a Tweet,His father drove the family across the border to Detroit and they caught a flight from there to Arizona. Our conclusion Axford’s trip back to the mound took a detour. He said it was because of travel delays and said federal law required his baby to have a passport to fly back into the country. He learned a valuable lesson about border crossing: The feds are always right. We rate Axford’s statement .
12119,4,We put a lid on Iran's nuclear program without firing a single shot.,"July 28, 2016",foreign policy;nuclear,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention,"Clinton said, ""We put a lid on Iran's nuclear program without firing a single shot."" There are lots of uncertainties about how well the accord will hold up over time, and especially what will happen once some of its provisions expire. As the saying goes, there are no guarantees in life. Still, most independent experts we have checked with agreed that the deal is both effective on paper and close to the best outcome the United States could have achieved through diplomatic means. So we’re giving it some benefit of the doubt. As long as you define ""put a lid on"" as ""keep in check"" -- a definition we think is reasonable -- rather than ""ensure something will never, ever happen,"" then Clinton has a plausible case. We rate her statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/36d26cd0-52c4-49c6-a2a5-cd7e0d61b130"
19406,4,"Current immigration ""apprehension numbers are worse than the 'crisis' Biden/Obama/Pelosi acknowledged in 2014!","March 8, 2021",immigration;pundits;punditfact,kayleigh mcenany,Kayleigh McEnany is an on-air commentator for Fox News and former White House press secretary under President Donald Trump. She was previously a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee and a pro-Trump pundit on CNN.,,0,2,1,3,3,1,a Facebook post and tweet,"McEnany said that ""apprehension numbers are worse than the ‘crisis’ Biden/Obama/Pelosi acknowledged in 2014!"" The word ""apprehension"" can be confusing. If you count expulsions from the country under the Title 42 authority Trump invoked at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, then McEnany is right.  Border officials recorded more cases in which someone was caught trying to cross the border illegally this January and February than they did during the peak months in 2014. We rate this statement ."
15850,1,President Trump signed legislation to clean up millions of tons of trash from our oceans and lakes last week.,"March 21, 2019",environment;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""This likely is the same  as in February being shared belatedly."" When we reviewed the original  about this legislation, we rated it . That’s because Trump signed a bill that reauthorized a program aimed in part at removing marine water debris. This more recent Facebook post makes a similar  but it goes on step further, wrongly stating that Trump signed the legislation this month. We rate this one as ."
19561,2,"You go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want, and no background check.","April 8, 2021",guns,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,a speech,"Biden said, ""You go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want, and no background check.""  This is overstated. If you go to a gun show and buy a firearm from a federally licensed seller, you will have to pass a background check, just as if you went to a bricks-and-mortar gun store. You would only escape a background check at a gun show if you bought from a seller who isn’t federally licensed. While the data is incomplete, federally licensed sellers have been found to make up a substantial share, and perhaps a majority, of gun show vendors. We rate Biden’s statement . RELATED: Support for universal background checks on gun buyers is near 90% RELATED: Fact-checking Joy Behar on mass shootings and the assault weapons ban RELATED: House passes gun background check bills supported by Biden"
3491,4,Texans spend $2.5 billion gambling in our neighboring states every year.,"April 19, 2011",gambling,texans for economic development,"Texans for Economic Development, representing horse track interests, seeks legislation asking Texas voters to legalize slot machines at tracks and several Indian reservations.
 ",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a web banner ad,"Stephen Reeves, a spokesman for the anti-gambling, Baptist-backed Christian Life Commission, said counting license plates is a poor way of gauging how much Texans spend in casinos. He followed up by email: ""However, if doing so I would suggest that the frequency that a particular car shows up must be taken into account to determine how much money they are ‘spending.’"" Our take: The fruit-salad methodology used by the consulting group was not perfect. Absent precise data, though, TXP’s estimate of how much money Texans gamble in neighboring states looks reasonable, though it’s a stretch to  Texans gamble the same total amount every year. We rate the statement ."
11297,5,"There's never been a (U.S. Supreme Court) vacancy in the last, I think, 30 years, lasting longer than 237 days.","February 15, 2016",bipartisanship;congress;history;legal issues;supreme court,richard blumenthal,"Richard Blumenthal has been a United States Senator from Connecticut since Jan. 5, 2011. A Democrat, he formerly served as the state's attorney general.",national,1,0,1,0,0,0,an appearance on MSNBC's Hardball,"Also, justices sometimes announced their resignations months before they step down from the bench, so their departures could take effect the day before or the same day a successor is sworn in. In the case of the 237-day gap cited by Blumenthal, Powell is listed as leaving the court the day he announced his resignation. Blumenthal was talking about the length of vacancies, not the gap between an announced departure and the swearing-in of a new justice. And on his specific timeline, he is correct. We rate it ."
10220,2,"The man who killed a motorist who fatally struck a 2-year-old was ""back on the street"" because he had received a 13-year sentence for bank robbery but only ""served two years.","April 26, 2015",criminal justice;crime;guns,david a. clarke jr.,David A. Clarke Jr. served as Milwaukee County sheriff from 2002 to 2017.,wisconsin,0,1,2,3,6,2,an interview,"But Clarke’s  ignores the fact that Chiles would not have been given the maximum sentence, since he had been a cooperating witness in a homicide and a recommendation for a lesser sentence was part of the plea agreement. Our rating Clarke said the man who killed a motorist who fatally struck a 2-year-old was ""back on the street"" because he had received a 13-year sentence for bank robbery but only ""served two years."" Chiles’ sentence was four years, not 13. Chiles did spend two years behind bars, as Clarke indicated, but he was also sentenced to two years of extended supervision. For a statement that contains only an element of , our rating is ."
12550,2,"Just like Hillary Clinton,"" Russ Feingold had a ""run-in with corruption and scandal by using a personal slush fund -- a.k.a. the Feingold Foundation --  while plotting another run for U.S. Senate.","September 12, 2016",campaign finance;ethics;foreign policy,republican party of wisconsin,The Wisconsin Republican Party works to elect Republicans to state and federal offices and advance the GOP agenda.,wisconsin,0,4,5,9,4,0,a web ad,"There is no Feingold Foundation. The ""personal slush fund"" reference is to a political action committee established by Feingold that spent significant sums that benefited Feingold -- for salaries and consulting fees to Feingold and his former aides, and to buy copies of a book he wrote. But the Clinton Foundation got into controversy not over its spending, but for potential conflicts of interest, given that it accepted donations from foreign countries that had business before Clinton as secretary of state. And while Clinton clearly broke State Department rules by setting up a private email system, nothing has been established beyond allegations that Feingold did anything improper with emails during his employment by the State Department. For a statement that has only an element of , our rating is .      "
8177,0,"School children can earn higher grades by studying Islam under a new ""nationwide Muslim outreach program"" announced by President Barack Obama.","December 7, 2013",education;islam,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,viral posts on the Internet,"Social media posts have reprinted or linked to a story titled, ""Obama Administration Announces Nationwide Muslim Outreach Program For Children Grades K-12,"" that claims, among other things, that school children can earn higher grades for studying Islam.  It’s not . No such program exists. In fact, part of the story has been recycled from a previous satire article that we and others debunked. We rate this  ."
9443,4,"Says President Barack Obama has launched ""twice as many strikes (on) countries that are predominantly Muslim"" than President George W. Bush.","September 28, 2014",iraq;military;religion;terrorism;punditfact,lz granderson,LZ Granderson is a commentator for ESPN and CNN.,,0,1,0,0,0,0,"comments on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Granderson said Obama has conducted ""twice as many strikes (on) countries that are predominantly Muslim"" as Bush. By Granderson’s count -- Bush four countries, Obama seven countries -- it’s a little less than twice (1.75 times to be exact). While you can make arguments that both Bush and Obama have bombed additional countries, we think Granderson -- and Lizza before him -- are using reasonable figures based on what’s publicly known. Granderson’s  is accurate but could use the caveat nearly twice. As such, we rate it ."
957,5,"In Texas, ""the No. 1 name for new male babies — many of whom will vote one day — is Jose.","June 12, 2009",immigration;elections;pundits,mike murphy,Mike Murphy is a Republican political strategist.,national,1,0,0,0,0,0,Time magazine,"In Texas, Jose was followed by Jacob, Daniel, Christopher, Joshua, David, Angel, Ethan, Juan and Michael. In case you're wondering, that same year in Texas, the most popular name for a girl was Emily, followed by Isabella, Abigail, Emma, Madison, Sophia, Mia, Natalie, Ashley and Ava. We're not rating Murphy's political advice one way or the other. But the numbers confirm he had his facts right about Jose. We rate Murphy's statement ."
15541,4,Wisconsin lost over 600 farms last year & our farmers can't afford the #TrumpShutdown.,"January 2, 2019",agriculture;economy;trade,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a tweet,"The numbers show the 600 is in the ballpark among dairy farms. While dairy farms make up a small percentage of the state’s overall farm total, recent years show a downward trend there as well And we know dairy farms were especially battered in 2018. Additionally, it is clear at least some state farms -- particularly those involved in dairy -- are being negatively affected by the shutdown. We rate Baldwin’s  ."
13063,1,"Inner-city students ""fall back and don't succeed, whereas if there was a less intensive track, they would.","February 13, 2017",education;race and ethnicity;urban,john eichelberger,"John H. Eichelberger, Jr is a state senator who represents the 30th District. The 30th includes Blair County, where Eichelberger is from, Fulton County and portions of Cumberland, Franklin and Hungtington Counties.",pennsylvania,0,0,0,0,1,0,,"If our students are not being provided with that guidance and options in a significant way, then we need to take a closer look at that to ensure that every student deserves the chance to succeed no matter their skin color or economic situation.""    Our Ruling Eichelberger said, Inner-city students ""fall back and don’t succeed, whereas if there was a less intensive track, they would."" While there are experts who support offering vocational education to low-income students, we were not able to find any research that backs Eichelberger’s comment. To the contrary, studies show that low-income students with experience in accelerated courses fare better in college. We rate this statement ."
14203,0,California To Register Illegal Aliens To Vote – Automatically.,"January 21, 2018",immigration;corrections and updates;states,worldnetdaily,WorldNetDaily is a conservative Internet news Web site owned by the Western Center for Journalism.,california,0,0,0,0,2,2,a headline,"Conservative news websites and commentators claimed California plans to register undocumented immigrants to vote. This isn’t the first time such unsubstantiated claims have been made. But the recent spat was sparked by the World Net Daily headline : ""California To Register Illegal Aliens To Vote – Automatically."" In reality, the California law that goes into effect in April 2018 will automatically register only those eligible to vote when they renew or obtain a driver’s license. Undocumented immigrants are excluded. The law does nothing to change the federal requirement that one must be a U.S. citizen to register to vote. State officials said safeguards are already in place to prevent state DMV workers from typing in any voter information for AB 60 license holders. The state allows unauthorized immigrants to obtain a driver’s license, but explicitly excludes that group from the automatic voter registration. The allegations on this topic are recycled. And they’re still blatantly untrue. We rate World Net Daily’s  .  –  The statement is not accurate and makes a  . UPDATE: After we published our fact check, World Net Daily published a separate   article saying a spokeswoman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles ""cleared up an inaccuracy in WND’s initial report."" It said the spokeswoman explained that California’s licenses for undocumented immigrants ""are not eligible for the new voter registration system."" As of Jan. 29, 2018, World Net Daily had not updated its original report with this information."
20158,0,"Joe Biden intentionally ""let it fall apart"" in Afghanistan because he ""wants a couple hundred thousand more Ilhan Omars to come into America to change the body politic permanently.","August 16, 2021",afghanistan;immigration;human rights;foreign policy;military;pundits;punditfact,charlie kirk,"Charlie Kirk is the founder and president of Turning Point USA, a conservative group that advocates for limited government and free markets.",,0,1,1,2,7,3,a radio show segment,"Kirk said Biden ""let it fall apart"" in Afghanistan because he ""wants a couple hundred thousand more Ilhan Omars to come into America to change the body politic permanently."" There’s no  that Kabul fell to the Taliban as part of an intentional scheme to change the U.S. population in a way that favors Democrats. And even in the highly unlikely scenario that all potential Afghan refugees were to become U.S. voters, there is no  about how they would vote or that their votes alone would serve to ""change the body politic permanently.""  There’s also no  that the withdrawal of U.S. troops, which happened largely on a schedule struck by Trump, was for that purpose, either. In any event, it takes several years before a refugee resettled in the U.S. could become eligible to vote. We rate this statement !"
4979,5,Chesterfield has eliminated more positions from its general government operations than the Commonwealth has from the entire state government since (fiscal) 2009.,"December 14, 2011",county government;jobs;state budget,james stegmaier,"James J. L. Stegmaier has been the Chesterfield County administrator since July 2007. Before that appointment, he was the deputy county administrator for management services beginning in 1997 and the director of the county budget and management department fro 1986-97. 
Stegmaier graduated from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in 1976, and also holds a master's degree in public administration from the University of Virginia. He has also attended the Government Finance Officers Association Executive Finance Institute at Georgetown University, Leadership Metro Richmond, and the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia.",virginia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a speech,"Matt Harris, the county’s senior budget analyst, told us Chesterfield had 3,816 full-time equivalent employees on July 1, 2009. The number dropped to 3,664 on Nov. 1, 2011. The county lost 152 full-time equivalent workers. Our ruling: No matter which set of numbers you use, Chesterfield has eliminated more jobs from its general government operations than Virginia has from its entire state government since fiscal 2009. We rate Stegmaier’s  ."
10165,4,Legislation being considered in Texas would strip the salaries and pensions of clerks who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even if the Supreme Court strikes down Texas' marriage ban later this year.,"March 29, 2015",lgbtq;marriage,tim cook,Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple and serves on its Board of Directors.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,an oped column,"Cook said: ""Legislation being considered in Texas would strip the salaries and pensions of clerks who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even if the Supreme Court strikes down Texas’ marriage ban later this year."" Cook fairly summarized Bell’s legislation. But clarification was missing in that the proposal wasn’t ""being considered"" by lawmakers either then or when we completed our review a couple of weeks later. Like a lot of bills, HB 623 awaited legislative attention. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
2838,3,All but one of the 50 states already have some form of a balanced budget amendment in their state constitutions.,"December 1, 2010",federal budget;state budget,john cornyn,"John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas, former Texas attorney general and former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He earlier served as a Bexar County state district judge.",texas,11,4,10,6,6,1,an op-ed,"Only two states — not 49, as Cornyn says — have amended their constitutions to require balanced budgets. Counting amendments plus provisions tucked into original constitutions, however, 45 states have balanced-budget stipulations, according to NCSL's count. NASBO considers 46 states to have constitutional or statutory balanced-budget requirements. Also, despite the letters of those statutory and constitutional strictures, they aren't universally viewed as mandatory. We rate his statement ."
11005,5,"Instead of fighting ISIS, (the Saudis) have focused more on a campaign to oust Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.","November 19, 2015",foreign policy;terrorism,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a speech at Georgetown University,"Sanders said, ""Instead of fighting ISIS, (the Saudis) have focused more on a campaign to oust Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen."" This is an accurate assessment. The Saudis have prioritized the conflict in Yemen over the fight against ISIS, as evidenced by the amount of resources it has committed to both crises. We rate Sanders’  ."
11745,0,"Says ""Jacky Rosen has refused to tell us whether she supports Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.","May 16, 2016",elections,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,nevada,4,5,9,20,14,9,an automated call,"The NRCC says Democrat Jacky Rosen ""has refused to tell us whether she supports Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton."" PolitiFact was unable to find an instance where Rosen refused to answer questions about her presidential preference. Rosen has said on at least two occasions, one publicly and one to a reporter, that she supports Hillary Clinton. We rate this  ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9e384e29-e070-4a65-8cfb-83ea090814cb"
22316,0,Map proves the Pennsylvania Senate election was rigged.,"November 9, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",pennsylvania,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"""Every four years, we get new election results, and every four years, people start passing around state- or county-level results maps that show a massive sea of red — reflecting Republican strength in expansive, sparsely populated rural areas. New York City occupies a few pixels; Sweetwater County, Wyo., with its 44,000 people, occupies hundreds of times as much real estate. So, every four years, we get a flood of maps reframing the results to emphasize the number of voters supporting each candidate, not the number of acres."" The same appears to be  in the midterms, but the land-based maps are certainly not  that the election was rigged. We rate this post !"
19695,0,"An ongoing audit of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona ""showed Trump ahead by 250,000"" votes, and ""nearly 950,000 ballots are declared illegal, nearly all for Biden.","May 5, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",arizona,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A widely shared social media post claimed that an ongoing audit of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona ""showed Trump ahead by 250,000"" votes, and ""nearly 950,000 ballots are declared illegal, nearly all for Biden."" No findings have been released from an ongoing audit of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Ariz., that is being conducted by firms hired by Arizona Senate Republicans. There is no  that the audit has turned up any illegal ballots or changes in votes that would give Trump the lead in Arizona. The , with its sky-high figures, is  and . We rate it !"
9506,1,The only candidate pocketing big money from people who want to destroy coal is Mitch McConnell.,"October 6, 2014",environment;climate change;energy;message machine 2014,alison lundergan grimes,"Alison Lundergan Grimes is a Democrat challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for his Senate seat in 2014. She currently serves as Kentucky's secretary of state.",national,1,1,3,2,2,0,a campaign ad,"A Grimes ad claimed that ""the only candidate pocketing big money from people who want to destroy coal is Mitch McConnell."" The assertion is that McConnell and his wife took $600,000 from anti-coal organizations. But the overwhelming bulk of that was earned by Chao from sitting on the board of directors for Wells Fargo, a bank that, despite some steps to curb its support of mountain-top removal mining, still maintains $1.8 billion in coal investments, environmental groups say. Meanwhile, Grimes’ campaign has directly and indirectly benefited from money and ads from environmental groups and activists critical of coal. We rate the  ."
21263,0,The Brooklyn subway attack was a false flag.,"April 12, 2022",crime;facebook fact-checks;new york;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Social media posts  that the mass shooting in the New York City subway was a  flag. This is baseless and relies on unsourced social media posts. The attack was real. !   RELATED:  flags: They’re real, but far less widespread than social media suggest  "
4159,2,"Says direct shipment of wine ""makes underage drinking as simple as a mouse click.","August 21, 2011",alcohol;government regulation,joseph cryan,Joseph Cryan is a Democratic state Assemblyman representing parts of Union County. He previously served as the Assembly Majority Leader and the chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.,new jersey,1,0,0,1,1,0,an op-ed piece published on CourierPostOnline.com,"The ruling Cryan claimed that allowing wineries to ship their product directly to consumers makes ""underage drinking as simple as a mouse click."" But even if an underage individual can order a bottle of wine online, the two major shipping companies in the U.S. require an adult signature in order to deliver the package. Cryan’s   a legitimate concern, but we can’t ignore the hint of  in the statement -- that shipping wine directly to homes provides another opportunity for underage access.    We rate his statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
12200,2,"Ted Strickland stands in lockstep with Hillary Clinton and the abortion lobby in their desire to force Americans to pay for abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, with their taxpayer dollars.","August 2, 2016",abortion,ohio right to life,"Ohio Right to Life is the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee. Its stated mission is to promote and defend the right to life of all innocent human beings, from the time of fertilization until natural death.",ohio,0,1,0,1,0,0,a press release,"Ohio Right to Life’s press release said, ""Ted Strickland stands in lockstep with Hillary Clinton and the abortion lobby in their desire to force Americans to pay for abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, with their taxpayer dollars."" Strickland supports the Democratic party platform, so although ""lockstep"" sounds sinister, it simply means Clinton and Strickland hold similar positions when it comes to abortion rights. Those positions are not accurately described by Ohio Right to Life.  Abortions ""on demand, up until the moment of birth"" are a hypothetical non-event, according to health care professionals. As for abortions being paid for with tax dollars, this is a vast oversimplification of rules surrounding Medicaid, which provides health care for poor women.   We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9c664b20-be6e-46f5-93f4-bb96a98299e7"
6584,5,Connecticut's take on slot machines is 25 cents on the dollar. And the state's take on table games:  zero.,"October 14, 2012",economy;gambling;state budget,diane hurley,"Diane Hurley is chief executive officer of Newport Grand in Newport. She has worked in various capacities at the business, which her family owns, since it opened in 1976.",rhode island,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an interview on ""10 News Conference""","The rest went to the house, with 25 percent to the state. Hurley’s accounting of Connecticut’s cut is accurate. We rate her   . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
8845,3,Governor Scott Cut Taxes 40 Times For Florida Families,"May 13, 2014",taxes,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a campaign tweet,"Scott for Florida tweeted, ""Governor Scott Cut Taxes 40 Times For Florida Families,"" highlighting a list that actually contained 41 items. These tax cuts range from credits to exemptions to changing rates and penalties. The list focuses heavily on businesses, and like his original 24 cuts, is full of caveats. Some are counted more than once, some are only changes to scheduled increases. This year’s legislative session added a few more measures aimed at consumers, but businesses still benefit from much of it. Scott’s tax  is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
7227,0,"The ""working tax cut"" created ""over 40,000 new jobs in just the last four years.","April 14, 2013",taxes,associated industries of florida,Associated Industries of Florida is a lobbying group focused on business issues.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,1,a TV ad,"AIF rolled out a big ad campaign to combat SB 1832, saying the insurance industry’s ""working tax cut"" created ""over 40,000 new jobs in just the last four years."" The problem is the number, which is cherry-picked and . And even if the jobs number was right -- and again, it's not -- experts say the tax cut would only be one factor in a company's decision to expand operations in Florida. We rate AIF's  !"
20,3,(McCain) said he was opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade. Now he's for overturning Roe v. Wade.,"April 26, 2007",abortion,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,"Stratham, N.H","My voting record is clear, of 17 years of pro-life. I continue to hold that position, and I … continue to believe that Roe vs. Wade was a very flawed decision, as in the opinion of most experts."" In South Carolina this year, McCain said, ""I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."" We find McCain's brief remark of support falls short of a full-fledged change in position, so we rated Romney's  ."
8414,3,Six people in Florida die as a result of (not expanding Medicaid) every day.,"February 7, 2014",health care;medicaid;poverty,charlie crist,"Charlie Crist lost the race for Florida governor as the Democratic candidate in 2022. He served as a U.S. congressman from St. Petersburg since 2017 and resigned Aug. 31, 2022 to focus on his campaign.  As a Republican, Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011. Crist left the Republican Party in 2010 to mount a campaign for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist lost the race to Marco Rubio. In 2012, he endorsed President Barack Obama and announced that he had registered as a Democrat. He lost his race as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014.",florida,15,20,21,20,11,2,"an interview on MSNBC's ""The Daily Rundown.""","Crist said that Florida’s decision not to expand Medicaid means that ""six people in Florida die as a result of that every day."" The statistic is based on a recent study, but experts note a few caveats. First, Crist used the study’s high-end figure; using the low-end figure cuts the number of deaths to three a day. Second, experts caution about uncertainties about the studies upon which the new study was based. And third, while many experts agree that it’s plausible to assume that the lack of Medicaid coverage could lead to deaths, they were careful to add that it is difficult to pinpoint a number as precise as the one Crist offered. On balance, we rate this  ."
10048,4,"If President Barack Obama strikes a nuclear deal with Iran, ""the next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.","March 9, 2015",legal issues;foreign policy,tom cotton,"Tom Cotton, a Republican, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 from a district in Arkansas.",national,1,5,2,9,8,1,a letter to Iranian leaders,"The letter written by Cotton said that if Obama strikes a nuclear deal with Iran, ""the next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time."" We found broad agreement among experts that a future president or a future Congress could indeed undo or modify the kind of agreement that’s currently being negotiated with Iran, but the senators’ letter makes the process sound more clear cut and easier than it actually is.  The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
9806,1,"Says President Barack Obama got ""a pass"" over controversal remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, while a 12-year-old speech by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has blown up into a national story.","January 4, 2015",pundits;punditfact,newt gingrich,"Newt Gingrich is a political adviser and author. A former Georgia congressman, Gingrich served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich sought the GOP nomination for president in 2012.",,7,11,21,17,15,12,"an interview on CBS's ""Face the Nation""","Gingrich claimed Obama got a pass on his association with the controversial Wright, while saying a 12-year-old speech by Scalise has blown up into a national story. You can argue that the Wright controversy didn't sway the majority of people's opinions about Obama -- he won election in 2008 and 2012 -- but it's  to  the Wright story wasn't covered the way Scalise's troubles have made national news. In the days after ABC News first reported the Wright-Obama connection in 2008, the story littered print and TV media. Meanwhile, a poll found that 85 percent of Americans had at least some knowledge of the matter. We rate Gingrich's  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3b79b98c-ed32-4f7d-a253-c76c37556f86"
21075,1,Video shows Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with South Korea's president.,"March 6, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"Footage from the 2019 event is identical to the video posted on Facebook. The event was the first time Putin and Kim had met and was billed as a historic event, occurring ""amid efforts by the United States to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear weapons,"" ABC News reported . Some people commenting on the Facebook post understood that the video showed the North Korean leader and not the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in , as the caption claimed. But other commenters did not seem to be clued in, and interpreted the recent posting as an indication that the meeting happened amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. We rate the  that video footage shows a recent Putin meeting with the South Korean president ."
12039,4,We in Indiana have . . . the highest credit rating in the nation.,"July 20, 2016",candidate biography;debt;deficit;economy;history;state budget;states,mike pence,"Mike Pence is the former vice president of the United States. A Republican, Pence was elected governor of Indiana in 2012. Pence previously served for 12 years as a congressman from Indiana representing the Sixth Congressional District; he was first elected in 2000. During his time in the U.S. House of Represenatives, he served as House Republican Conference chairman and chairman of the House Republican Study Committee. Pence was born in Columbus, Ind. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1981 from Hanover College and a law degree in 1986 from Indiana University. After accepting Donald Trump's offer to be running mate, Pence ended his 2016 campaign to be re-elected as Indiana governor. ",national,5,7,21,12,25,2,a speech at the Republican convention,"Pence said, ""We in Indiana have ... the highest credit rating in the nation."" It actually shares that distinction with several other states and those top ratings predate Pence's governorship by a few years or more. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/45b7ec67-5d4a-4ad0-bf5d-21983a4a7573"
21831,2,"The IRS is about to double in size, with 87,000 new armed agents and an additional $80 billion in order to primarily enhance IRS enforcement and operations.","August 16, 2022",congress;taxes;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook video claims that ""the IRS is about to double in size, with 87,000 new armed agents and an additional $80 billion in order to primarily enhance IRS enforcement and operations."" Biden has approved $80 billion for the IRS to enhance enforcement and operations. But the agency is not doubling in size nor is it newly arming its agents. Many of the new hires will be made over a 10-year period, and will come as the agency prepares for about 50,000 retirements over five to six years. For more than a century, the IRS has had a small armed division of agents who are assigned to respond to criminal investigations. The vast majority of IRS employees are not armed, however, and this funding will not change that. Routine audits are usually done by mail. We rate this  . RELATED VIDEO:"
11541,5,"More people are struck by lightning than commit in-person voter fraud"" by impersonation.","April 7, 2016",civil rights;elections;crime;government regulation,mark pocan,"Mark Pocan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2nd Congressional District on Nov. 6, 2012. He is from Madison and previously served as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin state Assembly. ",wisconsin,9,12,5,4,5,1,a blog post,"So the number of cases of in-person fraud by impersonation may be higher than that cited by Levitt, but no independent source suggests it is higher than the number of lightning strikes. Our rating Pocan said: ""More people are struck by lightning than commit in-person voter fraud"" by impersonation. Roughly 300 people per year are struck by lightning in the United States. But cases of voter fraud -- someone impersonating another voter -- are documented even less often. We rate Pocan’s statement ."
14068,2,Obama released 10 Russian agents from U.S. custody in 2010 during Hillary's uranium deal.,"November 26, 2017",fake news;foreign policy;punditfact,puppetstringnews.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,2,1,4,a headline,"Most of the Clinton Foundation donations in question occurred before and during Clinton’s 2008 presidential run, before she could have known she would become secretary of state. The decision in 2010 to greenlight the Uranium One deal was approved by a panel comprising multiple governmental agencies, so it’s  to conclude the State Department, then headed by Clinton, acted unilaterally. We sent a message to Puppet String News via Facebook and did not get a reply. By all indications, the prisoner release is no more connected to the Uranium One deal than any number of other events that occurred in 2010. We rate this  ."
20559,1,A Kansas City tourism sign had a terrible typo.,"October 23, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",missouri,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"Several stories said the original post was made by an account that has been suspended by Twitter as of Nov. 15. The Kansas City Star pointed out that the account, You Had One Job (@_youhadonejob1), got the  location for the sign in its tweet, which read, ""Welcome to Kansas."" Our rating A Facebook post claims that a sign reads that Kansas City welcomes 25 million visitors ""anally,"" instead of ""annually."" However, the image was a . We rate this  ."
12819,0,"Obama-Led U.N. Has Just Made It Official, U.S. To Immediately Pay Blacks 'Reparations'.","December 9, 2016",fake news;foreign policy;race and ethnicity;punditfact,freedom daily,"Freedom Daily bills itself as “a forum for discussing meaningful conservative American and world news.""",,0,0,0,1,0,1,a headline,"The website Freedom Daily said in a headline that the ""Obama-Led U.N. has just made it official, U.S. to immediately pay blacks ‘reparations’."" The posts track back to a U.N.-affiliated panel that concluded America’s history of slavery has stacked the deck against modern African-Americans. The group found that reparations to those citizens are justifiable. Every part of the eye-grabbing headline is : Obama doesn’t lead the United Nations, the report is non-binding and has no official impact on the federal government, and there are no plans for the U.S. to immediately pay reparations. About the only thing accurate thing in the posts are that such a study even exists, but it’s presented in such a  way that it’s beyond just . It rates !"
14171,2,"Says the Obama administration ""sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London ... only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars.","January 11, 2018",foreign policy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said Obama sold the otherwise fine American embassy in London and relocated at a cost of $1.2 billion. Actually, the Bush administration put the plan in place after concluding that the existing embassy could not meet security requirements. The cost was about $200 million less than Trump said, $1.02 billion rather than $1.2 billion, and was financed through the sale of the old embassy and two other State Department properties in London. While he is correct that the sale occurred on Obama’s watch, the wheels were turning and preliminary contracts had been signed earlier. Trump’s tweet blows past those key details. We rate this  ."
8384,1,"According to (Barack) Obama's newest unconstitutionally enacted law, health care professionals are now required to violate HIPAA privacy laws and submit medical data to the government,"" which is ""then used as justification for gun confiscation.","January 29, 2014",health care;privacy issues;guns,mr. conservative,Mr. Conservative is a conservative website.,national,0,0,0,0,1,1,a blog post,"The post we’re checking said that, ""according to (Barack) Obama’s newest unconstitutionally enacted law, health care professionals are now required to violate HIPAA privacy laws and submit medical data to the government,"" which is ""then used as justification for gun confiscation."" The elements of this  range from  to flat-out . The one area of reasonable concern is that some jurisdictions may lack full due process for declaring someone mentally incompetent, potentially putting some people at risk of seeing their guns confiscated. But this depends on how proactively the authorities enforce gun laws. Experts say widespread gun confiscation is implausible. The rule isn’t a law, it isn’t enacted and it isn’t unconstitutional according to Supreme Court jurisprudence. It isn’t a requirement, and it doesn’t involve routine diagnostic data compiled by ""health care professionals"" such as doctors. We rate the  ."
3393,3,Says the Beaumont school district's superintendent is the highest-paid in the state.,"February 16, 2011",education,stefani carter,Stefani Carter is a Republican state representative from Dallas.,texas,0,0,2,0,0,0,,"According to the TEA data, Jenney’s salary of $260,339 ranked No. 24 in the state. In addition to that, according to his contract, he received $9,600 a year for a car allowance and $4,200 for a cell phone and other technology. The district paid about $35,000 that year for Jenney’s life insurance and disability income protection insurance. For the year, Jenney received a performance-based contribution of $36,000 to a retirement plan and a $26,000 supplemental salary payment, plus a $20,000 annuity payment. Sum total: about $390,000."
14056,1,"Says that ""perpetrators of domestic violence accounted for 54% of mass shootings between 2009 and 2016, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.","November 9, 2017",crime,eddie rodriguez,Eddie Rodriguez has represented Austin since he was first elected to the Texas House in 2002.,texas,1,1,0,0,2,0,an email blast,"Rodriguez wrote that according to an Everytown study, ""perpetrators of domestic violence accounted for 54% of mass shootings between 2009 and 2016."" Rodriguez’s statement incorrectly suggests that domestic violence was a precursor to 54 percent of mass shootings. The research he cited did not confirm as much. Rather, it says 54 percent of such shootings involved a person shooting multiple family members. Other research suggests that about 20 percent of individuals who committed such shootings from 2006 through 2016 had a history of domestic violence. We rate Rodriguez’s  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
19235,1,Michelle Obama earned a doctorate after leaving the White House.,"February 8, 2021",education;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Obama’s office did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s questions about this post.   But back in June, when a variation of this  was circulating on social media — that she had decided to complete her ""PHD in law"" — a spokesperson for Obama told the Associated Press that she hadn’t earned any new degrees since leaving the White House. Obama earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School before she returned to Chicago in 1988 and joined the law firm where she met Barack Obama. We found no  to support the  that she recently earned a doctorate after her husband’s second term ended.   We rate this post ."
17230,1,"I pay $165 a month on my student loans for the next 13 years to pay them off. With Bernie Sanders' plan, my student loans will be forgiven. I'll only have to pay $450 extra in taxes a month for the next 25 years to make sure I'll have no more student debt.","February 28, 2020",debt;education;taxes;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said: ""I pay $165 a month on my student loans for the next 13 years to pay them off. With Bernie Sanders’ plan, my student loans will be forgiven. I’ll only have to pay $450 extra in taxes a month for the next 25 years to make sure I’ll have no more student debt."" Sanders’ various proposals to raise taxes have not been scored out in enough detail to determine how much more any given taxpayer might pay. We rate the statement ."
301,4,"Said he's the only Republican candidate ""who's actually turned around a government economy.","January 24, 2008",,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,"Boca Raton, Fla","Whether Huckabee's ""investment"" of higher taxes for better services was a good move is not is not a turnaround category Giuliani lists. It has to be kept in mind that the economic circumstances each chief executive faced were very different. Giuliani can't match Romney in the corporate turnaround business. And Giuliani's view of what constitutes a turnaround doesn't consider everything, but Giuliani clearly has clear accomplishments when it comes to a government turnaround. We find his  ."
13824,4,The bill that I carried cutting MO's income tax for 1st time in over 100 years will start its 1st phase in jan 1 2018. #moleg @Eric_Schmitt,"August 30, 2017",taxes,andrew koenig,"Andrew Koenig is a Republican state senator in Missouri, representing portions of St. Louis County. He was previously a state representative.",missouri,0,1,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Koenig said that Senate Bill 509 would cut Missouri income tax for the first time in over 100 years. The  of the matter is Missouri income tax has never been cut. Income tax laws were put in place in 1917. This was 100 years ago exactly. It’s not over 100 years, but Koenig was pretty close. It’s worth noting, however, that Missouri has created a long list of deductions that could reduce a person’s state income tax bill without having to decrease the overall tax rate. Koenig’s statement is accurate but needs that clarifying information. That meets our definition of ."
5670,4,"Says in the last six months of the Bush administration, the U.S. lost 3.5 million jobs, including 760,000 jobs during January 2009 alone.","May 22, 2012",economy,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",new hampshire,25,64,65,52,55,7,a speech at Keene State College,"""Regardless of political leanings, it is not ambiguous that Obama inherited a labor market in free fall."" Our ruling: The economic recovery and job creation during the Obama administration will be a leading point of contention throughout the 2012 election. As for the labor situation Obama and Biden inherited when they came to office, there’s little room for debate. Federal labor statistics support Biden’s  that the country lost 3.5 million jobs in the last six months of the Bush administration, but they show he overstated the losses reported by inauguration day, Jan. 20, 2009. We rate this  ."
20046,2,"People are being diagnosed with delta variant"" even though ""there is no delta variant test.","July 26, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Individuals are not being diagnosed with the delta variant. Routine individual tests don’t reveal whether COVID-19 was caused by the delta variant. Scientists use genomic sequencing to determine what percentage of cases were caused by the variant.  This post contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.  We rate it ."
9925,5,Measles is one of the most common causes of child blindness worldwide.,"February 3, 2015",health care;public health;punditfact,celine gounder,Dr. Celine Gounder is a physican-journalist specializing in infectious diseases and internal medicine. She is often brought on television news shows to discuss medical issues.,,1,0,0,0,0,0,an interview on CNN,"Gounder suggested Paul should be singing a different tune about vaccinations, one that mentions, ""Measles is one of the most common causes of child blindness worldwide."" She was careful to say worldwide. In developed countries, measles does not typically lead to blindness. But in low-income countries, it is certainly one of the leading drivers of blindness in children, experts agree. We rate the  ."
16702,1,"Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from 'angels.' Some are very tough, hardened criminals.","November 12, 2019",immigration;homeland security,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Some are very tough, hardened criminals."" Federal guidelines prohibit immigrants convicted of felonies, significant or numerous misdemeanors from enjoying DACA protection. Immigrants deemed to pose a threat to national security or public safety also do not benefit from the program. No government data shows that immigrants are actively getting protection despite convictions for significant offenses, as Trump’s tweet suggested. We rate Trump’s  ."
22698,2,"The train that derailed in Ohio was carrying ""over 300,000 gallons of a chemical that was banned in 1974.","February 18, 2023",transportation;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",ohio,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Facebook posts say the train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio was carrying 300,000 gallons of a chemical that was banned in 1974. The train was carrying at least 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride. It is unclear whether there was more vinyl chloride in the other tank cars. Vinyl chloride is used primarily to produce polyvinyl chloride, one of the world’s most widely-produced plastics. Only its use in aerosols was banned in 1974.  We rate this  . RELATED: The Ohio train derailment: What we know about health, environmental concerns RELATED: Ask PolitiFact: We’ve seen reports of three train derailments this month. Is this normal? RELATED: No  of foul play in Ohio train derailment, other incidents mentioned in a Facebook post RELATED: Did Ohio train derailment cause CDC to update its vinyl chloride toxicology info? No"
6175,1,Says most Texas schools spend 45 out of 180 school days in mandated testing.,"July 31, 2012",education;state budget,ted lyon,Lyon is a Mesquite lawyer and Democrat who was a member of the Texas House of Representatives and then the Texas Senate from 1979 into early 1993.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,the Austin American-Statesman,"There seems to be scant information spelling out precisely how many days most schools give mandated tests. But our sense is that Texas school districts might be giving state-mandated tests on 29 days a school year, while district-level benchmark tests can absorb about four to nine days, though admittedly that’s based only on what we gleaned from the Austin and Mesquite districts for 2011-12. The days devoted to testing at some individual schools — and, more important, for individual students — are far fewer. We don’t doubt that schools focus on the various mandated tests throughout each year. However, we see no  that most schools spend 45 days of each year giving the tests, which is what Lyon declared. His statement rates ."
8182,5,"Of the four statewide races this century within a 300-vote margin, three have been overturned in a recount.","November 27, 2013",elections,mark obenshain,"Mark Obenshain, R-26th, is a Virginia State Senator. His district is comprised of Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren counties and Harrisonburg and part of Rockingham County. 
Obenshain lost the 2013 Virginia attorney general's race to Democrat Mark Herring by a slim margin after a recount. 
Obenshain was born in Richmond. His father, Richard Obenshain, was a Virginia Republican Committee chairman and Republican National Committee co-chairman and died in a plane crash during a U.S. Senate campaign.
Obenshain graduated from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, in 1984, and received a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington, in 1987.",virginia,1,2,1,1,1,0,a statement,"Obenshain said that three of the four statewide races this century within a 300-vote margin have been overturned in a recount. He’s right, although sets of circumstances in these three upturned elections in other states do not translate to the Virginia recount that Obenshain hopes will improve his second-place finish in last month’s attorney general race. We rate his statement ."
3547,2,"Two million federal workers negotiate zippo, zero. There is no collective bargaining for federal employees.","April 26, 2011",labor;state budget,john kasich,"John Kasich is the governor of Ohio. A Republican and a former congressman, he defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. He ran for president in 2016.",ohio,16,18,10,9,8,3,a radio interview,"But he has not called for it’s elimination. Changes approved in SB 5 would reduce the number of topics subject to union negotiations, ban public workers from striking, prohibit employers from paying more than 85 percent of workers’ health insurance costs, and base pay raises on performance rather than length of service. But public workers in Ohio would continue to have more collective bargaining powers than most federal workers, Kasich’s underlying point. That some federal workers can bargain over working conditions, rather than having ""zero"" collective bargaining ability, is a critical fact, though, that could give a listener a different impression. We rate Kasich’s statement ."
14102,3,Officials at Hyperloop One have referred to the route as one of the best they've ever seen.,"October 19, 2017",transportation,patrick mckenna,"Patrick K. McKenna has been director of the Missouri Department of Transportation since Dec. 7, 2015.  Previously, he was the deputy commissioner for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.",missouri,0,0,1,0,0,0,a Kansas City Business Journal article,"McKenna said Hyperloop officials called the proposed route between Kansas City and St. Louis ""one of the best they’ve ever seen."" The Hyperloop One CEO said the coalition proposed a great route. Its director of global public policy said the St. Louis-Kansas City route is ""as competitive"" as any on the initial list. But there’s no public record that any Hyperloop official ever called the route the best they’ve ever seen. Hyperloop selected 10 winners of its global challenge. Missouri was not on that list. We rate this  ."
13714,2,No president in history has imposed larger personal lifestyle costs on the taxpayer than Donald Trump.,"August 21, 2017",corrections and updates;ethics;families;federal budget;taxes;punditfact,david frum,David Frum is senior editor at the Atlantic. He served as a speechwriter for George W. Bush.,,0,1,1,1,0,0,a tweet,"It’s also a bold  to make in the absence of definitive data on the costs of presidential travel, which is generally not disclosed. Frum may nonetheless be onto something. Travel and security records we gathered suggest Trump is on pace to outstrip Obama’s spending on security and transport costs. But it’s still too soon to tell, and Frum’s statement remains an exaggeration. We rate it ."
16109,4,"Says Donald Trump's claim that ""there was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our country, a person is innocent"" directly contradicts Special Counsel Robert Mueller's statement.","May 29, 2019",elections;impeachment;crime,mark pocan,"Mark Pocan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2nd Congressional District on Nov. 6, 2012. He is from Madison and previously served as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin state Assembly. ",wisconsin,9,12,5,4,5,1,a tweet,"Trump’s tweet treats that statement as a commentary on his own guilt or innocence. In actuality, Mueller was very clear that he cannot charge a sitting president with a crime, and therefore out of fairness couldn’t even accuse him of one. And Mueller was careful to note, ""if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so."" Our definition of  is a statement that is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. That fits here."
21601,1,"American oil is … more affordable"" than foreign oil.","June 17, 2022",energy,kevin mccarthy,"Kevin McCarthy, who was first elected in 2006, is a Republican member of Congress representing a district in California. McCarthy was elected as House Speaker in January 2023.",national,0,1,5,3,14,4,a tweet,"McCarthy said that domestic oil is ""more affordable"" than foreign oil. His spokesperson said that was  because more oil from the U.S. would increase global supplies and lead to lower prices. That isn’t what McCarthy’s tweet said, but even if that’s what he had in mind, experts said any impact on the price of gasoline would take about a year to materialize and would be modest even then. Taking McCarthy’s words at face value, domestic oil is not more affordable. Whether looking at the price paid by refineries, or the simple cost of production, domestic oil costs more than imported oil. We rate this  ."
15887,0,A photograph shows Joe Biden kissing a woman behind Lindsey Graham.,"March 31, 2019",candidate biography;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""Old Joe at it again,"" someone else wrote. But another woman was wise to the Daily Caller’s story. ""Photoshopped,"" she said. ""And theres (sic) video to prove it."" We rate this Facebook post as !"
7765,5,"Over the past twenty years, the number of homicides committed with a firearm in the United States has decreased by nearly 40 percent. The number of other crimes involving the use of a firearm has also plummeted, declining by nearly 70 percent.","August 16, 2013",crime;guns,doug whitsett,"Sen. Doug Whitsett, a former veterinarian, owns two small farms in the Klamath Basin, which breed and raise European Warmblood Horses for dressage and jumping. He is past president of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association. He represents Senate District 28, Klamath Falls.",oregon,1,1,1,0,1,0,a guest column,"Homicides and other violent crimes involving firearms have declined over the last two decades. Whitsett picked the numbers and years straight from a federal report issued in May, based on CDC statistics. The Pew Research Center, which is nonpartisan, used the same statistics. Readers can argue over what the declines mean, but they can’t take issue with the accuracy of his numbers. We rate the statement ."
17426,1,Says Nostradamus predicted the coronavirus in a 1551 passage about a plague spreading from the east.,"April 2, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Nostradamus is best known for ""Les Prophéties,"" a collection of poetic quatrains that are united in sets of verses, or ""centuries,"" that was first published in 1555. This purported prediction does not follow the pattern of his typical vague, four-line poems, and we couldn’t find anything resembling it in Les Prophéties , or in various versions of his compiled works . Recent social media posts also appear to be the first and only occurrences of this prophecy online, and none provide additional details or  as to where it was found, which typically indicates it was fabricated. There is no  Nostradamus wrote this, it doesn’t follow the quatrain format of his predictions and the words cannot be found in his works. We rate it ."
9726,4,"Wisconsin's state budget is almost twice as large per person as the state budget of Texas, and even after billions in tax cuts, Wisconsin's working families and businesses remain subject to a heavy tax burden.","November 5, 2014",state budget;taxes,mario loyola,"Mario Loyola is a Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Loyola joined the Foundation in July 2010 as founding director of the Center for Tenth Amendment Action, focusing on energy and environment, healthcare, and other federalism issues. He began his career in corporate law. Since 2003, he has focused on public policy, dividing his time between government service and research and writing at prominent policy institutes. He served in the Pentagon as a special assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and on Capitol Hill as counsel for foreign and defense affairs to the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,an opinion piece,"Still, we found that the numbers in the study cited by Loyola were drawn from the annual financial reports published by Texas and Wisconsin. On a topic where various definitions of ""state budget"" are fair game, that gives his  a reasonable basis. Our rating ""Wisconsin’s state budget is almost twice as large per person as the state budget of Texas, and even after billions in tax cuts, Wisconsin’s working families and businesses remain subject to a heavy tax burden."" Loyola’s on target on taxes, and cites a credible study on spending that is open to challenge but generally defensible. We rate his  ."
19105,1,NPR posted a story about the Capitol breach before it happened.,"January 6, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Including timestamps for both the original publication time and the latest update ""is standard practice in a developing story,"" Fishel said. ""I can confirm that NPR is neither clairvoyant nor were we part of a () conspiracy of people who staged the events of Wednesday January 6th. ""  We rate this post .   This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
11289,2,"Travis County residents ""trusted me to take on Tom DeLay — and we won.","February 16, 2016",candidate biography;criminal justice;crime,gary cobb,"Gary Cobb, a longtime Travis County prosecutor, is a 2016 Democratic candidate for district attorney in the county.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a video ad on his campaign website,"Cobb says Travis County residents ""trusted me to take on Tom DeLay--and we won."" Cobb and the county won a jury verdict against DeLay. However, the convictions were tossed by an appeals court; its ruling was upheld by the state's highest criminal court of appeals. We rate Cobb's  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
3516,5,"You've got each day 10,000 new seniors, baby boomers, becoming eligible for the entitlement programs.","April 27, 2011",medicare;social security,eric cantor,"Eric Cantor is a former congressman who represented Virginia's 7th District from 2001 to 2014. He rose to House minority whip in 2009 and House majority leader in 2011. Cantor was upset by Dave Brat in the 2014 GOP primary for congress. He is now vice chairman and managing director of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank.
 
 
 ",virginia,7,4,4,9,6,4,a TV appearance,"Census data show nearly 80 million baby boomers, born over a span of 19 years. They will turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare at a rate of 11,478 per day. In fact, as of May 3 an estimated 1.4 million people have turned 65 this year. The numbers are staggering. We rate Cantor’s statement . "
12722,2,"On three occasions, judges had to stop Jason Kander from manipulating elections.","August 3, 2016",candidate biography,roy blunt,"Roy Blunt is the junior U.S. senator from Missouri. He was formerly a U.S. representative from Missouri’s 7th district, and served for six years as the Republican whip in that chamber.",missouri,5,2,4,3,3,1,a campaign ad,"Blunt claimed, ""On three occasions, judges had to stop Jason Kander from manipulating elections."" This  is . Courts did object in three cases to decisions Kander made as secretary of state. But the specifics of those cases are much more nuanced than Blunt lets on. And the  that Kander tried to manipulate the election is, at best, unproven. We rate this  .  "
3709,1,Rep. Robert Hurt voted again today to end Medicare and raise health care costs for Virginia seniors.,"June 1, 2011",federal budget;medicare,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,virginia,1,1,8,14,8,9,an e-mail,"The DCCC says Hurt voted ""to end Medicare and raise health care costs for Virginia seniors."" Hurt has indeed cast votes for the Ryan plan, which would substantially alter Medicare for many Americans. But beyond that, the DCCC statement falls apart. The Ryan plan would not end Medicare for anyone. The government would continue to help all older Americans pay for their medical bills. And the plan would not mean any change in costs of services for 92 percent of the people who now receive Medicare. So the blanket statement that it would raise the cost for seniors is . The fact that 8 percent might see higher costs does not support the DCCC’s blanket statement that health care costs will rise for seniors. For younger Americans, there would still be a universal program that helps them pay for health care when they reach retirement age through payments to help buy private insurance. They would face higher out-of-pocket costs than those insured under the current plan. The DCCC knows this but seems intent on scaring seniors. We rate its  . "
21749,1,"Dr. Birx ""changes tune on"" COVID-19 vaccines and ""admits vaccines don't work.","July 25, 2022",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Birx's full comments show she said she believes the vaccines do work and people should get them. PolitiFact found no record of Birx stating the vaccine could provide complete protection against infection. During the initial vaccine rollout, Birx said it was unclear the level of immunity that the vaccine provided.   In subsequent interviews, she said a multipronged approach is needed to prevent the virus’ spread. We rate this  ."
9747,2,"Female students at UVA ""have a 20 percent chance of being sexually assaulted.","November 24, 2014",crime;public safety,richard saslaw,"Richard L. Saslaw, D-35th, joined the Virginia Senate in 1980. The district is composed of portions of Fairfaix, Alexandria and Falls Church. He previously served in the House of Delegates beginning in 1976. Saslaw has been the Democratic leader of the Senate since 1996, currently as minority leader. He sits on the Rules, FInance, Education and Health, Courts of Justice and Commerce and Labor committees.
Saslaw ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. House seat in 1984. He has owned several successful gasoline and automobile service businesses. 
Saslaw served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960 and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1965.",virginia,0,0,0,2,3,1,a presentation,"Saslaw says a female student attending U.Va. has a 20 percent chance of being sexually assaulted. Saslaw bases his  on a Rolling Stone article about an alleged gang rape at UVa that said nationally, ""one in five women is sexually assaulted in college."" Rolling Stone didn’t cite a source, but the statistic is commonly used and is often based on a 2007 federal survey of women at two unnamed colleges. A few other studies have come up with comparable results. The key fact here is that none of the studies, as far as we know, examined U.Va. The university says it plans to start surveying its students next year to quantify incidences of sexual misconduct. Saslaw applies the 20 percent figure to U.Va. without any hard information and his comment suggests that the statistic is unique to the university. We’re not downplaying the issue of sexual assaults at U.Va., a problem that’s been repeatedly acknowledged by Teresa Sullivan, president of the university. But there’s a burden on Saslaw to prove his  and he comes up short. We rate his statement ."
23109,1,"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was ""caught on tape saying he discarded 2.5 million mail-in ballots in Texas.","June 1, 2023",elections,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,texas,0,1,3,9,60,18,a TikTok,"The TikTok claimed Paxton discarded millions of mail-in ballots in Texas, but there is no  that happened. Paxton’s office mounted a successful legal challenge and prevented Harris County from sending out mail-in ballot applications. Every legal ballot cast by mail or in person during the 2020 election was counted. We rate this  . PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
11203,2,"Between 1990 and 2013, the maternal mortality rate for women in the U.S. has increased by 136%.","December 18, 2015",women,sheila jackson lee,Sheila Jackson Lee has represented Houston in the U.S. House of Representatives since she was first elected in 1994.,texas,0,0,0,2,1,0,remarks inserted into the Congressional Record,"Sheila Jackson Lee said the maternal mortality rate in the United States increased 136 percent between 1990 and 2013. A 2014 report compiled by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and The World Bank presented just that figure. However, experts agree it is  and based on a modeling method WHO no longer uses. While there has been an increase in U.S. maternal mortality in that time -- possibly due, in part, to better reporting and worsening health conditions in the general population -- experts said it was not as drastic. We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.  "
15162,0,Says a photo shows Barack Obama holding a Michelle Obama 2020 t-shirt.,"September 29, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,social media posts,"I don’t think I should be president. I think I can do a lot of things, but that’s not one of them,’’ Obama said during conference in Boston in April. She’s made no public indication that she’s interested in running for any other public office. A viral image suggesting Michelle Obama is running for public office in 2020 is . We rate it !"
16997,0,Virginia Democrats Push Legislation to Make Criticism of Government Officials a Criminal Offense.,"January 22, 2020",civil rights;crime;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A  shared on Facebook says: ""Virginia Democrats Push Legislation to Make Criticism of Government Officials a Criminal Offense."" The bill spells out criminal penalties for harassment of or threats made to certain state officials. It does not affect ordinary free speech. For an attack that is  and , our rating is ."
13497,0,Cannibals arrested in Florida claim eating human flesh cures diabetes and depression,"May 30, 2017",fake news;punditfact,themiamigazette.com,"The Miami Gazette is a satirical site that uses real-sounding stories and details that might trick casual readers into believing the made-up stories are real. The website's satirical disclaimer does not appear until the bottom of the website. It says:
""When it comes to satirical news – we attempt to stay away from publishing anything of a political nature (unless it’s something really silly) as our intent is not to stir up political outrage or debate. We simply aim to provide an outlet for our writers and contributors to develop creative, outrageous, and 100% fictional, satirical tall-tales that our audience can enjoy reading and sharing with friends.""",,0,0,0,0,0,1,a fake news story,"As for the suspects, we had difficulty tracking down who the men truly were, although one of them was a Georgia man named Markey Caldwell , who was arrested in 2014 for criminal trespassing. There is no place in Florida with the name Vernal Heights at all, and no reports of cannibals caught eating flesh to cure diabetes and depression. That would be big news, if . In 2012 there was a real story of ""Miami Zombie"" with elements of cannibalism. As for this post, it’s !"
10467,0,Jay-Z and Beyonce Attempt to Buy Rights to Confederate Flag to Prevent Further Use.,"July 9, 2015",history;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a website post,"Newswatch33 reported that ""Jay-Z and Beyonce Attempt to Buy Rights to Confederate Flag to Prevent Further Use."" The website has published dubious stories before, and this seems to be yet another fabrication. We were unable to locate the story’s main source, and the power couple’s legal teams have said nothing about the matter. It is impossible to purchase the right to the Confederate Flag, a public domain item. We rate this  !"
21922,1,Queen Elizabeth died because of the COVID-19 vaccine.,"September 8, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"In the months since, media reported on health issues affecting the queen — especially COVID-19 — but there was nothing about a vaccine endangering her life. Older adults are more likely to get severely sick from COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and people 65 and older who received both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines showed a 94% reduced risk of being hospitalized because of the disease. Studies have shown that the vaccines are safe and that severe side effects, including death, are rare . Claims that the queen died because of the COVID-19 vaccine lack . We rate them . "
14115,1,We essentially repealed Obamacare because we got rid of the individual mandate ... and that was a primary source of funding of Obamacare.,"December 20, 2017",health care,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said that repealing the individual mandate essentially repealed Obamacare and eliminated a primary source of funding for the program. Eliminating the mandate does undercut the Affordable Care Act, but it hardly repeals it. In reality, the major pieces of the Affordable Care Act remain in place. On the money side, the penalties represent less than 3 percent of the cost of the program, and other taxes directly tied to paying for Obamacare are four and five times larger. Overall, this change will be disruptive, but not terminal. It certainly does not ""essentially repeal"" Obamacare. We rate Trump’s  ."
6056,2,"Bill Nelson's vote for the Affordable Care Act ""cuts $500 billion from Medicare to pay for new government programs.","July 5, 2012",federal budget;medicare;message machine 2012,american commitment,"American Commitment is a conservative 501(c)4 group that supports “free markets, economic growth, Constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom”",florida,0,0,0,2,2,1,a TV ad,"Nelson was among the 60 votes in favor of the bill on Dec. 24, 2009, providing the cloture needed to prevent the bill from being filibustered. That has drawn the ire of the bill’s opponents and conservative groups like American Commitment, which have charged all 59 Democrats and Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders all cast the ""deciding vote"" -- yet another  we’ve ruled  , because several other senators’ votes were much more crucial. The ruling American Commitment claims Bill Nelson voted to slash $500 billion from Medicare to fund other programs. Our previous rulings have shown that there is no vast well of money already allocated that is being cut, and the programs being funded are a part of government health care services, of which Medicare is the largest. Yet again, we rate this  as .  "
20440,3,"The nation reported adding 194,000 jobs in September, and Florida accounted for 84,500.","October 22, 2021",economy;jobs,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",,2,10,9,13,14,2,a Facebook post,"DeSantis said, ""The nation reported adding 194,000 jobs in September and Florida accounted for 84,500."" The 84,500 number was an impressive showing nationally, ranking second among the states in raw job gains and first as a percentage. However, state jobs numbers are more in flux than they may seem, because they are subject to revision and bounce around a lot from month to month.  In addition, DeSantis’ numerical comparison contains a mismatch in the underlying data. The 194,000 figure is taken from a national calculation; the more accurate national figure to compare it to is 363,000. Comparing Florida’s jobs gains to the bigger but more comparable number gives Florida a smaller share of the national total. We rate the statement ."
3946,5,The black unemployment rate (has) increased since the recovery has begun.,"July 17, 2011",economy;jobs;workers,marc morial,"Marc Morial is the president of the National Urban League, a century-old civil rights organization. He served two terms as mayor of New Orleans.",national,2,0,1,0,0,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","All told, the overall unemployment rate fell from 9.5 percent to 9.2 percent. In fact, some segments of the black labor force showed even higher rates of unemployment. For instance, the most recent unemployment rate for blacks between the ages of 16 and 24 years was 31.4 percent. We find nothing amiss in Morial’s  that ""the black unemployment rate (has) increased since the recovery has begun."" So we rate his statement ."
22200,1,DJ Mighty Mouse died because of a COVID-19 booster vaccine.,"October 27, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"The National Institutes of Health said the benefits of getting vaccinated ""markedly outweigh the very small risk of vaccine-related myocarditis."" The NIH also said the risk of myocarditis linked with COVID-19 illness is several times greater than the risk from vaccination, and is often more serious. We don’t know what caused Ward’s aneurysm. But claims that it was a COVID-19 booster are being made without . We rate this  ."
950,0,"Inside the stimulus package ""is anti-Christian legislation that will stop churches from using public schools for meeting on Sundays, as well as Boy Scouts and student Bible study groups.","May 30, 2009",economy;religion;stimulus,newt gingrich,"Newt Gingrich is a political adviser and author. A former Georgia congressman, Gingrich served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich sought the GOP nomination for president in 2012.",national,7,11,21,17,15,12,an e-mail,"In short, we haven't seen anything that supports Gingrich's  that the stimulus will stop church groups from meeting at public schools, nor Boy Scouts or Bible study groups. In fact, the clause on religion does not even apply to public schools. Inasmuch as this one seems aimed at unnecessarily inflaming the conservative Christian base, we'd like to retort with some flames of our own. We rate Gingrich's  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2c368a99-5e22-48ad-8225-26b2da181df4"
11624,4,"Texas has 600,000 registered voters who don't have the kind of photo ID needed to vote.","April 14, 2016",elections;history;states,"tom ""smitty"" smith","Smith, a former Texas House aide, has been the director of the Texas office of Public Citizen since 1985.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,the Austin American-Statesman,"Smith said: ""Texas has 600,000 registered voters who don’t have the kind of photo ID needed to vote."" That may have been so in 2014, according to an expert’s research, and the figure arguably aligns with a  2011 state estimate limited to matching voter registrations and driver licenses. We didn’t find an up-to-date figure, though, and Smith’s implication--that 600,000 citizens haven’t voted for lack of acceptable IDs--might not hold up; we don’t know. We rate the  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ab2c7daf-5de6-4a7a-8215-775d98c9a58a"
11673,3,"There's only three countries in the entire world where there's no paid vacation by law, we happen to be one of them.","April 25, 2016",government regulation;workers,alan grayson,"Alan Grayson was initially elected to Congress in 2008, then defeated for re-election in 2010. He was elected again to Congress from a different district in 2012. He lost the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Florida in 2016.",florida,7,11,4,6,5,1,an Orlando debate,"Grayson said, ""There's only three countries in the entire world where there's no paid vacation by law, we happen to be one of them."" Grayson’s , taken literally, is . A Grayson spokesman said the congressman had fumbled his talking point a bit, especially the part about a pair of African nations being the other two. But the point he was trying to make to viewers and voters largely holds up. The United States is certainly one of just a few countries that does not guarantee paid vacation as a right, and an outlier among developed nations. In that sense, Grayson’s  is partially accurate. We rate it ."
10146,3,"Debt doubled"" under Bush ""and now it's tripling under Barack Obama's watch.","April 7, 2015",debt,rand paul,"Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky elected in 2010. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out to seek re-election to the Senate. Paul is a medical doctor and an ophthalmologist. His father is Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas. ",national,12,15,13,7,12,4,a speech announcing his presidential campaign,"Paul said, ""Debt doubled"" under Bush ""and now it’s tripling under Barack Obama’s watch."" This statement is confusing. A person could easily interpret it to mean that debt has tripled since Obama took office -- which would be . Paul, on the other hand, said that it means debt today, under Obama, is triple what it was when Bush’s term started.  Indeed, today’s national debt is about triple what it was in January 2001, when Bush took office.  It's also worth noting that many factors other than a particular president's policies affect the national debt. From one not-so-obvious angle, Paul's numbers are correct. But because the statement could so easily be interpreted in another, less accurate way, we rate it ."
10900,2,"It has been estimated that nearly 40 percent of all guns sold in America are sold by private, unlicensed sellers either online or through gun shows.","October 15, 2015",guns,terry mcauliffe,"Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, was elected governor of Virginia on Nov. 5, 2013. He received 47.8 percent of the vote in defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who came in at 45.2 percent. Robert Sarvis, a Libertarian, finished a distant third with 6.5 percent.
McAuliffe's inaguration as Virginia's 72nd governor is scheduled on Jan. 11, 2014.
McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and noted political fundraiser, was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. In 2009, McAuliffe unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor.
McAuliffe was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 9, 1957. He has a bachelor's degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. McAuliffe has lived in Fairfax County for more than 20 years, is married and has five children.
 ",virginia,7,4,3,16,7,4,an executive order,"McAuliffe said, ""It has been estimated that nearly 40 percent of all guns sold in America are sold by private, unlicensed sellers either online or through gun shows."" His source is a small-sample survey from 1994 that included firearms that were sold and those that were given as gifts or inheritances. When the results were adjusted to guns sold - the term McAuliffe uses - only 14 percent to 22 percent of the firearms were sold without background checks. The researchers say they ""don’t know"" if their findings are relevant today. No current national study has been published. McAuliffe did not acknowledge these points, all of which have been reported widely. So we rate his statement ."
10622,3,The annual cost of free tax credits alone paid to illegal immigrants quadrupled to $4.2 billion in 2011.,"August 16, 2015",immigration;taxes,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a policy plan on immigration,"Trump said, ""The annual cost of free tax credits alone paid to illegal immigrants quadrupled to $4.2 billion in 2011."" Based on an audit by the Treasury Inspector General, the  leaves out some context. Trump conflates ""illegal immigrants"" with ""unauthorized workers,"" a group composed largely of undocumented immigrants but also legal immigrants and others. The $4.2 billion refers to the amount given in tax credit refunds for children, the large majority of whom are U.S. citizens. And the actual year is 2009, not 2011 (that was the year the report was published). Also, it's important to note that illegal immigrants pay an estimated  $12 billion in payroll taxes  to Social Security and don't receive benefits. So Trump is leaving out a significant part of the picture when it comes to taxes and undocumented workers.  Overall, we rate his  Half ."
1995,4,"The president's budget ""would take ... non-defense spending to its lowest level ... as a percentage of the economy since JFK.","July 22, 2010",economy;federal budget;military,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,remarks at a bill signing,"Ultimately, we do think that Obama was careful not to over-sell his point. He said that his budget ""would reduce ... non-defense discretionary spending to its lowest level as a share of the economy in 50 years."" That's more cautious than saying it ""will reduce"" such spending to a record-low level. But we think it's essential to keep in mind that these are the president's intentions -- not firm data. For that reason, we knock it down a notch to ."
9448,2,Health insurance costs for Floridians are up 30 percent or more.,"September 23, 2014",health care,republican party of florida,The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.,florida,2,6,6,12,10,4,a TV ad,"The Republicans’ ad shows several unidentified people saying that health insurance costs for Floridians are up 30 percent or more. Many reports that cite big double-digit premium increases are based on individual or small-group plans and omit large group plans, the type of coverage many people have through work. Kaiser concluded that in large-group plans, the largest segment in the market, premiums will rise 3 percent. The Republicans’ ad takes anecdotal experiences about cost increases that would be rare but potentially  and creates the impression that the federal health care law is just one big heap of problems for patients without any benefits. Then it tells voters that despite that morass, Crist supports it. People may see increases to their health care costs under the law, but the typical experience is nowhere near what the ad suggests. Indeed, other Floridians will see their costs go down. We rate the  ."
13983,5,"Says Roy Moore said a ""practicing Muslim should not be a member of Congress because of his faith.","October 31, 2017",congress;religion,jeff flake,"Jeff Flake, a Republican, represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate. He was elected to the Senate in 2012, after serving in the U.S. House.",national,3,1,0,0,1,0,a speech on the Senate floor,"Flake said that Moore had expressed the belief that a ""practicing Muslim should not be a member of Congress because of his faith."" That’s what Moore wrote in an op-ed in 2006. He said Rep. Ellison should not be seated in Congress solely because he is a Muslim. Moore’s response to recent criticism has been equivocal. In one encounter he said that Muslims could serve in federal office. In another, he said his 2006 op-ed clearly explained his beliefs. There is no question that Flake accurately described what Moore had written. Moore’s comments since then add a touch of uncertainty, but only a touch. We rate this  ."
629,5,Less than four cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health.,"August 13, 2008",health care,democratic national committee,The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats.,national,7,8,12,9,2,0,the Democratic Party platform,"In 2004 testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Dr. Dean Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, described how three-quarters of health-care spending goes toward chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. But he said less than 2 percent was spent on preventing those ailments. We should note, we're not ruling on whether preventive care is cost effective, but rather on the specific  that we're currently spending only 4 percent on it. We would like to be using figures more recent than 1992, but that appears to be the last time researchers used government figures to calculate the percentage of health care spending that goes to prevention. With that in mind, we have to say the Democratic Party platform  is ."
3711,3,"We've seen 115,000 jobs created in the American auto industry since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy.","June 2, 2011",economy;jobs,brian deese,"Brian Deese is a deputy director of the White House National Economic Council. Formerly a law student at Yale, Deese was the first member of President Barack Obama’s Auto Task Force.",ohio,0,0,1,0,0,0,a telephone news conference,"So we go back to Deese’s words: ""since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy."" GM had not yet climbed out of bankruptcy when Deese starts his count. And that’s important to know because had he started after GM emerged from bankruptcy, the figure for total number of jobs created would have been more than 30,000 fewer. So Deese’s notion is accurate -- but a listener needs that important detail for a full understanding of his . That is exactly how the -O-Meter defines ."
11869,1,"Even among ""second and third generation"" Muslims in the United States, ""there's no real assimilation.","June 15, 2016",immigration;nbc;race and ethnicity;religion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity,"Trump said that even among ""second and third generation"" Muslims in the United States, ""there's no real assimilation."" The data and the experts agree that Trump is . Substantial  confirms that Muslim Americans want to have an American identity and think that doing so is achievable. In fact, their preferences for self-identification mirror those of Christian Americans. The data show that American Muslims want to be both American and Muslim. That’s different than the widely recognized ""melting pot"" model where immigrants of generations past blended in fully in their new country based on a shared religion and culture. But the reality is that for most Muslim Americans, religion and race would have made it impossible for them to follow that course in the first place. We rate Trump’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ccf1be4b-8a88-4196-947c-b78eff07ae33"
19621,3,"Children ages 5 to 9 ""are not affected by"" the coronavirus.","April 22, 2021",children;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A woman in a video clip widely shared on Facebook stated that children ages 5 to 9 ""are not affected by"" the coronavirus. Most children who get COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms; severe illness is rare. But more than 3.6 million children have tested positive and at least 297 have died. And children can spread the virus to others, even if they don’t have symptoms, which is a key reason for mask requirements in schools. We rate the statement . Join PolitiFact LIVE on May 10-13 for a festival of fact-checking with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Register today >>"
8732,0,"Says Charlie Crist's campaign bashed Sen. Bill Nelson's ""big-government solutions.","April 25, 2014",elections;punditfact,msnbc,MSNBC is a cable network owned by NBC Universal.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,"a graphic during ""The Daily Rundown""",MSNBC wrongly attached the words of Scott’s campaign chairman to the Crist campaign. Crist’s campaign chairman did not blast the prospect of Nelson entering the Florida governor’s race. Scott’s did. We rate the  .
12159,0,I'm beating (Kelly Ayotte) in the polls by a lot.,"August 2, 2016",polls and public opinion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",new hampshire,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview with the Washington Post,"Trump said he is beating Ayotte in the polls ""by a lot."" However, Ayotte recent surveys have shown that New Hampshire voters view Ayotte more favorably than Trump. The polls also indicate that Ayotte is locked in a closer race against her Democratic challenger than Trump. We rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cc62323e-c00c-4d16-92e8-219dc78509be"
19955,3,Three white former police officers were sentenced to less prison time — combined — for killing three Black people than a Black man was for selling marijuana.,"June 27, 2021",criminal justice;crime;race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claims the combined prison sentences of three white, former police officers convicted of murder were significantly less than what a Black man received after being convicted for selling marijuana. Thompson, a Black man, was sentenced to up to 60 years for firearms possession by a felon. The sentence for the drug charge was up to 15 years. He served more than 20 years in prison before his sentence was commuted in 2020. Meanwhile, the three white former police officers were given shorter prison sentences than prosecutors sought for their murder convictions. Their combined prison sentences were for 38.5 years.  The  is partly accurate but leaves out significant context about the charges surrounding Thompson’s sentence. We rate it ."
7836,4,"Over the past 35 years, Florida families have paid into the (National Flood Insurance Program) over $16 billion, four times more than the amount they have received in claim reimbursements.","September 17, 2013",environment;housing;states;weather,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a letter to Florida's U.S. senators,"Scott said ""Over the past 35 years, Florida families have paid into the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) over $16 billion, four times more than the amount they have received in  reimbursements."" A study from the Wharton Center concluded that Florida’s ""policyholders paid $16.1 billion in premiums but collected only $4.5 billion in claims reimbursements: that is, premiums paid over time were about 3.6 times the insurance reimbursements."" That statistic from the study covered 1978-2008, but it’s likely the trend has continued through 2012. The only key point that Scott omits is that this imbalance is common: Lots of states pay more in premiums than they receive in claims. A major storm could change that dynamic, and the purpose of insurance is to protect against such an event. We rate this  ."
9741,4,"In 1990, the U.S. led the world in the percentage of 25-34 year olds with college degrees. Today we are in 12th place.","December 5, 2014",education,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a meme on social media,"Sanders said that ""in 1990, the U.S. led the world in the percentage of 25-34 year olds with college degrees. Today we are in 12th place."" There are some quirks in the data, but experts agree that the general trend line is roughly as Sanders says it is. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it ."
275,0,"Says McCain was a ""Hanoi Hilton songbird"" who collaborated with the enemy.","January 15, 2008",candidate biography,vietnam veterans against john mccain,Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain is a group that opposes Sen. John McCain.,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,South Carolina,"Timberg said he was perplexed by the allegations. ""Why do they hate him? There can be lots of issues you disagree with him about. But why try to destroy him?"" Because of the seriousness of the charge, the utter absence of  and the clear intention to harm McCain just days before a critical Republican primary, we find this  to be  ."
22183,0,Eagles fans shout F— Joe Biden while Jill Biden attends NFL game!,"October 18, 2022",sports;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"Another said, ""Here’s the thing . . . if she cared and wasn’t following a script or being endorsed, any normal human being would be furious and show it. ""  The fact-checking team at Verify did an audio analysis of the video. The booing comes from an hourlong YouTube video , and footage of a crowd chanting an expletive about Biden is real , but it’s from a compilation of crowds chanting at different college football games.   We rate the  that Philadelphia Eagles fans were chanting expletives at Jill Biden !   "
21002,2,Only 16% Of Canadians Would SUPPORT Trudeau After Trucker Protest!,"February 15, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video post,"And on Feb. 14, the Angus Reid Institute found that about 65% of Canadians believed that Trudeau’s comments and actions had worsened the situation. Overall, the same poll found , 40% of Canadians approved of the prime minister and 57% disapproved. We didn’t find any survey results reflecting that only 16% of Canadians supported Trudeau overall.   The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this post ."
12229,5,"Today California is kicking our butt, creating more jobs and more economic growth than Texas.","June 17, 2016",economy;jobs;states,julián castro,"Julián Castro is a former U.S. secretary of Housing & Urban Development. He was the youngest member of Barack Obama’s cabinet, serving from 2014 to 2017. Just before he became secretary of HUD, he was the mayor of San Antonio, elected in 2009. Castro received a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out on Jan. 2, 2020.",texas,6,6,5,1,1,0,comments at Texas Democratic Party convention,"Castro said that ""today,"" California is ""creating more jobs and more economic growth than Texas."" These fightin’ words hold up based on recent jobs growth and relative changes in GDP and personal income. Still (just a tad whiney here) would it hurt to acknowledge that Texas continues to enjoy a lower unemployment rate? We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d4bc09e3-1eeb-40d9-bf5b-e9623d046118"
12607,3,"The director of the FBI said that we cannot figure out who (Syrian refugees) are, what their intentions are, because we have no information on them, because we don't have any contact with the Syrian government or any people on the ground to be able to determine that.","October 20, 2016",immigration;human rights;foreign policy;terrorism,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,Cleveland,"Portman said, ""The director of the FBI said that we cannot figure out who (Syrian refugees) are, what their intentions are, because we have no information on them, because we don’t have any contact with the Syrian government or any people on the ground to be able to determine that."" Portman had a point that Comey expressed concerns about information gaps on potential Syrian refugees. However, he exaggerated the extent of Comey’s concerns when he said that Comey indicated that ""we cannot figure out"" who they are, and that we have ""no information on them."" All told, Comey said the vetting process is thorough, but imperfect. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
1243,5,"President Obama's proposal calls for serious cuts in our own long-term carbon emissions,"" but China and India will still be allowed to increase their emissions.","December 9, 2009",environment;climate change;energy,sarah palin,"Sarah Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. She is also the former governor of Alaska and the author of  Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin's previous experience includes leading the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and serving as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.",national,14,6,9,9,21,6,the 'Washington Post',"Koomey, like many climate scientists, say overall cuts -- even from developing countries -- are necessary to really slow down climate change. While the United States' proposed cuts are more stringent than those proposed by China or India, they're less aggressive than the 25 to 50 percent emissions reduction scientists say countries must adopt to hold global average temperature increases to about 2 degrees Celsius. So, where does that leave Palin's ? She's correct that China and India's plans will allow them to increase emissions, while the United States would have to cut back. For this , Palin gets a ."
4839,4,Says federal spending has increased 21 percent over the past three years.,"December 17, 2011",deficit;economy;federal budget,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,a news release,"The increase in the previous cycle, 2007-2010, was more than 27 percent. Portman's figure on spending was correct. But it is significant that the spending crosses administrations and is demonstrably tied to the faltering economy. That’s additional information that provides clarification. On the -O-Meter, we rate his  ."
10301,5,Georgia ranks 49th for women serving in elected state and federal offices.,"May 20, 2015",congress;elections;race and ethnicity;states;women,institute for women's policy research,women's policy research is their primary focus.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a new report,"""Their perspective is more broad and encompassing and many times more collaborative,"" she said. Our conclusion: A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research says Georgia is 49th among the 50 states for women serving in elected state and federal offices. It cites the state’s all-male congressional delegation, its 77 percent-male Legislature and its lack of any women in statewide elected office. Other sources report similar data. We rate the statement as .  "
6504,5,"Says ""as Co-Chair of the Joint Ways & Means Committee, I secured the key piece of funding for"" the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project bridge.","September 28, 2012",state budget;transportation,mary nolan,Mary Nolan represents Southwest Portland in the Oregon House of Representatives. She has said she will run for a seat on the Portland City Council in 2012,oregon,2,0,3,0,0,0,a post on her website,"Clark, the lobbyist, recalled a similar negotiation when we spoke with her earlier. Nolan said she ""secured the key piece of funding"" for the  Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project bridge. It might be nice if that read ""helped secure"" instead -- it was certainly a group effort. But based on committee assignments and interviews with two people closest to the negotiations, it does appear that Nolan played a key role. We rate this  ."
191,2,"Supported in-state tuition in Arkansas for illegal immigrants ""if you'd sat in our schools from the time you're 5 or 6 years old and you had become an A-plus student,"" among other things.","November 28, 2007",immigration,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,St. Petersburg,"Huckabee conflates the proposed law with rules for the scholarship, which does have requirements for a core curriculum and drug-testing. Maybe Huckabee was confused on which programs he was talking about; he had mentioned the Academic Challenge Scholarship by name a few moments earlier. But even granting a mix-up, Huckabee is plain  about the A-plus average — the scholarship requires a 3.0 out of 4.0. And there's no requirement for attending state schools since age 5 or 6. We award Huckabee a ."
4891,2,More Americans have lost their jobs under Barack Obama than any president in modern history.,"January 16, 2012",economy;history;jobs,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,a tweet,"Romney’s  is accurate if you count from every president’s first day in office to his final day -- by those standards, Obama is indeed the only president since World War II to have presided over a net job loss. But if you compare each president from one year into his term to one year after the end of the administration -- a plausible approach if you hope to capture what kind of impact their policies had on the economy -- Obama’s job statistics shift into positive territory, while George W. Bush’s fall into negative territory. The fact that Obama’s -- or any other president's -- numbers can change dramatically depending on what timeline you use suggests that Romney’s conclusion isn't as telling as it sounds. Throw in PolitiFact’s perennial reminder that no politician is the sole cause of either jobs lost or jobs created, and we arrive at a ruling of ."
15925,1,"Quotes Thomas Homer-Dixon as saying a windmill will ""never generate as much energy as was invested building it.","April 11, 2019",environment;energy;science;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Homer-Dixon , who served as the founding director of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation and is currently a professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, even called out the meme in a May 2018 post on his website . ""It’s worth noting that it would be pointless to put wind turbines in poor locations, and it’s trivial, or meaningless, to say that a turbine would never pay back its embedded energy in a poor location,"" Homer-Dixon wrote in the post. ""So, 1) I didn’t write the text, 2) the text itself is selectively quoted, and 3) the argument it makes, taken in isolation, is meaningless. Three strikes."" We rate this ."
5563,4,"Florida has ""1,200 golf courses. I think 58 million rounds played a year in Florida. We've got 44 percent of all travel golf in the country here. 5 million people come here just for golf.","May 10, 2012",sports,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,TV interview,"Golf is a big deal for the Sunshine State -- and now we know that more rays equal more rounds. Still, Scott needs to finesse his points before getting our hole-in-one rating. We rate his golf rundown ."
1754,1,Georgia has a well-deserved reputation for setting the gold standard for food safety.,"May 25, 2010",food safety,kevin levitas,State Rep. Kevin Levitas represents portions of DeKalb County,georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a press releaase,"Your paper demonstrated the same hyper-literalism when it scoffed at Roy Barnes's enthusiastic support for education by demeaning his allegoric suggestion that he would scrape gold from the Capitol dome, if need be, to improve education. In both cases, the AJC's verbal nitpicking missed the point entirely and misled the public. The important point was and is that the SAFE Act will move Georgia forward substantially in food-safety protection for Georgia consumers. Unfortunately, the AJC's ceding only about 200 words for my response to its 800-plus word attack devoted to my characterization precludes an adequate reply and prevents readers from having a fair forum in which to make up their own minds. State Rep. Kevin Levitas, Georgia House District 82"
15049,2,"Current school lunch requirements ""cause large amounts of food waste and diminished use of school lunches!","August 14, 2018",food,vicky hartzler,"Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., represents Missouri's fourth district. She was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1994.",missouri,1,2,3,5,1,0,a tweet,"In announcing a bill that would roll back Obama-era legislation making school lunch regulations healthier, Hartzler tweeted federal school lunch requirements ""cause large amounts of food waste & diminished use of school lunches!"" Experts say the observation-based  she uses to back up the  is faulty and that the proportion of healthy foods thrown out is about the same, even though the total amount of fruits and vegetables wasted has gone up because they are required on every child’s plate. They also say that no substantial drop off in school lunch program participation has occurred since the law went into effect. For those reasons, we rate this  as ."
19207,1,US Capitol raided 2/2/21.,"February 2, 2021",facebook fact-checks,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube post,"President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden also paid their respects around 10 p.m., according to news reports. Video from the event shows the Bidens standing before the urn with their hands on their hearts. Their visit wasn’t announced until the president’s motorcade left the White House, according to the New York Times . Sicknick, who died after sustaining injuries during the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.   We rate this YouTube video . "
18593,2,No one showed up for this Joe Biden and Kamala Harris joint campaign event in Arizona.,"October 11, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Eric Trump, the president’s second son, retweeted a clip of Garcia’s segment that was  deceptively edited to remove the part where she talks about the campaign choosing not to invite the public to avoid drawing a crowd. The video has been viewed on YouTube nearly 50,000 times.   After meeting with tribal leaders, Biden and Harris delivered remarks in front of pooled national press members, which was live streamed, before launching their bus tour to meet with small business owners in the area. The Facebook post’s  contains an element of  — it did show a Biden-Harris campaign stop — but it ignores that the campaign didn’t invite the public, or release any details about the event because of the pandemic. We rate it ."
23330,1,"Helicopter released deadly mosquitoes"" at Baltimore's AFRAM Festival.","July 13, 2023",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram video claimed that a ""helicopter released deadly mosquitoes"" at Baltimore’s AFRAM Festival. Many who attended the festival described the flying insects as gnats, not mosquitoes. An expert told us that mosquitoes do not swarm in the way seen in the video.  We rate the  ."
3609,4,Tommy Thompson wanted to implant data chips in humans.,"May 17, 2011",elections;health care;technology,michael mcauliff,Michael McAuliff is a senior congressional correspondent and blogger for the liberal HuffingtonPost.com and a former Washington reporter and editor for the New York Daily News..,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,website article,"What’s left? The headline of an article by HuffingtonPost.com reporter Michael McAuliff said Tommy Thompson ""wanted to implant data chips in humans."" Thompson certainly was a major cheerleader for the product, although he made it clear he was only advocating that people choose to be chipped voluntarily. The headline was accurate, but needed clarification. We rate it ."
2374,2,Alex Sink funneled three quarters of a million dollars in no-bid contracts to Bank of America.,"September 27, 2010",economy;financial regulation;message machine 2010,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a TV ad,"As you might have noticed by now, at word 1,438 of this fact check, Scott's  is way more complex than it sounds in his 30-second spot, ""No bid."" We're checking his  that ""Alex Sink funneled three quarters of a million dollars in no-bid contracts to Bank of America,"" the bank she used to work for. Let's take this one step at a time. Alex Sink funneled ... This is a  verb choice. First, she was one of four statewide elected officials to agree to change the process for selling state bonds that ultimately resulted in paying $770,321 in commission fees to Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. Second, she had no idea when she approved the new bond sale process -- called a negotiated sale -- that Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would receive $770,321. That came months later as part of the negotiations between the bond underwriters and the Division of Bond Finance. Three quarters of a million dollars ... The money in question is just about right. The total commission paid to Bank of America and its newly acquired Merrill Lynch unit was $770,321. In no-bid contracts ... This specific  has generated some controversy. Our colleagues at Factcheck.org, for instance, said that the contract at issue was not a no-bid contract . We disagree. Here are the facts. The state held an RFP for companies to be bond underwriters in general, not to specifically bid on bond sales. Thirty-nine companies responded, and ultimately 12 were chosen. There was no competitive bidding for the $300 million lottery revenue bond issue. The state negotiated a deal among those 12 companies. That's a no-bid contract to us, because the setup specifically prevents open competition that could produce lower interest rates. The state said it needed to pursue negotiated deals because of the volatility of the credit market, and maybe that's . But the question here is whether there were bids for this specific bond issue. There were not. To Bank of America ... The fees actually were paid to Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, which Bank of America acquired. But what's critical to note, again, is that while Bank of America interests represented two of the 12 members of the state bond underwriting team, Sink had no idea when she approved the slate of underwriters what specific role each bank would play in any specific bond sale. And even when she approved the $300 million lottery bond issue, it wasn't yet clear whether the sale of those bonds would be by a competitive or negotiated process. The resolution she and three others approved included either option. We should note that the ad claims that ""your tax dollars"" paid for the Bank of America commissions. That's not . The bond issue was using lottery revenues, not general tax revenues. That means you buying lottery tickets paid for the bond sale and the bank commissions. The basis of the  in the Scott ad is a paragraph in a St. Petersburg Times story about Sink, saying she ""voted with the governor and other Cabinet members to allow negotiated, or no-bid, bond deals for a financial underwriting team that includes her former employer, Bank of America. One transaction resulted in $770,000 in fees for a subsidiary of the bank and its newly acquired Merrill Lynch unit."" That statement is accurate, as it properly notes that the negotiated bond sale process resulted in $770,000 in fees for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, without trying to tie the money directly to Sink. Scott isn't nearly as careful in his TV ad. Particularly, his use of the word ""funneled"" overshadows some of the facts Scott gets right in his . Sink didn't funnel $770,000 to Bank of America. First, she was one of four votes on the Cabinet to approve the particular type of bond issue in question -- along with Republicans Charlie Bronson and Bill McCollum and then-Republican Charlie Crist.  Second, she had no way of knowing how much commission Bank of America and Merrill Lynch would receive for the bond sale when she approved the deal. Those details came months later during negotiations between state bond administrators and the banks. We rate Scott's  ."
11148,1,"Says Virginia Del. Mark Cole ""wants schools to check children's genitals before using bathroom.","January 12, 2016",children;education;fake news;sexuality,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",virginia,0,2,7,1,8,4,a blog post,"Occupy Democrats said Cole ""wants schools to check children’s genitals before using bathroom."" There is nothing in Cole’s bill that says students will be forced to show their private parts to school officials before they can use the restroom. The group defends its statement by saying ""it’s the logical conclusion"" of legislation that’s silent on how it would be enforced. But there are other possibilities the group doesn’t consider. Cole suggests using birth certificates and student records to verify a student’s anatomical gender. The loose writing of the bill, which Cole is trying to tighten, leaves the legislator a little bit open to criticism. But it doesn’t entitle Occupy Democrats to make up a genital inspection  and attach Cole’s name to it. We rate the group’s  ."
18869,1,Map shows 2020 election results.,"November 11, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""Compared to this year, the 2016 map portrays a blizzard blowing right for Trump across the country,"" the Post explained. Even areas that voted for Hillary Clinton gave her much less support than Barack Obama had received.   We rate claims that this map shows 2020 election results . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
2966,5,We're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend.,"January 23, 2011",federal budget;this week - abc news,kent conrad,Kent Conrad is a Democratic Senator from North Dakota. He is the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee.,national,2,1,0,0,0,0,"an interview on ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour.""","We initially found the numbers a little confusing, but one of the experts we interviewed for this story explained it this way: ""It's like a family that earns $60,000 per year, but is spending $100,000. How are they doing it? By getting a new $40,000 loan every year to cover the difference,"" said Brian Riedl, a budget expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. In rating Conrad's statement, we find he correctly described how much the government is borrowing in comparison with what it's spending. We rate his statement ."
3957,5,"[L]ess than one-tenth of Atlanta's transportation needs are covered"" in a referendum to levy a 1-cent sales tax.","June 16, 2011",transportation,mike bodker,Mike Bodker is mayor of Johns Creek.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a newspaper article,"The state Legislature designed the planned referendum to cover a smaller, 10-county region. Determining how much of the $120 billion would address needs for the smaller 10-county region is problematic because major projects can affect traffic in multiple counties.    That said, this quirk does not render Bodker’s statement . It may have been more precise for him to say that the 10-county referendum funds less than 10 percent of the 18-county region’s needs, but we think it’s safe to say your average voter doesn’t parse regional definitions this closely. We therefore rule Bodker’s statement ."
10054,1,"A ""majority of our students are trapped in"" underperforming schools.","January 30, 2015",education;state budget,george p. bush,"George Prescott Bush, formerly a corporate lawyer, won election as Texas land commissioner in 2014. He's renominated to seek a second term in 2018.",texas,0,1,1,1,4,0,"remarks at a ""school choice"" rally outside the Texas Capitol","Bush said the ""majority of our students are trapped in"" underperforming schools. Bush relied on another official’s speculation about how well schools might meet disputed federal standards that don’t apply to Texas this year anyway. Meantime, 2014 state ratings indicate more than nine in 10 districts fulfilled state-set standards and more than eight in 10 campuses did so. We rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
9711,2,"In ""the past four or five"" presidential elections, ""people who poll high at the beginning are not the people who end up being the nominees.","November 11, 2014",elections;polls and public opinion,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,an interview,"Five contenders -- Bob Dole in 1996, Bush and Gore in 2000, McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012 -- all scored high in the earliest polls and went on to win their party’s nomination. Our rating Walker said that in ""the past four or five"" presidential elections, ""people who poll high at the beginning are not the people who end up being the nominees."" Some who polled high since 1996 didn’t become the nominee, of course, but that isn’t enough  to back Walker’s flat statement. Indeed, five contenders who polled well early did, in fact, become the presidential nominee. For a statement that has only an element of , our rating is ."
20165,5,"We've got 115,000 miles of roads in this state and 90% is owned by the locals.","July 5, 2021",infrastructure;transportation;taxes,craig thompson,Craig Thompson was tapped by Gov. Tony evers to serve as secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) beginning in January 2019. ,wisconsin,1,1,0,0,0,0,TV interview,"But that was not part of the . Our ruling  Thompson said ""we’ve got 115,000 miles of roads in this state and 90% is owned by the locals."" Wisconsin has 115,674 miles of public roads and maintains the 11,745-mile state highway system. The other 103,929 miles are maintained by local municipalities, or 89.846%. For a statement that is accurate and not missing anything significant, our rating is ."
2531,3,Says Peter DeFazio votes with Nancy Pelosi 86 percent of the time.,"October 25, 2010",message machine 2010;voting record,concerned taxpayers of america,"Concerned Taxpayers of America has been running ads against Oregon's 4th District Rep. Peter DeFazio. It receives some of its money from the co-CEO of one of the world's largest hedge funds, Robert Mercer, who heads Renaissance Technologies of Setauket, N.Y., along with Peter Brown. The Washington Post reported the group's only other donor was Daniel G. Schuster Inc., a concrete firm in Owings Mills, Md., which gave two donations totaling $300,000",oregon,0,0,1,0,0,0,a television ad,"Again, he was the least liberal of Oregon’s four House Democrats. To summarize, DeFazio has diverged sharply from Democratic leadership on key issues, especially economic ones. To imply that Pelosi is really in the driver’s seat when it comes to DeFazio’s votes is . But it’s  that agrees with his party most of the time. We rate this .   Comment on this item."
755,1,"John McCain accused Barack Obama ""of letting infants die.","September 1, 2008",abortion,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a TV ad,"(His running mate Sarah Palin has said she opposes those exceptions, but the ad doesn't mention her.) We looked for examples, but could find no cases of McCain accusing Obama of ""letting infants die."" Certainly some antiabortion activists who support McCain have made the charge, but that's quite different from the McCain campaign saying it. McCain's abortion-related attacks usually center on Obama's refusal to confirm conservative judges. We find the  that McCain made the accusation to be ."
14679,2,Amazon Echo is recording every conversation in a person's home and transmitting it to the cloud.,"May 26, 2018",technology;privacy issues,ro khanna,"Ro Khanna is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from a district that includes portions of such cities as Cupertino, Santa Clara and San Jose.",national,0,1,1,1,2,0,a tweet,"Khanna said, ""Amazon Echo is recording every conversation in a person's home and transmitting it to the cloud."" Amazon’s Alexa technology is designed to capture voice data only after a specific voice command, called a wake word, triggers a recording mechanism. Despite some instances where private conversations were accidentally recorded and uploaded to the cloud, Khanna’s  greatly overstates things. We found no  to suggest the device records every conversation and sends it the cloud. It does record conversations when it hears the wake word, and in some cases the device has misinterpreted speech when people didn't actually say the wake work. We rate this ."
2897,2,"Says 15,000 IRS employees ""have to be added to administer 'ObamaCare' and look at the tax implications.","December 27, 2010",health care,jeff fitzgerald,"Wisconsin Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, is the speaker of the state Assembly. He was elected to the Assembly in 2000. His brother is Wisconsin state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. In October 2011, Jeff Fitzgerald ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2012.",wisconsin,1,2,1,2,0,2,a television interview,"Let’s circle back. Fitzgerald claimed that 15,000 IRS employees ""have to be added"" to manage the health care reform law, as if it’s a settled point. There’s little question more IRS workers will have to be added, but the agency has not set a number. And there is no  that 15,000 will be the final number, though it is within the range of one government estimate, albeit one done for House Republicans. We rate Fitzgerald’s statement ."
23361,1,The government just stated under oath that they are in possession of UFOs and nonhuman alien bodies.,"July 26, 2023",congress;pop culture;space,lizzo,"Lizzo is an American singer, rapper, songwriter and actress.",,0,0,0,0,1,0,"a post on X, formerly Twitter","American singer Lizzo claimed the government said under oath that it has UFOs and nonhuman alien bodies. The U.S. government did not say that. A former intelligence officer said, under oath, the U.S. had a longstanding program to retrieve and reverse engineer UAP aircraft that crashed, and that ""nonhuman biologics"" were also recovered.  We rate this post . "
21257,1,Suggests ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID-19,"April 6, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,one america news,One America News is a conservative cable news service founded by Robert Herring.,,0,0,0,1,1,2,a post,"A December 2020 study that reviewed results from 23 trials initially seemed to show positive outcomes from use of ivermectin, but ""reports surfaced that many of the studies (that were) included in the analysis were flawed and, in at least one case, alleged to be fraudulent,"" the New York Times reported . The study was retracted, and when the authors did a new, more rigorous version of it, ""ivermectin’s benefit vanished."" A Facebook post suggests ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID-19. Scientific  does not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. We rate this  . "
7074,4,"Ohio Republicans made significant gains during [Chris McNulty's] time at the ORP, including the extremely successful re-election of President Bush in Ohio.","March 4, 2013",elections;states,bob bennett,"Bob Bennett is chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. His current term began in 2012, and he plans to retire from the post May 31, 2013. He was an architect of the state party's modern-day successes, serving an earlier term as chairman from 1988 to 2009.",ohio,0,1,0,0,0,0,a news release,"However, Bennett’s statement does not take into account the significant Republican losses in 2006, McNulty’s last year in the Buckeye State. PolitiFact Ohio is not claiming the losses were McNulty’s fault. We’re not claiming the bad outweighs the good. But the fact that the party was in a weaker position when he left than it was when he arrived is an important clarification. So on the -O-Meter, Bennett’s statement rates . "
10496,5,"Says Scott Walker's views on abortion are more restrictive ""than any Republican president in recent times.","June 3, 2015",abortion;candidate biography;civil rights;legal issues;women,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,an interview,"In 1987, he promoted a bill with a provision that ""no funds appropriated by Congress shall be used to perform abortions, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term."" Our rating Baldwin said Walker's views on abortion are more restrictive ""than any Republican president in recent times."" Walker supports outlawing abortion in all circumstances. The three most recent GOP presidents each supported exceptions, such as allowing abortion to protect the life of the mother. We rate Baldwin’s statement ."
21174,1,Photos show celebrities reacting to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock.,"March 27, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) This grid of photos has been online since 2017, when ""Moonlight"" won Best Picture at the Oscars. But that night, ""La La Land"" was first wrongly named as the award’s winner and its producers were making their acceptance speeches when it was revealed that there had been a  — ""Moonlight"" was the actual winner.    Actors including Matt Damon, Dwayne Johnson, Busy Phillips, Meryl Streep, Salma Hayek and David Oyelowo were all reacting to the blunder.   We rate these posts . "
5056,1,"Maryland is ""creating jobs at 2 ½ times the rate that Virginia is.","February 5, 2012",economy;jobs,martin o'malley,Martin O'Malley is the former governor of Maryland who is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He has also served as the mayor of Baltimore.,virginia,0,4,10,3,1,0,a TV interview,"Two economists told us better measurements would come from comparing unadjusted job figures from the same month in different years. Under this formula, using numbers from December 2010 and December 2011, the two states essentially came out even. When we compared each month in 2010 to its counterpart in 2011, Virginia usually came out ahead of Maryland. So O’Malley’s  only approaches validity when he gets to cherry-pick the data. We rate his statement .  "
14766,4,Most (immigrants) do show up in court.,"June 19, 2018",immigration;punditfact,wolf blitzer,Wolf Blitzer is a CNN anchor and host.,,1,1,0,0,0,0,an interview,"Blitzer said ""most (immigrants) do show up in court."" Around 60-75 percent of non-detained migrants have attended their immigration court proceedings, according to Justice Department data from the last five available years. Some limited data suggests rates may be higher for asylum-seekers. That said, it’s important to note that in absolute terms, a significant number of migrants have had in absentia deportation orders filed against them for failure to appear in court, which Blitzer’s statement overlooks. We rate this ."
21200,3,"Says Gov. Tony Evers ""tried to make us pay even more at the pump by hiking the gas tax.","March 7, 2022",gas prices;transportation;taxes,wisconsin manufacturers and commerce,"Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce is Wisconsin's largest business group. It says its members include large and small manufacturers, service companies, local chambers of commerce and specialized trade associations. WMC is also a lobbying organization and often gets involved in state political races.",wisconsin,0,2,4,3,0,0,TV ad,"A WMC Issues Mobilization Council ad claimed Evers ""tried to make us pay even more at the pump by hiking the gas tax."" In his first budget, the governor did propose an increase in the gas tax. But the ad ignores what was coupled with it: A move to eliminate the state’s ""minimum markup"" law as it relates to gasoline, which Evers and his office argued would be a net reduction for drivers.  The inclusion of the elimination of the minimum markup law for gasoline in the plan undermines the idea that Evers was trying to make consumers pay more. At the same time, it was – and remains – far from clear that the elimination would reduce prices in the long run. And we have already seen, with inflation, that much of that initial savings would already have been eaten up. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, our rating is . "
21408,0,Your government quietly confirmed the fully vaccinated are developing Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.,"May 15, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A spokesperson for the UK Health Security Agency told PolitiFact last year that ""COVID-19 vaccines do not cause AIDS. ""  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ""there is no association between COVID-19 vaccines and risk for HIV infection. ""  Medical experts have echoed this.   There is ""no way"" any COVID-19 vaccine can cause HIV infection or AIDS, Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert specializing in HIV research told us.   We rate this post !"
11993,2,We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.,"July 12, 2016",guns,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,Dallas,"Obama said, ""We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book."" There’s little doubt that in some lower-income and high-crime neighborhoods, it is strikingly easy for even teens to acquire a handgun. On this, there is ample anecdotal . But buying a gun is not likely to be cheaper than buying -- or borrowing -- a book or securing access to a computer, even for teens in poor neighborhoods. On multiple levels, Obama’s comparison is flawed. We rate it ."
2701,3,"The health care reform law ""reduces the deficit by nearly $1.2 trillion over the next two decades.","November 16, 2010",deficit;economy;health care,bobby scott,"Bobby Scott, D-3rd, has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. The district is comprised of all of Charles City and Surry counties and Petersburg and Portsmouth and portions of Henrico and Prince George counties and Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond. Scott has seats on the Judiciary and Education and Labor committees.
Scott previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1979-83 and in the state Senate in 1983-93. He was a member of the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. He was a lawyer in a private practice from 1973-91.
Scott was born in Washington, D.C. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in 1969 and a law degree from Boston College in 1973.",virginia,5,7,1,1,4,0,a news release,"""So the number is probably not right, and even if it were, it's meaningless,"" Book said. So, let’s review: Scott says health care reform would reduce the deficit by nearly $1.2 trillion over the next two decades. While it’s  that the CBO report he relies on says the health care bill -- with the proposed reconciliation -- would continue to improve the deficit situation in the second 10 years, it does not arrive at a $1.2 trillion figure. To do that, Scott relies on speculative GDP projections to predict a number that that CBO itself says would ""not be meaningful because the uncertainties involved are simply too great."" So we rate the  .  "
14550,2,"Says Florida Gov. Rick Scott ""just signed a bill that could make most of Florida's beaches private.","April 22, 2018",environment,for our future florida,For Our Future Florida is a progressive advocacy group. ,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"For Our Future Florida said that Scott ""just signed a bill that could make most of Florida’s beaches private."" The law does benefit private beach owners in a way. But this is a poor explanation that obscures critical facts. The law Scott signed would not result in turning more public beaches into private ones. In reality, when the law takes effect, it will make it harder for local governments to guarantee public access to beaches that are already private by throwing in a new judicial obstacle. It’s unclear at this point how the law will change private beach access, because that depends on the actions of local governments and private beach owners. We rate this  ."
21012,4,"Gov. Tony Evers has ""only gotten one-third of the money meant for COVID relief out the door. He is sitting on $930 million in ARPA funds left unspent. In fact, he still has CARES Act money from two years ago.","February 2, 2022",economy;federal budget;states;coronavirus,wisconsin senate republicans,"Republicans controlled the Wisconsin Senate in 2013, as well as the Assembly and governorship.",wisconsin,0,1,0,1,0,0,Twitter,"Evers does still have ARPA and CARES Act funding to dole out, even if some of it is earmarked.   Our rating  Senate Republicans claimed that Evers had only gotten a third of COVID relief money out the door, still sitting on about $930 million in ARPA funds, as well as some CARES Act funding.   According to the Legislative Audit Bureau, those numbers are right — but they don’t take into account the fact that some of those funds are already set aside, or ""obligated,"" to specific purposes.   Our definition of  is that the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.   That fits here. "
9906,3,"More ""than 80 percent of sex trafficking victims in America are U.S. citizens.","January 27, 2015",criminal justice;crime,john cornyn,"John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas, former Texas attorney general and former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He earlier served as a Bexar County state district judge.",texas,11,4,10,6,6,1,a Senate floor speech,"Cornyn said more ""than 80 percent of sex trafficking victims in America are U.S. citizens."" That’s consistent with the only available figure we spotted. But you can get to 75 percent from the same study and, perhaps more significantly, a statistician involved in the work advises against saying the 83-percent figure, based on information from 18 law enforcement task forces, reflects the share of victims who are citizens across the country. On balance, we rate the statement .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
17911,0,Chick-fil-A now open Sunday (Blacks only).,"June 19, 2020",food;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"That’s because both the image and Instagram post were taken from a story in the Babylon Bee , which describes itself as ""your trusted source for Christian news satire."" This isn’t the first time misinformation about Chick-fil-A’s weekend hours has spread on social media. In 2015, Snopes debunked a  that it was changing its decades-old policy and opening shop on Sundays.   The Instagram post does not make clear the photo and text are from a satirical website. We rate it . "
17064,2,I delivered on my campaign promise for a 10% tax cut for Wisconsin families.,"January 22, 2020",taxes,tony evers,"Tony Evers, a Democrat, was elected Wisconsin governor in November 2018. His term begins in January 2019. Evers has served as the Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, a non-partisan position, since 2009. He previously worked as a teacher and school district administrator.",wisconsin,5,9,8,10,7,1,the State of the State,"Evers said he ""delivered"" on his promise of a 10% tax cut for Wisconsin families. But his October 2018 promise said all married filers with an income under $150,000 would see a 10% tax cut. And that’s not what happened. The final changes passed into law will yield a 10% tax cut for only about one-fourth of that group, according to the latest projections. On average that sub-$150,000 group will see a tax cut of 4.9%. Only married filers with incomes between $30,000 and $60,000 are expected to see an average cut of 10% of more. In other words, there’s an element of , but it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Which is our definition of ."
12911,4,"[The Foundation for Individual Rights] is the recipient of donations from [DeVos] totaling about 25,000 bucks over four years.","January 17, 2017",education,bob casey,"Bob Casey, a Democrat, is a U.S. Senator representing Pennsylvania.",pennsylvania,0,2,0,1,1,0,a Senate confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos,"While the checks weren’t written by DeVos herself, they were dispensed by a foundation in which she and her husband were the sole donors during the years in question. However, DeVos and her husband were not the only board members.   We rate the  . Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized the standard of  used in criminal convictions."
20644,4,"Even after accounting for rising prices, the typical American family has more money in their pockets than they did last year.","December 3, 2021",economy;income,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,remarks from the White House,"Biden said, ""Even after accounting for rising prices, the typical American family has more money in their pockets than they did last year."" Since the pandemic's onset, there has been unusual volatility in the metric used for this purpose — per capita, inflation-adjusted personal disposable income. But even setting those quarters aside, the country has seen steady growth in disposable income since before the pandemic hit. Not all of this has to do with organic economic growth. The expansion of disposable income is partly because of changes in Americans’ spending behaviors during the pandemic, but it has a lot to do with the emergency fiscal measures that were passed under the Trump and Biden administrations. We rate the statement ."
21645,1,"An image shows that ""following his resignation, Boris Johnson has escaped to the sea.","July 7, 2022",facebook fact-checks,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,tweets,"This tweet from a  BBC News account is going viral, with not everyone realizing it's a joke. The account's bio says it is "" news not real"" and unaffiliated with the BBC. The photo of Johnson is from a video captured in June 2021; it's not current. https://t.co/yLm59IL5fz pic.twitter.com/e4uzjw7Gv0 Twitter has since permanently suspended the ""BCC News"" account for violating its policy surrounding  and deceptive identities, a company spokesperson confirmed.   We rate the tweets claiming that an image shows that ""following his resignation, Boris Johnson has escaped to the sea"" ."
4532,1,A state bill would end a longstanding requirement that local governments repair highways and sidewalks -- and block injured citizens from suing over neglected maintenance.,"October 31, 2011",county government;legal issues,wisconsin association for justice,"The Wisconsin Association for Justice, formerly the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers, says its mission is to ""promote a fair and effective justice system - one that ensures justice for all, not just a privileged few.  The Association supports the work of attorneys to ensure any person harmed due to work place injury or injured by the misconduct or negligence of others can have a fair day in court, even when taking on the most powerful interests.""",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a news release,"A trial lawyers group contends that a bill would change a 162-year-old state law to ""make local governments' repair of roads, bridges and sidewalks no longer required by state law."" It continued: ""Injured citizens could no longer sue them for bodily or auto damages."" The bill could have a big impact on local government liability for highway problems, though just how dramatic remains to be seen. But the group’s news release went too far in flatly claiming citizens could no longer sue, and asserting that highway repairs would no longer be required. We rate this  ."
2132,4,"The United States is ""50th in life expectancy"" in the world.","August 18, 2010",health care,alan grayson,"Alan Grayson was initially elected to Congress in 2008, then defeated for re-election in 2010. He was elected again to Congress from a different district in 2012. He lost the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Florida in 2016.",florida,7,11,4,6,5,1,"MSNBC's ""The Ed Show.""","So among large industrialized democracies, the U.S. is on the lower end of the spectrum. Grayson claimed that the United States ranks 50th in the world for life expectancy. We found a few sources that show that we're actually a bit higher. The Population Reference Bureau put us at No. 41, while data from the World Health Organization indicate that we may be in the low 30's. Still, we think that Grayson's underlying point that the U.S. isn't as high in life expectancy as one would think is valid, so we rate this ."
11681,2,"Increasing the min. wage to $15 an hour would reduce spending on food stamps, public housing and other programs by over $7.6 billion a year.","May 4, 2016",economy;jobs,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a tweet,"Sanders tweeted, ""Increasing the min. wage to $15 an hour would reduce spending on food stamps, public housing and other programs by over $7.6 billion a year."" Sanders based this on a study that looked at what would happen if the minimum wage were raised to $10.10, not to $15. In reality, no such study of a $15 wage hike exists -- and economists say there’s good reason to believe that jobs lost from a wage hike that large could be significant. It might even be big enough to increase the cost of government assistance, not lower it. At the very least, a minimum wage increase this big is historically unprecedented, meaning that the degree of certainty in Sanders’ tweet is unsupported by academic . We rate the  ."
6859,4,"Even members of the NRA, when they were polled recently, were under the impression that everyone has a criminal background check.","January 15, 2013",civil rights;crime;guns,jackie speier,"Rep. Jackie Speier, D–Calif., represents the state's 14th District, which includes most of San Mateo County and part of San Francisco.",national,0,4,0,0,0,0,an MSNBC interview,"Rep. Jackie Speier said, ""even members of the NRA, when they were polled recently, were under the impression that everyone has a criminal background check."" She relied on a poll conducted last summer by an interest group that broke out results for ""current or lapsed"" NRA members. It showed a majority of those NRA gun owners believe ""everyone who wants to buy a gun has to pass a background check."" While we didn’t find recent polls asking a similar question, we did find other polls showing that NRA members support background checks for all, including private purchases and purchases at gun shows. It should be clarified that the Luntz poll results were for current and former NRA members. For that reason, we rate this  ."
6248,5,"After a decade of decline, this country created over half a million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years.","September 6, 2012",economy;jobs,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Charlotte, N.C","That’s ""over half a million manufacturing jobs,"" as Obama put it. It’s worth noting that while the reversal has been striking, this rise has still replaced only a fraction of the manufacturing jobs lost during the ""decade of decline."" The manufacturing jobs gained during the turnaround replaced less than 10 percent of the jobs lost during the decade of decline. Our rating The rise in manufacturing jobs that Obama is referring to may be modest compared to the prior decade’s decline, but he has described the numbers carefully. We rate his statement ."
20924,1,"Kendall Jenner edited a photo to look like she was holding a ""Black Lives Matter"" sign.","February 8, 2022",race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"I DID NOT post this,"" she wrote in a Twitter reply on June 6 2020 . In the original image , which news reports said at the time was taken at her birthday celebration in 2019, Jenner is holding a water bottle and she’s not wearing a face mask, as she appears to be in the altered photo.   A Twitter post that BuzzFeed reported was the first to share the altered photo has been deleted.   We couldn’t find any  to corroborate the  that Jenner edited and shared this photo. We rate claims that she did ."
12813,4,"Under Obamacare, ""premiums have doubled and tripled"" in Wisconsin.","October 14, 2016",health care,ron johnson,"Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.",wisconsin,8,18,15,28,11,4,a debate,"And an analysis by PolitiFact Wisconsin found similar numbers. Those increases are only  for the 6 percent of Wisconsinites buying insurance on the individual market, but that was the group specifically identified in the debate question to which Johnson was responding. And while the study did not differentiate on the health of policyholders, it did provide a general range for how premiums changed after the Affordable Care Act. We rate Johnson’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c8000c04-45f8-4d6e-9c91-5c00e6a46cba"
17953,1,"I would do press events in May, I would never be asked about coronavirus.''","June 26, 2020",coronavirus,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",florida,2,10,9,13,14,2,a press conference,"DeSantis said, ""I would do press events in May, I would never be asked about coronavirus,'' His spokespersons did not respond to our multiple queries to figure out which events he had in mind. Our own review shows that he was asked about coronavirus issues at many press conferences. Questions related to unemployment, nursing homes, rules about reopening and how the state would handle spikes. We rate this  .  "
3237,1,"One of every two Wisconsin residents are ""on some kind of government handout.","May 21, 2011",federal budget;medicare;social security,scott fitzgerald,"Scott Fitzgerald is a U.S. Representative, R-Wisconsin, for the state's 5th Congressional District. He took office in 2021. He previously served as the state's Senate Majority Leader. He was first elected as state senator in 1994.",wisconsin,0,0,2,5,2,0,a speech at the state GOP convention,"Many people would not consider those programs handouts. Here’s the bottom line: Fitzgerald made a bold statement at the state GOP convention -- that one out of every two Wisconsin residents ""is on some kind of government handout."" He was able to provide no  to back the , and even one of his aides essentially acknowledged it was . The Senate leader later provided a different number, but the data he relied on is not specific to Wisconsin. We rate Fitzgerald’s statement ."
5756,1,"Says Joe Kyrillos ""voted to raid the state's pension funds by $2.8 billion that is costing New Jersey taxpayers still today to the tune of nearly $15 billion dollars to repay that money.","June 8, 2012",deficit;message machine 2012;pensions,robert menendez,"Robert Menendez, a Democrat, has been serving as one of New Jersey's U.S. Senators since January 2006. Menendez previously served as a member of the House of Representatives.",new jersey,4,3,2,1,3,0,an interview on NJTV’s “On the Record”,"Menendez said Kyrillos ""voted to raid the state's pension funds by $2.8 billion that is costing New Jersey taxpayers still today to the tune of nearly $15 billion dollars to repay that money."" Kyrillos voted in favor of borrowing $2.75 billion to put into the state’s pension funds. The move allowed Whitman to avoid nearly $600 million in pension payments that year, but overall, money went into the system, not out of it. To call it a vote to raid pension funds by $2.8 billion is . Also, the bonds will cost taxpayers, in total, about $10.1 billion, not $15 billion. We rate this  . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
11950,2,"Says Hillary Clinton ""savaged"" the dignity of people who accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment or assault ""and shamed them.","June 23, 2016",candidate biography;history;women,rebuilding america now,Rebuilding America Now is a pro-Donald Trump super PAC created for the 2016 presidential election and chaired by Florida Gov. Rick Scott.,national,0,0,0,2,0,0,an advertisement against Hillary Clinton,"A pro-Trump advertisement makes several claims about Hillary Clinton’s hypocritical treatment of women, relying primarily on her own words or those of close confidants. The broader message — that Clinton enabled her husband’s alleged sexual assaults — has been and continues to be debated, by pundits and experts alike. We didn't weigh in on those arguments, but we did look into the ad’s more specific use of quotes attributed to Clinton. The quotes themselves are hearsay in some cases and subject to different interpretations based on context. The ad further misleads by saying Hillary Clinton ""savaged"" the dignity of people who accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment or assault ""and shamed them."" We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/26258019-ded0-4ed2-aec3-33d9bb6b14d6"
18822,1,Joe Biden was called for Michigan even though Donald Trump won more votes.,"November 5, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",michigan,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"By about 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 5, the secretary of state’s website showed Biden winning by about 150,000 votes, more than twice the size of the lead he had when he was declared the winner. When Biden was declared the winner, he had more votes than Trump. We rate the  . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
19294,1,"Says Ted Cruz tweeted, ""I'll believe in climate change when Texas freezes over.","February 19, 2021",climate change;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",texas,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"In 2015, for example, he said satellite data showed ""there has been no significant global warming for the past 18 years."" During an NPR interview that year, he said ""climate change is the perfect pseudoscientific theory for a big government politician who wants more power."" In 2018, as he defended his Senate seat against a challenge from then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Cruz said , ""the climate has been changing from the dawn of time."" But we couldn’t find anything to corroborate this tweet about climate change and Texas freezing over.   We rate this post ."
10961,5,Says income tax rates under Eisenhower were as high as 90 percent.,"November 14, 2015",taxes,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,"Des Moines, Iowa",Sanders said income tax rates under Eisenhower were as high as 90 percent. A look through the records shows that top earners in the eight years of Eisenhower’s presidency paid a top income tax rate of 91 percent. It was even a bit higher before he took office. We rate Sanders’ statement .
6863,1,"Says Virginia economic development officials ""decided they didn't want to bid on"" his company's electric automobile plant.","December 5, 2012",candidate biography;china;economy;energy,terry mcauliffe,"Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, was elected governor of Virginia on Nov. 5, 2013. He received 47.8 percent of the vote in defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who came in at 45.2 percent. Robert Sarvis, a Libertarian, finished a distant third with 6.5 percent.
McAuliffe's inaguration as Virginia's 72nd governor is scheduled on Jan. 11, 2014.
McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and noted political fundraiser, was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. In 2009, McAuliffe unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor.
McAuliffe was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 9, 1957. He has a bachelor's degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. McAuliffe has lived in Fairfax County for more than 20 years, is married and has five children.
 ",virginia,7,4,3,16,7,4,a news conference,"McAuliffe blamed VEDP for his company’s decision to locate an electric car plant in Mississippi rather than Virginia. ""They decided they didn’t want to bid on it,"" he said. Records showed VEDP staff were interested in the project and were in the process of its due diligence when GreenTech moved ahead with a plant in Mississippi. VEDP had ""grave concerns"" about GreenTech’s business plan. The agency said GreenTech Agency officials had no ""demonstrated experience"" in manufacturing cars. It doubted the company’s job estimates. It questioned the ethics of GreenTech’s plan to raise money from foreign investors in exchange for U.S. residency. The record shows that VEDP asked GreenTech to address its concerns and waited in vain for replies. Without those answers, VEDP would not negotiate monetary support for that, or any, project. Contrary to McAuliffe’s , there is no  the state agency decided not to bid on the project. Emails show VEDP took GreenTech officials on a tour of potential sites and contacted the company about coming to Virginia almost two years after GreenTech announced it was building a plant in Mississippi. We rate McAuliffe’s statement ."
12827,3,Taxes for every New Yorker are lower today than when I started,"November 16, 2016",economy;taxes,andrew cuomo,"Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, was elected to his first term as governor of New York in 2010.",new york,15,5,8,7,3,0,"Fishkill, NY","""Taxes for every New Yorker are lower today than when I started,"" Cuomo said during an event in Fishkill. If Cuomo had said income taxes for every New Yorker are now lower, he would have been right. It’s  that income taxes for individuals, corporations, and manufacturers are lower than when he took office in 2011. Although the Cuomo administration has slowed property tax growth through a state-imposed cap, property taxes continue to increase for residents. And the property tax takes a bigger bite than the income tax for many residents.  Also, the state has also approved some sales tax increases at the county level since Cuomo took office. We rate this  as ."
7951,2,"According to a federal report, Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion.","September 29, 2013",deficit;federal budget;health care,paul broun,"U.S. House Rep. Paul Broun, a Republican, is from Athens. He represents Georgia's 10th congressional district.",georgia,1,2,3,4,8,1,a newspaper op-ed,"That amount was extrapolated using data from the GAO report by a group of GOP Senate Budget Committee staffers. What the report does say is that the health care law could cause the federal deficit to increase if cost-savings measures are phased out over time. But if the law is fully implemented, it could actually lower the deficit over time. Broun, like other politicos before him, repeats a selective version of the report to support his , while omitting alternative positive findings of the same report. We rate his  ."
14794,0,"Says Democratic Senators ""demand Supreme Court nominee not be unduly influenced by U.S. Constitution.","July 3, 2018",fake news;supreme court;punditfact,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an image,"Several readers sent us emails flagging the image and asking that we check it out, so we did. We discovered that each quote is entirely made-up. As it turns out, the quotes can be traced to a June 29, 2018, article from the Babylon Bee, a website that describes itself as ""your trusted source for Christian news satire."" We searched Google and Nexis and did not find any credible reports quoting Schumer, Warren or Booker in such fashion. We rate this image !"
11,3,Democrats are kind of falling over each other seeing who can raise taxes faster. It looks like they're going to raise taxes anywhere between 20 to 30 percent.,"July 30, 2007",taxes,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,"Laconia, New Hampshire","There are two problems with this. First of all, the Democrats aren't advocating the elimination of all of the 2001 tax cuts. And second, the logic of the Giuliani argument is that a rise in revenues is the same as a tax increase. If that's the standard, than President Bush's own budget for 2008, released in February, includes a 29 percent tax increase over the same period, too. Nope, that doesn't cut it."
9502,4,The Common Core was not put together by the Department of Education in Washington. It was put together by governors and by states.,"October 7, 2014",education,kay hagan,Kay Hagan served one term as a Democrat representing North Carolina in the U.S Senate.,national,0,2,1,1,0,0,a debate,"In the North Carolina debate, Hagan said, ""Common Core was not put together by the Department of Education in Washington,"" she said. ""It was put together by governors and by states."" She is right about how the program was assembled, although it’s worth noting that the federal government has given states financial incentives to adopt the standards. We rate her  ."
22659,1,"A photo shows birds that ""dropped dead"" in Kentucky after the train derailment in Ohio.","February 16, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",ohio,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook.) The photo was taken in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, in April 2018.   The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the birds were likely cedar waxwings, which feed almost exclusively on berries.   Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, told the newspaper that recent warm days and cool nights may have caused berries in the area to ferment, getting the birds so intoxicated that they fell out of trees or off buildings and died. We rate claims that a photo shows dead birds in Kentucky in the wake of the Ohio train derailment ."
6196,2,"President Barack Obama has ""weakened the respect for America abroad.","August 30, 2012",foreign policy;polls and public opinion,callista gingrich,"Callista Ginrgich is the wife of Newt Ginrgich, the former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and former presidential candidate.",national,0,0,0,1,0,0,Tampa,"Callista Gingrich stated that Obama has ""weakened the respect for America abroad."" Using the most reasonable yardstick -- comparing Bush’s last number to Obama’s most recent number -- the United States on average has higher favorability ratings in most countries Pew surveyed. However, America’s favorability has eroded somewhat since Obama’s first year in office, though it’s still above the final levels of the Bush administration. On balance, we rate Callista Gingrich’s statement ."
16052,1,An app called Talking Angela asks children personal questions and takes their photo.,"May 7, 2019",children;technology;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that the Talking Angela app asks children personal questions and takes their picture without warning. It’s  that the app once allowed users to text with Angela if the app was not in ""child mode,"" but that option appears to have been stripped of all versions, regardless of the user’s age or settings. Pushing the heart in the corner of the app also doesn’t take a picture, as the Facebook post says. Rather, it generates a fortune with a picture of Angela that users can save to their photos on their phones. We rate this Facebook post ."
20823,1,The CDC said that 75% of COVID-19 deaths have involved people with at least four comorbidities.,"January 21, 2022",public health;sports;coronavirus,aaron rodgers,Aaron Rodgers is a quarterback in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers. ,national,0,0,0,0,2,0,an interview,Rodgers claimed that the CDC said that 75% of COVID-19 deaths involved people who had four or more comorbidities. This misrepresents the CDC’s findings. The figure is based on a study involving fully vaccinated individuals that found over 75% of deaths in that group occurred in people who had multiple other diseases and conditions. The statistic was cited by medical officials as  that the vaccines were effective in preventing severe disease. We rate his  .
17696,2,"A lot of people can get an additional $2,400"" from the CARES Act ""and they can do it every month!","May 19, 2020",economy;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"The radio station does not make that clear.   Several Instagram users commented on the post, calling it ""very "" and ""click bait."" ""Stop giving us  news,"" wrote one user. The Instagram post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
4854,2,What's clear is (Romney) likes firing people.,"January 9, 2012",candidate biography;economy;jobs,jon huntsman,Jon Huntsman was the governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. He served as ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011. He is a Republican candidate for president in 2012. ,national,2,4,5,5,1,1,"Concord, N.H","Romney certainly phrased his comment awkwardly enough to give Huntsman support for his attack. But Huntsman distorted the comment by making it sound like Romney was heartlessly firing employees. Huntsman zeroed in on the ""firing people"" part of Romney’s quote while ignoring the fact that Romney was talking about switching insurance companies. Worse, Huntsman said it’s ""clear"" that Romney feels that way. In fact, it’s not clear at all. We rate Huntsman’s statement ."
11323,3,"Says Donald Trump hired illegal workers ""from Poland and he had to pay a million dollars or so in a judgment.","February 25, 2016",immigration;candidate biography,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,Texas,"Rubio said Trump ""hired from Poland and he had to pay a million dollars or so in a judgment."" It was Trump’s contractor, not Trump himself, who hired 200 undocumented Polish workers to demolish a building to make room for Trump Tower in Manhattan. Trump said he didn’t know. The lawsuit sought $1 million in damages, and a judge ruled that Trump had to pay $325,000 plus interest. But the case was appealed and before it was retried, Trump settled the case out of court, so it’s unclear how much he ended up doling out. Rubio’s statement is partially accurate but missing that context. We rate Rubio’s  . <div class='artembed'>"
8252,2,"The Foundation for Government Accountability, which supported a Florida law requiring drug testing of welfare recipients, is a ""Koch brothers affiliated group.","January 2, 2014",drugs;punditfact,rachel maddow,Rachel Maddow is the host of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”. She formerly hosted a radio program of the same name on the defunct Air America network.,florida,5,6,4,6,7,1,comments on her show,"But in the case of Florida, I think the connection is tenuous."" Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a University of Notre Dame law professor who focuses on nonprofit advocacy issues, told us the Kochs’ network of entities shows that ""they have gone to significant lengths and expense to hide their contributions and where those contributions are going,"" But, ""it does seem to be a stretch to say that all of the donors to the State Policy Network are somehow affiliated with Foundation for Government Accountability given the small size of the grant to the foundation compared to all the grants made by the network."" Maddow said the Foundation for Government Accountability, which supported a Florida law requiring drug testing of welfare recipients, is a ""Koch brothers affiliated group."" The  to prove that particular  is thin. We rate the  ."
13978,3,Teachers spend $1.6 BILLION per year on school supplies. The Republican tax bill ELIMINATES their ability to deduct those expenses.,"November 6, 2017",corrections and updates;education;taxes,dianne feinstein,Dianne Feinstein is a Democratic U.S. Senator from California.,national,0,4,1,1,2,0,a tweet,"Feinstein tweeted, ""Teachers spend $1.6 BILLION per year on school supplies. The Republican tax bill ELIMINATES their ability to deduct those expenses."" She has a point that the GOP plan would get rid of the existing deduction for out-of-pocket classroom expenses for teachers. But the tweet overstates the value of the deduction in two ways -- first, because only a portion of that amount can actually be deducted under the law, and second, because not all teachers use the deduction. We rate the statement . CORRECTION, Nov. 7, 2017, 7:30 p.m.: After this article was published, several readers informed us that teachers do not have to itemize to benefit from this deduction. Any qualified teacher can reduce their taxable income by $250 off the top, whether they itemize or not. Some teachers with very large out-of-pocket expenses may be able to deduct additional amounts if they itemize. We have changed the article to reflect this. The rating remains the same."
13740,1,We stopped traffic coming through -- 78 percent.,"August 28, 2017",immigration,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a press conference,"Trump said, ""We stopped traffic coming through -- 78 percent."" Though Trump’s  is vague, he’s made similar remarks about the border being ""down 78 percent"" and being ""close to 80 percent stoppage."" But the latest figures available for southwest border apprehensions do not support his . Only cherry-picked data would yield a 76 percent decline in apprehensions. Available information regarding drug seizures do not show a 78 percent decline, either. We rate Trump’s  ."
2973,3,"Last year, out of the 500,000 (in) population growth we had in the state of Texas, about 250,000 of the 500,000 came to Texas... from the other 49 states.","January 18, 2011",immigration;economy,david dewhurst,"David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.",texas,4,5,10,8,8,5,his inaugural address,"Not quite. First, the census data for 2010 hasn’t been released yet. And the most generous census estimate prior to last year indicates net migration from other states equaled 143,000 people from July 2008 to July 2009, accounting for less than a third of the state’s population increase in the period. However, looking at Texas population growth in terms of people moving here ""with their feet"" versus people born here, Dewhurst pegged the ratio correctly -- about half-and-half. We rate his  ."
22410,0,Kirstie Alley faked her death.,"December 7, 2022",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"""She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead,"" the statement said. ""We are grateful to the incredible team of doctors and nurses at the Moffitt Cancer Center for their care."" Her manager later told news outlets, including NBC News , that Alley’s cancer was colon cancer. She had been receiving treatment at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida’s Tampa Bay area.   We rate claims that she faked her death !"
9641,2,"Attorney general candidate Brad Schimel ""is in cahoots with Wisconsin Right to Life to make abortion a crime in Wisconsin.","October 24, 2014",abortion;legal issues;government regulation;states,chris taylor,"Wisconsin state Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat, was elected to the Assembly in a special election in August 2011. An attorney, she is the former public policy director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.",wisconsin,3,3,0,2,0,0,an interview,"Schimel signed a legal paper by the group that argues that, under an old statute, abortion would immediately become illegal in Wisconsin if Roe v. Wade is overturned. But we’re not aware of any  that Schimel is actively working with Wisconsin Right to Life to make abortion a crime. And he has said he would not defy U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as Roe, which makes abortion legal. Taylor’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression -- our definition of . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page ."
11170,1,"Martin Luther King Jr. ""was a Republican.","January 18, 2016",civil rights;history,philip van cleave,"Philip Van Cleave is president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun lobbying group in Virginia that was founded in 1994.",virginia,0,1,0,0,2,0,a speech,"Van Cleave said at a rally that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. He told us he had heard the  many times but, after doing some research, now concludes that the  is cloudy and said he will stop using the line in speeches. Experts say King eschewed party labels and was critical of both major parties. King’s son and daughter have denied claims that their father sided with the GOP. King’s niece, who once said the civil rights leader was a Republican, retracted that statement three years ago. The burden is on Van Cleave to prove his statement, and he, too, backs away from it. We rate his  ."
3007,5,"Under Hosni Mubarak's rule, ""Egypt received more American dollars than any country besides Israel.","January 30, 2011",foreign policy;pundits,ross douthat,Ross Douthat is a conservative columnist for the New York Times,national,1,0,0,0,0,0,a newspaper column,"This time, Israel ($117.6 billion) was number one, followed by Egypt ($83.7 billion) at number two. Rounding out the top 10 were Iraq ($54.4 billion), Afghanistan ($35.2 billion), Russia ($18.1 billion), Pakistan ($18 billion), Turkey ($16.7 billion), Jordan ($11.2 billion), Sudan ($10.3 billion), and Colombia ($10.3 billion). For our ruling, we wanted to know if Douthat was correct that under Mubarak's rule, Egypt received more American dollars than any country besides Israel. Douthat is right. We rate his statement ."
19793,1,The very first Republican convention after the Civil War was held in Virginia in a Black church.,"May 13, 2021",history;race and ethnicity,winsome earle-sears,"Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, was elected Virginia's lieutenant governor in 2021. She is the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office in Virginia.
Sears lives in Winchester, Va. and owns a plumbing and appliance repair store. She was born in Jamaica in 1964 and reared in New York City. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Old Dominison University and a Master of Arts degree in organizational leadership from Regent University. 
Sears served in the U.S. Marines from 1983 to 1986. She represented Virginia Beach in the House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004 but did not seek reelection, opting to launch an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House of Repesentatives in 2004. ",virginia,0,0,0,1,3,0,a TV interview,"Sears said, ""The very first Republican convention after the Civil War was held in Virginia in a Black church."" The Union Republican Party of Virginia held a state convention at the First African Baptist Church in Richmond on April 17, 1867. Records show Republicans in at least six states - one in the South and five in the North - held post-Civil War conventions before Virginia. So, we rate Sears’ statement . Editor’s Note, June 17, 2021: As noted in this fact check, Sears’ campaign did not respond to two requests we made for the source of her  that the first GOP convention after the Civil War was held in a Black church in Virginia. After the fact check was published, Sears’ campaign told us her  was based on an historical marker outside the First African Baptist Church in Richmond that says, ""In 1865, the site hosted the first Republican State Convention held in Virginia.""  We contacted Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources, which researches and posts historical markers and, after investigation, it told us the sign is . The church hosted Virginia’s first post-Civil War Republican convention in April 1867, as we reported. ""We may need to consider a revision to the marker,"" Randall Jones, public information director for the department, said. By April 1867, at least six other states had held Republican conventions since the war’s end. That continues to undercut Sears’s unqualified statement that the church held the first post-war convention, period. So, our  rating on Sears’  remains intact.  "
4382,2,"Says El Paso was named America's ""Safest Large City"" a year after San Antonio, Houston and Dallas had the nation's highest crime rates.","September 9, 2011",immigration;crime;public safety,jose rodriguez,"José Rodríguez, who initially won election to the Texas Senate in 2010, is the former county attorney for El Paso County.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a press release,"El Paso has had low crime rates, and its murder rates are considerably below those of the other cited cities. But the statement is  in two meaningful ways. Only a City of El Paso press release named El Paso the nation’s ""safest"" large city--and its police department dropped the label. Also, the other Texas cities did not have the nation’s highest overall crime rates; that’s  only in comparison to a few huge cities. We rate the statement ."
6998,4,"More than 9,000 Rhode Island voters used the Moderate Party master lever mechanism and they didn't have a single Moderate on their ballot.","January 24, 2013",elections,kenneth block,Kenneth Block is a software engineer and president of Simpatico Software Systems. He founded Rhode Island's Moderate Party and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010. He switched to the Republican Party in 2013 and made an unsuccessful run for Rhode Island Governor in 2014.,rhode island,1,3,2,0,3,0,a television interview,"Kenneth Block said, ""More than 9,000 Rhode Island voters used the Moderate Party master lever mechanism and they didn't have a single moderate on their ballot."" He derived that number in part from guesswork. But according to the precise figures from the Board of Elections, he was off by nearly 350 -- roughly 4 percent. But Block’s underlying point that the master lever confuses many voters is valid. More than 8,000 used it to vote for Moderate Party candidates when there weren’t any on their ballots. For those reasons, we rule his   . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
8446,5,"When the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport needed to stop its earthquake spike a few years ago, they temporarily shut down the wells that were injecting fracking fluid into the ground ... (and) those earthquakes stopped.","February 17, 2014",environment;energy;punditfact,rachel maddow,Rachel Maddow is the host of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”. She formerly hosted a radio program of the same name on the defunct Air America network.,,5,6,4,6,7,1,"a broadcast of MSNBC's ""The Rachel Maddow Show""","Maddow said, ""When the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport needed to stop its earthquake spike a few years ago, they temporarily shut down the wells that were injecting fracking fluid into the ground ... (and) those earthquakes stopped."" An airport official confirms Maddow's story, aside from the fact that it was one well. Officials at the airport asked that a well be shut down, and after it was, the earthquakes eventually stopped. Seismologists linked the well to the earthquakes. We rate the  . Update: This item was updated on Feb. 24, 2014, to make clear that airport officials asked Chesapeake Energy to shut down the well."
10668,2,I released all my emails.,"August 27, 2015",candidate biography,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,florida,14,24,17,18,5,2,a campaign video,"Bush said, ""I released all my emails."" In trying to draw a contrast to Hillary Clinton, Bush actually offered much of the same defense. In reality, Bush says he released all the emails he was required to under Florida law, in the same way Clinton says she turned over all the emails she was required to under federal law. But Bush hasn’t turned over every single email he sent as governor. While the state handled his public account’s emails, he was allowed to self-edit [email protected] correspondence from his private server. That amounted to 280,000 emails out of a half-million or more, which Bush repackaged on a website earlier this year. Bush’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
10419,3,"ISIS reaches ""about 100 million people a day"" through social media.","June 12, 2015",iraq;terrorism;punditfact,stanley mcchrystal ,Stanley McChrystal  is a retired U.S. Army general.,,0,0,1,0,0,0,comments on the Hugh Hewitt radio show,"McChrystal said ISIS reaches ""about 100 million people a day through various things."" ISIS certainly has taken its war to social media, and experts agree that their strategy has some bite. But saying ISIS social media posts reach 100 million people a day is, at best, a high-end guesstimate, researchers say. And there are lots of caveats to consider. Thousands of ISIS social media accounts have been shut down in recent months. Followers of ISIS accounts often overlap. And not all the messages sent actually reach every follower, or leave a lasting impression. McChrystal’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
8548,4,"Says President Barack Obama's approval rating ""gained 3 points in the last couple months.","March 16, 2014",polls and public opinion,dan pfeiffer,Dan Pfeiffer is an adviser to President Barack Obama.,national,0,1,0,0,0,0,"an interview on ""Meet the Press""","When asked about Obama’s approval rating, Pfeiffer said, ""We’ve gained 3 points in the last couple months."" He’s right that the aggregate of polling data suggests that Obama’s low point was December, not early March, as the new WSJ/NBC poll said. But there’s some variation in how big of a rebound Obama’s approval rating has seen. While Real Clear Politics says its 3 percent (buoyed by two outliers), Huffington Post put it at less than a percentage point. Franklin said it was somewhere in between those two. Pfeiffer’s correct that the president’s poll numbers are up slightly over the past few months. But they remain low (and underwater), and the gains depend on how you run the numbers. We rate Pfeiffer’s  . Correction: Charles Franklin said President Barack Obama's aggregate approval rating bottomed out at 41.98 percent in December 2013. An earlier version of this fact-check included a different figure."
21324,3,Ron Johnson pushed through a special tax loophole that benefited his own family's business … Then he cashed out of the company for $5 million … (he has) doubled his wealth since taking office.,"February 21, 2022",economy;legal issues;taxes,opportunity wisconsin,Opportunity Wisconsin is a coalition of Wisconsin residents focused on an economy that works for working people. ,wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,YouTube ad,"Opportunity Wisconsin claimed ""Ron Johnson pushed through a special tax loophole that benefited his own family's business … Then he cashed out of the company for $5 million … (he has) doubled his wealth since taking office."" The change benefitted his business – but also applied to tens of millions of other businesses. And it was hardly a loophole, if it was widely discussed publicly. He did sell his company for at least $5 million, but the doubling of wealth deserves more context: In that period, the S&P Index nearly quadrupled. So, the overall  is a mixed bag – it’s partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. That’s our definition for .  "
8049,3,"Georgia has lost 14 percent of its jobs paying more than $50,000 a year and added 15 percent to its Medicaid rolls during the recovery.","November 4, 2013",economy;medicaid,michael mule',"Michael Mule' is a campaign adviser to Dalton Mayor David Pennington, a Republican candidate for Georgia governor.",georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,an interview,"PolitiFact Georgia could not find anything to back up this part of his statement. And we think it would take more than a comma to clear that up. Overall, his statement is partially accurate. But it takes things out of context when read as a whole. That’s our definition of ."
20879,1,The convoy in Canada has made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest convoy.,"January 25, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"For starters, people attempting to set a record must apply with the organization and then wait to receive guidelines before, say, organizing and executing the world’s longest truck convoy. The organization also requires a number of pieces of  to verify the achievement, such as video and photographic , witness statements, cover letters, and statements from stewards who have been tapped to supervise the record attempt.    The longest convoy, or the ""largest parade of trucks,"" in Guinness’ words, was achieved in Egypt in November 2020 by the Tahya Misr Fund, which advocates for needy families and organized a parade of 480 trucks ""amid harsh weather and heavy rain, breaking the Guinness World Records title for the largest parade of trucks,"" according to an entry on the World Records website . The previous record was achieved 16 years earlier in the Netherlands with 416 trucks, according to the site.   We rate claims that the ""Freedom Convoy"" in Canada achieved a Guinness World Record ."
15659,2,"In 2017, the CEO of McDonalds got paid $21.8 million. The median pay for a McDonald's worker that year was $7,000. This is a moral outrage. We need a $15 minimum wage so that no one is paid a poverty wage.","February 7, 2019",corporations;economy;income;jobs;workers,ilhan omar,"Ilhan Omar is a Democratic congresswoman representing Minnesota's 5th congressional district, which includes parts of Minneapolis and surrounding municipalities.",national,0,1,1,1,3,0,a congressional hearing,"Omar said that while the McDonald’s CEO made $21.8 million, the median worker made $7,000.  Those numbers reflect the company’s official filing, but Omar failed to note that the worker pay was a worldwide estimate and that it included part-time workers. Based on available information, we estimated that the typical McDonald’s crew member works part-time and makes about $12,000 a year. That’s about two-thirds more than Omar said.  The disparity between the CEO and the typical worker remains vast. But the specifics Omar offered leave the  impression about the real numbers for U.S. workers who would be affected by a minimum wage hike. We rate this  ."
24,5,"You know we can't just pull out now... The truth of the matter is: If we started today, it would take one year, one year to get 160,000 troops physically out of Iraq, logistically.","August 23, 2007",iraq,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,"Charleston, S.C","U.S. commanders say it would be a lengthy process, and independent military analysts have said it would take about a year to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq safely. It could be done faster, but with larger U.S. casualties and more abandoned equipment, experts say. McClatchy Newspapers has reported that a simulation conducted by the Pentagon since the debate suggested a retreat could take as little as six months, but critics said that estimate is overly optimistic.
 ""We must consider the complexity of the threat and deliberately reduce our forces based on the situation on the ground as well as the capability of the Iraqi security forces,"" Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the deputy commander of forces in Iraq, said at a briefing this month. ""I think the plan will reflect that as we develop it."""
17050,0,"Says George Soros was an ""SS in the National Socialist German Workers Party. Nazi Party.","November 26, 2016",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The sentence was handed down when Gröning, who died in 2018, was 94 years old. During the Holocaust, he was a corporal in Hitler’s Waffen SS, according to the New York Times’ obituary . Soros, on the other hand, survived the Holocaust. When the Nazis invaded Hungary, Soros’ father obtained a  identity for Soros and sent him to live with an agricultural official who passed him off as his Christian godson, according to the New York Times . We rate this statement !"
13292,1,Hate speech is not protected by the first amendment.,"April 20, 2017",legal issues;supreme court,howard dean,"Howard Dean is the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, and was the longtime governor of Vermont before that.",national,1,2,1,1,5,0,a tweet,"Dean said, ""Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment."" There are some exceptions to the free speech clause in the First Amendment, but ""hate speech"" is not one of them. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held up the right of an individual or group to engage in speech that much of the public likely finds offensive, like displaying swastikas, burning crosses or protesting a soldier’s funeral. We rate Dean’s  ."
12267,4,"Chicago Public Schools ""lead the country in high school graduation of an urban school system,"" ""match the United States of America in kids graduating high school going on to a four-year college,"" and are ""producing eighth-grade leaders in the country in math gains, fourth-grade leaders in reading gains.","July 26, 2016",education,rahm emanuel,"Rahm Emanuel is the mayor of Chicago. He represented the Chicagoland area as a U.S. congressman prior to joining the White House as the first chief of staff in President Barack Obama’s administration. Emanuel also held various posts in the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 1998, and worked as an investment banker in the private sector.",illinois,1,2,3,4,3,0,a press event,"Emanuel’s boasts about reading and math scores compared to other urban districts were accurate. His statement about going on to four-year college was a bit off, but probably not statistically significant. We could not find data to conclusively verify that CPS leads urban districts nationwide in its graduation rate, but it has made dramatic improvement. A similar study from the consortium concludes, ""While changes in student demographics account for some of the increase in graduation rates, improvements in student performance in high school — compared to similar students who started high school in the past — accounts for most of the change; students are passing more classes and earning more credits in ninth grade. Not only are more students graduating, but they are leaving high school with higher achievement than graduates in prior years. We rate this  ."
11883,3,"Says ""Michael Bennet votes for President Obama's agenda 98 percent of the time. Hardly independent, hardly bipartisan.","June 8, 2016",bipartisanship;voting record,ryan frazier,Ryan Frazier (Photo: campaign Facebook page),colorado,0,0,1,0,0,0,a GOP U.S. Senate candidates debate,"Frazier said, ""Michael Bennet votes for President Obama's agenda 98 percent of the time. Frazier cited the frequency of Bennet voting with the president as proof he is ""hardly independent, hardly bipartisan.""   In this case, Bennet is close on the available numbers, but they don’t indicate a blind allegiance to Obama’s agenda, as Frazier argues. CQ data show Bennet voting for the president’s position on legislation an average of 96.57 percent over seven years. That’s just over 1 percentage point below Frazier’s figure. However, the CQ data distorts the senator’s voting record, because a majority of the time the president expresses his position is when a vote involves someone he’s nominated for a federal post. There is also independent support for the view that Bennet is a ""bipartisan"" lawmaker who works with and votes with Republicans more often than the Senate’s Democratic caucus as a whole. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4eba460d-d293-4da3-8c23-fa09fb1c845f"
10561,1,"Under President Barack Obama, income levels and unemployment numbers ""are worse now than just about ever"" for African-Americans.","August 2, 2015",economy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on ABC ""This Week""","Trump said that under Obama, income levels and unemployment numbers ""are worse now than just about ever"" for African-Americans. Some key statistics for African-Americans, such as unemployment, improved significantly during Obama’s tenure. The ones that stagnated or worsened under Obama are still relatively positive compared to recent history. Trump is  by several important measures. We rate the  ."
17889,1,Photo shows the BOK Center full with people during Donald Trump's Tulsa rally.,"June 21, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The account that posted the image did not respond to a request for comment sent via Facebook Messenger. The stage setup in the photo resembles the setup from Trump’s June 2019 rally at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. The Facebook user who uploaded the photo also shared posts about the Orlando rally after it happened, including a post from conservative political commentator Glenn Beck that showed what appears to be the same stadium, and from a similar vantage point. Regardless, it’s clear that the Facebook post doesn’t show Trump’s crowd at the BOK Center. We rate this post ."
10107,2,"If you took every penny of the 1 percent, including their dog, you wouldn't even begin to balance the budget.","March 8, 2015",debt;deficit;federal budget,lindsey graham,Lindsey Graham is a U.S. senator from South Carolina. He was a candidate for the Republican nominee for president in 2016.,new hampshire,2,2,6,2,4,0,"Concord, N.H","Graham said, ""If you took every penny of the (richest) 1 percent, including their dog, you wouldn't even begin to balance the budget."" Graham has a point if you take it the way his staff suggests he meant to say it. But the talking point (which, to be clear, no one is suggesting as a real policy) came out more broadly. If you use either total wealth or total income -- interpretations we think are at least as plausible given his ""every penny"" remarks -- Graham is off base. On balance, we rate his  ."
4515,4,"Says some Wisconsin state employee contracts ""gave some employees $4 for bringing in their own lunch.","October 25, 2011",labor,maciver institute,"The MacIver Institute is a Madison, Wis.-based conservative think tank and news organization.",wisconsin,1,1,0,1,0,2,a video,"If adopted by the Legislature’s GOP-controlled Joint Commi ttee on Employment Relations , likely in early to mid-November, Walker’s pay plan would take effect Jan. 1, 2012. Our conclusion The MacIver Institute said Walker’s pay proposal would eliminate various state employee contract provisions, including one that ""gave some employees $4 for bringing in their own lunch."" State dispatchers don’t get $4 just for bringing a lunch to work; the reimbursement applies only when they are required to eat while continuing to work through their lunch period. The statement was accurate but needed some clarification. We rate it ."
15066,2,"Says Joe Donnelly ""voted to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, including criminals, drunk drivers, domestic violence, and worse.","August 31, 2018",immigration;voting record,one nation pac,One Nation PAC is a conservative political action committee.,national,0,0,0,2,0,0,a digital ad,"One Nation said, ""In the Senate, Donnelly voted to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, including criminals, drunk drivers, domestic violence, and worse."" Donnelly’s vote for the immigration bill excluded drunk drivers with multiple offenses and those convicted of domestic violence from the path to citizenship. He voted against an amendment that would have excluded more people charged with such crimes from attaining citizenship. The ad makes it seem that Donnelly purposely protected all undocumented immigrants convicted of domestic violence and drunk driving. The vote he cast still went after them, but in a less severe way than the Cornyn amendment proposed. We rate this statement ."
16646,3,"Starting January 1, 2020, California will tax legal citizens if they don't have health insurance. Why? The state needs to come up with $98,000,000 to pay for free health insurance for illegal aliens.","October 20, 2019",immigration;health care;homeland security;facebook fact-checks,ryan fournier,Ryan Fournier is the founder and co-chairman of Students for Trump.,,0,0,1,0,2,0,a tweet,"Fournier said, ""Starting January 1, 2020, California will tax legal citizens if they don’t have health insurance. Why? The state needs to come up with $98,000,000 to pay for free health insurance for illegal aliens."" Californians will be required to have health care coverage in 2020, and if they don’t, they’ll pay a tax when they file their state income taxes in 2021. (There are some exemptions.) Revenue from the penalty will be used to pay for subsidies that will become available to Californians to help them reduce the cost of health care coverage. The subsidies will be for Californians who buy insurance through Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace. Immigrants in the country illegally are not allowed to purchase insurance through Covered California. California in 2020 will also expand health care coverage for young adults in the country illegally with low income. That’s estimated to cost around $98 million in the first year, drawing about $74 million from the state’s general fund.  Fournier’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
13658,0,Kim Jong Un killed in (President Donald) Trump's overnight black op attack on North Korea.,"July 28, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"This isn’t the first time TheLastLineOfDefense.org has posted a story that said Kim was dead. The site posted a story on July 6 that said an American sniper had killed the North Korean leader — we ruled that  ! It’s not immediately apparent why the site would post essentially the same story just a couple of weeks apart. We attempted to contact TheLastLineOfDefense.org to see if a fictional assassination of Kim Jong Un would be a regular occurrence on the site, but didn’t get a response. Just like the last time the site killed Kim, we rate this !"
14376,3,"Says that during the Supreme Court campaign, Michael Screnock has ""vowed to uphold the platform of the NRA.","March 2, 2018",elections;legal issues;guns,rebecca dallet,"Rebecca Dallet, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge, was a prosecutor in the Milwaukee County district attorney's office for 11 years before being elected to the court in 2008. In 2017, she announced she would run in 2018 for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.",wisconsin,1,1,2,0,0,0,a debate,"Our rating:  . Tammy Baldwin: 97 percent of gun owners support universal background checks.   Our rating: Our rating:  . Kevin Nicholson: ""There are more guns in this country than there are people."" Our rating:  ."
17798,2,"Last year, there were nine unarmed black people killed (by law enforcement). Nineteen unarmed white people.","June 2, 2020",criminal justice;crime;race and ethnicity;public safety,larry elder,Larry Elder announced April 20 that he is running as a Republican for president. He lost the California gubernatorial recall election in 2021 and is a conservative radio talk show host.,,0,0,0,3,4,0,a Fox News appearance,"Elder said: ""Last year, there were nine unarmed black people killed (by law enforcement). Nineteen unarmed white people."" Those numbers matched the Washington Post’s tally of fatal shootings by police in the line of duty, although the Washington Post’s figures have increased since Elder made his .  But not all police killings happen when officers are on duty, and not all involve a gunshot. The Washington Post’s data doesn’t include deaths like Floyd’s, for example. Elder’s  also omitted important context: that black people in the U.S. are disproportionately killed by police relative to their share of the population. Overall, Elder’s statement contained elements of , but it left out important context that would give a different impression.  We rate it ."
12367,4,"Says Patrick ""Murphy embellished, according to reports, his University of Miami academic achievement.","September 13, 2016",candidate biography,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,a TV ad,"Rubio’s TV ad says, ""Murphy embellished, according to reports, his University of Miami academic achievement."" Murphy has described his University of Miami record in conflicting ways in recent years. On his congressional office and U.S. Senate campaign websites he said he had ""dual degrees"" when in fact he had a single degree with a double major in two areas of study: accounting and finance. When the Herald/Times pointed out the inaccuracy, his campaign said it was an error and fixed it. Murphy had also referred to ""dual degree"" at times in the past while other times his websites reflected a single degree. We rate this  ."
22806,4,Gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens — it has overtaken cars.,"March 27, 2023",children;crime;guns,ashbey beasley,"Ashbey Beasley became a national gun safety activist following the Highland Park, Illinois shooting in 2022. ",national,0,1,0,0,0,0,a statement to the media,"Beasley said, ""Gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens — it has overtaken cars."" CDC data for 2021 shows that for people ages 1 to 19, firearm-related deaths ranked No. 1, followed by deaths from car accidents. That’s for the age range as a whole; it is not the leading cause of death for each age in that group. Firearm-related deaths are far more common among older teenagers than among young children. We rate this statement .  PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird and Senior Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.   RELATED :  suggests billions should go to SWAT in schools. But there’s more to consider RELATED : Gavin Newsom is  right, the US gun homicide rate is 26 times higher than ‘peers’ RELATED : All of our fact-checks about guns"
817,4,"Energy nominee Steven Chu has called coal ""his worst nightmare.","December 15, 2008",energy,james inhofe,"James Inhofe is a U.S. Senator representing Oklahoma. He was elected to the Senate in 1994. Prior to that, he was a Congressman from 1987 to 1994. He is the senior Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.",national,0,1,0,0,1,0,a news release,"So if confirmed as secretary of energy, I will work very hard to extensively develop these technologies, so that the United States and the rest of the world can use it."" We watched the video, and this seems like an accurate description of the context of his remarks. So Inhofe's ""nightmare"" comment is literally accurate, but it divorces Chu's words of important context. Still, there are aspects of coal that genuinely disturb Chu. We deduct points for that lack of context and find Inhofe's charge ."
11871,3,"Says Donald Trump has said he loves war, ""including with nukes.","June 19, 2016",candidate biography;foreign policy;military,priorities usa action,Priorities USA Action is a PAC that is supportive of President Barack Obama.,national,2,2,4,6,1,1,"an ad discussed on ""Meet the Press""","An ad by Priorities USA says Trump says he loves war, ""including with nukes."" Trump did say the phrase ""I love war in a certain way."" And Trump has said he wouldn't rule out using nuclear weapons. But that doesn’t mean he is enthusiastic about them. He says they would be the weapon of last resort and that he believes nuclear proliferation to be the ""biggest problem, to me, in the world."" It's worth noting that the Trump comment used in the ad wasn’t about the United States using nuclear weapons, but about his belief that Japan might be better off if it had nuclear weapons.   Readers can decide for themselves if Trump’s positions are dangerous. But Priorities USA’s ad is missing a bit of context, so we rate it ."
1428,1,"President Obama's bill won't bring down the costs (of health care) for average Americans -- or really for very few Americans, if any.","March 3, 2010",health care,michele bachmann,"Michele Bachmann, first elected to the U.S. Congress in 2006, represents the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota. She was reelected in 2008. Previously, she served in the Minnesota State Senate. Prior to that, she spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney. Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, who have five children and have opened their home to 23 foster children, live in Stillwater, Minn., and own a mental health care practice.",national,5,4,6,8,23,16,an interview on CNN's Larry King Live,"Using the strict, unsubsidized figures, 60 percent of Americans in the private insurance market should see their premiums fall. And taking into account the subsidies, a full 70 percent would see their premiums fall. And almost 94 percent would see their premiums either fall or stay the same. No matter how you slice it, the overwhelming majority are likely to see a decline. So we find her  ."
11234,2,The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first.,"February 6, 2016",immigration,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,New Hampshire,"Rubio said, ""The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first."" Multiple polls have showed that the majority of Americans support some type of status to allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States -- and some extend that to citizenship. We found one poll that suggested people would like to see border enforcement first, but there are many polls that show straightforward support for legal status. We rate this  ."
8677,1,"Says Gov. Scott Walker's repeal of a 2009 law has left Wisconsin as ""one of five states without an equal pay law protecting women from gender discrimination in their paycheck.","April 5, 2014",legal issues;women;workers,mary burke,"Burke is a former Trek Bicycle executive and former Wisconsin Commerce Department secretary who announced on Oct. 7, 2013 that she would seek the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin in the fall 2014 election against incument Republican Gov. Scott Walker. She lost to Walker on Nov. 4, 2014. She is a school board member in Madison, Wisconsin.",wisconsin,2,8,11,5,5,3,a campaign email,"This is highly . Our rating Burke said that Walker’s repeal of a 2009 law has left Wisconsin as ""just one of five states without an equal pay law protecting women from gender discrimination in their paycheck."" But while Walker reversed an attempt to toughen up Wisconsin law, its protections against gender discrimination in workplace pay date back decades. The governor’s 2012 action left those in place, albeit without tougher penalties for employers. We rate Burke’s  ."
9070,0,"Although the governor doubled the beach fees . . . all the money, as we found out, is all going to an out-of-state company. The state isn't even getting the money for that.","July 7, 2014",environment;economy;history;pundits;recreation;state budget;tourism,john depetro,John DePetro is a talk-show host on WPRO.,rhode island,0,0,0,0,3,3,a talk radio comment,"John DePetro said emphatically that ALL of the beach parking revenue generated when the governor raised its fees went to a private company outside Rhode Island. First of all, the governor proposed the fee increase but he didn’t do it on his own. It got the approval of the General Assembly as well. Second, all of the new revenue did not and does not go to the private company. When the state raked in that extra money, Propark got 20 percent of the new revenue. The state might have wanted to take all the additional revenue, but its contract with the company collecting the fees required both to share in the extra revenue. The state got 80 percent of that additional money. DePetro cited WPRI as his source. But while they got the essential facts right, he did not. We rate DePetro's scorcher of a   ! (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
15891,2,"In the state rankings for ACT test scores, West Virginia ""is 30th. Which states are listed in the bottom? 15 states with charter schools.","February 2, 2019",education,mike romano,Mike Romano is a Democratic state senator in West Virginia.,west virginia,3,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Romano said that in the state rankings for ACT test scores, West Virginia ""is 30th. Which states are listed in the bottom? 15 states with charter schools."" West Virginia did rank 30th in 2018 for ACT scores, but that’s where Romano’s accuracy ends. There are lots of charter-school states that rank below West Virginia -- but also lots of charter-school states that rank above West Virginia, simply because most states now allow charter schools. We rate the statement ."
8754,2,The average minimum wage worker is 35 years old.,"April 26, 2014",economy;jobs,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a weekly address,"The White House had a point earlier this month when it tweeted that those who would benefit from a $10.10 wage hike average 35 years of age. But Obama’s subsequent comment was less accurate. In his weekly address, the actual statistic using the data from the same report is 31, and partial data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the average age could be even lower than that. We rate the  ."
23026,1,"FedNow is a new ""monetary system"" that's ""going to cost you.","April 22, 2023",economy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A video claimed that Americans would be forced to pay hefty fees with the new FedNow Service, which it falsely described as a new monetary system. But the service is not a monetary system; it’s designed to help financial institutions process instant payments faster and safer.  The fees listed on a FedNow website would be paid by financial institutions that choose to use the service. What fees they may choose to pass on to consumers is unknown. The  is . RELATED: Here’s why social media panic over digital currency is overblown RELATED: Don’t confuse FedNow payment system and central bank digital currency; they’re not the same RELATED: Ron DeSantis’ baseless theory that the government wants to control people’s purchases"
3229,2,"Says it's a ""statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death.","March 4, 2011",children;economy;education;families;health care;income;jobs;labor;marriage;poverty;women;workers,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,a post on his PAC's website,"There’s a pretty strong case that Huckabee is right about poverty in single-mother households. But his claims about educational attainment and government assistance are exaggerated, and the majority of kids living with single moms put food on the table without public assistance. And one  is flat-out  -- that single moms aren’t able to get jobs. Lots of single mothers do -- often in higher rates than married moms. On balance, we rate Huckabee’s statement ."
9265,5,"Before I was state treasurer, my Rhode Island business helped create over 1,000 jobs.","August 7, 2014",candidate biography;economy;jobs;message machine 2014,gina raimondo,"Gina Raimondo served a four-year term as Rhode Island's general treasurer beginning in Jan. 4, 2011 before being elected governor in 2014. She cofounded and served as a general partner of Point Judith Capital. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and a Rhodes Scholar. She is married with two children.",rhode island,6,5,2,2,1,1,a campaign ad,"They confirmed that Point Judith capital invested several million dollars - give or take - in each case; held board positions and as such, helped create jobs. The jobs numbers added to roughly 480 at those companies. While we were unable to reach all the companies Raimondo listed, the responses from the companies we did reach supported her qualified  that Point Judith ""helped create"" 1,000 jobs. We rate Raimondo’s  . (If you have a  you'd like us to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
23352,0,There is no such thing as a trans kid.,"July 20, 2023",children;lgbtq;facebook fact-checks,gays against groomers,"Gays Against Groomers is an activist nonprofit that runs Twitter and Instagram accounts that comment against transgender issues and drag shows, among other LGBTQ+ topics.",,0,0,0,0,0,1,an Instagram Post,"Gays Against Groomers said, ""There is no such thing as a trans kid."" The  stretches beyond opinion or an opposition to gender-affirming care to deny the existence of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Gender incongruence in children and adolescents is a well-documented experience that has been widely accepted by the medical community.  Social and medical interventions that are provided are given in response to a person’s feelings of gender incongruence, which can emerge within a child’s earliest years. Treatments for young transgender people do not always result in prescription drugs or surgeries, as the caption implied.  There is such a thing as a trans kid.  We rate this  !"
15955,0,A PETA activist was taped to a tree after protesting a biker rally.,"April 10, 2019",environment;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"If you think that sounds unbelievable, please trust your intuition. Because Glossynews.com markets itself on its website as ""Glossy News Satire."" ""We are  news!"" it says at the top of the site. We rate this Facebook post !"
19090,2,"Says activists threatened his family and ""screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door.","January 4, 2021",candidate biography,josh hawley,Josh Hawley took office as U.S. Senator from Missouri in 2019. Hawley previously served as Missouri’s Attorney General. ,missouri,1,4,1,8,1,0,a tweet,"Hawley said protesters at his Virginia home ""screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open (his) door."" This conflicts with police accounts of the event and a video showing the full demonstration. The demonstration was disruptive, but the full video shows it was not as violent as he made it sound. We rate this  ."
4259,3,"Under President Barack Obama's jobs bill, states would no longer have to lay off teachers, firefighters and police officers.","September 9, 2011",jobs,david scott,"U.S. Rep. David Scott represents Georgia's 13th district, which covers portions of Cobb, Clayton, Douglas, Fulton, Henry and DeKalb.",georgia,0,1,2,0,0,0,a WABE-FM (90.1) radio interview,"And it does specify that the bulk of the money go to jobs, rather than administrative costs. This means that even though Scott overstated his , the bill is ""targeted,"" as he said, to keep these government employees from being laid off. But the burden of proof is on Scott, and while the money could prevent many layoffs, there’s no hard  that governments would ""no longer"" have to let go of employees. His  has accurate elements, but it’s overstated and could use more context. We therefore rate his  ."
21513,1,"The man who killed the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter ""wasn't even an on-duty police officer.","May 28, 2022",facebook fact-checks;guns;texas,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that off-duty Border Patrol agent Jacob Albarado shot and killed the Uvalde school shooter. This post misrepresents what Albarado and law enforcement have said transpired at the school. While Albarado is a Border Patrol agent who helped with the evacuation effort while off-duty, he said he did not go inside the school. And law enforcement has not indicated he was part of the tactical team that killed Ramos inside the school. We rate this . "
6346,2,"Says Romney tax plan ""could take away middle-class deductions for child care, mortgages and college tuition.","September 18, 2012",message machine 2012;taxes,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a campaign ad,"The Obama campaign ad says Romney’s tax plan ""could take away middle-class deductions for child care, mortgages and college tuition."" Romney has said he would not reduce the mortgage deduction and has promised not to increase taxes on the middle class. However, he has failed to provide enough details for analysts to model what his plan would actually do. There are reasonable concerns that the numbers in Romney’s plan don’t add up. The ad assumes that to get the numbers right, the worst possible outcomes for the middle class are likely. It says some major deductions could be taken away. At PolitiFact, we put the burden of proof on the person speaking to back up his or her  with . The Obama ad is very specific about which deductions might be at risk. The Romney plan might be unrealistic and intentionally vague, but the Obama campaign is filling in the blanks with specific deductions that would appeal to middle-class moms. Romney hasn't said he intends to take away those deductions. And he's specifically said he won't touch the largest of those deductions, the mortgage deduction for the middle class. We rate the statement ."
2864,1,The Democratic majority led the 111th Congress to spend more money in two years than the first 100 congresses before them combined.,"January 2, 2011",federal budget;history,kevin mccarthy,"Kevin McCarthy, who was first elected in 2006, is a Republican member of Congress representing a district in California. McCarthy was elected as House Speaker in January 2023.",national,0,1,5,3,14,4,"the ""Bakersfield Californian""","This doesn't mean Obama and the Democratic Congress bear no responsibility for the rise in spending. They just don't deserve all the blame. Ultimately, McCarthy's statement in the Californian was slightly less  than Cantor's statememt to Jon Stewart, since the ""first 100 congresses"" formulation is ultimately more supportable than ""the last 200 years combined."" Still, McCarthy made the same error that Cantor, his fellow Young Gun, did a couple months earlier -- confusing annual spending for accumulated debt. And that's enough to rule McCarthy's statement ."
22551,0,Putin destroys adrenochrome lab in Ukraine.,"January 20, 2023",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"We found no credible news reports or other sources to corroborate the claims in this post. QAnon promotes a number of conspiracy theories that invoke pedophilia and a Democratic cabal. QAnon adherents were present during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. These ideas also infiltrated political discourse as recently as the 2022 midterm elections.   We rate this  ! "
4697,0,99% of NJ voters do NOT support hunting.,"December 6, 2011",animals;polls and public opinion,bear education and resource group,"The Bear Education and Resource Group is a black bear advocacy group whose mission is to ""teach residents how to live responsibly and peacefully with black bears.""",new jersey,0,0,0,0,0,1,a website,"A black bear advocacy group claimed on its website that 99 percent of New Jersey voters oppose hunting. That number is way off. The organization acknowledges it’s , but late in the afternoon on Dec. 7, more than a day after PolitiFact New Jersey initially contacted the group, the statement was still on the website -- even after Jones said a webmaster would be notified to change it.* The statement drops to the  level for that reason, earning a ! To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
21519,2,Increased encounters at the southwest border in April 2022 compared to April 2020 are attributable to changes in border policy.,"May 23, 2022",immigration;border security;homeland security,mark brnovich,Mark Brnovich is Arizona's Attorney General and is running for U.S Senate.,arizona,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"By April 2022, testing and vaccines were more accessible, and lockdown restrictions were largely lifted.   Border encounters have generally increased monthly after April 2020. However, immigration policies for adults traveling alone have been the same under the Trump and Biden administrations. Brnovich’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
15699,1,"The word picnic is a ""racially insensitive word.","February 19, 2019",history;race and ethnicity,robert mckinzie,"Robert L. McKinzie was first sworn in as City Commissioner for District 3 on Nov. 10, 2014 to serve out the remainder of the term vacated by former Commissioner Bobby B. DuBose.  He was elected in 2015 and 2018. McKinzie is the owner and president of Harper and Sons Construction, a general contracting firm that specializes in affordable housing and construction management",florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,a Fort Lauderdale City Commission meeting,"McKinzie said that the word picnic is a ""racially insensitive word."" There is no  that the origin of the word traces back to lynchings of African-Americans. The word has French origins and refers to a gathering with food. During lynchings, the settings were sometimes social occasions where white people ate food. While that was a picnic-like atmosphere, it doesn’t mean that the word ""picnic"" is a racist word. We rate this statement ."
22110,0,The government is giving every household a $500 Walmart shopping credit to help with inflation.,"October 10, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"That was a scam, and so is this.   Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, told us the post isn’t accurate. We also didn’t find anything on Walmart’s website to corroborate the  in the post — though the company does advise customers to avoid buying, selling or checking a gift card balance ""on online marketplaces outside of Walmart.com."" And we found no  elsewhere, in news reports or other credible sources, to support the idea that the government is giving every household a $500 Walmart shopping credit to help with inflation.   We rate this  !"
107,1,"Another one he should veto is the SCHIP program, which he should say 'Take the C out of, because now it's for everybody, like every other entitlement program.'","October 9, 2007",health care,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Dearborn, Mich","If ""everybody"" qualified for SCHIP and McCain says, there would be no need for private health insurance, Americans would be taking home more money in their paychecks because they wouldn't have to pay premiums and the federal government would be flat-out bankrupt. But even in the complex formula for SCHIP eligibility it's easy to dream up an example of someone who wouldn't qualify. Say, a single, 25-year-old man, earning $75,000 a year. The American Heritage Dictionary defines ""everybody"" as ""every person."" The SCHIP bill that Bush vetoed would cover more people than before, but it certainly wouldn't cover everybody.  "
13660,5,The new tax will make soda sold in Chicago among the most expensive in the country.,"August 3, 2017",taxes,illinois policy institute,"The Illinois Policy Institute is a libertarian think tank based in Chicago and Springfied, Ill.",illinois,1,0,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"The Illinois Policy Institute cites Cook County’s new sweetened drink tax as making soda sold in the city of Chicago ""among the most expensive in the country."" With Chicago already charging the nation’s highest sales tax of any major city plus a 3-percent soft drink tax, it’s almost certain that consumers in the city paid ""among"" the highest prices for soft drinks in the country even before the Aug. 2 arrival of the sweetened drink tax. But Chicago truly moved into a select group when its home county joined the seven other cities that have enacted or are poised to enact by-the-ounce taxes on sweetened soft drinks. With a nod to Captain Obvious , we raise a glass of flattened, left-out-in-the-open Coke in the direction of the Illinois Policy Institute as we rate this statement .  "
7662,2,"Says the U.S. Postal Service has taken no taxpayer aid since 1971, funds operations entirely from the sale of stamps and related products and makes an ""operational profit year after year.","May 1, 2013",federal budget;financial regulation;government regulation,jim hightower,"Jim Hightower, who served two terms as Texas agriculture commissioner, is a commentator and writer.",texas,0,0,0,1,1,0,a fundraising letter,"Hightower said the postal service has taken no taxpayer aid since 1971, funds operations entirely from the sale of stamps and the like and makes an ""operational profit year after year."" The service funds operations from the sale of stamps and the like. Also, Congress in 1970 set a course for ending federal subsidies. But the last subsidies flowed in 1982, not 1971. Contrary to this , too, the service last enjoyed an operational profit in 2006, the year it was handed a costly mandate to quickly pre-fund decades of retiree health benefits. While the post office may be doing better than people think, we rate this  as ."
19529,1,The tax deadline is April 18th. Do your taxes soon.,"March 29, 2018",taxes;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",national,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A 2018 Facebook post that’s recirculating now said the tax deadline is April 18. That wasn’t  for 2018, and it’s not  for this year either. This year’s deadline for most taxpayers was moved to May 17 because of the pandemic. Taxpayers in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana have until June 15, because of the winter storms there. We rate this post ."
21358,1,"A STOLEN ELECTION: State totals minus illegal ballot trafficking numbers give President Trump decisive victories in AZ, GA, MI, PA, and WI.","April 24, 2022",national;elections;wisconsin;pennsylvania;michigan;arizona,the gateway pundit,The Gateway Pundit is a conservative website.,georgia,1,1,1,3,15,3,a blog post,"A Gateway Pundit headline claims ""A STOLEN ELECTION: State totals minus illegal ballot trafficking numbers give President Trump decisive victories in AZ, GA, MI, PA, and WI.""  The blog post’s assertions rest on the testimony of  the Vote, a conservative poll-watching organization. The group told Wisconsin Assembly members that they weren’t alleging that the votes were illegal, but that the process was abused.  Gateway Pundit assumed that all of the mail-in ballots  the Vote cast doubt on are illegal and should be thrown out, and that all of them were for Biden.  This  is not accurate. We rate this .  RELATED : All of our fact-checks about elections RELATED:  The faulty premise of the ‘2,000 mules’ trailer about voting by mail in the 2020 election"
7585,4,"We're importing about 10 percent of our milk supply. We're America's Dairyland, but yet we don't have enough milk in this state to meet the demand for our cheesemakers.","July 10, 2013",agriculture;economy;states,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,an interview,"Indeed, even the Milk Marketing Board hedges a bit, saying ""as much as"" 90 percent of Wisconsin milk is made into cheese. Our rating Walker said: ""We’re importing about 10 percent of our milk supply. We’re America’s Dairyland, but yet we don’t have enough milk in this state to meet the demand for our cheesemakers."" Walker's statement is on target, based on the best available estimates, but there aren't actual statistics on how much milk is shipped to Wisconsin from out of state. With that clarification, we rate his statement ."
10566,4,"In 1947, when I was born, there were about 450,000 lions. In the mid-70s, when my kids were born, there were about 100,000. Today, there are less than 30,000.","August 2, 2015",environment;animals;punditfact,jack hanna,"Jack Hanna is a longtime animal advocate and director emeritus of the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo and Aquarium. He's often appeared on television to discuss animals, including The Late Show with David Letterman and his own show, Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures. ",,0,1,0,0,0,0,"an ABC ""This Week"" interview","Hanna said, ""In 1947, when I was born, there were about 450,000 lions. In the mid-'70s, when my kids were born, there were about 100,000. Today, there are less than 30,000."" Counting lions in the wild is extremely difficult and requires a lot of estimation. Any hard numbers, therefore, should be taken with a grain of salt. Hanna’s  reflects the consensus among researchers that lion numbers are in decline. The exact figures are up for some deabte, but his point is certainly valid. We rate it ."
9721,4,Our median income here in Providence is the same as the median income in Mississippi.,"November 9, 2014",economy;income;poverty,jorge elorza,"Jorge O. Elorza was elected mayor of Providence in 2014. A professor at the Roger Williams University School of Law, he is co-founder of the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University and stepped down as a judge on the Providence Housing Court in 2014 to run for mayor. He received his law degree from Harvard University in 2003, and a bachelor of science degree in accounting from the University of Rhode Island. ",rhode island,1,2,0,1,1,0,a TV interview,"Jorge Elorza said that the median income in Providence ""is the same as the median income in Mississippi."" He made the comparison to illustrate how poor the capital city really is. In fact, Providence’s median income, both for households and for families, is actually lower than Mississippi’s, not equal to it. While Elorza’s comparison is slightly off, it supports his overall point. We rule his  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
18151,0,A photo showing Ellen DeGeneres with a girl is evidence of a child sex-trafficking conspiracy.,"July 21, 2020",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Eva is the couple’s niece . In a 2015 episode of ""The Ellen DeGeneres Show,"" DeGeneres played a clip of Eva and their other niece Perry singing while riding in the car.   Other photos de Rossi posted from the trip show the couple smiling for a selfie and DeGeneres riding on a watercraft with her mother .   What these photos don’t prove: that DeGeneres is connected to a baseless conspiracy theory about child sex-trafficking, or that she was on the island of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.   We rate this post ."
2267,3,Says Ron Johnson's company got government loans and a grant to help expand his business,"September 13, 2010",message machine 2010,russ feingold,"Russ Feingold served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing Wisconsin from 1992 until 2010, when he was defeated for re-election. An attorney, he previously served 10 years in the Wisconsin Legislature. Following his Senate defeat, he founded Progressives United, which says it mission is to ""stand up to the exploding corporate influence in our political system by organizing and amplifying the voices of those who believe that corporations have too much power."" Feingold is running against U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, the man who defeated him, in the 2016 election.",wisconsin,3,5,7,2,4,1,a campaign TV ad,"The $75,000 grant is clearly government aid. And the rail line it helped create clearly has helped Pacur from its earliest days. But the grant apparently predated Johnson’s arrival in Oshkosh, and there is no  so far -- if more comes to light, we may revisit this ruling -- that Johnson was involved in it. Using Johnson’s out-of-context soundbite, as if he is responding to this point, makes the ad even more . We rate the statement about government aid ."
13038,3,Most of these mass shootings take place in (areas) where you're not allowed to have a concealed weapons permit.,"February 12, 2017",crime;guns,richard corcoran,Richard Corcoran is Florida's appointed education commissioner. He was elected to the state House in 2010 and served as House Speaker 2016-2018.,florida,1,1,5,2,2,0,an inteview on CBS4,"Corcoran said, ""Most of these mass shootings take place in arenas where you're not allowed to have a concealed weapons permit."" Corcoran cites research by an advocate for gun rights who used a strict definition to define places where guns were not allowed. In reality, there are places where concealed weapons are permitted, places where police or security officers openly carry weapons, and places where concealed weapons are not permitted. Additionally, there are different ways to define mass shootings. We found that advocates for more gun control analyzed the data and reached different conclusions. Our assessment is that it is difficult to draw broad conclusions about the motivations of the perpetrators of mass shootings or whether they are influenced by gun restrictions. We rate Corcoran’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3a9f4fdc-aed8-4f53-9794-18cf41d2bea7"
3877,2,Under Gov. Rick Perry's leadership [Texas] has created more jobs over the last decade than the rest of the states combined.,"June 25, 2011",economy;jobs,bob mcdonnell,"Bob McDonnell is the Republican governor of Virginia until January 2014. McDonnell was elected over Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2006 and as state Attorney General from 2006 to 2009.
McDonnell graduated from the University of Nortre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in 1976. He then served in the U.S. Army on active duty from 1976 to 1981 and in the reserves until 1997, retiring as a lieutenant colenel. He received a master's degree in business adminsitration from Boston University in 1980 and a master's and law degree from Regent University, Virginia Beach, in 1989.",virginia,8,6,7,6,5,3,an op-ed,"McDonnell wrote that under Gov. Perry, Texas ""has created more jobs over the last decade than the rest of the states combined."" But the Virginia governor used net job numbers. Those are different from job creation figures, which are not compiled by the BLS or other national authority. So using net job numbers and calling them job creation figures is a case of comparing apples to oranges. We rate McDonnell’s  . "
595,5,"John McCain's top foreign policy adviser lobbied for... the Republic of Georgia, and McCain has mirrored the position advocated by the government.","August 9, 2008",foreign policy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a statement by Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan,"""No matter how this conflict started, Russia has escalated it well beyond the dispute over South Ossetia and invaded another country,"" he said. ""There is no possible justification for these attacks."" McCain and Obama have both now issued statements supporting Georgia's entry into NATO. There's no  that Scheunemann's ties to Georgia have influenced McCain's position, but it is correct to say McCain has supported the view of the Georgia government. The Obama campaign's statement about Scheunemann and McCain is .  "
22595,1,"More classified documents (were) found at the University of Delaware,"" the ""equivalent of a tractor trailer worth.","January 30, 2023",facebook fact-checks,peggy hubbard,Peggy Hubbard is an Illinois Republican who ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 and 2022.,national,0,0,1,2,2,0,a Facebook post,"Hubbard claimed that ""more classified documents (were) found at the University of Delaware,"" the ""equivalent of a tractor trailer worth.""  There have been no news or government reports that any classified documents have been found at the University of Delaware.  Biden donated 1,850 boxes of his senatorial papers to the university in 2011. Senators commonly donate records such as correspondence and speeches to their alma maters; Biden is a graduate of the University of Delaware. The collection has not been made public and it is unknown whether any of the documents in the collection were classified. We rate this  . "
15264,1,"John Adcock and Republicans' plan for health care ""would get rid of coverage altogether for thousands of families and raise premiums on the rest of us.","October 23, 2018",health care,sydney batch,"Sydney Batch, a Democratic candidate for NC House District 37",north carolina,0,0,0,0,2,0,a TV ad,"Batch’s commercial suggests a plan supported by John Adcock and legislative Republicans ""would get rid of coverage altogether for thousands of families and raise premiums on the rest of us."" Her campaign manager cited a bill that would have provided an alternative option to the Affordable Care Act. While that bill could ultimately destabilize the ACA marketplace, causing premiums to rise, it doesn’t directly eliminate coverage. It didn’t have enough support to pass and Adcock says he opposes it. We rate this  . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide."
962,2,"Says President Obama was wrong ""about Muslims' historical contributions to mankind, such as algebra (actually that was the ancient Babylonians), the compass (that was the Chinese), pens (the Chinese again) and medical discoveries.","June 10, 2009",pundits,ann coulter,Ann Coulter is a conservative columnist and author.,national,1,1,3,2,3,6,a column,"He didn't say Muslims were the sole inventors of these disciplines, he merely said their innovation contributed to the development of disciplines. We find Coulter is  about Obama's statement about algebra, that she's largely right about navigation, that she's  about pens and that it's fuzzy about how much Muslims contributed to modern medicine. So we find her criticism to be .    Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
17295,3,Says Bernie Sanders voted against the auto bailout,"March 15, 2020",economy,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,Washington D.C,"Biden said that Sanders voted against the auto bailout. Sanders did vote against a set of funds that financed most of the auto bailout — though the funds’ primary purpose was bailing out Wall Street firms, which Sanders strongly opposed. But Biden left listeners with the impression that Sanders’ opposed bailing out the auto industry. Sanders voted in favor of providing auto companies with $14 billion, which was separate from the Wall Street bailout funds he opposed. That standalone measure failed. We rate this  ."
22755,1,Clinton ally mysteriously dies.,"March 9, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"However, Hyde’s death isn’t a mystery. It’s been widely reported that she died after the business jet she was flying in hit severe turbulence. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and said a preliminary report will be released later this month.   The chief medical examiner’s office in Hartford, Connecticut, where Hyde was brought after the turbulence and later pronounced dead, found that she died from blunt-force injuries . We rate claims that she died mysteriously, much less that she was murdered by the Clintons, ."
588,2,"John McCain offers ""billions in tax breaks for oil and drug companies, but almost nothing for families like yours.","August 11, 2008",taxes,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a television ad,"Some families will consider that a significant tax savings while others might rate it ""almost nothing."" His tax cuts for oil and drug companies, though, are part of an across-the-board reduction of corporate taxes that McCain says will make the United States more competitive with countries around the world. When we look at Obama's overall statement -- billions in tax breaks for oil and drug companies, but almost nothing for ""families like yours"" -- we find accuracy problems on both halves of the . (The tax breaks aren't just for oil and drug companies, and McCain does offer some tax breaks for families.) Putting the statements together like that only makes it worse, leading us to rate his statement .  "
9127,2,There were 36 states where Republicans who were in charge refused to implement a state (health insurance) exchange.,"July 22, 2014",health care;supreme court,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,an interview with a Las Vegas news network,"Wasserman Schultz said that there were ""36 states where Republicans who were in charge refused to implement a state exchange."" There are 36 states that use the federal exchange or state-federal partnerships instead of state-based marketplaces. But seven of those states are run by Democrats. And, some of the states with Republican governors, like New Mexico and Idaho, tried to institute a state exchange before opting for federally-facilitated marketplace. So while most of the 36 states had Republican governors, not all of them did. We rate this statement ."
10209,2,It's estimated that 40 percent of all the guns that are sold in the United States occur with no background records check.,"April 16, 2015",guns,tim kaine,"Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.
Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.
 ",virginia,14,17,15,8,4,0,a floor speech,"Kaine says ""it’s estimated that 40 percent of all the guns that are sold in the United States occur with no background records check."" His source is a small-sample survey that’s almost 21 years old. It counted some firearms that were purchased before a law went into effect requiring federal background checks for many gun sales. The 1994 survey measured gun transactions, which included firearms that were sold and those that were given as gifts or inheritances. When the results were adjusted to guns sold -- the term Kaine uses -- only 14 to 22 percent of the firearms were sold without background checks. The researchers say they ""don’t know"" if their findings are relevant today. There’s no updated national study.   Kaine did not acknowledge these points. So we rate his statement .  "
10454,4,Florida has reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent since 2005.,"June 24, 2015",environment;energy,gus bilirakis,"Rep. Gus Bilirakis is a Republican Congressman from Florida. He represents the 9th Congressional District, an area north of Tampa Bay.",florida,0,1,0,1,2,0,a speech on the House floor,"Bilirakis said, ""Florida has reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent since 2005."" It may not be immediately clear from Bilirakis’ speech, but he’s only talking about carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that would be affected by the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Those are the guidelines that would be put on hold by the bill passed by the House. EPA data show those Florida electricity generators have cut carbon dioxide emissions by 21.8 percent between 2005 and 2012. Overall carbon dioxide emissions from all sources didn’t decrease quite as much, dropping anywhere from 13.4 to 15.7 percent. Environmental groups also warned that the current reductions aren’t guaranteed. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate Bilirakis’ statement ."
4831,3,"I delivered a flat tax for my state. I took my state to No. 1 in job creation. With all due respect to what Rick Perry has said about Texas, we did a little bit better.","January 7, 2012",economy;jobs;new hampshire 2012;states;taxes,jon huntsman,Jon Huntsman was the governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. He served as ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011. He is a Republican candidate for president in 2012. ,national,2,4,5,5,1,1,"Manchester, N.H","Huntsman didn’t create a pure flat tax in Utah, but he did create a flatter one. As for jobs, the Utah economy did well, but it did not outpace Texas in job creation using the yardstick most economists -- and the Bureau of Labor Statistics itself -- use. We also don’t think it’s valid for Huntsman to  as much credit as he does for himself and his tax changes for the jobs numbers. On balance, we rate the statement ."
5469,1,Says President Barack Obama's parents were communists.,"April 24, 2012",elections,samuel wurzelbacher,Samuel J. Wurzelbacher gained national fame as “Joe the Plumber” during the 2008 presidential election. He is the Republican nominee for Ohio's newly drawn 9th Congressional District in the 2012 election. His Democratic opponent is longtime Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur.,ohio,0,1,0,0,1,1,a letter published by the Christian Broadcasting Network,The  that Wurzelbacher produced doesn’t back his . There does not seem to be any proof that Obama’s mother was a communist. Nor does the 1965 paper authored by Obama’s estranged father verify that he was a communist. And authors of books on Obama say there’s no  that Obama’s parents were communists. We give Wurzelbacher’s incendiary statement a  rating
1283,4,Close to half of the folks in this country illegally entered legally (but) overstayed (their ) visas.,"January 14, 2010",immigration,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,an interview with Glenn Beck,"But others put the number lower, closer to one-third. The difference between the estimates represents about 2 million people, not an insignificant number. We can't fault Rubio for using the numbers he did. But it seems like adding a little context would be appropriate. We rate Rubio's  ."
7437,4,"The problem of unwanted sexual contacts in the military ""is not just a woman's issue. More than half of the victims are men.","June 9, 2013",military,kirsten gillibrand,"Kirsten Gillibrand is a senator from New York. Gillibrand was appointed as senator in 2009 to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacated seat, as Clinton became U.S. Secretary of State under Barack Obama. Gillibrand won a special election in 2010 to retain her senate seat and won re-elections in 2012 and 2018. From 2007 to 2009, she served as the representative of New York’s 20th Congressional District. Gillibrand received a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law. In 2019, she ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in August.",national,4,7,4,4,0,1,an interview on Face the Nation,"Gillibrand said more than half the victims of sexual crimes in the military are men. That's not  in terms of the 3,000 sexual contacts that were officially reported, but it is  if you rely on the larger estimate of unwanted sexual contacts that comes from a more comprehensive survey of people in the military. We rate the statement ."
1571,1,"The bill reported out of committee sets up a $50 billion slush fund that, while intended for resolving failing firms, is available for virtually any purpose that the treasury secretary sees fit.","March 25, 2010",bankruptcy;corporations;economy;federal budget;financial regulation;taxes,richard shelby,Richard Shelby is a Republican senator from Alabama.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,"Shelby is right that the bill would create a $50 billion fund to help dismantle very large, faltering firms.  While there may be just a bit of wiggle room on what costs the fund covers, the bill makes it clear that the money must be used to liquidate -- not keep alive -- failing firms. Also, the program is administered by the FDIC, and before it can step in to dismantle a firm, FDIC must have agreement of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and three bankruptcy judges.  So, to say that the fund ""is available for virtually any purpose that the Treasury Secretary sees fit,"" is more than a stretch.   We find Shelby's  to be ."
2455,4,"Says he's so bipartisan that ""12 of my bills were signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton.","October 8, 2010",,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,a debate,"Comparing it with the standards of academia, Hess said, ""If you were writing your dissertation at Wayne State, could you get away with that? Probably so. It would probably just require a footnote."" When asked, Portman’s campaign was clear about that footnote. Portman’s statement was accurate but needed clarification, which on the -O-Meter is measured this way: "
247,3,"You said you would vote against the Patriot Act, then you came to the Senate, you voted for it.","January 5, 2008",terrorism,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"Manchester, N.H","Clinton was also among those senators voting yes. Obama said the final deal was not ideal but was an improvement over earlier Republican proposals. ""This compromise does modestly improve the Patriot Act by strengthening civil liberties protections without sacrificing the tools that law enforcement needs to keep us safe,"" he said, adding, ""I urge my colleagues to continue working on ways to improve the civil liberties protections in the Patriot Act after it is reauthorized."" So while Obama did vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act, he did so after working to improve the law by expanding civil rights guarantees. We rule Clinton's statement ."
16727,3,160 million people like their private insurance.,"November 20, 2019",health care;health check,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,comments during the November Democratic presidential primary debate,"Biden argued that ""160 million people like their private insurance."" A cursory look at polling would suggest that most of the people he’s talking about — Americans who get coverage through work — are happy with their plans.  But once you dig a little deeper, that narrative gets more complicated. Even while Americans say they like their plans, large proportions indicate that the private coverage they have still leaves meaningful gaps, requiring them to skip or delay health care because they cannot afford it.  Biden’s argument is technically correct, but it leaves out important context and relies on a somewhat squishy number. We rate it ."
13701,4,Ted Kaczynski has less restrictive confinement than the youth at Lincoln Hills.,"June 23, 2017",children;civil rights;criminal justice;legal issues,james peterson," James D. Peterson is the chief U.S. district judge for the western district of Wisconsin. He was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, and confirmed in 2014.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,a ruling from the bench,"Those in general population at Lincoln Hills have access to a desk in their room, TV in the dayroom and are outside their cells for significant portions of the day. Our rating Peterson said: ""Ted Kaczynski has less restrictive confinement than the youth at Lincoln Hills."" His  is on target for those Lincoln Hills inmates placed in solitary confinement, which was the issue at hand when the  was made. The caveat: Those inmates not in solitary confinement would fare differently. We rate Peterson’s  ."
20244,3,"California is moving folks out of encampments, into safe housing and getting them the mental health services they need.","August 9, 2021",homeless;housing,gavin newsom,Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California in 2018. He is the state's former lieutenant governor and served as mayor of San Francisco. He is a Democrat.,california,6,7,8,3,2,1,a tweet,"In short, while California officials are working to find solutions to homelessness, they are still a long way from housing and providing services to the state’s vast homeless population.   While some Berkeley encampment residents received housing, we found that several remain on the streets or in temporary residences with high barriers to entry. Therefore, we rate this statement .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context."
6219,5,Says Milken Institute rated San Antonio as nation's top-performing local economy.,"September 4, 2012",economy,julián castro,"Julián Castro is a former U.S. secretary of Housing & Urban Development. He was the youngest member of Barack Obama’s cabinet, serving from 2014 to 2017. Just before he became secretary of HUD, he was the mayor of San Antonio, elected in 2009. Castro received a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out on Jan. 2, 2020.",texas,6,6,5,1,1,0,keynote address at Democratic National Convention,"San Antonio hasn’t just been holding steady in the economic downturn; it’s been gaining ground, even compared to other Texas cities. Castro’s statement rates ."
20715,3,"More people, aged 18-45, died of Fentanyl overdoses in 2020 than covid, car accidents, cancer, + suicide combined.","December 19, 2021",drugs;public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,social media posts,"The post said that ""more people, aged 18-45, died of Fentanyl overdoses in 2020 than covid, car accidents, cancer, + suicide combined."" Fentanyl overdoses are indeed the No. 1 killer in that age group in the U.S., and by a growing margin, according to data compiled by an advocacy group from federal statistics. However, the post has overstated the differential between fentanyl overdoses and the other four causes of death. In reality, there are still roughly twice as many deaths collectively from the other four categories as there are from fentanyl overdoses. We rate the statement ."
16884,1,Says a video shows Iranian rockets being launched toward U.S. airbases in Iraq.,"January 7, 2020",iran;facebook fact-checks,@thesavoyshow,"@thesavoyshow is a popular Instagram account. In its bio, the account describes itself as ""Black American News/Satire/Media.""
 ",,0,0,0,0,1,0,an Instagram post,"Iran attacked the Islamic State in retaliation for a Sept. 22 incursion on a military parade that left 25 people dead. Below is the footage that Iran has released from its Jan. 7 strike, which targeted two airbases in Iraq: Al-Asad and Erbil. There were no reported casualties. @thesavoyshow’s Instagram post is . We rate it ."
20294,1,Says Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie faked their COVID-19 vaccinations on live television.,"September 19, 2021",public health;science;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"PolitiFact reached out several times to the Canadian prime minister’s office, but did not receive a response for comment.     A video recorded by a woman describing herself as a registered nurse claims that Justin and Sophie Trudeau faked their COVID-19 vaccinations.   Although the technique used to give their vaccines is not common in the U.S., that doesn’t prove that the shots were . A close-up photo of Justin Trudeau’s vaccination shows the needle going into his arm.   We rate this  ."
1153,1,"The Baucus health care bill ""could be used to ban guns in home self-defense.","October 9, 2009",health care;guns,gun owners of america,an advocacy group for gun rights,national,0,0,0,0,2,0,an alert to members,"""So I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that what can be done will be done,"" he said. But we find insufficient  to support the group's overheated rhetoric. Ultimately, we find that while the GOA is right that a more behavioral approach to pricing health care seems to be gaining steam, it is a giant and overly speculative leap to say that the Baucus bill ""could be used to ban guns in home self-defense."" There is nothing in the bill itself to indicate that is contemplated. We find the statement ."
5604,3,"Jimmy Langevin is having a fundraiser . . . to retire the debt from his campaign for secretary of state, which was 12 years ago.","April 26, 2012",campaign finance;legal issues;negative campaigning,john matson,"John Matson, a retired carpenter and businessman from Hopkinton, has made unsuccessful runs for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District, most recently in 2012.",rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,an interview on State of the State,"Congressional candidate John O. Matson said Rep. James Langevin is still trying to raise money to cover the costs of the campaign he ran for secretary of state 12 years ago. That statement, by itself, makes Langevin sound like a deadbeat, especially when Matson refers to ""debts,"" which suggests that more than one person is owed money. In fact, the money Langevin’s campaign owes is not to other people, but to one individual -- Langevin himself. Eighteen years ago, the candidate loaned $280,000 to his campaign. In 2006, he tried to get that money back, running afoul of state election laws. There's a big difference between owing money to others and trying to recoup funds you loaned to your own campaign, especially when Langevin is under no obligation to ever pay himself back in the first place. So Matson is correct in saying that Langevin is still trying to pay off debt racked up while running for secretary of state, but his statement leaves out important facts that might give voters a very different impression. So we'll give him a  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
6874,4,"The federal government owns 30 percent of the land in the 50 states, or about 650 million acres.","December 10, 2012",federal budget;taxes,j.d. van brink,"J.D. Van Brink, chairman of the Georgia Tea Party",georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tea party meeting,"The bill was not enacted and died. Georgia tea party leader J.D. Van Brink said the federal government owns 30 percent of the land in the 50 states, or about 650 million acres. Based on research from a nonpartisan congressional research think tank, Van Brink’s data is close to the published figures. The only difference is minor rounding. We rated the  ."
2598,5,"Members of Congress did not have three days to read the bill ""when the stimulus was rushed into law.","October 30, 2010",history;stimulus,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,a Saturday address,"The first version clearly passed the House less than three days after it was introduced, while the centrist compromise version passed the  Senate roughly three days after it was formally introduced. Meanwhile, both chambers passed the conference report -- the final version that became law -- within 24 hours of the bill's filing. So in all except cases except the main Senate vote, it's clear Boehner is correct. And in the case of the Senate version, he's cutting it close because it was right at three days. All in all, that's strong support for his , so we rate it ."
2786,4,"The Bush-era tax cuts failed to increase employment and ""work-force participation fell in 2001 and has never returned to the record level set in 2000.","December 2, 2010",jobs;taxes,jim moran,"Rep. Jim Moran, D-8th, was first elected in 1990 to represent a district covering Falls Church, Alexandria, Arlington County and part of Fairfax County.
He serves on the Appropriations Committee and is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, as well as serving on the Defense Subcommittee.
Moran previously served as the mayor of Alexandria from 1985 to 1990.
Moran was born in Buffalo, N.Y. He graduated from College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass., in 1967, and received a master of public administration from the University of Pittsburgh in 1970.",virginia,3,6,1,2,1,1,a news release,"As he notes, total employment didn’t go up over the decade. But he neglects to mention numbers were on the rise before the advent of the worst economic downturn in 80 years. He’s half right here. He’s correct in saying work-force participation fell since a record in 2000. When you put both parts of his statement together, we rate it ."
187,5,The mayor said … 'if you happen to be in this country in an undocumented status . . . then we welcome you here. We want you here. We'll protect you here.',"November 28, 2007",immigration,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,"St. Petersburg, Fla","The quote came from a 1994 story in the New York Times that was headlined ""New York Officials Welcome Immigrants, Legal or Illegal."" The article noted that Giuliani had given a ""spirited defense of illegal immigrants, virtually urging them to settle in New York City."" It quoted him saying, ""Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens. "" Giuliani has not denied the comment but, in discussing immigration, has emphasized the need for more border security and tougher enforcement by the federal government. We find that Romney accurately described Giuliani's comment and find Romney's statement to be ."
12257,3,"Says Arizona congressional candidate Christine Jones ""called Hillary Clinton 'a capable and respected leader,' and an 'effective' secretary of state. ... Hillary Clinton effective? Christine Jones thinks so.","August 4, 2016",negative campaigning,club for growth,The Club for Growth is an anti-tax group.,arizona,4,5,5,9,6,0,a political advertisement,"Club for Growth said, ""Jones called Hillary Clinton ‘a capable and respected leader,’ and an ‘effective’ secretary of state ... Hillary Clinton effective? Christine Jones thinks so."" In multiple blog posts dating back to January 2012, Jones does characterize Clinton as capable, respected and effective. What the ad does not mention is how Jones started walking back her remarks in 2014. By saying ""Christine Jones thinks so,"" in present tense, Club for Growth neglects to account for her more recent perspective. We rate the ad’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4d0db0ff-0969-4d23-a563-8e7f8c29096c"
3960,2,The Florida Legislature has not filed a lawsuit to fight Amendments 5 and 6.,"July 13, 2011",redistricting,alan hays,"Sen. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla) represents parts of Lake, Marion, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties",florida,1,0,0,2,1,0,a public hearing about redistricting,"And the lawsuit is about Amendment 6 -- not Amendment 5. But that's not what Hays said -- he said the Legislature has not filed a lawsuit. While that's  on a technical level -- the two members of Congress filed the lawsuit -- the House did join as a plaintiff. Hays later explained that the House joined as an intervenor ""seeking clarification"" but the House is seeking more than clarification -- the House has filed a motion asking that Amendment 6 be declared unconstitutional. We rate this  ."
15284,2,"Says Claire McCaskill ""has had Chuck Schumer spend more dark money for her than for any senator in America. $16 million and counting!","September 25, 2018",campaign finance,josh hawley,Josh Hawley took office as U.S. Senator from Missouri in 2019. Hawley previously served as Missouri’s Attorney General. ,missouri,1,4,1,8,1,0,a tweet,"Attorney General Hawley claimed that dark money spent on McCaskill’s campaign totals $16 million and counting, the most of any U.S. senator. Hawley is correct that Missouri’s Senate race has been the target of the most spending by Senate Majority PAC on one candidate, as well as the most between Senate Majority and Majority Forward, the two PACs attributable to Schumer. But when we look at just the dark money group, Majority Forward, the numbers tell a different story. Majority Forward hasn’t actually contributed to McCaskill, although it has spent about $3 million opposing Hawley. It is hard to account for all of the dark money spent in an election, and more continues to flow in. But Hawley’s  was based on reported spending numbers. He’s off by roughly $13 million, considerably  in assessing the amount of dark money spent on McCaskill’s behalf. We rate this  ."
20601,1,Photo shows people recently protesting in Austria.,"November 23, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The Atlantic published versions of it in 2011 and 2012 . It appears alongside a timeline of the fall of the Soviet Union that was published on the website of the French university Sciences Po. And in August, AFP fact-checked a  that the image showed a recent protest against vaccination rules in France. That wasn’t , and neither is the  that it shows protesters in Austria this year.   We rate it ."
18544,1,AARP endorses Biden and gives financial support to Planned Parenthood.,"September 28, 2020",abortion;retirement;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""I want to ensure you — and I encourage you to share this letter as necessary — that AARP does not fund and has not funded Planned Parenthood,"" the letter says.   We reviewed AARP’s most recent IRS filing — for 2018, filed in November 2019 — that details money it contributed to other organizations. Planned Parenthood was not among them. We also reviewed the five previous years and saw no such contributions.   We rate this Facebook post ."
1961,4,The Arizona law basically parrots the federal immigration law.,"July 6, 2010",immigration,tom ganley,"Tom Ganley of Brecksville, Ohio, is a businessman and the largest car dealer in the state of Ohio. A Republican, he challenged Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton in the 2010 congressional elections for the state's 13th District.
 
 ",ohio,1,1,0,1,0,0,a statement posted to his website,"When it comes to some of the most talked about parts of the law, having to do with aliens who fail to carry proper paperwork and failing to register, Ganley is correct about the core of the law; federal statutes already makes those two provisions a crime. But the law also includes a new prohibition barring picking up day laborers on the street for hire and soliciting for work. That's not in the federal code. As a result, we find the  to be . Comment on this item .  "
22607,0,"In Ukraine, 2,458 NATO soldiers and 234 NATO military trainers have died, some of whom are from the U.S.","February 5, 2023",military;ukraine,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"A department casualty status released Jan. 30 shows no U.S. deaths in Ukraine. The Pentagon announced in December that Ukrainian troops would travel to a U.S. base in Grafenwöhr, Germany for military training from soldiers from the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command's 7th Army Training Command. It’s unclear how many Russian or Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded so far. U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in January that Russia alone has had more than 100,000 killed or wounded.   We rate the  that in Ukraine, 2,458 NATO soldiers and 234 NATO military trainers have died, some of whom are from the U.S., ! "
13096,0,"Says U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson ""threatens citizens with arrest if they continue asking for a town hall.","March 2, 2017",civil rights;crime;polls and public opinion,resistance report,"Resistance Report describes itself as a “social justice-oriented media company dedicated to providing the bold, combative, thought-provoking journalism that will be critical over the next four years.”",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,1,a website posting,"It was not a general response to ""citizens"" who may request a town hall meeting, as the article claimed. Our rating Resistance Report says Johnson ""threatens citizens with arrest if they continue asking for a town hall."" A letter by Johnson’s office that was cited by the group warned a man that if he did not stop calling and visiting Johnson’s office, the Capitol Police would be called. The letter had nothing to do with town hall meetings. We rate the statement ."
18509,1,"Poll watchers in Philadelphia ""were thrown out.","September 29, 2020",elections;pennsylvania,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a presidential debate,"Trump said poll watchers were ""thrown out"" of a polling place in Philadelphia. But the incident we witnessed, and any others that occurred Tuesday, took place at satellite offices, not at traditional polling places. And they involved self-appointed observers, not licensed poll watchers. While mail voting was indeed happening in physical locations Tuesday, and Trump supporters tried to watch, that voting wasn’t happening at polling places and those supporters weren’t poll watchers. Trump either knew or should have known that poll watchers aren’t allowed at satellite locations, because his campaign is fighting in federal court right now to change that. His statement is not accurate. We rate it ."
13838,5,"While Mayor Rick Kriseman said he would dip into reserves this year because of Hurricane Irma, he ""went into the emergency reserves before Irma ever hit.","September 26, 2017",city budget;corrections and updates,rick baker,"From 2001 to 2010, Rick Baker served as mayor of St. Petersburg. In 2017, Baker announced he would run for a third term",florida,1,1,1,1,1,0,a comment during a mayoral forum,"Baker claimed that Kriseman tapped into reserves before Hurricane Irma ever hit. That is accurate. Under Kriseman, the city tapped into reserves early this year to cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades, which included projects to increase capacity at the water reclamation facilities. The the city plans to issue bonds to repay the loan, but there’s no saying when that will happen. Furthermore, bonds are just borrowed money. We rate this  ."
19132,0,Barack Obama was arrested.,"January 17, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"But we could find no  that Obama was arrested. We’ve debunked several similar hoaxes over the years. We reached out to the Obama Foundation for a comment, but we haven’t heard back. The Facebook post is  and . We rate it !"
1195,1,"Claims that Obama said, ""For those who oppose our policies, you should just shut up and go away.","November 9, 2009",elections,c.w. bill young,"U.S. Rep. C. W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, represented the 13th Congressional District of Florida. He was the nation's longest-serving Republican congressman on the day of his death, Oct. 18, 2013. Young held public office for more than 50 years, including a decade in the Florida Senate and 22 terms in Congress.
Young was born in Harmarville, Penn., on Dec. 16, 1930. His family moved to Pinellas County when he was 15. He is a veteran of the Army National Guard. He married his second wife, Beverly, in 1985. They have two sons, Billy and Patrick, and Robbie from her first marriage.",florida,1,0,1,0,1,1,a meeting of Florida Republicans,"But the broader context shows that Obama's criticisms were more targeted. Specifically, Obama was criticizing Republicans who blame him for the country's economic problems, when -- he says -- many of the problems were created while Republicans were in power. That's a far cry from Young's report of Obama's statement --  ""For those who oppose our policies, you should just shut up and go away."" Young's statement is much more sweeping and dismissive than anything the president said. We rate Young's  ."
23270,0,Video shows the city of San Diego displaying a flag supportive of pedophilia.,"July 9, 2023",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"The progress pride flag, pictured in the San Diego video, also features brown and black stripes. It was created in 2018 by artist Daniel Quasar in an attempt to build upon the Philadelphia pride flag , which added black and brown stripes for people of color.   ""The trans flag stripes and marginalized community stripes were shifted to the Hoist of the flag and given a new chevron shape,"" wrote Quasar on his website . ""The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the hoist edge shows that progress still needs to be made."" We rate claims that San Diego flew a flag representing pedophilia !"
8326,4,Obamacare passed by just one vote in the Senate. It wouldn't have passed without Mark Warner's vote.,"January 21, 2014",health care;voting record,ed gillespie,Ed Gillespie is a Republican strategist who currently runs the firm Ed Gillespie Strategies. He served as counselor to former President George W. Bush. Gillespie has announced he will run for Virginia governor in 2017. He narrowly lost a 2014 bid for the U.S. Senate to Democrat Mark Warner.,virginia,2,2,2,2,3,1,a web ad,"Gillespie says ""Obamacare passed by one vote in the Senate. It wouldn’t have passed without Mark Warner’s vote."" This is an improvement on past Republican efforts to blame Warner for casting the deciding vote to block a filibuster against Obamacare when, in fact, he was joined by 59 colleagues. It casts Warner as part of a collective weight that tipped the scales -- not the final grain of sand. Warner was one of 60 who voted to block the filibuster -- the bare number required under Senate rules. That allowed the Senate the following day to vote on the Obamacare bill and here’s where Gillespie’s statement comes up a little bit short. The bill, with Warner’s support, passed by a 60-39 vote. But since it only required a simple majority in the 100-member Senate to approve the legislation, Warner’s vote was not essential this time around. The actual Obamacare bill would have passed with or without him. So Gillespie’s statement is largely accurate but needs a technical clarification. We rate it .  "
15419,4,#Broward elections department has a history of violating the law.,"November 8, 2018",elections;legal issues,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,a tweet,"Rubio said the Broward elections department ""has a history of violating the law."" Rubio’s tweet linked to a lawsuit in which a judge found Snipes prematurely unlawfully destroyed ballots. In the other case Rubio cited, the judge issued an injunction preventing Snipes from opening mail-in ballots before the canvassing board convened. It is worth mentioning, though, that Snipes has also won two cases in which she was sued: one related to a handful of ballots that omitted an amendment question and another which pertained to removing ineligible voters. We rate this statement ."
3362,3,Franklin Roosevelt (was) the last president to come to the Congress to ask for permission to engage into war.,"April 4, 2011",legal issues;foreign policy;military,charles rangel,Charles Rangel is a Democratic congressman from New York City and the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.,national,0,0,1,0,0,1,an interview on the Fox Business network,"And in each of those cases, the president sought congressional support (reluctantly or otherwise) before initiating hostilities and ultimately received it (with varying degrees of unanimity). So where does this leave us? Rangel is right that Roosevelt is the last president, strictly speaking, ""to come to the Congress to ask for permission to engage into war."" But at least two presidents -- both George Bushes -- have waited to launch wars until they had an official vote from Congress backing them up. On balance, we rate Rangel’s statement ."
11194,3,"Says U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson wants to put 100,000 troops, including 25,000 Americans, ""into the area where ISIS is.","January 26, 2016",iraq;foreign policy;military;terrorism,russ feingold,"Russ Feingold served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing Wisconsin from 1992 until 2010, when he was defeated for re-election. An attorney, he previously served 10 years in the Wisconsin Legislature. Following his Senate defeat, he founded Progressives United, which says it mission is to ""stand up to the exploding corporate influence in our political system by organizing and amplifying the voices of those who believe that corporations have too much power."" Feingold is running against U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, the man who defeated him, in the 2016 election.",wisconsin,3,5,7,2,4,1,an interview,"Our rating Feingold said Johnson wants to put 100,000 troops, including 25,000 Americans, ""into the area where ISIS is."" Johnson favors sending foreign and American troops to Iraq and Syria in an effort to defeat ISIS there. He’s said he has heard experts say the effort would require 100,000 troops, including 25,000 from the United States. He indicated he might support those levels, or perhaps 10,000 American troops, but didn’t go so far as to call for any particular numbers. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details, our rating is ."
10003,4,"When you have 8,000 veterans a year committing suicide, then you have a serious problem.","February 2, 2015",public health;veterans,johnny isakson,"Johnny Isakson, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Georgia",georgia,4,2,3,2,3,0,an Associated Press news story,"It is the context that matters here. The number fails to impart the fact that research shows veterans commit suicide at a higher, perhaps much higher, rate than their civilian counterparts. Isakson was correct on the numbers. But there is a bit of context missing in what those numbers mean. We rate Isakson's statement ."
9482,1,The last time there was a sustained surge of confidence in government's competence was under Ronald Reagan.,"October 5, 2014",history;polls and public opinion;punditfact,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,,10,5,3,7,7,1,"comments on ""Fox News Sunday""","George Will said the last time there was a ""sustained surge"" in confidence in government was under Reagan. While trust did rise and generally hold level in the Reagan years, it also had a steady and larger increase under Clinton.  However you slice the numbers, it is clear that the American public had a ""sustained surge of confidence"" during Clinton's presidency. And Clinton, obviously, was president more recently than Reagan. We rate Will’s  ."
20394,2,Tennessee new law passed 48 hours ago now makes it illegal to teach Black history in the grades K-12.,"October 13, 2021",children;education;history;race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",tennessee,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed that a Tennessee law ""passed 48 hours ago now makes it illegal to teach Black history in the grades K-12."" A Tennessee law adopted in May does not prohibit the teaching of Black history in public schools. The law does impose restrictions on teaching by banning critical race theory, which is a collection of ideas about systemic bias and privilege. The law prohibits the teaching of certain concepts, including that ""an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously""; and that ""an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex."" The statement contains an element of  but gives a  impression of the scope of the law. We rate it ."
61,1,Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.,"September 17, 2007",legal issues,ron paul,"Ron Paul, a Texas physician, served two stints in the U.S. House. He also was the Libertarian Party nominee for president in 1988 before later seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012. He didn't seek re-election to the House in 2012.",national,8,8,8,5,10,3,a statement on his campaign Web site,"We checked with a congressional historian and two constitutional law professors who said they believe those votes do not meet Paul's . A.E. Dick Howard, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said Paul's  ""just doesn't stand up. ... My guess is you could find a hundred other examples."" So we find that Paul's absolutist statement ""never"" is .  "
16821,4,"Says President Donald Trump ""has not given this Congress a single email, phone record or document.","December 18, 2019",congress;impeachment,jim himes,Rep. Jim Himes is a Democratic member of the House of Representatives representing Connecticut's 4th Congressional District.,national,0,1,0,0,0,0,an impeachment debate,"Himes said Trump ""has not given this Congress a single email, phone record or document."" The White House told Congress that it would not cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry, and all  suggests that the White House stood by that pledge.  The White House did, however, release two call readouts. They were not in response to congressional subpoenas as part of the House’s investigation.  We rate Himes’ statement ."
18726,0,"Photo shows Joe Biden's license plate says ""THEBIGGUY.","October 26, 2020",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"It shows a series of numbers, not ""THEBIGGUY."" In Delaware, ""THEBIGGUY"" isn’t even a possible vanity plate . Personalized plates can’t exceed seven letters or numbers. ""THEBIGGUY"" is nine letters.   We rate this Facebook post ."
3712,1,"By advocating new requirements for voters to show ID cards at the polls, Republicans ""want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws.","June 5, 2011",elections;legal issues,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,an interview with political commentator Roland Martin,"Wasserman Schultz’s comparison reduces an overwhelming apartheid system to one of its facets, voting laws. And Jim Crow was pure racism, whereas the intent behind today’s proposals is, at most, partisan gain -- albeit at the expense of some would-be voters, many of whom are likely to be minorities. Reasonable people can disagree about the wisdom of the new laws, but they would not return the United States to Jim Crow. Saying so offers more heat than light. On balance, we rate her comment ."
22579,1,"Global warming is a ""fraud.","January 25, 2023",climate change;science;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post claimed climate change is the ""most significant fraud perpetrated on humanity."" Most of the world’s scientists found that climate change is real and fueled by human activity.  Climate change’s impact on the world can be traced back to the 1800s, when the Industrial Revolution led to an increase in the burning of fossil fuels and a corresponding release of greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere. The gases trap heat from the sun, warming the planet and causing temperatures to rise. We rate this  ."
261,4,"I took on the worst road system in the country, according to Trucker's magazine. When I left, they said it was the most improved road system in the country.","January 10, 2008",,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,"Myrtle Beach, S.C","""They have done a lot of work,"" said Andy Duncan, a senior editor for the magazine. ""Nevertheless, the consensus is that they have a ways to go."" And so while Huckabee is right that the state earned the honor for the most improved roads at one point in his term, it's a stretch to say that was the case when he left office. And Arkansas still lags behind other states. So we rate Huckabee's  ."
4975,2,"In 2006, I went out and authored a letter with 24 other senators asking for major reform of Freddie and Fannie, warning of a meltdown and a bubble in the housing market.","January 26, 2012",candidate biography;economy;financial regulation;housing,rick santorum,Rick Santorum is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.,national,6,7,14,13,17,5,"Jacksonville, Fla","Santorum said he ""went out and authored a letter with 24 other senators asking for major reform of Freddie and Fannie, warning of a meltdown and a bubble in the housing market."" Indeed, he signed a letter along with a group of colleagues asking for reform of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. But it didn't warn of a meltdown and a bubble in the housing market. And we couldn't find  that Santorum voiced that concern in 2005 or 2006 in press releases, transcripts or news clips. Instead, he sponsored a successful amendment of a reform bill to boost the entities' commitment to affordable housing, a very different concern. We rate his statement ."
16725,2,"In America, there is a father who is holding down two jobs and paying more taxes than the richest 400 families in America.","November 13, 2019",income;wealth;taxes,kamala harris,"Kamala Harris is the vice president of the United States. Harris was elected as a senator from California in 2016. She previously was California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017. From 2004 until 2011, she was the district attorney of San Francisco. Harris received a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Howard University and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. In 2019, she ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in December. On Aug. 11, 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden named Harris as his running mate.",national,2,16,4,7,7,0,a Facebook ad,"Harris said, ""In America, there is a father who is holding down two jobs and paying more taxes than the richest 400 families in America."" The study Harris relies on estimates that a typical taxpayer pays a higher tax rate on federal, state and local taxes — not that he pays more in actual taxes — than do the richest families. And even on rates, the difference is not especially large: 24.2% vs. 23%.  That’s important because, while the study was done by leading economists, it relies on estimates and a methodology that some economists say makes the tax system look less progressive than it actually is. Most critically, there is nothing in Harris’ ad that suggested she was talking about tax rates rather than taxes paid.  For a statement that contains only an element of , we give Harris a ."
6641,2,"Says Mitt Romney wants to ""get rid of Planned Parenthood.","October 31, 2012",abortion;federal budget;health care,planned parenthood action fund,Planned Parenthood Action Fund is the national advocacy and political arm of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a radio ad,"The Planned Parenthood Action Fund aid said that Romney wants to ""get rid of Planned Parenthood."" That directly contradicts what Romney has said -- that he wants to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, not abolish the organization -- and his staff reaffirmed that position. There’s no question that an end to federal funding would be a significant blow to the organization’s operations, potentially chopping 12 percent to 35 percent from its budget. But it’s an exaggeration to say that Romney would act to ""get rid"" of the organization. We rate the  . UPDATE : After our story appeared, Planned Parenthood provided some additional statistics about how many Medicaid patients use their services. The story has been updated to include that data."
11029,4,California has more kids in poverty ... than virtually any other state.,"September 21, 2015",children;poverty,common sense kids action,Common Sense Kids Action is a child advocacy group based in San Francisco. ,california,0,1,0,0,0,0,a press release,"Common Sense Kids Action says ""California has more kids in poverty ... than virtually any state."" The census bureau shows in its most recent standard report that California, indeed, has more people under 18 in poverty than any other state. But that doesn’t necessarily mean California has a bigger problem with child poverty — per capita — than all other states. There are 14 states, led by New Mexico and Mississippi, with higher child poverty rates, at least by the official measure.   In conclusion, the statement is literally accurate. But it should be noted that California’s population is so large it leads the nation in practically everything. We rate the  .    –  The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for   more   on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
20592,4,You've had over 2 million women drop out of the workforce during this pandemic.,"October 25, 2021",economy,colin allred,"Rep. Colin Allred is the U.S. Representative for the 32nd District of Texas, which includes northeastern Dallas County. Prior to serving as a Representative, Allred played in the NFL, worked as a civil rights attorney, and worked in the General Counsel's office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Allred was elected in 2018, beating incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a TV interview,"Allred said on Oct. 25 while advocating for spending bills like the Build Back Better bill, ""You've had over 2 million women drop out of the workforce during this pandemic."" He accurately cited a comparison of the number of women in the labor force from February 2020 to February 2021. However, the most recent data indicates many women have rejoined the labor force since February and the net number of women who dropped out of the workforce is a lower number, but not far off from Allred's 2 million. Roughly 1.8   million fewer women ages 16 and over are in the workforce compared to February 2020. We rate this . The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."
18054,0,"Says Tom Hanks was ""arrested in Australia for pedophilia.","July 13, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""NOT ,"" she tweeted. ""Haven’t been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody."" We rate this Facebook post ."
5759,5,"Before I was governor, tuition was skyrocketing and we stopped that. We capped and then we froze college tuition.","May 25, 2012",education;state budget,george allen,George Allen was a U.S. senator from 2001-2007. He was governor of Virginia from 1994-1998.,virginia,8,4,3,2,8,1,a debate,"Allen said that, as governor, he stopped soaring tuition costs by implementing a tuition freeze. Allen and the General Assembly did impose a freeze after tuition had risen sharply during the early 1990s recession. Allen had leeway to cap tuitions because a healthy economy during his term allowed lawmakers to increase state appropriations to colleges and universities. We rate Allen’s  ."
3575,1,"Says judges are using Shariah law in Dearborn, Mich.","April 4, 2011",religion,leo berman,Leo Berman is a state representative from Tyler.,texas,0,0,0,0,2,1,a House committee hearing,"All told, Dearborn Muslims, like all U.S. Muslims, may follow Shariah law in their personal lives and may enter into contracts — such as pre-nuptial agreements — bound by their principles. So may adherents of other religious faiths. And judges may use religious laws to interpret such contracts, providing all parties agree from the beginning. Far as we can tell, though, judges don’t use Shariah law in lieu of the U.S. Constitution or state laws — nor are they doing so in Dearborn. We rate the statement ."
7442,5,"Says Madison Mayor Paul Soglin's stated intent when proposing that city contractors disclose private political donations was to ""discourage contributions to organizations with which he disagrees.","June 4, 2013",campaign finance;elections,wisconsin institute for law & liberty,"The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty is a conservative, libertarian public interest law firm, based in Milwaukee, that initiates legal actions on a range of public issues.
Rick Esenberg was named president and general council of the 501(c)(3) organization, which gets financial backing from the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported: ""The institute has entered the fray on a range of cases, from Act 10, the legislation that curtailed collective bargaining in Wisconsin for most public sector workers, to voter identification to the proposed Milwaukee streetcar project. In each case, the institute took the conservative side on the issue.""",wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,0,a web posting,"The group cites a newspaper interview that paraphrased Soglin saying that could happen in some cases as a result of his legislation. Soglin told us the same thing, but said his goal was limited to transparency. His statements make pretty clear he looks forward to forcing contractors to choose between trimming their political activity or disclosing it and facing the consequences. And he predicts some will stop making donations. We rate the statement ."
3899,1,Says many public-employee unions falsely told their Wisconsin members his budget-repair bill sought 12 percent to 13 percent of their incomes for health insurance premiums.,"June 21, 2011",labor;state budget,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a television interview,"He squarely blamed big unions, and described the problem as widespread. But Walker offered no tangible  for his . And our check of the communications by the big unions found no instances of unions falsely portraying his plan as a percentage of income. If any additional information surfaces, we may revisit this ruling. But based on the information available, and the lack of documentation from Walker, we rate the statement ."
7112,4,"Says of 80,000 people who were denied a firearm in 2012 due to a failed background check, only 44 were prosecuted.","February 19, 2013",guns,kelly ayotte,"Kelly Ayotte is a U.S. Senator representing New Hampshire as a Republican. She was the first woman to serve as her state's attorney general. Appointed to that position in 2004 by a Republican governor, she was twice reappointed by a Democratic governor.",new hampshire,3,4,1,2,1,0,an editorial board meeting,"More to the point, Ayotte confuses state and federal numbers in her statement, using state rejections (80,000) and federal prosecutions (44). Looking at state enforcement alone, just four states had more than 1,500 arrests. While those are arrests, not prosecutions, it stands to reason the number of state prosecutions is vastly higher than the figure Ayotte cited. That ratio is not nearly as dramatic as Ayotte suggested, but her larger point remains valid: the majority of failed background checks do not lead to criminal charges or prosecutions. With this in mind, we rate her  ."
15085,2,"Says Minnesota U.S. House candidate Joe Radinovich has ""spent his life running from the law, charged with 18 crimes.","September 12, 2018",candidate biography,congressional leadership fund,The Congressional Leadership Fund is a super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and strengthening the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives.,national,0,2,4,5,5,0,a campaign ad,"The Congressional Leadership Found says Radinovich has ""spent his life running from the law, charged with 18 crimes."" The ad has a few elements of . But the numbers make it sound far worse than Minnesota law would allow. Most of Radinovich’s offenses were driving-related. Most were petty misdemeanors -- a legal distinction, for sure, but an important one in the state where voters who follow that law will decide this race. You could argue about those numbers. But by casting the candidate as someone who has ""spent his life running from the law,"" the ad omits critical facts and takes liberties in characterizing a life with traffic and driving issues, not holdups and getaway chases. By the standards of the -O-Meter, that gives the  a rating of ."
20330,0,Millions have died from COVID injections.,"September 26, 2021",public health;science;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a website,"This report cites sources such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, an official database to which anyone can report any kind of adverse health event following a vaccine. VAERS reports are not analyzed for accuracy, and may contain information that is incomplete,  or coincidental. Europe’s EudraVigilance is a similar system to VAERS and issues the same warning about its own reports. No credible source suggests that millions of people have died from vaccines.   We rate this  !"
16981,0,Says a video shows footage of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant.,"January 26, 2020",transportation;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"and it was real low. I saw it falling and spluttering. But it was hard to make out, as it was so foggy,"" he said. According to the Times, the helicopter vanished into a cloud of fog and there was a boom.   We rate this video ."
18571,1,"As vice president, Kamala Harris would ""defund, dismantle, and dissolve police departments.","October 8, 2020",criminal justice;ad watch,mike pence,"Mike Pence is the former vice president of the United States. A Republican, Pence was elected governor of Indiana in 2012. Pence previously served for 12 years as a congressman from Indiana representing the Sixth Congressional District; he was first elected in 2000. During his time in the U.S. House of Represenatives, he served as House Republican Conference chairman and chairman of the House Republican Study Committee. Pence was born in Columbus, Ind. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1981 from Hanover College and a law degree in 1986 from Indiana University. After accepting Donald Trump's offer to be running mate, Pence ended his 2016 campaign to be re-elected as Indiana governor. ",,5,7,21,12,25,2,a Facebook ad,"Pence said in a Facebook ad that, as vice president, Harris would ""defund, dismantle, and dissolve police departments."" That’s . Biden’s official campaign platform says his administration would not defund police departments. Harris’ press secretary said she does not support defunding the police. Her former presidential campaign platform did not mention it. In media appearances, Harris has called for ""reimagining"" public safety across the country. But she hasn’t explicitly said she supports defunding police departments, and Harris has said she doesn’t want to get rid of law enforcement. Pence’s ad is . We rate it ."
7935,3,"Live cats have holes drilled into their skulls,"" posts put into their heads and coils put into their eyes, and some have had their ears cut off or are intentionally deafened or starved at UW-Madison labs that do research to improve hearing in humans.","October 8, 2013",animals;education;health care;public health;science,people for the ethical treatment of animals,"People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Va.",wisconsin,0,0,2,0,0,0,a robo-call and video,"Cats are given limited amounts of food during experiments, not starved for up to six days. Our rating PETA said: ""Live cats have holes drilled into their skulls,"" posts put into their heads and coils put into their eyes, and some have had their ears cut off or are intentionally deafened or starved at UW-Madison labs that do research to improve hearing in humans. Overall, some of the various parts of the statement were partially accurate, others were not. We rate the statement . If you would like to comment on this item, you can do so on the Journal Sentinel’s web page .  "
17591,1,Why did the US (NIH) in 2017 give $3.7m to the Wuhan Lab in China? Such grants were prohibited in 2014. Did Pres. Obama grant an exception?,"April 26, 2020",punditfact;coronavirus,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",,8,7,10,9,12,7,a tweet,"Giuliani said that in 2017, the United States gave $3.7 million to the lab in Wuhan at a time when such a grant was prohibited. The grant was made in 2014, and the amount that went to the lab was a bit under $600,000.  The grant restriction did not apply to identifying naturally occurring viruses, which is what the Wuhan lab did. We rate this  ."
22333,1,"Maggie Hassan won ""1,100 votes from town with population under 700.","November 14, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",new hampshire,4,13,35,53,711,331,a post,"That tracks with the total number of ballots cast in Columbia: 309. The secretary of state’s office sent PolitiFact a press release in response to questions about the posts. The 1,106 figure was ""a simple typo,"" according to the statement announcing a correction in the vote tally for the senate race.    The , which was corrected and reflected in the now-online results, didn’t change the election’s outcome.   We rate claims that Hassan won more votes in Columbia, New Hampshire, than were cast . "
10487,4,"Says because of his actions, Wisconsin ""property taxes today are lower than they were four years ago.","July 13, 2015",candidate biography;city government;education;taxes,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a speech,"And Walker’s measures to limit local property tax increases have played a major role.  But the lower taxes are due in part to declines in housing values that have only partially recovered. We rate Walker’s statement .    More on Scott Walker Go here for an in-depth look at Walker’s record on the -O-Meter and the Flip-O-Meter. And here for each of the fact checks we’ve done on claims by, and about, the Wisconsin governor."
19632,1,Says Joe Biden was the only world leader to wear a face mask during a video conference.,"April 25, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) Though Biden appears to be the only person wearing a mask in the image that’s being shared on social media, the photo shows only about a quarter of the world leaders in attendance.   Other photos from the summit show both Biden not wearing a mask and other officials donning them .   And contrary to the suggestion that Biden was wearing a mask alone in a room, photos from the State Department show he was joined at different points by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, National Economic Council Director, Brian Deese, and aides.    We rate this post ."
2057,4,"If we ban the practice of earmarks, we could save the American taxpayer anywhere between $15 (billion) to $20 billion dollars a year in pork-barrel spending.","August 2, 2010",federal budget,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,a campaign video,"Taxpayers for Common Sense concluded that the amounts were between $15.9 billion to $18.3 billion for the past three years -- all within Rubio's range. The Office of Management and Budget concluded the amounts were $11.1 billion, $15.3 billion and $16.6 billion -- so two of the three were within Rubio's range. So far, Rubio is scoring five out of six here. The CRS Congressional earmarks ranged from $10.1 billion to $12.5 billion -- all below Rubio's estimate. But since Rubio was within range for most of the OMB and Taxpayers for Common Sense figures, we rate this  ."
8655,3,Who will raising the minimum wage actually help? … More than half work full-time. The average worker is 35 years old.,"April 4, 2014",economy;jobs,jay carney,"Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, was formerly employed by TIME magazine and CNN, according to a TIME biographical post.",national,0,2,1,2,2,0,a meme on Twitter,"The White House meme asked, ""Who will raising the minimum wage actually help? … More than half work full-time. The average worker is 35 years old."" The White House’s math is credible because it carefully framed the question as ""who gains from a minimum-wage hike to $10.10,"" rather than ""who currently earns the minimum wage"" -- a common yardstick used by its opponents. Still, the White House’s portrayal is somewhat one-sided because it leaves out the negative impacts of raising the minimum wage, which have been pointed out by such independent groups as the CBO. We rate the  ."
12757,5,"Says John Bolton supported the Iraq War and said last year that ""I still think the decision to overthrow Saddam was correct.","November 15, 2016",foreign policy;military;terrorism,rand paul,"Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky elected in 2010. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out to seek re-election to the Senate. Paul is a medical doctor and an ophthalmologist. His father is Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas. ",national,12,15,13,7,12,4,a column on rare.us,"Paul said Bolton was a supporter of the Iraq War who said last year, ""I still think the decision to overthrow Saddam was correct."" Bolton did indeed say that to a reporter for the Washington Examiner, and he also made a similar comment published in the Washington Post on the same day. We were not able to find any published comments in which Bolton offered a substantially different opinion. So we rate Paul’s statement ."
14567,4,"Under Rahm Emanuel, ""We've got tree trimmers making six figures.","April 24, 2018",city budget,ja'mal green,Ja'Mal Green is a Chicago activist and mayoral hopeful.,illinois,0,1,0,0,0,0,a radio interview,"Green claimed that, under Emanuel’s leadership, ""We’ve got tree trimmers making six figures."" Both the source his campaign provided and the city data on which it was based indicate that a handful of tree trimmers employed by the city’s Streets and Sanitation department did make six figures after accounting for overtime pay in 2016, the last year for which all relevant data was available. Still, Green overstepped in ignoring the contract revisions Emanuel’s administration negotiated to gain flexibility in work assignments and reduce base salary for newly hired workers. The designated tree trimmers on the city payroll were all hired before Emanuel took office and get paid under contract terms agreed to years before he became mayor. That said, overtime costs for tree trimmers have soared under Emanuel, and that is why the total compensation for some city tree trimmers has hit the six-figures. Green gets most, but not all of his  about tree-trimmer pay right, which is why we rate it ."
1817,3,"Every day, oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico. ... Even with disaster on our coast..., Richard Burr voted to let big oil off the hook.","June 11, 2010",environment;climate change;energy;message machine 2010;oil spill,americans united for change,"A liberal advocacy group, Americans United For Change states on its Web site that it was founded in 2005 to fend off President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. In 2006, the organization ""broadened its scope to build broad public and congressional support for action on a wide range of long-stalled policy issues.""",national,0,1,4,1,4,0,a TV commercial,"... We’re talking about a pattern of behavior here."" We agree it's fair game for Americans United for Change to link campaign contributions from the oil industry to votes that support industry positions, and it's within acceptable political discourse for the group to say that Burr and his fellow Republican senators ""voted to let big oil off the hook"" by their vote on the Murkowski resolution. But we think the ad overplays its hand on the oil spill to such a degree that it risks  viewers about the nature of the vote being criticized. We rate the ad ."
3008,0,Congressman Robert Hurt has a plan to cut education by 40 percent.,"January 31, 2011",education;federal budget;state budget,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,virginia,1,1,8,14,8,9,a radio ad,"While there is no question Hurt and the group want to quickly implement serious spending reductions, the 40 percent figure actually refers to a reduction of hypothetical spending in 2021 to 2006 levels, not an immediate 40 percent cut. Furthermore, only eight percent of Virginia’s public education funds come from Washington. So even if all federal money suddenly vanished, the state would not see anywhere near a 40 percent reduction in education spending as the DCCC claims. The radio attack ad  overstates the possible impacts of federal spending cuts on Virginia’s education budget. Because of this major exaggeration we rate the  ."
14572,1,"Says Beto O'Rourke had a ""resolution to legalize all narcotics--including heroin and other deadly opioids.","May 1, 2018",drugs,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,a tweet,"Cruz said O’Rourke had a resolution to legalize all narcotics. In 2009, an El Paso City Council resolution directed at the federal government included language from O’Rourke urging open debate about ending the national prohibition of narcotics. The resolution, adopted but later vetoed, did not call for legalizing all narcotics nor did we spot  that O’Rourke has taken that sweeping stand. We rate Cruz’s  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
7743,2,Says Ken Cuccinelli supported a law that could allow people to carry missile launchers into airports.,"August 23, 2013",homeland security;guns,terry mcauliffe,"Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, was elected governor of Virginia on Nov. 5, 2013. He received 47.8 percent of the vote in defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who came in at 45.2 percent. Robert Sarvis, a Libertarian, finished a distant third with 6.5 percent.
McAuliffe's inaguration as Virginia's 72nd governor is scheduled on Jan. 11, 2014.
McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and noted political fundraiser, was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. In 2009, McAuliffe unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor.
McAuliffe was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 9, 1957. He has a bachelor's degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. McAuliffe has lived in Fairfax County for more than 20 years, is married and has five children.
 ",virginia,7,4,3,16,7,4,a tweet,"McAuliffe, in a tweet bearing a picture of a loaded missile launcher, says ""Cuccinelli voted against making it a misdemeanor to carry a missile into an airport."" In 2004, Cuccinelli was one of 16 people in the 40-member state Senate that voted against a bill barring people from entering an airport terminal carrying a ""gun or other weapon designed or intended to propel a missile or projectile of any kind."" It can be argued that the description does  encompass missile launchers, but that’s an interpretation that doesn’t weigh the debate at the time the bill was considered. A 2004 news article said Senate opponents were concerned that the bill undercut the rights of some gun owners. The article made no mention of missile launchers. McAuliffe’s tweet focuses on the term ""missile"" and suggests that the bill’s purpose was to ban warheads from airports. But the term ""missile"" is undefined in state law and could mean bullets, rocks, or even a cup of soda if it’s thrown maliciously. So there’s a trace of  to a deeply distorted and inflamed statement by McAuliffe. We rate his  ."
203,4,"Mike Huckabee ""supported taxpayer-funded scholarships for illegal aliens.","December 10, 2007",immigration,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,a TV ad,"(Huckabee also claimed the rules regarding this proposal were stricter than they actually were; we checked that  here . We also checked previous claims from Romney on similar issues here and here .) Even though Huckabee supported the measure in 2005, it never made it out of the Arkansas legislature, so it never became a law in Arkansas. Romney is right in his assertion, but he glosses over a few important caveats to get there. For that reason, we rate this  ."
17532,1,"Joe Diffie's death was labeled ""as a COVID-19 death and it wasn't!","April 13, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"STOP STARTING  NEWS. I’ve seen multiple posts and it’s upsetting to all of us."" In addition, we’ve looked into claims that hospitals get paid more for patients who are suffering from COVID-19. While it’s standard for Medicare to pay hospitals more for patients who go on ventilators — and Medicare is paying an additional 20% for the treatment of COVID-19 victims as part of a federal stimulus deal —  indicates that COVID-19 cases are being undercounted, not inflated so that hospitals can cash in.   We rate this Facebook post ."
3241,5,"Says four-year terms for City Council members are ""the norm in most cities of our size.","February 25, 2011",city government,lee leffingwell,"Lee Leffingwell, initially elected mayor in 2009, is a former Austin City Council member and retired airline pilot. Leffingwell, a past chair of the city's Environmental Board, grew up in Austin's Bouldin neighborhood, according to the biography posted on the city's web site.",texas,3,1,4,1,0,0,State of the City address,"Among them, Boston, Charlotte and Fort Worth have two-year terms, and the other seven cities have four-year terms, according to our checks of city websites and interviews of respective city officials. Twist: Leffingwell’s fact sheet shows Boston’s council members with four-year terms, but Ann Braga, the Boston council’s staff director, told us that’s  only for the mayor. So, 70 percent of cities close in population to Austin are represented by council members elected to four-year terms. We rate the statement ."
2608,1,"Congressman Nye voted against a bill which would have defunded the $5-10 billion"" the IRS needed to implement  health care legislation.","September 8, 2010",health care,scott rigell,"Scott Rigell, R-2nd, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Second District includes Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore and parts of Norfolk and Hampton. Rigell, who joined Congress in 2011, serves on the Armed Services and Budget committees.
Rigell was raised in Titusville, Fla. Rigell, who owns two new car dealerships, served for six years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He has an associates degree from Brevard Community College, now Eastern Florida State College, a bachelor's degree from Georgia's Mercer University, and a master's degree from Regent University, Virginia Beach.
 ",virginia,1,1,0,2,2,0,a statment on his website,"That said, there’s a tiny fraction of  in the suggestion that Nye’s vote closed the the door on a bill that might have eliminated funding for a portion of health care reform.    But, Nye didn’t vote ""against"" anything. He voted for House consideration to proceed on the Disclose Act. It is far-fetched to make such a sweeping conclusion based on a procedural vote. For that reason, we find the  to be .      "
2019,2,"A bill to cap carbon emissions ""could cost Ohio 100,000 jobs.","July 6, 2010",cap and trade;climate change;economy;energy,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,a television campaign ad,"And remember, that was the worst case scenario from two groups that tend to support big business’ side of the issue. That’s why we find Portman’s  to be . Comment on this item .    Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
2520,5,More Texans have new jobs today than the entire population of Fort Worth.,"October 13, 2010",economy;jobs,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,an ad,"The U.S. Census Bureau's most recent estimate — for July 1, 2009 — is 727,577. We asked Ed Friedman, a director at Moody's Analytics who covers the Texas economy, about the validity of Perry's comparison of statewide job gains over time with Fort Worth's population in 2010. He called the comparison a reasonable way for Perry ""to give you an idea of the size of the gain."" Either way, the Fort Worth comparison stands up because no matter which final month is chosen, the number of Texas jobs has gone up more than the population of Fort Worth. We rate Perry's statement as ."
19640,1,"Photo shows Facebook's ""community standards team.","April 23, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"According to that post, Facebook relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and reports from people to identify posts, pictures and other content that likely violate the platform’s community standards. Those reports are then reviewed by Facebook’s community operations team.   You can see some of the people who work on Facebook’s community standards in this April 2019 video . They don’t appear to be the same people in the photo.   We rate this post ."
3924,0,"Says state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf wants to ""eliminate Medicare"" as we know it.","July 8, 2011",medicare;retirement,shelly moore,"Shelly Moore, as a high school teacher in Ellsworth and local teacher union president, ran for the Wisconsin Senate as a Democrat in 2011 when incumbent Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, was recalled following her vote in favor of Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill. Harsdorf defeated Moore.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,1,a campaign flier,"We could find no backup at all in our own search of Harsdorf’s position, and she said simply she’s focused on state issues. Indeed, the campaign literature highlights a woman who wouldn’t be affected -- and who herself disputes that she ""can’t afford"" for Medicare to end. It is incumbent on the person making a factual  to be able to support it. The flier’s claims are , barring new information, and the  nature of the presentation pushes this into  territory. That’s a ."
14560,2,"Says illegal immigration is ""costing us $130 billion a year to house and feed and give benefits to people that shouldn't be even in the country.","April 23, 2018",immigration;economy,don blankenship,"Don Blankenship is a candidate for U.S. senator from West Virginia and the former CEO of Massey Energy. He spent a year in jail for his conviction on conspiring to avoid mine safety regulations, an act that led to the deaths of 29 miners in a 2010 mine explosion.",national,0,0,0,1,1,1,a debate,"Blankenship said, ""We have to stop illegal immigration, costing us $130 billion a year to house and feed and give benefits to people that shouldn’t be even in the country."" Immigrants in the country illegally generate costs for taxpayers, but it’s difficult to determine a precise figure largely because there isn’t reliable data. Blankenship’s  is based on a 2017 FAIR report estimating illegal immigration cost about $135 billion a year. Experts picked apart many aspects of the report’s methodology. But relevant to Blankenship’s statement, the group’s estimate did not factor in housing costs. For all welfare costs brought on by illegal immigration, FAIR calculated about $5.8 billion a year at the federal level and $2.9 billion a year at the state level (including school meals and child care programs). Blankenship’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
6189,3,"Says Sherrod Brown voted ""for the $1.17 trillion health care law that adds a new tax on Ohio manufacturers.","August 15, 2012",health care;taxes,crossroads gps,"Crossroads GPS is a conservative advocacy group founded by prominent Republicans, including former White House political adviser Karl Rove.",ohio,2,1,4,9,1,2,a campaign commercial,"Dissenters say it could cost jobs and force business overseas. But portraying it broadly as ""a new tax on Ohio manufacturers"" over bills the scope of the tax. In Ohio, Crossroads said, about 20,000 workers are employed by makers of medical devices and equipment. Those jobs amout to about 3 percent of the more than 660,000 workers in Ohio that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says are employed in manufacturing. On the -O-Meter, the  rates . "
16722,1,Says a photo shows a pack of wolves walking in a single line in the snow being led by the sick.,"November 19, 2019",animals;fake news;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Such a designation emphasizes not the animal’s dominant status, which is trivial information, but its role as pack progenitor, which is critical information."" The photograph in the post is real and unaltered, but its caption is . The pack is not being led by the older, sick wolves and the ""alpha"" or leader wolf is not bringing up the rear. In reality, a strong wolf leads the pack single-file in order to save energy to get through the deep snow.   This post is ."
10761,5,No openly gay man has ever been elected to the Georgia Legislature.,"September 17, 2015",elections;lgbtq;states,georgia voice,The Georgia Voice is a bi-weekly newspaper in Atlanta that covers LGBT news in Georgia.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a news story,A newspaper focused LGBT news recently said that no gay man has ever been elected to the Georgia Legislature. Newspaper archives and a statewide advocacy group that follows the issue back up the . Voters have sent three lesbians to serve under the Gold Dome. And one man came out during his stint in office but lost his next election. We rate the  .
11815,3,"When a bill is sent to the governor's office, there is no option for changing it. You sign it or you don't sign it. While there was lots of conversation, there was really no opportunity for any sort of amending.","June 1, 2016",labor,patty judge,Patty Judge is a former Iowa lieutenant governor and secretary of agriculture running for the U.S. Senate in 2016. ,iowa,0,0,1,0,0,0,a post-debate interview,"Judge said there’s no option for changing or amending a bill after it’s ""sent to the governor’s office."" That’s , but it overlooks the month-long period in which this particular collective bargaining legislation was held under a motion to reconsider after it was passed by lawmakers. If legislators, the governor’s office and other interested parties had found a new consensus on the bill’s language sometime within that March 24 to April 25 window, the bill could have been reconsidered by the Senate, amended, returned to the House and ultimately passed in the altered form. For this reason we rate Judge’s assertions that there was ""no option for changing"" the bill and ""no opportunity for any sort of amending"" ."
8554,2,"A ""real result"" of his term is Georgia having ""the lowest taxes per capita of any state.","March 5, 2014",taxes,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,campaign flyer,"But it also had low taxes under his predecessor. Under the latest ranking, Georgia is still near the bottom, but it will move up a notch to 49th-lowest. Deal’s campaign has a point. But a lot of context is needed to fully understand the . We rate the statement .   -"
15842,4,"Some patients who are on transplant lists for kidney or other organs are being dropped from the list simply because they are shown as a licensed card holder"" for medical marijuana.","March 7, 2019",marijuana,gary farmer,"Gary Farmer, a lawyer, was elected to the Florida state senate in 2016 and re-elected in 2018. He represents eastern Broward County. He lives in Lighthouse Point.",florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a Florida Senate meeting,"Farmer said, ""Some patients who are on transplant lists for kidney or other organs are being dropped from the list simply because they are shown as a licensed card holder"" for medical marijuana. We found a scarcity of national information to show how often someone is kept off a transplant list as a result of marijuana use. But what we did find — including anecdotal reports from several states and some survey data — indicates that some patients have been rejected from transplant lists because of their cardholder status, as Farmer said. It's important to know that every transplant center sets its own rules. We rate this statement ."
17909,1,Of course I will always protect those with preexisting conditions. Always.,"June 22, 2020",health check,martha mcsally,"Martha McSally, a Republican, is a former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Representative from Arizona. McSally served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 2010 as a full colonel. She was the first female fighter pilot to fly a combat mission and command a fighter squadron. She was elected to public office for the first time when she won election to Congress in 2014.",arizona,0,0,1,5,3,1,a campaign ad,"In her new TV ad, McSally claims she will ""always protect those with preexisting conditions."" But nothing in her voting record, which tracks closely with the Republican repeal-and-replace philosophy, supports this . And she has continually declined opportunities to oppose a pending legal threat to the ACA, including its provisions related to preexisting conditions, by a group of GOP governors and supported by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the legislation her campaign cited to justify her stance falls short in terms of meaningfully protecting Americans with preexisting medical conditions. McSally has not in the past or present taken actions that back up her statement. We rate it ."
18178,1,"The FBI raided a ""Cleveland office linked to Ukraine. Biden, Pelosi, Kerry and Romney all had sons getting tens of millions of dollars from no-show jobs in Ukraine.","August 5, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"It’s correct to say that a company linked to Ukraine was recently raided by the FBI. But there is no  that the sons of Biden, Pelosi, Kerry and Romney got ""tens of millions of dollars from no-show jobs in Ukraine."" They are all unrelated to the ongoing investigation of Kolomoisky’s alleged money laundering. The post is . We rate it ."
5659,5,"Says ""there have been some job gains in the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the obvious points of comparison.","May 28, 2012",jobs;pundits,paul krugman,Paul Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times and professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008. He describes himself as liberal.,new jersey,8,4,3,0,3,0,The New York Times,"In his May 28 column, Krugman claimed ""there have been some job gains in the McMansion State since Mr. Christie took office, but they have lagged gains both in the nation as a whole and in New York and Connecticut, the obvious points of comparison."" Krugman’s analysis is correct. In terms of the percentage increases in total jobs and private-sector jobs as of April 2012, New Jersey’s growth since the beginning of Christie’s tenure has been less than the increases in New York, Connecticut and the nation as a whole. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
1086,0,"Photo of ""tea party"" protests shows crowd sprawling from Capitol to Washington Monument","September 12, 2009",history,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,conservative blogs,"Power Line took the picture down all together. But because mistakes can still live forever on the Internet and many people who saw the photo on Facebook were unaware it was found to be the  picture, we decided to still rate it on the -O-Meter. And  it is. UPDATED: We updated this item to include new details about the Promise Keepers photos."
18671,3,"Says Dan Forest wants to use tax dollars ""to help rich people send their kids to private school using vouchers.","October 14, 2020",education,roy cooper,"Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is the governor of North Carolina. Previously he was the attorney general, a state senator and a state representative.",north carolina,3,9,8,4,0,0,a debate,"Cooper said Forest wants to use tax dollars ""to help rich people send their kids to private school using vouchers."" Cooper was referring to the fact that Forest has said he wants to make North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program available to ""every family in North Carolina."" That language suggests high-income families could access the funds. However, Forest says he’d implement a weighted lottery system to ensure low-income families have the best chance of accessing funds. It’s unclear how that system would work.  Cooper’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, specifically Forest’s stated intent to give preference to poor families. We rate this  ."
22810,3,We have a national debt the size of our nation's economy for the first time since World War II.,"March 24, 2023",debt;economy,mike pence,"Mike Pence is the former vice president of the United States. A Republican, Pence was elected governor of Indiana in 2012. Pence previously served for 12 years as a congressman from Indiana representing the Sixth Congressional District; he was first elected in 2000. During his time in the U.S. House of Represenatives, he served as House Republican Conference chairman and chairman of the House Republican Study Committee. Pence was born in Columbus, Ind. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1981 from Hanover College and a law degree in 1986 from Indiana University. After accepting Donald Trump's offer to be running mate, Pence ended his 2016 campaign to be re-elected as Indiana governor. ",,5,7,21,12,25,2,an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo,"Pence said, ""We have a national debt the size of our nation’s economy for the first time since World War II."" Pence has a point that today the national debt, depending on what measure is used, is either 100% of GDP or slightly less. However, today’s debt-to-GDP level is not 100% for the ""first time since World War II.""  By one commonly used measure, it’s been above 100% since 2013, and by another, it hit 100% in 2020. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it  ."
13931,1,"Says Roy Moore ""has advocated getting the federal government out of health care altogether, which means doing away with Medicaid, which means doing away with Medicare.","September 27, 2017",health care;medicaid;medicare,doug jones,Doug Jones is the Democratic nominee in the U.S. Senate special election in Alabama.,national,0,2,2,1,1,0,an interview,"Jones said Moore wants to end the federal government’s role in Medicaid and Medicare. The record clearly demonstrates Moore wants to repeal Obamacare. He may not have articulated what he wants the health insurance system to look like, but we found no  to suggest he wants to end the federal government’s role in Medicaid and Medicare. We rate Jones’ statement ."
15666,3,"By rubber-stamping the Bayer-Monsanto merger, the Justice Department is handing control over one quarter of the world's seeds and pesticides market to one ginormous agribusiness.","February 4, 2019",agriculture,elizabeth warren,"Elizabeth Warren is a senator from Massachusetts. Warren was elected to the Senate in 2012 and was re-elected in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024. Warren received a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology from the University of Houston and a J.D. from Rutgers Law School. In 2019, she announced her race for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out March 5, 2020.",national,8,11,10,4,2,0,a Facebook post,"Warren said the Justice Department ""rubber stamped"" a deal that cleared the way for one firm to control one-fourth of the seeds and pesticide market worldwide. The regulatory process took many months and Bayer had to sell substantial business lines to win approval. ""Rubber-stamped"" gives the  impression that it happened without scrutiny or conditions. The market share number is generally correct. However, Bayer plays a commanding role in the sale of some seeds, such as corn and soybeans, and not in others. And the experts we reached described the limits of control, even when one or two firms dominate a market. We rate this  ."
18427,1,"The man in a mugshot is ""responsible for lighting 32 of the wildfires"" on the West Coast.","September 20, 2020",environment;climate change;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A post suggests climate change has nothing to do with the fires burning in the Western U.S., blaming instead one man for setting 32 wildfires. That isn’t . Brandon McGlover was arrested in 2018 for lighting nine fires in southwest California and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence. Also, experts say that climate change has modified environments in the West Coast, making them more conducive to wildfires. ​ We rate this post . "
4031,3,A Waushara County school closed because of state budget cuts supported by Republican Wisconsin state Sen. Luther Olsen.,"August 1, 2011",state budget,progressive change campaign committee and democracy for america,"The Progressive Change Campaign Committee ""works to elect bold progressive candidates to federal office and to help those candidates and their campaigns save money, work smarter, and win more often.""
Democracy for America ""provides campaign training, organizing resources, and media exposure so members have the power to support progressive issues and candidates up and down the ballot.""",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,a television ad,"But that’s only one piece of the picture. Much of the district’s cut in direct state aid was offset by budgetary changes allowed by the ""tools"" Walker and the GOP advocated. But the school district still had a shortfall -- and told parents that the time had come for closing Poy Sippi because of the ""historic budget cuts"" advanced by Walker and supported by Olsen. What’s more, the wave of retirements prompted by the changes contributed to the timing. We rate the  ."
225,3,"As governor, Mike Huckabee supported higher income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, grocery taxes, tobacco taxes, beer taxes, Internet taxes, nursing home bed taxes.","December 26, 2007",taxes,club for growth,The Club for Growth is an anti-tax group.,national,4,5,5,9,6,0,a TV ad,"As for the specific taxes cited in the ad, the Club is correct that Huckabee supported increases in income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, tobacco taxes, Internet taxes and nursing home bed taxes. He also opposed the repeal of grocery and beer taxes, which the the Club says indicates he supported ""higher taxes."" Overall, we find the Club for Growth ad to be technically correct because Huckabee did support the tax hikes cited or opposed repeals of the others. But the ad is  because it takes his comments out of context given the financial crisis he was dealing with in Arkansas and the mandate to balance the budget. And so we find the Club's  to be ."
4187,1,"Says Oregon state employees received a ""catch-up"" pay raise in 1981 -- just two years after they agreed not to take a raise in exchange for a retirement benefit.","June 30, 2011",labor;retirement;unions,dennis richardson,"Dennis Richardson is a member of the Oregon House, representing District 4. He is an attorney and owns the law firm of Dennis Richardson & Associates, P.C., in Central Point.",oregon,1,2,1,0,4,0,a press briefing,"Readers can decide for themselves whether they did, and whether they should continue to get their retirement contributions paid. What we can say for sure is that even with the 6 percent retirement pickup added back to paychecks, the 15.3 percent so-called ""catch up"" raise was not out of line given inflation. And two, state workers didn’t get most of that 15.3 percent increase until the next biennium, at which point COLA cost-of-living increases were frozen for another two years. State workers may have done better economically than private sector employees, but that’s not what Richardson said in his original statement. We find his statement ."
7746,1,There's only one candidate under investigation -- Terry McAuliffe.,"August 22, 2013",ethics,ken cuccinelli,"Ken Cuccinelli became acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on June 10, 2019. Cuccinelli, a Republican, was Virginia's attorney general from 2010 to 2014. In 2013, he lost the general election for governor to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. In 2016, he was a adisver to the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Born in 1968, Cuccinelli has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Geroge Mason University School of Law and an M.A. in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.
He represented Fairfax County in the state senate from 2002 to 2010.
 
 
 
 
.",virginia,3,2,5,1,10,1,a TV ad,"Cuccinelli said McAuliffe is the only gubernatorial candidate under formal investigation. He cites an SEC probe into the tactics GreenTech Automotive used to attracted foreign investors. McAuliffe was chairman of the electric car company until last December and remains one of its key stockholders. But there has been no indication that McAuliffe is a target of the SEC investigation. The burden of proof falls on Cuccinelli to prove his charge against McAuliffe, and he comes up empty. The good news for Cuccinelli is that we can also say that he is not the focus of any current investigations. The bad news is that we rate his ad  ."
2358,1,"Jobs incentive program ""created over 1,200 high-wage jobs since 2009.","September 27, 2010",county budget;economy,tammy hall,"Tammy Hall, 50, was elected to the Lee County Board of Commissioners District 4 seat in November 2004.  In November 2005, she served as chairwoman, becoming the first woman to chair the board in its 119-year history. Previously, she represented Ward 1 on the Fort Myers City Council.",florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign mailer,"""I think the message is that we are out there, doing our part as government to allow those jobs to accumulate,"" she said. Does ""FIRST INITIATIVE -- Economic incentive program created over 1,200 high wage jobs since 2009"" accurately convey that message and the facts? The number of jobs created is overstated by about 38 percent and most remain unfilled now.  Also, the FIRST INITIATIVE program isn’t the only source of incentive money being used. So we rate this  ."
22881,0,"Video shows John F. Kennedy Jr. in a ""real presidential convoy.","April 9, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the crash probably happened after Kennedy, who was inexperienced at flying his plane alone at night, became disoriented in haze .    Their bodies were recovered in seas southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on July 21, 1999, after a recovery team of U.S. Navy divers searched the ocean floor for about 18 hours, the Washington Post reported at the time. Kennedy’s body was found in the cockpit, still strapped to his seat.   His cremated remains were scattered at sea.   We rate this post !  "
11848,4,Hate crimes against American Muslims and mosques have tripled after Paris and San Bernardino.,"June 13, 2016",homeland security;crime;race and ethnicity;terrorism,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,Orlando,"Clinton said that ""hate crimes against American Muslims and mosques have tripled after Paris and San Bernardino."" Calculations by the director of an academic center found that the number did triple after those attacks. But it’s worth noting that his data does not show whether or not they remained at that elevated level, or for how long -- something that would be a reasonable interpretation of what Clinton said. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it ."
12709,1,I have tremendous support from women.,"November 3, 2016",elections;women,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"Jacksonville, Fla","Trump said that he has ""tremendous support from women."" His campaign pointed to a poll that shows him gaining ground with women, but on average, he lags behind Clinton by 11 percentage points. And even the poll cited by his campaign finds he still faces a 13-point gap. His best performance shows that 41 percent of women support him, but his polling average is 39 percent, appreciably lower than the fraction that have backed previous Republican candidates. That doesn’t seem to meet the common definition of ""tremendous."" We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ff7283d3-87b1-41e0-ba0c-9b417b759980"
6119,3,"Under the president's plan, he cuts Medicare by $716 billion, takes that money out of the Medicare trust fund and uses it to pay for Obamacare.","August 15, 2012",health care;medicare;tampa bay 10 news,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",florida,31,33,58,35,32,19,an interview,"Romney said, ""Under the president's plan, he cuts Medicare by $716 billion, takes that money out of the Medicare trust fund and uses it to pay for Obamacare."" This wording isn't as troublesome as other statements we've seen on this topic, including from Romney himself. Still, Romney's most-recent attempt at this  needs significantly more explanation. In this instance, Romney’s  gives the impression that the law takes money that was already allocated to Medicare and funds the new health care law with it. In fact, the law uses a number of measures to try to reduce the rapid growth of future Medicare spending. Those savings are then used to offset costs created by the law -- especially coverage for the uninsured -- so that the overall law doesn't add to the deficit. We rate his statement . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the 2012 election. See video fact-checks by clicking here ."
11649,3,"When President Obama landed in Cuba on Air Force One, no leader was there, nobody, to greet him -- perhaps an incident without precedent in the long and prestigious history of Air Force One.","April 27, 2016",foreign policy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,Washington,"Trump said, ""When President Obama landed in Cuba on Air Force One, no leader was there, nobody, to greet him -- perhaps an incident without precedent in the long and prestigious history of Air Force One."" While there appears to be some variation in protocol for presidential arrivals, it’s credible to view the absence of one of the Castro brothers at the airport as something of a snub, particularly since Raul Castro had met two visiting religious leaders there just months earlier. However, Trump  here when he says ""no leader was there, nobody, to greet him,"" since Cuba’s foreign minister and other high government officials were present. And there is at least one ""precedent"" for the foreign minister greeting a visiting president -- Nixon’s trip to China in 1972, which is actually a pretty good comparison for the type of trip Obama was making. We rate the statement ."
11399,1,"Common Core is ""education through Washington D.C.","March 10, 2016",education,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,Miami,"Trump said Common Core is ""education through Washington D.C."" The education standards for English and math were unveiled in 2010 after state school officials, nonprofits, teachers, parents and experts settled on broad education goals. Washington was not a player in that game, although Obama has given states that have education standards a leg up when applying for grant money. We rate Trump’s statement ."
9759,1,There is no good data showing secondhand smoke kills people.,"December 4, 2014",public health;science;punditfact,john stossel,"John Stossel is the host of ""Stossel,"" a weekly show with a libertarian bent that appears on the Fox Business Network. He also contributes to Fox News programming as a pundit and used to co-anchor ABC's ""20/20.""",,0,0,0,0,1,0,"an interview on ""Fox and Friends""","Stossel said ""there is no good data showing secondhand smoke kills people."" His definition of good obviously differs with the vast majority of scientists and researchers studying the effects of secondhand smoke. They say the data does show that secondhand smoke kills people. And that the data is indeed solid. Stossel’s  rates ."
18407,1,Kim Martin Morrow the CEO of Netflix has just been charged with 15 charges for child pornography,"September 17, 2020",children;crime;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a post on Facebook,"Social media posts , ""Kim Martin Morrow the CEO of Netflix has just been charged with 15 charges for child pornography."" Netflix’s CEO is Reed Hastings, and he has not been charged with any crime. The claims appear to be the result of backlash over a Netflix film that many say hypersexualizes young children. We rate this  ."
7819,5,One out of 10 minimum-wage workers in the U.S. live in Texas.,"September 18, 2013",economy;pundits;workers,stephanie cutter,"Stephanie Cutter appears as a co-host on CNN's Crossfire. She previously served as deputy campaign manager for the Barack Obama campaign in 2012. She is the former communications director for the Democratic National Committee and worked as a White House deputy communications director while Bill Clinton was president.
 ",texas,2,1,0,1,1,0,"an episode of CNN's ""Crossfire""","Cutter said one of 10 minimum-wage workers in the U.S. lives in Texas. Actually, 18 percent of U.S. workers paid the minimum wage in 2012 toiled in Texas, according to government figures, while Texas was home to 13 percent of the nation’s hourly employees paid minimum wage or less. Since Cutter was arguing that Texas is not a land of plenty, the fact that she understated the state’s share of minimum-wage workers doesn’t short the -O-Meter. We rate this  as ."
22461,1,A video shows Nancy Pelosi unveiling a portrait of former U.S. Energy Department employee.,"December 14, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Sam Brinton, the former deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition in the U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy, who was recently accused of stealing luggage at a Las Vegas airport.   But this video has been altered, and a post sharing it was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook.) The real footage shows Pelosi unveiling her own portrait at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 14.   We rate claims that Pelosi unveiled a portrait of Brinton ."
9738,0,"Says a man in Ferguson, Mo., was photographed holding a sign that said, ""No mother should have to fear for her son's life every time he robs a store.","December 2, 2014",criminal justice;race and ethnicity,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"A photograph that went viral purports to show a protester in Ferguson, holding a sign that said, ""No mother should have to fear for her son's life every time he robs a store."" However, the photo was manipulated by a social media user, who later acknowledged the alteration. The change in wording turns the sign’s message completely on its head, so we rate the  .  "
13347,4,"When I became mayor of Los Angeles, we had a 44 percent (high school) graduation rate. I said that was unacceptable. I challenged that notion. I said the mayor needs to be involved with our schools. We need to partner together. As I left, after a number of reforms, we grew our graduation rate from 44 percent to 72.","March 23, 2017",education;the 2018 california governor's race,antonio villaraigosa,"Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, is a candidate for California governor, former mayor of Los Angeles and former state Assembly speaker. ",california,0,6,1,0,1,0,a speech at a candidates forum,"California gubernatorial candidate and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently claimed about the Los Angeles Unified School District: ""When I became mayor of Los Angeles, we had a 44 percent (high school) graduation rate. I said that was unacceptable. I challenged that notion. I said the mayor needs to be involved with our schools. We need to partner together. As I left, after a number of reforms, we grew our graduation rate from 44 percent to 72."" A 2006 study by the nonpartisan Education Week placed the district’s graduation rate at 44 percent, while a Harvard study the year before placed the rate at 45.3 percent. They both used enrollment data from the early 2000s. School district officials in 2006 disputed the findings, saying improvements had been made and the rate was closer to 64 percent. District data shows that rate had climbed to 70.2 percent immediately after Villaraigosa’s term ended. It rose to 72.2 percent and then 77 percent in the following two years. Several observers of Los Angeles politics and education said Villaraigosa doesn’t get all the credit but did play an outsized role. He helped elect a reform-minded school board, install a superintendent and created a nonprofit that took control of and helped improve the district’s worst performing schools. The dispute over the district’s view of its graduation rate is missing from Villaraigosa’s statement. As is the fact that the studies used data from the early 2000s, a few years before Villaraigosa took office. But there’s certainly  to back up the former mayor’s  about graduation rate improvements and his influence. In the end, we rate Villaraigosa’s  .   – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. UPDATE: We have updated our fact check to note that Dan Schnur’s wife, Cecile Ablack, served as deputy mayor for communications under former Mayor Villaraigosa."
16607,1,"The vast majority of Wisconsin students cannot even read, write, or do math at grade level.","September 19, 2019",education,jeremy thiesfeldt,"Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, was first elected to the Wisconsin state Assembly in 2010. As of 2019 he served as chairman of the Assembly Committee on Education.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a weekly radio address,"Thiesfeldt used state test results to  the ""vast majority"" of Wisconsin students are below grade level in math and English. Experts say proficient was once roughly equal to some definitions of grade level, but a dramatic shift in 2013 means that is no longer the case. Wisconsin raised the bar and — predictably — more kids then failed to clear it. Today, Wisconsin’s definition of proficient is almost identical to that of a key federal testing agency that explicitly warns against conflating proficiency with grade level. They say proficiency is more akin to ""mastery"" of a subject. We rate Thiesfeldt’s  ."
9037,3,David Perdue said he'd raise taxes.,"June 19, 2014",taxes,jack kingston,"Jack Kingston, a Republican, is a former U.S. Representative from Georgia and a political commentator.",georgia,1,3,4,3,2,0,television ad,"Basing the statement alone on Perdue’s meeting with a newspaper editorial board takes his statements out of context. Equating revenue increases with tax hikes is a stretch that breaks upon closer examination. Perdue is far more clear, though, on support for extending sales taxes to goods and services bought online. Though the Fair Tax includes such a tax as part of its proposal, there is a separate bill that would levy the Internet sales tax in the exact way that Perdue said he supported. Taken together, we rate the  .  "
2322,1,"Says Rand Paul thinks drug-dealing, theft, burglary and prostitution should be decriminalized.","September 14, 2010",crime;message machine 2010,jack conway,Jack Conway has been the Attorney General of Kentucky since 2008. He unsuccessfully ran against Rand Paul as the Democratic nominee in Kentucky’s 2010 U.S. Senate election.,national,0,2,0,0,1,0,a campaign video,"But for the Conway campaign to splice that with comments from law enforcement officials listing non-violent crime such as dealing drugs to kids, promoting prostitution, theft, burglary and financial crime suggests Paul wants to decriminalize those acts. We couldn't find a single instance where Paul has said he specifically wanted to legalize any of those activities. Conversely, Paul has repeatedly and unequivocally said he does not want to make those things legal, and that he has no plans to change the current laws with regard to them. We think a reasonable person can see what's going on here. We rate this ad ."
5746,5,"Says Barack Obama is ""trying to slash funding for the Armed Pilots Program designed to prevent terror attacks.","June 12, 2012",guns,national rifle association,An advocacy group that fights restrictions on the right to bear arms.,national,1,6,1,5,6,4,a mailer,"The NRA claimed that Obama is ""trying to slash funding for the Armed Pilots Program designed to prevent terror attacks."" The Armed Pilots Program was created post-Sept. 11, 2001, to serve as a last-line of defense in a terror attack. And Obama, in his FY 2013 budget proposal, did propose cutting the budget for the program in half. Obama says the program isn’t as critical as it once was. But that doesn’t contradict the NRA’s . We rate it ."
1095,1,"Insurers delayed an Illinois man's treatment, ""and he died because of it.","September 9, 2009",health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a speech to a joint session of Congress,"Still, the president said that Otto Raddatz's death was caused by a delay in his surgery caused by the insurer's decision to rescind his policy. But as Peggy Raddatz testified, government intervention enabled her brother to have the procedure, and he lived, despite his cancer, for another three and a half years. When Raddatz eventually died earlier this year, his sister said that his death came while waiting for a second procedure that did not happen because the transplant donor unexpectedly fell ill. Critics can still blame the insurance company for insensitivity — and it's  that the company only paid for Raddatz's treatment after the attorney general's office acted — but the  shows that it's  to say a delay in care caused his death. So we rate the president's statement ."
21549,0,Says Barack Obama announced Joe Biden's death.,"May 23, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) There is no credence to the  that Biden died, nor that former President Barack Obama announced his death. Biden, very much alive, spoke publicly from the White House on June 7 as he signed several pieces of legislation.   On May 24, the day after this posted, Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House, public buildings and grounds, military posts and naval stations, and naval vessels, in remembrance of the children and teachers who were killed during the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that day.   We rate this post !"
13229,1,"It is unusual"" for a White House official like former National Security Adviser Susan Rice to make unmasking requests.","April 4, 2017",homeland security;foreign policy;privacy issues,tom cotton,"Tom Cotton, a Republican, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 from a district in Arkansas.",national,1,5,2,9,8,1,an interview on CNN,"Cotton said, ""It is unusual"" for a White House official like former National Security Adviser Susan Rice to make unmasking requests. As the president’s top consultant on issues of national security, Rice and other national security advisers consume a large amount of intelligence. There are numerous legitimate reasons why Rice might ask an intelligence agency to reveal the identity of an unnamed person in an intelligence report. It might not be an everyday occurrence, but it is not so ""unusual"" as to raise suspicion, as Cotton said. We rate Cotton’s  ."
22962,4,"Gov. Ron DeSantis signed ""a last-minute exception into an anti-discrimination law for anyone who also operates a theme park more than 25 acres in Florida,"" benefiting Walt Disney Co.","April 30, 2023",corporations;corrections and updates;legal issues;recreation;technology,vivek ramaswamy,Vivek Ramaswamy is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He previously worked in the finance and biotech sectors.,florida,0,1,1,0,0,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Ramaswamy said DeSantis signed ""a last-minute exception into an anti-discrimination law for anyone who also operates a theme park more than 25 acres in Florida,"" benefiting The Walt Disney Co. In 2021, DeSantis signed a bill that sought to punish tech companies for removing statewide candidates in Florida from their platforms — a major legislative priority for him. After weeks of consideration, legislators in the hours before passage added a carve-out to the bill to protect Disney, which offers streaming services and has large Florida operations.  DeSantis signed the bill that included the Disney provision. He said after passage that he didn’t believe the language was necessary, even though his staff was involved in late negotiations over wording. The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it . UPDATE, May 4, 2023 : This article was updated to include reporting about emails concerning the Disney carve-out that surfaced in March 2023. The rating is unchanged. RELATED : Fact-checking 2024 presidential candidates, who’s running"
1652,3,"The Treaty of Tripoli signed by President John Adams was ""his outreach to Muslims.","April 19, 2010",pundits;religion,keith olbermann,Keith Olbermann is the host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.,national,0,2,3,0,2,0,comments on the MSNBC show Countdown,"By characterizing the treaty as an ""outreach to Muslims"", Olbermann  the importance of Article 11 and implies that the central focus of the treaty was to engage with Muslims. In fact, President John Adams wanted to secure commercial shipping rights, and the countries he wanted to negotiate with happened to be Muslim, and happened to justify piracy by declaring war on Christian nations. Adams addressed that declaration by claiming that the United States was not Christian, and was not at war with Muslims. There is some  in Olbermann's  in that the clause essentially ""reaches out"" to Muslims, but he  its importance. So we find his  ."
15438,4,"Studies even show that when women go to Congress they get more things done - more bipartisan effort, more bills passed.","November 12, 2018",congress;women,kirsten gillibrand,"Kirsten Gillibrand is a senator from New York. Gillibrand was appointed as senator in 2009 to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacated seat, as Clinton became U.S. Secretary of State under Barack Obama. Gillibrand won a special election in 2010 to retain her senate seat and won re-elections in 2012 and 2018. From 2007 to 2009, she served as the representative of New York’s 20th Congressional District. Gillibrand received a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law. In 2019, she ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in August.",new york,4,7,4,4,0,1,a television interview,"Gillibrand said studies show that when women are elected to Congress, they get more things done, are more bipartisan and pass more bills. Studies show women sponsor more bills, secure more discretionary spending for their constituents, and under certain circumstances, reach across the aisle more. In the Senate, women have been more successful than men at passing bills. Studies also show that when women are elected, they work harder than their male colleagues. Other research, however, shows women are not more bipartisan than men and that women’s effectiveness relative to men’s effectiveness varies under different conditions. We rate Gillibrand’s  .   If Gillibrand hadn’t qualified her statement with ""studies show,"" and instead had made an outright  about women’s performance in Congress, we likely would have reached a different ruling.  "
17284,1,"Says if you donate blood, ""they HAVE to test you"" for coronavirus.","March 12, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The account that tweeted the information in the Facebook post has since deleted it, writing : ""I don’t want to contribute to hysteria or medical misinformation."" But the screenshot lives on. So tell your friends! Tell your family!!!!! We rate this Facebook post ."
4490,0,"Barack Obama is the ""First President to terminate America's ability to put a man in space.","October 25, 2011",history;space,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"Whether one wants to blame Bush or Obama for our current predicament turns out to be irrelevant to the question raised in the e-mail. Richard Nixon, perhaps in conjunction with Gerald Ford, would be the one to qualify for the unwanted title of ""first president to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space"" -- not Obama. We rate this  ."
14033,2,"The North Carolina bathroom bill ""was really never repealed.","October 25, 2017",human rights;lgbtq,pat mccrory,"Pat McCrory, a Republican, was governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. Previously, he served as mayor of Charlotte.",north carolina,1,0,4,8,2,1,a radio appearance,"McCrory said HB2 ""was really never repealed."" The bill named HB2 was indeed trashed and the most controversial part of it is gone. Advocates point out that parts of the repeal bill are still restrictive. But it’s  to suggest, as McCrory did, that ""nothing’s changed."" We rate this  .  "
19764,1,"The Moderna vaccine contains an ingredient that is ""for research use only, not meant for human or veterinary use.","May 16, 2021",health care;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"A video shared on Instagram claimed that a lipid used in the Moderna vaccine was unsafe for humans and is meant to be only used in research. The video showed a safety sheet provided by a biotech company listing the dangers associated with the lipid. However, the safety sheet was not for the lipid itself but a version dissolved in a solution of chloroform that’s sold to pharmaceutical companies for research purposes. The dangers listed on the sheet are for the chloroform, which is a toxic substance. The Moderna vaccine does not contain any chloroform — and none of its ingredients are deemed toxic to humans. We rate this  ."
9131,4,"Ninety percent"" of people living in Gaza ""don't have access even to water.","July 22, 2014",israel;foreign policy;water;punditfact,rula jebreal,"Rula Jebreal is a Palestinian journalist who emerged as a Middle Eastern voice in Western media after sharing her experiences about growing up in the West Bank and reporting in Egypt during the Arab Spring,",,0,1,1,0,0,0,comments on MSNBC,"Jebreal claimed that ""90 percent"" of people living in Gaza ""don’t have access even to water,"" in the course of arguing that a significant part of the Israel-Palestine situation goes unreported in the United States. Recent estimates suggest that about 67 percent of people living in Gaza currently have little or no access to running water, a figure lower than Jebreal claimed. But what's  is that 90 to 95 percent of the water from Gaza’s coastal aquifer (their only natural source of fresh water) isn’t suitable for drinking. Jebreal’s  needs that caveat. As such, we rate her statement ."
4670,4,"(Chris Christie) has not paid one dollar of state money into our pension system, and then states that the system is broke.","November 21, 2011",retirement;state budget,loretta weinberg,Loretta Weinberg is a Democratic state senator representing Bergen County.,new jersey,3,1,0,1,2,0,a column on bluejersey.com,"In an online column, Weinberg claimed Christie ""has not paid one dollar of state money into our pension system."" It’s technically  that Christie has not yet made a pension contribution, but the governor has agreed to make a combined payment of about $484 million to six pension funds during fiscal year 2012. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
18367,1,"Photo shows ""some of the firefighters in California fighting fires 24/7 to save people's lives and property.","September 7, 2020",fires;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"""As close as we got to seeing sleep in 36 hours,"" he wrote. His photo attracted the attention of national media and celebrities . ""They’re my heroes,"" wrote Ellen DeGeneres. As for the new Facebook post, the photo is real, but the user’s caption is . We rate the post ."
966,1,"Yes, this would be the same congressman (Rep. Pete Hoekstra) who last year Tweeted the whereabouts of a top-secret mission to Iraq.","June 18, 2009",military;pundits,keith olbermann,Keith Olbermann is the host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.,national,0,2,3,0,2,0,"his MSNBC ""Countdown"" program","No. We see these reported all the time in the press."" So Olbermann hasn't just exaggerated, he's incorrectly described the visit as a ""top-secret mission."" Without knowing the background, you might think Hoekstra spilled the beans on some covert military operation. We rule Olbermann's statement ."
2007,0,A transcript released by Occidental College proves that Barack Obama was an Indonesian citizen.,"June 28, 2010",candidate biography;obama birth certificate,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"They are almost exclusively awarded to students pursuing advanced degrees, according to James Lawrence, a public affairs officer for the Fulbright program. The American Indonesian Exchange Foundation now handles Fulbright awards for Indonesian citizens, and only those with an undergraduate degree and applying for a master's or doctoral degree are eligible. However, AMINEF was established in 1992, and it is unclear who handled Indonesian Fulbrights before that, or if Indonesian Fulbrights even existed in 1981. An attempt to contact the organization in Indonesia was unsuccessful.    This chain e-mail is  about AP, the transcripts and the name, and we found no  of a Fulbright, so we're giving it a ."
4782,5,Says Ron Paul doesn't believe in marriage licenses.,"December 14, 2011",marriage,gail collins,Gail Collins is a columnist with the New York Times. She previously served on the New York Times editorial board and as a columnist for the New York Daily News and Newsday.,texas,1,3,1,2,1,0,an oped column,"Paul refers to the licensing mandate in another part of the marriage chapter, saying: ""The best approach is to make marriage a private matter. When we no longer believe that civilization is dependent on government expansion, regulating excesses, and a license for everything we do, we will know that civilization and the ideas of liberty are advancing."" ""Licensing for social reasons reflects the intolerant person’s desire to mold other people’s behavior to their standard,"" Paul writes. ""Both depend on the use of illegitimate government force."" We rate Collins’  ."
19926,1,"Funeral directors say ""no one is dying from COVID"" and ""the only ones dying are from the vaccine.","June 23, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claimed that funeral directors have said ""the only ones dying are from the vaccine."" An official from the National Funeral Directors Association had not heard anyone make this . The  emerged from a website where anyone can post articles. CDC data shows that deaths from COVID-19 are occurring predominantly among unvaccinated people, and have fallen dramatically since mass vaccination efforts began earlier this year. We rate this  ."
298,5,"Now, I also support the Bush tax cuts. Sen. McCain voted against them originally. He now believes they should be made permanent. I'm glad he agrees they should be made permanent.","January 24, 2008",taxes,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,Boca Raton,"We find Romney's  to be . And if you'd like to see our previous same rulings on this issue, see here and here. Updated: This post has been updated to correct the reasons McCain gave at the time for opposing tax cuts in 2001. Our initial posting attributed his reasons to statements he made later about fiscal restraint."
8059,1,"One of the ""main functions"" of the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE database is ""checking voter registration citizenship status.","November 4, 2013",elections,ken detzner,Ken Detzner was appointed Secretary of State in February 2012 by Gov. Rick Scott. He was previously appointed to the same position by then Gov. Jeb Bush in 2003.,florida,0,1,0,0,1,0,a state Senate ethics and elections committee hearing,"Detzner told state legislators that one of the ""main functions"" of the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database is ""checking voter registration citizenship status."" A federal document lists voter registration as one of the benefits that SAVE data can be used for to check citizenship status. However, we found no documentation to support Detzner’s  that voter registration is one of its ""main functions."" SAVE is primarily used for agencies to check citizenship status for public benefits or driver’s licenses. Using SAVE to check voter registration eligibility is a more recent use, and only in effect in four states, plus a few Arizona counties. For fiscal year 2013, voter registration queries equaled less than 1 percent of the searches. We rate this  ."
19674,0,"Social media posts stated: ""Remember Kamala telling Joe during the debate, 'You will do whatever the Chinese tell you! They gave your son over a billion dollars.'","April 24, 2021",china;debates;elections,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Social media posts claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris told President Joe Biden during the Democratic debates, ""You will do whatever the Chinese tell you! They gave your son over a billion dollars."" Transcripts of the debates show that this is wholly .  Harris never made such a statement and rarely touched on China during the debates. When she did, she did not reference the murky allegations surrounding Biden’s son and his business dealings with Chinese companies. Harris made no such statements elsewhere on the campaign trail and none of Biden’s other competitors made similar comments.  Furthermore, the quote has not been substantiated by any reputable news organization and appears to have originated on social media from pro-Trump accounts. Therefore, we rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  ."
17248,3,"If you look at California, if you look at people of color in general, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, we won that big time. Big time. Not even close.","March 4, 2020",,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",california,21,62,48,26,18,0,a news conference,The senator also made his  before millions of California ballots had been counted.    We rated Sanders’  .    – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
21579,0,Three mass shootings were meant to distract from Hillary Clinton controversies.,"June 14, 2022",facebook fact-checks,ted nugent,"Ted Nugent, who lives near Waco, performed after Gov. Rick Perry's 2007 inauguration. He is an ardent supporter of Second Amendment gun rights. In 2014, he stumped with Texan Greg Abbott for governor and chaired Republican Sid Miller's campaign for state agriculture commissioner.",,0,0,2,2,0,3,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post implied that three separate mass shootings — Sandy Hook, Charleston and Uvalde — were timed to distract from various controversies involving Hillary Clinton. There’s no  to suggest any of the shootings were staged. And the timing of the shootings do not match up with the events from which they were supposedly meant to distract.  Nugent already has two  ratings from us. This   makes it three: !"
18878,0,Pennsylvania and Michigan didn't allow our poll watchers and/or vote observers to watch or observe.,"November 11, 2020",elections;pennsylvania;michigan,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump claimed that ""Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our poll watchers and/or vote observers to watch or observe."" That’s . Republican election observers have been allowed to observe the canvassing of ballots in both Pennsylvania and Michigan, including in Philadelphia and Detroit, two of the cities heavily targeted by the Trump campaign’s litigation efforts. Even Trump campaign attorneys have acknowledged having observers present in court hearings and legal filings. We rate this  ! This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
16402,0,Popeyes manager arrested for allegedly dipping chicken in cocaine based flour to increase business sales.,"August 23, 2019",drugs;food;food safety;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"This Aug. 23 post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .)   That’s because if you search for the headline you’ll find it on channel22news.com , which describes itself as ""a prank website that is intended for fun.""  Cropped out of the image that appeared on Facebook are the words ""you’ve been pranked!"" with three laughing-while-crying emojis, and an image of a clown with the words ""you got owned"" stamped on its hat. We rate this Facebook post !"
414,5,"Barack Obama accepted $200,000 from executives and employees of oil companies.","April 15, 2008",energy,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,Pennsylvania,"People who donate to political candidates are required to list their occupation and employer. It's important to note that this rule is has far from perfect compliance; sometimes people don't fill it in at all. Clinton doesn't mention the fact that she accepted even more money from executives and employees of oil companies — $309,363, according to the center. And she accepted about $442,800 from energy lobbyists, according to the center, though not all of that is from oil and gas alone. Nevertheless, the ad is correct that Obama did accept money from employees of oil companies, and we rate its statement ."
15990,5,All the ponds in Missouri for which we have data are causing groundwater contamination. … This is a statewide issue.,"February 24, 2019",environment,maxine lipeles,"Maxine Lipeles directs the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis, which provides pro bono legal representation and technical support to non-profit environmental and community organizations in environmental and public health matters.",missouri,1,0,0,0,0,0,a newspaper article,"Lipeles’ said every Missouri coal ash pond for which there is data is causing groundwater contamination. After analyzing, Washington University’s data and the utility reports listed by the EPA, every coal ash pond in Missouri that has published data is either causing at least one type of chemical contamination for groundwater or showing signs that it has potential to cause contamination in the near future. Given the data in the context of Lipeles’ , we rate her statement ."
10337,2,"You don't have to be as smart as a fifth-grader to know what causes the climate is the sun. The sun.  I have people tell me, 'Carbon dioxide warms the Earth.'  No, it doesn't.  The sun warms the Earth.","April 27, 2015",climate change;weather,don zimmerman,"Don Zimmerman, who ran for the Texas House in 2006, won election to the Austin City Council in 2014. He represents District 6 on the council.
 ",texas,0,1,0,2,0,0,an Austin City Council briefing,"  Zimmerman said that as every child learns, the sun warms the Earth—and, he said, carbon dioxide does not.   We remember: The sun warms the Earth. But Zimmerman’s bigger point--discounting the role of carbon dioxide in climate change--disregards international scientific consensus.   We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
13090,1,"Everybody acts like President Trump is the one that came up with this idea. ... There are multiple news outlets that have reported"" former President Barack Obama ordered wiretapping on Trump.","March 5, 2017",homeland security,sarah huckabee sanders,"Sarah Huckabee Sanders became the governor of Arkansas in January 2023. She worked as White House press secretary 2017-2019. The daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, she was a surrogate for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.",national,0,1,0,0,4,1,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week""","Sanders said ""multiple news outlets"" have reported that Obama ordered wiretaps on Trump, including high-profile sources such as the New York Times and BBC. Trump’s team cited multiple reports to back up this , but it’s clear only one is at the root of Trump’s : a November 2016 blog post based on anonymous sources that has not been corroborated by independent U.S. journalists.  Trump's spokeswoman made it sound as if Trump was merely following a well-documented string of reports, but that is not the case. A few of the reports allude to the FBI requesting permission from FISA to eavesdrop on Trump’s associates, but none (minus the anonymously sourced website) definitively said the probes centered on Trump himself or came directly from Obama. We rate this  ."
17961,1,People are starting to enter ERs with fungal lung infections from wearing masks!!,"July 2, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Regional, statewide and national emergency physicians groups said there’s no  to back up this .   Medical experts recommend wearing face coverings to slow the transmission of COVID-19 and say the effects of wearing the coverings are not harmful.   They also encourage people to wash their hands and their masks on a regular basis to avoid contamination.   This  about mask-wearing leading to fungal lung infections is bogus.   We rated it .   – The statement is not accurate."
6498,2,The tax burden on Virginia families was lower under Tim Kaine than under George Allen.,"September 24, 2012",families;taxes,tim kaine,"Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.
Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.
 ",virginia,14,17,15,8,4,0,a news release,"Kaine’s campaign said the ""tax burden on Virginia families was lower under Tim Kaine than under George Allen."" Raw numbers generally back Kaine, but paint a superficial picture. Kaine did not offer large-scale tax cuts during his term; to the contrary, he unsuccessfully proposed increasing taxes by $4 billion. The smaller burden was caused by shrinking tax revenues coming into the state because of the recession. Kaine’s statement tries to turn the state’s lost revenue -- caused by no effort of his own -- into an accomplishment. The  is based on kernels of data that, when put into context, give a different impression. We rate it ."
2532,0,"Since Rep. John Boccieri's election, ""Ohio has lost 600,000 jobs"" and his district's ""unemployment has doubled.","October 18, 2010",economy;jobs,jim renacci,"Jim Renacci, a Republican, is running against U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, in 2018. Renacci is the representative from Ohio's 16th Congressional District. He is a businessman and also the former mayor of Wadsworth. He was first elected to Congress in 2010.",ohio,1,3,5,5,3,1,a debate,"Yes, it is, but only if you ignore the fact that it has come way down since Renacci stopped turning the calendar pages at exactly the right date to shore up his argument. To include months when an opponent wasn’t in office, and to stop counting when the unemployment numbers make your case, leaves out a massive amount of information and context. Did we mention that Renacci is a CPA? If we tried these tricks on our taxes, we could be treated to a heap of IRS trouble (although with a creative accountant, you never know). But the -O-Meter does not assess tax penalties; it merely points its arrow to the only rating possible when a  is  and its basis is distorted and contorted: !"
13281,0,"I have not called for impeachment"" of President Donald Trump.","April 18, 2017",candidate biography,maxine waters,"Maxine Waters, a Democrat, has represented a California district in the U.S. House of Representatives since her initial election in 1990. Previously, she served in the California state assembly.",national,0,0,0,1,0,1,an interview on MSNBC,"Waters said on MSNBC that ""I have not called for impeachment."" She has at times called for investigations that could lead to Trump’s impeachment, rather than calling for impeachment directly. But on at least two occasions -- the Cheddar interview and the tax rally -- she did call for Trump’s impeachment directly, in one case literally cheerleading for impeaching Trump at a rally at the U.S. Capitol. We rate her  ."
8501,3,"The Redskins Training Camp deal ""generated $40 million in new private investment in the city.","January 30, 2014",city government,dwight jones,"Dwight Jones, a Democrat, was elected mayor of Richmond in 2008 and was re-elected in 2012.
He previously served as in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 70th District, which is composed of parts of Richmond, Henrico County and Chesterfield County. His term ran from 1994 to 2008. For eight years,  he was chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. He also previously served on the Richmond City School Board and as its chairman from 1982 to 1985.
Jones is also senior pastor of First Baptist Church of South Richmond.
Jones earned bachelor of science and master of divinity degrees from Virginia Union University, Richmond, and a doctorate from United Theological Seminary, Trotwood, Ohio.",virginia,0,1,1,1,1,0,a speech,"Jones said the three-part development deal that brought the Redskins training camp to Richmond ""generated $40 million in new private investment in the city."" The mayor offered a solid estimate of the total construction costs. But he spoke in past tense, as if the money already has been spent. For the most part, it hasn’t. No start dates have been established for two of the projects totaling $32.5 million: Bon Secours’ expansion of Richmond Community Hospital and its redevelopment of Westhampton School. Important contractual conditions first must be fulfilled. The Redskins training facility, which opened last summer, was built with $10 million of city money. Richmond, at the end of March, will have recovered $1.82 million of that money through the sale of naming rights and the leasing of office space at the facility to Bon Secours. That number could grow to as much as $6.3 million over the next five years. No doubt, the three projects have the potential to generate $40 million in private investment. But the mayor is counting the checks before they’ve been written. We rate his statement ."
12079,4,There are fewer people crossing (the southwest) border than in the last 30 years.,"July 25, 2016",immigration,luis gutierrez,Luis Gutierrez is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois.,national,0,3,3,0,0,0,"an interview on Fox News' ""The O'Reilly Factor""","Gutierrez said, ""There are fewer people crossing that border than in the last 30 years"" while discussing border security. While there’s no definite way to count all immigrants who try to cross U.S. borders, many immigration scholars use border patrol apprehension data as the basis for their assessments. Historically, Border Patrol data for apprehensions nationwide shows that apprehensions in fiscal year 2015 were the lowest since at least the early 1970s. There was one year with fewer apprehensions at the southwest border than 2015 -- the 2011 fiscal year, which had about 3,756 fewer stops than 2015. With that caveat, the point about the larger immigration trend is accurate. We rate Gutierrez’ statement ."
23373,1,"Former President Barack Obama ""removed 500,000 pedophiles from background check database.","July 27, 2023",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claimed Obama removed 500,000 pedophiles from a background check database. This misrepresents an FBI directive that purged hundreds of thousands of names from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System because the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel adopted a new definition of ""fugitives from justice."" The directive was issued after Trump became president.  The Washington Post reported that there were 500,000 fugitives identified in the database before the February 2017 directive and the number decreased to 788 by November of that year. However, the fugitives’ criminal background was not specified, so we found no  the fugitives were composed only of pedophiles. We rate this  ."
8169,5,"Says Rep. Steve Stockman ""basically wants gun-filled zones in schools.","December 10, 2013",elections;punditfact;guns,howard fineman,Howard Fineman is the editorial director of the Huffington Post Media Group and a political analyst who appears on MSNBC.,,1,0,0,0,0,0,"comments on MSNBC's ""All In with Chris Hayes""","Fineman said that Stockman ""basically wants gun-filled schools."" Stockman did introduce a bill that would make it easier for states to allow school personnel to carry firearms. The bill’s stated purpose was to allow those people to defend themselves and their students from an armed intruder. Our experts agreed that Stockman’s goal was to see more firearms inside schools. We did not hear from Stockman’s office so there is no way to know if he envisioned an upper limit to that increase. Based on his bill itself, there would be none. We rate the  ."
21820,1,Anne Heche was murdered by the illuminati because she was working on a movie about Jeffrey Epstein.,"August 14, 2022",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"""  ""Richie repeatedly violates Grace, forces her to consume drugs and alcohol, and starves her — all to break her down so that she becomes compliant and can be sold into human trafficking,"" the description says. ""Refusing to give up on her daughter even when her husband and local police believe Grace has returned to a life of using, Janie starts an all-out hunt to find Grace."" The movie is not about Epstein, the financier who was accused of sex trafficking and assaulting dozens of girls. He died in jail in 2019 before he could face those criminal charges in court.   We rate this post . "
16625,0,"Says that in 1770 ""British parliament banned lipstick, saying it had the power to seduce men into marriage, which was classified as witchcraft.","October 23, 2019",fake news;history;women;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""  That entry says: ""An Act against the Vice of Painting, and wearing black Patches, and immodest Dresses of Women, be read on Friday Morning next."" But officials with the United Kingdom’s National Archives told PolitiFact in an email that the bill never had a full reading, as far as they could see, and because of that ""it was likely introduced at the behest of a Puritan MP (member of parliament) but the Council of State chose not to pursue it."" While 1770s society may have considered painted lips and makeup in general to be unladylike witchcraft, a law banning it never succeeded. Feminine trickery marches on. !"
14504,5,Here are the facts: there is no massive wave of migrants pouring into California. Overall immigrant apprehensions on the border last year were as low as they've been in nearly 50 years (and 85 percent of the apprehensions occurred outside of California).,"April 11, 2018",immigration;criminal justice;homeland security;crime,jerry brown,"Jerry Brown is the governor of California. A Democrat, he earlier served as governor of California from 1975 to 1983.",california,7,6,3,0,0,0,a letter to the Trump administration,"Gov. Jerry Brown claimed in a recent letter to the Trump administration: ""there is no massive wave of migrants pouring into California. Overall immigrant apprehensions on the border last year were as low as they’ve been in nearly 50 years (and 85 percent of the apprehensions occurred outside of California)."" U.S. Border Patrol data show Brown got his arrest figures right. Researchers point out that illegal border crossings account for only one portion of the migrants that arrive in California. Others come to the state legally on visas which they later overstay. But given the context of Brown’s letter, it’s clear the governor was referring to the lack of a wave of migrants coming illegally across the Southern border. That part of the  is also backed up by the border patrol data and two immigration experts. We rate Brown’s  .   – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
21467,1,"The World Health Assembly was canceled ""after the Geneva airport was coincidentally blown up.","May 22, 2022",public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"""  The Geneva airport did not blow up. A fire broke out at a building under construction outside the perimeter of the airport. The only effect on the airport was that flights were temporarily disrupted because of heavy smoke. The fire did not disrupt the World Health Assembly, which opened as scheduled on May 22 in Geneva. We rate this  . "
19382,2,"When I came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America.","March 2, 2021",health check;coronavirus,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a news conference,"Biden said the Trump administration ""had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America."" While Trump was still in office, his administration had agreements in place to buy 400 million doses of authorized vaccine, or enough to inoculate about 200 million people. That’s less than the U.S. adult population.  However, KHN/Politifact reviewed the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed contracts, and found that those included enough vaccine doses that, once cleared for use by the FDA, could inoculate about 550 million people — more than double the U.S. adult population.  Biden’s statement contains an element of , but ignores facts that would give a different impression.  We rate this  ."
7657,0,Says some Austin school district classrooms lack electrical outlets.,"July 25, 2013",education;technology,ramey ko,Ramey Ko is an Austin attorney.,texas,0,0,0,0,0,1,an Austin meeting,"Ko said some Austin classrooms lack electrical outlets. We see no basis for this statement, which shakes out as horse-and-buggy . !"
1388,4,One of the most recent polls said 75 percent of the American people have said either don't do anything or start over (on health care reform).,"February 20, 2010",health care,jon kyl,"Jon Kyl represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate from January 3,1995 to January 3, 2013. He served as the Republican party whip from 2007 to 2013. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Kyl to succeed Sen. John McCain, who died while in office Aug. 25, 2018.",national,1,3,4,0,2,0,an interview on Fox News,"For our rating, Kyl was careful in how he phrased his statement. He said, ""One of the most recent polls said 75 percent of the American people have said either don't do anything or start over."" We found a recent poll that put those two categories at 69 percent. That's a little short, but pretty close. We rate his statement ."
15652,0,"Says Susana Mendoza is a supporter of the death penalty who could administer it herself and ""'...sleep like a baby at night…'","January 29, 2019",death penalty,toni preckwinkle,Preckwinkle is the Cook County Board President and also leads the Cook County Democratic Party. She is currently running for mayor of Chicago.,illinois,0,0,1,1,1,1,a campaign ad,"With highly selective editing, Preckwinkle’s ad uses video clips from a speech Mendoza gave on the Illinois House floor in 2011 in which she declares opposition to the death penalty to leave the impression that she actually remained an enthusiastic supporter of it. While it is  that a decade earlier Mendoza backed an expansion of the death penalty, the speech from which the clips are taken made an entirely different point. She had changed her mind and wanted to end capital punishment in Illinois because the state had sentenced too many people to death row that later had been found innocent. Indeed, Mendoza then voted for a measure that abolished the death penalty. None of that footage or context was used in the ad, which grossly misrepresents Mendoza’s position. We rate it !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here  for more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.  "
23247,0,"The World Economic Forum ""wants to slaughter millions of pet cats and dogs to fight climate change.","June 28, 2023",animals;climate change;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The  World Economic Forum is an international organization that holds an annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss global commerce and political concerns and attracts  the world’s top government and business officials. The forum is often a target of conspiracy theorists. The  that the World Economic Forum called for euthanizing millions of pets to fight climate change is  and  — we rate it ! RELATED : No, the World Economic Forum isn’t advocating for AI to rewrite the Bible RELATED : Despite video’s claims, neither World Economic Forum nor UN ordered governments to ration water RELATED : Fact-checks about animals  "
21706,1,Images of Plymouth Rock prove sea levels are not rising.,"July 12, 2022",environment;climate change;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"There’s no proof that Plymouth Rock was at sea level when it might have welcomed the Pilgrims in 1620. The rock has also moved several times in the past 400 years and is sometimes submerged during high tides and extreme weather. Experts said that Plymouth Rock is not useful for evaluating sea level changes. That sea levels are rising, however, is undisputed.  We rate this  . RELATED:  What does extreme weather tell us about climate change? RELATED:  Fact-checks about climate change"
15399,1,Three naked women in photo are campaigning for the Democrats.,"November 3, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"While there is a campaign featuring nude women supporting historically liberal causes, the Facebook claimed that the three women in the photograph were Democrats campaigning. They were activists protesting in Mexico City, and it wasn’t a get-out-the-vote campaign. We rate this  ."
12380,4,"Says Hillary Clinton and millennials have the same positions on climate change, abortion rights, immigration reform, gay rights and college affordability. ""Donald Trump doesn't.","September 18, 2016",abortion;immigration;climate change;education;lgbtq,tim kaine,"Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.
Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.
 ",national,14,17,15,8,4,0,"an interview on ""Meet the Press.""","Kaine said Hillary Clinton and millennials believe in climate change, abortion rights, immigration reform, gay rights and college affordability but ""Donald Trump doesn't."" Reputable polls back Kaine’s , though the VP nominee is overstating the extent of Trump’s opposition to gay rights and college affordability. Millennials agree decisively with Clinton’s position on immigration, gay rights and college affordability, and by narrow margins on climate change and abortion rights. We rate Kaine’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cb26be5e-6bc8-40b9-8ea0-d1b04acf2a8a"
20065,1,"Photo shows the place where ""the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean face each other without mixing.","July 23, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,Facebook,"It claimed that the different densities and chemical compositions of each ocean causes the difference in color. Dierssen explained that ocean properties, including color, are highly dependent on latitude and the ocean gyres in ocean basins. ""The Atlantic has higher salinity than the Pacific, but the temperature and color (related to chlorophyll properties) are more related to nutrients and upwelling and downwelling related to the ocean gyres,"" she said.   The photo is real, but the caption about it showing two oceans is . For that reason, we rate this  ."
6215,5,"The GOP platform that seeks further limits on abortion and is silent on an exception for rape ""has been there for more than 30 years.","August 26, 2012",abortion,bob mcdonnell,"Bob McDonnell is the Republican governor of Virginia until January 2014. McDonnell was elected over Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2006 and as state Attorney General from 2006 to 2009.
McDonnell graduated from the University of Nortre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in 1976. He then served in the U.S. Army on active duty from 1976 to 1981 and in the reserves until 1997, retiring as a lieutenant colenel. He received a master's degree in business adminsitration from Boston University in 1980 and a master's and law degree from Regent University, Virginia Beach, in 1989.",virginia,8,6,7,6,5,3,a TV interview,"McDonnell said the GOP’s platform that supports an anti-abortion amendment to the constitution is silent on whether there should be exceptions for rape or other circumstances ""has been there for more than 30 years."" The facts back him up. We rate his statement ."
22916,1,"Brain aneurysms are a ""serious and common COVID-19 mRNA vaccine injury in young people.","April 23, 2023",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"The CDC does not list brain aneurysms as a common side effect after COVID-19 vaccination in any age group.   We found a March 2022 study that reported the cases of three women in Japan who had an intracranial aneurysm rupture within three days of getting an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. But the study did not conclude that vaccines were the cause and the authors said the advantages of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh any risks. The text in this Instagram post appears to have come from an April 21 Substack article by William Makis, a Canadian physician who has spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines .    We rate this  ."
15214,0,Of course you've got a low unemployment rate when people've got to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet.,"September 30, 2018",economy,andrew gillum,Andrew Gillum won the Florida primary for governor in August 2018 and lost the November election to Ron DeSantis. He is a former mayor of Tallahassee and member of the Tallahassee city commission.,florida,0,3,5,1,1,1,an interview,"Gillum said that unemployment was low because people were working multiple jobs. Unemployment rates are not influenced by how many jobs someone holds, and not many people hold more than one job. We rate this  ."
18112,1,"Says Herman Cain died of cancer, not COVID-19.","July 30, 2020",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"How he contracted the virus is unknown, but Calabrese confirmed to the Washington Post that Cain’s cause of death was COVID-19. Cain, who was 74,  was a cancer survivor, which Calabrese noted in his post on HermanCain.com.   ""Although he was basically pretty healthy in recent years,"" the post says, Cain""was still in a high-risk group because of his history with cancer."" In 2006, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer that spread to his liver, but he recovered .   We rate these posts ."
11256,4,"My two appointments to the Florida Supreme Court, Raul Cantero and Kenneth Bell, have earned reputations as its most consistent conservatives.","January 24, 2016",legal issues,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,national,14,24,17,18,5,2,a post on Medium,"Bush said, ""My two appointments to the Florida Supreme Court, Raul Cantero and Kenneth Bell, have earned reputations as its most consistent conservatives."" Bell and Cantero were certainly the most conservative members of the court when they were serving on it. However, Bush could have phrased his statement more carefully, to avoid suggesting that they are still on the court. Also, Cantero did sometimes break ranks with the traditionally conservative position, such as on the death penalty. The statement is accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
7284,2,"U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says South Carolina ""has a labor shortage and wants more immigration.","April 15, 2013",immigration;jobs,dustin inman society,The Dustin Inman Society is an anti-amnesty group headed by immigration activist D.A. King. Group named for the teenager killed in 2000 in a traffic accident by an illegal immigrant.,georgia,0,0,0,1,0,0,a billboard advertisement,"To sum up, a Georgia anti-amnesty group, the Dustin Inman Society, criticized Graham for his comments that the Palmetto State has a labor shortage. As part of his argument for comprehensive immigration reform and guest worker programs, Graham made claims there is a labor shortage in some areas, and in at least two instances the Republican senator specifically mentioned the meatpacking industry as an area needing workers. The  about Graham’s statement contains an element of , but it ignores the senator’s focus on the meatpacking industry. The society goes on to say that Graham’s state welcomes undocumented immigrants, but the guest worker program he supports would create a legal means for immigrants to work. We rate the society’s claims ."
10619,1,"Says 57 percent of federal spending goes to the military and just 1 percent goes to food and agriculture, including food stamps.","August 13, 2015",federal budget;military;poverty,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a meme on social media,"A social-media meme says that 57 percent of federal spending goes to the military and just 1 percent goes to food and agriculture, including food stamps. To get numbers that approximate this, the pie chart cherry-picks just discretionary spending. But that means the pie chart represents only about one-third of federal spending. Once you include the 60 percent of the budget that is mandatory spending, the military share plunges from 57 percent to 16 percent, and the categories that include Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid collectively account for a majority of federal spending. Spending on food and agriculture is still small, but it does quadruple from 1 percent to 4 percent. Due to its skewed methodology, the pie chart offers a deeply distorted picture of federal spending. We rate the  ."
22838,0,Video shows a crowd erupting and Hillary Clinton crying during a committee hearing.,"March 25, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It’s a clip of a December 2017 House Judiciary Committee hearing about FBI oversight. Jordan questioned Wray about Strzok, but the hearing didn't end with Wray deciding to charge Strzok. No crowd erupts. And Clinton is not even there.   We rate this post !"
10050,2,"Said former U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration ""was forced to resign two years ago because of his personal use of emails.","March 10, 2015",ethics;transparency;punditfact,david shuster,David Shuster is a reporter for Al Jazeera America based in New York City.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,a Hillary Clinton press conference,"Shuster said Gration was forced to resign because of his use of personal email accounts. That was one issue State Department officials raised. But just one of many. The State Department Inspector General’s report paints a much more troubling picture of an embassy in disarray under Gration’s leadership. In the words of the auditors, Gration ""has lost the respect and confidence of the staff to lead the mission."" Gration ranked at or near the absolute bottom among other ambassadors assessed by the department. His use of email was an issue, but according to an ambassador with much experience, it was a relatively minor one. We rate the  ."
17012,3,"Cory Booker and all these people couldn't get any of the things that (Michael) Bloomberg's getting now"" with respect to DNC debate rules.","February 2, 2020",,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview on Fox News,"Trump said, ""Cory Booker and all these people couldn’t get any of the things that Bloomberg’s getting now."" The DNC did adjust its qualification criteria, doubling the polling threshold and eliminating the donor requirement that had previously kept Bloomberg from debating. But the new rules are slightly different than what Booker asked for, and while they pave a path for Bloomberg to make his first debate, they don’t guarantee that he’ll earn a spot on stage. We rate Trump’s statement ."
15241,1,"Says Ohio congressional candidate Danny O'Connor ""would make Columbus a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.","October 12, 2018",immigration,defending main street,"Defending Main Street is a Super PAC created by Steve LaTourette, a former Republican Congressman. The group is focused on defending incumbent, establishment-backed Republicans against Tea Party primary challenges.",national,0,0,0,1,1,0,an ad,"Defending Main Street says, as Troy Balderson has also said, that Danny O’Connor ""would make Columbus a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants."" O’Connor couldn’t if he wanted to, but he also has not said that. He supported policies of the Columbus mayor, who said the city would not volunteer to go after federal immigration suspects or turn them over to ICE ""unless a warrant exists, a criminal violation was reported, or an arrest was made."" That doesn’t meet the definition of a sanctuary city by ICE or groups that support lower levels of immigration. We rate the  .  "
9342,1,Obama admin gutted @ProjChildSafe budget to provide trigger locks and safety kits.,"September 4, 2014",punditfact;guns,dana loesch,"In 2017, Dana Loesch became an NRA spokeswoman. Loesch is a conservative talk show host and commentator. She broadcasts from Dallas, Texas.",,0,0,0,2,2,0,a tweet,"Loesch said that the Obama administration gutted the budget for Project Child Safe. In reality, the deepest cuts took place during the Bush years. Obama inherited a program funded at $500,000. In 2009, the funding agency changed from the Justice Department to Veterans Affairs. While the funding for Project Child Safe itself ended, the same kind of kits were distributed to peoples’ homes, although through different channels. Funding increased very slightly from the last year of the Bush administration. The work between the foundation and Veterans Affairs continues. We rate the  ."
1648,5,"On military recruiters at Harvard, Elena Kagan ""took a position and the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that she was wrong.","May 10, 2010",education;kagan nomination;lgbtq;military;supreme court,john barrasso,John Barrasso is a Republican senator from Wyoming.,national,1,0,0,1,0,0,an interview on Fox News,"Justice Samuel Alito did not participate because he had not yet been seated to the court when oral arguments were made. Barrasso said Kagan ""took a position and the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that she was ."" The court did reject the arguments put forward by the law schools, which included FAIR and the brief filed by the Harvard professors. All of the justices who voted opposed the law schools' arguments. So we rate Barrasso's statement ."
11471,4,"(Since 1990) ""every continent has seen substantial gains, with individual incomes growing by more than a third in every region of the developing world.","March 9, 2016",global news service;economy;foreign policy,gayle smith,Gayle Smith is USAID administrator.,,0,2,1,0,0,0,a speech on Capitol Hill,"Smith said that since 1990, individual incomes have grown by more than a third in every region of the developing world. Using the yardstick of GDP per capita, the World Bank data back that up. It is a hair off to say ""more than a third"" when the change in Sub-Saharan Africa is a bit less than a third, but the numerical difference is small. It is also important to remember that the benefits of a rising economy are rarely spread equally throughout the population. Typically, the wealthy gain more than the rest. So Smith’s statement isn’t as accurate on an individual to individual basis. With that caveat in mind, we rate this  ."
19459,1,"Aluminum ""is in the vaccine"" and will hurt the brain.","March 14, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a video caption,"A year-old video being reshared on Instagram claims that aluminum nanoparticles in vaccines cause a variety of illnesses and developmental disorders. The caption implies the COVID-19 vaccines also contain aluminum and contribute to health issues. Although several vaccines do contain a miniscule amount of aluminum, research has found it’s not enough to be absorbed by the body. Humans already ingest amounts of aluminum just by living their everyday lives as it can be found in food, water and the air. There is no  that any vaccine can cause people to experience illnesses or developmental disorders. None of the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use throughout the United States and Europe contain aluminum.   The  is . ​"
16215,2,Voucher schools have increased property taxes by $1 billion since 2011,"May 30, 2019",education;taxes,chris taylor,"Wisconsin state Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat, was elected to the Assembly in a special election in August 2011. An attorney, she is the former public policy director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.",wisconsin,3,3,0,2,0,0,a statement to the Joint Committee on Finance,"Even that number oversimplifies the matter. It doesn’t factor in additional aid that makes up at least a portion of the lost voucher student revenue for some districts. And it implies all those property taxes would go away if the voucher program ceased to exist, which is only  in a scenario where none of the voucher students wound up in a public school.   So Taylor’s point that vouchers are connected to a tax increase is right, but her numbers are off by a ways and don’t account for many nuances in the system.   For a statement that contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is . "
7683,1,"Says ""President Obama just granted all of Congress an exception"" to Obamacare.","August 10, 2013",congress;health care,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,"Ames, Iowa","Cruz, reeling off signs Obamacare’s ""wheels are coming off,"" said the president ""just granted all of Congress an exception."" That sounds like lawmakers get to opt out of health care under the law. Quite the opposite — they'll use new marketplaces alongside the uninsured and small businesses, just as it required. And it's not even accurate to say they were excepted from some provision of the law: the law itself wasn't clear. Instead, they got a clarification about the law’s effect on contributions toward their health insurance — which they will purchase on Obamacare’s marketplaces. We rate Cruz’s  ."
3200,5,"We closed that plant down. It was a $27 million-dollar plant, operating full steam, and we closed it down.","February 27, 2011",environment;education,frederica wilson,"Frederica Wilson, a former Florida state senator from Miami Gardens, was elected to the U.S. House on Nov. 2, 2010. She represents Congressional District 24 in South Florida.",florida,1,2,1,1,0,0,a Washington Post profile,"It was a $27 million-dollar plant, operating full steam, and we closed it down."" (As for the different estimates for the cost of the plant, Wilson said by phone: ""You know how long that’s been? I don’t remember everything."")  But after 20 years, her memory in the Washington Post article was on target. We rate this ."
4021,5,The federal government is spending 25 percent of our entire economy versus 100 years ago we spent only 2 percent.,"July 25, 2011",deficit;federal budget;taxes,ron johnson,"Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.",wisconsin,8,18,15,28,11,4,a television interview,"Johnson turned the clock way back in criticizing the size of the federal government. He claimed it took up just 2 percent of the economy a century ago, but 25 percent today. Johnson’s reference hearkens back to an entirely different era in American governance -- and it’s not clear just how far back in time on a percentage basis Johnson thinks we should go. But based on widely available, and generally accepted, historical data, he accurately described the dramatic rise of Washington, D.C., in our economic lives over the last 100 years. We rate his statement ."
14773,1,A Trump fan was just charged with trying to murder Maxine Waters on same day Trump threatened her.,"June 26, 2018",congress;fake news;crime;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Plus, Lloyd only plead guilty to threatening Waters. He was not charged with ""trying to murder"" the congresswoman. Mrozek said prosecutors have not made any allegations related to an actual attempt at murder. The Washington Press did not respond to a request for comment. We rate this statement ."
10840,2,"From 2014 to 2015, Austin's ""murder rate is up a whopping 83 percent.","October 7, 2015",city government;criminal justice;crime,bill o'reilly,Bill O'Reilly hosted The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News until 2017. He formerly worked as a television news reporter and has authored numerous books.,texas,2,5,3,5,6,1,a commentary,"O’Reilly said that from 2014 to 2015, Austin’s ""murder rate is up a whopping 83 percent."" There’s an element of  here; the Austin police chief’s August 2015 report had figures indicating an 83 percent uptick in murders through that month compared to the same chunk of 2014. But the year-to-year comparison places a raw count of violent deaths in 2015 against killings confirmed as murders for the same part of 2014--generating an incomplete  percentage. In contrast, if O’Reilly had pulled back the camera, so to speak, he could have determined that Austin appears on pace to have a lower murder rate in 2015 than in 2014. We rate his  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
21440,1,Soldiers destroyed Russian tank with NLAW in ambush.,"May 18, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"If you actually watch the video, it is clear that it shows an animation. The soldiers on top of the tank, and the tank rolling across a grassy field, have the glitchy movements of a simulation or video game. About three minutes into the recording, animated elements, such as the scenery, merge with one of the soldier’s arms in a way that defies reality.    We’ve previously debunked other claims that video game footage shows fighting in Ukraine.   This post is also ."
18334,0,"Says ""Kamala Harris is not able to be VP. Because she's a felon. She lied on her application to buy a gun here in CA.","September 1, 2020",candidate biography;elections;facebook fact-checks;california,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The Harris campaign declined to comment for this fact-check. All that said, even if Harris had been convicted of a felony at some point, this would not prevent her from becoming vice president or assuming the presidency. The requirements are the same for people seeking to become vice president or president, according to experts : A person must be a natural-born citizen, be at least 35 years old and have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.   Harris meets these requirements and is eligible to be president or vice president. We rate this  !"
18761,5,"Farm bankruptcies are ""at an eight-year high.","October 30, 2020",agriculture,theresa greenfield,Theresa Greenfield in a Democratic candidate for Senate in 2020. ,iowa,1,1,1,0,0,0,comments at a campaign rally,"Greenfield lifts the statistic about farm bankruptcies from federal records and reporting about those records when making campaign statements about the farm economy. This is pretty straightforward. We rate her  to be . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more.  "
4536,0,Corrupt political bosses. Money laundering. Fraud. It's just another day at the office for Vin Gopal.,"November 3, 2011",elections;message machine 2012,new jersey republican state committee,"The New Jersey Republican State Committee represents the GOP in the Garden State.
 ",new jersey,0,0,0,0,1,1,a political advertisement,"The Republican state committee distributed an ad in the 11th Assembly District that links Gopal to Vas, a disgraced politician convicted of election fraud and other offenses. Gopal worked four months on Vas’ unsuccessful congressional campaign. Gopal dealt with scheduling, phone banks, volunteers and occasional media queries. Given that law enforcement and a public database all confirm that Gopal had no connection of any kind to the Vas criminal case, the implications made by the ad aren’t just , they’re also outrageous. Some laundering is definitely needed because this  is !  To comment on this article, go to NJ.com ."
8445,4,"Chris Christie ""helped funnel $6 million in federal Hurricane Sandy money to a senior center in Belleville, N.J., a place that suffered no damage.","February 11, 2014",housing;weather;punditfact,lawrence o'donnell,"Lawrence O'Donnell is the host of MSNBC’s The Last Word. He was formerly the chief of staff for both the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and the Committee on Environment & Public Works in the 1990's. He is also an actor, and has been executive producer of the television shows The West Wing and Mister Sterling. O'Donnell blogs at the Huffington Post as well. In the past, O'Donnell has described himself as a socialist.",,1,3,0,2,2,0,"a segment on MSNBC's ""The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell""","O’Donnell said Chris Christie ""helped funnel $6 million in federal Hurricane Sandy money to a senior center in Belleville, N.J., a place that suffered no damage."" O’Donnell is right that Christie helped steer $6 million in Sandy money to a senior center. And he’s right that Belleville fared much better than other places in New Jersey, though to say ""no damage"" is an exaggeration. Because of that caveat, we rate this  ."
2512,2,"Says Gov. Jim Doyle and the DNR have not put hunters first and mismanaged the deer herd; as a result ""the deer population has dwindled.","October 14, 2010",environment;recreation,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a campaign news release and platform document,"However, Walker’s statement leaves out critical information: The size of the deer herd, itself an estimate, is down by design, not by . The goals are based on a system built on input from across the state and attempt to balance the concerns of hunters against those of farmers and drivers. Indeed, it has been successful in helping reduce the number of car-deer accidents. What’s more, in response to pressure from hunters, the 2010 population goal was increased. We rate Walker’s statement ."
12050,4,"Says Hillary Clinton ""wants sanctuary cities.","July 21, 2016",immigration;crime,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",florida,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech at the Republican convention,"Trump said that Clinton ""wants sanctuary cities."" During her first race for president, Clinton expressed support for sanctuary cities and said she wouldn’t crack down on them. She argued that without such policies, people will hide from police and not report crimes. In 2015, Clinton criticized the city of San Francisco for releasing a man from jail who later was charged with murdering a woman and had previously been deported many times. However, her campaign reiterated Clinton’s view that she believes sanctuary cities can help further public safety. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/05011271-7504-4511-9980-22b4aa91ef07"
532,1,"If you have an investment for your child's education or own a mutual fund or a stock in a retirement plan, (Obama) is going to raise your taxes.","July 7, 2008",taxes,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Denver, Co","He said if you have an investment for your child's education, or own a mutual fund or stock in a retirement plan ""he (Obama) is going to raise your taxes."" The fact is the capital gains tax would have absolutely no direct effect on savings in a traditional college savings plan. As for retirement savings through stocks or a mutual funds, people who cash out would not face higher tax rates unless you make more than $250,000. That doesn't apply to most Americans. We rate McCain's statement ."
22084,1,Norway readies its military to counter Biden.,"October 5, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"A Facebook post claims Norway sent soldiers to guard the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea to protect them from the U.S. government following the discovery of leaks. Norway did deploy its military to guard part of the pipeline network as a safety precaution. But it did not blame the U.S. for the leaks. Investigators have said they believe the leaks were the result of detonations and likely sabotage, but no suspects have been named.  We rate this  . "
22527,1,"Almost every study now has said with these new boosters, you're more likely to get infected with the bivalent booster.","January 17, 2023",corrections and updates;public health;coronavirus,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",florida,2,10,9,13,14,2,a press conference,"The study found that the bivalent booster is 30% effective in preventing infection from the virus. The researchers did find that there could be an association between the number of prior vaccine doses and an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Still, that finding did not suggest the bivalent booster could cause infection or increase the likelihood of infection.   We rate DeSantis'  . UPDATE, 5:25 p.m. Jan. 20:  DeSantis' press office contacted PolitiFact shortly after publication. We've updated the article to reflect that point; it does not affect the ruling."
10688,1,"Under the Iran deal: ""If Israel attacks Iran … we're supposed to be on Iran's side.","September 3, 2015",israel;foreign policy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",virginia,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview,"Trump said that under the Iran deal: ""If Israel attacks Iran … we are supposed to be on Iran’s side."" The  rests on an interpretation of a provision that the U.S. and other partners are prepared, ""as appropriate,"" to cooperate with training to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage. But the White House has made it clear that its interpretation of the provision is that it is targeted at terrorists and saboteurs, not Israel or other U.S. allies. If you’re still in doubt, consider that nothing in the provision compels the U.S. to offer any assistance to Iran in the event of a threat to its nuclear program. So we rate Trump’s statement ."
3874,1,Says U.S. House opponent Michael Williams does not live in and has never voted in the congressional district he's seeking to represent.,"June 28, 2011",candidate biography;elections,roger williams,"Roger Williams won election to represent the newly created Congressional District 25 in 2012. He is a former Texas secretary of state, the state's chief elections officer. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 as chairman of the Republican National Finance Committee’s Eagles fundraising program and also has served as state finance chair for John Cornyn's 2002 Senate campaign, according to his campaign website.",texas,4,0,3,3,3,2,at a campaign stop,"Far as we can tell, this amended description is about right. However, Michael Williams has also lived in Arlington, where he has claimed a homestead in Arlington for more than 15 years. And contrary to his foe’s published statement, Michael Williams also has voted in the 33rd district and lives there now. All told, the essence of Roger Williams’ statement — that Michael Williams is a carpetbagger — doesn’t hold up. We rate the  ."
1208,3,"A cap-and-trade plan promoted by Barack Obama would hit hardest ""those already struggling to make ends meet.","November 17, 2009",cap and trade;climate change;energy,sarah palin,"Sarah Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. She is also the former governor of Alaska and the author of  Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin's previous experience includes leading the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and serving as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.",national,14,6,9,9,21,6,"her book ""Going Rogue""","(The top tier does a little better because of credits for businesses.) The House bill is not the final version of cap and trade; the Senate still needs to consider its own bill. Palin is correct in that lower-income households would feel the impact of higher utility costs, but the House bill contains significant offsets to help people of modest means. Thanks to its offsets, the plan is not entirely regressive because the lowest one-fifth of households would see a net benefit. So we rate Palin's statement ."
22867,0,Video shows U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan slapping special counsel Robert Mueller.,"April 10, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The video is from a July 2019 House Judiciary Committee hearing in which Jordan questioned Mueller about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and its possible ties to former President Donald Trump’s campaign. Although Jordan talks about someone else lying, he doesn’t accuse Mueller of lying, nor does he utter the words ""you are lying,"" as the post describes.   And both men remain seated. No one is slapped.   We rate this post !"
12362,1,"Says ""Patrick Murphy is the only candidate to have voted against every measure to fund Zika.","September 7, 2016",congress;public health;voting record,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,a statement by a spokeswoman,"Rubio, through a spokeswoman, said, ""Patrick Murphy is the only candidate to have voted against every measure to fund Zika."" Murphy, like most congressional Democrats, has opposed Republican-led efforts to conditionally fund anti-Zika efforts at less than what Obama has requested. But he has offered other solutions and voted against his party for two bills that would have allowed unspecified amounts of money to be repurposed for Zika programs. So the campaign was  to say he voted against ""every"" measure. We rate Rubio’s statement ."
16470,2,Over 90% of the American people think we have to get assault weapons off the street  — period.,"September 12, 2019",polls and public opinion;guns,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,Houston,"Biden said ""over 90% of the American people think we have to get assault weapons off the street ⁠— period."" We looked at five polls following the El Paso and Dayton shootings in early August. Those polls showed overall support for banning assault weapons ranged from 56% to 70%. We rate this statement ."
6872,3,"Says Chris Christie ""vetoed"" a ""jobs package"" of ""30 bills.","January 8, 2013",jobs,stephen sweeney,State Senate President Stephen Sweeney is a Democrat representing Salem County and parts of Gloucester and Cumberland counties.,new jersey,2,1,3,1,2,0,a radio interview,"In a radio interview, Sweeney claimed that Christie ""vetoed"" a ""jobs package"" of ""30 bills."" It’s correct to say the governor vetoed numerous bills aimed at supporting businesses and job growth, and thus stopped them from becoming law. But of the bills cited by the senator’s representative, eight were ultimately signed into law after the Legislature concurred with the governor’s recommendations. Also, Sweeney’s  ignores several other bills labeled by Democrats as part of the ""Back to Work NJ"" package and signed by the governor without any changes. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
8027,2,"Says ""new mandates are already reducing full-time employment.","October 29, 2013",economy;health care;jobs,americans for prosperity,"Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group advocates for limited government, free markets and fiscal and regulatory restraint.",national,0,1,2,6,8,2,a television ad,"In its ad, Americans for Prosperity said that new mandates from Obamacare ""are already reducing full-time employment."" It’s a plausible scenario, but as of now, it’s largely speculative, with the  anecdotal rather than statistical. Across the economy as a whole, part-time employment is high, but independent observers say that has to do with the recession and the weak recovery rather than Obama’s health care law. We rate the Americans For Prosperity  ."
30,4,"Bill Richardson passed the first law in the nation giving National Guard soldiers $400,000 in life insurance.","September 5, 2007",military,bill richardson,"Bill Richardson is the former governor of New Mexico, having served two terms in that position from 2003-2011. Richardson is also a former congressman, U.S. secretary of energy, and ambassador to the United Nations. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, and was President Barack Obama’s initial nominee for secretary of commerce in 2009.",national,2,8,3,1,2,1,a TV ad,"Still, he is far from being a lone voice on the issue. Only a few months earlier, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was proposing a generous bump in military death benefits during his 2004 presidential run. By mid January 2005, President Bush and many members of Congress from both parties were clamoring to increase death benefits for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We note that Richardson first proposed paying for the premiums to his state's National Guard troops on Jan. 4, 2005. So he does appear to have been on the leading edge of the effort."
9545,2,"3,000 teachers lost their jobs when (Crist) was governor.","October 15, 2014",economy;education;stimulus,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a debate at Broward College,"Scott said that ""3,000 teachers lost their jobs when Charlie was governor."" The  omits some key points. The number was derived from media reports about possible layoffs; not all of them materialized. Also, the  glosses over the fact that Crist accepted federal stimulus money that preserved thousands of teacher jobs. Finally, Crist was not solely responsible for teacher layoffs. Crist and the Republican-led Legislature signed off on budget cuts amid a national recession -- something no single politician is personally responsible for. Clearly, some teachers were laid off statewide, but there's a lack of  that it amounted to 3,000 positions. We rate this  ."
20386,0,Pfizer vaccine contains living particles that can germinate to cause sickness.,"October 11, 2021",public health;science;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Enby claimed in a Facebook video that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine contained living particles that could germinate and cause illness in vaccinated people. Health experts say this is . The Pfizer mRNA vaccine does not contain any living organisms, only chemical components that trigger the human body to produce antibodies against COVID-19.  We rate this  !"
14762,0,Mexico's Next President Calls for An Invasion Of The US,"June 25, 2018",immigration;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post headline,"Over 2,300 children were separated from their parents between May 5 and June 9, according to the Homeland Security Department. We found no indications that López Obrador was encouraging people to abandon their towns in favor of the United States. Instead, he urged current Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to complete the following three actions: Send a diplomatic note in protest of the Trump’s administration’s policies to the United States; Solicit the urgent intervention of the United Nations commissioner for human rights; and, Send a team of lawyers, psychologists and social workers to aid kids and their parents at the border. Bloggers have distorted López Obrador's quote to stoke fears. We rate the  ."
14018,1,"Says the Austin school district ""enjoys the highest per-student funding of all large Texas districts"" even after forwarding tax revenue to the state.","November 3, 2017",education;taxes,roger falk,"Roger Falk, an Austin resident, has been a volunteer with the Travis County Taxpayers Union.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,the Austin American-Statesman,"Our rulin g Falk said the Austin district ""enjoys the highest per-student funding of all large Texas districts"" even after forwarding revenue to the state. Considering all audited actual revenues for 2015-16, it looks to us like the Austin district trailed other high-enrollment districts in spending--ranking sixth or ninth among such districts depending on which ones you include. We rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
12191,1,Says President Bill Clinton did not sign NAFTA.,"August 10, 2016",bipartisanship;bush administration;congress;economy;history;jobs;labor;foreign policy;trade;workers;punditfact,nowthis,NowThis is a New York-based company that aims to share news via social media in short clips of GIFs and videos for largely mobile users.,,0,0,0,0,1,1,a viral video,"NowThis repeatedly says in its video that Trump's statements accusing Clinton of signing NAFTA are "": Bill Clinton didn't sign NAFTA."" It's  that the George H.W. Bush administration first negotiated the deal and that Trump is ignoring that element. But Clinton got it modified, pushed hard for the final version, and signed it with enthusiasm once Congress ratified it. The statement is not accurate, and we rate it .  https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/f3d8de22-bdfa-4558-a964-cd4c46f0ad04"
18693,2,"As part of the Obama administration's criminal justice reforms, ""38,000 prisoners were released from federal prison.","October 22, 2020",criminal justice;drugs;crime,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,the final 2020 presidential debate,"Biden said that as part of the Obama administration’s criminal justice reforms, ""38,000 prisoners were released from federal prison."" The 38,000 figure is cherry-picked. It represents the change in the federal prison population from its peak at the end of 2012 to the end of 2018, nearly two years into Trump’s presidency.  The federal prison population did shrink under Obama for the first time in decades, but the  decline from the start to the end of Obama’s presidency was about 12,000 prisoners. The 38,000 figure also describes a reduction in the federal prison population — which can happen for a myriad of reasons — rather than the number of federal inmates who were released under or because of the Obama administration’s policies. We rate Biden’s statement ."
2571,2,"Of those 850,000 (new Texas) jobs, most were public-sector jobs and minimum-wage jobs.","October 15, 2010",economy;jobs,bill white,"Bill White, an author, is a San Antonio native who was mayor of Houston from 2004-2009. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor of Texas.",texas,6,7,5,2,3,3,an interview,"Summing up: White's campaign presented raw numbers suggesting that about two-thirds of the jobs added on Perry's watch were either government-sector or minimum-wage. But that methodology lacks critical information that could easily lead to a different conclusion. That's why we rate the statement . Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to ."
9025,5,"Dan Patrick was the only state senator ""who voted against the Veteran Entrepreneurship Program, a program that assists veterans in successfully starting up their own businesses.","June 27, 2014",veterans,leticia van de putte,"Leticia Van de Putte, a pharmacist, was the 2014 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. She previously served in the Texas House.",texas,2,1,4,2,2,1,her speech to the Texas Democratic Party state convention,Van de Putte said Patrick was the only senator to vote against the Veteran Entrepreneurship Program. Ten-hut! We rate this  as .
8830,1,"The media ""widely overlooked"" comments made by former President Bill Clinton that Hillary Clinton had a terrible concussion that took six months to recover from.","May 18, 2014",candidate biography;punditfact,brit hume,Brit Hume is a Fox News political analyst.,,0,0,0,1,3,0,"comments on ""Fox News Sunday""","Hume said much of the media overlooked that Bill Clinton said his wife had suffered a terrible concussion that required six months of work before she recovered. While Bill Clinton’s Walking Dead zinger may have gotten more airtime (we didn’t check), Hume is  to assert that the media ignored Clinton’s substantive comments. Clinton’s comments were covered in print by the nation’s biggest newspapers, in online articles, and on the TV networks and elsewhere. We rate the  ."
21535,1,The N.C. GOP came out in support of Sen. [Rick] Scott's extremist policy to 'Rescue America.',"May 24, 2022",,barbara gaskins,"Barbara Gaskins, a Democratic community activist, is running for Congress in North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District.",north carolina,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Gaskins tweeted that ""the N.C. GOP came out in support of Sen. (Rick) Scott's extremist policy to ‘Rescue America.’"" Scott did release a plan that indicates support for raising income taxes and sunsetting federal programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Even McConnell rebuked the ideas. However, there’s no  that the North Carolina Republican Party has come out in support of Scott’s plan.  We rate this  ."
11900,2,"My administration is ""well represented both racially, ethnically and gender-wise.","June 23, 2016",city government;race and ethnicity;women,jim kenney,Mayor of Philadelphia and former City Councilman,pennsylvania,2,1,1,1,1,0,remarks at the Better Bike Share conference,"Kenney said his administration was ""well-represented both racially, ethnically and gender-wise."" Philadelphia is  the only major city  where women constitute the majority of workers. It’s a slight majority, and that’s close to what Kenney’s administration looks like. This is something for which Kenney has been celebrated. The other categories in his comment are another story, though. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto gets praise— his administration has been called Pittsburgh’s most diverse ever— for appointing a comparable percentage of blacks. But Pittsburgh is about two thirds white. Philadelphia is roughly two thirds of color. The Kenney administration’s numbers racially aren’t representative of Philadelphia.  Sixty-one  percent of the city’s top earners are white. While African-Americans are underrepresented, Asians and Latinos are even more so: Four percent of employees paid more than $90,000 are Hispanic; another four percent are Asian. In the city’s population as a whole, those two groups represent more than 2.5 times that. We rate this  ."
22013,0,Future and Malia Obama are expecting first child together.,"September 14, 2022",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"A Facebook post shared a screenshot claiming Malia Obama and the rapper Future were expecting a child together. The screenshot came from an Instagram account that posts satirical news headlines.  Despite the satirical source of the  and the lack of  that the two know each other, it did not stop it from spreading on social media.  We rate this  !"
20210,1,"A video shows the ""Taliban hanging someone from a helicopter.","August 30, 2021",afghanistan;facebook fact-checks,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,tweets,"""  That account’s tweet was boosted by several prominent Republican politicians, including Cruz and U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Dan Crenshaw . ""This horrifying image encapsulates Joe Biden's Afghanistan catastrophe: The Taliban hanging a man from an American Blackhawk helicopter,"" Cruz said in his tweet, which helped the video amass over 2.5 million views in less than 24 hours. ""Tragic. Unimaginable."" Elsewhere, blog sites such as RedState and the Western Journal ran headlines that repeated the same claims.   We rate these claims ."
21902,2,"In New York, you need to show identification to buy whipped cream, but not to vote.","August 30, 2022",elections;food;voter id laws,social media,logo,new york,0,1,0,2,6,3,social media posts,"Social media posts  that you need an ID to purchase whipped cream in New York, but you don’t need an ID to vote there.  Identification is not necessary to purchase cans of whipped cream. Some stores misinterpreted a new law meant to curb young adults’ abuse of nitrous oxide via whipped cream chargers — not whipped cream cans — and required an ID. Further communication from the bill’s sponsor has cleared the confusion. New York requires identification when people register to vote, but not when they cast their ballots. If the Board of Elections cannot verify voters’ identities before Election Day, those voters must present identification when they vote. Voters who do not have identification won’t be turned away but will be asked to cast affidavit, or provisional ballots.  We rate this  . "
11167,4,"Says Donald Trump ""thinks that climate change is a hoax, invented by the Chinese.","January 24, 2016",climate change;science,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Sanders said that Trump ""thinks that climate change is a hoax, invented by the Chinese."" Trump did tweet that view in 2012. Whether Trump still feels that way is less clear. Asked about it recently, the real estate developer called it a joke. However, Trump has repeatedly called climate change a ""hoax"" in speeches, tweets and media appearances, and while he hasn’t necessarily repeated the charge that China ""invented"" climate change, he has said as recently as Jan. 18, 2016, that action on climate change ""is done for the benefit of China."" We rate the  ."
12033,1,"Says Donald Trump ""always pays his bills promptly.","July 20, 2016",candidate biography,phil ruffin,"Phil Ruffin is American businessman known for his interest in casinos, real estate and oil production.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,Cleveland,"Ruffin said that Donald Trump ""always pays his bills promptly."" But the USA Today investigation found a large number of lawsuits -- at least 60, plus hundreds of liens, judgments and other filings -- because people have accused Trump of failing to pay for services rendered or products delivered. The complaints even come from law firms that had formerly represented Trump in these types of lawsuits. ""Always"" is a strong word, so if even just a tiny fraction of the cases uncovered by USA Today are accurate, that would be enough to make Ruffin’s statement . We rate the statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/5f7a5f4d-5f98-461a-9616-33d2d48c26df"
23313,1,Photo shows a highway in Houston.,"July 18, 2023",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"It shows the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, which boasted 50 lanes when that picture was snapped — not 26. The Katy Freeway in Houston is big, and in 2016 we fact-checked a  that it was the widest freeway in the world. Our conclusion: Katy Freeway, a Houston portion of Interstate 10, has 13 lanes at its widest (not counting frontage roads). There’s a wider freeway in Canada, and, of course, the pictured behemoth Beijing.   We rate claims this photo shows a Houston freeway ."
13759,0,Computer models show Irma destroying New York City on Sept. 10.,"September 5, 2017",environment;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an Internet post,"This post was tagged under ""conspiracies,"" grouped with wild stories about the Illuminati and Earth’s impending destruction. The story’s author did not respond to our requests for comment, but clarified he was not a weather expert in the post: ""As a layman, I know the models can turn out to be . Sometimes even WAAAAAAAAAYYYY . But if this model is right, then we in New Jersey (where I live) and folks in New York City, had better start preparing to EVACUATE within the next 7-8 days."" We rate this  !"
17715,1,Italian Parliament Calls For The Arrest of Bill Gates,"May 15, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"""  Cunial’s speech was interrupted by vocal objections from other members of parliament who appeared to disagree with her viewpoint. This further suggests that Cunial’s calls for the Gates to be charged with crimes against humanity are not widely supported by the Italian government. We rate this  . Correction, May 26, 2020:  This story was corrected to reflect that Cunial was expelled from the Five Star Movement party in 2019."
21020,1,"A 2022 video shows ""Ukrainian and Russian soldiers face to face.","February 25, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,,0,1,3,9,60,18,posts,"It is seven years old. BBC News Turkey shared the footage on Youtube on March 4, 2014. According to the BBC article , the video depicts pro-Russian troops who seized an airbase firing ""warning shots"" to prevent some 300 unarmed Ukrainian soldiers from approaching.   The tense standoff occurred as Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. We rate claims that the footage depicts the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine ."
21656,1,The immune system does not exist.,"July 8, 2022",facebook fact-checks,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,,0,1,3,9,60,18,a TikTok post,"According to Cleveland Clinic, the lymphatic system is part of the immune system. It’s a network of tissues, vessels and organs that move a fluid called lymph through the human bloodstream and protects the human body from illness-causing invaders, such as bacteria, parasites and viruses.   The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia likens the immune system to a police force: ""it patrols everywhere, and if it finds a disturbance, it calls for backup."" If the immune system is a police force, the hospital says, ""lymph nodes are their stations. ""   We rate claims that the immune system doesn’t exist ."
16656,2,"If folks are vaping a legal medical cannabis product that comes from any of the New York state operators, they will not have to worry about the negative impacts on their lungs.","October 9, 2019",public health;marijuana,crystal peoples-stokes,"Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes has been a member of the Assembly since 2003, and became majority leader in 2019. She lives in Buffalo.  ",new york,0,0,1,1,0,0,a radio interview,"Peoples-Stokes said that people who used medical marijuana obtained from approved operators in New York shouldn’t worry about the negative impact on their lungs.  While state and federal public health officials have not found a link between medical marijuana from regulated operators and lung injury cases, they recommend caution when it comes to vaping. The Centers for Disease Control recommends people do not use e-cigarette or vaping products that contain THC and consider refraining from using all e-cigarette and vaping products. The state is telling people to stop using vape products until the cause of the lung illnesses are known, and is urging medical marijuana patients to consider alternatives to vaping while its investigation is underway.   Public health researchers have found that it’s unclear whether vaping is safe or not, even if the user is vaping a regulated substance such as medical marijuana.  We rate Peoples-Stokes’ statement .  "
18257,4,"Says Donald Trump ""proposes cutting a half a billion dollars of local police support.","August 23, 2020",criminal justice;crime,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,an interview with ABC News,"Biden said that Trump proposes cutting half a billion dollars from local police support. According to the Trump administration’s budget requests, Biden’s number is about right.  The biggest area of interpretation is what counts as local police support. There is no question that Trump proposed a $170 million cut for the program that subsidizes community police initiatives, Community Oriented Policing Services. Beyond that, the Justice Department offers a wide range of programs. Some provide direct aid to local law enforcement, but some do not. One expert we reached said most of these programs do provide direct aid. Another said they all aim to advance public safety at the local level. The  is largely accurate but requires additional information. That’s our definition of ."
792,4,McCain called for less regulation 21 times just this year.,"October 29, 2008",economy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,North Carolina,"I believe that government has to be part of the solution. I mean, regulation and oversight has to be absolutely essential. Teddy Roosevelt said unbridled capitalism leads to corruption."" Still, between the 14 explicit and six implied calls for deregulation the Obama campaign cited, plus the four explicit calls we found, Obama was on fairly solid ground with this . We find it ."
13367,0,"A University of Texas ""student pulled out a concealed handgun"" on a knife-wielding suspect ""and made him back down.","May 2, 2017",education;crime;guns,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,texas,8,18,24,53,233,396,a web post on ihavethetruth.com,"A web blog said a UT student used a concealed gun to help police stop knife attacks on the campus. In a week-plus after the attacks, there were no credible news reports or law-enforcement confirmations of this  which looks to us like it was bandied by pro-gun advocates presuming or perhaps wishing it was so. !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
19773,1,An Ohio doctor died from a COVID-19 vaccine.,"May 5, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",ohio,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"However, comments about the COVID-19 vaccine that were left on the tribute page appeared to have been deleted after PolitiFact contacted the business.   And Flanigan’s wife, Amy Flanigan, told USA Today that his death was not related to the vaccine. Her husband died from an undiagnosed aortic dissection, she said. The often fatal condition happens when the inner layer of the aorta tears. We rate claims that he died from the COVID-19 vaccine ."
237,3,"Average families are spending roughly $2,000 more a year on energy costs. ... It's like a $2,000 energy tax in just the last seven years, more than three times what the typical American family received from the Bush tax cuts.","November 19, 2007",energy,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"Knoxville, Iowa","To do that kind of a calculation, over so many years, one would have to account for changing tax laws, inflation, income changes, energy use, driving patterns, what people bought, even the weather. In short, it's not a number that is tracked by the Energy Information Administration or the Tax Policy Center. Maybe the Clinton campaign did all of that, but if so they're not sharing it with us. We're left with somewhat accurate numbers from Clinton (judging by one report) that tell only part of the story of energy costs vs. tax savings. At our generous best, we can only give her a ."
9676,1,I don't know who (Jonathan Gruber) is.,"November 13, 2014",health care,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,a news conference,"Pelosi said, ""I don't know who (Jonathan Gruber) is."" Video showing Pelosi citing Gruber’s work offers the clearest  that she did indeed know who he was, and even her office now acknowledges that she meant to say that she didn't know Gruber personally. Even if the latter is , that’s not what she said at the press conference, so we rate her  ."
3757,4,"Anywhere in the world, when someone uses a mobile phone, e-mail, the Internet or GPS, they are enjoying the benefits of the American miracle.","June 14, 2011",science;technology,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,his first speech on the U.S. Senate floor,"Stein was most concerned about the non-American role in the development of the Internet, especially the substantial contribution of England's Berners-Lee. It’s also important to note in the context of Rubio’s ""only in America"" rhetoric that while the United States led, it wasn’t alone in its innovation. Other nations’ researchers contributed to the early Internet; commercial mobile phone networks were available overseas before they were in America; other nations operate satellite navigation systems. But in these areas and many others, Americans can  primacy. We rate Rubio’s statement, that ""when someone uses a mobile phone, e-mail, the Internet or GPS, they are enjoying the benefits of the American miracle,"" ."
20709,2,"People vaccinated for COVID-19 ""do not spread the disease to anyone else.","December 14, 2021",coronavirus,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,an interview,"Biden said Dec. 14 that people vaccinated for COVID-19 ""do not spread the disease to anyone else."" White House officials did not respond to our email asking for , but Biden’s statement conflicts with information by the CDC that it is ""likely that vaccinated people with breakthrough infection or people infected without symptoms can spread the virus to others."" While the information from the CDC presentation was a couple of days after Biden spoke, it echoes what the CDC said in August about the potential for vaccinated people to transmit the virus. Experts told us that getting vaccinated protects individuals from severe cases including hospitalization and death and reduces the chance of transmission, but Biden went too far when he suggested that vaccination completely eliminates the chance of transmission. We rate this statement . RELATED : Events within and beyond Joe Biden’s control stymied progress on COVID-19 in his first year RELATED : No, public health officials aren’t passing off common cold as omicron variant"
14136,2,"In Milwaukee, ""murder is up an astonishing 57 percent.","December 18, 2017",federal budget;crime;public safety;urban,jeff sessions,"Jeff Sessions is President Donald Trump's Attorney General. He was previously a U.S. Senator from Alabama.
 ",wisconsin,1,2,6,10,4,0,a news conference,"The FBI’s count of homicides in Milwaukee in 2016 -- the latest year for which FBI figures are available -- was 57 percent higher than it was two years earlier, in 2014. Clearly, murders are higher since 2014. But that paints a  picture of the current situation. Using an up-to-date two-year comparison, homicides in 2017, while still higher than in 2014, were about 20 percent lower than they were in 2015. For a statement that has an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is .  "
17477,0,"Say televangelist Pat Robertson said some young people ""are doing all kinds of unnatural things with their sex organs. When people do that, they transfer all kinds of chemicals from ladies' private parts and that's where I think the (corona)virus came from.","April 5, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,social media posts,"A viral tweet attributed a quote to Robertson saying he believed oral sex and ""lady parts"" caused COVID-19.  This originated from a satire website. We rate this tweet ."
9910,3,"It used to be that the only children at school who weren't vaccinated were those who had true medical"" conditions. ""Now there are 19 states that allow personal belief exemptions.","February 1, 2015",health care;public health;punditfact,richard besser,Dr. Richard Besser is ABC News' Chief Health and Medical Editor. ,,0,0,1,0,0,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Besser said, ""It used to be that the only children at school who weren't vaccinated were those who had  medical"" conditions, but ""now there are 19 states that allow personal belief exemptions."" Besser, a pediatrician, is right about the number of states that allow exemptions to state vaccination laws for personal beliefs. But his history lesson about vaccination laws of yesteryear is not as accurate. States have consistently provided religious exemptions alongside medical exemptions, and five predominantly Midwestern states allowed parents to seek exemptions for any reason even in the 1960s. His  is partially accurate, so we rate the  . Clarification: This post has been updated to better reflect how Elena Conis said the modern anti-vaccine movement began."
14390,2,A quarter of our guns are sold outside of the background checks.,"March 7, 2018",government regulation;polls and public opinion;guns,steve bullock,"Steve Bullock is governor of Montana. Bullock was elected governor in 2012 and was ree-lected in 2016. From 2009 to 2013, Bullock served as attorney general of Montana. He received a bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Claremont McKenna College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. In 2019, he announced he is running for the Democratic nomination for president.",wisconsin,0,1,0,1,0,0,Milwaukee,"That’s close to Bullock’s figure. But it takes into account people who acquired guns either by purchasing them, or by simply receiving them, for example as a gift. Among those surveyed who had purchased a gun within the previous two years, only 13 percent said they had done so without a background check. We rate Bullock’s  . Go here for a review of our other gun fact checks since Parkland."
10191,2,"$29 is what ""families on SNAP (i.e. food stamps) have to live on for a week.","April 9, 2015",federal budget;punditfact,gwyneth paltrow,"Gwyneth Paltrow is an actress who founded the lifestyle website GOOP. In 1999, she won an Oscar for her role in Shakespeare in Love. In 2013, she released a cookbook, My father's daughter.",,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Paltrow pointed to $29 worth of groceries as what ""families on SNAP (i.e. food stamps) have to live on for a week."" It’s clear Paltrow is trying to do a good thing. But her specific  falls short. SNAP is not intended to feed families by itself. It is designed to help people with low incomes meet a government-approved budget for food by providing a benefit that helps them get there, sometimes in conjunction with other sources of meals, such as school food programs, and financial support. The government expects SNAP beneficiaries to spend 30 percent of their own income on food. That expectation is what makes the $29 a week figure look so low. A single person with no income could receive about $48 a week in SNAP benefits (65 percent more than Paltrow stated) and would not factor in other types of government support. We rate the  ."
7067,2,"Over the last 20 years, the world has changed. It used to be that one could make a career out of working for one company. Today, the average worker stays at his or her job for barely four years.","February 5, 2013",economy;jobs,eric cantor,"Eric Cantor is a former congressman who represented Virginia's 7th District from 2001 to 2014. He rose to House minority whip in 2009 and House majority leader in 2011. Cantor was upset by Dave Brat in the 2014 GOP primary for congress. He is now vice chairman and managing director of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank.
 
 
 ",virginia,7,4,4,9,6,4,a speech,"Cantor said job longevity has diminished over the last 20 years. ""It used to be that one could make a career out of working for one company,"" he said. ""Today, the average worker stays at his or her job for  four years."" The majority leader was referring to 2012 BLS figures that show the median length of time U.S. workers 16 and older had spent with their employer was 4.6 years. The problem with this statistic is that young workers don’t stay at jobs very long and don’t view their labor as careers. The mean tenure of workers 25 and older was 5.4 years. In either case, tenure has actually increased over the last two decades. It has actually risen by one year if we consider workers 16 and older, and by more than half a year if we consider workers 25 and older. The bottom line: There’s some accuracy in Cantor’s estimate of how many years workers stay at their jobs. But he’s off target on his his major point -- that longevity at companies has decreased over the last 20 years. All told, we rate Cantor’s statement ."
3717,1,Says Panasonic stayed in New Jersey because of the Business Retention and Relocation Assistance Grant (BRRAG) program.,"May 11, 2011",economy;jobs;taxes,kim guadagno,Kim Guadagno is the Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey.,new jersey,0,0,1,0,2,0,a radio interview on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show,"Let’s review. Guadagno claimed BRRAG helped Panasonic stay in New Jersey. Panasonic said BRRAG wasn’t a factor in the company’s decision and the state EDA confirmed Panasonic is not eligible for any tax credits through that program. We rate this statement . To comment on this ruling, join the conversation at NJ.com ."
8840,0,"A company hired to do Common Core testing in Florida will ""attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can.","March 22, 2014",corrections and updates;education;lgbtq,charles van zant,Rep. Charles Van Zant is a Republican representing District 19. He is an architect from Keystone Heights who was first elected to the House in 2008.,florida,0,0,1,0,1,1,March publicized May 16 by Think Progress,"A firm hired to do Common Core testing in Florida will ""attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can,"" Van Zant said. The firm hired to do testing, AIR, separately provides information to entities that request it to help them assist LGBT students. Currently, the federal government accesses AIR’s information but the organization doesn’t have such a contract with the state of Florida or any Florida districts. We found no  that when AIR administers tests in Florida that the testing process will involve recruiting students to become gay. Van Zant takes a somewhat limited connection between the testing company and gay and lesbian issues and then blows it up into a wild  that lacks . We rate this ."
7555,3,"Says proposed anti-abortion legislation ""would force women facing the most personal of health decisions to endure a transvaginal ultrasound.","July 14, 2013",abortion;health care,ohio democratic party,Statewide organization for Ohio's Democrats.,ohio,2,2,2,5,1,2,an emailed statement,"""If it is very early in the pregnancy, to see if there is a living embryo, you would need a transvaginal ultrasound,"" Harrison said, adding that the internal procedure would be needed to accurately date a pregnancy in the first nine weeks. The statement by the Ohio Democratic Party implies that all women seeking abortions would be forced to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. Women seeking abortions would have to undergo some form of ultrasound, and many women seeking early-term abortions could face the internal procedure. But the Ohio Democratic Party did not clarify the circumstances. We rate its  ."
13524,3,"When Obamacare was signed into law, CBO estimated that 23 million people would be covered in Obamacare's exchanges in 2017. They were off by more than 100 percent. Only 10.3 million people are covered by Obamacare.","June 26, 2017",corrections and updates;health care,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"The White House chose to cite a report that has been updated by the CBO following significant legislation affecting its predictions. To make its case that the CBO is unreliable, the Trump administration cherry-picked a statistic that CBO got the most . The forecasters were closer to actual results on other major components of Obamacare, including Medicaid and employer changes. We rate this statement . Editor's note:  We've updated this fact-check to clarify a point about the difference between CBO's projections and actual exchange enrollment."
7931,4,Unemployment in the city of St. Petersburg is below the state average.,"October 15, 2013",jobs,bill foster,Bill Foster was elected mayor of St. Petersburg in 2009. He is a former St. Petersburg City Council member.,florida,1,2,2,1,0,0,a Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 debate,"St. Petersburg’s unemployment rate is a little bit better than the state average, according to the most recent data we have from the state and federal government. It’s been the case for most of the year. Is it substantially better? No. And experts cautioned that the numbers we have are not the best. Still, they’re the best we have. We rate this statement ."
16676,1,"Says President Barack Obama was ""furious"" that he was caught on camera holding a pro-Muslim book.","November 4, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It is about the great transformation taking place around the world, a transformation that, though often discussed, remains poorly understood."" A Publishers Weekly review of the book called it ""a stimulating, largely optimistic forecast of where the 21st century is heading,"" saying that Zakaria ""predicts that despite its record of recent blunders at home and abroad, America will stay strong, buoyed by a stellar educational system and the influx of young immigrants, who give the U.S. a more youthful demographic than Europe and much of Asia whose workers support an increasing population of unproductive elderly."" The New York Times Sunday Book Review said the book is ""a relentlessly intelligent book that eschews simple-minded projections from crisis to collapse … Zakaria’s is not another exercise in declinism. His point is not the demise of Gulliver, but the ‘rise of the rest.’ ""  We rate this post . "
22801,1,"Images show ""Putin has been arrested.","March 26, 2023",facebook fact-checks;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"That’s likely a limitation of artificial intelligence, which struggles to capture the human hand . PolitiFact noted that flaw in a recent fact-check of images that purported to show the arrest of former President Donald Trump, which also hasn’t happened. With Trump facing possible indictment and the arrest warrant issued for Putin, AI-generated images of both leaders being arrested have proliferated online, with people using increasingly sophisticated software to create realistic-looking images, according to The Associated Press . Putin may one day be arrested. But we rate the  that these photos show his arrest . "
14616,3,"Says Joe Manchin displayed an ""unwillingness to change the failed Obamacare.","May 11, 2018",health care,patrick morrisey,Patrick Morrisey is the attorney general of West Virginia. Morrisey is running for the West Virginia U.S. Senate seat.,national,2,4,3,4,1,0,a radio interview,"Morrisey said Manchin displayed an ""unwillingness to change the failed Obamacare."" Manchin did oppose the various Republican-led repeal efforts, but he has worked actively to promote incremental changes to Obamacare — not only rhetorically but also by backing bipartisan bills intended as efforts to modify Obamacare without scuttling it. We rate the statement ."
3870,0,"Says that President Obama said, ""Nobody made these guys go to war. ... Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice?","June 22, 2011",military;veterans,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"... So, for all the sacrifices that you've made, I want to say thank you."" The chain e-mail that purports to be Obama's comments on troops is maliciously . It's particularly egregious for trying to ply veterans with  information. We rate this one !"
558,3,Says Obama flip-flopped on banning handguns.,"July 24, 2008",guns,let freedom ring,Let Freedom Ring is a conservative group.,national,1,0,1,0,2,0,a TV ad airing on cable networks such as Fox and MTV,"But what about D.C.'s outright ban of guns? Obama not only didn't correct Harris' characterization of support for the D.C. gun ban, his answer seemed to affirm that it was accurate. At the very least, if Harris was , here was the perfect opportunity to set the record straight. By and large, Obama's fence-sitting has been pretty consistent. Still, twice claiming an aide botched your position and failing to go on record even when directly asked about it gives the flip-flopping charge enough ammo to merit a ."
21682,2,"In Virginia, we actually do protect same-sex marriage.","July 10, 2022",families;legal issues;lgbtq;sexuality,glenn youngkin,"Republican Glenn Youngkin was elected Virginia's governor in November 2021. He defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who was governor from 2014 to 2018.
Youngkin was reared in Richmond and Virginia Beach and won a basketball scholarship at Rice University, where he earned an engineering degree. He earned a MBA from Harvard University. Youngkin worked 25 years at the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm based in Washington with $230 billion in assets. He retired in 2020 as CEO after taking the company public. His net worth is estimated at $254 million, according to The Washington Post.
Youngkin's 2021 campaign for governor is his first bid for public office.",virginia,0,5,4,1,3,1,a TV interview,"But it is superseded by the state constitution that specifically bans such unions, a provision that the Republican-led House stood by earlier this year. Should the high court reverse its 2015 ruling, as Thomas would like to see, same-sex marriage in Virginia would instantly end. Younkin told viewers of ""Face the Nation"" a small piece of the story. Although Virginia allows gay marriage, the state law he cites as protecting it is meaningless.   We rate Youngkin’s statement .  "
13026,1,"Says Donald Trump was ""caught investing in (the) Dakota Pipeline before signing it.","February 8, 2017",climate change;energy;fake news;punditfact,learnprogress.org,"A left-leaning website that advocates for ""a progressive America.""",,0,0,0,0,1,0,a headline,"He did sign an executive action on Jan. 24 to get the pipeline moving again . Construction resumed on Feb. 9 , and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe challenged the pipeline in court on Feb. 14 . The headline’s assertion that Trump was caught in some kind of wrongdoing by investing in the pipeline before approving it is  and . The potential conflict of interest was known and at least partially addressed before Trump became president and restarted the project. We rate the headline ."
15075,1,"Says Beto O'Rourke voted ""against body armor for Texas sheriffs patrolling the border.","September 12, 2018",immigration;candidate biography;homeland security,texans are,"Texans Are, a super PAC supportive of Sen. Ted Cruz's re-election in 2018, is led by Jason Johnson, a former Cruz strategist.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a TV ad,"Texans Are said O’Rourke voted against providing body armor to Texas sheriffs patrolling the border. In 2014, O’Rourke voted in favor of barring the Defense Department from providing excess aircraft, tanks and military weaponry to local law agencies in general. However, the proposed restriction did not extend to body armor and made no mention of border sheriffs. Contrary to the ad's , there was no up-or-down vote on providing body armor to Texas sheriffs patrolling the border. We rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. UPDATE, 10:07 a.m., Sept. 21, 2018: We revised this story to add the DLA's advisory that it had stopped providing body armor to local law enforcement agencies years before the House vote singled out by Texans Are. This addition didn't affect our rating of the ."
18961,1,"Residents the Wisconsin Election Commission suspected of moving are ""illegal voters.","December 2, 2020",elections;states,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said in a speech that residents the Election Commission suspected of moving are ""illegal voters."" But there’s absolutely no factual or logical basis to this . Most people on this list have been regular voters, and nothing about being on the list makes them ineligible to vote.  It was just an effort to clarify where voters lived. We rate this ."
16340,1,"Says Walmart is ""one of the largest sellers of assault-style weapons.","August 5, 2019",punditfact;guns,stephanie ruhle,"Stephanie Ruhle is anchor of ""MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” and “MSNBC Live with Velshi & Ruhle.""",,0,0,0,0,1,0,on MSNBC,"Ruhle said Walmart is ""one of the largest sellers of assault-style weapons."" Walmart does not sell automatic weapons, and it stopped selling semi-automatic rifles in 2015. So we rate this statement ."
1311,3,"The ""pay-as-you-go law ... was a big reason why we had record surpluses in the 1990s.","January 27, 2010",federal budget,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,his State of the Union address,"So back to Obama's . He said the ""pay-as-you-go law ... was a big reason why we had record surpluses in the 1990s."" He is correct that it is a basic principle behind the effort to balance the budget, but his statement somewhat overstates the policy's importance in achieving that goal. Yes, PAYGO rules provided some discipline that might have restrained Congress from adding more spending or new tax cuts, but the economy and the defense cuts were the biggest factors that led to the balanced budget. So we find his statement ."
11877,4,"Says Donald Trump has ""bankrupted his companies not once, not twice but four times.","June 21, 2016",candidate biography,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,a speech on the economy,"Clinton said, Trump has ""bankrupted his companies not once, not twice but four times."" Trump has actually filed Chapter 11 six times, four times within two years in the 1990s, once more in 2004 and once more in 2009. But experts told us Trump shouldn’t bear all the responsibility, as Clinton’s wording suggests, as the majority of bankruptcies happened as the overall casino industry struggled. We rate her  . <div class='artembed'>"
5865,4,"Says state Sen. Paul Sarlo ""said in February on NJTV, 'there will be no tax increases in this budget'"" and ""voted the other night in the Senate Budget Committee to raise income taxes $800 million.","June 26, 2012",state budget;taxes,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,a video posted on YouTube,"At a town hall meeting, Christie claimed Sarlo ""said in February on NJTV, ‘there will be no tax increases in this budget’"" and ""voted the other night in the Senate Budget Committee to raise income taxes $800 million."" It’s accurate that Sarlo said ""there will be no new taxes in this budget"" and later voted to increase income taxes by around $800 million in the new fiscal year. But Christie failed to mention that the tax hike was considered separately from the budget bill and that it only would have affected millionaires. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
3825,1,"If you threw a barbecue yesterday for the Memorial weekend, it was 29 percent more expensive than last year because Barack Obama's policies have led to groceries going up 29 percent.","June 1, 2011",economy;new hampshire 2012,michele bachmann,"Michele Bachmann, first elected to the U.S. Congress in 2006, represents the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota. She was reelected in 2008. Previously, she served in the Minnesota State Senate. Prior to that, she spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney. Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, who have five children and have opened their home to 23 foster children, live in Stillwater, Minn., and own a mental health care practice.",national,5,4,6,8,23,16,"Concord, N.H","Bachmann says Obama is to blame for a 29 percent increase in Memorial Day barbecues, but she's way off on both counts. Her figure comes from a New York Post article that relied on prices in the expensive New York metro area; national figures show the increase was much lower, about 9.9 percent. And she blames Obama for the increase when experts say he and his policies have little, if any, impact on food prices. We find her  ."
20384,0,"Bill Clinton death ruled a homicide, death by poison.","October 14, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"As for the  that Clinton, 75, is dead — or was killed by poison and discovered lying on a cell floor in Guantanamo Bay, as the Real Raw News narrative goes — it’s not . It is unfounded and fabricated.   Later in the day on Oct. 14, Clinton’s spokesperson tweeted a statement from Clinton’s doctors explaining his treatment at UC Irvine Medical Center.   ""We hope to have him go home soon,"" it concluded.   We rate this post . "
4426,3,"Between 2000 and 2010, the illegal immigrant population of Texas increased by 60 percent, while California and Florida had ""no increase.","October 18, 2011",immigration,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,Las Vegas,"Romney is essentially correct on the numbers, but his strong implication that Perry is responsible is a significant stretch. On balance, we rate the  . "
14293,5,"About New York state: ""We have the highest debt per capita.","February 10, 2018",economy,edward cox,Edward Cox is the chairman of the New York Repubclian Party. He's also the son-in-law of former Pres. Richard Nixon.,new york,2,2,1,0,0,0,opening remarks at a Republican gubernatorial debate,"Cox said ""We have the highest debt per capita."" The latest data proves Cox’s . New York state has had the highest state and local government debt per capita since at least 2011. We rate it ."
4379,4,Says David Dewhurst accused Cruz of being a Red Chinese Communist.,"October 5, 2011",bipartisanship;candidate biography,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,a widely distributed email memo,"""You know that ‘red’ is a clear euphemism for Communist and in the context of China,"" Drogin said. ""Dewhurst's staffer's remark is even more obviously so."" The ""red Ted"" reference might seem especially pointed because Cruz’s father fought alongside Fidel Castro and the rebels in Cuba before fleeing the island nation for Texas; he later decided Castro was not the leader he’d wished for, according to a January 2006 Austin American-Statesman news article . All told, it’s reasonable to take the subject line of one Dewhurst email as calling Cruz a Chinese Communist; the other cited email similarly depicts Cruz as siding with China over the United States, but doesn’t include the ""red"" label. We rate Cruz’s  ."
6469,2,"Says Bill Nelson sold agricultural land ""for home development, pocketing at least $1.4 million.","October 2, 2012",agriculture;taxes,american crossroads,American Crossroads is a 527 campaign committee that supports Republican candidates.,florida,1,0,4,5,5,0,a TV commercial,"It’s not fully accurate for Crossroads to say Nelson took land that was receiving agricultural tax breaks and sold it for ""home development"" at a profit of $1.4 million. For one, the land that earned the tax break -- a 55-acre pasture -- is still a pasture. He did not sell that land ""for home development."" Nelson has sold two agricultural lots, but those sales do not total $1.4 million. To get there, you have to factor in two more sales of residential lots adjoining the pasture. Those lots already had homes on them when Nelson sold them. American Crossroads is cherry-picking a figure from the Times story to incite anger against Nelson’s tax break without telling the entire story. We rate this  ."
7892,1,"Says Sen. Mark Pryor voted for ""special subsidies"" for lawmakers and staff in Congress ""so they're protected from Obamacare.","October 7, 2013",congress;health care,tom cotton,"Tom Cotton, a Republican, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 from a district in Arkansas.",national,1,5,2,9,8,1,a campaign ad,"Cotton said Pryor voted for ""special subsidies"" for lawmakers and staff in congress ""so they’re protected from Obamacare."" The subsidy referred to is the government continuing to share the cost of insurance premiums as is standard practice in every establishment that offers insurance to its workers. There is nothing special about that. The only thing special about Obamacare and Congress is that the law treated Congress and its workers differently than any other group of workers. Cotton relies on an interpretation of the law that independent experts say is . The assertion falls wide of the facts, and we rate this  ."
11657,4,"Kelly Ayotte ""has voted to defund Planned Parenthood"" six times.","April 8, 2016",abortion;congress;voting record,maggie hassan,New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She formerly served as governor and as a state lawmaker in New Hampshire. ,new hampshire,2,5,2,2,2,0,an editorial board interview with the Concord Monitor,"Hassan said Ayotte voted six times to defund Planned Parenthood. Ayotte has been a consistent critic of Planned Parenthood and has shown support for defunding the organization or opposition to continued funding in at least six votes. It’s worth noting that some were procedural votes and several were much larger bills that included a provision on Planned Parenthood funding. Hassan’s  is accurate, but needs clarification. We rate her statement .    "
5614,1,"Millions could lose their health care coverage and be forced into a government pool"" under the new health care law.","May 16, 2012",health care,crossroads gps,"Crossroads GPS is a conservative advocacy group founded by prominent Republicans, including former White House political adviser Karl Rove.",florida,2,1,4,9,1,2,a television ad,"The Crossroads ad says Obama ""promised"" people could keep their health plans, but ""millions could lose their health care coverage and be forced into a government pool."" Actually, Obama’s plan leaves the existing health system largely in place. And ""millions"" of uninsured will actually gain coverage, according to independent analysis. Also, there’s no option for a government-run health care option under the new health insurance exchanges. The term ""government pool"" seems aimed at confusing this issue. In fact, the health care plan Obama promised on the campaign trail looks an awful lot like what was put into law: Leave the existing health care system in place, beef up regulations on insurance companies, and offer assistance to the uninsured to help them sign up for health coverage. We rate the statement .  "
1720,4,Two-thirds of the top-rated hospitals in Florida were our hospitals.,"May 30, 2010",health care;message machine 2010,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a TV ad,"In his ad "","" Scott certainly cites the Top 100 hospital report correctly when he says that two-thirds of the Florida hospitals to make the list were owned by Columbia/HCA. But he glosses over the fact that those rankings could at least be questioned because fraud-laden data may have been used in the analysis to make the rating. The author of the study doesn't know if the data was accurate or cooked, because the fraud case never went to trial. We found no  to say the rankings are bogus, but we think the  could use a little additional information. To us, that correlates to a rating of ."
22536,0,Damar Hamlin wasn't at the Buffalo Bills' playoff game.,"January 22, 2023",sports;facebook fact-checks,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,new york,0,1,3,9,60,18,a TikTok post,"Another Bills tweet shared CBS footage of Hamlin arriving at the stadium with his mother and brother.   Bills coach Sean McDermott told ESPN it was ""a pretty cool moment"" when Hamlin appeared on the ""big screen"" in the stadium during the game.  Bills center Mitch Morse said his presence spoke ""volumes."" Quarterback Josh Allen said it was ""a warm feeling. ""  We found no credible sources to corroborate the  that this was someone pretending to be Hamlin.   We rate this post !"
18251,1,"Says Rep. Elissa Slotkin ""voted against condemning cyber attacks by the Chinese Communist Party on American organizations developing COVID-19 treatments.","July 16, 2020",,paul junge,"Paul Junge is a former TV news anchor with Fox47 in Lansing and is one of several Republican candidates looking to unseat U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly in Michigan's 8th Congressional District. ",michigan,0,0,0,2,1,0,a Facebook post,"Junge claimed that Slotkin ""voted against condemning cyber attacks by the Chinese Communist Party on American organizations developing COVID-19 treatments."" Slotkin did not vote for or against the Kinzinger resolution to condemn Chinese-linked cyberattacks. That resolution did not come up for a vote. The vote was on moving forward with consideration on an infrastructure bill. Weeks later, she voted for a measure authorizing sanctions for cyberattacks on coronavirus researchers, but it did not pass. Junge’s post is not accurate. We rate this  .  "
19020,4,Schools that are consistently implementing COVID-19 mitigation strategies remain among the safest places for our students.,"November 12, 2020",corrections and updates;education,mike parson,"Mike Parson, a Republican, was elevated to governor of Missouri after the resignation of Gov. Eric Greitens in 2018.",missouri,2,2,0,1,2,0,a press conference,"""You can have the best laid plans in classrooms, but if kids are not following social distancing and mask usage outside of school, they’re going to bring COVID into the school with them,"" the AAMC study says.   Our ruling  Parson said, ""Schools that are consistently implementing COVID-19 mitigation strategies remain among the safest places for our students. ""  Parson is correct to affirm the data and statement from the CDC Director Robert Redfield regarding COVID-19 and children in schools, but Parson’s statement does not reflect the risk of opening a school with mitigation strategies in areas where there are high COVID-19 rates in the community. We rate this  . CORRECTION, Dec. 18:  This story has been updated to include more recent data from the CDC for the percentage of children with COVID-19 and the correct link to an international research study from Spain."
6838,5,"In 2011, more people were murdered with knives, ""hands or feet"" or ""clubs and hammers"" than with any type of rifle.","January 8, 2013",guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on Facebook,"The post uses data selectively, ignoring the significant role of handguns in gun violence. But the statistics it mentions are solid. FBI data backs up the Facebook post’s  that in 2011, more people were murdered with knives, ""hands or feet"" or ""clubs and hammers"" than with any type of rifle. We rate the statement ."
8737,1,"Ryan Sitton's company ""accepted over $650,000 in Obama stimulus dollars.","March 13, 2014",candidate biography;small business;stimulus,young conservatives of texas,The Young Conservatives of Texas describes itself as a non-partisan conservative youth organization.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a press release,"YCT said Sitton’s company ""accepted over $650,000 in Obama stimulus dollars."" The company applied for a government loan identified by ProPublica and a business news publication as stimulus money. But the Sitton-led company says the money never flowed. We found no indications to the contrary and a federal website that tracks stimulus spending has no PinnacleAIS entry. We rate this statement as ."
10855,4,"A Republican bill that would change John Doe criminal investigations is ""creating exceptions in the law for politicians.","October 20, 2015",campaign finance;criminal justice;elections;ethics;legal issues;crime,chris danou,"Wisconsin state Rep. Chris Danou, D-Trempeleau, was elected to the Assembly in 2008. He is a former Onalaska police officer.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,Assembly debate,"Walker’s spokeswoman has said the governor would evaluate the legislation, but added he supports ""common-sense reforms that protect free speech and ensure transparency and accountability"" for John Doe investigations. Our rating Danou said a Republican bill that would change John Doe criminal investigations is ""creating exceptions in the law for politicians."" The bill would not exempt politicians from John Doe investigations, which under current law can be conducted for any crime. But the bill does create an exception in that John Doe probes could no longer be used to investigate political corruption. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is ."
2272,2,Barnes opposed the creation of the HOPE Scholarship and campaigned against Zell Miller on the issue.,"September 7, 2010",education,republican party of georgia,,georgia,0,0,1,2,1,0,GOP press release,"The lottery eventually became the funding mechanism for the popular scholarship program. However, Barnes never specifically opposed HOPE, and he even backed expanding the scholarship program on his watch. The GOP statement about Barnes contains some element of . But it also ignores critical facts that would give a reasonable person a different impression. We rate the GOP  ."
5666,3,"More than 250 (voter registration) groups, ranging across the entire political spectrum, have filed with the state and are registering voters right now.","May 9, 2012",elections,lenny curry,Lenny Curry is chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. His current term expires in January 2013.,florida,1,0,2,2,1,0,"an ""Orlando Sentinel"" opinion piece","Lenny Curry argued that more than 250 groups are actively registering voters from across the political spectrum, and ""are registering voters right now."" Curry underestimated the number of groups that signed up with the state to register voters and continue to file monthly paperwork to stay active. But his statement is still . Less than half of those groups have registered a single voter since the law took effect, and six groups have registered nearly 90 percent of all voters so far. Furthermore, the statement’s intent was to illustrate the ease of complying with the law, a measure that won’t be clear until election season is in full swing. We rate the statement . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the 2012 election season. See video fact-checks by clicking here ."
10647,3,"Says Scott Walker's plan to replace Obamacare ""is a new entitlement"" program for ""every single American human being from the time they are born right up until they grow old and become eligible for Medicare.","August 18, 2015",federal budget;health care;welfare;taxes,bobby jindal,"Bobby Jindal is the governor of Louisiana and a candidate for president in 2016. He was elected to his first term in 2007. Prior to that, he served as a congressman from 2004 to 2008, representing the suburban areas north of New Orleans.",wisconsin,1,4,4,0,1,0,a statement,"Our rating Jindal said Walker's plan to replace Obamacare ""is a new entitlement"" program for ""every single American human being from the time they are born right up until they grow old and become eligible for Medicare.""    Walker’s proposal includes tax credits to help people buy coverage in the private market. The credits would be available to everyone up to age 65 -- without regard to income or other requirements -- but only if they don’t get health insurance from their employer. The credits aren't entirely new, however, as they are similar to those provided under Obamacare. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is ."
9084,3,"Republicans ""went out of the way to praise (Eric) Holder's nomination. ... Not a single Republican senator opposed Eric Holder's nomination.","July 14, 2014",legal issues;punditfact,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",,0,2,5,10,17,12,an episode of his radio show,"Limbaugh said Republicans ""went out of the way to praise (Eric) Holder's nomination. ... Not a single Republican senator opposed Eric Holder's nomination."" He has a point that several prominent senators and other Republicans spoke highly of Holder as his nomination was being considered, but it’s not  that no GOP senator voted against Holder -- 21 did. On balance, we rate the  ."
14996,2,NASA says an asteroid bigger than a football pitch is heading towards Earth.,"August 23, 2018",fake news;space;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"But the asteroid will not actually do any damage to us. It will stay far, far, far away. In addition, the article says that NASA has labeled the asteroid ‘potentially hazardous.’ NASA has made no such designation. We rate this  ."
66,1,What they will do is socialized medicine.,"September 17, 2007",health care,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,Tampa,"Uwe Reinhardt, a professor of economics at Princeton University, said the Clinton plan relies heavily on private insurance companies to provide coverage. ""If the insurance industry calculates this carefully, they'll make money off it,"" he said. According to Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary , socialized medicine is ""a system of medical care regulated and controlled by the government, in which the government assumes responsibility for providing for the health needs and hospital care of the entire population, at no direct cost or at a nominal fee to the individual, by means of subsidies obtained by taxation."" It's  to call Clinton's proposal ""socialized medicine."" It doesn't meet that definition because the government would not control the system and because of the heavy involvement of private insurance companies — which could turn a profit from the plan."
13695,1,"Wages ""haven't gone up for a long time.","August 15, 2017",economy;jobs;workers,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a question-and-answer session with reporters,"Trump said that wages ""haven’t gone up for a long time."" That was once accurate, but it’s significantly out of date. Wages have been increasing for the past three to five years, depending on the measurement you use. We rate the statement ."
12542,0,"Says he won the second debate with Hillary Clinton ""in a landslide"" in ""every poll.","October 11, 2016",debates;elections;polls and public opinion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"But even in non-scientific surveys, Trump didn’t win them all: In a non-scientific survey done online by the Fox television affiliate in Milwaukee, Clinton won by 52 percent to 48 percent among 325,000 votes cast. Our rating Complaining about a lack of support from Ryan, Trump nonetheless claimed he won the second debate with Clinton ""in a landslide"" in ""every poll."" But four national, scientific surveys all showed that not only did Trump not win by a landslide margin, he didn’t win any of the polls at all. Our rating: . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/813bfdf2-77ba-48bd-b884-1c83c538283c"
7950,4,Half of all CEOs say that the shutdown and the threat of shutdown set back their plans to hire over the next six months.,"October 17, 2013",economy;small business,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a public address,"Obama said 50 percent of CEOs are delaying hiring due to the shutdown, which accurately cites the results of a poll sponsored by the Business Roundtable. The survey’s limited sampling, though,  means the responses aren’t necessarily representative of all U.S. businesses. But the idea that the shutdown affects how businesses think about hiring is more broadly applicable. Experts said it’s reasonable that CEOs would be hesitant to hire, given that uncertainty about government fiscal policy can affect consumer confidence. We rate Obama's  "
6835,5,"The state budget proposal has been submitted ""on time and [it's] the earliest that a governor has done so in over two decades.","January 16, 2013",history;state budget,lincoln chafee,"Lincoln Chafee is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He served one four-year term as Rhode Island's governor, beginning on Jan. 4, 2011. He was the first Independent to be elected to that office. He subsequently became a Democrat. As a Republican, he served as mayor of Warwick from 1992 to 1999, when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate following the death of his father, Sen. John H. Chafee. He was elected to a full Senate term in 2000. He is married with three children. In April 2015 he formed an exploratory committee to consider running for President.",rhode island,3,4,3,3,5,0,his State of the State address,"Chafee's budget bill is on his website and Chafee spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger said it has been sent to the House. However, it has not been officially introduced and referred to a committee for analysis. Said Hunsinger: ""We hope they will introduce it Tuesday,"" That would be Jan. 22, still ten days earlier than the previous record. We rate Chafee's   . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
9996,5,The potential Iran nuclear agreement would limit Iran to the number of centrifuges needed for a weapon but too few for a nuclear power program.,"February 18, 2015",foreign policy;nuclear;punditfact,michael morell,Michael Morell is the former deputy director of the CIA and is a senior security correspondent for CBS News.,,1,1,0,0,0,0,"a broadcast of ""Charlie Rose""","Morell said that it takes fewer centrifuges to make bomb-grade nuclear material than it does to supply fuel for a nuclear power plant and argued that the focus on centrifuges can go too far. That argument aside, experts agreed that Morrell has his facts right. A power plant requires tons of fuel each year. A bomb requires about 25 kilograms of U-235 enriched to the 90 percent level. If an agreement limits Iran to about 9,000 centrifuges, that would be sufficient to produce enough bomb-grade material but would leave Iran well short of the capacity to generate fuel to power nuclear power plants. We rate Morrell’s  ."
16733,1,"The president had to confess in writing, in court to illegally diverting charitable contributions that were supposed to go to veterans.","November 20, 2019",legal issues;veterans,pete buttigieg,"Pete Buttigieg is the Transportation secretary under President Joe Biden. Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He decided not to seek re-election and his term ended in January 2020. From 2009 to 2017, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was a lieutenant. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard College and a first-class honors bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College as a Rhodes Scholar. He ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primaries.",national,4,3,4,6,1,0,Atlanta,"Trump did not confess to illegally diverting money away from veterans. He admitted that his campaign took charge of a fundraiser for veterans, even though it featured the name of his foundation. A judge said Trump breached his fiduciary duties to the foundation and that the fundraiser and distribution of the funds helped Trump’s political campaign. But the funds did go to veterans. We rate Buttigieg’s  ."
6059,4,Aaron Bean voted to give illegal immigrants in-state tuition.,"August 24, 2012",immigration,floridians for ethics and truth in politics,Floridians for Ethics and Truth in Politics is a group that supports Sen. Mike Weinstein.,florida,0,1,0,0,1,0,a campaign commercial,"Floridians for Ethics and  in Politics says ""Bean voted for in-state tuition breaks for illegal immigrants."" It's  that in 2005, Bean voted for a wide-ranging House bill that would have allowed up to 2,000 undocumented students to receive in-state tuition rates. But only some undocumented students would have received the in-state tuition rates -- specifically, high-achieving students who lived in Florida and graduated from Florida high schools. Whether Bean meant to vote for the bill is a different story. Sometimes legislators sneak provisions into bills at the last minute that go unnoticed. We don't see any  that happened here. Bean is responsible for knowing what is inside the bills that earn his votes, even if they are long. This  is accurate but needs a little clarification. We rate it ."
15967,4,It is estimated that more than 20 veterans die by suicide every day.,"March 18, 2019",health care;public health;veterans,joe manchin,Joe Manchin is a U.S. senator from West Virginia. The former governor of West Virginia won a special election in November 2010 to complete the balance of the late Sen. Robert Byrd’s term.,west virginia,7,12,4,3,3,0,a press release,"We checked with Robert Bossarte, the director of Injury Control Research at West Virginia University who helped author the VA’s 2016 report. He told PolitiFact West Virginia that he considers the 20-a-day figure to be accurate. Our Ruling Manchin said, ""It is estimated that more than 20 veterans die by suicide every day."" The most recent Department of Veterans Affairs data confirms that figure, though it’s worth adding some context -- that the overall figure obscures significant variability for different age groups and for men as opposed to women. We rate this statement ."
11340,3,"There is no evidence to support the claim that Guantanamo is used as a recruiting tool"" for terrorists.","February 23, 2016",terrorism,joe heck,Dr. Joe Heck is a Nevada congressman and Republican candidate for the open Nevada Senate seat in 2016. Heck is a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Reserves and a former combat doctor with three active-duty tours.,nevada,0,0,2,0,0,0,a press release,"Heck said that there’s ""no "" that terrorists use Guantanamo as a ""recruiting tool."" Terrorist groups routinely mention the detention site in both written and videotaped propaganda, but the argument is much murkier when it comes to the site’s effectiveness as a ""recruiting tool."" However, Heck saying blankly that there’s ""no "" the site is used by terrorist groups isn’t entirely accurate. We rate the  as ."
2168,4,Pat Toomey thinks corporations shouldn't pay any taxes.,"August 31, 2010",corporations;message machine 2010;taxes,joe sestak,"Joe Sestak is a retired admiral and former congressman from a suburban Philadelphia district. He defeated incumbent Arlen Specter for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in 2010, but lost in the general election to Republican Pat Toomey.",national,0,1,1,1,0,0,a campaign commercial,"We think that Sestak's use of the clip was fair politics, because the clip accurately reflects what Toomey said on the show. And Toomey's book does provide  that he'd love to see zero corporate taxation implemented, which justifies the ad's use of the word ""thinks."" On the other hand, we think a viewer watching the Sestak ad would be led to believe that Toomey is actively pushing zero corporate taxation as a campaign plank, when in fact his campaign website makes no mention of such a policy, and when Toomey has acknowledged in writing that he's wary of pursuing such a proposal because of the potential political fallout. So the ad is generally correct about Toomey's policy preferences but  about what he actually advocates as a candidate. We rate it ."
677,0,Says Obama called Sarah Palin a pig.,"September 9, 2008",candidate biography,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,a Web ad,"We think it’s very clear that Obama was saying McCain’s effort to call himself the “candidate of change” is like putting lipstick on a pig, trying to dress up a bad idea to look better. Agree or disagree with Obama’s point, but his remark wasn’t the smear that McCain’s people have tried to make it. If anyone’s doing any smearing, it’s the McCain campaign and its outrageous attempt to distort the facts. Did Obama call Palin a pig? No, and saying so is  .                                              "
10067,2,"The delay in school testing ""was not that of a vendor, the problem was not that of the test materials itself, it was the product of a cyber attack.","March 12, 2015",education,h. marlene o'toole,"Florida state Rep. H. Marlene O'Toole, a Republican who lives in Lady Lake, was first elected in 2008.",florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,House Education Appropriations Committee Hearing,"O’Toole said that the testing ""problem was not that of a vendor, the problem was not that of the test materials itself, it was the product of a cyber attack."" Actually, a vendor update was responsible for the initial problems that kept students from logging onto the new testing system. The cyber attack was another problem that happened later in the week. O’Toole admitted she misspoke. There is an element of  here because the cyber attack did create problems, but it wasn’t the only culprit. We rate this  ."
18126,4,Five veterinary labs have their CLIA certification to officially test human patients. There are a lot of labs who are doing surveillance testing that don't need the CLIA certification.,"July 26, 2020",public health;health check;coronavirus,brett giroir,"ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D., was sworn in as the 16th Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on February 15, 2018. The Assistant Secretary for Health leads development of HHS-wide public health policy recommendations and oversees several of the Department’s core public health offices — including the Office of the Surgeon General. His office leads many critical national initiatives, including an historic new plan to end the HIV Epidemic in America, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, the revised Common Rule and a cross-agency effort to improve the outcomes of patients living with sickle cell disease. In addition, ADM Giroir serves as Senior Adviser to the Secretary for Opioid Policy, responsible for coordinating HHS’s efforts across the Administration to fight America's opioid crisis. ADM Giroir is a pediatric critical care specialist and physician-scientist, who has served in a number of leadership positions in the federal government as well as academia. He was executive vice president and CEO of Texas A&M's Health Science Center from 2013-2015, and professor of pediatrics and engineering, having earlier served as vice chancellor of strategic initiatives (2011-2013) and vice chancellor for research (2008-2011) for the Texas A&M University system. Prior, he was professor of pediatrics and endowed chair at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from 1993-2003, and was the first chief medical officer of Children's Medical Center of Dallas (now Children's Health).",,0,2,0,0,0,0,an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union”,"Giroir was correct in saying there are some veterinary labs helping out with COVID testing. But even if all 63 accredited food-animal vet labs in the U.S. and Canada were pressed into processing human COVID tests, an industry survey estimates it would increase capacity by between 31,500 to 63,000 samples per day. While helpful, that would still be only a small portion of the more than 700,000 daily tests being conducted, which some experts say falls short of what is needed. Additionally, while vet labs are helping in some ways, Giroir provided little  to back up his assertion that ""lots"" of labs that lack CLIA certification are assisting in surveillance efforts. We rate this statement ."
5958,0,"When Josh Mandel claims to have accepted three debates with Sen. Sherrod Brown, he is lying. He has accepted ZERO proposed debates.","July 19, 2012",elections;negative campaigning,sherrod brown,Sherrod Brown is a Democratic U.S. Senator representing Ohio. He won his first elected office to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1974. He later served as Ohio secretary of state and was elected to Congress in 1992. He first joined the U.S. Senate in 2007.,ohio,15,9,6,4,4,1,a news release,"The letter from the City Club dated July 16 shows that Mandel had agreed to that debate. And the Twitter posting and comments to The Plain Dealer, indicate a willingness to have two others. The Brown campaign confirms that possibility had been raised, too. It appears that the Brown campaign aimed here to cast Mandel as dishonest and scared of a debate all at once. But on the -O-Meter, the campaign’s  rates . "
12908,2,"Thirteen Democratic senators ""voted against cheaper medicines"" and took millions from ""big pharma since 2011.","January 17, 2017",campaign finance;health care,the other 98%,The Other 98% is an activist organization that favors an increase in the minimum wage and opposes favorable tax treatment for large corporations.,national,0,1,0,4,1,0,a viral image on the Internet,"The viral image says that 13 Democratic senators ""voted against cheaper medicines"" and took millions from ""big pharma since 2011."" The 13 Democrats did vote against one amendment that was intended to lower drug prices through reimportation of medicines from Canada, and they have each taken money from drugmakers. However, the image leaves a  impression that the senators have voted against lowering drug prices. In reality, all 13 senators voted in favor of a different amendment that specifically advocated ""lower drug prices."" In addition, the dollar amounts listed for the senators use an overly broad definition of ""big pharma,"" inflating the amount of money they have taken from the industry. The statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it . EDITOR'S NOTE: We have modified our paraphrase of a comment by Giertz to better reflect what he said.  "
20106,1,"The ""delta"" in ""delta variant"" means ""deep sleep.","July 31, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""WHO convened an expert group of partners from around the world to do so, including experts who are part of existing naming systems, nomenclature and virus taxonomic experts, researchers and national authorities. ""  Other variants have been labeled with other letters of the Greek alphabet : alpha, beta and gamma. When all 24 letters in the Greek alphabet have been assigned to variants, WHO will announce a new naming system, USA Today reported .   The delta variant doesn’t refer to delta waves, which are associated with deep sleep .   We rate claims that the ""delta"" in delta variant refers to ""deep sleep"" ."
16261,1,"San Francisco has spent $72.5 million this fiscal year cleaning up human waste and drug paraphernalia"" and ""there are more drug users on their public needle program than high school graduates.","July 1, 2019",city budget;drugs;facebook fact-checks,turning point usa,"Turning Point USA is a conservative group that advocates for limited government and free markets. It was founded on June 5, 2012 by Charlie Kirk, and targets high school and college campuses.",,0,0,1,2,2,0,a Facebook post,"Turning Point USA claimed that San Francisco has spent $72.5 million this fiscal year ""cleaning up human waste and drug paraphernalia"" and that ""there are more drug users on their public needle program than high school graduates."" Those claims are based on two San Francisco Chronicle articles — but Turning Point USA’s post misconstrues both the stories and the data backing them up. The Public Works Department said the $72.5 million figure is closer to its entire annual street cleaning budget and that it doesn’t keep track of how much money is spent for specific types of cleaning. The Public Health Department said there is no count of people who use its ""public needle program."" The statements are . We rate the post ."
12385,5,"In the past decade in New York State ""more than 30 current and former state officeholders have been convicted, sanctioned or accused of wrongdoing — more than any other state.","August 26, 2016",ethics,elaine phillips,Elaine Phillips is the Republican candidate for State Senate in the 7th District.,new york,1,0,0,0,0,0,a post on Facebook,"In her pitch for ethics reform, Phillips said in a Facebook post that ""over the past decade in Albany, more than 30 current and former state officeholders have been convicted, sanctioned or accused of wrongdoing — more than any other state."" She’s right. The analysis from the University of Missouri researchers shows New York State has had more state lawmakers and statewide officials running afoul of the law. She could have gone further. The data shows New York State has led the nation in public corruption for decades. We rate this  as ."
5494,0,"Says the stimulus bill sent tax credits overseas, such as ""$1.2 billion to a solar company that's building a plant in Mexico.","April 26, 2012",environment;corporations;energy;message machine 2012;stimulus,americans for prosperity,"Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group advocates for limited government, free markets and fiscal and regulatory restraint.",national,0,1,2,6,8,2,a TV ad,"A TV ad from Americans for Prosperity says billions of tax dollars spent on green energy went to jobs in foreign countries. It claims that stimulus bill tax credits went overseas, such as ""$1.2 billion to a solar company that's building a plant in Mexico."" The ad even cites sources for its . But those same sources, plus a few phone calls, quickly bring down the ad’s house of cards. Sure, taxpayer money was originally approved for a California solar company that also happened to open a plant in Mexico. But that loan — not tax credits, as the ad claims — will go to a New Jersey company for a solar project in California, employing construction workers in the state, using  California-built solar panels, to create solar power that’ll be purchased by a California utility. That’s a completely different story. The ad strings together alarming-sounding tidbits about actual stimulus projects to create the impression of something else entirely — in a way that’s ultimately . And that earns our lowest rating, ."
9054,5,"If you're a Mexican, you get sent back. ... But if you're from a noncontiguous country like the Central American countries"" then you can stay in the United States.","July 6, 2014",immigration;children;human rights,henry cuellar,"Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, represents Texas' 28th District, which borders Mexico. He was first elected to this position in 2004.",national,1,1,0,1,0,0,"an interview on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Cuellar said that unaccompanied alien children from contiguous countries are ""sent back"" no matter what, but the law calls for the placement of minors from ""a noncontiguous country like the Central American countries"" in a residential setting. Cuellar correctly characterizes the law. The law was passed as a measure to combat human trafficking worldwide. As a result, certain parts of the legislation allow unaccompanied minors from noncontiguous countries to stay in the United States. Lawmakers are now contemplating changing the law. We rate this statement ."
1820,3,"My opponent here has accepted money from Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae (and) hosted subprime mortgage seminars.","June 22, 2010",economy;housing,jeff greene,"Jeff Greene, a wealthy businessman from Palm Beach, lost the Democratic primary for Florida governor in August 2018. He campaigned for the U.S. Senate and was defeated in the Democratic primary on Aug. 24, 2010.",florida,0,1,3,4,1,0,West Palm Beach,"""All the information you need to buy a home will be available to you at the fair, such as how to get the best financing, how to find a good house to buy, or if you just don't understand the home-buying process and don't want to get ripped off,"" Meek was quoted as saying in Miami Times . So while it’s  that Meek accepted money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it’s not fair to call the forums ""subprime mortgage seminars."" The agenda wasn’t just homeownership. Moreover, these forums have long been the norm in Meek’s district -- regardless of what was happening in the housing market. So we rate Greene’s statement ."
18649,0,"Says Anthony Fauci was indicted ""for crimes including treason, conspiring with the enemy and fraud.","May 20, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Fauci has not been indicted. There is no news coverage to support this , nor any original, credible documents or sources to corroborate it.   In a ""60 Minutes"" interview published online on Oct. 19, Fauci said that the Trump administration has restricted his media appearances. But he gave the interview from multiple locations, including sitting on lawn furniture outdoors and inside with his wife at a table with mugs in front of them — not Gitmo.    We rate this post ."
7367,4,The IRS doesn't have to prove something against you ... you've got the burden of proof.,"May 17, 2013",legal issues;taxes,randy forbes,"Randy Forbes is from Chesapeake and represents Virginia's Fourth District in Congress. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2001. He serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee, where he is chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.
Forbes previously served in Virginia's House of Delegates from 1989 to 1997 and in the State Senate from 1997 to 2001. He also was chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia from 1996 to 2001.
Forbes received a bachelor's degree from Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, in 1974, and a law degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 1977.",national,5,3,4,1,0,0,an interview with Fox News,"Forbes said ""the IRS doesn't have to prove something against you. They can walk in and you've got the burden of proof."" He’s correct for most tax disputes. As long as no criminal or fraud charges are being tried, and as long as the case is taken up administratively rather than in court, the burden of justifying a taxpayer’s calculations falls upon the taxpayer. But in the relatively small number of criminal or civil fraud cases, the burden is on the government, just as it is in other types of prosecutions. On balance, we rate Forbes’  ."
22493,1,MMA fighter Victoria Lee died because of a COVID-19 vaccine.,"January 8, 2023",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Doctors and experts have told PolitiFact that the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing disease, hospitalization and death .    If  emerges that Lee died because of a COVID-19 vaccine, we’ll reconsider our ruling. For now, these claims are unsubstantiated, and so we rate them .   RELATED: Young and healthy people get benefits and low risk from COVID-19 vaccine, despite claims to contrary RELATED: 'Died Suddenly' repeats debunked COVID-19 vaccine claims, promotes conspiracy theory"
6537,3,"Says Connie Mack ""is protecting Chevron oil from a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over pollution of rivers and rainforests.","October 11, 2012",congress;oil spill,bill nelson,"Bill Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2000. He lost re-election to Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. Nelson previously served in the Florida Legislature, Congress and as state Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner.
 ",florida,4,11,9,5,1,0,a TV attack ad,"Nelson’s TV ad hits Mack for ""protecting Chevron oil from a multibillion dollar lawsuit over pollution of rivers and rain forests."" Mack’s act of protection is a yet-to-be-heard congressional resolution listing the Chevron case as one of many reasons to withhold trade preferences with Ecuador. Resolutions are symbolic gestures, so it would take a law for Congress to take real action on Ecuadorian trade practices. The Chevron case is also particularly complicated. Chevron says it did not get a fair trial in Ecuador and should not be held responsible anyway. Still, the resolution seems designed to exert political pressure on the country in Chevron’s favor. We rate Nelson’s  ."
18063,4,"PPP on average probably provided a grant of around $11,000 per employee.","July 1, 2020",income;workers,ron johnson,"Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.",wisconsin,8,18,15,28,11,4,an interview,"Sen. Johnson said the ""PPP on average probably provided a grant of around $11,000 per employee."" Although the methodology used to calculate this figure is an approximation due to lack of access to detailed tax information, it largely aligns with the $10,200 average the PPP data shows. But both figures assume businesses are applying 100% of the loans toward payroll, which is not always the case. Our definition of  is ""the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."" That fits here. window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND';

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1226,2,"Ninety-eight percent of the American people will not see their taxes go up"" due to the House health care bill.","November 20, 2009",health care;pundits;taxes,ed schultz,Ed Schultz is the host of the Ed Show on MSNBC.,national,0,1,4,3,1,2,MSNBC's the 'Ed Show',"But while making estimates is tricky, it's likely that many more people will choose to pay the individual penalty, most likely pushing the numbers above the 2 percent level Schultz cited. And if we had chosen to include the device tax, the percentages would climb higher still. So we rate his statement .    Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
8071,2,The (health care) law does not demand that all of these cancellations go out.,"November 17, 2013",health care,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Pelosi said the Affordable Care Act doesn’t require insurance companies to send out the cancellation notices that people have been getting. While there’s some element of  to this statement, one of the major thrusts of the law is it sets minimum standards. The law intentionally makes it difficult for companies to avoid these minimums and the industry has responded by moving away from sub-par plans. Pelosi’s statement ignores the factors in the law that push companies in a certain direction. We rate the  ."
11769,3,"Says Will Hurd ""cosponsored a bill that would militarize our border and allow 200 miles of new roads to be built in the Big Bend region -- cutting up our beloved park.","April 22, 2016",immigration;congress;corrections and updates;drugs;elections,pete gallego,"Pete Gallego, initially elected to the Texas House in 1990, won election to the U.S. House in November 2012. He lost his re-election bid in 2014. In July 2018, he ran in a special election to represent Texas Senate District 19.",texas,2,2,2,1,1,0,Pete Gallego campaign press release,"Gallego said Hurd ""cosponsored a bill that would militarize our border and allow 200 miles of new roads to be built in the Big Bend region -- cutting up our beloved park."" Gallego accurately recapped key elements of the Secure Our Borders First Act backed by Hurd and other Texas Republicans in the House. The legislation would clear the way for construction of 192 miles of new roads, towers and law enforcement facilities along the border on federal lands in the vast Big Bend region of Texas. But whether these mandated moves entail carving up the treasured national park remains to be seen—or at least, Gallego didn’t prove nor could we confirm that outcome. On balance, we rate this  .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. UPDATE, 6:00 p.m., May 27, 2016: After we published this fact check, the Gallego campaign pointed out that the Hurd-backed bill exempts both private and state-owned land, leaving only federal lands available for construction of roads and other border security measures called for in the legislation. We’ve corrected this fact check to show this exemption; it did not change our rating of this ."
12417,3,During her first four years in Washington Sen. Ayotte voted with the Koch brothers nearly 90 percent of the time.,"September 15, 2016",congress;voting record,maggie hassan,New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She formerly served as governor and as a state lawmaker in New Hampshire. ,new hampshire,2,5,2,2,2,0,a speech,"Hassan said Ayotte voted with the Koch brothers ""90 percent of the time"" during her first four years in Washington. Ayotte earned a 90 percent rating during those years from an organizations the Koch brothers helped to found, Americans for Prosperity. But, the men don’t vote in the U.S. Senate and the organization said the brothers don’t play a direct role in choosing the votes. Further, Hassan only cited Ayotte’s first four years in office, ignoring her most recent grade. We rate the  ."
2200,3,"By releasing only basic tax information, former U.S. Congressman Nathan Deal is ""hiding more than he's disclosed"" about his business dealing with the state.","September 3, 2010",taxes,emil runge,"Emil Runge is a campaign spokesman for Roy Barnes, the Democratic Party's nominee for governor.",georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a statement,"""[Barnes] has pretty much shown everything,"" Winkler said. However, much of Barnes' supplemental information involves his rental properties. The CPAs we spoke with said Deal's 2009 Schedule E form would include some more data about his business interests, but the grand totals are already on his 1040 form. Therefore, we believe to say Deal ""is hiding more than he disclosed"" is a nuanced proclamation. We rate the statement about Deal as ."
2964,3,Says required state septic inspections would cost septic tank owners $100 to $150 every five years.,"January 26, 2011",environment,dennis jones,"Dennis Jones has served in the state Senate since 2002. Prior to that, he served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1978-2000.",florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,a state Senate committee hearing,"In talking about making changes to a law requiring septic tank inspections once every five years, Sens. Dean and Detert didn't question the need to have properly functioning septic tanks but argued that the inspection itself was unnecessary for many people. Jones countered that the cost of the inspection alone isn't that great, especially when spread out over five years. Jones said an inspection would cost $100 to $150, citing a Department of Health estimate. Spread over five years, that's an investment of as little as $30 a year -- much less than homeowners with a central sewer system pay. But that's not telling the entire story. Experts we talked to said the price of an inspection could cost up to $500 and depends on a number of variables. On top of that, the inspection could result in finding problems that could require repairs at additional cost. That's obviously part of the intent of the bill, but it comes at a cost nevertheless. We think that's enough of difference to rate this  ."
22163,1,Suggests that an immigrant charged with sexually assaulting a child entered the U.S. illegally during the Biden administration.,"October 5, 2022",immigration;border security;elections;ad watch,citizens for sanity,"Citizens for Sanity is a conservative nonprofit whose leaders are associated with the America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller.",national,0,0,0,1,1,1,an ad,"Despite the ad’s claims, a study from the University of Wisconsin–Madison found U.S. citizens are twice as likely to be arrested for violent felonies than immigrants in the U.S. illegally.   A Citizens for Sanity ad suggested an immigrant charged with sexually assaulting a child entered the U.S. illegally during the Biden administration.   Puente has been in the U.S. since at least 2011 and was arrested several times over the years, including in 2019, when he was arrested and then released by Chicago police. He has been jailed in relation to the sexual assault charges since February 2020. We rate this  ."
21011,2,"January 2022 fentanyl seizures show ""illicit drugs are flowing into the country at an alarming rate because of Biden's open border.","February 20, 2022",immigration;border security,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,,4,5,12,9,8,2,a tweet,"A tweet by the RNC claimed that drugs are flowing into the U.S. at an alarming rate because of Biden’s ""open border."" It cited stats that show 839 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southern border in January. While that figure is accurate, the tweet leaves out the context that seizures of fentanyl at the southwest border spiked when Trump was president. The DEA said such seizures have risen steadily since 2016. The notion of an ""open border"" under Biden is . Although there has been a record surge of migrants at the border since Biden took office, the majority of those encountered by border agents are expelled, including by the continued use of a public health order put into place by Trump. We rate this  . Louis Jacobson contributed to this report."
12637,3,We have never done business with Donald Trump.,"October 23, 2016",candidate biography,patrick murphy,Patrick Murphy won his first seat in 2012 for the U.S. House of Representatives representing District 18 in Florida. Murphy lost a U.S. Senate race against Marco Rubio in 2016. ,florida,3,5,4,2,1,0,a TV interview on WFLA,"Murphy said in an interview, ""We have never done business with Donald Trump."" Murphy’s family’s construction firm, Coastal Construction, built Trump condo projects in Hollywood and Sunny Isles Beach. The owners of the projects -- not Trump -- hired Coastal as the builder, and then separately the owners reached licensing agreements with Trump. So while Coastal built projects that carried Trump’s name, even boasting about it at least once, they didn’t directly strike a partnership together. But they did work on the same condo projects. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ec3b900e-4eaa-4ad0-8b92-8dcab035d162"
1499,1,"The health care reform bill ""is the largest tax increase in U.S. history.","March 24, 2010",health care;taxes,joe scarborough,"Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, is the host of ""Morning Joe"" on MSNBC. He is a lawyer with Beggs and Lane, the oldest firm in Florida and a former publisher and editor of ""The Florida Sun,"" a newspaper.",national,1,4,3,1,4,0,"a comment on his ""Morning Joe'' program on MSNBC","Blumberg, of the Urban Institute, said both Republicans and Democrats would be wise to get away from the ""biggest"" jargon. Again, here we're are looking at Scarborough's side of the hyperbole wars. There's ample  that the health care bills result in a net tax increase. But when Scarborough characterized it as ""the largest tax increase in U.S. history,"" that doesn't hold up when you level the playing field and compare several tax increases in recent decades to the GDP at the time. And so we rate his  ."
497,2,"In just a few years in office, Sen. Obama has accumulated the most liberal voting record in the Senate.","June 3, 2008",candidate biography,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,New Orleans,"If McCain had made a more general statement about Obama's ideology, he could have been more accurate. But McCain's statement that Obama ""has accumulated the most liberal voting record"" suggests it is a cumulative rating for all of Obama's time in the Senate. But in fact, it is  for only one rating for one year. Measurements for other years and by other groups show Obama is not the No. 1 liberal — in some cases, far from No. 1. So we find McCain's statement to be ."
12814,2,"Before Leaving, Obama Enacts Rules to Take $3,000 From EVERY American.","December 2, 2016",government regulation;punditfact,conservative tribune,The Conservative Tribune is a conservative website.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,a web post,"The Conservative Tribune published a post titled, ""Before Leaving, Obama Enacts Rules to Take $3,000 From EVERY American,"" and other websites offered posts with similar headlines. The figure is based on a calculation from an anti-regulatory group, though we do give the conclusion some credence because the number is drawn from the federal government’s own estimates. However, the headline glosses over several important caveats. The costs were not solely imposed under Obama, and the ones that were on his watch occurred over an eight-year period, rather than just ""before leaving"" the White House. Finally, contrary to the headline’s implication, Americans will not be charged a $3,000 fee because of action taken in Obama’s final weeks. Rather, they would experience higher consumer costs or lower wages over many years, with a lot of variation from person to person, and going many years into the future. The calculation completely ignores the estimated benefits of these regulations, with a value that balances out about three-quarters of the cost figure cited. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
8334,1,"Over half of the young people"" in medical, dental and law schools are women.","January 26, 2014",education;health care;legal issues;women,rand paul,"Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky elected in 2010. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out to seek re-election to the Senate. Paul is a medical doctor and an ophthalmologist. His father is Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas. ",national,12,15,13,7,12,4,an interview with CNN,"Paul said more than half of the enrollees in medical, dentistry and law schools are female. While women are close to 50 percent of enrollees in all three fields, they’re not a majority in any of them. And in both law and medicine, the trendlines for female enrollment have actually fallen in recent years. We rate Paul’s statement ."
22014,1,"Jeffrey Epstein's lawyer became a federal judge"" and ""was the person to sign off on the Mar-a-Lago search warrant.","September 17, 2022",criminal justice;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post says, ""Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer became a federal judge"" and ""was the person to sign off on the Mar-a-Lago search warrant.""  The judge, Reinhart, did not represent Epstein. He represented people who worked for Epstein and who were accused of abetting Epstein’s crimes.  We rate this  .  RELATED: Photo doctored to look like Ghislaine Maxwell was massaging Judge Bruce Reinhart’s feet  "
1987,2,25 percent of our economy is the financial sector.,"July 25, 2010",corporations;economy;financial regulation;pundits,david gregory,David Gregory is a veteran broadcast journalist who is the host of NBC's long-running Sunday morning public-affairs show Meet the Press.,national,0,1,0,1,0,0,an interview with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on NBC's Meet the Press,"CORRECTION: The initial version of this item mistakenly paraphrased Burtless as saying that Gregory may have been thinking of ""corporate profits as a share of the economy."" The story has been corrected above to say, ""financial-sector corporate profits as a share of all corporate profits.""    Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
14877,4,"In New York City, ""for every one person experiencing homelessness here, there are about three vacant apartments.","July 23, 2018",housing,alexandria ocasio-cortez,"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, was elected to New York's 14th Congressional district seat in November 2018.",national,0,2,2,0,8,1,a tweet,"Ocasio-Cortez said that ""for every one person experiencing homelessness here, there are about three vacant apartments."" The number of homeless people is about 63,000. The number of vacant apartments is harder to judge, but no matter how we jiggered the numbers, the lowest ratio we found was 1-to-2.4. And the high could get close to 1-to-6. There’s a lot push and pull in the underlying statistics, but in the main, Ocasio-Cortez’s math holds up. We rate this  ."
14149,3,New York state spends more than $8 billion in taxpayer money each year on job-creation programs - more than the combined total of the next three largest states,"December 9, 2017",economy,brian kolb,"Brian Kolb is a Republican Assemblymember from the Rochester area. He was a 2018 candidate for New York governor, but dropped his bid early in the race.",new york,0,0,2,0,1,0,an op-ed,"Kolb said ""New York state spends more than $8 billion in taxpayer money each year on job-creation programs - more than the combined total of the next three largest states."" Research suggests Kolb is right on the amount, but  about New York state exceeding the next three states combined. The report Kolb cited also includes local government spending, so the $8 billion cannot be attributed completely to the state. His statement is partially accurate. On balance, we rate it ."
18824,1,"If you were forced to use a Sharpie"" to fill out your ballot, ""that is voter fraud.","November 4, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",arizona,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed: ""If you were forced to use a Sharpie"" to fill out your ballot, ""that is voter fraud."" Some in-person voters complained that election officials gave them Sharpie pens at their polling place and that the ink spoiled and invalidated their ballots. In some cases, Sharpies are actually recommended as the best type of pen to use on ballots, and election officials have taken steps to guard against ink ""bleed-through"" on ballots. There is no  that elections officials used Sharpies to invalidate ballots. We rate the statement ."
16633,5,"The impeachment inquiry hearings ""going on behind closed doors over which Congressman Schiff is presiding—they are consistent with the rules"" of the U.S. House of Representatives.","October 24, 2019",impeachment;punditfact,andrew napolitano,Andrew Napolitano is a Fox News political commentator and legal analyst.,,1,0,2,4,1,3,an interview,"Napolitano said: ""I read the House rules. And as frustrating as it may be to have these hearings going on behind closed doors—the (impeachment inquiry) hearings over which Congressman Schiff is presiding—they are consistent with the rules."" House rules give House committees wide latitude in how to conduct impeachment inquiries and they allow for witnesses to be questioned with only members of the committees and their staffs present. We rate Napolitano’s statement ."
3278,5,"Says Oregon is ""near the top or at the top of the list"" when it comes to capital gains tax","March 10, 2011",state budget;taxes,tobias read,"Tobias Read is a member of the Oregon House, representing District 27, which includes parts of Beaverton, southwest Portland and parts of unincorporated Multnomah and Washington counties. He is serving his third term.
Read is a product developer of kids’ footwear for Nike.",oregon,1,0,0,0,0,0,a legislative hearing,"Well, Read was right -- we’re among the highest in the nation. If you don’t count Massachusetts’ system, we tie for the No. 1 spot. Even when 2012 rolls around and the rate drops to 9.9 percent, Oregon will still rank as one of the highest -- second only to Hawaii (and, in some cases, Massachusetts). We rate this  . Comment on this item."
9042,4,"Cranston's 2014-2015 ""budget funds 100 percent of the local police and fire pension and other retiree benefit costs.","June 26, 2014",economy;income;labor;pensions;unions;workers;taxes,allan fung,"Allan Fung has been mayor of Cranston, R.I. since Jan. 5, 2009. In 2014 he made an unsuccessful run for governor as a Republican. He received his law degree from Suffolk University, worked as a prosecutor for the state attorney general's office, served as a lobbyist for MetLife and served two terms on the Cranston City Council, beginning in 2002. In his 2012 reelection bid, he was unopposed.",rhode island,2,2,0,2,2,1,a letter to taxpayers,"Cranston Mayor Allan Fung said, ""Our budget funds 100 percent of the local police and fire pension and other retiree benefit costs."" The city is making the minimum required payments for retirement benefits through the state-run MERS system and to pay down this year's share of the bill for the huge long-term liability incurred by the city's older police and fire pension systems. But his statement could lead a reader to conclude that 100 percent of the city’s $231 million debt for the old plans is covered by this year's budget when, in fact, the only thing the city is paying in full is this year's installment on a plan that won't retire that debt for another 28 years. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rate it  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
16591,4,"Most people below $50,000 don't pay any income tax. The top 1 percent in our country pay 40%.","October 11, 2019",taxes,rand paul,"Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky elected in 2010. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out to seek re-election to the Senate. Paul is a medical doctor and an ophthalmologist. His father is Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas. ",national,12,15,13,7,12,4,"an interview on ABC's ""The View""","Paul said that ""most people below $50,000 don’t pay any income tax. The top 1 percent in our country pay 40%."" Because he limited his comments to the federal income tax, Paul’s numbers are broadly accurate, and they even underplay the tax burden on the top 1%. The picture shifts once you include other types of federal taxation. Those below $50,000 still pay a small share of the full federal tax burden, but the share paid by the top 1% falls to about 30%. So Paul’s statement is accurate but needs additional information. We rate the statement ."
22462,1,Cellphones can be used to pop popcorn kernels.,"December 9, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a reel,"The video is one of four popcorn videos that drew media attention in June 2008. They were traced back to a pair of French YouTube accounts, the Guardian reported then. Later that month, Cardo System, a Bluetooth headset maker, revealed that they were produced by a marketing agency for a marketing campaign.    Lou Bloomfield, a University of Virginia physics professor, told Wired in 2008 that it’s physically impossible for phones to pop kernels as the video portrays.   We rate claims that this video actually shows cellphones popping popcorn kernels ."
5354,4,"Adding ethanol to gas ""raises food costs.","April 6, 2012",agriculture;energy,james durkan,"James Durkan is running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, challenging the incumbent Bob Corker.",tennessee,0,1,0,0,0,0,a statement on his campaign website,"Studies show increased ethanol production has driven up the price of corn and other food commodities, such as soybeans, meat, poultry and dairy products. That, in turn, has contributed to a higher retail price of food. Yet those same studies show that other factors, particularly energy prices, have an even bigger impact on the cost of food than ethanol production. We rate the  . *The Tennessee Secretary of State's office now tells us that James Durkan did not file for U.S. Senate and is not a candidate. Durkan told us the day after the April 5 filing deadline that he had indeed filed and didn't understand why his name was not on the Secretary of State's list of candidates for the office. Durkan said he could not remember exactly when he filed his paperwork, but thought it was sometime in 2010. But Blake Fontenay, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office, told us in an email on April 11 that candidates can start filing qualifying petitions up to 90 days before the filing deadline. Fontenay said Durkan missed the deadline to pick up a petition and file. Contacted again and asked for clarification, Durkan said simply: ""We have no comment, sir."""
20345,4,"There are precious few religions that actually say you cannot"" get vaccinated.","October 3, 2021",corrections and updates;religion;coronavirus,anthony fauci,"Since 1984, Dr. Anthony Fauci has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a federal agency.",national,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview on CNN,"Fauci said that very few religions prohibit vaccination. A survey of religious beliefs by Vanderbilt University backs that up. The survey named five religions that stand against vaccinations, and 24 that accept them. Fauci acknowledged that assessing a person’s religious beliefs can be complicated. The standard for American courts is not a formal stance by a religious organization but whether a person’s belief is genuinely religious and sincere.  Fauci’s statement is correct, but there’s a lot more to unpack. We rate this  ."
2708,3,We (Democrats) have made steady progress creating jobs and improving our schools.,"November 17, 2010",education;jobs,armond budish,"Rep. Armond Budish, a Democrat from Beachwood, Ohio, formerly was speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. Be became the minority leader in 2011 after Republicans regained control of the House in the 2010 elections.",ohio,2,3,2,0,1,0,a news release,"College tuition The last state budget did freeze college tuition costs, a move engineered by the Strickland and the House Democrats. So let’s check the tally. To evaluate Budish’s original  — ""We have made steady progress creating jobs and improving our schools"" – we’ve looked at each of these five supporting items which Budish provided. And with all but the last one, there were additional critical details you needed to know to have a full understanding of the context, especially Budish’s assertion about tax credits. On that score, PolitiFact Ohio rates his overall statement ."
8607,4,Nine out of the 10 poorest states are Red states.,"December 26, 2013",corrections and updates;economy;elections;income;poverty;wealth,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",rhode island,0,2,7,1,8,4,a Facebook post,"In addition, states where a lot of poor people are getting government assistance may look less poor in the supplemental ranking. Ultimately, each measure of the poorest states has its drawbacks. But the supplemental poverty measure offers a reason to temper the  from traditional measures that demonstrate the statement to be . For that reason, we rule the ""9 in 10""  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
8336,3,"Texas added 6,600 miles of highway from 2001-2012, more than any other state.","January 7, 2014",infrastructure;states;transportation,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,a tweet,"Perry tweeted, ""Texas has added more than 6,600 new highway miles from 2001-2012, more than any other state over that time."" This raw calculation stands up; Texas was No. 1 in total lane miles added. But Texas is also nearly the biggest state. Adjusting for states’ differences in population and geographic area shows Texas’ change in highway miles was the 16th largest gain per square mile of area and the state came in 42nd when ranked on the change in highway miles per resident. We rate his statement as .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
10703,4,As many as six federal department budget bills have been delayed because of opposition to amendments that would ban Confederate battle flag sales at federal building gift shops.,"September 3, 2015",congress;federal budget;history,lloyd doggett,Rep. Lloyd Doggett was initially elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.,texas,5,8,4,2,0,0,San Antonio,"Doggett said in San Antonio that House votes on up to six federal department budget bills had been delayed because of opposition to amendments that would ban Confederate battle flag sales at federal building gift shops. When he spoke, the House had yet to vote on six 2016 spending measures. During floor debate, a stand-off about Democratic amendments restricting displays and sales of the Confederate flag--including a proposal barring the park service from enlisting concessionaires selling the flags--evidently derailed the Interior appropriations act with expected House action on two other spending acts reportedly put off. Still, other factors—such as general reluctance among House leaders to send spending proposals to the potentially unfriendly Senate—may figure into the body’s inaction on the six measures. We rate the statement .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
22470,1,People who stole U.S. Postal Service uniforms are posing as postal workers and robbing people at gunpoint.,"December 19, 2022",crime;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The inspector said she doesn’t think there’s a postal service uniform store there. We didn’t find  of one, either.   Searching for news articles about  postal workers robbing people at gunpoint, we found only coverage of mail carriers themselves being held up.   If  emerges to corroborate this , we’ll reconsider our ruling. For now, it’s ."
8051,5,Things went wrong with the Medicare prescription D plan that George Bush rolled out.,"November 6, 2013",health care;medicare;retirement;technology,steve israel,Rep. Steve Israel is a Democrat representing the third district of New York and the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee.,national,1,1,0,0,0,0,an interview on MSNBC,"Israel said, ""Things went  with the Medicare prescription D plan that George Bush rolled out."" There definitely were problems, and in some cases, the parallels between the prescription benefit program’s introduction and the Obamacare marketplaces are strikingly similar. While we also found some serious differences in the laws, we can’t find fault with Israel’s fairly general statement. We rate his statement ."
4484,2,"You are prohibited from walking into the Capitol with a gun, but you can go after the County Commission or the School Board.","October 24, 2011",government regulation;guns,jim waldman,"State Rep. James ""Jim"" Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, was first elected to the Legislature in 2006 and is the former mayor of  Coconut Creek.",florida,1,0,0,1,0,0,a news blog,"Waldman said: ""You are prohibited from walking into the Capitol with a gun, but you can go after the County Commission or the School Board."" On the first half of the sentence Waldman spoke too broadly -- permit holders can walk into the Capitol with a gun but can't carry that gun into a meeting of the House or Senate. And it's clear that you can't carry a gun into a meeting of the county commission or school board but at least some government attorneys interpret the law to mean you can carry your gun into a commissioner's office at city or county hall. We rate this  ."
13080,3,"Says the proposed Texas Privacy Act ""is very different from"" North Carolina's law ""in that theirs covers a whole list of things that the Texas Privacy Act does not.","February 6, 2017",criminal justice;crime;sexuality,lois kolkhorst,"Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, a former Texas House member, won election to the Texas Senate in December 2014.  She's formerly the chairwoman of the House Committee on Public Health. Her family runs Kolkhorst Petroleum in Navasota, according to biographical information on her campaign website.",texas,0,0,2,1,0,0,a Texas Capitol press conference,"Kolkhorst said her proposed Texas Privacy Act ""is very different from"" North Carolina’s law ""in that theirs covers a whole list of things that the Texas Privacy Act does not."" Both the North Carolina law and the Texas bill mandate policies preventing state and local government entities including public schools from letting transgender residents enter bathrooms of choice. But the Texas proposal lacks North Carolina’s section on wages and it doesn’t have North Carolina’s language barring anyone from going to state court to allege discrimination due to the law. Also unlike HB 2, SB 6 doesn’t unplug all local ordinances pertaining to discriminatory practices in public accommodation. On balance, we rate this  .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/57d7eb38-3b12-40e7-b27b-f20c967e236e"
19546,5,Twice as many children are in Border Patrol custody under Biden than Trump peak in 2019.,"March 30, 2021",immigration;border security,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a tweet,"""  Our ruling  Abbott said in a tweet that twice as many unaccompanied children are in Border Patrol custody presently than during the peak number seen in 2019 under Trump.    Numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection verify this .  The Trump administration recorded 2,600 minors in Border Patrol custody in June 2019, which was the highest amount seen during Trump’s term.   As of March 29, 5,160 minors were in Border Patrol custody waiting to be transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is 40 minors short of double 2,600.   We rate this  . "
19735,1,"When you can't find gas, remember who executively ordered the Keystone Pipeline to close.","May 10, 2021",gas prices,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post suggests that shortages of gasoline are due to an executive order closing the Keystone pipeline. The post is not accurate. Biden’s executive order halted construction on Keystone XL, an extension to the Keystone pipeline, but did not not close the Keystone pipeline, which is still operating.  The Keystone pipeline does not carry gasoline. It carries crude oil to refineries and terminals.  The gasoline shortages and price spikes on the East Coast are due to the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, whose operator was targeted in a cyberattack on May 7. They are not due to a shortage of crude oil. There’s no connection between Biden’s Keystone XL order and the supply shortages that resulted from the Colonial Pipeline attack. We rate this  ."
13370,1,"Says a federal program that collects reported side-effects of vaccinations doesn't accept possible outcomes extending to road accidents, heart attacks or suicides.","April 25, 2017",health care;public health,bill zedler,"Bill Zedler, who hails from Tarrant County, is a multi-term member of the Texas House.",texas,0,1,0,0,1,0,his responses to a physician testifying before the Texas House Committee on Public Health,"Zedler said a federal program that compiles reported side-effects of vaccinations doesn’t take in reports of extreme results such as road accidents, heart attacks and suicides. It looks to us, from our sampling, that some results such as suicides are rarely reported as related to vaccinations. Still, the CDC-run VAERS evidently accepts reports of all kinds of outcomes from all corners, though having a submission accepted doesn't equal federal confirmation that a vaccination caused any effects. Further investigation might. We rate Zedler's  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
23146,1,"Smoke that covered New York, New Jersey and Connecticut after the Canadian wildfires ""was a planned operation in geoengineering.","June 9, 2023",climate change;fires;weather;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"Seeing no  that geoengineering caused the smoke, we rate the post . RELATED: How climate change is making wildfires worse RELATED: No, this video doesn’t show that weapons ignited Canada’s wildfires RELATED: No  wildfires in Canada were set intentionally"
3479,1,The Georgia Lottery Corp. has only once in the past 16 years paid out the agreed upon 35 percent of proceeds to the account which funds the HOPE scholarship.,"March 2, 2011",education,allie mccullen,Allie McCullen is a statewide organizer with Georgia Students for Public Higher Education and a senior at the University of Georgia.,georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech,"If McCullen had said the Georgia Lottery Corp. has not hit its target of 35 percent since 1997, the accuracy of her statement would have hinged on what ""as nearly as practical"" means and why the legislation even included the number 35 percent. The legislators who PolitiFact spoke with agreed that the number was included for a reason and the corporation has not come close to reaching that target in recent years. But, alas, McCullen said that in the past 16 years the Georgia Lottery Corp. met the 35 percent goal only once, but it has met the target three times. So she has a better chance of winning the lottery than receiving a  on the -O-Meter. We rate her statement ."
7002,2,"In other jurisdictions where (a domestic partnership registry) has been enacted, we have seen that fewer people enter into marriage.","February 19, 2013",lgbtq;marriage,florida conference of catholic bishops,This group lobbies state government on behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Florida.,florida,0,1,0,1,0,0,a committee hearing on domestic partnerships,"In opposing a bill that would allow for domestic partnerships statewide, Sheedy of the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said, ""In other jurisdictions where this has been enacted, we have seen that fewer people enter into marriage."" For domestic partnerships, he has offered no support in the United States, and no experts we consulted could find reports that vouch for that effect. In some countries, domestic partnership registries and gay marriage have increased while heterosexual marriage has decreased. But it’s not at all clear that the first trend is causing the second. In other words, correlation does not equal causation. Marriage is declining in popularity across the world, and has been for decades. No one has shown rates are declining directly because of domestic partnerships. We rate this statement ."
20540,1,No governor in Virginia has ever won when...he or she is the same party as the sitting president.,"November 3, 2021",elections;history,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",virginia,25,64,65,52,55,7,a news conference,"Biden said, ""No governor in Virginia has ever won when...he or she is the same party as the sitting president."" He’s . Although it’s been extremely rare in the last 44 years for Virginia to elect a governor of the president’s party, it did happen in 2013. And it was quite common prior to 1977.   We rate Biden’s statement .  "
20410,1,"The Freedom to Vote Act ""automatically registers ineligible voters.","October 19, 2021",congress;elections;facebook fact-checks,heritage action, Heritage Action is a conservative group founded in 2010 and associated with the Heritage Foundation. ,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a Facebook post,We rate this statement . RELATED: What’s in the Senate Democrats’ new voting rights bill? RELATED : Ted Cruz repeats   that voting bill 'would register millions of illegal aliens to vote' RELATED: James Clyburn misspeaks in saying 43 states have passed voting restrictions  
5830,0,People who wash cars at home will use approximately 80 percent more water than they do in a car wash.,"June 7, 2012",environment;state budget;water;taxes,helio melo,"Helio Melo is a state representative from East Providence. First elected to the House of Representatives in 2004, he serves as chairman of the House Finance Committee.",rhode island,0,0,0,0,1,1,a House floor debate,"This is a  that's easy to check with a stopwatch, a bucket of suds, a hose, and that all-important spray nozzle most people use. Professional car washes do provide an environmental service by keeping pollutants out of watersheds. But Melo’s comparison between the water used during a driveway wash versus a professional car wash is all wet. If Melo doesn't believe us, we'd be glad to demonstrate by washing his car. And he can use the water we save to douse his ! (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
13596,1,The last majority-Anglo high school class in Texas graduated in 2014.,"July 10, 2017",education;history;population,evan smith,"Evan Smith, former editor of Texas Monthly, co-founded the Texas Tribune with Ross Ramsey in 2009. He's the Tribune's CEO.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,The New Yorker,"Smith said the last majority-Anglo high school class in Texas graduated in 2014. To the contrary, there remain some Texas high schools with a majority of white students in 12th grade or among graduates, we found, while for all of Texas, state-collected counts show the latest year that white students comprised the majority of public high-school graduates was 2003. White students last accounted for the majority of public high-school seniors in 2001-02. We rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
9427,2,"Not even old Gen. Eisenhower … saluted military personnel"" as president.","March 27, 2012",history;military;punditfact,rachel maddow,Rachel Maddow is the host of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show”. She formerly hosted a radio program of the same name on the defunct Air America network.,,5,6,4,6,7,1,"her book ""Drift""","Maddow wrote, ""Not even old Gen. Eisenhower … saluted military personnel"" as president. For the record, no president is required to salute military personnel. And presidential salutes did not become commonplace until Reagan became president. But Eisenhower, a five-star U.S. Army general, did salute ""military personnel"" as president, at least occasionally. We searched archived videos for about 90 minutes and found video  of seven salutes. Does that mean he did it all the time? No. Reagan perhaps made the practice routine, but Eisenhower did salute military personnel. We rate Maddow's  ."
16461,4,"What was the reality for most Americans during the Obama presidency? Most lost wealth and their incomes fell, particularly for those at the bottom of the ladder.","September 9, 2019",economy;punditfact,stanley greenberg,"Stanley Greenberg is a Democratic pollster and author of the 2019 book, ""RIP GOP: How the New America Is Dooming the Republicans.""",,0,1,0,0,0,0,"his book, ""RIP GOP""","Greenberg said, ""What was the reality for most Americans during the Obama presidency? Most lost wealth and their incomes fell, particularly for those at the bottom of the ladder."" Over the course of Obama’s presidency, wealth and income did either stagnate or decline. However, this full tenure included a precipitous drop from the Great Recession that Obama inherited, so the numbers look better if you start counting from the depths of the recession instead. The Obama team can  they accomplished positive growth on the economy, while Greenberg is right that many everyday Americans still suffered losses.  We rate the statement ."
14283,0,"Russian source behind fake Trump dossier killed in Russian plane crash, Rosatom CFO also dead","February 11, 2018",fake news;transportation,puppetstringnews.com,A website associated with fake news.,national,0,0,0,2,1,4,a fake news blog post,"This Ivanov Vyacheslav was not on the plane, but a different man by the name was. The man killed in the plane crash was born in 1986,  Snopes reported, whereas the former Rosatom CFO began studying for his degree in 1987. Our ruling  A  news site said that two Russian officials had died in a plane crash. While the list of victims contained names that matched those of the two officials, they were not the same people.   We rate this statement ."
15028,2,"If Missouri Amendment 1 passes, the auditor's office ""could take one district, St. Louis here, and merge it with a district in southwest Missouri, a Republican district, and they don't even have to touch.","August 20, 2018",elections,saundra mcdowell,"Saundra McDowell, a Republican, is running for Missouri's office of state auditor. She has served as director of enforcement for the securities division of Missouri's secretary of state office and as an assistant attorney general.",missouri,0,0,0,1,0,0,"remarks on ""The Weekend Report""","McDowell said that if Amendment 1 is enacted, the auditor's office will necessitate non-contiguous voting districts. Specifically, she said the auditor's office ""could take one district, St. Louis here, and merge it with a district in southwest Missouri, a Republican district, and they don't even have to touch."" Her sentiment is too broad and  unfounded. Because the auditor's office does not have complete control over drawing districts, and Amendment 1 is not trying to make every district is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, McDowell's allegation of non-contiguous voting districts becomes more dubious. Her supposed saving grace — ""subject to the requirements of subdivisions (1)(a) and (1)(b)""— is highly debatable and best left up to legal parsing. We rate the statement ."
6005,0,Foreign Chinese prostitution money is allegedly behind the groups funding Congressman Scott DesJarlais's (TN-04) Republican Majority.,"July 11, 2012",campaign finance,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,tennessee,1,1,8,14,8,9,Campaign news release,"Basically, then, the charge by a disgruntled former employee is adamantly denied by Adelson. DCCC has nonetheless seized upon the questionable , extrapolated and exaggerated it to taint all of Adelson's political donations with prostitution earnings. If stopped there, perhaps this could arguably fall into the realm of standard political hyperbole. But to carry that on down a convoluted line to Scott DesJarlais and talk about ""his Chinese prostitution money?"" Yep, that sounds like  to us, too."
14662,2,"A recent spending bill had at least ""$1.6 billion in there ... for schools to give them an opportunity to secure them.","May 23, 2018",education;federal budget;crime;guns,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,a CNN town hall,"Responding to a question about preventing gun violence in schools, Pelosi said that a recent spending bill had at least ""$1.6 billion in there ... for schools to give them an opportunity to secure them."" Her office acknowledged to PolitiFact that she should have said $1.1 billion, the amount devoted to a federal grant program for schools that was funded in the bill. Still, even that figure is likely exaggerated. When the Education Department distributes $1.1 billion in grants under the program she was referencing, school security will have to fight for that money against such items as STEM education and digital education. We rate the statement ."
21792,1,Video shows Clark County poll worker acting illegally by asking people to place their ballots into a bag outside of a drop box.,"August 5, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A video shared on Facebook implies that a filmed interaction between an election worker in Washington state and a woman attempting to drop off their ballot is  of voter fraud. Washington state implemented a statewide vote-by-mail system in  2011 after initially allowing it on a county-by-county basis in 2005, and a state law requires counties to prevent long lines from forming at drop boxes.  It has been standard practice for the state to have two election administrators go to a drop box to begin collecting ballots ahead of the voting deadline. Physically collecting the ballots lets administrators whittle down the lines and monitor which voters are able to make it in on time.  We rate this  .  RELATED: All of our fact-checks about elections"
1535,0,"An audit of the last census found that over 370,000 people living in Texas were not counted, and our state lost an estimated $1 billion in federal funds as a result.","March 11, 2010",census,silvestre reyes,"Rep. Reyes, D-El Paso, was first elected to the U.S. House in 1996. He was the first Hispanic American in U.S. history to chair the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which drafts the laws that govern, fund and oversee the 16 agencies that comprise the U.S. intelligence community. He lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for the seat in 2012 to Beto O'Rourke, a member of the El Paso City Council.",texas,1,1,2,0,0,1,an e-mail blast,"Reyes incorrectly refers to the consultant’s projections as an audit of the census; it was a report. More importantly, Reyes relies -- as have other entities -- on an outdated report based on numbers the Census Bureau has said were flawed. The bureau long ago yanked the statistical rug out from under the  that more than 370,000 Texas residents were not counted and that Texas stood to miss out on $1 billion in aid as a result. This isn't a close call. We rate Reyes' statement as ."
18853,1,"Says The Washington Times ran a front-page headline that said, ""President Gore.","November 7, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Murtaugh has since deleted his tweet. In the 2000 presidential election, some TV news networks called Florida for Gore over George W. Bush, and then, a few hours later, withdrew that projection.   We rate this Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
10990,0,"I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering"" as the World Trade Center collapsed.","November 21, 2015",terrorism,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,comments during a speech,"Trump said he ""watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering"" as the World Trade Center collapsed. This defies basic logic. If thousands and thousands of people were celebrating the 9/11 attacks on American soil, many people beyond Trump would remember it. And in the 21st century, there would be video or visual . Instead, all we found were a couple of news articles that described rumors of celebrations that were either debunked or unproven. Trump’s recollection of events in New Jersey in the hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks flies in the face of all the  we could find. We rate this statement ."
8132,5,"We, the bishops of the United States -- can you believe it -- in 1919 came out for more affordable, more comprehensive, more universal health care.","December 1, 2013",health care;religion;sexuality,timothy dolan,Cardinal Timothy Dolan has served as archbishop of New York since 2009.,national,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Dolan said U.S. bishops have supported expanding health care since 1919. He’s correct that the National Catholic Welfare Council published pro-health-care expansion literature that year, and experts told us that the bishops have regularly supported proposals to expand health care over the years, despite disagreements over specific provisions enacted under Obama, including contraception regulations. We rate Dolan’s  ."
22408,0,"President Joe Biden's daughter-in-law tweeted, ""The press is also covering up serious health issues that my father in law is facing. The plan is for Kamala to get a one track ride to the nomination in 2024.","December 5, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"The Twitter account @HallieBiden was suspended for violating the platform’s rules.   A spokesperson for the Beau Biden Foundation, a charity organization that Hallie Biden  chairs , told USA Today in September that she doesn’t have a Twitter account and that ""any account bearing her name is fraudulent."" An Aug. 31 archive of the Twitter account shows that its bio said ""My beloved Beau’s widow and crackhead Hunter’s ex."" The account also lacked a blue checkmark, which at the time would have signaled that the account was official and verified.   We rate claims that the president’s daughter-in-law tweeted plans for Vice President Kamala Harris to run in 2024, among other claims, !"
11207,0,This is the true picture of 'Milwaukee's Renaissance' after 12 years of Mayor Tom Barrett's leadership.,"January 29, 2016",city government;housing;poverty;public safety;urban,bob donovan,"Bob Donovan is a Milwaukee alderman, representing a district on the city's south side.  He was elected to the Common Council in 2000. In July 2014 he declared himself a candidate for mayor of Milwaukee in the 2016 election.",wisconsin,2,2,0,0,0,1,a Facebook post,"Until now. Our rating Donovan said in a Facebook post: ""This is the  picture of ‘Milwaukee's Renaissance’ after 12 years of Mayor Tom Barrett's leadership. ""  The post included a picture of a dilapidated home, all right. But the condition is explained by the fact that the city Fire Department has set fires inside it and blasted holes in it for training. Donovan’s statement is  and  -- our definition of ."
4848,3,My recommended budget includes $1 billion in new state funding for education.,"January 10, 2012",education;state budget,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,his State of the State address,"As Rich noted, that’s still below pre-recession levels. Scott is right that he wants to add roughly $1 billion in funding for schools this year, but we think it’s disingenuous to call that money ""new"" -- a descriptor that gives people a distinct impression that education funding is up. Some of that $1 billion in funding is to pay for new students and to close a gap created by lost funding from declining property values. And it doesn’t quite make up for the deeper cuts Scott signed off on a year ago. We rate his statement ."
8703,0,"Dan Patrick ""changed his name from Danny Goeb to hide from"" his ""debts.","April 16, 2014",bankruptcy;candidate biography,david dewhurst,"David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.",texas,4,5,10,8,8,5,a video ad,"Dewhurst said Patrick changed his name to hide from his debts. The lieutenant governor offered no backup for this , which shakes out as factually illogical. Patrick’s bankruptcy case ended in 1992; he has said he legally changed his name 11 years later. That gap in time alone leads us to see this  as both  and . !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.  "
108,5,"With one stroke of his pen, President Bush has denied health insurance to 3.8 million kids who were due to get it under this bipartisan expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program.","October 15, 2007",health care,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,,"Right now, the SCHIP program is budgeted to spend $5 billion each year over the next five years. The legislation President Bush vetoed on Oct. 3, 2007 would add another $35 billion to the pot between the years 2008 and 2012. Families making 200 percent of the federal poverty line would be eligibile, and in some cases states could go beyond that to reach families with even higher incomes. Biden is using the statistic that most Democrats are using about the number of children who would become eligible under the SCHIP expansion. And, it's an estimate with solid backing, the Congressional Budget Office, the non-partisan research arm of Congress that calculates the cost of legislation.  "
21880,5,"Image claims to show a list of ""Republican members of Congress whose PPP loans were forgiven.","August 24, 2022",congress;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,An Instagram post listed 13 Republican politicians who criticized Biden’s plan to cancel student debt but took out Paycheck Protection Program loans that the government forgave. Businesses owned by or associated with the politicians named in the post did receive Paycheck Protection Program loans. Businesses connected to two politicians named in the post received more than the Instagram post showed. We rate this post .
4009,4,"Michele Bachmann's legislative record is ""offering failed amendments.","July 24, 2011",candidate biography;voting record,tim pawlenty,"Tim Pawlenty is the former governor of Minnesota, having served two terms in office from 2003-2011.",national,2,6,3,2,3,1,a statement from the campaign,"In ruling on Pawlenty's statement, he said that Bachmann's record was one of ""failed amendments"" and ""nonexistent."" There's a little bit of exaggeration there. In addition to failed amendments, she had failed bills, and those measures did, in fact, exist, even if they didn't pass. But his larger point that Bachmann hasn't had many legislative accomplishments is correct. We rate his statement . "
8471,1,We've got close to 7 million Americans who have access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion.,"February 20, 2014",health care;medicaid,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a speech to Democratic governors,"Obama said, ""We’ve got close to 7 million Americans who have access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion."" Obama’s 7 million figure was a stretch even compared to his own administration’s 6.3 million figure. But more problematic is a disconnect between what he said and what the administration data is showing. The administration’s 6.3 million figure includes a lot of the ""churn"" in Medicaid that has nothing to do with the new law’s Medicaid expansion, as well as new sign-ups of people who were previously eligible for Medicaid -- and thus were not granted ""access to health care for the first time because of Medicaid expansion,"" in Obama’s words. The actual number is estimated to be between one-seventh and two-fifths of what Obama said it was. We rate the  ."
20152,1,Biden's teleprompter told him to 'LEAVE NOW' when his speech was concluded.,"August 16, 2021",afghanistan;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"You can see what the teleprompter actually looked like at that moment in this video published by the Washington Post. It occurs about 80 minutes in. It doesn’t say ""leave now."" Rather, there are three pound signs — ### — indicating the end of the text.   We rate this post ."
7608,3,"Our businesses have created nearly twice as many jobs in this recovery as they had at the same point in the last recovery, when there was no Obamacare.","July 24, 2013",economy;jobs,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Galesburg, Ill","Obama said, ""Our businesses have created nearly twice as many jobs in this recovery as they had at the same point in the last recovery, when there was no Obamacare."" Obama’s carefully worded  uses the most advantageous time frame to measure job growth. Other metrics show that the job recovery he has presided over has been similar to, or even weaker than, the job recovery under Bush. So we rate the  ."
11720,3,"Says 80 percent of North Carolinians support ""the concept that men should not be in women's restrooms, changing rooms, bathrooms, etc.","May 5, 2016",civil rights;lgbtq;polls and public opinion;sexuality,tim moore,Tim Moore is a Republican from Cleveland County and the speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives.,north carolina,0,1,2,3,1,0,a conversation with reporters,"A prominent conservative group, Civitas, did find 70 and 80 percent in two polls, although we had some serious doubts about the question that found the 80 percent support. Two polls from the less partisan SurveyUSA in partnership with local TV stations have found 56 percent and 51 percent of North Carolinians support the idea. That’s still a majority, but it’s certainly not the ""nearly unanimous,"" ""80 percent support"" that Moore claimed. We rate this  ."
7597,3,"Says last year ""13 million (health insurance) rebates went out, in all 50 states. Another 8.5 (million) rebates are being sent out this summer, averaging around 100 bucks each.","July 18, 2013",health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a speech at the White House,"Obama said ""millions of Americans opened letters from their insurance companies"" and got rebates from  companies that failed to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on care. Then he talked about 13 million rebates going out last year and about 8.5 million this year. Those numbers are generally accurate. But while Obama gets the numbers right, he left a  impression about the rebates going directly to so many people. In fact, more than half of the rebates went to the employers that run health plans for their workers. Federal law says the employers have to use the money on health care, but they can also use it shore up the health plans. So not all of these policy holders are getting $100 directly. For these reasons, we rate Obama's statement ."
15418,1,Said that man wearing racist shirt was working at a polling station in Mississippi.,"November 7, 2018",elections;fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a tweet,"The day after the election, Regional One tweeted that it was ""aware of a photograph in circulation"" and that they ""are investigating and will take appropriate action."" Regional One did not respond to our inquiry. The viral photo of a man with a racist shirt at a polling station in Mississippi is not photoshopped. However, the man was not a poll worker. We rate this  ."
13981,2,The Legislative Ethics Commission continues to function.,"October 31, 2017",ethics,michael madigan,"Attorney; born April 19, 1942, in Chicago; graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Loyola University Law School; House Majority Leader, 80th and 81st General Assemblies; House Minority Leader, 82nd and 89th General Assemblies; Speaker of the House, 83rd to 88th General Assemblies and 90th to 98th General Assemblies; married (wife, Shirley), has three daughters, one son, and three granddaughters.
 ",illinois,0,1,0,2,0,0,a committee hearing,"Madigan said the Illinois Legislative Ethics Commission continued to function for nearly three years while the Office of Legislative Inspector General was vacant. To the extent that the eight-member commission continued to schedule monthly meetings and saw to internal matters, it did ""continue to function."" This included its executive director receiving numerous reports of alleged ethics violations. But without an inspector general, it could not function in its capacity to take substantive action on alleged ethics violations. This is why Denise Rotheimer’s complaint saw no action until she went public with her allegations in a House committee hearing. There’s an element of  in Madigan’s statement but there’s a lot more that’s missing. We rate it ."
11951,1,"Says she ""never received nor sent any material that was marked classified"" on her private email server while secretary of state.","July 2, 2016",corrections and updates;ethics;foreign policy;technology,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,an interview on MSNBC,"Clinton said, ""I never received nor sent any material that was marked classified."" Clinton has made this  over and over again. An independent FBI investigation has found that to be . It’s important to remember that only ""a very small number"" of her emails, two, were marked classified when they were first sent, and just 110 out of the 30,000 she turned over were classified but unmarked.  seems to suggest that Clinton generally dealt with classified information in an appropriate manner. But over the course of a year, Clinton and her staff have painted a picture of an email setup where absolutely zero classified information slipped through the cracks, case closed. We rate this statement . Editor's note:  The day after we published this fact-check, Comey testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 7. Comey said he believes three emails on Clinton's server contained information labeled classified at the time they were sent. This information was not properly marked in that the emails did not have a classification header, even though a ""(c)"" immediately preceded text in the body of the emails, designating confidential information. Without the clear classification header, it's reasonable to infer that Clinton did not realize these three emails contained classified information, he said."
21300,1,America (is) trying to overthrow the Ukraine government just as the shadow government has infiltrated and overthrown the US government.,"April 16, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"A Facebook video says, ""America (is) trying to overthrow the Ukraine government just as the shadow government has infiltrated and overthrown the US government."" The U.S. has provided more financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine than any other nation since the outbreak of the war. On the flip side, the U.S. has not sent combat troops to Ukraine. We were unable to identify any  to support the  that a shadow government has infiltrated and overthrown the U.S. government. We rate this  .  "
22591,1,"The largest contributor to the debt ceiling, or to our deficit, has been the Trump tax cuts.","January 27, 2023",debt;deficit;federal budget;taxes,alexandria ocasio-cortez,"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, was elected to New York's 14th Congressional district seat in November 2018.",,0,2,2,0,8,1,an interview with reporters,"Ocasio-Cortez said, ""The largest contributor to the debt ceiling, or to our deficit, has been the Trump tax cuts."" A little more than two-thirds of today’s debt was already on the books before Trump’s 2017 inauguration. Of the remaining debt added since 2017, Trump’s tax cut played a significant role. But three other bills are expected to add nearly as much or more to the debt, and each received Democratic support: a 2019 spending bill and the CARES Act under Trump, and the American Rescue Plan under Biden. Finally, looking at the spending and revenue reductions so far, both the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan have added more to the debt than Trump’s tax cuts have. Other measures accounted for a greater share of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 annual deficits than did the Trump tax cuts. We rate the statement ."
633,3,"(McCain) says ""we can't have ... timelines to draw down our troops from Iraq.","August 27, 2008",iraq,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,Denver,"McCain clearly was not comfortable embracing the idea of a timetable for withdrawal. But nor was he comfortable opposing it in all cases. His answers in both the CNN and ABC interviews suggest that he could be okay with a timetable if it were dependent on conditions on the ground. Biden did not acknowledge the gray area in McCain's approach to a timeline, instead implying that McCain was unequivocally opposed to any timeline at all. Since McCain has spoken out repeatedly against timelines — but indicated he was open to them on other occasions — we find Biden's  to be ."
14737,1,Senate report admits Clinton 'gifted' children to human traffickers,"June 17, 2018",immigration;children;fake news;punditfact,yournewswire.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,1,3,9,a blog post,"We could not find any  that Clinton, who led the Department of State during President Barack Obama’s first term in office, played a part in the rollback of the safety standards governing the protection of migrant children. Not only are the State Department and HHS separate executive agencies, but Clinton also stepped down as secretary of state in February 2013, months before HHS decided to stop fingerprinting in the first of many decisions that led to the children’s mistreatment. Your News Wire tried implicating Clinton in an old but otherwise real Senate report. The website did not respond to a request for comment. We rate this statement ."
2890,3,"Ohio taxpayers spent more than $67 million ""for the year"" on food stamps and Medicaid for Wal-Mart workers","December 8, 2010",health care;state budget,robert hagan,"Robert Hagan is a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 60th District, which is comprised of part of Mahoning County, including Youngstown.",ohio,0,1,2,0,0,0,the Ohio House of Representatives,"Hagan’s method is something PolitiFact Ohio and The Plain Dealer might try to get a ballpark figure when exact figures aren’t available, but Hagan presented it as a precise figure. He later acknowledged his figures were not 100 percent exact, but said the goal of his failed legislation was to shed light on companies with thousands of workers on welfare. Even if Ohio taxpayers don’t pay exactly $67 million in Medicaid and food stamps, it is clear they are subsidizing Wal-Mart’s health care costs, Hagan said. So where does Hagan land on the -O-Meter?    On that basis, we rate the statement ."
11342,3,"Says Donald Trump has said ""he would be neutral between Israel and its enemies.","February 26, 2016",israel,conservative solutions pac,"Conservative Solutions PAC is a super political action committee based in Tampa, Fla., that supports Marco Rubio for president.",florida,0,0,1,3,0,0,a TV ad,"A PAC that supports Rubio says Trump ""says he would be neutral between Israel and its enemies."" Trump has said that in order to negotiate between Israelis and Palestinians he can’t take sides. ""Let me be sort of a neutral guy,"" he said at a town hall. But the ad omits that Trump has had ties to Israel for years -- he has called himself ""pro-Israel"" and endorsed Netanyahu’s re-election in 2013. That is a good indication Trump isn’t neutral. We rate this  .     Says Donald Trump has said ""he would be neutral between Israel and its enemies.""  "
3949,5,"The State Election Board has issued nearly $275,000 in fines to violators of absentee ballot laws.","June 20, 2011",elections,brian kemp,"Brian Kemp, a Republican, was elected governor of Georgia in 2018. Previously, he served as secretary of state.",georgia,4,0,1,1,3,0,,"Another case involved a woman who faxed previously used absentee ballots for members of a church to election officials in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. The woman said she was unaware her efforts violated Georgia election law. There were several cases of people who voted in elections in one county, although they lived in another county. These cases and others we found put the total over the $275,000 mark that Kemp mentioned. We rate his statement as ."
2887,0,Members of Congress and their families and staff are exempt from repaying student loans.,"January 7, 2011",education,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"In 1995, Congress passed the Congressional Accountability Act, which applied 13 laws to members that hadn't applied previously. Several of the laws involved discrimination in the workplace, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Getting back to the question at hand, though: The chain e-mail said that members of Congress, their families and staff members do not have to repay student loans. This is  . We rate it ."
16641,0,"As we have learned, the Intel Inspector General (IG) changed the rule after the complaint was known in order to allow hearsay complaints, but the IG dishonestly backdated the rule change so that damage could be done to President Trump.","October 21, 2019",impeachment,louie gohmert,"Louie Gohmert, a U.S. House member since 2005, is a former chief justice of the Texas 12th Court of Appeals and Smith County state district judge. He lives in Tyler.",texas,0,0,2,2,7,3,an op-ed,"Gohmert said: ""As we have learned, the Intel Inspector General (IG) changed the rule after the complaint was known in order to allow hearsay complaints, but the IG dishonestly backdated the rule change so that damage could be done to President Trump."" This  echoes one made earlier by Trump and it relies on an article that builds on an  theory promoted by The Federalist. No rules regulating whistleblower complaints were changed. The Office of the Inspector General altered the form for submitting complaints to make it more clear that whistleblowers can supply either first or second-hand information, as has been the case since 2014. Gohmert repeated a debunked  circulated by Trump and could not provide  to support his statement. We rate his  ."
5873,2,"Sixteen thousand new Internal Revenue Service agents will be ""empowered to enforce"" the new health care legislation.","June 29, 2012",health care;taxes,tom price,"Rep. Tom Price is the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. Previously, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 6th District of Georgia, an area that includes Marietta and Canton.",georgia,3,5,6,2,3,0,a television interview,"Ways and Means Republicans said that about 16,000 ""employees,"" not ""agents,"" may be hired to enforce the bill’s provisions. They also acknowledged that the actual number of hires may be lower. IRS budget requests for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years show they asked for about 375 more agents so far --  far less than 16,000. And like other pols who have used versions of this talking point, Price used such a specific figure that he suggests a degree of certainty that doesn’t exist. Price therefore earns a ."
3674,2,"We are looking at ""150,000 barrels (of oil) per day less next year, and 200,000 barrels per day less being able to be developed from the gulf the year after"" because of the moratorium on new drilling enacted by the Obama administration.","May 31, 2011",energy;oil spill;regulation,sarah palin,"Sarah Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. She is also the former governor of Alaska and the author of  Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin's previous experience includes leading the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and serving as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.",national,14,6,9,9,21,6,an interview on Fox News,"Then, the EIA projected oil production from the Gulf of Mexico would drop by 100,000 barrels a day between 2010 and 2011. In other words, even before the oil spill and ensuing moratorium, the EIA expected a drop in oil production from the Gulf of Mexico. After the moratorium, the projected drop went from 100,000 barrels to 130,000 barrels a day. Since most of the forecast decline predates the oil spill and the moratorium, it is  to attribute it entirely to the moratorium.   And so we rate Palin's  ."
16483,1,Democrats were at a 9/11 memorial service when NC Republicans held a controversial vote,"September 11, 2019",history,various media reports 2,this is for hate crimes story. fact-check of reports in news media.,north carolina,2,0,0,0,2,0,reports,"Various media outlets said NC Democratic legislators were at a 9/11 memorial service when Republicans held a controversial budget vote. PolitiFact is aware of only one Democrat besides Gov. Cooper who claimed to be at a 9/11 event. We rate this  . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide. To offer ideas for fact checks, email  [email protected] ."
13575,4,Says it's documented that City of Austin fees for building an apartment complex are nearly 10 times what Dallas levies.,"June 15, 2017",city government;housing;population,paul workman,Paul Workman is the founder of Workman Commercial Construction and director of development for T. Stacy & Associates. He was initially elected to the Texas House in 2010.,texas,1,1,0,1,0,0,the Austin American-Statesman,"On balance, it looks like city fees for building the project in Austin could exceed Big D’s fees by eight times or more, still making for a considerable difference. We rate the  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
20539,0,"During the AIDS crisis, can you imagine if gay men and intravenous drug users … had they been pariahs the way the non-vaccinated are? But it would've been inconceivable.","November 8, 2021",drugs;polls and public opinion;public health;sexuality,dennis prager,Dennis Prager has been broadcasting on radio in Los Angeles since 1982. His show became nationally syndicated in 1999.,,0,0,1,0,1,1,an interview with Newsmax,"Prager said, ""During the AIDS crisis, can you imagine if gay men and intravenous drug users … had they been pariahs the way the non-vaccinated are? But it would've been inconceivable."" To suggest that gay men and intravenous drug users were not considered pariahs during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s is entirely . The  of the opposite abounds: contemporary survey data on attitudes about homosexuality; the existence of laws against consensual gay sex; the near-passage of an AIDS quarantine law in California; calls by prominent commentators for banning HIV-positive people from certain jobs or even tattooing them; jokes about the disease by White House officials; and the need for the gay community to build their own institutions to grapple with the disease because existing institutions were insufficient. We rate the statement ."
16586,1,"Quotes President John F. Kennedy as saying ""If the United States ever experienced [a coup to overthrow the government] it will come from the CIA and not the Pentagon.","October 7, 2019",fake news;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims President John F. Kennedy once said ""If the United States ever experienced [a coup to overthrow the government] it will come from the CIA and not the Pentagon."" But there is no  that proves JFK said the statement. A news article from October 1963 quoting an anonymous ""U.S. official"" appears to be the original source for the quotation. In the years since, people have assumed that person was Kennedy, but JFK scholars have not made that explicit leap. We rate this . "
1904,3,"In Rick Perry's Texas, we import nurses ... from other countries.","June 25, 2010",health care,bill white,"Bill White, an author, is a San Antonio native who was mayor of Houston from 2004-2009. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor of Texas.",texas,6,7,5,2,3,3,a speech at the Texas Democratic Party convention,"The center said that to meet the demand for registered nurses by 2020, the number of graduates will need to triple from the 2009 level, when 8,211 people graduated. Texas nursing schools are still turning away qualified applicants -- about 8,700 in 2009, primarily because the schools lack sufficient faculty, the center reports. Upshot: White is correct that Texas imports nurses from abroad. But implying that Perry is to blame for that disregards the governor's efforts to address a shortage that existed before he became governor, and has persisted despite efforts by the state to produce more Texas-trained nurses. We rate White's statement as ."
18569,1,"Says Joe Biden is proposing a tax increase that's ""the largest in American history.","October 1, 2020",taxes,preserve america pac,Preserve America is a super PAC that supports Donald Trump's re-election campaign. ,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign ad,"A PAC ad said Biden is proposing a tax increase that’s ""the largest in American history."" According to a detailed analysis by the Tax Foundation, Biden’s proposed tax increase would be the fifth largest since 1940, when measured as a share of the economy. We rate this  . ​"
15876,1,"When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding in favour of the war effort, he simply replied, 'then what are we fighting for?'","March 31, 2019",military;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""Unfortunately,"" he said, ""our best efforts fail to find it among Churchill’s 15 million published words of speeches, papers, letters, articles or books."" Langworth instead points to a different, authentic statement Churchill made about painting and sculpture: ""The arts are essential to any complete national life. The State owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them. The country possesses in the Royal Academy an institution of wealth and power for the purpose of encouraging the arts of painting and sculpture … ."" We rate this Facebook post as ."
10520,3,"Al Franken said almost exactly what Trump said"" about John McCain's military record.","July 20, 2015",military;patriotism;punditfact,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",,0,2,5,10,17,12,a segment on his radio show,"A closer look at Franken’s books and coverage of the 1999 event where he used this bit — before the Salon article came out — shows Franken meant the insult sarcastically.  It may be a despicable joke to some, but it’s a joke nonetheless. Trump, however, has not insisted that his comment was meant as satire. Limbaugh’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and takes things out of context. We rate the  ."
2665,0,"President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi passed a ""$1.2 trillion stimulus bill.","November 13, 2010",stimulus,george allen,George Allen was a U.S. senator from 2001-2007. He was governor of Virginia from 1994-1998.,virginia,8,4,3,2,8,1,,"It roughly equals the total 13-year expenses of  Virginia’s state government between 1999 and 2012. Allen is not only exaggerating the spending total by President Obama and the Democratic leaders of Congress, he is doing it by including billions of dollars passed under a Republican president. That’s just not , it’s . So we have to set the meter ablaze. .  "
16930,1,Says Lil Boosie and George Zimmerman got into a fight.,"January 13, 2020",pop culture;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Boosie Badazz doesn’t appear injured in the Instagram post.   The Miami Herald reported that rumor is "" news."" ""Contrary to what you may have heard, or read, Boosie Badazz did not, we repeat, did not engage with George Zimmerman at Walmart,"" the story says.   The New York Post reported that the fight story was ""apparently spurred by the anonymous social media account My Mix Tapez."" We rate this post ."
7727,2,Congressman Patrick Murphy voted to keep the scandal-ridden IRS in charge of enforcing Obamacare.,"August 22, 2013",health care,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,florida,4,5,9,20,14,9,a YouTube video,"The NRCC video stated that the IRS would be in charge of enforcing Obamacare. While the IRS will play a major role in enforcing elements of the Affordable Care Act, stating that the agency is ""in charge"" of enforcing the new health law is  and leaves out the vital roles of the states, the health department, the department of labor and other agencies in enforcing and implementing various aspects of the law. We rate the NRCC’s  ."
3878,3,"Says Gov. Scott Walker's budget ""includes tax breaks for corporations and the rich that will cost the state of Wisconsin taxpayers $2.3 billion over the next decade.","June 24, 2011",state budget;taxes,one wisconsin now,"One Wisconsin Now is a liberal advocacy group that focuses on advancing ""progressive leadership and values.""",wisconsin,3,1,4,0,2,1,a news release,"The group’s larger point -- that the tax breaks benefit corporations and wealthier residents, rather than average taxpayers -- is generally on target, given that the largest amounts of the tax breaks go to businesses and to individuals with higher incomes. But as we said in a past ruling, a tax break is not spending or a ""cost"" to taxpayers. It is money that stays with taxpayers. The statement contains accurate claims, primarily on who will benefit from newly adopted tax breaks, but shades the language (all in Walker’s budget, a ""cost"" to taxpayers) to amplify its political point. We rate the statement . "
9076,2,"U.S. Senate candidate Jack Kingston ""spent our tax dollars on thousands of wasteful earmarks.","June 17, 2014",federal budget,david perdue,David Perdue is running in the 2022 Republican primary for governor of Georgia. He was a U.S. Senator from January 2015 to January 2021. He has been the CEO of several businesses and is the cousin of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.,georgia,0,8,5,7,3,4,an ad,"Were the earmarks wasteful as the statement claims? That’s far trickier to prove. Those votes were taken as part of a central function of Congress, to vote on the budget.    There’s a bit of  in Perdue’s , but just a bit. We rate his statement ."
5791,5,"Gov. Romney was very clear, he would veto the DREAM Act.","June 17, 2012",immigration,david plouffe,David Plouffe is a senior adviser to President Barack Obama. He also managed President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.,national,1,2,0,1,0,0,a comment on 'Fox News Sunday',"Plouffe said, ""Gov. Romney was very clear, he would veto the DREAM Act."" Romney did say that, without equivocation, during the Republican primary. He has not indicated a change in that position. It’s worth pointing out, though, that Romney does support one element of the DREAM Act: allowing young illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children ""to become permanent residents, and eventually citizens, by serving honorably in the United States military,"" according to a statement from the campaign. The DREAM Act, though, provided a path to legal status to young people who are in school, without serving in the military. We rate Plouffe’s statement ."
20929,1,Says remdesivir is responsible for killing patients hospitalized with COVID-19.,"January 25, 2022",drugs;science;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,nicole sirotek,"Nicole Sirotek is a registered nurse and founder of American Frontline Nurses, a group that opposes vaccines and promotes unproven remedies for COVID-19. She has claimed that remdesivir is what kills COVID-19 hospital patients. ",,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech,"Sirotek claimed that remdesivir is responsible for killing patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Neither medical data nor experts back this statement up. Studies have differed on how effective it is as a treatment for COVID-19, but none of them suggest that it’s causing deaths.   Experts noted that remdesivir is given to patients who are at the highest risk of death because of the severity of their disease. We rate the  . "
3658,2,Betty Sutton and her fellow Democrats went on a spending spree and now their credit card is maxed out.,"May 18, 2011",deficit;federal budget,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,ohio,4,5,9,20,14,9,a news release,"Conservatives disagree, with Riedl saying that it amounts to cherry picking and ignores all the spending.    Before ruling, we’re compelled to point out that since 2001, Congress has voted to raise the debt ceiling ten times, according to the Congressional Research Service . Seven of those hikes were under Bush, three under Obama. Sutton certainly voted for spending, so we won’t rate the NRCC’s  . But with trees chock full of cherries, we find the NRCC’s statement to be so selective as to render it ."
2161,4,"Forty-five percent of those who've been unemployed, they've been unemployed for six months or longer.","August 29, 2010",economy;pundits;this week - abc news;workers,donna brazile,A longtime Democratic political consultant and campaign manager for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign. Currently a political commentator for CNN and frequent commentator on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos.,national,1,7,4,0,1,0,"a roundtable discussion on ABC's ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour""","That's actually been  only for the past three months -- that is, 17 months into the Obama presidency and 32 months into the recession. A more accurate way of phrasing it would have been ""45 percent of those who are now unemployed, they've been unemployed for six months or longer."" Of course, Brazile's grammatical slip-up should not undercut the seriousness of the economic statistic she's citing. Her point about the long-term unemployed is generally accurate even if her encapsulation of it is a little . On balance, then, we rate her statement ."
14259,0,If the Dow Joans ever falls more than 1000 'points' in a Single Day the sitting president should be 'loaded' into a very big cannon and Shot into the sun at TREMENDOUS SPEED! No excuses!,"February 5, 2018",economy;fake news;punditfact,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet attributed to @realdonaldtrump,"Hours before Usher posted the  tweet, he bashed Trump over his criticism of the UK health care system . In January, Usher called Trump the ""dumbest sack of meat"" in response to his comments about climate change . We attempted to reach Usher but did not hear back. The White House declined to comment.    We rate this  tweet ."
13866,3,The Republicans are proposing to pay for their giant tax cut to the rich by gutting Medicare and Medicaid.,"October 4, 2017",health care;medicaid;medicare;taxes,charles schumer,Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York and the Senate majority leader.,national,3,7,5,5,5,1,a Senate floor speech,"Schumer said, ""The Republicans are proposing to pay for their giant tax cut to the rich by gutting Medicare and Medicaid."" He has a point that the tax proposal includes significant tax cuts and that the Senate Republicans’ budget proposal reduces projected spending levels for Medicare and Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years. However, Schumer has overstated the linkage between the proposed tax and spending cuts. In addition, his decision to highlight Medicare and Medicaid cuts with the vivid word ""gutting"" leaves the impression that such reductions are a drastic reshaping and are likelier to occur than they actually are. We rate his statement ."
2759,3,The city of Atlanta ranks 25th among U.S. cities with the highest crime rates.,"November 22, 2010",crime,"cq press city crime rankings, 2010-2011","CQ Press City Crime Rankings, 2010-2011 was released Nov. 22, 2010",georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a book,"She and other experts emphasize that a person's safety is more dependent on his lifestyle and what neighborhoods he frequents than the city he's in. Although the list's name was changed, the book addresses this point while its news release did not. And the message has not stuck with the public. Because the news release does not tackle the list's misuse head on, we conclude the statement meets AJC PolitiFact Georgia's definition of . It was accurate but left out important details or took things out of context."
1136,2,"During the Reagan administration, ""Millions of people were thrown out of work.","October 2, 2009",economy,michael moore,"Michael Moore directed the movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story"" and is a well-known documentary filmmaker. His movies includes ""Roger and Me,"" ""Bowling for Columbine,"" ""Fahrenheit 9/11,"" and ""Sicko."" He won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002 with ""Bowling for Columbine,"" and he was a nominee in 2007 for ""Sicko."" Michael Moore's Web site is www.MichaelMoore.com.",national,2,6,1,4,5,0,"his movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story""","Many would note that these service industry jobs generally pay lower than manufacturing jobs. Nonetheless, employment rates improved during the Reagan years. Factoring in for population growth, employment ratios grew by 2 percentage points over Reagan's eight years. And failing to note that while saying that millions of people were thrown out of work is . We rate this  ."
22850,2,"Vitamins aren't FDA approved, but Twinkies are.","April 4, 2023",food;food safety;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post that says the FDA doesn’t approve vitamins but did approve the Twinkie has an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.  The FDA does not approve vitamins before they go on the market, and the agency does have a role in approving food additives used in the snack. But the FDA does not sign off on food products overall; it maintains regulatory authority over both vitamins and food once they’re on the market.  The  is ."
6193,1,"Says Connie Mack IV co-sponsored a bill to ""take a third of the Social Security Trust Fund ... give it in individual accounts to the senior citizens, who then were to invest it in the stock market.","August 20, 2012",social security,bill nelson,"Bill Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2000. He lost re-election to Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. Nelson previously served in the Florida Legislature, Congress and as state Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner.
 ",florida,4,11,9,5,1,0,remarks at a campaign event,Every version of Ryan’s plan maintains this age limit. Nelson had a point that Mack has supported Ryan’s plans for private or personal accounts in the Social Security program. But his comments gave the  impression to a roomful of seniors that it would have affected them. A constant in Ryan’s budget proposals is the exclusion of senior citizens to any changes in the current system. We rate this statement .
17307,1,"Donald Trump is ""announcing tomorrow that the US is going into quarantine for the next 14 days.","March 16, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,chain message,"Anonymous chain messages often circulate on platforms like iMessage, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger during major news events.",,0,0,0,0,6,0,a text,"And decisions are usually left up to states and localities. We reached out to the CDC for comment on the chain message, but we haven’t heard back. The chain message is . We rate it . If you receive a chain message that you want us to fact-check, send a screenshot to [email protected] ."
1296,1,"The largest tax increase that we have ever had in our state is yours – it is the business margins tax that you signed, governor.","January 14, 2010",corporations;economy;small business;taxes,kay bailey hutchison,"Kay Bailey Hutchison, initially elected to the U.S. Senate in 1993, did not seek re-election in 2012. She ran for governor in 2010, losing the Republican nomination to incumbent Rick Perry.",texas,4,3,4,2,4,0,a Republican gubernatorial debate,"First, the franchise tax that Perry signed did not result in an $8.8 billion increase in tax revenue. Second, it appears that previous revisions of the sales tax have resulted in larger revenue increases. Third, examined on a percentage basis, the new franchise tax didn't set a revenue record. Hutchison bit off more than she could chew with her campaign rhetoric. Her  that the expansion of the business franchise tax represents the largest increase in state history is ."
23011,4,Donald Trump himself wrote a book where he was talking about the need to increase the age of eligibility for Social Security to 70.,"May 5, 2023",social security;florida,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",national,2,10,9,13,14,2,an interview with Newsmax,"DeSantis said, ""Donald Trump himself wrote a book where he was talking about the need to increase the age of eligibility for Social Security to 70."" Trump’s 2000 book stated, ""We can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to seventy. This proposal would not include anyone who is currently retired or about to retire.""  Though in his book, Trump did propose raising the age for full Social Security benefits to 70, this has not been his position for years. DeSantis also left out details about how Trump’s old proposal would work. We rate this statement .  PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check. RELATED : When will Social Security sunset? Barring congressional changes, money will deplete by 2034 RELATED : Rep. Ron DeSantis backed raising Social Security and Medicare age; Gov. DeSantis has different tack RELATED : Trump proposed cuts, but Congress didn’t bite RELATED : Fact-checking 2024 presidential candidates, who’s running"
17383,2,"Swing State Hit With 2020 Voting Lawsuit - Accused Of Registering Over 1,500 Deceased People In Pennsylvania.","February 28, 2020",elections;pennsylvania,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a news article,"The Patriot Journal headline stated that a swing state had been accused of registering hundreds of dead Pennsylvanians to vote.  The  gets some critical facts . The lawsuit was filed against county elections officials, not the state. And the complaint doesn’t allege registration of the dead. It alleges that the county officials haven’t done enough to remove deceased voters from the rolls. We rate this statement .  This story has been updated to reflect that while the nonprofit behind the lawsuit has warned about states pushing noncitizens onto their voter rolls, the lawsuits the group files are not explicitly designed to stop an alien invasion at the ballot box.  "
12919,0,"That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period.","January 21, 2017",candidate biography,sean spicer,"Sean Spicer is former press secretary to President Donald Trump. Previously, he was the communications director for the Republican National Committee.",national,1,2,1,3,2,3,a press conference,"Spicer said, ""That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period."" To support his , Spicer offered a few pieces of  or  . He said that floor coverings highlighting empty spaces on the National Mall were not used for previous inaugurations, but these were in place for Obama’s 2013 inauguration. He claimed metro ridership was higher for Trump’s inaugural than for Obama’s 2013 inaugural, but he compared numbers for the morning of Obama’s inaugural to the whole day for Trump’s. Spicer suggested 720,000 attended Trump’s inauguration, while organizers said they expected 700,000 to 900,000, and Trump himself estimated 1.5 million. All of those figures are less than the 1.8 million people who attended Obama’s 2009 inaugural. We rate Spicer’s  ."
2405,2,"Says James Langevin voted to spend ""$3 billion for a jet engine no one wants.","October 1, 2010",economy;federal budget;military;voting record,mark s. zaccaria,"Mark Zaccaria is a Rhode Island Republican who ran unsuccessfully for one of the state's U.S. Senate seats in 2014. He also made two unsuccessful bids for Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District, the most recent in 2010. He is a former chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party. Born in 1949, he is a former corporate executive who operates a business-to-business marketing consulting business. A former Air Force instructor pilot, he served two terms on the North Kingstown Town Council and four years on the local zoning board. He is married with three children.",rhode island,1,0,0,2,2,0,a news release,""" It's  that many oppose the F136 engine, including Gates and President Obama. And it's  that Langevin voted to support it. But Zaccaria went further, inflating the price tag associated with the vote and asserting that ""no one"" wants it, when a majority of House members were in favor of keeping it. His statement is ."
14337,2,"Says abortion is ""the leading cause of death for black Americans and kills as many as 1,000 black children every day.","February 1, 2018",abortion;women,jason isaac,"Jason Isaac was initially elected in 2010 to represent District 45 in the Texas House. He's a 2018 candidate for the U.S. House seat to be vacated by Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.",texas,1,0,1,3,0,1,a voters guide from the League of Women Voters of Texas and League of Women Voters Austin Area,"Isaac told the voters guide that abortion is ""the leading cause of death for black Americans and kills as many as 1,000 black children every day."" Opinions about this  likely divide over Isaac’s definition of a fetus as a child--and by Isaac’s reasoning, we find this  has an element of  in that black women in 2014 accounted for about 711 U.S. abortions a day. In fact, however, heart disease was the leading cause of death for black and other Americans in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency didn’t list the abortion procedure among causes of death. We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. PolitiFact Democratic guest columnist former U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire says we should have realized that some disagreements go beyond politics and cannot be solved by facts or statistics. Read his critique here . Read more about our guest columnists  here."
20337,5,"If you look at the hospitalizations at Ruby Memorial in West Virginia, and around the country, 90% to 95% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated.","September 1, 2021",corrections and updates;public health;coronavirus,kathryn moffett bradford,Kathryn Moffett Bradford is the division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at West Virginia University's School of Medicine.,west virginia,1,0,0,0,0,0,comments at a WVU faculty meeting,"Bradford said, ""If you look at the hospitalizations at Ruby Memorial in West Virginia, and around the country, 90% to 95% of those hospitalized are unvaccinated.""  Ruby Memorial Hospital confirmed that at the time of her remark, about 90% to 95% of those hospitalized for COVID-19 were unvaccinated.  As for the national picture, statistics from the CDC published both before and after her comment broadly support those percentages. We rate the  . CORRECTION, Oct. 6, 2021 : This version corrects the spelling of Angela Knopf's name."
11896,1,"Says Hillary Clinton's immigration platform would ""create totally open borders.","June 22, 2016",immigration,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",florida,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said Clinton’s immigration platform would ""create totally open borders."" This is a huge distortion of Clinton’s proposals. Clinton has praised work already done to secure the border, and she said she supported a 2013 bill that would have invested billions more in border security while creating a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. Her plan calls for protecting the border and targeting deportation to criminals and security threats. Her plan would make it easier for many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, but that’s not the same as ending all enforcement. We rate this  ."
16739,2,"Says his campaign hasn't accepted corporate PAC money and isn't funded by ""special interests.","July 31, 2019",campaign finance,cal cunningham,Cal Cunningham is a Democrat running for US Senate in 2020.,north carolina,0,1,1,2,0,0,a tweet,"Cunningham said his campaign hasn’t accepted corporate PAC money and isn’t funded by special interests. It’s  that he hasn’t accepted money from corporate PACs directly. But he has accepted money from PACs that do accept money from big corporations. He’s accepted money from special interest groups, such as labor PACs. And he has accepted direct contributions from corporate executives.  Cunningham’s  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . Clarification: This report has been updated to clarify why the statement is rated ."
17391,0,"I didn't say that"" some of the medical equipment that governors are requesting, they don't actually need.","March 29, 2020",public health;coronavirus,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,a press conference,"Trump told Alcindor that ""I didn’t say that"" some of the equipment that governors are requesting, they don't actually need. That’s directly refuted by Trump’s comments during Hannity’s show, in which he said, ""I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they're going to be. I don't believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators."" We rate the statement ."
12997,3,Spending more taxpayer money on VISIT FL (or less) has not demonstrated a direct impact on tourism.,"February 6, 2017",state budget;tourism,richard corcoran,Richard Corcoran is Florida's appointed education commissioner. He was elected to the state House in 2010 and served as House Speaker 2016-2018.,florida,1,1,5,2,2,0,a tweet,"Corcoran said spending money on Visit Florida doesn’t have a direct impact on the tourism. He has an historical point that spending increases don't always bring more visitors, but that neglects a primary objective of marketing tourism — getting people to spend more money when they’re here. The amount of money visitors spend in Florida has increased steadily over the years. The statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/f28a83b6-ea19-458a-bff4-686a39bb879f"
11101,0,"Says U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho said ""African Americans should only be given three-fifths of a vote.","December 26, 2015",civil rights;race and ethnicity,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",florida,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A viral image said Yoho said ""African Americans should only be given three-fifths of a vote."" There is no  Yoho said anything specifically about black voters in a 2012 campaign appearance in Ocala. The image was taken from a satirical news story on a satire site that twisted Yoho’s words about voting rights to make him appear biased against black voters.  While Yoho has talked about reducing early voting, the post goes too far in using a  quote to make it appear the congressman wants to strip away African Americans' civil rights. We rate the statement !"
17366,1,Fish tank additive may treat coronavirus.,"March 20, 2020",public health;pundits;punditfact;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"A Valley News Live headline said, ""Fish tank additive may treat coronavirus."" Chloroquine, a compound commonly found in fish-tank cleaners, also forms the basis of a prescription drug used for malaria. There are studies underway to conclude whether that drug, and a variant called hydroxychloroquine, could combat the coronavirus. But the fish-tank cleaner is not the same as the prescription drug, and it shouldn’t be substituted as such. A man in Arizona recently died from ingesting it. We rate this statement ."
742,3,"As mayor, every year I was in office I did reduce taxes.","October 2, 2008",taxes,sarah palin,"Sarah Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. She is also the former governor of Alaska and the author of  Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin's previous experience includes leading the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and serving as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.",national,14,6,9,9,21,6,St. Louis,"But she fails to note that while property tax rates went down, sales tax revenues went up. Some may not consider that a tax increase. But in addition to more revenue from increased economic activity, the sales tax rate also was increased. That increase was tied to funding a new sports complex, and was passed by referendum, but it’s still an additional tax. And so we find Palin's statement ."
5522,1,"The U.S. economy is ""recovering slower than Europe","April 21, 2012",economy,bob mcdonnell,"Bob McDonnell is the Republican governor of Virginia until January 2014. McDonnell was elected over Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2006 and as state Attorney General from 2006 to 2009.
McDonnell graduated from the University of Nortre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in 1976. He then served in the U.S. Army on active duty from 1976 to 1981 and in the reserves until 1997, retiring as a lieutenant colenel. He received a master's degree in business adminsitration from Boston University in 1980 and a master's and law degree from Regent University, Virginia Beach, in 1989.",virginia,8,6,7,6,5,3,a TV interview,"McDonnell said the U.S. recovery is slower than Europe’s. But looking at the continent as a whole the opposite is . U.S. economic growth gained steam during the second half of 2011 while Europe’s started to flag. This year U.S. GDP is expected to grow at a higher pace than last year while Europe’s growth, is expected to be flat. Only five outpaced the United States in economic growth during the last half of 2011. Only four are expected to outperform the U.S. this year. This information was available before the governor made his comment. We rate McDonnell’s statement ."
13892,5,Our tax code has nearly doubled since 1985.,"September 8, 2017",taxes,roy blunt,"Roy Blunt is the junior U.S. senator from Missouri. He was formerly a U.S. representative from Missouri’s 7th district, and served for six years as the Republican whip in that chamber.",missouri,5,2,4,3,3,1,a tweet,Blunt said the tax code has nearly doubled since 1985. Government and independent reports suggest the number of words used in the tax grown has grown even more than that. We rate this  .
12213,2,The Pentagon itself says that we could eliminate 20 percent of U.S. bases.,"August 11, 2016",deficit;federal budget;military,gary johnson,Gary Johnson is the Libertarian nominee for president in 2016. He was also the party's nominee in 2012. He previously served as governor of New Mexico as a Republican.,national,1,6,5,3,2,0,an interview on Fox News,"Johnson said, ""The Pentagon itself says that we could eliminate 20 percent of U.S. bases."" What the Pentagon actually said was that the Defense Department has 22 percent more installation space and infrastructure than it's going to need in 2019. That's not the same as reducing the number of bases by 20 percent, as Johnson said. Past experience shows that closing bases involves upfront expenses, with savings taking some time to accrue.  Because his statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate it ."
8407,3,"The median net worth of American households hasn't changed much over the past decades, it's about $20,000 ... but Congress' average median net worth has ballooned, more than doubled.","February 5, 2014",congress;wealth;punditfact,ari melber,"Ari Melber is a host of MSNBC's ""The Cycle"" and a correspondent for ""The Nation.""",,0,0,2,0,0,0,"a broadcast of MSNBC's ""The Cycle""","MSNBC’s Melber said that the median net worth of Americans has  changed since 1984 while it has skyrocketed for members of Congress. Experts confirmed that the real and growing gap between the typical American and a member of Congress is on the order described by Melber. However, when Melber said that the median net worth of American households is about $20,500, he failed to note that the figure relied on a peculiar definition of net worth that omitted the value of people's homes. That omission left viewers with a signficant misunderstanding of the real number. Because of that, we rate the  ."
14733,1,Say a boy was 'caged' in a wire enclosure.,"June 11, 2018",immigration;children;criminal justice;crime,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,texas,2,4,6,12,98,39,a post by a filmmaker,"A photo tweeted in opposition to federal authorities separating children from parents detained at the U.S.-Mexico border showed what looked like an unhappy boy in a cage. The photo wasn’t taken of a boy in custody, we found. Rather, the child was in an open-topped enclosure temporarily erected for a June 2018 Texas protest of the separation of children from parents. We rate the tweeted version of the photo .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
5172,3,"In 2011, there were more than 28,000 new Tennessee jobs created and over $4 billion in capital investment. Our Jobs4TN plan is working.","January 30, 2012",economy;jobs,bill haslam,Bill Haslam is the former mayor of Knoxville and is now the governor of Tennessee.,tennessee,1,0,1,0,1,0,his State of the State address,"The governor said the state has added 28,000 news jobs thanks to his jobs plan. We find he's right about the gains -- he actually understated the number -- but that it's a big stretch to even imply Jobs4TN should get credit for the increase. Much of that plan took effect late in the year and economists told us the job growth is largely a function of the slow but steady nationwide economic recovery. On balance, we rate the statement ."
6365,2,Barack Hussein Obama will .. force Christian organizations to pay for abortions.,"September 23, 2012",abortion;message machine 2012,government is not god pac,Government Is Not God is a political action committee for social conservatives founded in 1992 by William J. Murray who is currently the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition. The mission of Government Is Not God - PAC is the election to Congress of men and women who hold conservative beliefs on both moral and economic issues.,national,0,0,0,1,2,3,a newspaper ad,"Christian organizations won’t be ""forced"" to hand over money for abortion procedures performed at clinics by doctors. But because employers are now required to provide health insurance for employees under the Affordable Care Act (or otherwise face fines) and because that law dictates that preventive care must be provided at no cost to the insured person, there is some force being applied by the federal government. Preventive care, as defined by HHS, encompasses birth control, emergency contraceptives and sterilization -- health services that some people equate with abortion. Overall, the statement creates a  impression. But that one element of  leads us to rate it ."
9604,2,Georgia has elected more African-American leaders than any other state in the country.,"October 22, 2014",elections;race and ethnicity,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story,"Membership in a black political group does not translate into data to support Deal’s  about the number of black elected officials in Georgia. Both Deal and PolitiFact Georgia found research, though, that consistently contradicts his . Georgia consistently ranks among states with the most such elected leaders, but it has not been at the top. The only thing that keeps this from being outright  is the lack of more recent data. We rate his statement ."
15079,1,Scott Wallace wants to tax families of five for 'irresponsible breeding',"September 12, 2018",population;taxes,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,pennsylvania,4,5,9,20,14,9,a TV ad,"When Scott Wallace held the reins, the candidate's family foundation awarded grants to nonprofits that advocate for family planning in order to limit population growth worldwide. An NRCC ad attempts to link Wallace to statements made in a 50-year-old brochure produced by a group his family foundation gave money to between 1997 and 2003. But Wallace has never personally called for the taxation of people with more than two children or accused them of ""irresponsible breeding."" We rate this  ."
7103,2,Says bag litter increased after San Francisco banned single-use shopping bags.,"March 5, 2013",environment,drew springer,"Freshman state representative in the 2013 Texas Legislature from the Northwest Texas town of Muenster, representing District 68.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a press release,"Springer said San Francisco’s ""litter from bags actually increased after enacting their ban"" on plastic bags.   A litter audit conducted before the ban took full effect found two more retail plastic bags than the previous year’s sampling. However, the next audit, launched after the ban had been fully in place for nearly a year, saw a two-bag drop. Maybe this means that such litter is decreasing, though we would want more research to reach definitive conclusions. We rate this  as ."
8444,0,A photo from the Russia-Finland hockey game shows a sad Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.,"February 19, 2014",sports;punditfact,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,posts on Twitter,"A photo making the rounds on Twitter shows a sad-looking Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev allegedly after Russia’s tournament-ending hockey loss to Finland. The photo is legit. But it was taken days earlier, during a Russian 1-0 victory against Slovakia. We're guessing Putin and Medvedev are sad that their team lost. But the photo circulating on the Internet does not actually depict that. We rate the  ."
20136,4,"Every time outgoing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ""says the firearm industry 'is immune from lawsuits,' it's false.","July 6, 2021",legal issues;guns,elise stefanik,Elise Stefanik is a Republican member of Congress representing New York's 21st Congressional District. She was first elected in 2014.,new york,1,2,0,1,2,0,a tweet,"Stefanik tweeted that every time Cuomo ""says the firearm industry ‘is immune from lawsuits,’ it's ."" Stefanik is basically right. The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act grants gun manufacturers some immunity from lawsuits, but it does allow some suits to proceed, depending on the grounds for the lawsuit.  It’s also not accurate for Cuomo to say that the gun industry is alone in this protection; several other industries have similar protections, including service and content providers, vaccine makers, and general aviation manufacturers. That said, the federal lawsuit protection that Cuomo was referencing — immunity from suits stemming from killings by firearms — are the most hotly contested aspect of the law in the policy arena. We rate Stefanik’s statement ."
6162,4,Says a portfolio managed by the Texas General Land Office earned 22 percent last year while the state's emergency reserve account experienced a 1 percent gain.,"August 22, 2012",education;state budget,jerry patterson,"Jerry Patterson, who won election to three terms as state land commissioner starting in 2002, filed to seek the post afresh in the 2018 elections. The former state senator from Pasadena unsuccessfully sought the 2014 Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.",texas,3,4,1,1,1,0,a letter,"Patterson’s reference to 22 percent in earnings over the 12 months running through March 2012 does not account for reduced earnings from nearly $1.2 billion in cash-on-call money supporting the agency’s real estate investments. That clarification would be helpful, though it still seems reasonable, overall, to focus on the portion of the portfolio that would be expected to reap sizable gains. Separately, the  seems to reflect the annual earnings on the rainy day fund, though the commissioner’s March-to-March time period does not match the calendar-year approach used by the state comptroller. We rate the statement as ."
14231,3,"Apple has just announced it plans to invest a total of $350 billion in America, and hire another 20,000 workers.","January 30, 2018",economy;jobs;taxes,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,the 2018 State of the Union address,"Trump said that Apple said it will invest $350 billion in America and hire another 20,000 workers. Trump got the new hires figure right, but Apple’s own announcement doesn’t back him up on the investment dollars. After deducting the costs of paying suppliers and paying taxes, an accounting professor estimated the investment at no more than $37 billion. And based on the press release, it could be $34 billion. That’s still a lot of money, but it’s less than 10 percent of what Trump said. We rate this  ."
3534,4,"On the night of the Iowa caucuses, Obama ""promised the nation that he would do health care reform focused on cost containment, he opposed an individual mandate, and he said he was going to do it with Republicans.","May 5, 2011",health care,tim pawlenty,"Tim Pawlenty is the former governor of Minnesota, having served two terms in office from 2003-2011.",national,2,6,3,2,3,1,South Carolina,"The jury's still out on cost containment. However, we have been tracking a campaign promise of Obama's to ""cut the cost of a typical family's health insurance premium by up to $2,500 a year."" We've rated that promise Stalled, because  premiums are not projected to decrease  in the coming years. There's a bit of uncertainty there, however, as it will be several years before the health care law is fully implemented. Overall, we rate Pawlenty's statement . "
15313,4,"George Holding has voted 13 times to deny Kevin, and the 300,000 people like him in the 2nd Congressional District, coverage"" for their pre-existing conditions.","October 23, 2018",health care,linda coleman,"Linda Coleman is a Democratic candidate for Congress, and former member of the North Carolina General Assembly.",north carolina,0,1,0,1,0,0,,"Holding voted on two budget bills that promised protections in future health care reform, but they offered no replacement. When he did vote for a replacement, the AHCA, it would have allowed insurers to raise premiums for people based on their pre-existing conditions. We rate this  . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide."
7347,3,"Says that according to a report, ""the tech sector now drives more than one-quarter of Austin's economy.","May 9, 2013",economy;jobs,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",texas,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Manor, Texas","Obama said a report says the ""tech sector now drives more than one quarter of Austin’s economy."" The cited report doesn't directly declare this, estimating instead that high-tech companies in the Austin region directly supplied about 9 percent of the area’s jobs in 2012 and accounted for roughly 21 percent of the region's economic output. Then again, the report also says jobs in the tech sector plus spin-off jobs amounted to more than a third of the region’s total jobs, which strikes us as sufficient to make Obama's  partly accurate. We rate it as ."
9016,4,"U.S. Senate candidate Jack Kingston ""requested more earmarks than any other GA Congressman and all GA GOP members combined.","June 23, 2014",federal budget,david perdue,David Perdue is running in the 2022 Republican primary for governor of Georgia. He was a U.S. Senator from January 2015 to January 2021. He has been the CEO of several businesses and is the cousin of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.,georgia,0,8,5,7,3,4,In a Twitter post,"It’s up to voters to decide whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. There is one caveat to Perdue’s . It covers three years, and Kingston has been in office for two decades. It’s that bit of context that moves it down just a notch on the -O-Meter. We rate Perdue’s statement ."
20901,0,"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, ""I don't need truckers. I get my food from the grocery store.","February 5, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""   This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) The headline appeared on Genesius Times, a site that calls itself ""the most reliable source of  news on the planet. ""  We looked for reports that Ocasio-Cortez has commented on the so-called ""Freedom Convoy"" of truck drivers protesting vaccine mandates in Canada but found none.   We rate claims that this quote is authentic !"
3341,1,"Says Majority Leader Eric Cantor called for ""abolishing Social Security and Medicare.","March 31, 2011",federal budget;medicare;social security,americans united for change,"A liberal advocacy group, Americans United For Change states on its Web site that it was founded in 2005 to fend off President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. In 2006, the organization ""broadened its scope to build broad public and congressional support for action on a wide range of long-stalled policy issues.""",national,0,1,4,1,4,0,a news release,"The fuller context of Cantor's statement at Hoover, together with statements he has made about Social Security and Medicare in other recent interviews, however, give no indication that he would like to abolish them. That fuller context suggests Cantor probably meant to say that Social Security and Medicare cannot exist as they are now. That's different. It was a linguistic misstep on a highly volatile issue, but the Democrats' reaction was a clear overreach. We rule the Americans United  ."
7409,3,We cut taxes 24 times.,"May 21, 2013",taxes,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a Wall Street Journal interview,"Scott said, ""We cut taxes 24 times."" The  backs him up, to a point. Lawmakers and Scott have done several things to reduce the financial burden on groups of Floridians, but the benefits have been aimed  at business owners -- not average working people. If you don't own a business, you haven't seen most of these cuts. Using such a specific number is also troublesome. Backing up that specific  requires overlooking all sorts of caveats, including counting the same effort multiple times. Scott’s tax  is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
8755,5,"The Rhode Island Parole Board ""never received an objection from the attorney general"" to the parole of  convicted murder Alfred Brissette.","March 27, 2014",criminal justice;crime;public safety,dawson hodgson,"Dawson Hodgson was a state senator from North Kingstown, R.I., representing District 35 in East Greenwich, South Kingstown and Narragansett. A lawyer and businessman, he was first elected to the Senate in November 2010. In 2014, he made an unsuccessful run for attorney general as a Republican.",rhode island,1,0,0,1,1,0,a TV interview,Dawson T. Hodgson said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin’s office didn’t oppose the parole request of convicted murderer Alfred Brissette. Kilmartin’s spokeswoman and the chairman of the parole board confirmed that was correct. We rule Hodgson’s statement  .
3735,1,We have unemployment that rivals the Great Depression.,"June 12, 2011",economy;jobs,reince priebus,"Reince Priebus was the first chief of staff to President Donald Trump, replaced by John Kelly in July 2017. Priebus was previously chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post he assumed in 2011. He is also the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He was an unsuccessful Wisconsin state Senate candidate in 2004. He is a Kenosha, Wis., native and lawyer.",national,1,3,9,2,14,1,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","However, he said it’s important to remember that the statistics we have suggest that the most recent recession has been the worst since the Great Depression. So where does this leave us? Today’s jobs picture is the worst it has been in decades, not just measured by unemployment rates but also by duration of unemployment . However, all of the available statistics -- imperfect though they may be -- suggest that today’s numbers aren’t anywhere near high enough to ""rival"" those that prevailed for more than a decade during the Great Depression. We rate Priebus’ statement ."
9272,3,David Perdue led efforts to ship thousands of jobs overseas.,"July 28, 2014",,democratic party of georgia,"Democratic Party of Georgia
 ",georgia,0,0,1,1,1,0,press release,"The Democratic Party’s statement is partially accurate. Perdue did lead efforts that resulted in jobs being created overseas while jobs were cut in this country. How many jobs, it’s hard to say. And there is a lot of context needed to understand exactly why companies employed this strategy. Overall, we rate the  ."
15518,0,"Says Time magazine cover features President Donald Trump with the text ""Worst. President. Ever.","December 20, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"But he hasn’t been on a cover with the text ""Worst. President. Ever."" That’s a made-up  making the rounds on Facebook. We rate it !"
2255,3,Deepwater's own testimony . . . is they said they'll create six jobs.,"June 20, 2010",economy;energy,patrick lynch,"Patrick Lynch served as Rhode Island's attorney general from 2003 to 2010. He was, for a time in 2010, a candidate for governor. He is a big fan of Spider-Man. Divorced, Lynch is the father of two.",rhode island,0,0,1,1,0,0,an appearance on Newsmakers,"Deepwater -- which Lynch himself cites as a credible source when it comes to the ""6 jobs"" number -- is also promising at least 35 short-term construction jobs. And that's only for the Block Island Wind Farm portion of the project, planned as the first phase. If the much larger project of 100 wind turbines is ultimately built, it would mean even more jobs, both long-term and construction jobs. Deepwater is predicting at least 600 jobs associated with building those turbines at Quonset Point and many more indirect jobs. Our -O-Meter can't predict the future, so we don't know if the jobs estimates being projected by either Lynch or Deepwater are correct, whether the wind farm will -- as some experts have predicted -- actually cost the state jobs by driving up the cost of electricity, or whether fossil fuel prices will someday make Rhode Islanders glad they invested in the small- or large-scale offshore wind farms."
8013,4,"The average fast food worker is 29, and most fast food workers ""are on some form of public assistance.","October 25, 2013",jobs;workers;punditfact,bill maher,Bill Maher is a comedian and host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. He also works as a comedian and actor.,,1,5,1,0,3,0,"comments on HBO's ""Real Time with Bill Maher""","To make a point about the need to increase the minimum wage, Maher pointed to the plight of fast food workers, who, on average are 29 and receiving some form of public assistance. The median age, which economists say is a more accurate measure than the mean age, is 29, according to the best information we could find. As for receiving public assistance, Maher is referencing a university report funded by a group that supports increasing the minimum wage. The report concluded that 52 percent of the families of fast-food workers are receiving some type of public assistance. That’s not exactly how Maher put it -- he didn’t refer to families -- but some assistance programs specifically are meant to help families and children. Experts, meanwhile, said that while the methodology behind the report appears credible, there is some matter of opinion of what constitutes public assistance. On balance, we rate this  ."
1574,0,"Says the new health care law delivers a ""$13 billion tax increase on families with special needs.","April 12, 2010",health care,john carter,"Carter, of Georgetown, was initially elected to the U.S. House in 2002. He is a former state district judge.",texas,0,2,2,0,3,2,a Twitter message,"The upshot? Carter's statement that the health care law will smack a $13 billion tax increase entirely on families with children who have special needs defies common sense. At our inquiry, his office backed off the sweep of Carter's Twitter message and conceded they didn't have numbers confirming that special-needs' families would bear the brunt of the tax change. All in all, Carter makes a dramatic, unsupported charge. We rate his statement as ."
4040,1,One of the biggest polluters in our country is the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.,"July 24, 2011",environment,jim sensenbrenner,"U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., has served in Congress since 1979. He represents a district covering Milwaukee suburbs.",wisconsin,2,0,1,3,4,0,a discussion at a town hall meeting,"He cited the amount of dumping MMSD has done, but provided no  that it ranks among the nation’s top polluters. To be sure, MMSD does dump untreated sewage -- along with collected rainwater -- in the lake when its system reaches capacity. But Sensenbrenner’s  was one of magnitude, comparing the district to all other polluters nationwide. We found  indicating that MMSD is not even among the worst sewerage district polluters in the Great Lakes region. We rate Sensenbrenner’s statement ."
20365,1,"Department of Homeland Security ""deemed as terrorism"" behavior that includes ""resisting COVID regulations"" and ""thinking the election was rigged.""...""In other words, if you are a Trump supporter, you are a terrorist.","August 14, 2021",homeland security;terrorism;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,Instagram posts,"The advisory bulletin doesn’t label all Trump supporters or conspiracy theorists terrorists. Nor does the bulletin add any specific groups or individuals to existing lists of terror organizations. And it does not equate disagreeing with COVID-19 regulations"" or ""thinking the election was rigged"" with terrorism. The National Terrorism Advisory System doesn’t have the legal authority to designate new groups or individuals as terrorists.   We rate this  . ​"
9838,2,"If people work and make more money, they lose more in benefits than they would earn in salary.","January 13, 2015",poverty;welfare,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,"his book, ""American Dreams""","In his book, Rubio wrote, ""If people work and make more money, they lose more in benefits than they would earn in salary."" There is  that when a large chunk of the amount of every additional dollar earned goes to taxes or to offset a decrease in benefits, people work less. Further, there are scenarios where a low-income individual with children receiving assistance from the government through multiple programs could potentially lose more in benefits than he or she would gain by a slight or modest increase in income. But these examples are a small minority. The vast majority of people face some higher taxes and lost benefits when they make more money, but they would still take home more in pay than they would under a lower salary. The statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would leave a different impression. We rate the statement . Help fund PolitiFact’s Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response."
10510,4,"Georgia has more than 700 law enforcement agencies, and fewer than 20 percent of them are state-certified.","July 14, 2015",crime;public safety,police chief billy grogan,"was the first police chief of this new city
 ",georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,press release,"The Dunwoody Police Department recently was recognized for becoming state certified. The city press release said: Th ere are more than 700 law enforcement agencies in Georgia and fewer than 20 percent of those agencies have achieved this status. But the bar also has to be high here. Claims need to be based on data or disclose, as in this case, that they are based, in part, on estimates. That’s missing context. We rate the statement .  "
6138,4,"Says ""cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation.","August 16, 2012",city government,nick fish,Nick Fish is Commissioner-in-Charge of the Portland Housing Bureau and Portland Parks and Recreation.,oregon,0,1,0,0,1,0,a statement,"Fish was measured in his comments. He said that ""cities save an estimated $38 in dental costs for every $1 invested in fluoridation"" and, indeed, that was the estimate of one article that appeared in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Furthermore, the findings of this article are highlighted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website on the subject. The savings for Portland, however, are slimmer, and we think that’s important context that is missing. We find this statement ."
8440,5,"The words ""subhuman mongrel,"" which Ted Nugent called President Barack Obama, were used by the Nazis to ""justify the genocide of the Jewish community.","February 18, 2014",history;punditfact,wolf blitzer,Wolf Blitzer is a CNN anchor and host.,,1,1,0,0,0,0,comments on CNN,"Blitzer said the words ""subhuman mongrel"" were used by the Nazis to ""justify the genocide of the Jewish community."" We found ample  that the Nazis used those words -- in their own language -- to repeatedly describe Jewish people in the build-up to the Holocaust. We rate his statement ."
22715,0,The moon is a habitable place.,"February 6, 2023",science;space;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed, ""the moon is a habitable place."" Although water molecules have been found, there is no proof of liquid water on the moon and liquid water is necessary for planets to be humanly habitable, researchers say. The lunar exosphere is also thin and not breathable for humans.  We rate these claims ! RELATED: No  of 250 million moon inhabitants. That’s made up"
5663,5,"Says that from 1992 through 2010, every statewide candidate drawing over 43 percent of the vote in a Republican Texas primary won the resulting runoff.","May 29, 2012",history,david dewhurst,"David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.",texas,4,5,10,8,8,5,a memo from campaign pollster Mike Baselice,"We are not judging the predictive value of Dewhurst’s , which would be speculative beyond the bounds of a backward-looking fact check. For instance, skeptics might stress that only four of the 16 GOP statewide primary-runoff combinations from 1992 through 2010 fully support Dewhurst's . Half of the remaining dozen primary leaders lost the runoffs. Put another way, however, there are no instances since 1992 of a Texas Republican candidate for statewide office drawing more than 43 percent of the primary vote and losing the runoff, which is Dewhurst’s point. We rate the  as ."
11655,4,Research even shows that sending more girls to school can boost an entire country's GDP.,"March 21, 2016",global news service;education;foreign policy;women,michelle obama,"Michelle Obama is the wife of Barack Obama and the former First Lady of the United States. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School and has worked for the Mayor of Chicago and the University of Chicago. Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",,4,4,1,0,2,0,an interview posted on Medium,"Michelle Obama said that research shows that sending girls to school can boost a country’s entire economy. That’s a fairly broad statement and broadly speaking, it’s accurate. Research from economists at the World Bank and elsewhere suggest that it’s possible that educating more girls produces a stronger economy. But researchers can’t say whether it’s the education of girls that leads to growth, or the growth that leads to more education of women. Plus, women can hit roadblocks in the job market even if they are educated. The research shows that, too. Obama’s statement is accurate but it needs additional information. We rate this  ."
9158,1,"Twenty percent of single adults, ages 21 to 25 with no kids, ""are not working or even in school trying to find a job.","July 25, 2014",children;education;federal budget;jobs;poverty;taxes,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",wisconsin,11,16,24,23,7,5,an interview,"Our rating Ryan said 20 percent of single adults without kids, ages 21 to 25, ""are not working or even in school trying to find a job."" The latest federal figures show that 19 percent of adults ages 20 to 24 weren’t in school and weren’t working in 2013. But that statistic is for a slightly different age range than what Ryan cited. And it includes everyone in that range, not just the single adults without kids that Ryan cited.    Since Ryan acknowledges he misstated the statistic, and there are no federal figures for the group he cited, we rate his  ."
9412,5,The state budget has increased almost $800 million a year in each of the last two years.,"September 1, 2014",state budget,jeff amason,attorney and Libertarian candidate for House District 21,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,"interview on The Monica Perez Show, WSB","Helping to drive up the recent state budgets were increases in enrollment in public schools, Medicaid and the state’s health insurance program for children, as well as pension costs, according to state documents. Current spending levels are 26.7 percent above 2005 levels, not adjusted for inflation, an OPB report shows. In summary, Amason said the state budget increased nearly $800 million a year in each of the last two years. He was very close, if not conservative in his assessment.. We rate his statement .  "
22653,1,"In Australia, ""All joggers must wear a helmet.","February 16, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"According to The New York Times , ""a wowser is someone who looks to crack down on enjoyment."" The jogging sign was the group’s first public street art, the Times said. Wowser Nation co-founder Francis Merson told The Guardian that the group’s work was intended to alert people that ""their lives were becoming more and more restricted."" Some people weren’t in on the joke, including this Facebook post about the  helmet-jogging law. We rate the  ."
1910,5,"Says Texas has one state inspector for every 4,500 oil and gas wells.","June 25, 2010",environment;energy,jeff weems,"Jeff Weems was the Democratic party's 2010 nominee for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. He practices law in Houston representing operating companies, energy service companies, royalty and land owners, according to his campaign website.",texas,1,0,0,1,0,0,a speech,"However, we recognize the budget constraints facing the state. Therefore the RRC prioritizes its inspections, uses outriders (inspectors who work from home) located near the oil fields they inspect to maximize efficiency, and has not included inspector positions in the hiring freeze that is currently at the agency."" All in all? Weems accurately recaps the number of oil wells per inspector in Texas. His statement is ."
2913,0,"If the Stamp Farm wind turbine is built, the ""health risk of 'flicker' impact created by shadows of blades of turbines poses real and significant health risks, particularly seizures.","January 3, 2011",environment;energy,laurence ehrhardt,Laurence W. Ehrhardt was a State Representative from District 32 from 2005 through 2012.,rhode island,0,0,0,0,0,1,The Providence Journal,"The ""real and significant"" health risks that they say turbine flicker poses are undocumented. If they exist, they are probably not very significant. To say that seizures are the best example is . We wish there were a more environmentally-friendly solution, but the -O-Meter calls for some carbon-based combustion. !"
20941,1,We all know China created COVID.,"January 31, 2022",china;ad watch;coronavirus,dave mccormick,"Dave McCormick, the former chief executive of the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund and a former U.S. Treasury Department official, is a candidate for the 2022 Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.",pennsylvania,0,1,0,1,1,0,an ad,"McCormick claimed: ""We all know China created COVID."" There is no clear  that China ""created"" the virus. Scientists have not reached a consensus on how the virus originated. Researchers believe it could have originated naturally or from an accident in a lab. We rate the  ."
3756,3,"The Medicare drug program ""resulted in the program coming in 40 percent under budget. ... And the reason it was, is because the design was right.","May 5, 2011",federal budget;health care;medicare;retirement,rick santorum,Rick Santorum is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.,national,6,7,14,13,17,5,South Carolina,"And the reason it was, is because the design was right."" We found that Santorum is right that the program came in under budget, but he picked the high end of the estimate for how much the savings were. We also found that there is a good bit of disagreement on why the program came in under budget. Some credit the design, but design is just one of several factors that may have kept the program under budget, and there's not much clarity on how much weight each factor should get. Overall, we rate Santorum's statement . "
9013,0,Obama regime planned the influx of illegal alien children at the border.,"June 24, 2014",immigration;children;punditfact,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",,0,2,5,10,17,12,"a broadcast of the ""Rush Limbaugh Show""","Limbaugh said the Obama administration planned the rapid influx of children attempting to get into the country. Not that the administration planned for the influx, but actually planned it. Limbaugh did not return our requests for comment, but his  was a request for contract services from early 2014 that projected that about 65,000 children would need to be moved to temporary shelters. Limbaugh viewed that estimate with suspicion. In reality, the rising number of unaccompanied children arriving at the border was well established by the end of 2013. Catholic relief workers and a past Homeland Security commissioner said all the data pointed to a continued increase into 2014. Many of the factors behind the surge of children lie outside the control of the administration. No expert we reached gave any credence to the idea that the administration planned this crisis on the border. We rate the  ."
7264,5,Most state employees did not receive any pay raise from 2009 to 2012.,"April 1, 2013",economy;state budget;workers,texas state employees union,"The Texas State Employees Union says it has more than 12,000 members who work in state government, including higher education. It is part of the Communication Workers of America, a national telecommunications workers union.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,an organization web page,"The employees union says most state employees did not receive a raise from 2009 to 2012. The last across-the-board raises took effect in 2008. Otherwise, lawmakers gave most employees a one-time, one-month bonus in 2009 and legislated consecutive raises for more than 34,000 other workers in 2009 and 2010. But a bonus is not a raise. Meantime, it appears that no more than 14 percent of workers across most state agencies got a merit raise any of the three years. Even if one assumes, perhaps improbably, that a completely different set of workers got each year’s merit raises, less than half of agency workers would have gotten those pay bumps. We rate this  as ."
284,5,"If you are African-American in this country today, you are likely to have a net worth of about 10 percent of what white families have.","January 21, 2008",poverty,john edwards,"John Edwards is a former U.S. senator from North Carolina who was John Kerry's running mate in 2004. A personal injury attorney, Edwards was born in South Carolina in 1953 and now lives in Chapel Hill, N.C. He graduated from North Carolina State University and earned a law degree from the University of North Carolina Law School. He is married to Elizabeth Edwards, who has been diagnosed with cancer. They have three children; a fourth was killed in an auto accident. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,4,4,4,0,2,1,"Myrtle Beach, S.C","Net worth is measured as the total value of a household's financial assets — such as bank accounts, property and vehicles — minus the household's financial liabilities. Though the measurement is an oft-used indicator of financial health, it doesn't always tell the whole story because the amount of income generated by a household's assets is a key factor in maintaining a desired standard of living. Still, because Edwards correctly cites Census data showing a tenfold disparity between black and white net worth, we judge his statement . UPDATE: This corrects our first version, which mistakenly used the term family income when we meant net worth."
19393,1,Says Joe Biden executive orders caused price increases of 50 cents in gas and 10% in food.,"March 7, 2021",food;gas prices;government regulation;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that Biden executive orders caused price increases of 50 cents per gallon in gas and 10% in food in the less than two months since he took office. The average price of gas is about 34 cents per gallon higher since Biden took office, not 50 cents. Experts say Biden’s orders on the Keystone pipeline and oil and gas leasing might affect future gas prices, but have no effect on current prices. Grocery store prices are 3.5% higher than they were one year ago and have risen less than 1% in 2021. That’s far short of 10%. We rate the post ."
15346,4,Poverty in WV is more than 5% higher than the national average.,"September 19, 2018",poverty,kendra fershee,Kendra Fershee is a 2018 Democratic candidate for a U.S. House seat in West Virginia. She is a professor of law at West Virginia University.,west virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a Facebook post,"Fershee said, ""Poverty in WV is more than 5% higher than the national average."" Only a slip-up in her mathematical terminology keeps this from being fully accurate. The poverty rate in West Virginia was 5.7 percentage points higher than the national rate, not more than 5 percent higher. We rate the statement ."
10657,4,"Gov. Maggie Hassan's budget proposal ""raises taxes on small businesses and increases taxes and fees by $100 million.","August 11, 2015",state budget;taxes,americans for prosperity,"Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group advocates for limited government, free markets and fiscal and regulatory restraint.",new hampshire,0,1,2,6,8,2,TV ad,"The state chapter of Americans for Prosperity says that Gov. Maggie Hassan’s budget proposal ""raises taxes on small businesses and increases taxes and fees by $100 million."" Hassan indeed proposes changes that would result in more tax money being paid by businesses in the state. Yes, some small businesses would receive a tax break under the governor’s compromise plan, but the other changes still apply. And looking at a list of tax and fee changes the governor put together in February -- including the tweaks to the tax code -- easily adds up to $100 million. Overall, we find the statement to be accurate, but it could use additional clarification and documentation. We rate it ."
9061,1,"I co-sponsored the Rebuild America Jobs Act"" for transportation and infrastructure.","July 9, 2014",economy;jobs,jeff merkley,Jeff Merkley is a Democratic senator from Oregon. He was elected in 2008. Merkley won his first campaign for the Oregon Legislature as a representative in 1998. He was elected Democratic leader in 2003 and speaker of the House in 2007. He studied international relations at Stanford University and earned a graduate degree in public policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.,oregon,5,6,3,0,1,0,an economic issues statement,"His campaign staff admitted the assertion was a  and sent along revised language characterizing Merkley not as a co-sponsor of the act, but as a ""vocal supporter."" Based on the original submission, however, we rate the senator’s  . Comments? Questions? Click over to our entry on OregonLive.com and let us know what you think."
2067,3,"Hank Johnson voted against legislation to help ""first responders, teachers, vets and troops.","August 5, 2010",voting record,liz carter,Liz Carter is a Republican running for Georgia's 4th Congressional District.,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press release,"Carter still said Johnson must answer why he voted against legislation that would help veterans and troops overseas. We're sure Carter and Johnson will debate that as the Nov. 2 election nears. As for her statement, the version of the resolution that Johnson voted against did not include funding for domestic first responders or teachers. It did include money for military veterans and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We rate Carter's attack against Johnson as ."
3935,2,The clear majority of Republican voters think that any deficit reduction package should have a balanced approach and should include some revenues.,"July 15, 2011",federal budget;polls and public opinion;taxes,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a press conference,"In that poll, 43 percent of Republicans said cut existing programs, while 44 percent favored including tax increases. That result was within the margin of error. In conclusion, we don't find that ""poll after poll"" showed a ""clear majority"" of Republicans supporting tax increases. We found one recent poll that supported Obama's statement and two other polls that showed a much more evenly divided picture. We rate it . "
13025,2,"The media has ""a lower approval rate than Congress.","February 16, 2017",congress;polls and public opinion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a news conference,"Trump said he thought that the media had lower favorability ratings than Congress. But Congress actually ranks below the news media, according to surveys from three different research groups spanning several years. In two polls, mistrust in the media broke 40 percent, which is hardly anything to brag about. But in those studies, mistrust in Congress was over 50 percent. Trump had a point that the media has a trust issue, but he got the ranking  in terms of Congress. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/f5ffb7a0-03e5-4e96-961c-886767c0397d"
10091,1,"Job growth in the United States is now at the ""fastest pace in this country's history.","March 18, 2015",economy;jobs,david simas,David Simas is the assistant to President Barack Obama and director of the office of political strategy and outreach,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,"an interview on CNN's ""New Day""","Simas said job growth in the United States is now at the ""fastest pace in this country's history."" He would have been right if he’d stuck to the duration of the recovery: At 60 months and counting, it’s the longest post-war recovery, though earlier recoveries would have been longer had brief blips not intruded. However, looking at how Simas phrased it on CNN, he’s : The current recovery actually ranks second-to-last among post-World War II recoveries when judged by the rate of growth in jobs. We rate the  ."
6813,3,"The fiscal cliff deal ""ultimately raised taxes.","January 2, 2013",federal budget;taxes,tom price,"Rep. Tom Price is the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. Previously, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 6th District of Georgia, an area that includes Marietta and Canton.",georgia,3,5,6,2,3,0,a radio interview,"The fiscal cliff deal raises taxes compared with prior policy, but it lowered them compared with prior law. Or, in other words, if Congress kept the 2012 law, our taxes would be higher than they are now. But if our taxes stayed at 2012 levels, they’d be lower.    This means Price’s statement that the fiscal cliff deal ""ultimately raised taxes"" is . It is accurate but leaves out important details.  "
19074,1,Georgia and Kansas Capitol buildings have been stormed by protesters.,"January 6, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",georgia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"According to the Kansas Capitol Police, the group caused no problems. ""There was no breach,"" an NBC News affiliate in Topeka reported . We rate this  .   This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
15588,1,I've always supported protections for our DREAMers.,"January 19, 2019",immigration,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a tweet,"Scott said, ""I’ve always supported protections for our DREAMers."" In 2010, Scott said, ""I'm against the Dream Act,"" and called the legislation ""amnesty."" In 2013, he criticized Obama’s deferred action program for Dreamers, saying that Obama bypassed Congress. He also vetoed a bill to give Dreamers driver’s licenses. Scott has softened his position in recent years, and politicians are allowed to change. But his rewrite of his Dreamers record doesn't match what really happened. We rate his statement ."
11306,3,It's highly unusual to have a Supreme Court confirmation in a presidential election year. The last one was 1940.,"February 15, 2016",history;supreme court;voting record,bob goodlatte,"Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, was first elected to Congress in 1993. He represents Virginia's 6th District, centered in Roanoke.
He is currently the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and the vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
Goodlatte earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington, in 1977. His undergraduate degree in government was earned at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, in 1974.",virginia,3,3,4,0,1,0,a TV interview,"Goodlatte said: ""It’s highly unusual to have a Supreme Court confirmation in a presidential election year. The last one was 1940."" Clearly, such confirmations are rare in modern times; it’s happened only once during the past 18 presidential elections. That doesn’t mean that the Senate has a long tradition of refusing to consider high court nominations when the White House is up for grabs. What it shows  is that Supreme Court justices avoid retiring during presidential election years. There’s an obvious flaw, however, in Goodlatte’s contention that 1940 was the last time a justice was confirmed during a presidential election year. Kennedy was unanimously confirmed in February 1988. So on the whole, we rate Goodlatte’s statement ."
20578,2,Biden's banking nominee demands all 'private bank accounts' be eliminated,"November 14, 2021",financial regulation,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Social media posts  that Omarova, a Biden administration nominee for comptroller of the currency, is demanding that private bank accounts be eliminated.  During a January 2021 conference, Omarova said that she wrote a paper exploring what would happen if the Federal Reserve system offered deposit accounts, and private banks did not. She called her paper a thought experiment. She did not demand that this happen. The conference occurred more than six months before she was nominated.  The headline and story use words like ""demand,"" and ""vowed,"" to give the impression that she said that she would eliminate private bank accounts in her position as comptroller of the currency. She has not done that.  The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it .   "
192,1,"I spend a lot of time in Iowa, and believe it or not, in Ottumwa, Iowa, this is the heartland, the newspaper, the regular newspaper for Ottumwa, Iowa, is (a) bilingual newspaper.","November 20, 2007",immigration,tom tancredo,"Tom Tancredo is a former congressman from Colorado who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. In 2010, Tancredo ran for governor of Colorado as a member of the Constitution Party and placed second to Democrat and then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.",national,0,1,1,2,4,0,Fox News interview,"He continued to say the same thing even after we explained it."" We took this information to the Tancredo campaign, and press secretary Alan Moore disagreed with our findings. ""We stand by our statement,"" Moore said. He added, ""How do you define regular?"" We'll skip the linguistics discussion and rule Tancredo's statement ."
8683,2,My state of Florida is now the third-largest state. We have surpassed New York in population.,"April 8, 2014",census;states,bill nelson,"Bill Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2000. He lost re-election to Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. Nelson previously served in the Florida Legislature, Congress and as state Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner.
 ",florida,4,11,9,5,1,0,remarks at a committee hearing,"Nelson said, ""My state of Florida is now the third-largest state. We have surpassed New York in population."" Based on official information from the U.S. Census, as of July 2013, New York was in third place in population with about 100,000 more residents than Florida. Demographers have predicted that Florida will soon overtake New York and it’s possible that it has already happened, but demographers said we won’t know for certain until the census releases updated information later this year. We rate politicians’ claims based on information available at the time, so at this point we can’t declare for certain that Florida has inched ahead of New York. We rate this  ."
6164,1,"Household income in America has gone down for families an average of $4,000 in the last four years"" while it "" went up $5,000"" under Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts","August 27, 2012",economy;federal budget;income,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",wisconsin,11,16,24,23,7,5,a speech,"Earlier in the campaign, when Romney made these two claims separately, we found them partially accurate. But when they are combined, they leave a  impression of polar-opposite trend lines because one is adjusted for inflation, while the other is not. Applying the same inflation-adjusted methodology that Ryan chose to show the $4,000 household income drop under Obama, median incomes actually fell $589 under Romney during his earlier stint as governor. Ryan also affixes too much blame or credit on the pair for the trends. We rate this statement ."
7724,4,"I've got the spending down, I've got the debt down a little bit, I've got the reserves up.","July 20, 2013",county budget;county government;debt;state budget;taxes,mark harris,"Mark Harris, a Wisconsin Democrat, served as mayor of Oshkosh, where he also served on the city council, and as a county supervisor in Winnebago County. He has served as the Winnebago County Executive since being elected in 2005. He was the 2014 Democratic nominee for the seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, and lost in the general election to State Senator Glenn Grothman. He formerly practiced as a lawyer and certified public accountant.",wisconsin,0,2,0,0,0,0,an interview,"He makes the best case on reserves, which clearly have risen. Spending is down when viewed narrowly. The debt burden has dropped by some measures but not by all. Harris deserves some credit for the trends, but not all. We rate his  ."
6652,5,"Says that ""Tennessee law requires that schools receive half of proceeds -- $31 million per year"" -- from a half-cent increase in the Shelby County sales tax.","October 24, 2012",county budget;county government;education;taxes,stand for children tennessee,Stand For Children is a special-interest group pushing child and education issues.,tennessee,1,0,0,0,0,0,a post on Facebook,"There is clearly much for voters to consider on the referendum to increase by a half-cent the county's sales tax rate, and the contentiousness related to the Shelby County's reorganization of  public schools has created some confusion for voters. On one of the most crucial issues, Stand For Children claims half the proceeds from the local option sales tax must go to schools. The statute is definitive and the  is ."
3433,4,"Milwaukee is ""the most segregated city in America.","April 4, 2011",civil rights;labor;state budget,jesse jackson,"The Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the nation’s most recognized civil rights leaders, is founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a civil rights organization in Chicago. He was a Democratic candidate for president in 1984 and 1988.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,1,0,"a TV interview, as well as other venues","He didn’t define what he meant by segregated, but he referred to a study that measured segregation among whites and blacks. While some may disagree with the measure used in the study, the approach has been recognized as a standard for decades. By that measure Milwaukee ranked No. 1 in white-black segregation. Jackson’s  was accurate, although it needed some clarification, particularly in that the segregation measure is for the metropolitan area, not just the city. We rate it ."
6625,0,"An Obama campaign tactic for rallying voters is to ""offer them cell phones.","October 31, 2012",negative campaigning,adam putnam,"Adam Putnam lost the Republican primary for Florida governor to U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in 2018. A former Republican Congressman from Congressional District 12 in Central Florida, was elected Florida Commissioner of Agriculture on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014.",national,3,2,5,3,1,2,at a Romney campaign rally,"Putnam told Romney supporters that the Obama campaign is offering cell phones to get its voters to the polls. Internet chatter claiming that Obama gave cell phones to welfare recipients contained a tiny grain of : The federal government does have a program to subsidize phone service for low-income people. That program, though, existed long before Obama became president. Putnam then squeezed all reality out of the story, twisting it into an allegation of dirty campaigning. He has since acknowledged the statement was  -- but not before announcing it at a high-profile presidential campaign rally. We rate his statement !"
8922,2,"We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt.","June 9, 2014",candidate biography;elections,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,an interview on ABC,"Hillary Clinton said she and Bill were in debt and dead broke when they left the White House. The public record shows that they possibly had more liabilities than assets, but it doesn’t show that conclusively. More important, a balance sheet does not tell the full story and the experts we reached said the Clintons’ earning potential had a real economic value that the financial sector traditionally acknowledges and is willing to bank on. A few weeks before they left the White House, the Clintons were able to muster a cash down payment of $855,000 and secure a $1.995 million mortgage. This hardly fits the common meaning of ""dead broke."" We rate the   ."
161,1,Congress' approval rating is 11 percent. You know who's higher? Dick Cheney and HMOs.,"November 15, 2007",,bill richardson,"Bill Richardson is the former governor of New Mexico, having served two terms in that position from 2003-2011. Richardson is also a former congressman, U.S. secretary of energy, and ambassador to the United Nations. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, and was President Barack Obama’s initial nominee for secretary of commerce in 2009.",national,2,8,3,1,2,1,Las Vegas,"In fact, in that poll, both senators and congressman rated higher than HMO managers. Senators were at 15 percent and congressman were at 14 percent. So Richardson is  on all counts. Congress and Cheney are arguably neck-and-neck for approval ratings, while HMO managers lag behind. We rate his  ."
15819,4,We have flown a Boeing 737 across the Atlantic Ocean on biofuels. We have flown F-18s.,"March 19, 2019",environment;climate change;military,jay inslee,"Jay Inslee is the governor of Washington. He was elected as governor in 2012. From 1993 to 1995, Inslee represented Washington’s 4th Congressional District. He represented Washington’s 1st Congressional District from 1999 to 2012. While representing the 1st district, he served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Inslee received his bachelor’s degree in economics and a J.D. from Willamette University School of Law. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in August.",national,0,4,0,0,0,0,an interview,"Inslee said, ""We have flown a Boeing 737 across the Atlantic Ocean on biofuels. We have flown F-18s."" The Navy made history in 2010 when it flew an F-18 supersonic jet on biofuels. We found numerous transatlantic flights that have been powered by biofuels, too. We weren’t able to find instances where Boeing 737s had done so, but those are similar to other aircraft we documented.   We rate this ."
17608,1,"Dr. Anthony Fauci ""has known for 15 years that chloroquine and … hydroxychloroquine will not only treat a current case of coronavirus but prevent future cases.","April 27, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;punditfact;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"One News Now wrote that Fauci ""has known for 15 years that chloroquine and … hydroxychloroquine will not only treat a current case of coronavirus but prevent future cases."" The website cited a study that has to do with SARS, not the novel coronavirus. It was published in 2005 in Virology Journal, which is not the ""official publication"" of the NIH.  While the study found that chloroquine helped inhibit the spread of SARS in cell cultures, those results do not suggest that the drug is an effective treatment for SARS or COVID-19. As of now, there is no approved treatment or vaccine for either coronavirus. The One News Now article is . We rate it ."
2762,4,"Republicans ""created a trillion dollar prescription drug entitlement program without paying for it.","November 16, 2010",deficit;federal budget;health care,bobby scott,"Bobby Scott, D-3rd, has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. The district is comprised of all of Charles City and Surry counties and Petersburg and Portsmouth and portions of Henrico and Prince George counties and Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond. Scott has seats on the Judiciary and Education and Labor committees.
Scott previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1979-83 and in the state Senate in 1983-93. He was a member of the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. He was a lawyer in a private practice from 1973-91.
Scott was born in Washington, D.C. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in 1969 and a law degree from Boston College in 1973.",virginia,5,7,1,1,4,0,,"The  cost of the program is unknown since it will continue to grow. In fact, the Government Accountability Office shows that the cost could exceed $7 trillion in 75 years. If we use a 10-year cost measure, Scott would be  looking over the first decade of the program, which is estimated to cost shy of $500 billion.   But if we look at the cost over the next 10 years, Scott is close to correct based on current projections. So we find the  to be .  "
4731,1,"Since Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took office, ""we are losing jobs at rates not seen in decades.","December 6, 2011",jobs,kathleen falk,"Kathleen Falk, a Wisconsin Democrat, lost a bid in 2012 for the Democratic nomination to run against Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election. Falk served as the Dane County executive from 1997 to 2011. She ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002 and for state attorney general in 2006.",wisconsin,2,1,3,1,3,0,an opinion column,"Falk said that despite Walker's  to being focused on job creation, since he took office in January 2011, ""we are losing jobs at rates not seen in decades"" -- suggesting that job losses overall are the highest in decades. But the  she provided cites only public-sector jobs. Overall, the state has seen a net gain in jobs since Walker took office. And in the months when jobs have declined under Walker, we have to go back only two years to find job losses at a greater rate. We rate Falk's statement ."
21032,2,We have doubled our (oil) imports from Russia in the last year.,"February 22, 2022",energy;foreign policy;pundits;punditfact;russia,maria bartiromo,Maria Bartiromo is host of CNBC's On the Money with Maria Baritromo and a co-host of Closing Bell. She previously worked for CNN.,,0,0,0,2,2,0,a TV segment,"The U.S. increased its Russian oil imports by about 28% last year. That’s a notable increase, but it’s not double. Bartiromo has more of a point when looking at only crude oil imported from Russia in 2021, which has more than doubled. But Russia accounted for about 3% of overall U.S. crude oil imports in 2021 — a 2 percentage point increase from 2020.   We rate this  ."
18877,0,"Dominion Voting Systems ""deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide.","November 12, 2020",elections,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said in a tweet that a voting technology company deleted millions of votes that were cast for him during the presidential election. That  is not based in fact. The president’s tweet traces back to an unsubstantiated  on a pro-Trump website that cited Edison Research. But Edison Research told us they have found no  of voter fraud. Dominion, state election officials and federal officials say there’s no  that millions of votes were miscounted. Trump’s  is  and . We rate it !"
5238,5,"In 1950, the average American lived for 68 years and 16 workers supported one retiree. Today, the average life expectancy is 78 and three workers support one retiree.","February 17, 2012",retirement;social security,frank wolf,"Frank Wolf, R-10th, has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The 10th District stretches from McLean to Winchester. Wolf sits on the House Appropriations Committee, where he is the Chairman of the Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee. In addition, he is the co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan organization made up of more than 200 members of Congress who work together to raise awareness about international human rights issues. Wolf announced in December 2013 that he would not run for re-election in 2014.
Wolf served as a lawyer in the U.S. Army Reserves. He lost the first two congressional elections he ran in before winning in 1980.
Wolf was born in 1939 in Philadelphia. He received his undergraduate degree from Penn State University in 1961 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1965. ",virginia,2,0,0,1,0,0,a news release,"Wolf said that 60 years ago, the average life expectancy was 68 years at a time when 16 workers supported each retiree on Social Security. Today, he said, the life expectancy is 78 and three workers support one retiree. He’s right on the numbers and highlighting a demographic challenge the Social Security Administration acknowledges is placing greater demands on the system. His statement is ."
7556,1,"Miami-Dade has ""the nation's highest-rated tap water.","July 9, 2013",environment;county budget;water,miami-dade county,"Miami-Dade County encompasses more than 2,000 square miles and is bounded by Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Everglades National Park to the west, the Florida Keys to the south, and Broward County to the North. The largest city in the county is Miami. The county is governed by a county mayor and board of county commissioners.",florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,a county budget document,"A Miami-Dade County budget document claimed that the county has ""the nation’s highest-rated tap water."" A county spokeswoman said that statement was an error. The water department more typically talks about the ""high quality"" of the water without making a national comparison. An article in Forbes concluded the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area was fourth in water quality based on a 2007 University of Cincinnati study of 12 contaminants. A more thorough national analysis by the Environmental Working Group ranked Miami-Dade County at 46th in 2009. The  is , but it isn’t so  to earn our lowest  rating. We’re still going to end with one more joke and pour a cold bucket of tap water to douse this . We rate this  ."
7912,0,"A $10 million fire fee proposal in St. Petersburg was ""inspired"" by Gov. Rick Scott.","October 11, 2013",city budget;city government;taxes,fact check florida,"Fact Check Florida (not to be confused with, well, PolitiFact Florida) is an electioneering communications organization, or ECO, that supports liberal candidates for local office. In 2013, the group sent out mailers to St. Petersburg residents attacking Mayor Bill Foster.",florida,0,0,0,0,0,1,a flier,A mailpiece attempts to connect Foster’s rejected proposal for a fire readiness fee with Scott. This is junk mail. We rate it !
4816,3,"Says he lived up to a 2008 promise when he ""closed corporate tax loopholes that were sending profits overseas.","January 3, 2012",corporations;economy;message machine 2012;taxes,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a web video advertisement,"While there is some  to the  that Obama signed legislation that ""closed corporate tax loopholes that were sending profits overseas,"" experts say the law by itself doesn’t live up to Obama’s promise in Iowa to ""be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas."" Incentives deeply embedded in the tax code still exist. We rate the statement ."
4796,3,"Enacting the Right-to-Carry Act would amount to ""expanding the rights of sex offenders, terrorists, child predators, and abusers to carry concealed weapons across state lines.''","November 18, 2011",legal issues;crime;public safety;guns,david cicilline,"David Cicilline was elected to the 1st Congressional District in 2010. Before that, he was mayor of Providence, beginning in January, 2003. A Brown University graduate, he received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.",rhode island,8,4,5,7,4,1,a fundraising letter,"Cicilline said the Right-to-Carry bill would expand rights of ""sex offenders, terrorists, child predators, and abusers to carry concealed weapons across state lines."" In three categories -- sex offenders, child predators and abusers -- we agreed that in some narrow exceptions involving misdemeanor crimes, his statement was . But we found that his statement didn’t meet the test on the fourth. To apply the ""terrorist"" label to all 400,000 people on the government’s watchlist, or to those convicted of a misdemeanor ""terroristic"" threat, is, at best, an exaggeration.   Further, by saying the Republicans ""chose to focus their efforts"" on expanding the gun rights of ""sex offenders, terrorists, child predators, and abusers,"" he implied, with a heavy dose of hyperbole, that this was their intent. Because the statement ""is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context,"" we rule it . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
19922,0,Prairie State power plant is the cleanest coal-fired power plant in the nation.,"June 21, 2021",environment;energy,rodney davis,"U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis represents the 13th Congressional District of Illinois. Prior to being elected to the U.S. House in 2012, Davis served as projects director for former U.S. Rep. John Shimkus for 16 years.",illinois,0,0,0,1,0,1,a press release,"Davis said the Prairie State power plant is ""the cleanest"" coal-fired power plant in the nation. His office did not respond to our inquiry asking for  to back that up. Experts told us there are multiple metrics by which to assess how ""clean"" a coal plant is, but federal data shows Prairie State does not come out at or near the top on any of them. We rate Davis’  !  — The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here  for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
12383,5,Latinos are 17 percent of our country's population but hold only 2 percent of its wealth.,"September 15, 2016",economy;families;income;race and ethnicity;population;poverty,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,a speech,"Clinton said, ""Latinos are 17 percent of our country's population but hold only 2 percent of its wealth."" Census Bureau data confirm the 17 percent. Federal reserve data from 2010 and more recent data from 2013 show that the 2 percent figure is on target as well. We rate the  as ."
23295,0,"Ohio replaced lethal injection ""with a system that quickly and humanely rips off the heads of death-row inmates using powerful robotic arms.","July 12, 2023",criminal justice;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a video shared on Instagram,"Please do NOT believe everything you see on the internet. ""  PolitiFact found the original video , which The Onion published in 2014. Although it is a truncated clip, the video shared on Instagram matches the video published on The Onion’s site exactly. The Onion’s logo appears in the bottom right hand corner. We rate posts sharing this video without clearly indicating that it is satire !"
22242,0,Bill Gates' daughters aren't vaccinated.,"October 31, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"And in 2021, Jennifer Gates posted on Instagram about getting her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. ""Sadly the vaccine did NOT implant my genius father into my brain — if only mRNA had that power,"" she wrote with a winking emoji, poking fun at conspiracy theories about the vaccine.   CNN reported at the time that the post, which is no longer online, showed ""the 24-year-old medical student wearing a mask and holding up an ‘I got my COVID-19 vaccine’ sticker. ""  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told PolitiFact in an email that the Gates are ""all vaccinated. ""  We rate claims that Phoebe and Jennifer Gates aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 or childhood diseases !"
11425,5,"Says a YouTube video shows Thomas DiMassimo, the man who rushed Trump at an Ohio rally, ""dragging the American flag on the ground like it was a piece of garbage.","March 13, 2016",elections,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",georgia,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on ""Meet the Press""","Trump said Thomas DiMassimo had desecrated a U.S. flag by ""dragging the American flag on the ground like it was a piece of garbage."" He is correct. A YouTube video posted by DiMassimo shows him dragging a flag on the ground and later standing on it. This is offensive to many, but legal under the First Amendment. We rate Trump’s statement ."
7594,3,"The FL Guard has defended our freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq, and put their lives at risk; now the fed govt is going to cut their pay 20%.","July 16, 2013",afghanistan;federal budget;iraq;military,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a tweet,"Scott said ""The FL Guard has defended our freedom in Afghanistan, Iraq, and put their lives at risk; now the fed govt is going to cut their pay 20%."" Scott’s statement isn’t telling the whole story. A reader could falsely assume the entire Florida Guard is furloughed. But the furloughs only affect about 8 percent of the overall Florida National Guard, or about half of the full-time force. Also, the 20 percent pay cut is not annual or permanent; they are losing that amount for one-third of the year. Additionally, not every furloughed civilian employee has served in Afghanistan or Iraq. Among the 966 guard members being furloughed, about 40 percent have been deployed. Scott’s  contains some elements of : Many Guard members have risked their lives in overseas deployments and now some face pay cuts for part of the year. But the details that Scott omitted are important for understanding the full effect of the furloughs. We rate this  ."
10221,4,"If we choose Obamacare expansion, 600,000 will lose eligibility for their subsidies, of which 257,000 would be forced into Medicaid.","April 28, 2015",health care;medicaid;state budget,steve crisafulli,"Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, is Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives for 2014-16.",florida,0,1,1,0,0,0,the Tampa Bay Times,"Crisafulli said, ""If we choose Obamacare expansion, 600,000 will lose eligibility for their subsidies, of which 257,000 would be forced into Medicaid."" Crisafulli is using incendiary language to describe state projections about Medicaid expansion. The state estimates that about 609,000 Floridians would lose access to subsidies to buy insurance under an expansion. About 257,000 of those people would be uninsured, likely because they’re too poor to buy their own. The rest could enroll in Medicaid if they wanted to. So his numbers can be considered accurate. But experts tell us saying those people would be forced into the program isn’t accurate. Many of the very poor would likely see becoming eligible for Medicaid as a benefit.  We rate the statement ."
3750,4,Says the state's new collective bargaining law effectively eliminates police unions' ability to negotiate.,"May 9, 2011",public safety;unions,steve loomis,"Steve Loomis is the president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association.  CPPA serves as the bargaining unit for all non-supervisory patrol officers, detectives, and radio dispatchers in Cleveland and has about 1,450 members. ",ohio,0,1,0,0,0,0,a news conference,"SB 5 does greatly reduce safety force workers’ collective bargaining abilities and gives management the last word on which offer is chosen. But that last word kicks in if the two sides can’t agree on a contract. Safety forces do still have the ability to try to negotiate terms on wages and safety equipment. That’s a point of clarification. On the -O-Meter, Loomis' statement rates as ."
2977,2,The economy we preside over today is better than the one we inherited.,"January 26, 2011",economy,hank johnson,"Hank Johnson, a Democrat, represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District",georgia,2,3,4,3,0,0,an online posting,"Congressman Johnson is correct about that. But major components like housing and unemployment are still in the dumps. Until those key areas turn around, it’s hard to argue that the overall economy has improved. Johnson’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give readers a different impression. Under our guidelines, the congressman’s statement rates as ."
11660,5,"North Carolina has ""one of the fastest growing populations as well as the fastest growing economy in the country.","April 28, 2016",economy;income;population;states,pat mccrory,"Pat McCrory, a Republican, was governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. Previously, he served as mayor of Charlotte.",north carolina,1,0,4,8,2,1,an official announcement,"McCrory is right that North Carolina has ""one of the fastest growing populations."" As for the economy, North Carolina did have the fastest-growing GDP in the country between the first quarter of 2013, when McCrory took office, and the third quarter of 2015. The pace has slowed recently, but that doesn't change the  of the statement. We rate this  ."
19079,0,Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics.,"January 7, 2021",elections;public safety;jan. 6,mo brooks,Mo Brooks is a Republican who represents a district in Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives.,,0,0,0,1,0,1,a tweet,"""  Brooks tweeted, "" growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics."" We’ve found no credible reports that people who identify as antifa ""orchestrated"" the riots at the Capitol, and Brooks did not provide clear and irrefutable . What the available  shows is that Trump supporters were the ones who violently stormed the Capitol. Videos, pictures, and statements from people at the Capitol directly contradict Brooks’ . We rate Brooks’ statement ."
2297,2,"State pension fund staffers ""lost billions. Then Sink gave them bonuses.","September 21, 2010",economy;message machine 2010;retirement,republican party of florida,The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.,florida,2,6,6,12,10,4,a television ad,"Now let's return to the key , that state pension fund staffers ""lost billions. Then Sink gave them bonuses."" This ad accurately highlights Sink's oversight role of the state's pension fund but after that, this ad stretches the facts and misleads the viewer. The $24 billion is not gone. Sink did not personally make the risky investments or give bonuses to staffers, and the staff bonuses preceded the fund's loss in value. We rate the RPOF ad . "
7600,0,"In Providence, R.I., it's illegal to sell toothpaste and a toothbrush to the same customer on a Sunday.","July 14, 2013",legal issues;pop culture,buzzfeed,"BuzzFeed is a website that specializes in news, entertainment and lists - lots of lists.",rhode island,0,0,0,0,0,1,a web site list,"So oral hygiene fans can breathe a minty-fresh sigh of relief. A toothbrush and toothpaste can legally be purchased together any Sunday in Providence. Maybe someday this PolitiFact item will be part of a BuzzFeed list titled ""217 Examples of How BuzzFeed Didn't Check Its Facts."" It'll be a hot one because we give the website a  ! (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
20038,1,"Referring to a destroyed brick mural of George Floyd, said it's highly unusual for a brick wall to be destroyed by lightning.","July 16, 2021",race and ethnicity;science;facebook fact-checks,donald trump jr.,Donald Trump Jr. is the son of President Donald Trump and his former wife Ivana Trump.,,0,1,0,2,8,6,a video on Facebook,"However, we don’t know for certain whether lightning caused the mural to collapse. It’s possible the outer wall of the building was already unstable, or that vandals tore the Floyd memorial down.   If lightning did strike, it’s within reason to suppose that the shock caused the brick wall to crumble.   In either case, a supernatural or divine phenomenon did not have to bring the mural down.   We rate this  . "
5990,1,"A study showed that President Barack Obama's health-care reforms will ""devastate Wisconsin"" by pushing people off employer-sponsored insurance, driving up premiums, increasing dependency and making 122,000 people ineligible for Medicaid.","July 12, 2012",federal budget;health care;medicaid;medicare;state budget;states,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,an op-ed piece,"Our rating In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Walker said ""Obamacare"" will push people off employer-sponsored insurance, drive up premiums, increase dependency and make 122,000 people, including pregnant women, ineligible for Medicaid. The context of his comments is his assertion that this will ""devastate Wisconsin."" Walker pulls some numbers from an actuarial study of the impact of the law, but cherry-picks data, leaves out critical facts and mischaracterizes some of the numbers, creating a highly  impression. Indeed, some of the numbers he attributes to the study are really estimates from his own administration. We rate his , taken as a whole, ."
5525,1,"The congressional district for Miami-Dade and Broward counties has a ""staggering drop-out rate of almost 61 percent.","May 1, 2012",children;education,rudy moise,Rudy Moise is running in Congressional District 24 in 2012. The district includes portions of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.,florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign website,"Moise said that his district has a ""staggering high school dropout rate of almost 61 percent."" Moise points to a report about graduation rates from the Schott Foundation which provides some interesting data. But we have several problems with it as it relates to Moise’s dropout . • Most critically, Moise's  is based on a measurement for black males. We saw nothing in his comment to indicate he was talking about male dropouts only. • Also, the number is based on 2007-2008 data even though data is available from 2010-2011. • The number subtracts graduation rates from 100 percent and concludes that the rest are dropouts. This leaves out some categories such as students who need a fifth year to graduate. • Finally, the data is for the entire Broward and Miami-Dade school districts, not the congressional district, which includes only portions of those districts Moise didn’t explain these caveats on his campaign website when he made his . He erred by trying to boil down a complex area of data into a single phrase about dropout rates that requires far more explanation and more thorough data. We rank this  ."
8505,2,"All of Florida's four-year state colleges now offer bachelor's degrees for only $10,000.","March 4, 2014",education,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,his State of the State speech,"Scott said, ""All of Florida's four-year state colleges now offer bachelor's degrees for only $10,000."" The schools that make up the state college system have accepted a challenge from Scott to offer $10,000 degrees, but only about half currently do. Also, there are several other caveats as to who can get a cheap degree and in what major. Lastly, the $10,000 degree doesn't cover books, housing, meals, fees and other expenses. Scott left out important context in his remarks at the State of the State address. We rate his  ."
21150,1,There was a raid on the Biden residence yesterday by the military!,"March 21, 2022",military;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We found nothing to corroborate the allegation that the military raided the Biden residence on March 20, whether that refers to President Joe Biden’s White House abode, his beach house in Delaware, the home of his son, Hunter Biden, or any other Biden-affiliated residence.   In October, we fact-checked a  that the military had raided the younger Biden’s home and rated it . The story was fabricated and posted on a website that has previously published  news.   Searching online for news reports about a military raid involving any of the Bidens, we found articles about the president discussing in February a U.S. military raid in Syria that left an ISIS leader dead, but nothing involving the president or his family members as a target.   The post is unfounded, and we rate it ."
16973,1,Says former NBA player Rick Fox was also on board with Kobe Bryant,"January 26, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"I have personally communicated with Rick Fox via text since the news about Kobe dying came out PLEASE STOP spreading “news” unless you personally can confirm it! So far, seven of the nine people killed in the crash have been identified . The group was headed to a girls’ basketball game which Bryant was scheduled to coach. Victims include an assistant coach, parents and players from the club team, including Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna; and the pilot of the helicopter.   This  is . "
11394,1,The Clean Power Plan is something that Sen. Sanders has said he would delay implementing.,"March 9, 2016",environment;climate change,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,Florida,"Clinton said, ""The Clean Power Plan is something that Sen. Sanders has said he would delay implementing."" Sanders advocates for more ambitious action on climate change, which some experts argue could delay the plan. But Sanders himself has never said what Clinton is suggesting, and he has supported the Clean Power Act in words and action. We rate Clinton’s  ."
2711,3,"Oregon, once again, remains among the top five hungriest states in the nation.","November 15, 2010",,oregon food bank," 
Oregon Food Bank distributes food to agencies that feed people who are hungry throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash.",oregon,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press release,"There are some numbers here that would appear to back them up. And two experts agree that Oregon is on the high end of things -- certainly higher than the national average. Still, those same two experts discourage out-and-out rankings. Then there’s the fact that quite a bit of variation is possible no matter how you look at the numbers. For those reasons, we rate this  ."
7343,3,"Expanding Medicaid would require borrowing more money, drastically expanding our deficit.","May 9, 2013",debt;deficit;federal budget;health care;medicaid,will weatherford,"State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, is Florida's Speaker of the House for 2013-14.",florida,0,3,4,2,3,0,an op-ed,"Weatherford defended his key role in blocking federal money to help insure more low-income Floridians by pointing to the effect of all that extra health care spending on the country’s national deficit and debt. ""Expanding Medicaid would require borrowing more money, drastically expanding our deficit,"" Weatherford said. There’s no doubting the federal Medicaid expansion is a lot of dough, with the government slating about $900 billion over 10 years for each state to expand the program, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Ramping up federal spending for Medicaid, one of the biggest long-term deficit-drivers , will not be cheap. Weatherford’s commentary, however, is vague. He ignores nonpartisan research showing the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage is offset by other parts of the health care law. And yes, states that decide not to expand Medicaid can prevent more federal spending, but it would just further reduce the deficit -- by how much is unknown -- on top of its already slated contraction. Saying Medicaid expansion will ""drastically"" enhance the deficit is unproven. Weatherford’s  hits a note about federal spending but omits key information. We rate it ."
13153,2,"Says Airbnb ""decreases real estate values and increases costs for workforce housing.","March 2, 2017",city government;housing,philip levine,"Philip Levine lost the August 2018 Democratic primary for Florida governor. In November 2013,  Levine was elected Mayor of Miami Beach and served two terms. Levine is CEO of Royal Media Partners, an exclusive partner of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ",florida,0,0,0,3,0,0,a post on Facebook,"Levine says Airbnb ""decreases real estate values and increases costs for workforce housing."" Some research and news articles have argued that Airbnb has decreased the rental supply and therefore is driving up prices, but it’s questionable whether all of those units can be described as ""workforce housing"" in already expensive areas with a lack of affordable housing. Levine did not point to  proving that Airbnb has decreased real estate values. It’s too soon to fully assess the impact of Airbnb on housing markets, and that’s difficult to do when it only represents a small fraction of the housing supply in any city or region. We rate this  ."
14684,2,"New York state has the ""second highest millionaires tax in the nation.","May 23, 2018",wealth;taxes,christine quinn,Christine Quinn is the former speaker of the New York City Council. She is currently the vice chairperson of the New York State Democratic Party.,new york,0,0,0,1,0,0,a presentation at the State Democratic Convention,"Christine Quinn said New York state has the ""second-highest millionaires tax in the nation."" That’s only  for New York City residents. Millionaires outside New York City have a lower rate than those in seven other states. Her  contains an element of  about New York City. We rate it ."
20983,0,"Grocery chain Aldi will send people who share a Facebook post a ""bag full of family necessities"" worth $750, and 100 random bags also have a voucher for $500.","February 15, 2022",food;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A message shared on a Facebook page claimed that grocery chain Aldi would give away free bags of food to users who share the post with other people. An Aldi official said the post was not a real promotion, and the page has no affiliation with the company. The page contains several indicators that it’s , including the lack of a verification badge, a misidentification of the company’s CEO, and an account manager based in a country where Aldi has no presence. We rate this  ."
19135,1,"China was behind the interference and the effort to overthrow our government and the election, election fraud.","January 18, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,l. lin wood,"L. Lin Wood is a defamation attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia. He represented Richard Jewell, a security guard who was falsely accused in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996. Wood is a supporter of Donald Trump and litigated on his behalf in lawsuits related to the results of the 2020 presidential election.",national,0,0,0,0,1,1,an interview with the Patriotically Correct Radio Show,"We reached out to Wood for a comment, but we haven’t heard back. His  is . We rate it . RELATED:   A note to our readers who think President Trump won"
17545,0,Photo shows packed beach of re-opened Jacksonville Beach on CNN.,"April 19, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",florida,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The image also isn’t even from the United States. It was captured on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 28, 2013 , for a mass held by Pope Francis during a weeklong visit to the country. About 3 million people attended, according to news reports .   Despite what recent posts on social media might say, the photo has nothing to do with CNN, Florida or beaches currently reopening in the U.S. We rate it !"
6566,3,Veterans' unemployment is actually now lower than (the) general population. It was higher when I came into office.,"October 22, 2012",economy;jobs;veterans,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Boca Raton, Fla","Obama said, ""Veterans’ unemployment is actually now lower than (the) general population. It was higher when I came into office."" Whether you’re talking about all veterans or just those who served after 9/11, Obama gets one number right but one number . So we rate his  ."
4619,3,House Republicans are ramming through legislation ... to classify pizza as a 'vegetable' for the purpose of school lunches.,"November 17, 2011",education;public health,democratic national committee,The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats.,national,7,8,12,9,2,0,an e-mail message,"They did fight for the classification for the sauce on the pizza and blocked a move by the Obama administration to boost the amount of tomato paste needed to count as a serving of vegetables. But they didn't try to classify ""pizza"" as a vegetable. And even the amount of tomato paste required, just two tablespoons, packs nearly the nutritional punch of a half-cup of other foods we consider healthy. That's a pretty important detail to omit. We call the Democrats'  ."
6106,2,"Says she does the jobs of state auditor, secretary of state and lieutenant governor ""for less than the price of one of them"" in Washington state.","May 1, 2012",,kate brown,Kate Brown is Oregon's governor. She previously served as secretary of state.,oregon,1,0,0,1,0,0,a television interview,"""I think it's fair to say the three for one is not an apples to apples comparison,"" she said. ""I think it's particularly compelling in that it sort of lets Oregonians know what a lean sort of operating machine Oregon state government is when you compare us to other states."" We think her general gist is accurate, Oregon gets by with fewer elected officials. But the statement that she does three jobs for the price of one ignores some critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this  ."
12151,2,"Then, the Republican leader theatrically introduced new bills with stopgap budget language, declaring that we could stay until midnight and pass this compromise. Except under our constitution, a bill has to be read on 3 different days, so that's not possible.","May 31, 2016",state budget,kelly cassidy,"Rep. Kelly Cassiday, D-Chicago, represents the 14th House District in the Illinois General Assembly.",illinois,0,0,0,2,0,0,a Facebook post,"Cassidy said Rauner ""theatrically introduced new bills with stopgap budget language, declaring that we could stay until midnight and pass this compromise. Except under our constitution, a bill has to be read on 3 different days, so that's not possible."" She is correct from a strict interpretation of the rules in the state constitution, in which it takes a minimum of five calendar days from introduction to passage of a bill. But the Illinois Constitution in theory and Illinois lawmaking in practice at times operate more as distant cousins than identical twins. As Wheeler notes, the use of ""shell"" or ""vehicle"" bills is a common practice in Springfield, and Madigan and Cullerton used the procedure to make SB 2047 into the stopgap plan a few weeks later -- when Democrats and Republicans managed a fragile truce in their ongoing battle. Cassidy is no novice in the workings of the General Assembly. Before joining the House in 2011, she had served as a legislative aide to Cullerton and a lobbyist for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. It’s reasonable to believe she should have known it was highly unlikely that the General Assembly would have no shell bills available in the final hours before the budget deadline. As Republican Leader Radogno said on May 31, ""Where there’s a will there’s a way."" We rate this statement ."
5194,2,If you look up the dictionary definition of happiness at the time of our founders … happiness was not doing what you want to do but doing what you ought to do.,"February 29, 2012",history,rick santorum,Rick Santorum is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.,national,6,7,14,13,17,5,"a speech near Knoxville, Tenn","Santorum said, ""If you look up the dictionary definition of happiness at the time of our founders … happiness was not doing what you want to do, but doing what you ought to do."" We took him up on that and checked two dictionaries that would have been in Jefferson’s library and one published after the fact with historical references and found no such mention. Although we did read work by philosopher John Locke that might be read as supporting part of Santorum's assertion, Locke went on to say that happiness means different things to different individuals. And historians told us that the notion that happiness means doing your duty or ""doing what you ought to do"" ran counter to Jefferson's nature and to the nature of other founders. We rate his  ."
5975,3,"Mike Dovilla's big ideas like expanding the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, which helped bring films like 'The Avengers' to Cleveland, have helped make our state No. 1 in the Midwest for job creation.","July 27, 2012",economy;jobs,mike dovilla,"Mike Dovilla is a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He was elected in 2010 to his first term. A resident of Berea, his 18th District in suburban Cleveland also includes North Royalton, Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township and Strongsville.",ohio,1,0,1,0,1,0,In a campaign mailer,"The ad is partially accurate – the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit did help bring movie jobs to the state, and Dovilla did champion the movie tax credit expansion.    But that it leaves out important details and takes things out of context. ""The Avengers"" movie came to Cleveland due to the original tax credit, which was established before Dovilla took office. And while Dovilla supported the expansion of the credit, it does not take effect until September. On the -O-Meter, Dovilla’s  rates ."
12117,3,Our economy is so much stronger than when (Barack Obama and Joe Biden) took office. Nearly 15 million new private-sector jobs.,"July 28, 2016",economy;jobs,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention,"Clinton said, ""Our economy is so much stronger than when they took office. Nearly 15 million new private-sector jobs."" Clinton specified ""when they took office"" in her speech, and the actual number of jobs starting with their inauguration is only about two-thirds as big -- 10.6 million jobs. The 15 million number uses a different, more limited timeframe to count job creation. The statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context, so we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/b765565f-195e-4f51-959a-9193fbebf204"
8878,3,"In Texas, ""a faceless hospital panel can deny life-sustaining care, giving you only 10 days to find another facility for your mother, dad, or young child, even if the patient is conscious.","May 14, 2014",corrections and updates;health care;legal issues,texas right to life,"A statewide anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia group that celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2013, Texas Right to Life says it fights ""for the rights of the unborn (including the nascent humans created in laboratories), the disabled, the sick, the elderly, and the unloved,"" on its website, which also states, ""We are non-sectarian and non-partisan, and we are the Texas affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee with representation on their board of directors.""",texas,0,0,2,0,2,0,a video ad,"Texas Right to Life said in Texas, ""a faceless hospital panel can deny life-sustaining care, giving you only 10 days to find another facility for your mother, dad, or young child, even if the patient is conscious."" This  accurately tracks a portion of the law and we see how one could construe this scenario. The law doesn't specify how hospital review panels should be composed or run. But doctors and hospitals insist the law has been carried out in ways not acknowledged here. For starters, the rarely convened review panels aren’t faceless; committee members are reportedly introduced at the reviews. Also, consciousness is not an element of  the law. Finally, the law permits courts to add to the 10 days provided for families to find an alternate facility, which the ad doesn’t mention. We rate this , which is partly accurate but leaves out important details, as .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
20927,0,"In Joe Biden's America, your children are more likely to have access to a crack pipe than a mask-free education.","February 9, 2022",children;drugs;education;public health;ad watch;coronavirus,troy nehls,"Republican Troy Nehls, the former sheriff of Fort Bend County, outside of Houston, was elected in 2020 to the 22nd District U.S. House seat in the Houston area. ",texas,0,0,0,0,0,1,an ad,"Nehls claimed: ""In Joe Biden’s America, your children are more likely to have access to a crack pipe than a mask-free education."" The  alludes to a Biden administration program that provides grants for efforts to curb injuries and deaths from drug abuse, including providing ""safe-smoking kits"" that are aimed at preventing the sharing of smoking materials. Federal officials said the grants cannot be used to provide pipes. The program is not aimed at children. There is no federal mandate requiring children to wear masks in schools, and in the coming weeks, fewer than a dozen states will have such mandates. Nehls’  is  and  — ! RELATED: No, The White House isn’t spending $30 million on crack pipes. Here’s what’s really going on"
17597,1,"A photo shows a ""Center for Global Population Reduction"" at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters.","April 28, 2020",public health,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"We also didn’t find that center searching the foundation’s website . But allegations that Bill Gates is wielding vaccines to thin human herds aren’t new. In 2018, for example, we fact-checked a  story that he had a ""plan to depopulate the planet."" That  was , and as several other fact-checkers have found, so is this one.     We rate this Facebook post ."
9678,3,Georgia has the country's second highest number of fraudulent tax refund claims.,"November 21, 2014",crime;taxes,johnny isakson,"Johnny Isakson, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Georgia",georgia,4,2,3,2,3,0,press release,"But that report examines complaints, not verifiable incidents. To be certain, Georgia has a serious problem. The senator would have been accurate if he had said as much, or said that Georgia shows near the top of states with such problems. But Isakson misreads that data to show a specific rank where none exists. We rate his  .  "
14399,0,Court orders Obama to pay $400 million in restitution.,"March 10, 2018",fake news;iran;punditfact,daily world update,Daily World Update is a fake news site promoting false information. ,,0,0,0,0,0,4,a viral story,A  news article claimed that a court ordered Obama to pay the American public $400 million in repayment fees due to an illegal transaction with Iran. The court and its judges were fictitious and the payment was a reference to a legitimate transaction given to Iran that the United States owed in 2016. We rate this .
22299,0,A Twitter employee was laid off after receiving a meme.,"November 4, 2022",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an image,"Shaver claimed in a follow-up video that Twitter sent him another meme as a cease-and-desist notice.   Three days after his initial video went viral, Shaver clarified on his Twitter page that both videos were satire and not meant to be taken seriously.   ""It’s insane to me how many people thought they were real and how many more people wanted them to be real so they had someone to hate (me or Elon Musk),"" he said. ""Thank you to the 25% that sent me advice or offered to help."" We rate the  that a Twitter employee was laid-off after receiving a meme ! "
16736,0,"Says Nancy Pelosi said ""Americans are the stupidest people on earth.","November 19, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story,"The problem is the entire story was contrived by satire website Busta Troll in late October 2019.   RELATED STORY: If you're fooled by  news, this man probably wrote it While the article and quote originated on a website that describes its content as satire and contains a disclaimer, it was picked up by Conservative Bless and other sites and shared without any such disclaimer.   This is not a real news report. We rate it !"
12779,0,"There was ""serious voter fraud"" in Virginia.","November 27, 2016",elections,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",virginia,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said there was ""serious voter fraud in Virginia"" during this presidential election. The top state election official in Virginia says the charge is ""unfounded."" The former chairman of Trump’s Virginia campaign says he’s unaware of any ""massive voter fraud on Election Day."" There’s a burden on Trump to prove his sensational , and the president-elect offers no . We rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/84f77a8d-d9e2-4cb8-be2d-a26a237887b2"
5544,5,"New Jersey has ""the highest property taxes in the nation and not by a little. They are the highest property taxes in the nation, more than double the national average.","April 1, 2012",taxes,lou greenwald,Lou Greenwald is a Democratic state Assemblyman representing parts of Burlington and Camden counties. He also serves as the Assembly Majority Leader.,new jersey,2,2,1,0,1,2,"an interview with on NJTV's ""On The Record.""","Greenwald said in a TV interview that New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, more than double the national average. He was referring to 2009 statistics from the Tax Foundation. Statistics from 2004 through 2008 show the state leads the nation in two of three key metrics, according to the Tax Foundation. New Jersey led in all three metrics in 2009. Greenwald’s overall point is clear: when it comes to property taxes, New Jersey is king. We rate this statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
21469,2,The United States can't import baby formula because of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.,"May 14, 2022",children;trade;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,posts on social media,"Social media posts claimed that the U.S. can’t import baby formula due to the USMCA replacing NAFTA. Importing baby formula to the U.S. is allowed, although these imports usually only make up about 2% of all baby formula consumption in the country. The USMCA did make some changes to how baby formula is imported to the U.S., but many other regulatory policies affect imports, too. The trade agreement is not the only barrier to the U.S. importing more formula. We rate this  ."
6516,5,"When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he ""stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, 'This plant kills.'","October 16, 2012",debates;energy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Long Island, N.Y","Obama said Romney has changed his tune about coal, claiming that in Massachusetts he ""stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, ‘This plant kills.’"" Romney was the newly elected governor when a showdown erupted over the coal-burning Salem Harbor Power Station. Obama quoted Romney accurately when he said the governor entered the controversy by saying the plant ""kills people."" We rate his statement ."
2392,1,O'Shaughnessy even voted for her own personal stimulus package -- a taxpayer-funded pay raise for herself.,"September 27, 2010",public service,jon husted,Jon Husted is running as Mike DeWine's running mate for the 2018 Republican primary for governor. Husted was elected Ohio secretary of state in 2010. He previously was a state senator from Ohio's 6th district and served two terms as speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives.,ohio,1,2,1,0,2,1,a television campaign ad,"That’s an important caveat that Husted’s ad doesn’t mention, and the point where Hustad’s attack comes unraveled.    She didn’t approve a pay raise for herself. She voted to increase pay for whomever was elected to take that council seat. The voters decided she should get the pay raise by re-electing her in 2001. We rate Husted’s statement ."
16047,2,"In states that have legalized (recreational marijuana), you see steady decreases in youth use if you do it right.","May 4, 2019",public health;marijuana,kelly cassidy,"Rep. Kelly Cassiday, D-Chicago, represents the 14th House District in the Illinois General Assembly.",illinois,0,0,0,2,0,0,press conference remarks,"Cassidy said, ""In states that have legalized, you see steady decreases in youth use if you do it right."" She did not provide any proof to back up her statement. Of the 10 states that allow adults to use cannabis recreationally, only four have permitted retail sales long enough to provide enough data points for a preliminary comparison. While state survey data show no spike in current marijuana use among teens, they also fall short of suggesting the downward trajectory Cassidy described. We rate her  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
6682,4,"Says New Jersey is ""50th in return of our federal tax dollars.","October 30, 2012",states;taxes,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,an interview on NBC Nightly News,"Christie said that New Jersey is ""50th in return of our federal tax dollars."" The Tax Foundation’s analysis of 2005 data, which was adjusted to reflect each state’s overall federal tax burden, ranked New Jersey 50th in the nation in this category. The state received 61 cents for every dollar it sent to Washington, D.C. that year. Though that research is outdated, more recent analysis of raw data shows New Jersey still ranks near the bottom. On the -O-Meter, Christie’s statement registers as . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
1938,0,"Sixty percent of the Hispanics"" support the Arizona immigration law","July 7, 2010",immigration,russell pearce ,Russell Pearce is an Arizona state Senator.,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,a CNN interview,"On the national level, anywhere from 54 to 70 percent have either a strongly or somewhat unfavorable view of the legislation. On the state level, 70 percent strongly disagree with the law and 11 percent somewhat disagree. What's even more disqualifying, however, is Pearce's misuse of the poll on which he apparently based his . The very source that he quoted told us that it's  to equate the ""other"" category with ""Hispanics"", a point of view that we also confirmed with several other polling experts. Pearce earns himself a ."
20001,1,"Protest video shows ""resistance"" to ""President Macron's plan for mandatory COVID vaccinations of all French citizens.","July 14, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The video was captured at a demonstration in Nairobi, Kenya, that occurred July 14 in response to a local university’s decision to raise tuition fees.   The same video can be found on YouTube with the title, ""University of Nairobi Students demo against fee increment. Clashing with the police."" Reuters, through similar videos and a Google Street View, was able to confirm the location to be in Nairobi. We rate this  . "
3001,1,"Nevada will be ""energy independent within the immediate future.","January 18, 2011",environment;energy,harry reid,Harry Reid is a former U.S. senator from Nevada. He served as the Democratic minority leader in the U.S. Senate immediately prior to leaving office.,national,2,7,3,4,5,3,"an interview on ""Face to Face with Jon Ralston""","In his interview, Sen. Reid said he thinks that energy independence is going to take a while but some of it is already happening."" We’ll grant that in the interview, the discussion began with the question of how fast Nevada can begin exporting energy out of the state. But Reid went on to say the state would be ""energy independent within the immediate future,"" which means all of the state’s energy would be produced within its own boundaries. Even if Nevada successfully taps into its solar and other energy resources, it is many years away from changing all of its cars, trucks and planes from fossil fuels to fuels that can be produced within the state. So we rate Reid’s statement ."
21527,1,Illinois high school to implement race-based grading system in 2022-2023 school year,"May 31, 2022",education;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",illinois,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A New York Times investigation in 2020 found that these news sites do not follow established journalistic principles for newsgathering and publishing, such as fairness and transparency.   Our ruling  A story from West Cook News claimed that a high school in Oak Park, Illinois, would use race-based grading in the 2022-23 school year.   The school board and administrators discussed ways to more equitably assess students during a May 26 meeting. But there is no indication the district plans to grade students differently based on race.   We rate this  . "
7670,3,"Twenty four states have voter ID or comparable restrictions; before Barack Obama was elected, it was two.","August 4, 2013",civil rights;elections;history;human rights;legal issues,james vincent,James Vincent is president of the Providence branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).,rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,"an appearance on WPRI-TV's ""Newsmakers.""","James Vincent said 24 states today require voter IDs or impose some other restrictions on voting, while only two states had such limits before Barack Obama was elected. He's using a measure set by the Lawyers' Committee that includes states with laws that request or demand a photo ID, and states that have restricted voting in other ways. The only comparable pre-Obama metric we could find, from the National Conference of State Legislatures, involves voter photo identification, so we'll stick with that. While only two states -- Georgia and Indiana -- required a photo ID to vote before 2008, Michigan, South Dakota, Louisiana, Florida and Hawaii, requested a photo ID, according to NCSL data. That means at least seven states -- not two, as Vincent claimed -- were demanding or asking for a photo ID for the 2008 election that put Obama in office. No matter which standard you use, the number of states adopting more-restrictive voter identification requirements has increased since 2008. We'll leave it to others to debate whether that’s linked to Obama's election and America's changing racial demographics. In short, Vincent was close on his first number but got the second number . We rate his statement   . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
14615,2,"If Joe Manchin had his way, Judge Gorsuch never would have been able to get a vote.","May 11, 2018",supreme court,patrick morrisey,Patrick Morrisey is the attorney general of West Virginia. Morrisey is running for the West Virginia U.S. Senate seat.,national,2,4,3,4,1,0,a radio interview,"""Ordinarily I would place real weight on procedural votes, such as adjournment and on the nuclear option precedent,"" he said, ""but I think there were extenuating circumstances, at least on the precedent vote, and the early public support for Gorsuch more than compensates for these procedural votes."" Morrisey said, ""If Joe Manchin had his way, Judge Gorsuch never would have been able to get a vote."" Manchin did side with Democrats on certain procedural votes during the showdown over Gorsuch. But he broadcast his support for a vote on Gorsuch early enough to persuade fence-sitters, and on the main votes, he broke ranks with his party, siding with Republicans to secure Gorsuch a vote and ultimately confirm him to the court. We rate the statement ."
18413,2,"Says that to help people in need during the coronavirus pandemic, Mike Garcia said: ""Everyone should have to figure out how to fend for themselves.","September 8, 2020",poverty;public health;coronavirus,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,california,1,1,8,14,8,9,an ad,"An ad using strong imagery on COVID-19 said Garcia said: ""Everyone should have to figure out how to fend for themselves."" Garcia made the remark about food stamps and other government programs, though the ad gives no indication of that, and that was months before the outbreak. Garcia has expressed opposition to federal safety net programs generally, saying he prefers private sector assistance. We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
10147,5,You can't build a Christian church in Saudi Arabia.,"April 8, 2015",islam;religion;punditfact,sean hannity,"Sean Hannity is a conservative political commentator and hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, as well as two television shows on the Fox News Channel. In a 2013 interview Hannity said that he is a “registered Conservative” and ”not a Republican, though people often mistake me for one.” Hannity has authored three books.",,5,2,4,5,14,1,a broadcast the Sean Hannity radio show,Hannity said that Saudi Arabia doesn’t allow Christian churches. That’s correct. The Saudi Arabian government’s policy bans the construction of churches. Saudi Arabia is an outlier among predominantly Muslim countries. Hannity’s  rates .
842,0,Nancy Pelosi wants a Windfall Tax on Retirement Income.,"January 12, 2009",taxes,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,Internet attack,"But there simply is not a shred of proof in the public record that Pelosi has ever advocated anything even remotely like the windfall tax described in these e-mails. In her letter she provided links to two other fact-checkers who have debunked these e-mails, Snopes.com and Truthorfiction.com. She might consider adding FactCheck.org — they took on this hoax on Jan. 14, 2009. And by all means, feel free to add us to the list. This chain e-mail, distinguished by its longevity and implausibility, is  ."
21849,0,"Quotes Sarah Palin as saying ""when Jesus celebrated Easter with his disciples there were no Easter bunnies or egg hunts.","August 21, 2022",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post shared a quote from Palin regarding Jesus celebrating Easter. Palin never said the quote and it came from a now-defunct satirical website meant to show her as being ill-informed of the holiday, since it’s a celebration of Jesus’s resurrection. We rate this !"
20398,0,"There is an ""epidemic of plane crashes linked to vaccine-related strokes in pilots.","October 17, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Rumble video,"As , the video cites a plane crash that killed two people in Santee, Calif. The National Transportation Safety Board told PolitiFact that the cause of the crash has not been established and that there is nothing to support the video’s claims.   The Federal Aviation Administration told PolitiFact that it has seen no  of aircraft accidents or pilot incapacitations caused by pilots suffering from medical complications involving COVID-19 vaccines.   The rate of aviation fatalities has reached a relative low point during the period COVID-19 vaccines have been available to the public.   We rate this  !"
20958,0,"Photo shows the freedom convoy in Canberra, Australia, with over 1.5 million cars.","February 14, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",national,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theater and other arts and sees an average of 200,000 attendees each year. Despite the Facebook post’s  of ""1.5 million cars,"" Australian police have estimated that the largest ""convoy to Canberra"" rallies have attracted around 10,000 people so far.   The photo was taken in a different country in a different year, and the 1.5 million figure is implausible for either event. It’s way larger than the festival’s average and nearly four times the population of Canberra.   !"
20435,0,The military raided Hunter Biden's home.,"October 25, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We have included this disclaimer for our protection, on the advice of legal counsel. ""  There’s no  that Biden’s California home was raided or that he was arrested. We searched online and looked for news reports of such a raid but found none. Most recently, media coverage has focused on Biden’s art show in New York City .   We rate this post !"
14154,4,African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote!,"January 8, 2018",economy;jobs,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump tweeted, ""African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote!"" He’s right about the low unemployment rates for both blacks and Hispanics today. But his slam that the Democrats ""did nothing"" in this regard is an exaggeration. Under Obama, the unemployment rate for both groups fell by more than half. We rate his statement ."
14650,1,"Says James Clapper said ""that the FBI was spying on (Trump's) campaign.","May 23, 2018",elections;legal issues,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said that Clapper had affirmed that the FBI had spied on the Trump campaign. That does not reflect Clapper’s words. In two separate interviews Clapper said that the FBI was looking for Russian interference in the election with the aim of protecting the campaign. He specifically said that the FBI had not spied on the campaign. Trump turned Clapper’s statements upside down and for that, we rate this  ."
4439,3,New Jersey's poverty rate has increased since this governor took office and the number of New Jerseyans without health insurance has risen.,"September 15, 2011",health care;poverty,stephen sweeney,State Senate President Stephen Sweeney is a Democrat representing Salem County and parts of Gloucester and Cumberland counties.,new jersey,2,1,3,1,2,0,a message on Facebook,"In a Facebook message, Sweeney said that since Christie took office, New Jersey has seen increases in its poverty rate and the number of people without health insurance. Those statistics are backed up by census data, but a state’s poverty rate is largely dependent on labor market conditions. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
21916,1,The U.S. & Elon Musk reveal new hypersonic jet to help Ukraine.,"September 6, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"In a September article in the Kyiv Independent, reporter Daryna Antoniuk wrote that among the Ukrainian military, Musk is ""often half-jokingly referred to as ‘Saint Elon.’"" But that’s because of Starlink, which ""keeps many Ukrainians, most importantly the military, online despite power outages and Russia’s on the country’s internet infrastructure. ""  We rate this post . RELATED: No credible reports indicate that Starlink was used in Russian ship attack"
8192,5,"Medicare costs have slowed down dramatically. In fact, the first two months of this fiscal year, Medicare costs were down even in nominal terms relative to the previous year.","December 15, 2013",federal budget;health care;medicare;punditfact,peter orszag,Peter Orszag is the former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama.,,1,0,0,0,1,0,"an interview on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Orszag said, ""Medicare costs have slowed down dramatically. In fact, the first two months of this fiscal year, Medicare costs were down even in nominal terms relative to the previous year."" He’s right about the nominal decline in total Medicare expenditures over the past year, and he’s right that per-beneficiary spending declined broadly between 2000 and 2010. Determining the reasons why it’s happening remains a work in progress, but that doesn’t detract from the statement’s factual accuracy. We rate it ."
19709,1,Michigan has requested a full forensic audit.,"May 9, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",michigan,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Cyber Ninjas, the company the Senate in Arizona hired to lead the audit there, is listed in court documents as an expert witness for the plaintiff in the Antrim County lawsuit. Among the documents filed in support of the lawsuit is an  report about the tabulators and an analysis that falsely claims an algorithm was used to manipulate election results there.   In December, the judge in this case allowed the plaintiff to have a third party conduct a forensic examination of the county’s voting equipment. A motion by an Antrim County commissioner to hire a third party to conduct a forensic audit of the county’s election results was tabled until a June meeting. We rate this post ."
1685,4,"Sue Lowden gave Harry Reid's campaigns a thousand dollars in five different elections, helping his Senate dreams come true.","May 5, 2010",bipartisanship;candidate biography;message machine 2010,danny tarkanian,"Danny Tarkanian is a Republican candidate for Nevada's 3rd Congressional District. The son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, Danny Tarkanian has mounted several unsuccesful bids for office over the past decade, including runs for U.S. Senate and Nevada Secretary of State.",national,0,1,1,1,0,0,a Nevada U.S. Senate race campaign commercial,"The campaign is counting primary and general election contributions as donations for separate elections. You could argue that this was actually support for three elections, not five. The ad also implies that this support helped Reid's ""rise to power,"" and obliquely hints that there was some sort of mutual benefit. There's not much in the record to support that. Still, because the statement we're checking here is about Lowden's campaign contributions, which are a matter of public record, we're rating this ."
19617,0,"Says LeBron James said, ""We're at the point where a girl can't even stab her friends anymore.","April 22, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims LeBron James said ""we’re at the point where a girl can’t even stab her friends anymore."" The quote was fabricated by a satirical website and then reshared without any indication it was intended as satire. We rate this post !"
10964,4,It takes almost a year for a refugee to be processed in the United States.,"November 15, 2015",terrorism,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,national,14,24,17,18,5,2,"comments on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Bush said, ""It takes almost a year for a refugee to be processed in the United States."" Bush actually gave the low estimate for how long the refugee admissions process takes. The worldwide average is between a year to a year and a half. For Syrian refugees, it takes two years on average. Bush’s overall point is correct, and his estimate is in the ballpark if even low. We rate his  ."
5490,5,The fastest-rising expense in the U.S. Defense Department is health care.,"April 11, 2012",health care;military,saxby chambliss,"Saxby Chambliss, a Republican, is a United States senator from Georgia",georgia,2,4,3,1,1,1,a speech,"Defense officials are proposing to cut health care costs by increasing health care fees, copays and deductibles for retirees. Any way you slice the numbers, it appears the senator’s  is based on some solid numbers. Health care spending was the fastest-rising cost over the most recent five years, Defense Department figures show. It is also projected to be the fastest-rising cost over the next five years. We rate this Chambliss  as ."
20393,3,"COVID-19 ""surges among most vaxxed communities, says Harvard study.","October 17, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a Facebook post,"The headline on a YouTube video suggested that vaccinations don’t help fight COVID-19, claiming that the disease ""surges among most vaxxed communities,"" according to a Harvard study. The study did find high rates of infection in communities with high rates of vaccination. But the conclusion was not that vaccinations are ineffective. It was that prevention measures such as testing and distancing should be employed along with vaccinations to fight the epidemic. The statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context. We rate it ."
12077,5,"Speakers at the Democratic National Convention made ""zero mentions of the global terrorist threat posed by ISIS.","July 25, 2016",terrorism,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,an email to reporters,"The Republican National Committee said speakers at the Democratic National Convention made ""zero mentions of the global terrorist threat posed by ISIS."" While Clinton took the opportunity to bring up the topic at an appearance in Charlotte on the same day, the email accurately reflects what was said -- or more precisely, not said -- from the podium in Philadelphia. We rate the statement ."
2074,2,"A bill to aid state and local governments ""is fully paid-for by closing costly corporate tax loopholes.","August 10, 2010",children;education;families;federal budget;health care;states;stimulus;taxes,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,a news release,"In addition, the fact sheet sent to reporters by Pelosi's office cited the food stamp cuts. So while Pelosi's release was correct in saying the bill was ""fully paid-for,"" it was  to simply say that came from ""costly corporate tax loopholes"" (though it wouldn't have had much Democratic appeal if she'd added ""and cuts to food stamps."") In reality, not even a majority of the money is from corporate tax provisions. If Pelosi had said this during a fast-paced television interview, we'd be willing to cut her some slack, but this description came from a press release written by her office, so they had ample time and space to explain all of the bill's provisions, as they had in fact done in other contexts. So we rate the statement ."
21296,1,A Reddit post shows a parent admitting to forcing their child to continue transitioning by sneaking hormone medication.,"April 12, 2022",lgbtq,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,national,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,A Reddit post appears to show a transgender parent admitting to forcing their child to continue transitioning by sneaking hormone medication. The post isn’t legitimate. The subreddit thread it was shared on was created so people could roleplay as transgender parents to promote fabricated abusive practices and hatred of transgender people.  We rate this  .
6941,5,"Says, ""Since 1994 when VAWA was first passed, incidents of domestic violence have dropped more than 50 percent.","February 7, 2013",congress;women,jeff merkley,Jeff Merkley is a Democratic senator from Oregon. He was elected in 2008. Merkley won his first campaign for the Oregon Legislature as a representative in 1998. He was elected Democratic leader in 2003 and speaker of the House in 2007. He studied international relations at Stanford University and earned a graduate degree in public policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.,oregon,5,6,3,0,1,0,a press call,"Surveys by the American Bar Association and other independent groups had similar findings. That’s a lot of scholarship and paper, sponsored, collected and analyzed by federal and independent researchers. And while the results don’t perfectly align, all agree that the incidence of domestic abuse has dropped by more than 50 percent since the Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994. You can quibble about the minor differences but not the accuracy of Merkley’s statement. We rate this : ."
21269,1,"Leftist justice reform"" is the reason that the NYC subway shooting suspect wasn't in jail at the time of the attack.","April 13, 2022",crime;facebook fact-checks;new york,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims ""leftist justice reform"" is the reason that James wasn’t in jail before the subway attack. There is no  that recent criminal justice reform efforts by prosecutors had any impact on whether James was in custody. His previous arrests occurred decades ago, well before these initiatives were introduced. We rate this .  RELATED: No, the Brooklyn subway shooting was not a  flag attack   PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. "
4639,3,"By fiscal year 2013, the state is expected to wipe through [HOPE scholarship] reserve funds.","November 18, 2011",education,stacey evans,"Stacey Evans, a Democrat, is a state representative from the Smyrna area.",georgia,1,2,1,0,0,0,an op-ed,"Evans believes the state should lower the percentage of how low the reserve fund in relation to actual revenues could be before officials are prohibited from dipping into it to help pay for the HOPE program. We better understand the lawmaker’s point about the potential inability to draw from the reserve fund, but it takes some work to get there. We believe her initial statement can confuse anyone who reads the commission’s most recent report and sees $420 million projected in the account by fiscal year 2013. Her statement is technically accurate, but it needs some additional information. We rate it ."
1245,3,"We've created or saved up to 1.6 million jobs, according to the CBO -- the Congressional Budget Office -- through the Recovery Act.","December 9, 2009",economy;stimulus,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a speech,"Had the CBO report concluded the jobs saved or created were somewhere between, say, 1.4 million and 1.6 million, we might have been more inclined to rate Obama's statement better. But the CBO's projected range is huge. The high end -- 1.6 million -- is nearly triple the low end. And so in this case, we think it's  to only cite the top end. We rate his statement ."
11161,0,Donald Trump is appealing as much to Democrats as he is to Republicans.,"January 12, 2016",polls and public opinion;pundits;punditfact,mike rogers,"Mike Rogers is a Republican from Michigan who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015, including a stint as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. A former FBI special agent, he is now a national security commentator for CNN.",,1,2,1,1,1,1,a roundtable discussion on CNN,"CNN commentator and former congressman Mike Rogers said, ""Donald Trump is appealing as much to Democrats as he is to Republicans."" A January 2016 Fox News poll found Trump was nine times more popular among Republicans than Democrats, when matched up against Clinton. A December 2015 Quinnipiac poll found that the billionaire was 20 times more popular. Rogers, in contrast, cited one survey that didn't even poll people who said they leaned Democrat and another that found Democrat support for Trump was only about one quarter of what it was among Republicans. The relevant numbers render Roger's assertion . We rate it  !"
2536,2,"In Congress Tom Barrett voted to allow abortions through the ninth month, just moments before the baby is born.","October 22, 2010",abortion;message machine 2010,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a campaign TV ad,"The ban focused on a particular abortion method and was not tied to the gestation period of the fetus. Walker’s ad -- which makes no reference to the partial-birth issue -- makes it sound as if Barrett was voting in favor of Roe vs. Wade. Partial-birth abortions, even by the account of abortion opponents, were  limited to second trimester and earlier -- not commonly done in the ""moments before the baby is born."" While the two sides cannot agree on how common ninth-month abortions were then -- or now -- there is an element of  to the statement: Barrett twice took a position that arguably blocked a narrowing of abortions, some of which could occur late. We rate Walker’s  ."
19491,2,"Says there was a ""28% increase in children to the border in my administration"" and ""31% … in 2019."" The increase in migration in January, February and March ""happens every year.","March 25, 2021",immigration;border security;homeland security,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a press conference,"Biden is  about the increase in children’s arrivals during his administration — it’s 63%, more than twice what he said. His figure for 2019 was roughly accurate. Biden is correct that rising border apprehensions in February and March are part of a seasonal pattern, but his  ignores that the total number of encounters this year is likely to be the highest in 20 years. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
23139,1,Recent wildfires in California were planned to clear land for a high-speed rail system.,"June 8, 2023",fires;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",california,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"It’s  that California is trying to build a high-speed rail system that spans San Francisco and Sacramento to Los Angeles and San Diego, but only a 117-mile ""starter"" line connecting some cities in the middle of the state is supposed to be completed by 2030 (and few expect construction to meet that deadline, according to The New York Times .) More importantly, there’s no  to support claims that wildfires have been started in California — then or now — to make way for tracks. Rather, a peer-reviewed study published June 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the recent surge in catastrophic wildfires in the state is almost entirely caused by climate change . That means baseless claims they were caused by laser weapons are out, too.   We rate this post ."
22925,1,Israel is banning Christianity.,"April 20, 2023",israel;religion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook video,"Gafni said he does not intend to advance the legislation, The Associated Press reported . He introduced the bill as a procedural matter, as he has done in the past. Additionally, Netanyahu has spoken out against the bill, saying he would prevent it from passing. ""We will not advance any law against the Christian community,"" Netanyahu tweeted in March. We rate the  that Israel is banning Christianity ."
5344,5,This is the only state in the country that bypassed the General Assembly to authorize [in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants].,"March 26, 2012",immigration;education;states,doreen costa,"Doreen Costa, who is also active in the Tea Party, has been a State Representative since 2011. ",rhode island,1,0,0,0,1,0,a radio talk show,"State Rep. Doreen Costa said that Rhode Island is the only state that decided to allow in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants without enacting a law first. The Rhode Island Board of Governors made the move as a matter of policy. In the dozen other states that offer reduced tuition to undocumented students it is a matter of law. State Rep. Grace Diaz has once again submitted a bill to write the policy into law. But until her legislation passes, the Ocean State will stand alone on this issue. We rule Costa’s statement . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
8307,2,"Rick Scott's Administration spent over $100,000 of taxpayer money during their first voter purge attempt in 2012.","January 20, 2014",elections,florida for all,"Florida for All, a frequent critic of Republican Gov. Rick Scott, is a group that is funded in part by the Democratic Governors Association.",florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,,"Florida for All said in a press release, ""Rick Scott’s Administration spent over $100,000 of taxpayer money during their first voter purge attempt in 2012."" The number comes from a May 2012 news story. The amount based on 50 cent charge per search for using SAVE and multiplied times 180,000 names on a list of potential noncitizens. But months later the state abandoned its effort long before it got to checking all of those names. We can’t fully account for the state’s costs; for example, we can’t account for the time that government employees worked on the project. But we do know the state spent a total of about $52,000, largely for litigation and to use SAVE data. The group wrongly used a source that was based on initial information about the state’s project and did not reflect the total cost months later, resulting in a total that was about double the best number we could nail down. We rate this  ."
175,3,"Barack Obama's health care plan ""would leave 15 million Americans out.","November 15, 2007",health care,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"Las Vegas, Nev.","But with no mandate, some people would inevitably go without coverage. But how many? Clinton says 15 million; health care experts it's impossible to come up with a reliable number without more details on Obama's plan. Clinton's 15 million number could be a reasonable estimate -- it's 30 percent of those currently without insurance -- but it's at best a guess. For that we reason, we rate her  ."
18861,0,System 'Glitch' ... In Wisconsin - Reversal of Swapped Votes Removes Lead from Joe Biden.,"November 9, 2020",elections,eric trump,Eric Trump is the second son of President Donald Trump and his former wife Ivana Trump. He is the executive vice president of the Trump Organization.,wisconsin,0,0,0,1,1,3,a tweet,"Eric Trump claimed on Twitter that a glitch uncovered in Rock County removes Biden’s lead in Wisconsin. But there was no glitch in the election system. And there’s no ""gotcha"" moment or  that will move votes over to President Trump’s column. The presidential totals were transposed for several minutes due to a data entry error by the Associated Press, without any involvement by election officials. The votes were counted following standard procedures by the Rock County Clerk’s Office and show Biden winning the county by a margin of more than 9,000 votes. We rate this  !"
12277,4,"Says Hillary Clinton ""is the one that labeled African-American youth as 'superpredators.'","August 28, 2016",crime,reince priebus,"Reince Priebus was the first chief of staff to President Donald Trump, replaced by John Kelly in July 2017. Priebus was previously chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post he assumed in 2011. He is also the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He was an unsuccessful Wisconsin state Senate candidate in 2004. He is a Kenosha, Wis., native and lawyer.",national,1,3,9,2,14,1,an interview during NBC's Meet the Press,"Priebus said Hillary Clinton is ""the the one that labeled African-American youth as superpredators."" Clinton — in the midst of championing her husband’s 1994 crime legislation — did use the term ""superpredator"" when referring to ""gangs of kids."" She did not specifically label superpredators as African-American, but the context of her speech and her subsequent apology decades later suggests it was a reasonable inference. Priebus’  is accurate, but needs some clarification, so for that reason we rate his statement ."
5421,4,Large phone companies and their trade association have hired 35 registered lobbyists to influence and pass SB 271 (deregulation legislation).,"March 26, 2012",government regulation,aarp,"AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization active on issues that impact people age 50 and over.
The organization, based in Washington, D.C., also has offices in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.",ohio,0,1,0,0,0,0,a news release,"They acknowledged they might have double counted a handful of lobbyists, but PolitiFact Ohio actually found some they missed and ended up tallying 36 who work for large telephone companies. These companies have staffs who lobby on their behalf all the time and these people weren’t hired just for this specific piece of legislation. That is apparent given that  the companies had 33 lobbyists in January 2011, long before the legislation was being considered. That’s a point of clarification. On the -O-Meter, AARP’s  rates . "
16440,1,"In 1789, being a member of Congress in the U.S. was considered a civic duty, and they were only paid 50 cents a day.","August 30, 2019",congress;history;income;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"When it comes to calculating what that amount would translate to in today’s dollars, it’s a bit more complicated. That’s because there are no official inflation numbers going that far back. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI inflation calculator only goes back to 1913.   This post undershoots how much members of the first U.S Congress were paid and there is no official source for translating 1789 U.S. currency into today’s dollars.   We rate this  ."
23332,1,Photos show children wearing satanic clothing and participating in a satanic club.,"July 19, 2023",children;education;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook reel,"According to the group’s website, the After School Satan Club is ""not interested in converting children to Satanism,"" but in providing ""a safe and inclusive alternative"" to religious clubs at public schools. Students involved in the club make toys for animals in shelters, write letters to children in hospitals and play educational games, Lisabeth Burkhardt, The Satanic Temple’s assistant to executive ministry, told PolitiFact in May . ""The AI images have no resemblance to anything at SatanCon or The Satanic Temple at large and certainly not our after-school program,"" Burkhardt said. ""We do not believe in the existence of Satan, and we do not champion evil."" We rate the  that these photos depict children participating in satanic rituals at school ."
8408,2,"Social Security was advocated … in the 1930s as a way of getting people to quit working, because they thought we were confined to a permanent scarcity of jobs in this country.","February 9, 2014",economy;history;poverty;social security;workers;punditfact,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,,10,5,3,7,7,1,"a roundtable discussion on ""Fox News Sunday""","Will said, ""Social Security was advocated … in the 1930s as a way of getting people to quit working, because they thought we were confined to a permanent scarcity of jobs in this country."" The idea that old-age pensions would transition older Americans out of the labor market and usher in younger, unemployed workers was a goal of the Townsend Plan (and of some other Roosevelt policies). But judging both by its design and by the rhetoric used to sell it, Roosevelt’s Social Security Act was targeted more at alleviating poverty among the elderly than at shaping the demographics of the labor market. On balance, we rate the  . *** EDITOR’S NOTE , Feb. 12, 2014: After we published this fact-check, a reader pointed us to an April 28, 1935, ""fireside chat"" by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that seemed to provide clearer support for George Will’s . Roosevelt said, ""The program for social security now pending before the Congress is a necessary part of the future unemployment policy of the government. … It proposes, by means of old age pensions, to help those who have reached the age of retirement to give up their jobs and thus give to the younger generation greater opportunities for work and to give to all a feeling of security as they look toward old age."" When we showed this statement to a couple of the historians we had originally interviewed, they acknowledged that it was an unusually clear statement on Roosevelt’s part, but they added that it is an exception within the documentary record. ""Promoting retirement was a minor goal at best of the old-age parts of the legislation,"" said University of California-Irvine sociologist Edwin Amenta. Historian Jeff Shesol cited ""the near-absence of this argument, not only in Roosevelt’s many remarks over the years but also in the internal deliberations, as recounted by multiple participants, over the Social Security framework."" Since our original analysis had already acknowledged that transitioning older workers out of the labor force was ""part of the story"" of Social Security -- just not the main part -- we are sticking to our ruling of ."
6664,3,"Says under President Barack Obama, the United States has created ""five million jobs.","November 4, 2012",jobs,robert menendez,"Robert Menendez, a Democrat, has been serving as one of New Jersey's U.S. Senators since January 2006. Menendez previously served as a member of the House of Representatives.",new jersey,4,3,2,1,3,0,a campaign rally,"At two campaign rallies leading up to the election, Menendez claimed that under Obama, the United States has created ""five million jobs."" That’s only  if you’re talking about private-sector job growth since February 2010. When you factor in public-sector job losses and start counting at different points during Obama’s first year in office, the employment picture is far from what Menendez claimed. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
19318,1,"The reality"" in Texas is that ""you're flying helicopters, using fossil fuels, to put oil on wind turbines to defrost them.","February 19, 2021",energy;pundits;facebook fact-checks;punditfact,lara logan,"Lara Logan is a host for Fox Nation. She was previously a correspondent for CBS News, and after that for Sinclair Broadcast Group.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a TV segment,"Logan said, ""The reality is here (in Texas) that you’re flying helicopters using fossil fuels to put oil on wind turbines to defrost them."" Logan’s  resembled debunked claims that said an image showed a helicopter spraying chemicals on a wind turbine in Texas. The image was actually taken years ago in Sweden. Aircraft-based sprays are one way to manually defrost turbines that haven’t been winterized, but experts we consulted said they hadn’t heard of that practice being used in Texas. One company that runs several wind farms in Texas said it isn’t using helicopters to spray oil on its turbines. The burden of proof is on the speaker, and Logan provided none. We rate her  ."
1012,4,Forty-five percent of Americans went without needed care because of costs in 2007.,"July 28, 2009",health care,bill pascrell,Bill Pascrell is Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey.,national,0,4,4,0,3,0,a speech on the House floor,"Still, we do not believe these problems detract in any serious way from the congressman’s , but they are worth noting. These are the most recent numbers available from Commonwealth — and it’s hard to imagine that the rates of access problems would have dropped precipitously since the 2007 poll was taken. Back then, the national unemployment rate was averaging 4.7 percent. Today, it’s almost twice that. We rate this  by Pascrell to be ."
11825,4,Polls show Bernie Sanders would do better than Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head battle against Donald Trump.,"May 23, 2016",elections,georgians for bernie sanders for president,Georgia FB group,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,Facebook post,"A pro-Sanders Facebook group in Georgia said polls indicate Bernie Sanders would do better than Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head battle with Donald Trump. Major polls support that contention. But it’s difficult to say what the polls mean at this stage of the election cycle, when Sanders -- a relative unknown on the national stage -- is theoretically pitted against two well-known personalities, each with substantial baggage. That’s important context when looking at the numbers. We rate the statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/6ea583f3-d5b4-48c9-8437-fda465c0798f"
10846,0,Says CNN deleted an online poll showing Bernie Sanders won the first Democratic presidential debate to help out Hillary Clinton.,"October 15, 2015",polls and public opinion;punditfact,nowthis,NowThis is a New York-based company that aims to share news via social media in short clips of GIFs and videos for largely mobile users.,,0,0,0,0,1,1,a video shared on social media,"Sanders supporters are free to disagree with analysis by journalists and pundits of who won the Democratic debate. What isn’t up for debate, however, is the fact that CNN did not delete its poll of Facebook users, who overwhelmingly said Sanders won the debate. It’s still on a Facebook page managed by CNN. We rate the  . We've updated this fact-check to account for some of the issues we've heard from users about opening the links. Some of our links were not working on some readers' mobile devices."
5213,4,They're paying a less rate of tax -- these richest people in America -- than they have in the last 80 years.,"February 13, 2012",wealth;taxes,steve rothman,Steven R. Rothman served as a Democratic congressman representing parts of northern New Jersey between January 1997 and January 2013. He left office after losing a primary election to Rep. Bill Pascrell.,new jersey,1,1,0,1,2,1,a campaign video posted on YouTube,"In a YouTube video, Rothman claimed the wealthiest Americans are paying a lower tax rate ""than they have in the last 80 years."" We looked at two measures -- the top statutory income tax rates and taxes paid as a percentage of one’s income. In both cases, Rothman’s statement is slightly off, but his overall point about current income tax rates is solid. The top statutory rate is lower now than during most of the last eight decades, and the top 1 percent of households were paying a smaller percentage of their income in federal income taxes as of 2007 than in nearly all of the previous 28 years. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
12139,2,"Says Sen. Pat Toomey ""even tried to shut down the federal government in order to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.","July 29, 2016",congress,majority forward,PAC affiliated with Senate Majority PAC,pennsylvania,0,0,0,1,1,0,In a political ad,"With Republicans calling to defund Planned Parenthood last year, a federal spending plan was pushed to the brink. Had a plan not passed before Oct. 1, the government would have shut down like it did in 2013. On September 30, a few days after voting for a failed spending bill that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, Senator Pat Toomey voted no on a final spending bill overwhelmingly approved by the Senate. So Toomey voted against a bill that averted a government shutdown. By doing so, he didn’t do the same thing as try to ""shut down the government,"" as Majority Forward claims. We rate the statement ."
8473,3,"More than 80 percent of Georgians don't support legislation to ease gun restrictions in houses of worship, in bars and on campuses.","February 18, 2014",guns,mary margaret oliver,"Mary Margaret Oliver, a Democrat, is a state representative whose district includes portions of Decatur, Ga. A native of DeKalb County, Ga., she was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1987 and has also served in the Georgia Senate.",georgia,1,0,1,0,0,0,a meeting,"Most of the polling data we reviewed shows a majority of Georgians oppose firearms in houses of worship or on college campuses. But there’s not much data that we saw that surpasses the 80 percent mark. Oliver’s overall point that most Georgians oppose firearms in bars, on campus or in houses of worship is on the mark. But her specific percentage is too high, and she used the number to pursue a specific political point. We rate Oliver’s  ."
5583,4,"There are ""49 different federal job training programs that report to eight agencies.","May 16, 2012",education;jobs,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,"St. Petersburg, Fla","Romney said that there are ""49 different federal job training programs that report to eight agencies."" The most recent comprehensive report we found on the matter found 47 job training programs under nine agencies. Also, a smaller subset of agencies account for a majority of spending on job training and number of people served. We rate Romney’s statement .   Update:  This report has been updated to include a response we received from the Romney campaign. "
15196,2,"After Hurricane Hermine struck Tallahassee, ""utility companies lined up trucks to restore power. But as mayor, Andrew Gillum refused help from workers.","October 4, 2018",city government;natural disasters ,republican party of florida,The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.,florida,2,6,6,12,10,4,an ad,"The Republican Party of Florida said after a hurricane struck Tallahassee, ""utility companies lined up trucks to restore power. But as mayor, Andrew Gillum refused help from workers."" The city of Tallahassee turned down an offer from Florida Power and Light to help restore power to residents after Hurricane Hermine in 2016. In Tallahassee, the mayor isn’t the chief executive of the city like he or she would be in New York, Boston or Tampa. So in the case of storm response, decisions didn’t ultimately fall to Gillum. They were made by the city’s general manager of utilities. Despite what the ad claims, the city accepted help from multiple outside utility companies to help restore power in Tallahassee. The  from the Republican Party of Florida has only an element of  but distorts the facts to give viewers the  impression. We rate this statement ."
5424,5,Congress as a whole is less popular than it's been since polling was invented.,"March 20, 2012",congress;polls and public opinion,jim cooper,Jim Cooper has represented the 5th Congressional District -- esssentially Nashville -- since 2003. He previously served as representative of the 4th Congressional District from 1983 to 1995. He is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of more fiscally conservative Democrats.,tennessee,1,0,0,0,0,0,The Hill,"At least four recent polls put Congress’ approval rating at record or near-record lows. Even in those cases where the most recent approval rating is not the lowest on record, the difference between the most recent and the lowest ratings is just 1 percentage point. Thus, Cooper’s statement turns the dial to  on the -o-Meter.  "
3688,5,"Says this month's special session will cost the state $27,300 a day just for legislators' daily living expenses.","May 30, 2011",,jason isaac,"Jason Isaac was initially elected in 2010 to represent District 45 in the Texas House. He's a 2018 candidate for the U.S. House seat to be vacated by Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.",texas,1,0,1,3,0,1,a tweet,"But after the commission proposed authorizing the same rate members of the 2011 Legislature, Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus called for the rate to be lowered to $150 in a Nov. 29, 2010 letter stating the move would help the state tighten overall spending. Do lawmakers ever pass up the per diem? Patsy Spaw, the Senate secretary, told us that no senators have declined the payments since 2003 when Senate Democrats fled to New Mexico to impede the passage of redistricting legislation. Steven Adrian, executive director of the House Business Office, told us no representatives have submitted a request to withhold or reduce per diem payments this session. Isaac’s statement adds up to ."
2507,2,"Says he ""stood up to his own party by voting against the budget to stop runaway government spending.","October 22, 2010",message machine 2010;state budget,jim sullivan,"Jim Sullivan, a Democrat, was elected to the Wisconsin state Senate in 2006 and was defeated for re-election in 2010. He represented the 5th District in the Milwaukee area. He ran unsuccessfully in the nonpartisan 2011 race for Milwaukee County executive.",wisconsin,0,0,2,1,2,0,campaign literature distributed to district residents,"So let’s review. Sullivan is telling voters in a campaign mailing that he ""stood up to his own party by voting against the budget to stop runaway government spending."" He was the only Senate Democrat to vote against the 2009-’11 state budget, which raised taxes and spending. But Sullivan’s vote didn’t threaten his party’s effort to pass the budget, he made no attempt to reduce spending in the plan and, on the previous budget and a budget repair bill, he voted with fellow Democrats to raise spending. We rate his statement ."
13656,1,"Untaxed corporate earnings used to be ""$2.5 trillion … I guess it's $5 trillion now. Whatever it is, it's a lot more. So we have anywhere from 4 (trillion) to 5 or even more trillions of dollars sitting offshore.","July 25, 2017",corporations;taxes,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview,"Trump described untaxed corporate earnings in overseas accounts as growing monumentally, from around $2.5 trillion to ""anywhere from 4 (trillion) to 5 or even more trillions of dollars sitting offshore."" The highest reported number of offshore earnings is $2.8 trillion. That could be off by a couple hundred billion dollars due to undisclosed untaxed earnings. But experts agreed the discrepancy could not add up to Trump’s $4 trillion or $5 trillion estimate. Business optimism and altered definitions of untaxed revenue couldn’t bridge that gap either. We rate this statement ."
12349,2,"California's Prop 55 ""prevents $4 billion in new cuts to our schools.","August 23, 2016",education,yes on 55,"The Yes on 55 campaign supports Proposition 55, a measure on the November 2016 ballot that would extend California's higher income tax rate to pay for schools.",california,0,0,0,1,0,0,a television advertisement,"The Yes on 55 campaign claimed in recent ads that ""Prop 55 prevents $4 billion in new cuts to our schools."" There would certainly be less money for schools if the tax extension fails. But the advertisements say nothing about the fact that Prop 30 was a temporary measure, and that its revenue was not promised forever. Nor do they mention that school budgets will continue to go up for several years until the Prop 30 revenue runs out after 2018. Supporters of 55 point to an estimated $4 billion school funding deficit by the 2019-2020 fiscal year, if the measure fails. They also cite a separate $4 billion operating shortfall for all its services by the same year. Another respected financial outlook, however, projects a $2 billion operating surplus for California that same year. That estimate paints a very different picture. If the ads had said Prop 55’s failure could lead to eventual school funding hardships, years from now, they would have been more accurate. But they leave the impression that the measure’s failure will lead to deep school cuts much sooner. And that’s not the case. We rate the Yes on 55  .    – The statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/fff84dad-ab0e-433a-a7ed-7bf75520d788"
6843,5,"In total, we have added nearly 75,000 private sector jobs in New Jersey since we took office in January 2010.","January 8, 2013",economy;jobs,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,State of the State address,"Christie said during his State of the State address, ""In total, we have added nearly 75,000 private sector jobs in New Jersey since we took office in January 2010."" If measured from January 2010, New Jersey’s job growth  through November 2012 (December jobs figures didn’t come out until Thursday) was 66,700 jobs. Measured from February 2010 – Christie’s first full month in office – the net private-sector gains are 72,300 jobs. The numbers only get better. After the release of December’s job figures, New Jersey’s net private-sector job growth since January 2010 is 97,600 jobs. From February 2010, it’s 103,200 jobs. We rate the governor’s statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
10084,1,"More than 7,000 Americans lost their lives to climate change-fueled events last year.","March 4, 2015",environment;climate change,don beyer,"Donald S. Beyer Jr. is the Democratic nominee for 8th District congressional seat Democrat in Northern Virginia. The seat has been occupied since 1992 by Democrat Jim Moran, who is not seeking reelection.
Beyer served two terms as Virginia's lieutenant governor from 1990 to 1998. He ran for governor in 1997 and lost to Republican Jim Gilmore. From 2009 to 2013, he was ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.  
Beyer and his younger brother, Michael, are the owners of nine car dealerships in Northern Virginia.
Beyer was born in 1950 in Trieste, Italy, the son of a U.S. Army officer. He was raised in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Williams College, magna cum laude, with a degree in economics.
 ",virginia,1,4,1,1,2,0,an op-ed,"Beyer wrote, ""More than 7,000 Americans lost their lives to climate change-fueled events last year."" The congressman lacks documentation and admits he got his facts . That makes our work easy: We rate Beyer’s statement ."
14621,4,"Says Cecile Richards recently said there's room in ""her movement"" for people who personally believe abortion is wrong.","May 11, 2018",abortion,andrew white,"Andrew White, a businessman whose father, Mark, served as governor of Texas from 1983 through 1986, seeks the 2018 Democratic nomination for governor.",texas,0,2,1,0,1,0,a Democratic gubernatorial debate,"White said that Richards said there’s room in ""her movement"" for people who personally believe abortion is . White accurately echoed what Richards told MSNBC -- that a person can be pro-life and also understand that government shouldn’t make abortion decisions for all women. But White left out that Richards doesn’t think White has consistently showed strong support for women’s health and rights. That's vital clarification. We rate this debate statement .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
11223,3,"Americans ""are working longer hours for low wages . . . and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent.","February 4, 2016",economy;income;workers,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a Democratic debate on MSNBC,"Sanders said Americans ""are working longer hours for low wages ... and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent."" The issues are whether Americans are working longer hours -- on average, they're not -- and whether ""almost all"" new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. A lot of it has, but not ""almost all."" If Sanders were to argue that a disproportionate amount of income and wealth is going to the very richest Americans, he'd be right on the money. But he's over-exaggerating. We rate this  ."
19675,0,"Says Kentucky Derby jockey John Velazquez turned down an invitation to the White House and said, ""if I wanted to see a horse's ass I would of came in second.","May 2, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We reached out to Ron Anderson, an agent who represents Velazquez. He told us that Velazquez hasn’t been invited to the White House and didn’t make the statement that’s being attributed to him on social media. ""He wouldn’t say something like that in a million zillion years,"" Anderson said.   Searching online, we didn’t find any  to the contrary.   We rate this post !"
13069,4,"Says Scott Walker is proposing to add 485 employees ""in the category of supervisor and management"" to his Department of Administration.","February 20, 2017",labor;state budget,kathleen vinehout,"Democrat Kathleen Vinehout is a Wisconsin state senator from Alma, in western Wisconsin. The former university professor and dairy farmer was elected to the Senate in 2006 and re-elected in 2010. She ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to run against Gov. Scott Walker in the gubernatorial recall election in 2012.",wisconsin,0,3,2,2,1,0,an interview,"But it’s also  that if the Legislature goes along with Walker’s plan, those employees would be more directly under his control. Our rating In sounding alarms about Walker’s budget, Vinehout says the governor is proposing to add 485 positions ""in the category of supervisor and management"" to his Department of Administration. Vinehout is correct on the number and, technically, they are ""in the category"" of supervisor and management. But while they are involved in the supervision and management of human resource activities, the vast majority are not actually in supervisory or management positions. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is ."
5146,3,"Since President Obama took full control of Washington,"" every day, 13,000 more people ""have been put on food stamps.","January 25, 2012",economy;message machine 2012;poverty,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,national,4,5,9,20,14,9,an advertisement,"The NRCC ad is right on the number of additional Americans using food stamps during Obama’s time in office. But it’s  to suggest that Obama’s ""full control of Washington"" -- to the extent he even had full control -- was to blame. The broader economic cycle and changes in how the program is administered have had a major impact as well. On balance, we rate the  ."
15181,1,"Says a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill ""would give a free pass to any illegal immigrant who brings a child to the border.","September 13, 2018",immigration;corrections and updates,josh hawley,Josh Hawley took office as U.S. Senator from Missouri in 2019. Hawley previously served as Missouri’s Attorney General. ,national,1,4,1,8,1,0,a foxnews.com op-ed,"Hawley said McCaskill backed a bill that ""would give a free pass to any illegal immigrant who brings a child to the border."" The bill in question takes no such measure. Undocumented immigrants are not afforded any new protections from prosecution under the bill; it seeks to stop the separation of immigrant children from their families or guardians. The thinking behind Hawley’s charge against McCaskill has been echoed by Republican officials throughout the country. That doesn’t make it more right. We rate the statement . Update, Oct. 6, 11:30p.m.:  The article has been updated to add context to two sources, Leon Fresco and Matt Barreto. "
3424,1,Says Gov. Rick Scott's approval ratings are up.,"April 15, 2011",polls and public opinion;pundits,brian kilmeade,"Brian Kilmeade serves as co-host of FOX News Channel’s live morning news program, “Fox & Friends,""  the No. 1 cable morning program. Immediately after “Fox & Friends”, Kilmeade hosts “Kilmeade and Friends,” a nationally syndicated three hour radio show on FOX News Radio. Additionally, he is the network’s sports reporter covering breaking national sports stories and major sporting events.",florida,0,0,0,0,3,1,comments on 'Fox and Friends',"I ran to make sure this state is most likely to succeed,"" he said. Kilmeade, on Fox and Friends , said Scott's approval numbers are going up. Not according to the publicly available poll numbers we found. We rate this  . Updated to include Viewpoint Florida poll result."
22137,1,California is registering non-citizens to vote and has refused to cooperate with the Federal Election Integrity Program.,"October 6, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post shared a link to an image claiming California is allowing noncitizens to vote and refusing to cooperate with the ""Federal Election Integrity Program."" The  appears to be based on misinformation involving a 2018 San Francisco law that allowed noncitizens to vote in local school board elections but was struck down as unconstitutional in July.  Noncitizens were also mistakenly registered to vote through a Department of Motor Vehicles mix-up in 2018, but state officials were able to fix the issue before that year’s midterm elections. California does not allow noncitizens to vote in elections. Eligible voters must be 18, U.S. citizens and California residents.  We rate this  .  "
12356,1,"Says Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has ""ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.","August 23, 2016",foreign policy;religion;terrorism,sean duffy,"Sean Duffy is a Republican member of the U.S. House, representing Wisconsin's 7th District in the northwestern part of the state. The former Ashland County district attorney was elected In November 2010, taking the seat previously held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Obey of Wausau.",wisconsin,0,2,8,6,3,3,an interview,"And we’ve found no  to support Duffy’s , either. Our rating Duffy says Clinton aide Huma Abedin has ""ties to the Muslim Brotherhood."" Duffy made the  in the context of stories in the presidential campaign that get relatively little media coverage. But he cited no  to back his statement, and we couldn’t find any. We rate his statement ."
13224,5,There are no federal or state laws that say prosecutors must seek death sentences. And the United States Supreme Court has banned all state laws that make executions mandatory for murders.,"April 4, 2017",death penalty;legal issues;states,randolph bracy,Randolph Bracy served in the Florida House of Representatives between 2012-2016 and was elected to the Florida Senate in 2016. His district consists of parts of Orange County.,florida,1,1,0,0,0,0,a New York Times op-ed,"Bracy wrote, ""There are no federal or state laws that say prosecutors must seek death sentences. And the United States Supreme Court has banned all state laws that make executions mandatory for murders."" Ayala, the Orlando-area prosecutor, has been criticized by some people for refusing to pursue the death penalty in any case. But the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear for decades that it is unconstitutional to require prosecutors to seek the death penalty in any case. We rate this  ."
17401,1,Even Fairfax County doesn't pay the kind of (school administration) salaries that Richmond is paying right now.,"March 3, 2020",city budget;county budget;education,kim gray,"Kim Gray represents the Second District on Richmond's City Council. She was elected the the seat in 2016. Prior to that, she served eight years on the Richmond School Board. In 2020, Gray announced she would run for mayor against incumbent Levar Stoney.",virginia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a radio interview,"Gray, in complaining about what she sees as the high pay of top Richmond school officials, said, ""even Fairfax doesn’t pay the kind of salaries Richmond is paying."" That suggests Richmond administrators are taking home bigger checks than their Fairfax counterparts. That’s what Gray told us she thought, and it’s . Actually, they’re taking home 20 percent less pay. If Gray, in the future, wants to compare the pay of school administrators adjusted for cost of living, she should specify that. But as for the comment she made, it’s .  "
12885,1,"Says Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's email password was ""password.","January 8, 2017",elections;crime;foreign policy;technology,reince priebus,"Reince Priebus was the first chief of staff to President Donald Trump, replaced by John Kelly in July 2017. Priebus was previously chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post he assumed in 2011. He is also the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He was an unsuccessful Wisconsin state Senate candidate in 2004. He is a Kenosha, Wis., native and lawyer.",wisconsin,1,3,9,2,14,1,an interview,"→ Among the cyber analysts examining the phishing emails used to infiltrate Podesta’s and others’ accounts, none have made similar claims. → Podesta was using a Gmail account, and Google doesn’t allow users to make their passwords password . Our rating Repeating a  that originated with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, Priebus said the email password of Podesta, Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, was password . His  is catchy, but we’ve seen no material  to back it. Our rating is ."
14120,4,"Wisconsin's state court agency ""basically"" has rented the same office space across from the Capitol ""since 1974.","December 15, 2017",infrastructure,matt adamczyk,Republican Matt Adamczyk was elected Wisconsin state treasurer in 2014.,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview,"Adamczyk hasn’t spelled out where in a state-owned building the courts agency might go, what the savings might be and what other issues would come with owning rather than renting. As part of a separate branch of government, the courts agency generally has the authority to choose its own office space, Michels said. Our rating Railing against the state leasing office space as being too expensive, Adamczyk says the state courts agency ""basically"" has rented the same office space across from the Capitol ""since 1974."" He’s correct, although he doesn’t offer  indicating there is a viable alternative for the agency that would save money. We rate the statement ."
16209,1,"Says Robert De Niro said, ""I preferred the time in America when the president and the village idiot were two different people.","June 23, 2019",elections;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"He also didn’t say it at last year’s Tony Awards in June 2018, when he walked on stage and declared, ""f--- Trump."" Searching the Nexis news database for ""Robert De Niro"" and ""village idiot"" and ""Donald Trump"" we found no results. Searching for the same words online, we found instances of the insult slung at both De Niro and Trump, but not De Niro calling Trump a ""village idiot. ""  If  surfaces proving the actor made this statement, we’ll reconsider our ruling. For now, we rate this Facebook post ."
8794,0,Florida Democrats just voted to impose Sharia law on women.,"April 30, 2014",islam;legal issues;religion,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,florida,8,18,24,53,233,396,various social media posts,"Claims like this one recently circulated on the internet: ""Florida Democrats just voted to impose Sharia law on women."" Senate Democrats did vote against a bill that prohibits judges from applying foreign law in family-law cases if it contradicts United States public policy. In reality, though, the bill would have essentially codified existing practice. The bill didn’t single out Sharia law, and the United States Constiution still applies. It’s  -- beyond , really -- to suggest that Senate Democrats forced on women such elements of Sharia law as burqa-wearing and stoning to death. We rate this  ."
4289,0,The federal government has not engaged in (border security) at all.,"September 22, 2011",immigration,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",national,26,24,43,30,31,18,Orlando,"Texas Gov. Rick Perry has railed against the Obama administration for failing to adequately invest in border security in Texas. At the Fox News Google debate in Orlando Sept. 22, 2011, he took it a step further, saying ""the federal government has not engaged in (border security) at all.""    "
22037,1,"North Korea sent more than 100,000 troops to Russia for the Ukraine War!","September 28, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"A video shared on Facebook claims North Korea sent ""more than 100,000 troops to Russia"" to help with the country’s war against Ukraine.  The video appears to be based on a statement made on a Russian-backed television station that said North Korea offered troops to Russia, not that it sent any.  The Facebook video and the statement made on television provided no  of their claims.  Russian officials have denied they received any offer from North Korea about sending soldiers to help fight in Ukraine.  We rate this  . "
6877,1,A Paul Ryan-Scott Walker (or Scott Walker-Paul Ryan) ticket for the White House in 2016 would be unconstitutional because both men live in Wisconsin.,"January 21, 2013",elections,internet commenters,People who post comments on stories published on the Internet,wisconsin,0,0,0,0,2,0,website comments,"Which is why, among many other obvious strategic calculations, that same-state tickets are so unlikely to develop. Our rating Commenters on a hypothetical Ryan-Walker or Walker-Ryan ticket in 2016 claimed that such arrangements are unconstitutional. The constitution does exact a price for such arrangements, as electoral voters could only cast a ballot for one or the other candidate. But the  that such tickets would be outlawed or blocked from running is off the mark. With a gentle nod to the commenters who probably never dreamed their musings would be fact-checked, we rate the  ."
21710,4,My company was building the Keystone Pipeline when (President Joe) Biden canceled it.,"June 23, 2022",economy;energy;gas prices;jobs,tim michels,"Timothy J. Michels is an American politician and businessman from Brownsville, Wisconsin. He co-owns and co-manages Michels Corporation, a family-owned and operated construction company. A member of the Republican Party, Michels is a candidate in the 2022 Wisconsin gubernatorial election. Michels won the GOP primary for governor on August 9, 2022.",wisconsin,0,1,0,2,1,1,Twitter,"In a tweet, Michels claimed his ""company was building the Keystone Pipeline when Biden canceled it."" The way it was stated could leave readers thinking his company was fully responsible for the pipeline. And some of the pump stations his campaign and company cited apparently are tied to the existing portion of the pipeline. So, there is a lack of precision there. But Michels is right that his company had a significant role in the pipeline project. We rate the  .  "
22221,1,"Video shows ""military robots ready for war.","October 27, 2022",military;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"Boston Dynamics recently pledged not to weaponize its robots, Axios first reported . A day after posting its video about a new robot making soldiers obsolete, Corridor Crew posted another showing how it ""used CGI to  military robots."" The behind-the-scenes footageshows a person in the position where the ""robot"" ultimately appeared in the video. (CGI stands for ""computer generated imagery."") We rate claims that the footage in the post shows a real military robot ."
14969,1,"Says the Trump administration ""has banned the CDC even using the word 'transgender.'","June 26, 2018",federal budget;health care;public health;sexuality,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a public forum,"The statement was based on a Washington Post report. But that story was later countered by several other published reports that indicated the words were not banned. Rather, it was suggested that other words be used in some cases — in part to temper controversy during the budget process. And despite The Washington Post headline, the first paragraph of the story does not mention the word ""banned"" instead saying ""they should avoid using certain words or phrases in official documents being drafted for next year's budget."" We rate the  ."
6170,3,"Says ""taxes were raised 115 times in the eight years before I became governor"" and those increases were part of a ""path that led to wealth and jobs and people leaving our state.","August 28, 2012",taxes,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,Tampa,"During his keynote address, Christie claimed ""taxes were raised 115 times in the eight years before I became governor"" and those increases were part of a ""path that led to wealth and jobs and people leaving our state."" But the governor shouldn’t have described all of those 115 increases as ""taxes."" In the eight years before he took office, state officials approved roughly 115 increases in taxes and fees or other tax policy changes. Also, there are multiple factors behind losing jobs, wealth and residents, such as the general downturn in the economy. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
12518,1,"Says Hillary Clinton ""wants to go to a single-payer plan"" for health care","October 9, 2016",health care,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a presidential debate,"Trump says Clinton ""wants to go to a single-payer plan"" for health care. She has consistently said she would fight efforts to repeal Obamacare and would try to improve it. She said she wants a public option to be ""possible"" but she has not  called for moving to a system of only single payer. Clinton has not called for a single-payer plan. At times, she has praised the health care systems of other countries that have a single-payer plan, but she has not advocated that plan for the United States. We rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4bde16f2-778f-4229-b2d2-a3819786738b"
10079,3,"In an average grocery store, roughly 75 percent of processed foods contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.","March 6, 2015",environment;agriculture;animals;consumer safety;economy;government regulation;public health;science;technology,donna nesselbush,Donna Nesselbush is a lawyer and Rhode Island state senator representing District 15 in Pawtucket.,rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,a commentary,"Donna Nesselbush said, ""In an average grocery store, roughly 75 percent of processed foods contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs."" Nesselbush quoted a percentage intended to apply to all foods and not restricted to processed foods. Although the figure is widely cited by both sides in the debate, it’s not clear that this is anything more than an estimate. And finally, in the cases of many processed foods created using the sugars, oils and other products of genetically modified organisms, the organisms themselves aren’t present in the food at all. Because the statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate it  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.) ( Correction: Rhode Island state Rep. Donna Nesselbush represents House District 15, which includes portions of Pawtucket and North Providence. The original version of this item incorrectly reported the community she represents.)"
21661,1,"Shooter in Highland Park, Illinois, ""bought the gun illegally.","July 5, 2022",government regulation;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",illinois,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed that Crimo ""bought the gun illegally."" Investigators told news outlets that Crimo obtained the proper identification to legally purchase firearms and passed several background checks before ultimately buying his weapons legally. We rate this  . RELATED: What Illinois’ ‘red flag’ gun law means after the Highland Park shooting RELATED: Highland Park shooting wasn’t a ‘ flag’ RELATED: Ask PolitiFact: What are red flag gun laws and do they keep people safe? RELATED: No  ties Highland Park shooter to antifa"
16179,0,"Says Clint Eastwood said Hollywood is ""the place of traitors and pedophilians"" and he's decided to ""leave"" it to ""fight against traitors with real American patriots with president Trump.","June 18, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims Eastwood said Hollywood is ""the place of traitors and pedophilians"" and he’s decided to ""leave"" it to ""fight against traitors with real American patriots with president Trump."" There is no  that Eastwood ever said this. We tracked the  quote to a  news website that referenced an interview the director and actor gave during the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. But he said nothing in that interview about traitors, pedophiles, or leaving Hollywood. We rate this bogus quote !"
12110,4,"In first week as governor, Tim Kaine ""proposed a nearly $4 billion tax increase, $4 billion, including a tax increase on people earning as little as $17,000 a year.","July 25, 2016",taxes,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",virginia,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said Kaine, during his first week as governor, proposed a ""nearly $4 billion tax increase"" that would have hit people earning as little as $17,000. Kaine, six days after taking office in 2006, did propose a plan to raise about $1 billion a year for transportation. Trump calls it a ""nearly $4 billion tax increase,"" citing a figure used in a newspaper article at the time. But the article said that sum would be realized over four years. Trump, in using that high $4 billion figure, omits the clarifying time span. The tax package centered on raising levies on auto insurance and vehicle purchases in addition to increasing car registration fees. It would have affected people with taxable incomes of $17,000 or lower - if they had a car. So Trump’s statement largely is accurate but needs some clarification. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/528b42df-6b46-432f-8de0-34061afc6b13"
13196,2,There are about as many members of the Armed Forces marching bands as there are American diplomats.,"March 28, 2017",global news service;federal budget;foreign policy,nicholas burns,"Nicholas Burns is a Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Burns was was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008, U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2001–2005), Ambassador to Greece (1997–2001) and State Department Spokesman (1995–1997). He worked for five years (1990–1995) on the National Security Council at the White House where he was Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and Director for Soviet Affairs in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush. ",,0,0,1,1,0,0,a House committee hearing,"Burns said that there are about as many members of military marching bands as there are diplomats. In plain numbers, there are about 6,500 military musicians and about 8,100 diplomats. So, in fact, the diplomats have about a 1,600 staff advantage. But in the sense that diplomats are the backbone of the Foreign Service, while musicians, as important as they might be for morale, play a lesser numerical role in defending the nation, the numbers are closer than simple math would say. It’s time to retune this talking point, but on balance, we rate it ."
20467,1,There is no such thing as a booster. There is a failed product that is sometimes used again in hopes of a different outcome.,"October 27, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post read, ""There is no such thing as a booster. There is a failed product that is sometimes used again in hopes of a different outcome."" Boosters are a standard means of extending protection that a vaccine provides. No vaccine is 100% effective but the vaccines against COVID-19 have been proven to be quite effective at staving off serious infection and death.  We rate the post ."
4082,5,"There are cities and counties in Georgia that don't have websites, and where elected officials don't have email addresses.","August 4, 2011",infrastructure;technology,sam olens,Sam Olens is Georgia's Attorney General,georgia,2,1,1,0,1,0,a talk at the Atlanta Press Club,"So Olens is right. Not only are there counties and municipalities in Georgia that don’t have websites or whose elected officials don’t have government email. State organizations place their numbers at more than 200. Or, to put it differently, the cats of certain pet-obsessed owners have pounced across the digital divide well ahead of scores of Georgia governments.    Olens earns a ."
14396,1,"Shoes on the Capitol lawn represent 7,182 students who were killed in U.S. schools since 2012.","March 14, 2018",punditfact;guns,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"Bloggers said shoes on the Capitol lawn this week represented 7,182 students killed in U.S. schools since 2012. That’s not accurate. The pairs of shoes symbolized more than 7,000 children who had been killed by gun violence since the Sandy Hook school shooting. The number of children killed in school violence, while fluid, is certainly smaller than that total. We rate this  ."
9293,1,I was able to go and buy an automatic weapon … Most people can go out and buy an automatic weapon.,"August 20, 2014",punditfact;guns,don lemon,Don Lemon is a CNN anchor based in Atlanta and New York City.,,1,1,0,1,1,0,a live broadcast on CNN,"CNN’s Lemon said that many people can go out and buy an automatic weapon. Lemon spoke as though the gun he had purchased was an automatic. It was not. It was a semi-automatic, meaning each shot requires a separate pull of the trigger. The ease of purchase that Lemon described applies to semi-automatic guns. The legal status and availability of semi-automatic and fully automatic guns are quite different. Lemon was further  when he didn’t revise his language and insisted that the distinction was just a matter of semantics. Acquiring a machine gun is prohibited in some states, while much more heavily regulated in others. We rate Lemon’s  ."
19449,1,"Says Burisma admitted in a Ukrainian court to paying Joe Biden $900,000.","March 16, 2021",ethics;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reaffirmed in a Feb. 26 news release that authorities concluded there was no  of criminal acts by the Bidens. PolitiFact found no  that would indicate otherwise.   In searching news archives, we found no mention of a Ukrainian court hearing where this debunked  may have resurfaced. We rate this  . Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
15658,5,I have more military experience than anybody who's arrived behind that desk since George H.W. Bush.,"January 31, 2019",candidate biography;military,pete buttigieg,"Pete Buttigieg is the Transportation secretary under President Joe Biden. Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He decided not to seek re-election and his term ended in January 2020. From 2009 to 2017, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was a lieutenant. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard College and a first-class honors bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College as a Rhodes Scholar. He ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primaries.",national,4,3,4,6,1,0,an interview,"Buttigieg said: ""I have more military experience than anybody who’s arrived behind that desk since George H.W. Bush."" Among the four men who have been president since the elder Bush, only George W. Bush served in the military: five years stateside with the Texas Air National Guard. Buttigieg served eight years in the U.S. Navy Reserve, including a six-month war-time deployment in Afghanistan, in 2014. We rate Buttigieg’s statement ."
5181,2,"Says State Comptroller Matthew Boxer ""pointed out that many towns are artificially lowering the real estate values that they report to Trenton"" in order to ""get hundreds of millions of dollars of additional school aid. This is the kind of fraud that needs to be addressed immediately.","February 28, 2012",education;taxes,michael doherty,"Michael Doherty is a Republican state Senator representing parts of Warren, Somerset and Hunterdon counties. He previously served in the state Assembly from 2002 to 2009.",new jersey,2,1,1,1,3,0,an interview on NJToday,"In an NJToday interview, Doherty said, according to the comptroller’s report, many municipalities are ""artificially lowering"" real estate values to secure more school aid, a practice he referred to as ""fraud."" The senator is right that tax abatements may lead to greater school aid in communities with these tax-exempt properties. But he’s  to  those practices constitute ""fraud,"" and that their direct purpose is to generate additional school aid. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
6371,0,Barack Hussein Obama will … force doctors to assist homosexuals in buying surrogate babies.,"September 23, 2012",health care;lgbtq;religion,government is not god pac,Government Is Not God is a political action committee for social conservatives founded in 1992 by William J. Murray who is currently the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition. The mission of Government Is Not God - PAC is the election to Congress of men and women who hold conservative beliefs on both moral and economic issues.,national,0,0,0,1,2,3,a newspaper advertisement,"A newspaper ad claimed that ""Barack Hussein Obama will … force doctors to assist homosexuals in buying surrogate babies."" There’s no  Obama is interested in such a requirement. But even if he were, surrogacy laws vary by state and there’s no mechanism to force doctors to perform a procedure. Experts found this  ""outrageous,"" ""imaginary,"" and a ""fevered dream."" We find it ."
17203,1,In 'Resident Evil' the Umbrella Corporation releases a virus that infects the people of Raccoon City. A biological research lab with the exact same logo as the Umbrella Corporation can be found in the city where the coronavirus outbreak originated.,"January 27, 2020",china;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"What’s more, there’s no  that the novel 2019 coronavirus was created in a lab. We’ve debunked a number of claims — like the Facebook post in question — that suggested the new virus was artificially made in Wuhan or elsewhere . According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the new coronavirus is a ""beta coronavirus"" similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. All three viruses are believed to have their origins in bats. We rate this post ."
10015,1,"The measles vaccine has killed 108 people in the last decade, while no one has died of measles.","February 5, 2015",health care;public health,naturalnews.com,NaturalNews.com is an alternative-health website.,georgia,0,0,0,0,3,0,a story making the rounds on social media,"The more accurate comparison, DeStefano suggests, is that big fat zero versus the 300-400 children who died annually in the United States before the vaccine was available in the 1960s. We agree. The article misreads data, to suggest that the measles vaccine is a greater threat to children than the disease. Experts, and data, show that measles is far more dangerous than the vaccine, even if some kids do have a reaction to the shot. We rate the  ."
22496,1,"Cellphone data used to arrest the Idaho quadruple-murder suspect proves that criticism of the ""2000 Mules"" movie's use of cell data is unfounded.","January 5, 2023",criminal justice;elections;technology;facebook fact-checks,john rich,John Rich is half of the country music duo Big & Rich. He has spoken out on political issues and supported Republican candidates.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,a Facebook post,"Rich said cellphone data used to arrest a suspected Idaho quadruple-killer proves that criticism of the ""2000 Mules"" movie’s use of cell data is unfounded. Idaho police obtained data specifically for the suspect’s cellphone and used corroborating , including DNA at the crime scene, to arrest him. ""2,000 Mules"" used purchased aggregated and anonymous cellphone location data, which signaled that people were near ballot drop boxes, but did not prove that the boxes were stuffed with illegal ballots. The data does not show what people were doing in those geographic areas.  We rate the statement ."
10277,2,"We had an agreement that the president could have signed that would have kept 10,000 troops"" in Iraq.","May 13, 2015",iraq,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,national,14,24,17,18,5,2,a response to a question after a town hall meeting,"Bush said, ""We had an agreement that the president could have signed that would have kept 10,000 troops, less than we have in Korea, that could have created the stability that would have allowed for Iraq to progress."" Obama inherited a timeline to exit Iraq from George W. Bush and followed it, but there was no agreement to leave a large force behind. The Obama White House considered 10,000 troops for a short time but ruled it out, suggesting a much smaller force. Negotiations with Iraq broke down, however, and there was no agreement that met conditions Washington wanted. Experts told us Bush parsed his words carefully enough to have a point that a residual force would have likely helped Iraq fend off ISIS. But there was no consensus to leave 10,000 troops in place. We rate the statement ."
1553,4,"Florida Statutes require (Attorney General Bill) McCollum to consult with members of Florida's Congressional delegation"" before filing a lawsuit against the health care reform law.","March 25, 2010",health care;legal issues,alex sink,"Alex Sink is a candidate for Congress in Florida's 13th Congressional District. She served as Florida's Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2011. She was the Democratic Party's nominee for governor in 2010, but lost to Rick Scott.",florida,10,4,2,1,2,0,a news release,"So to recap: Sink is correct that the law is still on the books. But it's been ignored and a former deputy attorney general says he doesn't find it binding. It's important to note here that we are not rendering a legal verdict on McCollum's actions but merely saying whether Sink is correct that ""Florida Statutes require McCollum to consult with members of Florida's Congressional delegation"" before filing the suit. They do, although there's definitely debate about how much the law still applies. So we'll take this one down a notch to ."
14373,5,"Says Richard Cordray directed an Ohio commission to ""permit an armed group to have a rally on the statehouse grounds, even taking the extraordinary step of assuming personal responsibility for waiving an insurance requirement in the event of an incident.","February 27, 2018",guns,dennis kucinich,"Dennis Kucinich is running in the Democratic primary for governor of Ohio in 2018. Kucinich was elected to Congress in 1996. He previously served as a member of the city council and as mayor in Cleveland, the city where he was born in 1946. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Case Western University. He has been married since 2005 to Elizabeth Harper. He was married twice before and has one child. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 25, 2008.",ohio,12,6,5,1,4,0,a speech,"Kucinich said Cordray directed an Ohio commission to ""permit an armed group to have a rally on the statehouse grounds, even taking the extraordinary step of assuming personal responsibility for waiving an insurance requirement in the event of an incident."" Kucinich was referring to a rally held in April 2010. A video shows Cordray speaking at the rally where he said ""if there are any troubles it's my responsibility but I am comfortable with that."" Months later, in another video, Cordray said that when the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board denied a permit and required a ""giant insurance policy"" Cordray spoke with the board’s president and agreed to take responsibility for the event. Finan, the advisory board chair at the time, told PolitiFact that Cordray gave the go-ahead for the rally. Cordray didn’t appear to play the only role in allowing the group to hold the rally. The executive director of the board ultimately granted the waiver after exchanging communications with Ohioans for Concealed Carry. We rate this  ."
22787,0,"Video shows Elon Musk saying he bought Twitter and unblocked Andrew Tate's Twitter account because ""we need to escape the suppression from the matrix and expose the global elites.","March 10, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"The brothers remain detained , though Andrew Tate still tweets from his account.   A Facebok reel claims to show Musk saying he bought Twitter and unblocked Tate’s Twitter account because ""we need to escape the suppression from the matrix and expose the global elites."" The video is a deepfake manipulation of video captured in April 2022, when Musk gave a TED Talk interview, months before he acquired Twitter. In the real video, Musk did not mention Tate or say anything about ""the global elite."" We rate this  !"
680,0,"Obama's one education accomplishment was ""legislation to teach 'comprehensive sex education' to kindergartners.","September 9, 2008",education,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,a television ad,"Obama said that he did not support telling youngsters about explicit information about sex. The bill specifically mentions that instructional material must be age appropriate. It specifically mentions teaching children how to ""say no to unwanted sexual advances"" and ""nonconsensual physical sexual contact."" The legislation was not sponsored by Obama and it didn't pass, so calling it one of his ""accomplishments"" is . We rate this  !"
2145,2,"The sales tax increase, if approved, will cost taxpayers ""up to $300 million per year, in perpetuity, to finance a rail system for the City of Tampa.","July 26, 2010",transportation;taxes,sam rashid,"Sam Rashid is the chief executive officer of HOLTEC USA, which supplies equipment to the lumber industry. He is also involved with several other area businesses. Rashid, of Valrico, is a leading critic of the proposed sales tax increase for transit and roads in Hillsborough County.",florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a mailer,"It is  that this whole exercise was largely initiated by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who made building a commuter rail system a top goal. But the discussion ended up in the hands of the County Commission, which ultimately put the question on the ballot. After months of study initiated by Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, a task force recommended that a significant portion of the money go to roads and buses. And that’s the position the County Commission took in crafting the ballot language. So while critics want to label the initiative a rail tax for the city of Tampa that will not benefit suburban residents, PolitiFact finds Rashid’s attempt to frame the issue as ."
12923,2,"In our nation's capital, killings have risen by 50 percent.","January 20, 2017",crime,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a statement on the White House website,"The Trump White House website said, ""In our nation’s capital, killings have risen by 50 percent."" That statistic would have been correct prior to the release of the most recent annual statistics by the Metropolitan Police Department. However, the most recent figures, from 2016, show a 17 percent decline in homicides from 2015. In addition, the long-term trend shows significantly lower numbers for homicides in Washington, D.C., than was the rule for the 1990s -- even if you compare the spike of 2015. We rate the statement ."
13228,3,I've won awards on environmental protection.,"April 4, 2017",environment,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a town hall with CEOs,"Trump said that he has won awards for environmental protection. The White House pointed to two that include his name. One thanked him personally for donating over 400 acres of undeveloped land to the New York State Park System. The other recognized the environmental stewardship of a Trump golf course in New Jersey operated by a well known manager, and cited Trump’s leadership in general terms. So Trump can firmly  one personal award and one where his role and the accorded honor are more diffuse. By definition, two is plural, but the personal recognition of Trump is thin for the second one. We rate this  ."
13058,3,"If you're in Texas, you have got to drive 120 miles to get an ID.","February 22, 2017",corrections and updates;elections;legal issues,thomas perez,"Thomas E. Perez was chosen as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Feb. 25, 2017. Previously he was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Secretary of Labor and was sworn in on July 23, 2013. He previously served as the Secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.",national,1,1,3,2,0,0,a CNN-sponsored debate,"Perez said, ""If you're in Texas, you have got to drive 120 miles to get an ID."" He has some basis for this statement: The 120-mile figure did crop up in the court case against the law, and we found at least one example of a west Texas town for which the distance was actually even longer. However, Perez not only failed to communicate just how rare this scenario is, but he didn’t even use a basic qualifier like ""some people in Texas."" Taken literally, he said everyone in Texas has to drive 120 miles to get a license. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it . CORRECTION, Feb, 27, 2017, 11 a.m. : After we published this article, several readers noted that there was a closer driver’s license office to Terlingua than Fort Stockton -- the one in Alpine. We have changed the article to reflect this. We have not changed our rating. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/fd5bccc4-db1f-4a28-9f62-e4bbba9e2063"
20842,1,Biden announces Medicare stimulus that provides free dental work to all Seniors who need it! Crowns and implants included.,"January 6, 2022",medicare;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"Free dental work is not available through traditional Medicare insurance. By law, the federal insurance program cannot cover most dental care or dental procedures. Some private insurance companies sell Medicare Advantage plans that are allowed to offer coverage for dental work. The plans must be purchased and coverage varies.   We rate this  . "
8974,5,"The number of terrorists out there"" has doubled.","June 22, 2014",terrorism;punditfact,dick cheney,Dick Cheney served as Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush.,,3,2,2,5,4,1,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Cheney referenced a Rand Corp. report that showed ""a doubling of the number of terrorists out there."" The report he mentions does not look at all terrorism -- just a branch that has the United States and its interests in its crosshairs and is on the rise. We think it’s clear from his comment that he was referencing the report’s finding that members of Salafi-jihadist groups -- who engage in violent jihad activities -- have doubled. That’s  from 2010 to 2013 based on Rand’s low- and high-end estimates.  We rate his statement . Update (10:45 a.m. June 24) : We've updated this item to make more clear that Cheney was talking about the total number of terrorists, not the number of terrorist groups. Our rating remains ."
3663,1,Look at the debt that has been accumulated in the last two years. It's more debt under this president than all those other presidents combined.,"May 31, 2011",deficit;federal budget;history,sarah palin,"Sarah Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. She is also the former governor of Alaska and the author of  Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin's previous experience includes leading the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and serving as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.",national,14,6,9,9,21,6,an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren,"In other words, Cantor didn’t use the two-year timeline that Palin did -- and making that change improves the accuracy of the . But Palin didn’t say that. She said, quite specifically, that Obama had accumulated more debt in two years than the previous 43 presidents had collectively. And while Obama (along with Congress) has indeed accumulated a lot of debt for various reasons, his two-year debt total, even if you use the most generous standards for judging Palin’s comment, is still $3 trillion to $7 trillion short of the amount needed to make Palin’s statement accurate. So we rate her  ."
23236,4,"Says that under his presidency, the unemployment rate has ""been below 4% for the longest stretch in 50 years in American history.","June 28, 2023",economy;jobs,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,Chicago,"Biden said that on his watch, the unemployment rate has ""been below 4% for the longest stretch in 50 years in American history."" This checks out. But by cutting off the comparison at 50 years, Biden excludes two longer stretches when unemployment was below 4%, in the 1950s and 1970s. Biden’s precise phrasing makes his statement accurate, but it needs clarification. We rate it ."
20689,3,"Chuck Grassley was ""voting to slash Medicare"" when voting against the debt ceiling bill.","December 9, 2021",congress;debt;medicare,abby finkenauer,"Abby Finkenauer is a Democrat who served in the House of Representatives representing a district in Iowa. She is running against Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.",iowa,0,0,1,0,0,0,a tweet,"Finkenauer said Grassley’s vote against the combined Medicare extension and debt ceiling meant voting to slash Medicare. Is Finkenauer lying, as Zona tweeted? She is correct about Grassley declining to vote in this instance to stave off a pending Medicare funding cut and, for that matter, about wanting to preserve the Senate’s 60-vote rule. But the legislation did not specifically call for slashing Medicare funding — if a 2% cut fits the definition of slashing — or close the door on finding another way to avoid cutting Medicare funding. The exchange between Finkenauer and Grassley is just the latest example of the two parties forcing their opponents to vote on combinations of measures that force them to choose between voting for something they don’t like, or voting against something they do. If they pursue the latter course, it can be weaponized into campaign attacks. Both parties do this regularly. Figuring out how Congress works through various pieces of legislation and how debate is carried out in a political dispute like this benefits from having context. We rate Finkenauer’s statement to be ."
3061,5,Orrin Hatch co-sponsored a 1993 health care bill that had an individual mandate.,"February 9, 2011",health care;pundits,cenk uygur,"Cenk Uygur is a contributing host to MSNBC. He also hosts a liberal Internet talk show, ""The Young Turks.""",national,1,0,0,0,0,0,MSNBC Live,"Durenberger said that it was Republicans who had changed in the years since 1993, backing away from policies on health care they once supported. Uygur asked, ""Did you know that Hatch co-sponsored the 1993 bill that had an individual mandate?"" We didn't, but we checked the record. Hatch was the co-sponsor of a Republican-backed bill that included an individual mandate. We rate Uygur's statement ."
19072,0,"Antifa"" is to blame for storming the U.S. Capitol.","January 6, 2021",criminal justice;elections;crime,shannon grove,Shannon Grove of Bakersfield is the California State Senate Republican Leader.,california,0,0,0,0,0,1,a tweet,"America guarantees the freedom of speech and to protest, but this is not the way to settle differences. Enough. ""  We rated Grove’s tweet about antifa .    – The statement is not accurate and makes a  ."
22524,1,A video shows the deadly Jan. 15 plane crash in Nepal.,"January 16, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Video footage and still images published by news outlets including The Associated Press rebut the Facebook post’s  that this crash happened in Nepal. Rather, the video showed a prototype military plane that crashed outside Moscow in August 2021, killing three people.   We rate claims the video is of the Nepal crash ."
20565,4,"Only a court can decide that somebody is incompetent to vote"" -- the state Election Commission ""cannot force facilities, private facilities, to allow special voting deputies"" inside.","November 5, 2021",disability;elections;legal issues,meagan wolfe,"In 2019, the state Senate confirmed Meagan Wolfe as the leader of the state Elections Commission, more than a year after she started the job.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted unanimously to confirm Wolfe. Wolfe was appointed by the bipartisan Elections Commission and started working in March 2018 when Republican Scott Walker was governor.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,TV interview,"Wolfe said ""Only a court can decide that somebody is incompetent to vote"" -- the state Election Commission ""cannot force facilities, private facilities, to allow special voting deputies"" inside. There is little, if any debate on the first part -- declarations of incompetency are the purview of the courts, not election officials or anyone else. On the second part, Wolfe is on target, but in making the  muddies the waters a bit on the issue at hand. At issue is whether ballots could be mailed directly to nursing homes. No one has argued the state could have -- or should have -- forced such facilities to change policies and let deputies inside. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, our rating is . Editor's note: This item was updated on Nov. 29, 2021 to note that local election officials, not the state elections commission, actually sends out absentee ballots. The change does not affect the rating.           "
2475,4,"Rand Paul wants ""to end all federal faith-based initiatives, and even end the deduction for religious charities.","October 15, 2010",message machine 2010;religion;taxes,jack conway,Jack Conway has been the Attorney General of Kentucky since 2008. He unsuccessfully ran against Rand Paul as the Democratic nominee in Kentucky’s 2010 U.S. Senate election.,national,0,2,0,0,1,0,a campaign commercial,"We don't see  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 . 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 ."
15814,1,"''Over 40 percent of African-American men in (Milwaukee County) have been going to prison for low-level drug offenses, and I think a hundred times that in the city of Madison.","February 24, 2019",drugs;crime;marijuana,david crowley,"State Rep. David Crowley was elected in 2016 to the Wisconsin Assembly, representing the 17th District which encompasses much of Milwaukee’s Northwest side.",wisconsin,0,1,0,1,1,0,a TV interview,"Meanwhile, Wisconsin Department of Corrections data shows that the number of black offenders admitted to prison who were convicted in Milwaukee County, and whose most serious offense was a drug offense, has  been declining since 2009: 2009 — 510 offenders 2010 —  505 2011 — 361 2012 — 291 2013 — 251 2014 — 245 2015 — 219 2016 — 237 2017 — 235 2018 — 236 The number for 2018, the most recent year available, is about 54 percent lower than 2009. Our rating Crowley said ''Over 40 percent of African-American men in my county have been going to prison for low-level drug offenses, and I think a hundred times that in the city of Madison."" He was off on several levels -- from incorrectly applying the Milwaukee County number to only low-level offenses, to massively jumbling the Milwaukee County-to-Madison comparison. His own aide acknowledged Crowley ""misspoke."" For a statement that is not accurate, our rating is ."
13193,1,"A study of where teachers apply to work found that ""less than 5 percent wanted to work in rural Wisconsin.","March 10, 2017",education,tony evers,"Tony Evers, a Democrat, was elected Wisconsin governor in November 2018. His term begins in January 2019. Evers has served as the Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, a non-partisan position, since 2009. He previously worked as a teacher and school district administrator.",wisconsin,5,9,8,10,7,1,an interview,"They have the same number of applicants, on average, with similar levels of experience, certification, advanced degrees and competitiveness of undergraduate institution. Our rating Evers claimed a study of where teachers apply to work found that ""less than 5 percent wanted to work in rural Wisconsin."" The study found that schools in cities, suburbs or towns all draw more interest than rural districts, but Evers badly overstated the case. We rate his  . div class='artembed'>"
5953,0,"Gov. Bill Haslam is ""making our Economic Development department Sharia compliant"" by hiring a woman ""who specializes in Sharia compliance. That's what her job is.","June 28, 2012",economy;religion,woody degan," 
According to his website"" Woody Degan was born in Memphis, TN and has spent the vast majority of his life in unincorporated areas of East Shelby County between Germantown and Collierville. For thirteen of the past fifteen years, he has been domiciled at a Collierville, TN address and has spent his money accordingly.""",tennessee,0,0,0,0,0,1,an interview with The Commercial Appeal,"A candidate in the Republican primary for state Senate made strong charges aimed at the state’s economic development department, saying that it had hired a woman specializing in Sharia law in order to make the department Sharia compliant. But even Degan admits he has no . The department itself strongly denies the allegations and says Ali will have no involvement in Sharia compliance or Sharia transactions. Whether some like Degan in the Republican party feel it is necessary to attack the governor’s office for hiring a Muslim is up to them, but for making a  that lacks , we rate Degan’s statement !"
10609,2,Over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out since Dodd-Frank has passed.,"August 6, 2015",financial regulation,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,the first GOP primary debate,"Rubio said, ""Over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out since Dodd-Frank has passed."" Rubio’s figure is overstated for the time frame he gives. The highest estimate we found shows a 16 percent decline in the past five years -- less than half of what he said. The trend Rubio describes began decades before Dodd-Frank became law in 2010. Even then, experts say a host of factors other than Dodd-Frank are at play.   We rate his  ."
10781,3,"Israel has seen a ""90 percent reduction in terrorist attacks"" that it attributes to building a 500-mile fence.","August 15, 2015",israel;foreign policy;terrorism,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a radio interview,"A report from the Jewish Virtual Library showed a 90 percent reduction in terrorism, and the Israeli government does cite the fence as the reason for the drop. But the data used is outdated and once more recent years are added, the drop since 2002 is more like 50 percent. What’s more experts say the barrier is but one reason for the decline. Walker’s  is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. That’s our definition of ."
8149,4,About 2 percent of Americans get paid the minimum wage.,"December 8, 2013",economy;poverty;workers,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,national,17,11,11,3,5,1,"an interview on ABC’s ""This Week""","Portman said that ""about 2 percent of Americans get paid the minimum wage."" He didn’t word the statement with complete accuracy; he would have been better off saying that, according to official statistics, ""about 2 percent of American workers get paid at or below the federal minimum wage."" Still, his number is close to accurate, and his general point -- that workers who are paid the federal minimum-wage represent a small percentage of the entire working population -- is backed up by official data. We rate his  ."
15334,0,George Soros was an SS officer.,"October 18, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"""The official’s job included taking inventory of a confiscated Jewish-owned property,"" according to the story. ""He took George with him. These episodes have become the basis for the  that George was a Nazi collaborator. In fact, though, there is no credible  that he collaborated with or was sympathetic to Nazis."" We rate this statement !"
15394,2,"Says Brendan Kelly ""allowed half of the criminals he faced to walk free"" and ""failed to protect women who were violently assaulted,"" allowing ""those guilty of sexual assault to cut inexcusable plea deals.","October 22, 2018",criminal justice;crime,mike bost,Mike Bost is a U.S. representative from Illinois.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a campaign ad,"Bost says that Kelly ""allowed half of the criminals he faced to walk free"" and ""failed to protect women who were violently assaulted,"" allowing ""those guilty of sexual assault to cut inexcusable plea deals."" Bost’s campaign did not provide precise information when we asked repeatedly, but we found it anyway. If probation is viewed as letting a criminal walk free, Kelly is guilty -- as are prosecutors throughout Illinois. Very few counties had the opposite trend. Similarly, we also found, based on data from the Belleville News-Democrat as well as federal court data, that Bost’s general use of plea bargains is within the norms of state and national plea bargain rates. As for the ad’s  that Kelly ""failed to protect women,"" Bost’s campaign said it based this on court cases. The information it sent us showed four men getting probation rather than prison. The information does not provide any nuances in the prosecution of each case. With all this in mind, we find Bost’s numbers are fine but shade the  substantially about prosecution across his state. There are undoubtedly critics of the way Kelly has handled cases, just as there are people who praise him. This is a lot context to consider. Based on what we could measure and on the principles of the -O-Meter --- specifically, the rating for a  that contains an element of  but is  -- we rate this ."
11226,3,"I waited until (the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement) had actually been negotiated"" before deciding whether to endorse it.","February 4, 2016",candidate biography;history;trade,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,comments during the New Hampshire Democratic debate,"Clinton said, ""I waited until (the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement) had actually been negotiated"" before deciding whether to endorse it. As secretary of state and a member of the Obama administration, it was Clinton's job to promote the deal, even if it wasn't finalized. Nonetheless, her comments at the time were so positive and so definitive, it becomes disingenuous to argue, as she's doing now, that she didn't endorse the deal before it was finalized. We rate her statement ."
14933,2,Education Secretary Betsy DeVos owes Ohio $5.3 million for campaign finance violations and Mike DeWine's office refuses to collect the fine.,"July 25, 2018",education;legal issues,richard cordray,Richard Cordray is running for Ohio governor in 2018. Cordray was appointed as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during President Barack Obama's administration. He is the former attorney general of Ohio and a Democrat.,ohio,1,2,2,2,0,0,a Facebook ad,"Cordray said, ""Education Secretary Betsy DeVos owes Ohio $5.3 million for campaign finance violations, and Mike DeWine's office refuses to collect the fine."" The All Children Matter PACs were fined in 2008, and that was upheld by the courts. The PACs ultimately closed, and they never paid the fines. But Cordray makes it sound like DeWine ignored the whole matter, and that’s not the case. He got a court judgment that upheld the fines against the PACs. But by then, there was nothing for DeWine to go after. The fines were ultimately the responsibility of the PACs, not DeVos personally. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this statement ."
6858,2,Poverty levels (are) at an all-time high.,"January 7, 2013",poverty,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,an interview on MSNBC,"The numbers do not entirely support Sanders’ . The best  in his favor is that the raw numbers of Americans in poverty hit an all-time high in 2010, at least since records have kept. However, they fell modestly in 2011, the most recent year available. Meanwhile, the sweeping nature of Sanders’ comment -- that ""poverty levels (are) at an all-time high"" -- is problematic. If you factor in population growth, the rate of Americans in poverty in 2011 was only the 10th-highest since 1959. And it’s impossible to know how many years prior to 1959 were higher, including the Great Depression. On balance, we rate Sanders’  ."
1777,1,The last major oil spill from a drilling accident in America happened over 40 years ago in 1969.,"June 7, 2010",energy;oil spill,eric johnson,"Lobbyist Eric Johnson, a Republican, is a former Georgia state senator.",georgia,0,0,1,0,1,1,a blog post,"While the nation's largest oil well blowout did take place in 1969, it's not factually correct to call it the ""last major oil spill."" First of all, two of the largest blowouts in the world took place in the U.S. the following year. More importantly, experts agree that spills far smaller in volume to the 1969 disaster have been devastating. From a scientific perspective, Johnson's decision to single out the 1969 blowout as the last ""major"" one makes no sense. We rate Johnson's  ."
11742,4,"Zika mosquitoes ""can't catch me.","May 18, 2016",global news service;public health;sports,usain bolt,Usain Bolt is an athlete from Jamaica who holds the 100-meter and 200-meter world records.,,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview on NBC,"Bolt said Zika mosquitoes ""can’t catch me."" The Olympic champion and world record holder clocks an average speed is 21.65 miles per hour in his races, with 23.35 miles per hour at the high end and 18.53 miles per hour at the low end. Female A. aegypti mosquitoes, the main vector for Zika, cruise between 1.12 and 3.35 miles per hour. That’s a lot slower than Bolt, though the mosquitoes fly for much longer than Bolt sprints. Don’t try this, people. (But if you do, send us a video!) We rate Bolt’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/fab8b2cf-1ebd-4627-9ca4-d3bfb150ef4b"
20932,1,"Girl Scouts support ""Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion politicians.","February 4, 2022",abortion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"The council later terminated its affiliation with the sex-ed program. Then, in 2014, the national Girl Scouts organization shared news stories on its social media accounts about women who made a difference in 2013. Those stories — written by news organizations, not by the Girl Scouts — included some politicians who support abortion rights. The Girl Scouts said sharing the stories did not represent an endorsement of any person. We rate this  .   "
12347,2,"Chris ""Sununu supported Obama's Common Core agenda, taking away local control of our schools.","September 1, 2016",education;voting record,ted gatsas,"Ted Gatsas currently serves as 47th Mayor of Manchester. He was first elected to serve in 2009 and was re-elected in 2011, 2013 and 2015. As Mayor he also serves as Chairman of the school board. In 2000, Gatsas was elected to the New Hampshire State Senate to represent District 16 comprised of the towns of Bow, Candia, Dunbarton, Hooksett and Manchester Wards 1, 2 and 12. He served for five consecutive terms until being elected mayor. Gatsas served as senate president from 2005–2006.",new hampshire,0,0,0,1,0,0,an ad,"Our Ruling Ted Gatsas said that Chris Sununu, a fellow Republican, supported ""Obama’s Common Core Agenda."" As an Executive Councilor, Sununu voted in favor of testing contracts and education officials aligned with Common Core, which shows a degree of support, but he has never taken an up-or-down vote on the Common Core standards. And, while Obama’s administration has incentivized states to adopt the standards, the federal government did not develop them, nor do the standards micro-manage how New Hampshire schools should deliver education. This statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts.  We rate the  ."
8608,3,"State Medicaid expansion ""will save our treasury $1 billion over the next eight years.","February 26, 2014",medicaid;state budget,terry mcauliffe,"Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, was elected governor of Virginia on Nov. 5, 2013. He received 47.8 percent of the vote in defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who came in at 45.2 percent. Robert Sarvis, a Libertarian, finished a distant third with 6.5 percent.
McAuliffe's inaguration as Virginia's 72nd governor is scheduled on Jan. 11, 2014.
McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and noted political fundraiser, was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. In 2009, McAuliffe unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor.
McAuliffe was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 9, 1957. He has a bachelor's degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. McAuliffe has lived in Fairfax County for more than 20 years, is married and has five children.
 ",virginia,7,4,3,16,7,4,a radio interview,"McAuliffe says Virginia will save $1 billion if the General Assembly expands eligibility for MedicaId. But the analysis he cites says the state will save $420 million of that sum, regardless of whether it broadens Medicare, from other provisions in Obamacare. The research concludes that $601 million in savings over the next eight years are riding on the legislature's decision. So McAuliffe is right that there’s a lot of expansion money on the table, but he  how much. We rate his  ."
1475,3,"St. Pete Beach's experiences are a ""fair example"" of what could happen if Amendment 4 passes.","March 15, 2010",candidate biography;elections;florida amendments,citizens for lower taxes and a stronger economy,A political action committee opposing Florida's proposed Amendment 4.,florida,1,0,2,1,0,1,an interview,"In trying to capsulize what is a complex issue, we read dozens of stories generated by the development brouhaha in St. Pete Beach, watched city commission meetings and spoke with people representing all sides. We unequivocally come to one conclusion: The situation in St. Pete Beach is a mess. After that, the analysis becomes less cut and dried. Here's how we see it. A group of St. Pete Beach residents, unhappy with the direction of their city government, successfully wrestled certain land use decisions out of the hands of elected leaders. The movement produced a backlash from both the government and pro-development forces, who then mounted their own political campaign to wrestle power back. The power struggle has continued for close to four years. That's a different storyline than what is envisioned under Amendment 4, where voters would act as a check on the decisions of local government. The amendment itself isn't designed to go around government the way the situation in St. Pete Beach played out. And it has nothing to do with citizens proposing amendments to the local comprehensive plan, like what has happened in St. Pete Beach. Now, are the same lawsuits and political maneuvering possible? Absolutely. And maybe that's enough to make the analogy valid. But voters should be wary in blindly believing that St. Pete Beach's experiences would be duplicated statewide should Amendment 4 pass. Opponents say St. Pete Beach's experience is a ""fair example"" of what could happen should Amendment 4 pass. We rate that  ."
1138,4,"The Baucus health care bill would require taxes on medical devices such as X-ray machines, female condoms, HIV tests and surgical needles.","October 7, 2009",health care;taxes,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a posting on the conservative Web site TownHall.com,"So Jessup is correct about most of the items she cites: They would be subject to the tax. A few others she cites would not fall under the committee's latest definition for the tax, but the practical details of the bill right now are not yet settled, so it's possible that they will be taxed eventually. We should also add that the tax may not necessarily be included in the final health care bill that will be crafted from the various versions in different committees. But for now, the provision remains part of the Senate Finance bill. On balance, we rate Jessup's assertion ."
11888,3,"As governor, in the face of partisan attacks, (Charlie Crist) had the courage to save jobs and lead his state into economic recovery.","June 20, 2016",candidate biography;economy;stimulus,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",florida,124,165,163,71,71,9,a statement,"Obama said, ""As governor, in the face of partisan attacks, he (Charlie Crist) had the courage to save jobs and lead his state into economic recovery."" Crist was a vocal advocate for the federal stimulus, and it cost him politically as his fellow Republicans attacked him for it. The state ended up using billions to plug holes in the budget, and economists we’ve consulted agree that funding prevented Florida’s dismal economic picture from getting even worse. It’s a bit more difficult to entirely credit Crist with leading the state into a recovery, because most of the gains came after he left office, as the entire country emerged from the recession. The statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
12254,5,"Says Marco Rubio ""voted against the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act.","August 19, 2016",voting record,patrick murphy,Patrick Murphy won his first seat in 2012 for the U.S. House of Representatives representing District 18 in Florida. Murphy lost a U.S. Senate race against Marco Rubio in 2016. ,florida,3,5,4,2,1,0,a post on his campaign website,"Murphy said Rubio ""voted against the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act."" Rubio voiced support for the original law, but he and some Republicans in both the Senate and House opposed certain provisions added to the bill pertaining to spending and federal oversight. Rubio voted against the bill in 2012 and 2013, but it passed with bipartisan support the second time. Even though he had clearly stated his reasons why, Rubio still voted nay. We rate Murphy’s statement ."
6517,4,Says Mitt Romney refused to say whether he'd sign the Lilly Ledbetter bill.,"October 16, 2012",debates;women,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,the second presidential debate,"Obama said that when asked whether he would have signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act into law, Romney's campaign said, ""I'll get back to you."" His point was that the campaign was dodging the question. Indeed, a Romney adviser did say earlier this year that he would ""get back"" to a reporter about whether he supported the Lilly Ledbetter Act. A spokeswoman then said he would not change it, and Romney later said he ""certainly support(s) equal pay for women,"" and has ""no intention of changing that law."" So Obama is correct about the initial statement, but Romney later clarified by saying he wouldn't change the law. We rate Obama's  . CORRECTION: A previous version of this item said the Supreme Court's Ledbetter decision made it ""impossible for employees who learned of such discrimination later to get relief, such as back pay."" In fact, the court declined to address the question of whether employees who learned of discrimination after the statute of limitations expired would be protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
17133,1,"Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said ""defending Trump is more important than the United States.","February 23, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"But none of the four clips that MSNBC published included Nunes saying anything close to ""defending Trump is more important than the United States."" That distortion was added later by several liberal blogs and YouTube videos . We reached out to Nunes’ press office for comment, but we haven’t heard back. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
21222,1,"Josh Mandel doctored an image in a campaign ad but ""forgot to Photoshop the hands that clearly show he put his face on the body of a Black soldier.","April 5, 2022",race and ethnicity;military;facebook fact-checks,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",ohio,0,2,7,1,8,4,a Facebook post,"Occupy Democrats said Mandel doctored an image in a campaign ad but ""forgot to Photoshop the hands that clearly show he put his face on the body of a Black soldier."" The liberal group’s  is based on social media users’ observations that Mandel’s hands appear darker than his face in a photo showing him beside Black soldiers in a recent ad.  No other  has conclusively substantiated the alleged photoshopping. The ad’s creator, meanwhile, said Mandel’s hands appeared darker in the ad because the photo had been vignetted in order to highlight the white text at the bottom directing viewers to Mandel’s website. A Mandel campaign spokesperson provided PolitiFact with a version of the photo in which Mandel’s hands and the lower half of the rest of the photo appear lighter and more consistent with the rest of the image. PolitiFact places the burden of proof on the speaker of the . Because the  is unproven, we rate it ."
11008,5,More black babies are aborted in NYC than born.,"November 14, 2015",abortion;corrections and updates;women,cynthia meyer,"Cynthia Meyer became deputy press secretary to Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, in February 2015.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,response to Democratic presidential debate," -- The statement is accurate and there's nothing significant missing. Click here for   more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. CLARIFICATION, 4:20 p.m., Dec. 1, 2015: We amended this fact check to clarify that the described 2013 abortion rate for black women related to women aged 15 to 49. This change did not affect our rating."
7883,1,Obama has jumped the shark and ordered the ocean closed!,"October 5, 2013",environment;federal budget,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,florida,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"Claims about the federal government shutdown include this one circulating on Twitter: ""Obama has jumped the shark and ordered the ocean closed!"" The tweet linked to an article in Breitbart that explains that the shutdown means that the Dry Tortugas and the Florida Bay are closed as a result of the shutdown. That means that 1,100 square miles of prime fishing is off limits -- a blow to fishing charter companies and others that benefit from that access. Biscayne National Park is also off limits. But it’s an exaggeration to state that Obama has tried to shut down the entire ocean -- or even to suggest that he has shuttered the Atlantic Ocean or all of the waters in the Keys. Tourists and locals can continue to fish, swim and play in the ocean, even in the Keys. We throw a big ol’ bucket of ocean water from the Keys on this  and rate this  ."
483,5,John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time (last year).,"June 3, 2008",bush administration,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"St. Paul, Minn","He prevailed 17 times. McCain missed more than half the votes on which Bush had a position, as he campaigned for the White House. But repeated votes on immigration and the Iraq war — two issues on which he was closely allied with Bush — as well as the filibuster votes helped elevate McCain from one of the president's chief adversaries three years ago to one of his biggest supporters. McCain's vote score can thus be viewed both as a reflection of ideological kinship with the Bush administration and with the hard-line, tactical decisions he made in response to some Democratic initiatives. Because Obama correctly quotes an accurate measure of how often McCain was in sync with the president in 2007, we rule the  ."
2732,5,"In Wisconsin, ""deaths from domestic violence are at the highest in 10 years.","October 7, 2010",families;crime,gwen moore,"U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore is a Democratic member of Congress, representing Wisconsin's 4th District, which primarily includes Milwaukee. Moore, who served in the state Legislature from 1989 to 2004, was elected to Congress in 2004.",wisconsin,7,8,8,5,5,1,a news release,"The Milwaukee congresswoman said deaths in Wisconsin from domestic violence ""are at the highest in 10 years.""   Moore accurately quoted statistics compiled by an advocacy group for 2009. It’s important to note the group includes suicides committed by domestic violence perpetrators, which makes the death tally higher than it would otherwise be. Even so, either way you track it, the 2009 numbers were at a 10-year high. We rate Moore’s statement ."
18599,0,Jeffrey Epstein found living in New Mexico!,"October 9, 2020",crime;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Back then, the medical examiner had yet to release his final ruling on how Epstein died, but numerous people in official positions confirmed that he was, in fact, dead. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons announced his death. One of Epstein’s lawyers blamed prosecutors and the Manhattan Correctional Center, where Epstein was held, for his client’s death. And federal prosecutors then said that their investigation of those suspected of helping Epstein would continue despite his death.   We rate this Facebook video !"
4432,4,"Since 1970, the Clean Air Act has reduced toxic and health-threatening air pollution by 60 percent while our economy has grown more than 200 percent.","September 23, 2011",environment,hank johnson,"Hank Johnson, a Democrat, represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District",georgia,2,3,4,3,0,0,a web post,"The report by the widely cited think tank looked at 15 years of data and concluded that the regulations ""retard industrial activity."" Johnson is correct in his statement about the Clean Air Act’s impact on pollution. The rest of his argument was aimed at countering claims that strong environmental policies hurt business. The numbers the congressman used seem to be on target, but there’s some room for debate about the Clean Air Act’s impact on the economy. We rate his statement ."
22403,1,The law prohibits current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs from overseeing the election while she was a candidate for governor.,"November 15, 2022",elections,paul gosar,"Rep. Paul Gosar is a Republican serving Arizona's Fourth Congressional District. He entered Congress in 2010. Previously, he was a dentist.
 ",arizona,0,0,0,0,1,1,a tweet,"Gosar said the law bars a secretary of state from being a candidate. He argued that if poll workers can’t be candidates, neither can secretaries of state. Poll workers and secretaries of state play different roles in elections. Poll workers help with core activities, including assisting at polls on Election Day and in getting early ballots ready to be counted. Secretaries of state ensure counties follow state election laws, but leave the conduct of elections to counties.  No law bars a secretary of state from being a candidate. We rate this  ."
13149,1,I remember years ago looking at a CBO report that in 1964 predicted that Medicare would cost $9 billion 10 years later. And I think it was already over $100 billion at that point.,"March 12, 2017",congress;federal budget;health care,jack kingston,"Jack Kingston, a Republican, is a former U.S. Representative from Georgia and a political commentator.",georgia,1,3,4,3,2,0,an interview on CNN,"Kingston said, ""I remember years ago looking at a CBO report that in 1964 predicted that Medicare would cost $9 billion 10 years later. And I think it was already over $100 billion.""  But the CBO wasn't established until 1974. There were estimates, but they were actually made by the House Ways and Means Committee. Comparing the original figures to today is more complicated than just citing the numbers. And the sources for the figures -- the CBO vs. a House committee -- are very different.  When we asked about the misstatement, Kingston acknowledged the error. We rate this  ."
23246,5,"More than ""200 dogs showed up and lined up around the block"" for a man's 100th birthday celebration.","June 23, 2023",animals;good enough to be true,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a reel,"""He was just so sweet and talking to the kids and petting all the dogs and saying their names. It was so much fun."" We rate the  that more than ""200 dogs showed up and lined up around the block"" for a man’s 100th birthday celebration Good Enough to Be . See a post that might make a great Good Enough to be  story? Send it to [email protected]  "
5218,2,"Says Wisconsin Assembly Republicans voted to repeal a law that ensures ""that women cannot get paid less than a man for doing the same job.","February 23, 2012",civil rights;income;jobs;legal issues;women;workers,cory mason,"Wisconsin state Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) has been a member of the Assembly since 2006. The former union organizer represents the Racine County communities of Sturtevant and Elmwood Park, and parts of Racine and Mount Pleasant.",wisconsin,0,0,0,2,0,0,a news release,"Our rating Mason said Wisconsin Assembly Republicans approved a bill to repeal a law that ensures ""that women cannot get paid less than a man for doing the same job."" The law does not ensure pay equity, but rather gives discriminated workers the right to sue in state court for compensatory and punitive damages. So, if the GOP-backed bill is signed into law, that right to sue would be lost. But discriminated workers would still be able to seek back pay and other ""make whole"" payments through government agencies, and they could still sue for compensatory and punitive damages in federal court. Mason’s statement contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would leave a different impression -- our definition of . "
2801,5,"Under the compromise tax agreement, ""99.7% of American families will not pay 1 nickel in an estate tax.","December 13, 2010",taxes,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a Twitter message,"Had that plan gone through, the Tax Policy Center estimates it would have subjected 6,460 estates to a tax (bring in an estimated $18.2 billion). If no tax plan passes, and the rate goes back to 55 percent on the value of estates over $1 million, an 43,540 estates would have to pay (bringing in an estimated $34.4 billion next year). Sanders was correct that in 2009, when the effective exemption was $3.5 million, about 99.7 percent of all estates were exempt and didn't pay anything. The compromise plan -- which would set effective exemption at $5 million -- would push the number of exempted estates even higher, so that more than 99.8 percent of estates would not pay anything. We rate Sanders' comment ."
47,3,"During his tenure in Washington and in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama has accumulated a record of bipartisan success.","September 6, 2007",,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,the campaign's website,"Gould declined to discuss Obama directly, but said, ""It's easy enough to cosponsor things. It's very hard to judge effectiveness."" But if it is difficult to evaluate Obama's work as a senator, it is possible to examine his voting record. An analysis conducted by Congressional Quarterly and released last week showed that, for the votes so far in 2007, Obama voted with his party's position 96 percent of the time. For someone who may be trying to paint himself as bipartisan, that's pretty partisan."
10707,4,"The top man at Yale Law School came out ... with just a raging report"" about former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, saying she is ""one of the worst executives in his memory in history running the company.","September 13, 2015",candidate biography,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on ""Face the Nation""","Trump said, ""The top man at Yale Law School came out, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, with just a raging report"" about former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, saying she is ""one of the worst executives in his memory in history running the company."" Trump misses minor points about the Yale man and his message. Sonnenfeld teaches at Yale’s business school. He is not the law school’s ""top man. And Sonnenfeld doesn’t exactly say Fiorina is the worst HP CEO in ""his memory."" However, the gist of Trump’s  is accurate, as Sonnenfeld has been a vocal critic of Fiorina’s HP record for years. Trump’s  is missing some detail but is overall on point about Sonnenfeld’s long-running critique of Fiorina. We rate Trump’s  .  "
15546,2,"Says Sen. Charles Schumer ""repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other Democrats. They changed their mind only after I was elected president.","January 8, 2019",immigration,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a televised speech,"Trump said Schumer has ""has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past along with many other Democrats. They changed their mind only after I was elected president."" Schumer, along with tens of other Democrats including former President Barack Obama, voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized building a fence along about 700 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico. That’s the majority of the barrier in place today along the southern border. However, the fence was mocked as a ""nothing wall"" by Trump in the past and was far less ambitious, both politically and physically, than the wall Trump wants to build now. Finally, Trump says the Democrats no longer support their previous position simply because he wants it. But Democrats have actually proposed current funding for the fencing that was approved in 2006.  We rate this statement ."
9672,5,The president of the United States came in the Tuesday before the election in a ward that went 99% for him in the last election and they couldn't even (increase) the vote there.,"November 7, 2014",elections,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,an interview,"Burke drew 13 percent more Milwaukee votes in 2014 than Barrett did in 2010. Our rating Walker said: ""The president of the United States came in the Tuesday before the election in a ward that went 99% for him in the last election and they couldn't even (increase) the vote there."" The numbers back him up: turnout in that ward -- and citywide was down, and so were the votes for Democrats in 2014 when compared to the most recent governor’s race, the 2012 recall. Turnout also was down in that ward compared to the 2010 turnout in Walker’s first race, though citywide it was higher in 2014 than four years earlier. We rate his  ."
1036,5,Health care reform will not affect veterans' benefits.,"August 13, 2009",health care;veterans,david axelrod,David Axelrod is a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. He is now an analyst for NBC News.,national,2,7,6,2,1,0,a chain e-mail,"""What the White House is saying is ,"" said Bernard Edelman, deputy director for policy and government affairs for the Vietnam Veterans of America. Edelman said that another part of the White House  – that “the president's budget significantly expands coverage under the VA, extending care to 500,000 more veterans who were previously excluded” – also adds up. Obama’s first budget plan opened the VA’s doors to about that many vets previously excluded from care. So, by all accounts, the administration is correct that health care reform will not keep veterans from getting the care they currently receive. So for this one, Axelrod earns a ."
2152,5,"The federal government is now on track"" for the second-largest budget deficit ""in 65 years.","August 25, 2010",federal budget;pundits,glenn beck,"Glenn Beck is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show. He also hosts an Internet-based TV show. Beck formerly hosted a television talk show on CNN Headline News and then Fox News.",national,4,2,7,5,8,6,comments on his TV show,"So let's review. Beck said that we're on track to have the second-biggest budget deficit in 65 years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, he's right. Going by the administration's own estimate, the situation is even more dire. We found disagreement among economists as to why the deficits are soaring, but Beck's point stands, so we rate this ."
1808,4,"The Tampa Bay Rays' ""prices have been judged the most affordable in all of professional sports.","June 21, 2010",baseball;economy,stuart sternberg,Stuart Sternberg is the principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.,florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a press statement,"And here's the point. Sternberg accurately cites an ESPN study in saying that the Rays have been ""judged the most affordable (team) in all of professional sports."" But we're not sure an ESPN survey of 50,000 fans represents a  picture of the affordability of the Rays, or any of the other 121 professional sports franchises. There are so many variables when it comes to ticket pricing -- be it the opponent or the day of the week -- or parking, or concession prices that it's just hard to make a fair judgment. Because the survey is suspect, we rate Sternberg's statement ."
17104,4,Says Melania Trump lied under oath in 2013 about graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in architecture.,"February 9, 2020",facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story," and previous reporting shows that Melania falsely stated she graduated college with a bachelor’s degree while under oath. But Political Flare’s inflammatory headline, along with others published by left-leaning websites, makes readers believe this is a new piece of information. It isn’t. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
15671,4,"In 2011, for example, the United Kingdom had 146 deaths due to gun violence; Denmark, 71; Portugal, 142; and Japan, 30. But last year, in the United States, almost 40,000.","February 6, 2019",guns,jerrold nadler,"U.S. Rep. Jerrold ""Jerry"" Nadler represents New York's 10th Congressional District. The district includes The district includes Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Soho and Wall Street, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park and Kensington. Nadler is a Democrat.",national,0,1,1,0,1,0,a committee hearing,"Nadler said, ""In 2011, for example, the United Kingdom had 146 deaths due to gun violence; Denmark, 71; Portugal, 142; and Japan, 30. But last year, in the United States, almost 40,000."" The numbers Nadler mentioned were largely accurate for their corresponding years, but his  was missing some context. Some of Nadler’s exact figures were dated, and they didn’t consider each country’s relative population. Still, the most recent figure shows that magnitude and rate of firearm-related deaths in the United States surpass most, if not all, of its industrialized counterparts. We rate Nadler’s statement .  "
3916,4,There's no scientific conclusion that (being gay) is genetic.,"July 10, 2011",lgbtq;science,tim pawlenty,"Tim Pawlenty is the former governor of Minnesota, having served two terms in office from 2003-2011.",national,2,6,3,2,3,1,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Scientists told us that genetics may play a role in determining sexual orientation, but the current  suggests that it’s not the dominant factor and may ultimately be shown to play just a modest role. But a modest role is still different from no role. And we also think that viewers of the interview might be led to believe that because homosexuality is not primarily caused by genes, there’s no biological cause. In reality, most scientists do believe that sexual orientation is caused by biology, rather than by choice. On balance, we rate Pawlenty’s statement ."
14285,1,"Says he is ""one of America's leading consumer lawyers.","February 6, 2018",candidate biography;consumer safety;corporations;legal issues,tim burns,"Tim Burns, who lives in the Madison suburb of Middleton, has a national law practice representing businesses and individuals against insurers. In 2017, he announced he would run in 2018 for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a TV ad,"And Burns’s profile on his law firm’s website also cites business : Tim is favorably ranked in the 2006 (Illinois), 2007 (recommended in ""Insurance"" nationally), and 2008 to 2016 (Band 2 - nationally) editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. The picture is clear. Our rating Burns says he is ""one of America's leading consumer lawyers."" The bulk of his legal work is not representing individual consumers, but rather large businesses that are suing their insurers. We rate Burns’ statement ."
12574,1,"Says that compared to direct sales by manufacturers, consumers ""save avg of $500 per car sold through franchised dealer model.","September 21, 2016",transportation,texas automobile dealers association,"The Texas Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) is the statewide trade association representing over 1,300 franchised automobile dealerships in nearly 300 communities.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"The auto dealers association responded to a tweet talking up direct sales by car manufacturers by saying consumers save an average of $500 by shopping at traditional roadside dealers. However, studies offered to back up this  didn’t gauge whether shoppers save money by visiting dealers rather than buying directly from manufacturers. The $500 savings figure ties to shopping roadside dealers offering the same model of car. We rate the  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
18924,1,"Clerks in Milwaukee and Dane Counties colluded to (add) nearly 250,000 individuals to the 'Indefinitely Confined' voter list.","November 9, 2020",elections;states,joe sanfelippo,Joe Sanfelippo was elected to the State Assembly in 2012 as a Republican from West Allis. He's a small businessman who owned and operated a landscaping business. He served a term on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors from 2008-12.,wisconsin,0,2,0,0,1,1,a news release,"Sanfelippo said, ""Clerks in Milwaukee and Dane Counties colluded to (add) nearly 250,000 individuals to the ‘Indefinitely Confined’ voter list."" Each element of this  runs into issues. Clerks don’t determine who is on the list as this implies, they simply record which voters list themselves this way. They don’t even have the authority to remove someone from it. And we’ve seen no  of the boldest element of this , that some kind of collusion was involved. The two clerks did communicate, but as part of a larger group email. For our fact checks, the burden of proof is on the speaker, who refused to provide any . We rate this  ."
5827,2,"Says Rep. Charles Bass ""supports privatizing Social Security, risking trillions more on Wall Street.","June 7, 2012",social security,ann mclane kuster,"Ann McLane Kuster was the Democratic nominee for Congress in the Second Congressional District of New Hampshire, narrowly losing by just 3,551 votes in 2010.
Kuster, an attorney, has not held elected office, but her parents did. Her mother, Susan McLane was a State Senator, and her father Malcolm served as Mayor of Concord, on the Executive Council, and ran for Governor as an Independent in 1972.
Kuster, of Hopkingtom, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1978, in the third class with women, and received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984.",new hampshire,2,0,3,2,1,0,a rally outside the N.H. Statehouse,"""To address this financial crisis facing the Social Security program, one such idea Congressman Bass has supported would create a program that would allow individuals to voluntarily place a portion of their money that they currently pay as part of the payroll tax and place it into a personal account,"" Tranchemontagne wrote in an email to The Telegraph. ""Saying that (he) supports ‘privatizing Social Security’ is pure political rhetoric devised by Democrat spin doctors to frighten seniors."" Our ruling: Bass, like most other Congressional Republicans at the time, supported President Bush’s plan to introduce the option of private savings account into the Social Security equation. This partial privatization plan would have brought change to the system, but, as PolitiFact has ruled in the past, it would not affect people older than 55 and it does not meet the criteria for full privatization, as Kuster claims. We rate her statement ."
316,4,"In her short time in the United States Senate, the senator from New York, Senator Clinton, got $500-million worth of pork barrel projects.","February 3, 2008",federal budget,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Fairfield, Conn","So McCain is right that Clinton has brought truckloads of bacon to her New York constituents. McCain just dramatically understates the amount. (McCain's campaign said he was simply being ""conservative"" with his .) For our ruling, we find that while McCain's numbers are low, he's actually more correct than he realizes because she's brought so much pork to New York. We rate his attack ."
1833,3,"The ABA's own criteria for a judicial nominee call for, among other things, at least 12 years' experience in the practice of law, and they mean actual practice of law.","June 28, 2010",kagan nomination;legal issues,jon kyl,"Jon Kyl represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate from January 3,1995 to January 3, 2013. He served as the Republican party whip from 2007 to 2013. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Kyl to succeed Sen. John McCain, who died while in office Aug. 25, 2018.",national,1,3,4,0,2,0,a hearing on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan,"The sentence sets up two alternatives -- either ""distinguished accomplishments in the field of law or experience that is similar to in-court trial work."" We see no requirement that the ""distinguished accomplishments"" be directly related to the in-court practice of law. Ultimately, then, Kyl is correct to say that the ABA does ""call for"" 12 years of practical law experience. But he leaves out an important qualifier -- that there's a way around that through ""distinguished accomplishments in the field of law."" So we rate his statement ."
16054,3,"China's developing country status in the World Trade Organization ""means they can tariff and embargo.","May 11, 2019",china;trade;punditfact,anthony scaramucci,Anthony Scaramucci briefly served as President Donald Trump's communications director. He started his career at Goldman Sachs and went on to found the global investment firm SkyBridge Capital. He most recently served on Trump's transition team.,,0,0,1,0,1,0,an interview,"Scaramucci said China’s status in the WTO as a developing nation ""means they can tariff and embargo."" All WTO members — developed and developing nations, alike — have a right to tariff. However, they must agree not to exceed certain tariff caps. Having the status of ""developing nation"" does not free a country from its obligations. Members are also generally prohibited from imposing embargoes. But developing countries typically do negotiate higher tariff caps than their developed counterparts. Experts also said there’s some  that China has exploited its developing country status to gain an advantage. We rate this ."
8277,5,"Trey Radel does not even qualify to drive a Lee County school bus at this point, yet he occupies a seat in Congress.","January 11, 2014",congress;drugs,mike scott,Mike Scott has been the sheriff in Lee County since 2004.,florida,1,0,0,0,0,0,a Facebook post,"In a Facebook post vowing to advocate for Radel’s replacement, Scott said, ""The sad reality is that Trey Radel does not even qualify to drive a Lee County school bus at this point, yet he occupies a seat in Congress."" Radel was convicted of misdemeanor cocaine possession in Washington. If he had been charged in Florida he would have faced a felony. Under the unlikely scenario that Radel’s future career plans include applying for a job as a Lee County school bus driver, the district’s policies state that it won’t hire anyone currently on probation or who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge within the past five years, or a felony drug charge in the past decade. Radel’s future as a congressman may be in the hands of the voters of Southwest Florida. But Scott is correct that Radel’s drug conviction has put the brakes on him becoming a bus driver. We rate this  ."
1346,5,The law is very clear! 'The monies recouped from the TARP shall be paid into the general fund of the treasury for the reduction of the public debt.',"February 2, 2010",economy,judd gregg,Judd Gregg is a former U.S. senator from New Hampshire and was also briefly President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Commerce.,national,2,1,0,0,0,0,a Senate budget hearing,"For example, Congress could rescind the TARP money and then, in a separate action, use it to pay other expenses, said Brian Riedl, lead budget analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation. ""Congress can of course vote to spend new money on anything it wants,"" Dean Baker, an economist and co-director of the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, told us in December. In Gregg's case, though, he's strictly talking about what the law says, that TARP money cannot be used for anything other than deficit reduction.  He's right and we find his  ."
8361,4,"David Dewhurst is ""the first lieutenant governor in history to have a personal security detail.","January 27, 2014",candidate biography;homeland security;crime;public safety;state budget,todd staples,"Staples was first elected agriculture commissioner of Texas in 2006 after previously serving in the Texas Senate and House. He unsuccessfully sought the 2014 Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, afterward resigning for another job.",texas,2,3,4,0,1,1,Dallas,"Staples called Dewhurst the first lieutenant governor of Texas to have a personal security detail. That appears so. Still, Staples’ statement could leave the impression that Dewhurst arranged for something unique for his own benefit. In contrast, Dewhurst was quoted years ago as saying that he did not initiate the protection and initially declined it. Also, Staples did not acknowledge that Capitol security was beefed up in various ways in 2010 and 2011 or that Dewhurst wasn’t alone in gaining a protective detail. We rate this , which lacked these clarifications, as .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
7872,4,"At the time that (Medicare Part D) was passed (it) was actually less popular than the Affordable Care Act, according to the polls.","October 1, 2013",health care;medicare;polls and public opinion,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,an NPR interview,"To illustrate that the Affordable Care Act can overcome its low popularity ratings, Obama claimed that Medicare Part D was even less popular when it first passed. Polling data shows that a lower percentage of people favored Part D in 2004 than favor Obamacare in 2013. However, depending on the margin of error, a slightly higher percentage of people may view the president’s reform unfavorably compared with Part D. We rate Obama’s statement ."
11414,0,"Says Hillary Clinton told the Des Moines Register on Aug. 8, 2015: ""I will get the NRA shut down for good if I become president. If we can ban handguns, we will do it.","October 25, 2015",guns,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",iowa,4,13,35,53,711,331,a blog post and subsequently reposted on Facebook,"A post spread via social media quotes Clinton as telling The Des Moines Register, ""I will get the NRA shut down for good if I become president. If we can ban handguns, we will do it."" Clinton was quoted in The Des Moines Register several times about gun control in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, but she did not say what the post accuses her of saying. Clinton has not advocated for shutting down the NRA or banning handguns outright. The  is entirely fabricated. We rate this statement !"
13854,1,"Bryan County, Ga., has ""corrupted voter rolls.","September 25, 2017",elections,public interest legal foundation,The Public Interest Legal Foundation uses research and legal measures to prevent voter fraud.,georgia,0,0,0,0,2,0,a press release,"The Public Interest Legal Foundation said Bryan County had corrupted voter rolls because it had more voters registered than the eligible population in the county. The foundation relied on the number of voters listed as inactive to reach that conclusion. That is a worst-case approach that does not account for the reality of voter roll maintenance in Georgia. Based on all the data, there’s no  that the Bryan County rolls are corrupted. The group took a number that reflected an effort to keep the voter rolls current and used it to cast the county in a bad light. The foundation used data selectively and ignored ongoing efforts to clean up the voter rolls to reach an exaggerated conclusion. We rate this  ."
5281,5,More than half of the births in Texas are paid for by Medicaid.,"March 5, 2012",children;medicaid,elliott naishtat,"Elliott Naishtat, dean of the Travis County legislative delegation, won his first Texas House term in 1990.",texas,2,0,1,0,0,0,an oped column,"The Medicaid-funded share of births escalated to 56.5 percent in 2006, 56.3 percent in 2007 and 55.4 percent in 2008. By email, commission spokesman Geoffrey Wool confirmed the cited figures, adding that in 2010, 56.9 percent of Texas births -- or 220,899 out of 388,447 total births -- were covered by Medicaid, at an average cost of $11,600. He provided a commission chart showing the share of births funded by Medicaid for each state fiscal year from 2004 through 2010. Wool said the state’s share of the $2.2 billion annually paid by Medicaid for Texas births and related services is about $900 million. We rate the Democrats’  about Medicaid paying for more than half of Texas births as ."
4832,0,We're only inches away from no longer being a free economy.,"January 7, 2012",economy;new hampshire 2012;regulation,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,"Manchester, N.H","It’s  that the government’s footprint on spending has grown over the past few years, due in large part to the recession. But while the statistics show that the government continues to have a large influence on the economy, there is little indication that the government’s role has risen dramatically enough over the past few years to threaten the kind of free market that the U.S. has operated under in recent decades. And international comparisons show that the U.S. ranks low in both total tax burden and high in economic freedom -- at least as measured by a prominent conservative think tank. Last June and August, we found this  to merit a . Nothing has changed our view. We rate Romney's statement . EDITOR’S NOTE : The quote we used from Tevi Troy was made on June 2, 2011. After this article was published, we learned that Troy subsequently joined the Romney campaign as an adviser, according to POLITICO ."
17908,3,"Google and Apple ""put a covid tracker on every phone.","June 24, 2020",technology;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"A social media rumor claims that Google and Apple ""put a covid tracker on every phone."" The technology companies created a system that notifies cellphone users when they’ve been exposed to a COVID-19 patient who was enabled the same technology. The system aims to help public health officials slow the spread of the coronavirus by limiting the amount of time infected people who don’t show symptoms unknowingly spread the virus. But the subtext of the Facebook post — that the companies are using the system to track users without their knowledge — is . iPhone and Android users must opt in to the feature, and personal information like location data will not be shared. Only a few states have said they will use the technology to support their contact tracing efforts. The Facebook post is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
21375,5,"When the New York State Senate voted to legalize abortion in 1970, 12 Republican senators voted in favor of it.","May 3, 2022",abortion,andrea stewart-cousins,Andrea Stewart-Cousins is the Democratic Leader in the New York State Senate. She represents parts of Westchester County.,new york,2,0,0,0,0,0,a news conference,"When a repeal of the legalization was passed in 1972, he vetoed it .   Our ruling    Stewart-Cousins said that legalization of abortion in New York state was approved with the support of 12 Republicans in the Senate. She missed one vote.  The roll call shows 13 Republicans in the Senate supported the bill.   We rate her statement , because being off by one vote doesn't significantly affect its accuracy."
15844,1,"Says Joseph Stalin said, ""It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.","March 21, 2019",history;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"David Brandenberger, an associate history professor at the University of Richmond, said Bazhanov fled the Soviet Union in 1928 and then published his ""rather unreliable muckraking memoir in 1930."" ""Most experts consider Bazhanov’s Stalin quotation to be apocryphal,"" he said. Another version of this so-called Stalin quote, as Brandenberger called it, is: ""In the bourgeois countries, it is not important how they vote, but how they do the counting."" Some say Stalin was quoting Napoleon III, Brandenberger said, but there’s no authentic record showing this. We rate this Facebook post as ."
6716,2,"Says he first unveiled his new legislative agenda in Wisconsin, not in California as critics complain","November 26, 2012",education;government regulation;state budget;taxes,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,an interview,"Our rating Walker said he outlined his agenda in Wisconsin first, in great detail, before talking about ""essentially the same thing"" at the Reagan Library. There’s an element of  here. Walker did roll out some of the issues in Wisconsin, but he left out major items he later mentioned in California, on property tax cuts and an unspecified expansion of the school voucher program. In addition, Walker spoke with much greater clarity and revealed more about his ""massive"" income tax plans out west than he did back home. We rate his statement ."
19774,2,"The federal government spent over $500k trying to force fish to exercise on treadmills, an additional $150k to see if gingerbread houses are earthquake proof.","May 21, 2021",education;federal budget;science,josh mandel,"Josh Mandel, a Republican from Lyndhurst, is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He served as Ohio treasurer from 2011 to 2019.  Before that, he was a state representative from the 17th Ohio House District. He unsuccessfully challenged Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 US Senate race. Mandel is running for the GOP nomination for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat in 2022.",national,5,5,3,5,6,7,a tweet,"Mandel warned about wasteful spending, and cited the examples of $500,000 on a treadmill for fish and $150,000 to see if gingerbread houses are earthquake-proof. Waste is in the eye of the beholder, but Mandel failed to notice that the fish experiment was part of research into the evolution of life on land. It ended in 2013. He blamed the federal government for funding a museum class that injected a bit of fun into learning about resilient building design. But he greatly exaggerated the federal impact; Washington covered about $3,400 of the workshop, not the $150,000 he said. Mandel recycled old complaints, and mischaracterized what was funded. We rate this  ."
23107,4,The average amount of assistance for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is $6 a day.,"May 28, 2023",congress;debt,pramila jayapal,Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal serves in Congress representing Washington’s 7th District.,national,0,2,0,0,0,0,an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union”,"In fiscal year 2023, the daily average SNAP benefit is $7.58. But that figure includes a pandemic-related emergency allotment that ended in February. After subtracting the emergency allotment, the daily average benefit is now closer to $6, as Jayapal said.   The statement is accurate but needs additional information. We rate it .  "
2771,5,"Ohio is losing over 700 family farms a year, some of them just to pay the inheritance tax.","November 16, 2010",agriculture;economy;taxes,jim zehringer,"Jim Zehringer, a Republican, is a former state representative from Fort Recovery. A former farmer, he was appointed by Gov. John Kasich to be Ohio's agriculture director.",ohio,1,0,0,0,0,0,a news conference,"His statement is not far off the annual decline found in Ohio using statistics the USDA prefers. And ultimately, the differences in numbers don’t impact his underlying point. As for the estate tax’s role in the decline, it’s difficult to say exactly how many family farms were lost for that reason. But Cornely, an authority on Ohio agriculture, said his is sure ""some"" of the loses would be due to taxes. We rate the statement ."
16411,1,"89,000 children were separated from their parents under Obama"" and ""only 1,900 children have been separated under Trump.","August 25, 2019",immigration;homeland security;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed that ""89,000 children were separated from their parents under Obama"" and ""only 1,900 children have been separated under Trump."" Immigration experts have told PolitiFact that family separations under Trump happened at a larger scale than they did under Obama. The Obama administration did not have a ""zero-tolerance"" policy that led to systematic family separations, as did Trump’s administration. A spokeswoman for Homeland Security previously told PolitiFact that the Obama administration did not track the number of families separated. The Facebook post’s 89,000 number might be a reference to a number of children placed with sponsors during Obama’s administration — but those children arrived alone without a parent or guardian. That doesn’t mean they were separated from their parents. The exact number of children separated under Trump is unclear, but based on previous data provided by Trump officials, the number at least surpasses 1,900. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
10171,4,"When the Constitution was written, (only) 20 to 25 percent of the people in the country could vote.","April 9, 2015",elections;history,mark pocan,"Mark Pocan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2nd Congressional District on Nov. 6, 2012. He is from Madison and previously served as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin state Assembly. ",wisconsin,9,12,5,4,5,1,a news conference,"""Catholics were barred from voting in five colonies and Jews in four."" On the other hand, O’Shaughnessy said in an interview with writer Ed Crews that by 18th century standards, ""Americans enjoyed considerable voting rights,"" and that even in Britain, with its elections and representative government, voting practices tended to be unfair, uneven, corrupt, and far more restrictive than America's."" Our rating Pocan said, ""When the Constitution was written, 20 to 25 percent of the people in the country could vote."" Pocan’s estimate is defensible based on a variety of sources, with the caveat that this is tough territory for statistical precision. We rate his  ."
21781,1,There is documentation of bull sharks in the Great Lakes.,"July 27, 2022",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a video,"""There have been no confirmed sightings or captures of bull sharks in the Great Lakes that I’m aware of,"" Jeff Tyson, the fishery management program manager at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, told the AP in a story published Aug. 5. In the Instagram video, Galante — a biologist and television personality — also said, ""Sharks swimming 1,000 miles from, you know, Louisiana up rivers and getting stuck in the Great Lakes."" Sharks traveling from Louisiana would have to traverse the Mississippi River to reach the Great Lakes. But the Shedd Aquarium noted in a 2014 publication that although bull sharks ""have been known to ascend the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico as far as St. Louis,"" locks and dams plus an electric barrier on the Illinois River ""would make it next to impossible for even a bull shark to enter the Great Lakes."" We rate the  that bull sharks have been documented in the Great Lakes .   "
5176,3,"Pasco County ""opened 22 new schools over six years to keep pace with growth in student population and implement the class size amendment.","March 1, 2012",education,heather fiorentino,"Heather Fiorentino is the superintendent of Pasco County's public schools. She was elected superintendent in 2004, after serving six years in the Florida House of Representatives and five years on the New Port Richey City Council.",florida,1,0,1,0,0,1,a press release,"But when it came time to implement the class size amendment in 2011-12, even with enrollment changed only slightly, the district did not meet the 2002 voter requirement for smaller classes. The state imposed a $4 million penalty against Pasco for its failure to comply, the fourth-highest fine among the 35 districts that did not meet the rule. Fiorentino and the School Board have since submitted a plan to the state Department of Education for meeting the amendment in 2012, which could reduce the punishment. While the district did open many new schools to cope with growth and class size, it didn’t open the same number Fiorentino said and it didn’t meet class size rules every year. We rate this  ."
7590,3,"The president has had 1,540 of his nominations confirmed, only four defeated.","July 14, 2013",legal issues,mitch mcconnell,Mitch McConnell is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky and the Republican minority leader in the U.S. Senate.,national,5,9,6,8,7,1,an interview on 'Meet the Press',"McConnell said Obama faced no real problems getting his nominees confirmed by the Senate, saying that only four of 1,540 nominations had been defeated. His office later said he misspoke and the number should have been 1,560. We find he's partially accurate but is leaving out some important details. Yes, it's  that when nominations reach a final vote, the vast majority have been approved by the Senate. But this accounting ignores those who withdrew before a vote, including the estimated 38 who withdrew after Republican opposition. It also does not account for high-profile figures such as Susan Rice who were never nominated because of opposition. We rate the  ."
13856,3,"The Las Vegas shooting was the ""273rd mass shooting"" in the United States so far in 2017.","October 3, 2017",crime;government regulation;guns,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a news release,"Other sources use narrower definitions that yield much lower counts. For a statement that is partially accurate but takes things out of context, our rating is . Note: This item was changed on Oct. 5, 2017 to indicate that, beginning in 2013, Mother Jones changed its definition of mass shooting to three or more victims, rather than four. This change does not affect the rating. div class='artembed'>"
17918,1,"Joe Biden's great-grandfather Joseph J. Biden was a slave-owner and fought"" for the Confederacy.","June 22, 2020",candidate biography;history;race and ethnicity;military;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a viral image,"A blog post includes an image that says Biden’s great-grandfather, identified as Joseph J. Biden, was a Confederate soldier who enslaved people.  Biden’s great-great-grandfather was Joseph H. Biden. We found no  to indicate he was in the Confederacy or enslaved people.  We rate the post ."
22624,1,"There are no humans"" on the International Space Station.","February 5, 2023",space;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"NASA maintains a blog with updates about the station, including the Feb. 9 launch of an uncrewed rocket that departed from Kazakhstan to take fresh supplies to the station.   Photos and videos of humans aboard the station are shared on the space station’s Twitter account , among other platforms. The astronaut with the U.S. record for spending the most time living and working in space? Peggy Whitson, who clocked 665 days in September 2017. We rate claims that no humans are in the space station ."
5610,5,"Says New Jersey's prison system is ""61 percent African-American even though our state is just 13 percent black.","May 4, 2012",criminal justice,cory booker,"Cory Booker is a senator from New Jersey. He was first elected to the Senate in 2013, making him the first African-American senator from New Jersey and the first African-American elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004. Booker served as mayor of Newark from 2006 until 2013. He has a bachelor's degree in political science and a master’s degree in sociology from Stanford University, an honors degree in United States history from The Queens College as a Rhodes Scholar and a J.D. from Yale Law School. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president and suspended his campaign in January 2020.",new jersey,10,11,4,2,6,0,a speech at an American Federation for Children event,"Booker said New Jersey’s prison system is ""61 percent African-American even though our state is just 13 percent black."" Data from the state corrections department and U.S. Census Bureau back his statistics. We rate the  . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
8103,1,"The Affordable Care Act alters the ""sensible doctor-patient-relationship-centered health care program ... we see today.","November 24, 2013",health care;punditfact,sarah palin,"Sarah Palin was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. She is also the former governor of Alaska and the author of  Going Rogue: An American Life. Sarah Palin's previous experience includes leading the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and serving as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.",,14,6,9,9,21,6,"comments on Fox's ""Fox News Sunday""","Palin said the health care law changes ""a sensible doctor-patient-relationship-centered health care program."" It's valid to be worried about people potentially seeing changes in their coverage, including some people who will be forced to switch doctors. But that’s a far cry from Palin’s actual words, which suggest some sort of government intervention in the doctor-patient relationship. That's not the case. We rate Palin’s statement ."
6845,5,"Virginia ""spends less per student today than we did in 2008.","January 9, 2013",education;state budget,david toscano,"David Toscano, D-57th, is the minority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates. The district includes Charlottesville and part of Albemarle county. He was elected to the house in 2005 and became minority leader in 2011. He sits on the Transportation, Courts of Justice and Science and Technology committees.
He previously served on the Charlottesville City Council from 1990 to 2002 and was mayor in 1994-96.
Toscano was born in Syracuse, N.Y. Toscano received a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y., in 1972, a doctorate in sociology from Boston College in 1979, and a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1986. His law practice in Charlottesville specializes in family matters. He has taught political science and sociology at several universities.",virginia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a speech,"By any measure, the state is spending less per public school student this year than it did in 2008. We rate Toscano’s statement ."
1096,1,"Health insurance companies deny ""1 out of 5 treatments prescribed by doctors.","September 15, 2009",health care,health care for america now,a health care reform advocacy group,national,0,0,0,2,1,0,a television advertisement,"But that  is based solely on one study in one state, and in our view it doesn't provide enough  to back up the . The independent state agency that collected the data used in the nurses' study has raised significant doubt on the group's interpretations of that data. Many ""denials"" that were counted were not really what most people would consider a denial. And studies by other groups show much lower denial rates. So we rate this  ."
5735,5,"Says lawyer appointed by Eric Holder to investigate government leaks helped and donated to Obama's campaign, vetting vice presidential prospects.","June 12, 2012",legal issues,john cornyn,"John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas, former Texas attorney general and former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He earlier served as a Bexar County state district judge.",texas,11,4,10,6,6,1,a commentary posted on the Fox News website,"We are not judging here whether Machen's donations to Obama's 2008 campaign and his self-declared vetting of vice presidential prospects disqualify him from fully investigating any leaks. That said, Cornyn’s statement rates ."
12086,3,"Says Donald Trump ""cashed in"" on Sept. 11,  ""collecting $150,000 in federal funds intended to help small businesses recover — even though days after the attack Trump said his properties were not affected.","July 26, 2016",federal budget;terrorism,joseph crowley,Joseph Crowley is the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th Congressional District.,national,1,0,1,0,0,0,a speech at the Democratic convention,"Crowley said Trump ""cashed in, collecting $150,000 in federal funds intended to help small businesses recover — even though days after the attack Trump said his properties were not affected."" Trump did receive a grant for his building at 40 Wall Street, which was less than a mile away from the Trade Center, but the property was eligible under the grant criteria. He also did say in 2001 that his properties were not affected by the attack, although he likely meant physically. The grant also provided compensation for economic losses. We rate Crowley’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cd779146-3dbe-4084-b84f-438f74cf1b82"
9858,5,"Federal officials declared that grant funds ""could be used only for Milwaukee's streetcar project,"" meaning it ""isn't possible"" to redirect the money to ""other modes of public transportation or to our public schools.","January 14, 2015",city government;infrastructure;transportation,gwen moore,"U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore is a Democratic member of Congress, representing Wisconsin's 4th District, which primarily includes Milwaukee. Moore, who served in the state Legislature from 1989 to 2004, was elected to Congress in 2004.",wisconsin,7,8,8,5,5,1,a newspaper opinion piece,"Our rating Moore said that federal officials declared that grant funds ""could be used only for Milwaukee's streetcar project,"" meaning it ""isn’t possible"" to redirect the money to ""other modes of public transportation or to our public schools."" Current law, and grant contracts, tie the grant money specifically to the streetcar project. In theory, Congress could intervene and re-purpose the funding, but there’s far from any guarantee that would happen -- or that Milwaukee would be re-awarded the money if it did. In any case, we can only base our rating on where things stand today, not where they might stand under different scenarios. We rate Moore’s  ."
8749,0,"Says Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald ""Sterling is a Democrat.","April 27, 2014",pundits;punditfact,drudge report,The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website founded by Matt Drudge. It is often considered conservative.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,a tweet,"Drudge said Sterling is a Democrat. County records show that he is a registered Republican and has been for many years. His donations to Democrats took place two decades ago and were modest even by the standards of that time. We rate the  . Update: As we were publishing our fact-check, Drudge deleted his tweet without explanation. Here's a screen grab from Real Clear Politics:"
21729,1,"Sen. Joe Manchin and AARP ""support government price-setting schemes"" to divert money from Medicare to ""unrelated government programs or pad big insurers' profits.","July 10, 2022",health care;medicare;health check,american commitment,"American Commitment is a conservative 501(c)4 group that supports “free markets, economic growth, Constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom”",,0,0,0,2,2,1,an advertisement,"American Commitment’s ad claims that Manchin and AARP support ""price-setting schemes"" that will divert funds meant for Medicare to ""spend on unrelated government programs or pad big insurers’ profits."" As noted  by the experts we consulted, the ad is not accurate. The Medicare drug pricing plan results in savings, not the diversion of funds from the Medicare program. The ad also distorts the fact that those funds would be used to support other initiatives — in this case, the Affordable Care Act subsidies. It’s not an underhanded conspiracy but a regular part of the reconciliation process. Additionally, if the plan comes to fruition and ACA subsidies are extended, insurance companies are unlikely to reap big profits. We rate it ."
11893,1,"Austin was the ""site of the first mass shooting in the country.","June 14, 2016",history;crime,steve adler,"Attorney Steve Adler won election as mayor of Austin in December 2014, drawing 67 percent of the vote in a December 2014 runoff. He was sworn in Jan. 6, 2015. He sought re-election in 2018.",texas,1,4,2,1,2,1,an interview with Bob Cole on Austin's KOKE-FM,"Adler said Austin was the ""site of the first mass shooting in the country."" The UT tragedy appears to have been the nation’s first mass public shooting on a college campus. But there were 30 mass shootings--mass murders of four or more individuals in a 24-hour period--just in the 60-plus years before Whitman acted. We rate the statement .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/77fb039b-85ac-49be-913e-e178386c55e9"
19456,0,"Video ""proves 100% that President Joe Biden is not a 'human' being.","January 24, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""I have not taken off the rosay Beau was wearing when he passed since then,"" Biden said during a 2017 interview. ""It’s my connection with him. ""  The Biden campaign told the Associated Press after the September debate that the then-presidential candidate was wearing the rosary. A spokesperson for the campaign also told Agence France-Presse at the time that what the Facebook post calls a serpent — or serpents — is Beau Biden’s rosary. We rate this  ."
13540,4,"Says Scott Walker recently said ""he got his bald spot from hitting his head on a cabinet, and it's not a joke, he actually said that his bald spot came because he hit his head on a cabinet.","June 8, 2017",candidate biography,mark pocan,"Mark Pocan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2nd Congressional District on Nov. 6, 2012. He is from Madison and previously served as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin state Assembly. ",wisconsin,9,12,5,4,5,1,a radio interview,"Our rating Pocan claimed Walker recently said ""he got his bald spot from hitting his head on a cabinet, and it's not a joke, he actually said that his bald spot came because he hit his head on a cabinet."" Walker did make that , but it surfaced two years ago, during the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. So it was not as recent as Pocan indicated. Nor was it as farfetched as he suggested, at least according to two experts on hair loss. We rate Pocan’s  ."
21223,1,"Says Tucker Carlson said, ""What if these bodies of tortured, dead civilians were staged? What if they're fake? What if the Ukrainian military killed them & then blamed Russia? I'm not saying any of this is true, I'm just asking the questions. Why can't we ask these questions?","April 4, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"""  Russia has said without  that "" dead bodies"" were ""staged"" in Bucha after its troops left the town. Carlson, meanwhile, has been criticized for echoing Russian talking points . On March 9, for example, Carlson said a Russian  that Ukraine has bioweapon labs was ""totally and completely ,"" but there’s no  that’s the case, PolitiFact reported .   But this talking point, about staged bodies, wasn’t one Carlson made.   We rate claims that he said the words that appeared in Wash’s tweet ."
20233,1,"The Texas abortion law ""provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion.","September 7, 2021",abortion,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a press conference,"Abbott said that the new Texas abortion law ""provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion."" Abbott’s statement ignores how the pregnancy timeline is calculated. Doctors count pregnancy as starting from the date of a woman’s last period. That means by the time a woman with a regular cycle misses her first period, she is considered four weeks pregnant, which leaves her with two weeks to get an abortion. A woman with an irregular cycle may discover she has even less time. We rate this statement .  RELATED : Fact-checking how Texas ranks for children’s health in light of new abortion law"
21087,1,A Time magazine cover shows Vladimir Putin with Hitler's mustache.,"March 2, 2022",facebook fact-checks;russia,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"I felt the official choice was somewhat uninspired."" On Feb. 28, he tweeted a statement on what he called his ""TIME cover artwork."" ""It wasn’t originally intended to be a TIME cover,"" Mulder said. ""The finished image was so powerful, I felt that it deserved to be framed in an equally powerful way."" We rate claims that this is an authentic Time cover ."
20291,4,Wisconsin Governor (Tony) Evers wanted to raise your taxes by $1 billion in a pandemic. Republicans stopped him and delivered the largest tax CUT in state history.,"August 25, 2021",economy;states;taxes,alberta darling,"Wisconsin state Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, served in the state Assembly from 1990 to 1992 and has served in the state Senate since 1992. She survived a recall election in August 2011 by defeating state Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay).",wisconsin,2,2,2,1,3,1,Twitter,"Evers did plan to raise taxes by $1 billion, although his plan would have included tax cuts for lower-income Wisconsinites. And Republicans did include the largest tax cut in history in their version of the budget that passed in July.   But that tax cut was made possible in large part by an unexpected $4.4 billion that came up in the middle of the process — money Evers didn’t have available to him when he wrote his budget.    A rating of  indicates that the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. That fits here.     "
19534,3,It took the Legislature nearly 300 days to act on a (COVID-19) bill during this pandemic.,"March 30, 2021",legal issues;public health;coronavirus,tony evers,"Tony Evers, a Democrat, was elected Wisconsin governor in November 2018. His term begins in January 2019. Evers has served as the Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, a non-partisan position, since 2009. He previously worked as a teacher and school district administrator.",wisconsin,5,9,8,10,7,1,Twitter,"Evers said, ""It took the Legislature nearly 300 days to act on a (COVID-19) bill during this pandemic."" It didn’t take 300 days for the Legislature to take any action on the pandemic, as a wide-ranging bill was signed into law in April 2020. But the Republican-run Senate and Assembly did take a 300-day hiatus from passing legislation after that point, which stretched all the way to February 2021. That lines up with our definition of : a statement that is ""partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.""  "
10962,3,"The United States is ""the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege.","November 14, 2015",health care,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,"Des Moines, Iowa","Sanders said that the United States is the only major country that doesn’t guarantee health care to everyone as a right. Among the wealthy OECD nations, America -- with the possible exception of Mexico -- stands out as the only one that lacks universal coverage. The question of a guaranteed right to health care is murkier. Sanders spoke as though every advanced economy has it. In reality, some do and some don’t. We rate the  ."
12670,1,"Says Ohio's I-X Center ""used to be a great plant,"" but ""thousands of people of worked here, and they left"" when their jobs were moved overseas.","October 22, 2016",corrections and updates;jobs,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",ohio,36,85,120,194,360,179,a rally outside Cleveland,"Trump said that Cleveland’s I-X center was an example of a once-great plant, but ""thousands and thousands of people worked here, and they left. So many people are leaving, so many people are closing their businesses and moving to Mexico and other countries."" Trump’s lamentation of outsourcing isn’t historically accurate. The I-X Center was alternately called the Cleveland Tank Plant, and GM’s Cadillac and Allison Divisions built military bombers, tanks and personnel carriers there between 1942 and 1972. Production stopped when a military contract expired and was not renewed. Once acquired by the Park Corporation, it opened as an exhibition space in 1985 and has operated as one ever since. We rate Trump’s statement . Editor's note:  This fact-check was updated shortly after publication to include the Trump campaign's response. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3b6973bb-4d55-4b41-9d84-92394ece37b9"
20606,1,"Says a Vox headline said, ""teaching children the Bunny Ear method for tying their shoes"" is racist.","November 29, 2021",race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) Searching for the headline online, we found the same image of the headline that appears on Facebook on meme websites, but no  that it ever appeared on the Vox site — or any scorn that commentators critical of the news site would have surely heaped on it.   Vox has reported on children and racism, such as in a 2020 story with the headline: ""How to talk to kids about racism, explained by a psychologist. ""   But we rate claims that the headline in the post is real ."
5816,0,Obamacare is . . . the largest tax increase in the history of the world.,"June 28, 2012",health care;pundits,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",national,0,2,5,10,17,12,comments on his radio show,"UPDATE: Some readers noticed that our initial analysis of Limbaugh’s  failed to include references to the penalty that people who declined to purchase health insurance would be asked to pay. After all, the Supreme Court declared that penalty a tax. The CBO figure we used for our calculation, a total of $104 billion in revenue generated in 2019, is inclusive of all revenues, including the penalty or tax individuals might pay if they do not purchase health insurance. The figure for that year was estimated to be $14 billion for penalties paid for by employees and individuals. ( Page 19 of this report.)  "
2914,5,Says he's the first Aggie governor of Texas.,"January 18, 2011",education,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,his inaugural address,"Six governors have attended the University of Texas, most recently Dolph Briscoe, who graduated from from UT in 1942 before serving as governor from 1973-1979. Other governors were connected to UT in some other fashion, like Ann Richards, who graduated from Baylor University before earning her teaching certificate at UT in Austin. Never mind those teasips, as the Aggies call UT students. Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck! Perry’s statement is ."
15320,2,"Says ""Dan McCready wants to repeal tax cuts that saves (sic) you $1,300"" per year.","October 24, 2018",taxes,freedomworks,FreedomWorks is a group that advocates for lower taxes and small government.,north carolina,0,0,0,2,0,0,a Facebook ad,"In an ad seen on Facebook, FreedomWorks said ""Dan McCready wants to repeal tax cuts that saves you $1,300"" or more per year. The $1,300 figure is an accurate average for district residents earning yearly incomes between $50,000 and $75,000, but those with higher or lower incomes will likely receive substantially different tax cuts, ranging from a measly $156 to a whopping $24,000. Plus, McCready has repeatedly indicated that while he wants to make serious changes to the Trump tax plan, he does not want to get rid of the tax cuts, especially for the middle class. Overall, the ad contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this statement . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide."
13760,2,"Says Tony Evers ""allowed a middle-school teacher found guilty of spreading pornographic material at school to keep teaching students.","August 21, 2017",children;education;sexuality,republican party of wisconsin,The Wisconsin Republican Party works to elect Republicans to state and federal offices and advance the GOP agenda.,wisconsin,0,4,5,9,4,0,a digital ad,"Rather, he was fired for viewing pornographic material on his school computer. He got his job back, however, after an arbitrator ruled that the firing was not justified, in part because the arbitrator concluded that the behavior did not endanger any students. Evers, as the state schools superintendent, had the discretion to initiate license revocation proceedings. But state law at the time required the endangerment of kids in order to revoke a teacher’s license and, like the arbitrator, Evers concluded that the teacher’s conduct didn’t endanger kids. For a statement that contains only an element of , our rating is ."
21022,1,"Build Back Better ""would be a huge payday for Chinese manufacturing"" and ""would fill our streets with cars made with Chinese parts.","January 20, 2022",china;federal budget;trade;ad watch,stand up to china,"Stand Up To China is a Tampa, Florida-based advocacy group. 
 ",florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,an ad,"The Stand Up To China group claimed that the Build Back Better legislation ""would be a huge payday for Chinese manufacturing"" and ""would fill our streets with cars made with Chinese parts."" Experts said there is no  that the bill would be a financial boon to China. Most of its spending is aimed at domestic priorities, including child care and child tax credits. We rate the statement ."
9860,4,Factories are opening their doors at the fastest pace in almost two decades.,"January 9, 2015",economy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Clinton, Tenn","Obama said, ""Factories are opening their doors at the fastest pace in almost two decades."" The latest figures line up with Obama’s . The number of factories steadily decreased from 1998 to 2013. In the first two quarters of 2014, things started to pick up, though they are still nowhere near the 1998 peak. We should note that economists are far from certain that this is a significant trend, or if it will continue. This is just one figure of many that could clue us into whether or not manufacturing is making a resurgence, but it’s not enough by itself to make any broad claims about a recovery. We rate Obama’s statement ."
14747,2,"States with voter ID laws have seen ""zero decrease"" in participation. ""Most have seen an increase.","June 7, 2018",elections,tim moore,Tim Moore is a Republican from Cleveland County and the speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives.,north carolina,0,1,2,3,1,0,a TV interview,"There’s a kernel of  in Moore’s statement, as studies haven't consistently shown a direct relationship between voter ID laws and voter participation. However, a report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found some  that participation declines. And experts said studies don't show an increase in participation as a result of voter ID. Moore’s  that there has been ""zero decrease"" in voter participation is a  exaggeration. We rate his  . '"
18120,1,"$258,000/month: Amount Blake Griffin will pay in child support to ex Brynn Cameron.","August 2, 2020",sports;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"In a joint statement, they said that ""recent reports of the financial details of the child support agreement between Blake Griffin and Brynn Cameron are ,"" according to a story in the Detroit Free Press . ""Both sides have settled amicably and are moving forward with co-parenting their two children. Due to the confidential nature of the agreement, no further details will be released."" We don’t know how much Griffin pays in child support, though TMZ reported on Aug. 3, 2018, that he was paying $32,000 per month, which is significantly less than what’s quoted in the Facebook post.   We rate that post ."
14043,3,"Close to half of the voters in America, the only tax they pay is the payroll tax.","November 26, 2017",taxes,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,an interview,"Rubio said, ""Close to half of the voters in America, the only tax they pay is the payroll tax."" Rubio garbled the specific percentage, as the closest estimate we could find shows that about one-quarter of all households in 2016 paid the payroll tax but not the income tax. However, experts said that the point Rubio was trying to make  — that for most people, the burden of the payroll tax exceeds that of the income tax — is correct. We rate this  ."
13484,3,"Obamacare premiums have doubled"" in Wisconsin.","June 13, 2017",health care;government regulation;public health,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Our rating Trump says ""Obamacare premiums have doubled"" in Wisconsin. The average premium for individuals who buy their own health insurance in the Obamacare marketplace nearly doubled from 2013 to 2017. But the vast majority of Wisconsin residents buying those plans get Obamacare subsidies that protect them from the premium increases. Moreover, insurance coverage on individual plans is generally more comprehensive than before Obamacare. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details, our rating is ."
11349,0,I don't know anything about David Duke.,"February 28, 2016",candidate biography,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,comments on CNN's State of the Union,"Trump said, ""I don't know anything about David Duke."" Trump seems to have forgotten that he knew enough about Duke to denounce him twice this election cycle. In 2000, he knew enough to criticize Duke’s racism. And in 1991, he knew enough to say he hated what votes for Duke represented. We rate Trump’s  ! ""I don't know anything about David Duke."""
20484,4,"The 550 U.S. billionaires together are worth $2.5 trillion. If we confiscated 100% of their wealth, we'd raise enough to run the federal government for less than eight months.","October 23, 2019",federal budget;wealth;taxes;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A 2019 viral image newly reshared on Facebook claimed: ""The 550 U.S. billionaires together are worth $2.5 trillion. If we confiscated 100% of their wealth, we'd raise enough to run the federal government for less than eight months."" The two figures are out of date, but the thrust of the  is accurate: The estimated $5 trillion in wealth of the nation’s billionaires is enough to cover about eight months’ worth of federal spending. We rate the  ."
452,4,"It is just a fact that Hamas, apparently the North American spokesperson, is endorsing Senator Obama.","April 25, 2008",foreign policy,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Little Rock, Ark","In a CNN interview on May 8, 2008, Obama responded to a question about McCain's comment by saying it was offensive and that McCain is ""losing his bearings."" But Obama did not deny that the Hamas official had been supportive of his campaign. Obama may not like the kind words from a U.S. enemy, but still, they are kind words. They may not constitute an official endorsement, but they are pretty close. We find McCain's statement to be ."
18947,2,"Supreme Court Shakes Up 2020 Election, Assigns Conservatives To Swing State Circuit Courts.","November 23, 2020",supreme court,gop daily brief,GOP Daily Brief is a conservative website. ,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a story,"An article claims that the Supreme Court is shaking up the 2020 election by assigning conservatives to swing-state circuit courts. The Supreme Court did reassign some justices, but it’s  to  that this will affect the election outcome.  Circuit courts are routinely reassigned when a new justice joins the Supreme Court, and an assignment is often based on a justice’s familiarity with a certain circuit or region, not political ideology. Law professors told us that individual justices would have limited power to unilaterally overturn the election outcome in any state in their assigned circuit. And there are too few ballots being challenged in federal court to affect the outcome of the election. We rate this  . ​"
8624,1,"Wisconsin is ""one of the bluest"" states, but under Scott Walker its unemployment rate ""is around 3.5%.","March 19, 2014",bipartisanship;elections;jobs;labor;states,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",wisconsin,0,2,5,10,17,12,a radio commentary,"Our rating Limbaugh said Wisconsin is ""one of the bluest"" states, but under Walker its unemployment rate ""is around 3.5%."" Although Wisconsin has voted for the Democratic nominee in the last seven presidential contests, as a frequent battleground state, it is far from being an automatic in the Democratic column. At the state level, meanwhile, Wisconsin is currently Republican red but was recently Democratic blue, and by other measures it is somewhere between the two. As for unemployment under Walker, it has dropped to near 6 percent, but nowhere near 3.5 percent. We rate Limbaugh’s statement .  "
10697,3,Any Republican that has led for two months and led every state has won the GOP nomination.,"September 6, 2015",elections;punditfact,matthew dowd,"Matthew Dowd is an author and MSNBC analyst. In 2021, he briefly ran for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Texas. He served as chief political strategist to Republican President George W. Bush.",,1,4,3,0,1,0,"a panel discussion on ABC News' ""This Week with George Stephanopoulos""","Dowd said that any Republican who has led in the polls for two months running at both the state and national levels had gone on to win the nomination. Dowd did not provide the polling data he used, and the historical record is thin across all the states he had in mind. Going back to the 1980 election, there does not seem to be two consecutive months of polling in the spring and summer even in the states with the most polls, Iowa and New Hampshire. But the record does show the sort of early polling dominance leading to nomination success that Dowd described. Our principle is that it’s up to the speaker to prove his . There’s some substance to the statement, but not enough to fully back it up. We rate this  ."
21234,1,"John D. Rockefeller coined the term ""fossil fuel"" to trick people into thinking that his product was scarce and drive up the price when fossil fuels are actually ""the second most abundant liquid on the planet.","April 1, 2022",gas prices;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post features a TikTok video that claims Rockefeller created the term ""fossil fuels"" in 1892 to trick people into thinking oil was scarce and boost prices when fossil fuels are actually ""the second most abundant liquid on the planet."" Rockefeller is not responsible for coming up with the term ""fossil fuels"" at the end of the 19th century. It was being used over 100 years earlier, first showing up in 1759 in texts by the German chemist Caspar Neumann.  Oil might be abundant but it took millions of years to yield the barrels of oil that are being drilled today, and not all oil is necessarily able to be extracted. And experts say there’s no clear measurement that puts oil as the planet’s ""second most abundant liquid."" We rate this ."
10402,4,"The Confederate battle flag in South Carolina was first flown at the statehouse in 1961. ""It was flown as a symbol of massive resistance to racial desegregation.","June 21, 2015",history;race and ethnicity;states;punditfact,eugene robinson,Eugene Robinson is a columnist for the Washington Post.,,0,2,0,0,0,0,"comments on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Robinson stated that when the Confederate flag was first flown over South Carolina’s statehouse in 1961, and it was hoisted as a symbol of ""massive resistance to racial desegregation."" Robinson is right on the date. The flag first flew over the statehouse to mark the opening ceremonies of a Civil War Centennial celebration. Whether it was raised as a deliberate symbol of a ""resistance to racial desegregation"" is not completely clear. Experts and research find a circumstantial link between the spread of the flag and the racial divisions of the 1950s and 1960s. We rate Robinson’s  ."
20392,2,"California's shipping backlog is, in part, caused by a ""California Truck Ban which says all trucks must be 2011 or newer and a law called AB 5 which prohibits Owner Operators.","October 13, 2021",trade;facebook fact-checks;california;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Facebook posts  that the shipping pileups at California ports are being driven, in part, by two policies affecting long-haul truck drivers in California. Truck drivers have been exempt from the gig worker bill since it was passed and the state’s clean air regulations have been in place since 2008. While the rules may have had some impact on trucking decisions in the state, the post overstates how much and omits the major role the pandemic has played. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread layoffs and factory closures that haven’t yet bounced back to meet the surging consumer demand.  For a statement that contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is . RELATED:   High prices and depleted shelves: Here’s why the supply chain is a mess — and will be for a while"
12937,2,"Says ICE and border patrol officers ""unanimously endorsed me for president.","January 25, 2017",immigration;homeland security,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,remarks at Department of Homeland Security,"Trump said ICE and border patrol officers ""unanimously endorsed me for president."" Unions representing ICE and border patrol agents endorsed Trump for president. Not all officers represented by the ICE union voted to endorse Trump, and some border patrol agents in Texas asked their local union to disavow the national union’s endorsement. Trump’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
22846,0,"A video shows Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saying, ""Now Trump's been indicted, now the people will have no choice but to accept me as their assigned candidate.","March 31, 2023",elections;florida,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,national,0,1,3,9,60,18,a video,"It has long been rumored that DeSantis will run for president in 2024, and Trump has made him a target in public comments and social media posts. Though DeSantis has not officially announced a bid, he has given media interviews and made certain appearances, including in battleground state Iowa , which political observers believe show his intent to run.   NBC News noted that this deepfake and others like it are ""emblematic of the way in which a small army of Trump-aligned social media influencers has honed its tools in the early phase of the 2024 presidential campaign."" The news organization reported that ""the goal is to portray DeSantis as insufficiently supportive of the former president at a time when most Republicans are rallying to his side."" We rate the  that a video shows DeSantis saying, ""Now Trump’s been indicted, now the people will have no choice but to accept me as their assigned candidate,"" !  "
9394,4,There is no state in the U.S. where a 40-hour minimum wage work week is enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment.,"September 11, 2014",housing;income;poverty,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook graphic,"The Facebook graphic by OurTime.org claimed, ""There is no state in the U.S. where a 40-hour minimum wage work week is enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment."" The group left out a key distinction from the study they cite: Minimum wage workers can’t afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent , a number determined by the federal government for each region set at the 40th percentile of all rents in that area. That means that in some areas, minimum wage earners would be able to find and afford housing that is cheaper than the Fair Market Rent. Though, in states where rent is more expensive, minimum wage earners would not be able to afford apartments even well below the Fair Market Rent. The point is reasonably on target and applies to the vast majority of minimum wage workers looking for quality rental housing. We rate the  ."
9302,2,"Says Tom Cotton ""voted against preparing America for pandemics like Ebola.","August 25, 2014",ebola;message machine 2014;public health;voting record,mark pryor,"Mark Pryor, a Democrat, has served in the U.S. Senate since 2003.",national,0,1,0,2,0,0,a campaign ad,"A Pryor for Senate ad said, ""Tom Cotton voted against preparing America for pandemics like Ebola."" Cotton voted against one version of a 2013 pandemic and emergency preparedness bill. However, Cotton voted for the final version, which Pryor also supported. The bill easily became law. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
13006,4,"If you have a family, the current minimum wage easily qualifies you for food stamps.","January 12, 2017",food;poverty;workers,john patrick,"John Patrick is president of the Texas AFL-CIO, a state labor federation that says it represents more than 235,000 union affiliate advocating for working families in Texas. He previously served as the group's secretary-treasurer.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a Texas Capitol press conference,"Patrick said that in Texas, ""if you have a family, the current minimum wage easily qualifies you for food stamps."" Our finding is that a household of two or more residents including a single full-time minimum-wage worker would clearly qualify for SNAP as would a household of four or more with two full-time minimum-wage workers. A three-person household with two such workers would gross too much to qualify. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/dd17f5aa-fc00-402c-9b32-89ed516a11b6"
19162,5,We put $330 million in general school aids — the largest in more than a decade.,"January 12, 2021",education;state budget,tony evers,"Tony Evers, a Democrat, was elected Wisconsin governor in November 2018. His term begins in January 2019. Evers has served as the Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, a non-partisan position, since 2009. He previously worked as a teacher and school district administrator.",wisconsin,5,9,8,10,7,1,Speech,"In his State of the State address, Evers said ""we put $330 million in general school aids — the largest in more than a decade."" The 2019-2021 budget increased general aid by 3.5% when compared to the previous year. That’s the biggest hike for that pot of money since the 2005-2007 budget.  We rate this  .    "
18346,1,"Countries were exporting COVID-19 ""diagnostic test instruments"" in 2018.","September 8, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a photo,"That resulted in what many Facebook users are confused about: a list of export data about diagnostic testing instruments that appear to predate the coronavirus. The World Bank has since revised the title of the table to read: ""Medical Diagnostic Test instruments and apparatus."" ""In light of misinterpretations that have occurred in recent days, the labeling in the WITS site has been updated to reflect the reality: COVID-19 tests did not exist before 2020,"" the organization said in its statement. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
20737,1,Photo shows former French education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem herding sheep as a child in Morocco.,"January 4, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"We were quite poor. I helped my grandfather with the goats, drew water from a well, and spent most of the day in flip-flops. I don’t have many specific memories, but I carry with me the feeling of a happy family life."" She goes on to say that she moved to France to join her father in 1982, well before the photo of the girl in Morocco was taken.   We rate claims that this photo shows a young Vallaud-Belkacem . "
20588,1,The Vatican owns a telescope called Lucifer.,"November 21, 2021",religion;science;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Facebook posts are recirculating an old rumor that the Vatican owns a telescope called ""Lucifer."" The Vatican has an observatory with an outpost in Arizona. But it doesn’t own or operate any telescope or instrument named Lucifer. That nickname was briefly given to a piece of equipment that attached to a telescope at the same observatory site that’s owned and operated by several institutions. The Vatican Observatory is not one of them. We rate this .  "
3116,2,Says families now pay out 40 percent of their income to taxes.,"January 13, 2011",income;taxes,phil king,"Phil King was chosen ""Freshman of the Year"" by his Texas House colleagues in the 1999 legislative session, he says on his biographical web page. He carried a major telecommunications deregulation measure in the 2005 session.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a newspaper article,"King broaches a valid point about taxes absorbing a substantial share of income. But that share approaches 30--not 40--percent. We rate his statement . Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to ."
19518,0,"Says Ben Shapiro said on Twitter that his ""red pill moment"" was sharing cupcakes with poor kids.","March 29, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The screenshot was first posted to a subreddit called ""ToiletPaperUSA."" The satirical subreddit says it is ""dedicated to the mockery of Turning Point USA and conservative pseudo intellectualism."" The post is flagged on the thread as "" news"" and says it means that ""the post is  and is most likely satire."" Users on Facebook didn’t know that though, with many circularing the screenshot as if it were real and criticizing Shapiro over the words. We rate it !"
21871,1,Video shows Tucker Carlson speechless in interview with a guest.,"August 26, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"A Fox News spokesperson told PolitiFact the video is .   We found the original video of Johnson posted on his YouTube page in July 2021. He wasn’t appearing on Carlson’s show, and we found no  that he’s ever appeared on the show.   Searching for his name on Fox’s website, we got no results.   We rate claims that his video is authentic ."
22514,1,"The World Economic Forum hired ""unvaccinated pilots"" to fly people into Davos, Switzerland, for its annual meeting for safety reasons.","January 15, 2023",facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"What I did say was that wealthy businessmen have reached out to me for that purpose. ""  We reached out to the World Economic Forum about the blog post but didn’t hear back.   We found no credible sources to corroborate this . Rather, on its website, the World Economic Forum has championed COVID-19 vaccines.   We rate this post’s headline .  "
2989,1,Says gun ownership information could be recorded and collected by the federal government and insurance companies as part of the federal health care law.,"January 16, 2011",health care;privacy issues;guns,jason brodeur,Jason Brodeur is a member of the Florida House of Representatives serving District 33. He was first elected in 2010.,florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,the Fort Myers News-Press,"We left a message with Brodeur's legislative office, but did not hear back. Brodeur told the News-Press that his bill -- which would prevent doctors from asking patients if they own a gun -- was crafted to combat privacy concerns resulting from the passage of the federal health care law. It turns out Brodeur's trying to right a """" that isn't . The health care law included specific protections for gun owners -- so they wouldn't see insurance premium increases and their information wouldn't be included in a gun owner database or registry. We find this  ."
15569,1,"Municipalities are now required to have two or more polling locations opened 24-hours a day, two weeks before any election.","December 3, 2018",elections;legal issues,jim ott,"Jim Ott (born June 5, 1947) is a Wisconsin politician and former television meteorologist.
Ott serves in the Wisconsin State Assembly representing District 23. Prior to being elected to the Assembly, he was a broadcast meteorologist in Milwaukee for Journal Communications's WTMJ-TV and Radio.[1][2]",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a newsletter,"It set a two-week maximum time period for early voting. It did not require every municipality to offer it for that whole window. Likewise, it did not specify they would be open 24 hours a day. Those determinations will still be made at the local level, so inconsistencies are likely to remain. We rate Ott’s  .  "
22048,1,There are giant human caucasian skeletons in Ohio that predate any known civilizations.,"September 26, 2022",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",ohio,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post said ""there are giant human caucasian skeletons in Ohio that predate any known civilizations."" This  traces back to decades-old myths and rumors — some of which stem from photo-editing contests. PolitiFact found no corroborated  suggesting that ancient, giant human skeletons were found in Ohio.  We rate these claims . Correction, Oct. 3, 2022: This fact-check has been corrected to reflect that Brush Creek Mound in Muskingum County, Ohio, is a separate, distinct landmark from Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio. The rating is unchanged."
5903,2,The state of Ohio has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation right now and is leading the pack in terms of job creation.,"June 5, 2012",economy;jobs,bill johnson,"Bill Johnson is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Ohio's 6th Congressional District. His district covers all or part of 12 counties from Mahoning County in Eastern Ohio and stretching along the Ohio River to the southernmost part of the state.",ohio,0,0,0,2,1,0,a telephone town hall meeting,"But monthly stats for March and April, both available at the time of his statement, showed Ohio losing jobs. And while Ohio’s jobless rate has improved considerably since it rose above 10 percent in 2009 and 2010, it is not one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. It now is below the national average. But now and at the time of Johnson’s , the state was in the middle of the pack. On the -O-Meter, Johnson’s  rates ."
2974,4,The Republican Party raffled off an AR-15 assault rifle at the 2010 Oregon State Fair.,"January 19, 2011",guns,suzanne devlin,Suzanne Devlin is a Turner resident who wrote a letter to the editor of the Statesman Journal in Salem.,oregon,0,1,0,0,0,0,a letter to the editor,"(Fashionable, too. Look online to find a Pepto pink Hello Kitty version.) There’s a quibble with the definition of ""assault rifle,"" but it’s a small one. We rate this  . Comment on this item."
167,1,"John wasn't this raging populist four years ago"" when he ran for president.","November 8, 2007",,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Chariton, Iowa","""Edwards is in a different place than he was in 1998,"" Guillory said. ""But it's not like he couldn't go back and give his speeches from 1998. He's just running for a different office in a different context."" We give Obama a  ruling on his remark that Edwards came to populism recently. His Senate record may not be the most substantial, but Edwards has consistently raised issues of economic inequality his entire political career."
13831,1,"We have one senator who's a 'yes' vote ... but he's in the hospital. And he's a 'yes' vote. So we can't do it by Friday. So we have the votes"" to pass a health care bill.","September 27, 2017",congress;health care,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview,"Trump said Senate Republicans would have enough votes to pass health care reform but for a hospitalized senator who’s unable to cast the deciding vote. At most, Senate Republicans have 49 ""yes"" votes — that’s short of the majority they need to pass the latest health care overhaul. This shortfall would not be overcome even with a ""yes"" vote from Cochran, who is not hospitalized, but rather recuperating at home after receiving medical treatment. We rate this ."
16141,0,Says Donald Trump is the first sitting U.S. president in 56 years to not attend a wreath-laying ceremony on Veterans Day.,"June 4, 2019",fake news;veterans;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A viral image on social media claims that president Trump was the ""first"" sitting U.S. president who did not attend the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery on Veterans Day 2018. It is accurate that Trump was elsewhere that day, but he is not the first president to be absent from the event. Three out of the four presidents who preceded Trump observed the holiday elsewhere. This screenshot is a blatantly  and incomplete depiction of a fact-check. We rate it !"
7159,4,"The average student in Florida, what they actually pay out of pocket at our major universities"" for tuition is as much or less than what they spend on cellphones.","March 28, 2013",education,will weatherford,"State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, is Florida's Speaker of the House for 2013-14.",florida,0,3,4,2,3,0,a Board of Governors meeting,"Weatherford defended his call for a tuition hike before the leaders of the state university system by saying students spend more on cellphones than ""what they actually pay out of pocket at our major universities"" for tuition. We found his point is accurate if you compare the average out-of-pocket cost for all schools against the average cellphone bill, but there are caveats. Remember, he’s just talking about tuition, not the many other costs involved with a student’s degree. For the cash-paying families that comprise a majority of the system, the comparison is a little off, with students paying more for tuition than the average cellphone. Others spend a lot less on tuition, or a lot more, depending on their university. More than one-third of Florida’s public university students receive enough merit- and need-based financial aid that they do not pay anything for tuition and fees. Weatherford’s  is accurate but needs clarification. We rate it ."
18182,0,"Says Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, George Soros and Jeffrey Epstein are connected with Moderna, Inc., and its efforts to create the coronavirus vaccine.","August 2, 2020",drugs;health care;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"We found no indication that Epstein was one of the primary stockholders in Moderna when he died on Aug. 10, 2019. He was awaiting trial for federal sex trafficking charges when he committed suicide in his prison cell.   Our ruling  A Facebook post claims that the vaccine developer Moderna is connected to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, George Soros and Jeffrey Epstein. But none of the supposed connections are founded. We rate this . "
20892,1,"$2,000 stimulus checks were due on Jan. 19.","January 18, 2022",economy;stimulus;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"There has been no movement in Congress to authorize a fourth stimulus check amid the pandemic. Americans did not receive stimulus payments on Jan. 19, and there is no  that they will be distributed anytime soon.  We rate this .   "
10733,3,The cost of fire in Rhode Island is anywhere from 33 percent to 100 percent more expensive than anywhere else we could find.,"August 23, 2015",city budget;city government;county budget;county government;public safety,kenneth block,Kenneth Block is a software engineer and president of Simpatico Software Systems. He founded Rhode Island's Moderate Party and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010. He switched to the Republican Party in 2013 and made an unsuccessful run for Rhode Island Governor in 2014.,rhode island,1,3,2,0,3,0,TV interview,"On ""Newsmakers,"" Block said:  ""When we studied firefighting costs in Rhode Island relative to other places, we determined that the cost of fire in Rhode Island is anywhere from 33 percent to 100 percent more expensive than anywhere else we could find."" However, the determination itself isn’t that reliable without an appendix and without consistent data, especially in regards to pension costs. Perhaps, Block and his team should just finish their reporting job. For those reasons, the judges rate his    .   (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
14321,3,"We ""have laws on the books designed to prevent people with mental illnesses from getting firearms.","February 15, 2018",legal issues;government regulation;public health;guns,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",wisconsin,11,16,24,23,7,5,a briefing with reporters,"Our rating Responding to the Florida school shooting, in which the confessed shooter has some history of mental health problems, Ryan said we ""have laws on the books designed to prevent people with mental illnesses from getting firearms."" A federal law, and some state laws, do prohibit people adjudicated as ""mentally defective"" or involuntarily committed to a mental health facility from possessing a gun. But experts say that standard includes people who do not pose a danger to others. And it does not account for a much larger set of people who might be dangerous but have not been diagnosed with, or treated for, a serious mental illness. For a statement that is partially accurate but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is ."
11063,1,Mike Morell testified and told Congress that the reason Obama has not bombed ISIS' oil fields is they're concerned about global warming.,"December 8, 2015",climate change;energy;foreign policy;terrorism,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,an interview with NPR,"Cruz said, ""Mike Morell testified and told Congress that the reason Obama has not bombed ISIS' oil fields is they're concerned about global warming."" We found no instances of Morell testifying before Congress on this point. He did talk about Obama’s ISIS strategy on PBS, but Cruz misquotes what he said. Morell said U.S. military forces spared oil tankers and wells — not ""oil fields"" — in order to avoid ""environmental damage."" Preserving the environment for the local population is quite different from global warming, which no officials have brought up as a deterrent from bombing ISIS. The U.S. military has been striking oil assets but it has limited those strikes out of concern for civilian casualties, destroying the oil infrastructure and doing damage to the local environment. If climate change was the Obama administration’s top priority, experts said, it would make more sense to bomb the oil fields. We rate Cruz’s  ."
3889,4,"This governor has cut funding repeatedly for people who have AIDS, who need drugs to save their life.","June 20, 2011",health care;state budget,herb conaway jr.,Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. is a Democratic assemblyman representing parts of Burlington County.,new jersey,0,1,0,0,0,0,a rally at the Statehouse,"But last year, a new program was created to assist people impacted by the eligibility change. This year, state funding was proposed to be cut, but other funding sources were to maintain services for participants. Conaway correctly stated that Christie has cut state funding for AIDS and HIV programs, but at least when it comes to pharmaceutical assistance, people continued to receive medicine for their AIDS and HIV treatment. We rate his statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
22508,2,All 'gender affirming care' for children is 100% experimental. There are zero long term studies on the effects the drugs and surgeries will have on them.,"January 1, 2023",health care;lgbtq;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an image shared on Instagram,"An Instagram post claimed, ""All ‘gender affirming care’ for children is 100% experimental. There are zero long term studies on the effects the drugs and surgeries will have on them."" Experts said it is  to call all gender-affirming care for children ""experimental,"" because the approach, including the use of puberty blockers, is -based. Research also shows that gender-affirming care reduces the risk of suicide, anxiety, depression and gender dysphoria. For prepubescent children, gender-affirming care does not involve medication or surgeries; instead, it’s about social affirmation such as allowing a child to wear gender-affirming clothes or adopt a gender-affirming hairstyle.  There’s an element of  to the : There aren’t many long-term studies on the effects of gender-affirming surgeries for youth, but that’s because they aren’t done on children and rarely on teenagers. We rate this post . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. RELATED: Transition-related surgery limited to teens, not 'young kids.' Even then, it's rare RELATED: Florida leaders misrepresented research before ban on gender-affirming care"
9634,2,"Republicans are ""trying to impeach our president.","October 29, 2014",congress;message machine 2014,color of change,Color of Change is a civil rights advocacy organization.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,an Arkansas flyer,"A civil rights group mailer said Republicans are ""trying to impeach our president."" No members of the current Congress have introduced legislation to impeach Obama, and Republican Party leaders have shut down the possibility. Some Congressional Republicans and candidates have called for Obama’s impeachment. But most of that rhetoric has been isolated to a few members of the party rather than a resounding chorus. We rate this  ."
6448,5,"When (Joe Kyrillos) had an opportunity to vote for women in terms of their health care, not once, not twice, but six times, he voted against women's health care in our state.","October 4, 2012",health care;women,robert menendez,"Robert Menendez, a Democrat, has been serving as one of New Jersey's U.S. Senators since January 2006. Menendez previously served as a member of the House of Representatives.",new jersey,4,3,2,1,3,0,a debate on NJTV,"In a debate last week, Menendez said in reference to Kyrillos: ""When he had an opportunity to vote for women in terms of their health care, not once, not twice, but six times, he voted against women’s health care in our state."" The senator’s  is on target. Between June 2010 and June 2012, Kyrillos voted six times against providing about $7.5 million for family planning services. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
11184,2,I have not insulted Donald personally.,"January 28, 2016",candidate biography,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,comments during the Iowa Republican presidential debate,"Cruz said, ""I have not insulted Donald personally."" Determining what qualifies as an ""insult"" is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, but Cruz has certainly mocked Trump during several recent public appearances. We rate his statement ."
23304,1,Florida to ban mRNA vaccines as credible evidence of biological weapons.,"July 17, 2023",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",florida,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"In May, DeSantis signed bills prohibiting mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates. But with no  that Florida state officials have announced any action to ban the vaccines themselves, we rate the post . RELATED: Why an analysis of COVID-19 vaccines from Florida’s surgeon general is flawed RELATED: Ad Watch: Pro-Donald Trump PAC’s video misleads about Ron DeSantis’ COVID-19 response RELATED: Joe Rogan falsely says mRNA vaccines are ‘gene therapy’"
18967,1,"Says George Patton said, ""Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lower form of politicians.","November 4, 2018",history;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Brain Sobel, a media and governmental relations consultant who wrote the 2013 book, ""The Fighting Pattons,"" also told us that he’s never found any original source material showing that Patton said this.   ""Patton did have a general disdain for politics and politicians, but was basically ambivalent about politics,"" Sobel said.   We couldn’t find any original source confirming that Patton said this, and people familiar with his words suspect he did not.   If  emerges that the attribution is accurate, we’ll reconsider our rating.   For now, it’s ."
4404,4,"Wisconsin bill ""grants drug companies and medical device manufacturers immunity from injuries and deaths caused by their products.","October 3, 2011",civil rights;consumer safety;corporations;health care;legal issues;government regulation;public health,robert kraig,"Robert Kraig is executive director of Milwaukee-based Citizen Action of Wisconsin, which describes itself as a coalition that works to “advance progressive values and shape the public and political debate around health care, economic development and consumer protection.”",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,"a news release, blog","Our conclusion Kraig said a bill proposed by a Wisconsin lawmaker ""grants drug companies and medical device manufacturers immunity from injuries and deaths caused by their products."" He acknowledged that his statement was ""over broad,"" in that immunity applies only when FDA approval has been granted. The bill doesn’t give blanket protection to drug and device makers. But its primary intent is to give them immunity, with some exceptions. We rate Kraig’s statement ."
16995,1,An MSNBC reporter was fired for using a racial slur while covering the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash.,"January 27, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story,"I apologize for the confusion this caused. We found no credible report claiming Morris has been fired. MSNBC has not released a statement about the incident or a change in Morris’ employment. The cable channel did not respond to a request for comment. Without , this  rates ."
23211,1,"Video shows U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, telling U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that he is ""not even an expert"" and shutting him up.","June 20, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We checked the full video of the hearing, and at the 1:31:51 mark, which is the excerpt used in the Facebook post, Schiff was seen yielding back his time. Jordan then questioned the bureau’s director, Steven Dettelbach. Apart from acknowledging Schiff and saying ""Gentleman yields back,"" Jordan did not speak to Schiff. We did not find news reports that describe any such exchange during this hearing, though Schiff and Jordan have criticized each other in the past . We rate the  that this video shows Jordan quieting Schiff and telling him he was ""not an expert"" ."
5646,1,"Says under President Barack Obama there's been ""the lowest discretionary spending we've had in decades in the United States.","May 20, 2012",federal budget,cory booker,"Cory Booker is a senator from New Jersey. He was first elected to the Senate in 2013, making him the first African-American senator from New Jersey and the first African-American elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004. Booker served as mayor of Newark from 2006 until 2013. He has a bachelor's degree in political science and a master’s degree in sociology from Stanford University, an honors degree in United States history from The Queens College as a Rhodes Scholar and a J.D. from Yale Law School. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president and suspended his campaign in January 2020.",new jersey,10,11,4,2,6,0,a roundtable discussion on NBC’s “Meet The Press”,"In his May 20 appearance on NBC’s ""Meet The Press,"" Booker cited a couple of Obama’s accomplishments, including ""the lowest discretionary spending we’ve had in decades in the United States."" But during Obama’s tenure, discretionary spending hit 9 percent of GDP for the first time in about two decades. Discretionary spending is projected to drop significantly in the years ahead, but Booker made it sound like that had already occurred. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
2794,5,A 5 percent increase in domestic production would increase the world supply by less than 1 percent and do almost nothing to our dependence on foreign oil. This would also have virtually no effect on the price of gas at the pump.,"December 1, 2010",environment;oil spill,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,florida,6,15,8,7,9,3,a press release,"Weiss pointed to a chart from the Energy Information Administration, which shows projections of gas and oil costs in 2020 and 2030. ""Her point that it's going to make no difference in supply, no real difference in price, is correct,"" Weiss said. Let's review: Wasserman Schultz's math adds up -- Gulf drilling does indeed represent about 5 percent of current domestic production, and a 5 percent increase would  register in terms of the world supply. And the experts we found for this -O-Meter as well as ones cited in the past about McCain's  agree that expanding drilling now would have little effect at the pump any time soon. We rate this  ."
1045,1,We spend twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation on Earth.,"August 19, 2009",health care,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,an appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show,"The highest is the Netherlands at $4,417. The other four were Austria, Canada, Norway and Switzerland. Sanders would have been on completely firm ground had he simply said, ""We spend more per capita on health care than any other nation on Earth."" But instead he said ""twice as much."" And for that reason we rate his statement ."
8429,3,"Obamacare includes a ""$700 billion cut from Medicare for seniors.","February 12, 2014",elections;health care;medicare,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,national,4,5,9,20,14,9,a television ad,"In its ad against Sink, the NRCC said the Affordable Care Act includes a ""$700 billion cut from Medicare for seniors."" There is reduction in spending to Medicare outlays, but it’s fueled by finding savings in the program, a move that Republicans actually supported in the Ryan budget. Medicare spending still increases in the coming years. We rate the statement ."
14770,2,"Kurt Russell said that celebrities shouldn't ""get political"" when it comes to Donald Trump.","June 23, 2018",fake news;punditfact,twentyeightmay,Twentyeightmay is a pro-President Donald Trump website.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,a story,"A story by the Twentyeightmay website said that actor Kurt Russell said that celebrities shouldn't ""get political"" when it comes to Donald Trump. This is a case of using an actual quote by an actor but taking it out of context to create a  impression. Russell said in a December 2015 interview on The View, ""The last thing I like to watch is entertainers or actors get political."" But the Twentyeightmay story portrayed Russell’s quotes as an attack on Trump, and that wasn’t the case. The story didn’t make it clear when Russell made these statements. We rate this statement ."
38,2,"I would love to see us have in this country what I helped lead in Arkansas...Amendment 65 (which) says that we believe life begins at conception, and that we ought to do everything in the world possible to protect it until its natural conclusion.","September 5, 2007",abortion,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,"Durham, N.H","At the moment, the Roe v. Wade decision means the federal Constitution permits abortion. It also is a slight overstatement to say the Arkansas amendment declares a belief that life begins at conception, though that certainly is implied. We also would note that he got the amendment number . It is Amendment 68 that deals with abortion. Amendment 65 deals with revenue bonds."
21265,4,"Mehmet Oz ""called for a New Zealand-style gun ban"" and said ""Americans should have less access to guns.","April 4, 2022",guns;ad watch,dave mccormick,"Dave McCormick, the former chief executive of the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund and a former U.S. Treasury Department official, is a candidate for the 2022 Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.",pennsylvania,0,1,0,1,1,0,an ad,"McCormick said in an ad that Oz ""called for a New Zealand-style gun ban"" and said ""Americans should have less access to guns."" Oz currently is running as a pro-gun candidate, but that is in contrast with statements he made for years in support of gun-control measures such as an assault rifle ban and measures to restrict gun purchases, such as background checks and waiting periods.  Oz’s statement about less access to guns was vague; it did not call for governmental restrictions on gun access. We rate the statement . RELATED: The race for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat: A guide RELATED: Pennsylvania fact-checks"
15032,1,"Says Andrew Gillum has a ""far left socialist platform.","August 30, 2018",government regulation;medicare,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",florida,2,10,9,13,14,2,Laura Ingraham's radio show,"DeSantis said Gillum has a ""far left socialist platform."" The reality is Gillum’s platform resembles the policies being promoted by many Democrats. And his positions of expanding access to Medicare and raising the minimum wage have significant public support. Gillum isn’t on the fringes of the political spectrum and certainly proposes nothing approaching turning ""Florida into Venezuela,"" which would mean the state taking over privately held businesses and large portions of the economy. We rate this statement ."
10289,1,"Every year we spend roughly $500 billion on tax compliance. That is roughly the budget of our entire military, entirely wasted on tax compliance.","July 12, 2014",federal budget;military;taxes,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,a roundtable with Texas businesses,"Cruz said: ""Every year we spend roughly $500 billion on tax compliance. That is roughly the budget of our entire military, entirely wasted on tax compliance."" This  proved squishy at both ends. It looks like depending on how you value time, you can get to almost any total for what it costs Americans to prepare and file tax returns. However, most estimates run short of Cruz’s figure. Meantime, military spending exceeded $800 billion when he spoke though the senator’s spokesman indicated he meant to not count spending on conflicts abroad and other items not in the military’s nearly $500 billion base budget. We rate the statement .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
4403,3,"Current projections indicate that Medicare will go bankrupt by 2017, while Social Security will bottom out by 2037.","October 4, 2011",health care;medicare;social security,herman cain,"Herman Cain is an author, columnist and talk radio host. Cain, a former pizza franchise CEO, ran for president as a Republican in 2012.",georgia,0,3,5,4,11,3,,"He got that year’s data correct, and projections have not changed dramatically since then. But while it’s fair for him to say that Social Security will ""bottom out"" by 2037, saying Medicare will go bankrupt by 2017 is a bit extreme. Only one of Medicare’s funds is expected to be exhausted by that date, and Congress has never let it run dry. Lawmakers have bailed out the fund without fail for 40 years. Since Cain’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details about the Medicare trust fund, it meets our definition of . "
5879,3,"Cuts in local government and school funding in John Kasich's budget caused ""many communities to seek school levies, local tax increases, layoffs.","June 3, 2012",state budget,ohio democratic party,Statewide organization for Ohio's Democrats.,ohio,2,2,2,5,1,2,a news release,"But the  also overlooks important details that give the it context. The number of local government jobs in Ohio has actually increased since Kasich's budget was enacted, after dipping to a 12-year low. And the number of local tax issues to appear on ballots across Ohio has been steady for several years. Further, one of the outside experts we talked to says it is too soon to tell the full impact of cuts in funding because the biggest cuts through the Local Government Fund haven’t kicked in yet, nor has the elimination of the estate tax. On the -O-Meter, the  rates . "
15626,0,A photograph shows a younger Donald Trump posing with his parents who are in Ku Klux Klan robes.,"February 2, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) The image is not genuine, and a Google search and a reverse image search brings up dozens of versions of the original, in which all three are wearing regular clothing without any Klan symbols. While Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was reportedly arrested in 1927 at a KKK rally in Queens, he was never formally charged or cited as a supporter or member. But the photograph is clearly doctored, with the robes digitally inserted over the Trumps’ actual clothing. This is !"
16393,3,"We have something like one out of four young black men in this country end up in the criminal justice system. They may end up in jail, they may end up on parole, they may end up on probation.","August 15, 2019",criminal justice,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,an interview with Cardi B,"Sanders said ""one out of four young black men in this country end up in the criminal justice system."" We found that the senator’s specific  is not directly supported by federal crime statistics, however you read it. That said, it might be a reasonable estimate based on incarceration trends and older research on crime rates among black men. Sanders’ statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
21282,3,"They're going to be giving these people who come across the border, giving them smartphones.","April 8, 2022",immigration;corrections and updates;homeland security,rob wittman,"Rob Wittman, a Republican, represents Virginia's first 1st Congressional District, which stretches from Newport News to some outlying Norther Virginia preincts.
Wittman worked for 20 years at the Virginia Department of Health as an environmental health specialist and as field director for the Division of Shellfish Sanitation.
He served on the Montross Town Council from 1986 to 1996 and on the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors from 1996 to 2005. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005. Two years later, he won a special election to Congress following the death of Rep. Jo Ann Davis, a Republican.
Wittman holds a B.S. in biology from Virginia Tech, a Master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. in public policy and administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.",virginia,0,1,2,0,3,0,a radio interview,"The smartphones given to some immigrants detained by ICE are used to track them with a pre-installed application after they are released from custody. The phones cannot be used for anything else. ICE has been using the phones and the tracking application since 2018.   Wittman’s statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details and context. We rate it .  "
7820,2,We've used (generally accepted accounting principles) here in this building the last two years.,"September 18, 2013",state budget;states,dale kooyenga,"Dale Kooyenga, born February 12, 1979, was elected as a Republican in the fall of 2010 to represent the 14th District for the Wisconsin State Assembly. He was re-elected in 2012. He lives in Brookfield in suburban Milwaukee. Kooyenga, an accountant, is part of the so-called ""CPA Caucus"" in the Assembly. He is a U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq War and earned a Bronze Star for his service, his official bio states.",wisconsin,0,2,5,1,1,0,a legislative hearing,"State officials, including Kooyenga and his caucus, have partially ""used"" significant moves to improve the GAAP deficit picture, and they have increased public awareness of it. But those principles certainly haven’t been fully put to use; not even close. Most of the GAAP deficit remained after those two years. And left unmentioned by Kooyenga is that much of the progress in decreasing it is projected to be reversed in fiscal 2014 and 2015. We rate his  ."
15282,3,Stacey Abrams burning the flag of the state she seeks to serve as Governor.,"October 21, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,,"""Stacey was involved with a permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag. This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag."" While it’s  that Abrams was at a protest where Georgia’s state flag was burned, context matters. It wasn’t the flag that the state flies today, because the Confederate symbol that Abrams was protesting has been removed. We rate this statement ."
8342,4,"The federal minimum wage is worth about 20 percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan"" gave his first address to a joint session of Congress.","January 28, 2014",economy;history;income;workers,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,the State of the Union address,"Obama said, ""the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan"" gave his first State of the Union address. Obama's not far off, but it’s actually closer to 16 percent less. And using Reagan to make a case to raise the minimum wage should be taken with a grain of salt since the former president never increased it during his two terms. And by Reagan’s last State of the Union, the minimum wage was $2 less than when he first took office, if you factor in inflation. The statement is largely accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it . UPDATE, Jan. 29, 2014 : After we published this story, an alert reader noted that our original paraphrase of part of Obama's quote was . We had written that Obama had said ""the federal minimum wage is worth about 20 percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan"" gave his first State of the Union address. As the reader pointed out, a new president's first address to a joint session of Congress -- the 1981 speech that Obama was referring to -- is not officially called a State of the Union address. So we have rewritten our paraphrase in the ruling statement above to remove the reference to the State of the Union. It does not affect the rating of ."
7792,1,"The amount of interest"" paid on the federal debt exceeds ""total tax revenue.","August 23, 2013",corporations;debt;federal budget;taxes,chris kapenga,"Republican Chris Kapenga, a certified public accountant and small-business owner, was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2010. He represents the Delafield area west of Milwaukee.",wisconsin,2,1,1,0,3,0,a newsletter,"Corporate tax revenue in 2012 was $242 billion, exceeding the $220 billion in net interest payments. For 2013 , the difference is projected to be even greater -- $291 billion versus $223 billion. Our rating Kapenga said ""the amount of interest"" paid on the federal debt exceeds the federal government’s ""total tax revenue."" In fact, tax revenue is a number of times higher than what the government pays in interest on the debt. We rate Kapenga’s statement ."
9254,2,Says David Perdue made tens of millions of dollars piling a firm with billions in debt.,"July 28, 2014",,democratic party of georgia,"Democratic Party of Georgia
 ",georgia,0,0,1,1,1,0,a press release,"The  mischaracterizes how leveraged buyouts work, putting the buyer in debt instead of the seller. Perdue also could not act unilaterally to sell the firm but needed his board and shareholders to agree. Moreover, it was not up to Perdue to stay. KKR paid him $42 million to leave, so it could install its own CEO. We rate the  ."
15559,5,"A bill passed by GOP legislators ""makes it harder to prosecute people and groups that violate campaign finance laws.","December 26, 2018",elections,roy cooper,"Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is the governor of North Carolina. Previously he was the attorney general, a state senator and a state representative.",north carolina,3,9,8,4,0,0,a Facebook post,"Cooper said a bill passed by GOP legislators ""makes it harder to prosecute people and groups that violate campaign finance laws."" The new law will require complaints to be signed and sworn, the elections board to abide by a new statute of limitations, and the state ethics commission to weigh in on cases. Supporters of the law could argue that those additions to the process are relatively small obstacles to clear to prosecute someone for campaign finance violations. And they may have a point. But the new requirements are hurdles, nonetheless. We rate this  . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide. To offer ideas for fact checks, email  [email protected] ."
9532,4,"As mayor, [Allan Fung] raised taxes three times.","October 8, 2014",city budget;debt;economy;history;labor;pensions;retirement;workers;taxes,american leadhership pac,"The American LeadHERship PAC is a political action committee that describes itself as ""an organization dedicated to increasing the ranks of progressive women in governors' seats across the country."" During the 2014 election, the only candidate featured on its website was Gina Raimondo, a Democrat who was ultimately elected Rhode Island governor.",rhode island,0,2,1,0,0,0,a TV commercial,"For example, early in his term, general revenue sharing, where the state gave about $55 million from sales and income taxes to municipalities, was eliminated. But he and the city ultimately stabilized the budget and during the last three of his six years in office, the city has not raised taxes. In the end, the statement in the American LeadHERship commercial is accurate. But because it leaves out the important context of the three most-recent years in which he did not raise taxes, we rate it  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
3187,5,"In 2011, ""the average annual compensation for a teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools system will exceed $100,000.","March 3, 2010",education;labor;state budget,maciver institute,"The MacIver Institute is a Madison, Wis.-based conservative think tank and news organization.",wisconsin,1,1,0,1,0,2,a video news release,"That was lower than eight other school districts in Milwaukee County, including Greendale, Greenfield, Shorewood, Cudahy, Fox Point, South Milwaukee, Franklin and Nicolet, which was highest at just over $103,000. Let’s return to the MacIver Institute . The conservative think tank said the average annual compensation for a Milwaukee Public Schools teacher would exceed $100,000 in 2011. As of July 1, 2011, according to the school district, that figure will be $101,091. MacIver’s  is ."
11860,2,"American colleges amount to a ""cartel.","May 14, 2016",education,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",wisconsin,11,16,24,23,7,5,a tweet,"""The only example in which universities coordinate to set prices is the Ivy League's decision to prohibit scholarships that are not need-based, which has the effect of raising overall prices,"" she said. Even then, the eight Ivy League schools are only a tiny portion of the 4,200 accredited institutions. Our rating Ryan called to break up the ""college cartel,"" implying that collusion is preventing better options from entering the higher education market. While it is  that the accreditation process acts as a ""gatekeeper"" of federal student aid, but that is a policy standard and, in practice, is different than a cartel which would require collusion between institutions and many other factors. For a statement that contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would leave a different impression, we rate the  ."
10820,1,"Dan Gecker voted to ""double vehicle registration fees, costing (Chesterfield) county residents over $6 million annually.","October 2, 2015",county government;taxes,glen sturtevant,"Sturtevant, an attorney, is a member of the Richmond School Board. He is seeking the 10th District state senate seat held by outgoing GOP Sen. John Watkins.",virginia,1,0,0,0,1,0,a TV ad,"Sturtevant says Gecker ""voted to double vehicle registration fees, costing county residents $6 million annually in additional fees."" The simple  is just the opposite. When the $20 increase came up for a vote before the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors in April 2014, Gecker opposed it. Despite his opposition, it passed on a 3-2 vote. Sturtevant, in trying to justify his , dismisses this obvious vote. His campaign instead argues that Gecker subsequently voted to pass massive spending plans that fund all of the county’s public services and public improvement projects. The new registration fees were a tiny part of these plans. The Sturtevant camp also notes that Gecker, in 2014, voted to advertise that the board was considering the $20 increase. But that’s not tantamount to voting in support of the increase. Local governing boards are required to give notice for a public hearing whenever a fee or tax increase is on the table. Keep your eye on the ball. Again, the only time the fee increase came up for a direct vote, Gecker opposed it. We rate Sturtevant’s  ."
14778,3,"Says Sherrod Brown in 1978 ""voted for stricter removal standards (for voter registration) and then enforced them as Secretary of State.","June 12, 2018",elections;legal issues;states,ohio republican party,Statewide organization for Ohio's Republicans.,ohio,1,1,3,2,2,0,a tweet,"Ohio Republicans said in 1978, Brown ""voted for stricter removal standards (for voter registration) and then enforced them as Secretary of State."" Brown did vote for a bill in 1978 that removed voters after four years, which is more strict that the six-year process upheld this year by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the GOP’s tweet ignores the context of that 1978 bill and what led to it. The bill implemented a policy approved by voters in a Constitutional amendment. Brown couldn’t undo the amendment. The Ohio GOP also ignores Brown’s full record on voter registration. In 1977, Brown voted for a bill that eliminated ""failure to vote as a reason for the cancellation of registration."" The Republicans also omit Brown’s efforts to increase the voter registration rolls while he was Secretary of State. During that time, he warned voters that they could have their registrations cancelled for not voting. The  is partially accurate but leaves out important context. We rate this  ."
6883,3,"Driving with a dog in your lap is dangerous, in part, because it could fly forward in a crash. ""An 80-pound dog at only 30 mph packs a 2,400-pound punch.","January 22, 2013",animals;consumer safety;government regulation;public safety,peter palumbo,Peter Palumbo was a Rhode Island state representative whose district included Cranston. He served in the legislature from 1994 until he was defeated for reelection in 2014. Prior to that he was a Cranston City Councilman for five years.,rhode island,1,0,1,3,1,0,a news release,"In arguing for a proposed law that would ban dogs from the laps of drivers, Rep. Peter Palumbo says that AAA says the practice is ""dangerous because an unrestrained 10-pound dog traveling at 50 miles per hour flies forward with 500 pounds of pressure in a crash and an 80-pound dog at only 30 mph packs a 2,400-pound punch."" Driving with a dog in your lap is dangerous, but not for the reason he cites. Because his statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate  . (After publication of this item, several readers informed us that the characterization of the force of a flying dog -- as made by AAA and repeated by Palumbo -- was . (""One cannot simply multiply speed by weight to get an impact force,"" said Daniel Schmidt of Blacksburg, Va., a mathematics graduate student at Virginia Tech. ""Think about this: running into something at high speed would hurt just as much in deep space, where all weights are zero."" (""For that matter, there is no way to calculate the impact force from the given data,"" he said, citing one problem in Palumbo's -- and AAA's -- statement. ""One would also need to know how long it takes for the dog (and the car) to stop moving. Stopping relatively slowly would mean that the force would be small, and stopping very suddenly would produce a huge force, even with the same mass and initial velocity."" ) (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
8826,3,"When you read the Koran, it talks about don't take Christians and Jews as your friends.","May 12, 2014",islam;punditfact,sean hannity,"Sean Hannity is a conservative political commentator and hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, as well as two television shows on the Fox News Channel. In a 2013 interview Hannity said that he is a “registered Conservative” and ”not a Republican, though people often mistake me for one.” Hannity has authored three books.",,5,2,4,5,14,1,"a segment on ""Hannity""","In a segment condemning Boko Haram, Hannity said the Koran contains a verse that ""talks about don't take Christians and Jews as your friends."" While some English translations of the Koran do include a similar phrase, some experts say Hannity is isolating the phrase out of its proper context. Also there is a debate if the  meaning of the passage is somehow altered in the translation itself. Much of the meaning depends on how people interpret scripture, which can be said for any spiritual text. Hannity’s  is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
15388,1,"Says Joe Manchin ""supported Obama and Clinton's campaigns to kill coal jobs.","October 13, 2018",environment;energy,patrick morrisey,Patrick Morrisey is the attorney general of West Virginia. Morrisey is running for the West Virginia U.S. Senate seat.,west virginia,2,4,3,4,1,0,a campaign ad,"A tweet posted by Patrick Morrisey and shared by Donald Trump Jr. said that Manchin ""supported Obama and Clinton's campaigns to kill coal jobs."" Manchin actively opposed the two biggest efforts backed by Obama and Clinton over coal industry opposition: the cap-and-trade bill and the Clean Power Plan. He also pursued other legislative and regulatory efforts that aided the coal industry. We rate the statement ."
6678,3,Says New Hampshire had the fourth-lowest unemployment rate in the country during Maggie Hassan's time in the state Senate.,"November 7, 2012",jobs;taxes,maggie hassan,New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She formerly served as governor and as a state lawmaker in New Hampshire. ,new hampshire,2,5,2,2,2,0,an interview on the Daily Rundown on MSNBC,"And, by the time Hassan left office in 2010, New Hampshire’s rate had returned to fourth, where it stood in her first year. We’ll give the new governor credit for getting her numbers right (). But, her stated connection between the unemployment rate and New Hampshire’s tax structure doesn’t hold up. Analysts in New Hampshire and around the country suggest that other factors --  including states’ size, demographics and work base -- drive unemployment more than taxes. We rate this  . "
16150,1,"Says a viral photo shows Susan B. Anthony being ""beaten and arrested for trying to vote"" in 1872.","June 6, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A viral photo on social media is captioned as depicting Susan B. Anthony being ""beaten and arrested for trying to vote"" in 1872. While the image was taken during a voting rights protest, the woman is not Susan B. Anthony, and the photo was not captured in the United States or in 1872. The image, believed to be of suffragette Ada Wright, was featured on the front cover of a British newspaper following a suffragette protest in London in November 1910. We rate this ."
979,1,"In North Carolina, they used stimulus money to hire one new state worker. His job, apply for more stimulus funds from the taxpayers by the way of the federal government.","July 2, 2009",economy;stimulus,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,a Web ad,"But that's not supported by the facts. Yes, the city of Washington, N.C., got $40,234 in stimulus money to pay for an employee whose job, in part, will be to pursue federal grant money to help offset the cost of a new police station. But there's a difference between federal grants and the stimulus, and city officials say there doesn't appear to be any stimulus money available for this project. So the ad has a catchy line, but it's not . We rate it ."
16050,1,"Tariffs are ""paid for mostly by China, by the way, not by us.","May 9, 2019",economy;foreign policy;trade,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,remarks at the White House,"Trump said that tariffs are ""paid for  by China, by the way, not by us."" China doesn’t pay the initial tariffs — U.S. importers do. In many if not most cases, those costs are passed on to American consumers, whether it’s directly on the products hit by the tariffs or through an impact on U.S. companies who use raw materials hit with tariffs. China could also take a hit over the longer term in its gross domestic product, but experts say the harm to the U.S. economy would be swifter, more certain and potentially bigger. We rate the statement ."
4626,4,"Says ""we're losing one voter every 13 minutes.","November 14, 2011",elections,our oregon,"Our Oregon describes itself as a 501(c)(4) organization ""dedicated to fighting for economic and social fairness for all Oregonians. Our coalition represents organizations and individuals who care about a range of issues, from preserving funding for our schools and critical services to protecting the environment.""",oregon,0,3,0,0,1,0,a statement on their website,"Our Oregon said we’ve lost about 119,000 since November 2008 -- one every 13 minutes -- and official figures back them up. The thing is, without the context that this is a pretty cyclical happening, that statistic sounds pretty dire. We think it needs context, so under PolitiFact rules, we’ll give it a . What do you think? Head back to OregonLive and share your thoughts ."
20654,1,Electric vehicles are more likely to fail in traffic jams.,"November 27, 2021",environment;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post says electric vehicles are more prone to a failure in standstill traffic where heating or air conditioning is required. The post misunderstands the way EVs and their batteries work. Electric vehicles use little power when at a standstill, and their climate settings also do not require much power. An electric vehicle with a full battery would have enough energy to operate for a day or longer while stationary during a traffic jam, even while using air conditioning or heating. We rate the  that electric vehicles are more likely to fail in traffic jams . "
20805,2,This country's working people actually got a raise.,"January 19, 2022",economy;income,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,a news conference,"Biden said that ""this country’s working people actually got a raise."" They did, with an overall increase of 4.7%. But with inflation at 7%, the average person lost ground in terms of real income. This was particularly  for the middle half of earners who saw a median wage increase of only about 2.5%. The picture was a bit better for low-wage earners, but not enough to shift the broader pattern for 2021: Inflation outpaced wage increases. We rate this  ."
23197,1,New California bill charges parents with child abuse for refusing to 'affirm' their kid's gender identity.,"June 18, 2023",legal issues;crime;lgbtq,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"A Facebook post says a ""new California bill chargesparents with child abuse for refusing to ‘affirm’ their kid’s gender identity."" The bill would modify one section of the state’s family code that governs how judges resolve child custody disputes. The bill would add a parent’s affirmation of a child’s gender to the list of considerations a judge must weigh when deciding custody and visitation disputes between parents. The bill would not change California’s penal code, which outlines the crime of child abuse.  We rate this  ."
20928,2,"The Biden administration ""is spending $30 million on crack pipes.","February 8, 2022",drugs;public health,sean spicer,"Sean Spicer is former press secretary to President Donald Trump. Previously, he was the communications director for the Republican National Committee.",national,1,2,1,3,2,3,a tweet,"Spicer and other conservative commentators claimed that the Biden administration is spending $30 million on crack pipes.  The assertion stems from a federal ""harm reduction"" grant to prevent injury and death among people addicted to drugs. The grant allows recipients to provide such items as testing equipment for sexually transmitted diseases and overdose reversal medication, along with ""safe smoking kits"" to curb the spread of diseases among users of smokable drugs. However, the kits would not include crack pipes, and the kits as a whole would cost far less than $30 million, which is roughly the amount the government would spend on all elements of the grant-provided supplies and services. The  contains an element of , but it leaves out significant context. We rate it . "
2102,4,"Rhode Island is ""at the top of the country for alcohol-related fatalities.","August 12, 2010",crime,stephen archambault,"Steve Archambault was a candidate for attorney general in 2010. A 2000 graduate of the Roger Williams School of Law, he is a former police officer in Jamestown, Lincoln town prosecutor, a lawyer, and a member of the Smithfield Town Council.",rhode island,0,1,0,0,0,1,a candidate debate,"In 2005 we ranked 11th, and in 2006 we were 10th. But in 2003 and 2004, we were ranked first in the nation in the percentage of fatalities related to alcohol. Archambault isn't completely correct about our ranking, unless you go back several years. Yet it's clear he did give an accurate assessment of the scope of the problem. We'll give him a ."
14758,2,"Fact: Over 90,000 kids were detained under Obama. And no one cared.","June 20, 2018",immigration,brad parscale,Brad Parscale is President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign manager.,national,0,0,1,1,0,0,a tweet,"Parscale tweeted, ""Fact: Over 90,000 kids were detained under Obama. And no one cared."" The 90,000 children refers to the unaccompanied minors from Central America during Obama’s tenure. Children were detained by the federal government until they could be released to a parent or other caregiver in the U.S. However, Parscale omits that this group of children detained is a different situation from the recent Trump administration policy. The 90,000 refers to minors who crossed the border without any parents during Obama’s tenure. Those unaccompanied minors were detained until they were placed with a caregiver. The Trump administration policy separated children from their parents when they crossed the border. We rate this statement ."
11529,3,"The ""rate of uninsured Americans (is) 8.8 percent.","March 23, 2016",health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a Medium post,"Obama, in his Medium post, said the ""rate of uninsured Americans (is) 8.8 percent."" Hats off to the White House for correcting its post based on our inquiry, even before we could publish our fact-check. Still, we put claims to the -O-Meter based on their original form, and in this case, Obama, despite being close to accurate, jumped the gun by shaving off a few tenths of a percentage point before they officially materialized. We rate this  ."
1805,3,"The U.S. spends $4 billion on research and development for energy, while spending $350 billion on oil from foreign countries, ""many of whom are our enemies.","June 22, 2010",energy;foreign policy;oil spill,jeff greene,"Jeff Greene, a wealthy businessman from Palm Beach, lost the Democratic primary for Florida governor in August 2018. He campaigned for the U.S. Senate and was defeated in the Democratic primary on Aug. 24, 2010.",florida,0,1,3,4,1,0,a debate,"We're ruling here on Greene's statement that we're spending $4 billion on research and development for energy while spending $350 billion on foreign oil, which goes to some countries that are ""our enemies."" His numbers are close on how much we spend, but he's off about the countries being enemies. Canada and Mexico are friendly with the U.S. We may not always have the best relations with a few of the other countries on the list -- Venezuela comes to mind -- but we have a hard time seeing how any of them rise to the level of ""enemy."" So we rate his statement ."
18939,0,THOUSANDS of fake votes found at Wisconsin Recount in Dane County.,"November 28, 2020",elections;state budget,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A story shared widely across social media said, ""More than 2,000  votes were found at the Wisconsin Recount in Dane County on Friday!"" An amended version instead referenced them as being ""suspect"" votes. Neither  has any basis in reality. The repeated initials aren’t those of the voter, they’re initials of the clerk who issued the absentee ballots. That’s not sketchy, it’s just a basic element of how elections are administered. We rate this ."
19762,0,Photos show Joe Biden didn't drive himself during an electric vehicle test drive.,"May 19, 2021",economy;transportation;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""This rumor is badly misguided. There was only one steering wheel in the vehicle the president drove on Tuesday,"" said Miller.   The Detroit Free Press reported that Biden’s test drive had been discussed as a possibility prior to his visit, but the Ford staff did not know it was going to happen until the very end of the day’s event. Social media posts featuring two photos — one of Biden behind the wheel of a vehicle and another of a car interior with two steering wheels —  that Biden didn’t drive himself during an electric vehicle test drive at Ford Motor Co.  Both the White House and Ford Motor Co. refuted this , and photo and video  shows that there’s only one steering wheel in the truck, which Biden was operating.   We rate this  !"
21961,1,Everyone but Trump invited to royal funeral.,"September 13, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"Politico reported that it had obtained official documents from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the United Kingdom that said only heads of state and their spouses or partners from each country have been invited to the funeral.   At a press conference Sept. 12, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether Biden ""would bring any former presidents with him"" if he’s allowed.   Jean-Pierre said the decision lay with the United Kingdom’s government.   ""The invite was for the president and the first lady only,"" she said. We rate claims that everyone but Trump was invited to the queen’s funeral ."
168,3,"Americans spend 100-million hours a year filling out these forms (FAFSA). That is the equivalent of 55,500 full-time jobs.","October 11, 2007",education,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"Plymouth, N.H","Indeed, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire-based Center for College Planning said in an e-mail that the denseness of the form has become less of an issue since it went online, though some families still describe the process of applying as overwhelming. ""With assistance, it can take an average of 30 to 45 minutes to fill out the FAFSA,"" the center's Erin Hathaway wrote to PolitiFact.com. ""If there are complicated asset situations or private business owners, joint families etc., then it can take longer, usually one to two hours."" No research has been done on the topic, said Meihua Zhai, director of research at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, making all information on how long it takes anecdotal. Given the disputed number and the lack of research, we find Clinton's statement to be ."
13707,2,"Gov. Roy Cooper has ""filed nearly one lawsuit a month, with every single one of them an attempt to extend his own power.","July 31, 2017",legal issues,david lewis,David Lewis is a Republican member of the N.C. House of Representatives from Harnett County. He chairs the Rules Committee and the Elections Committee and is a top budget-writer.,north carolina,1,0,2,1,0,0,a blog,"Lewis said Cooper has filed ""nearly one lawsuit a month, with every single one of them an attempt to extend his own power."" In fact, Cooper had filed three lawsuits and an amendment over seven months when Lewis made his . Lewis gives the impression that Cooper has been wildly filing lawsuits to expand his powers. But the lawsuits primarily respond to reductions in power passed by Lewis’s party shortly before Cooper took office and afterward. We rate his  ."
16743,4,"President Trump ""hasn't built any new (border) wall"" during his time in office.","November 17, 2019",immigration;border security;infrastructure,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",california,6,7,15,12,10,4,"an interview on ""Face the Nation""",Pelosi’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it .     – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
10818,1,"Virginia's current unemployment rate is ""the lowest in Virginia history.","October 5, 2015",economy;jobs,richard saslaw,"Richard L. Saslaw, D-35th, joined the Virginia Senate in 1980. The district is composed of portions of Fairfaix, Alexandria and Falls Church. He previously served in the House of Delegates beginning in 1976. Saslaw has been the Democratic leader of the Senate since 1996, currently as minority leader. He sits on the Rules, FInance, Education and Health, Courts of Justice and Commerce and Labor committees.
Saslaw ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. House seat in 1984. He has owned several successful gasoline and automobile service businesses. 
Saslaw served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960 and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1965.",virginia,0,0,0,2,3,1,a debate,"Saslaw said during the debate that Virginia’s unemployment rate is the lowest in the state’s history. Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show he’s , and the senator’s campaign says he garbled his talking point. We rate the  ."
8892,5,The numbers make it clear that Georgia voters are increasingly taking advantage of early voting opportunities.,"May 19, 2014",education,brian kemp,"Brian Kemp, a Republican, was elected governor of Georgia in 2018. Previously, he served as secretary of state.",georgia,4,0,1,1,3,0,statement,"In 2011, early voting was reduced to 21 days, ending the Friday before the election and including at least one Saturday of early voting. To sum up, there’s plenty of  that Georgia voters are taking advantage of the chance to cast their ballots early. In the 2012 presidential election, 1.9 million early votes were cast. That’s up from about 420,000 in 2004, the first time Georgians could vote early in a presidential election. We rate Kemp’s statement as ."
12063,4,"The U.S. has to go to ""plane graveyards"" and museums to get parts for its 20-year-old jet fighters while it sells new jets to other countries.","June 16, 2016",military,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",texas,36,85,120,194,360,179,Dallas fundraiser,"While in Texas, Trump said the U.S. has to go to ""plane graveyards"" and museums to get parts for its 20-year-old jet fighters while it sells new jets to other countries. The government indeed salvages parts for military planes remaining in action and the U.S. also sells aircraft to militaries abroad. But clarification is needed. The described parts salvaging, which can save time and money, doesn’t appear to be misguided and the U.S. also buys new planes for its forces. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.  "
19563,0,"Covid-does NOT exist AS A VIRUS,"" and Russian doctors performing autopsies on deceased COVID-19 patients violate a World Health Organization law","April 5, 2021",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"A post claims that bacteria causes COVID-19 and that ""Covid-does NOT exist AS A VIRUS."" It also says that Russian doctors who performed autopsies on deceased COVID-19 patients violated a World Health Organization law. COVID-19 is caused by a virus, not by bacteria. The WHO does not prohibit autopsies on people who have died of COVID-19. The organization actually provided guidelines for how to safely perform autopsies on COVID-19 patients. We rate this  !"
6930,4,"Says Texas is ""last in mental health expenditures.","February 6, 2013",health care;pundits,sacramento bee editorial board,"The editorial board of The Sacramento Bee says it composes editorials that are its collective opinion. It meets regularly to discuss community concerns and issues of the day, it says.",texas,3,1,1,1,0,0,an editorial,"The editorial says Texas is last in mental health spending. In 2010, the latest year analyzed, Texas spent more in raw dollars on mental health services than 41 states. But in per-resident spending -- the better metric for comparing states --Texas ranked second-to-last to Idaho after ranking last to all other states for several years. We rate this  as ."
7379,4,"Says the inspector general for the IRS said there was ""no political motivation"" and ""no outside influence"" for targeting of tax-exempt applications from tea party groups","May 17, 2013",taxes,sander levin,"Rep. Sander “Sandy” Levin, a Michigan Democrat who's the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982.",national,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview on MSNBC,"Levin told Matthews on MSNBC that, ""the inspector general, when asked, Was there any political motivation for the people who were in the exempt organization in Cincinnati, the lower-level people who were working on this, he said no. Was there any outside influence? And he said no."" That was the gist of George’s testimony the same day before the Ways and Means Committee, but with the important clarification that he was careful to explain that the assessment was based solely on  turned up so far by auditors. Levin offered no such caveat. We rate his  ."
13397,0,"Says Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez ""declared that she would not detain known criminals accused of violent crimes.","May 7, 2017",immigration;criminal justice;crime,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a statement before signing Senate Bill 4 into law over a Facebook Live,"Abbott said Hernandez ""declared that she would not detain known criminals accused of violent crimes."" That’s a distortion of Hernandez’s statements and her announced policy. The sheriff made it clear she wouldn’t automatically honor all requests to hold suspects for ICE. But the policy specifies several violent crimes for which the department directly grants the hold requests and it reserves the office’s right to exercise discretion in the interests of justice. Abbott, a seasoned judge and former state attorney general, should know better. We find this   and . !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
19786,1,The mother of a missing boy in Nebraska confessed to killing him.,"May 24, 2021",crime;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Lausten told local news reporters the next day that authorities continue to search for the boy and that they’re focused on an area near a lake where multiple K9 dogs alerted to something.   Lausten said that police haven’t ruled out foul play but he described Larsen’s family — including the boy’s mother — as ""extremely upset. ""  ""The mother, the other sisters, were just destroyed,"" the police chief said. Police have said nothing that would substantiate any of the information in the text messages being shared online.   We rate this post ."
20377,1,Pfizer admits there's no vaccine approved by FDA.,"October 10, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"The recording in the blog post is described as a Pfizer customer service representative saying that the vaccine hasn’t been approved. If she said that after Aug. 23 about the 16-and-up group, she was . But in any case, that doesn’t amount to the company admitting that the vaccine didn’t receive FDA approval. It did, and Pfizer is on record proudly saying so.   We rate this post ."
428,2,"Says Obama flip-flopped on a gas-tax ""holiday.","April 24, 2008",energy,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,a Web video,So that leaves us with  on both sides. The RNC is right that he voted for the 2000 bill and opposes the new McCain proposal. But the RNC leaves out the fact that he opposed the extension because of concern for consumers and now opposes the McCain bill for that reason. But it's not fair to call it a flip-flop when the very reason Obama opposes a suspension of the gas tax now is because he concluded that it didn't work when he supported one in the past. We rule this .
15301,3,"Under the Republican tax reform law, ""83 percent of the benefits go to the top 1 percent of individuals and large multinational corporations.","October 22, 2018",corporations;income;taxes,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a speech,"Our rating Baldwin says that under the Republican tax reform law, ""83 percent of the benefits go to the top 1 percent of individuals and large multinational corporations."" Even though her statement mentions corporations, it isn’t materially different than three similar statements we’ve checked. In a nutshell, the analysis that all four statements rely on found that by 2027, the law would deliver 82.8 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of the income spectrum. However, in earlier years, the distribution of benefits would look very different, with much smaller percentages of the benefits  — 20 to 25 percent — going to the top 1 percent. Baldwin’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details  — our definition of ."
21531,1,"Biden gave Americans ""the cheapest gas prices on Earth.","June 2, 2022",gas prices,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,national,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"A tweet claimed that Biden gave Americans the ""cheapest"" gas prices on Earth. This isn’t accurate. While gas prices in the U.S. are lower than in some European countries because of oil production and taxes, they certainly aren’t the lowest in the world.  Biden has little to do with fuel prices. Oil is part of a global market that is impacted by a slew of factors — like pandemics, inflation and war  — that are largely outside of the president’s control.  We rate this .  RELATED: Ask PolitiFact: Why are gas prices going up?   RELATED: How much blame does Putin deserve for high gasoline prices?  "
12142,2,"Says Barack Obama ""said black males are two times more likely to be shot by a law enforcement officer than white males"" and ""that is a lie"" because ""there is no data.","July 17, 2016",criminal justice;crime;population;guns,david a. clarke jr.,David A. Clarke Jr. served as Milwaukee County sheriff from 2002 to 2017.,wisconsin,0,1,2,3,6,2,an interview,"He said that Obama ""said black males are two times more likely to be shot by a law enforcement officer than white males,"" but he was slightly off, in that the president spoke about all African-Americans and whites, not just males. Clarke also said the two times more likely statistic is ""a lie"" because ""there is no data."" He is correct that there is no national data on all police shootings -- fatal and non-fatal -- to back that statistic. But he goes too far in saying it is a lie, given that we don’t know if the statistic is accurate. For a statement that contains some element of , our rating is ."
6337,2,"James Langevin ""has received almost $20 million from taxpayers and special interests to use at his own discretion to supposedly champion Rhode Island's needs.","September 18, 2012",campaign finance;congress;message machine 2012;negative campaigning,michael riley,"Michael G. Riley, a Narragansett businessman who calls himself a ""small-government and free-market Republican,"" made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District in 2012. He is co-founder of the Coastal Management Group, a consulting and investment company. He has served on the Narragansett Pension Board and Charter Review Commission.",rhode island,0,0,1,2,1,0,a radio ad,"Michael Riley’s campaign ad says Rep. James Langevin ""has received almost $20 million from taxpayers and special interests to use at his own discretion to supposedly champion Rhode Island’s needs."" When you add Langevin’s salary, his staff salaries and his campaign contributions, you do get nearly $20 million. But Riley’s  -- and the ad’s portrayal of Langevin as a shark looking to ""feast"" on taxpayers’ dollars -- suggests he has a slush fund and has used it improperly. That’s a gross distortion of very common practices allowed by law and the U.S. Constitution. We rule his statement ."
18950,0,"The coronavirus pandemic is ""effectively over"" in the United Kingdom and ""there is absolutely no need for vaccines.","October 16, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"In a blog post that has sparked several widespread social media posts, Yeadon claimed the pandemic is ""effectively over"" in the U.K. and ""there is absolutely no need for vaccines."" Both points are  and at odds with the realities of the pandemic, which has upended lives and killed over 1.4 million people globally. Confirmed daily case counts were rising in the U.K. at the time of Yeadon’s  and remain in the tens of thousands. People are still dying. Experts said that COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to mount in the absence of widespread mitigation measures until a vaccine is distributed. We rate Yeadon’s  !"
17811,1,"Donald Trump ""cancelled Bill Gates project known as ID2020.","June 3, 2020",technology;privacy issues;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"ID2020 deid not comment on the . Our June 8 searches of Google and Nexis turned up no mention of Trump taking any action against ID2020 or even making mention of it. And we found no mention of ID2020 in June 8 searches of TrumpTwitterArchive.com and the Factba.se database of Trump tweets, speeches and other remarks. Our fact-checking colleagues at Africa Check and FactCheck.org also found that Trump had not canceled the program. We rate the statement ."
1272,5,"During his tenure as mayor, he ""saw Houston's crime rates drop to the lowest levels in more than 25 years.","December 28, 2009",crime,bill white,"Bill White, an author, is a San Antonio native who was mayor of Houston from 2004-2009. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor of Texas.",texas,6,7,5,2,3,3,the biography on his campaign Web site,"And the decline was under way before White took office. Nevertheless, when the Houston FBI office gave White the FBI Director’s 2007 Community Leadership Award, his efforts to combat crime were among the reasons cited. ""Mayor White is being recognized for his outstanding contributions toward improving the quality of life in the City of Houston through his commitment to law enforcement and the prevention of crime,"" a statement from the FBI said. Summing up: Although experts debate the reasons for the downward trend in crime nationwide, White is right that the total crime rate in Houston hit a 25-year low during his time as mayor. We give him a .  "
18380,1,"Says a Twitter account for ""Scarsdale NY Antifa"" tweeted that ""chapters of Antifa around Oregon have collaborated to ignite fires around the state.","September 14, 2020",fires;facebook fact-checks;new york,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",oregon,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"New York magazine identified it in 2017 as one of many likely  antifa accounts. A reporter noted on Sept. 12, two days after the tweet in question went up, that the account had been suspended. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed Sept. 14 that the account was suspended for violating Twitter’s policy on ""platform manipulation and spam."" The policy says violations occur when users operate  accounts, use multiple accounts to artificially amplify or disrupt conversations, artificially inflate their followers or engagement, or misuse Twitter’s features. We rate this Facebook post ."
22311,1,Video shows a faulty New York voting machine invalidated a GOP vote in governor's race.,"November 5, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook and Instagram posts,A video suggested that a New York voter’s inability to submit his ballot through a scanner suggested his vote wasn’t being counted because the voting machine was broken. The man blamed Democrats. But elections officials said that the machine shown was not a vote tabulator but a device designed to help voters with visual impairments or other disabilities mark their ballots. We rate claims this video shows a broken voting machine .
2854,4,"In 1998, nearly half of Florida's fourth-graders were functionally illiterate. Today, 72% of them can read.","January 3, 2011",education,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,florida,14,24,17,18,5,2,a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece,"All this may seem like semantics, but the definitions here are important. Here's what Bush wrote: ""In 1998, nearly half of Florida's fourth-graders were functionally illiterate. Today, 72% of them can read."" The contrast here can be read to mean that nearly half of Florida's fourth-graders couldn't read in 1998, and now, 72 percent can read. But that's not . Close to half of fourth-grade students in Florida failed to meet a ""Basic"" level of reading as defined by the federal government in 1998. In 2009, that number fell to 27 percent -- meaning 73 percent of test takers were able to make the ""Basic"" reading level. Those are more complex definitions compared to being functionally illiterate and being able to read. That said, Bush's column also makes the broader point that reading scores in Florida have improved dramatically since 1998. And there's no question about that. Florida has gone from almost the worst to one of the best. In trying to boil down a complicated topic for a mainstream audience, Bush probably picked the  words. But his point is valid. We rate his statement ."
11314,3,"People (are) paying more in taxes than they will for food, housing and clothing combined.","February 14, 2016",taxes,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,a web video,"Rubio said that ""people (are) paying more in taxes than they will for food, housing and clothing combined."" Rubio’s statement only measures up if we look at aggregate spending on those basics by all Americans. But whether individuals spend more on taxes than food, housing and clothing varies widely depending upon their income. Wealthier Americans do spend more on taxes than food, housing and clothing combined, while those with low incomes do not. We rate this statement ."
14192,0,"Soros, Obama and the Dems Ordered the Shutdown to Stage a Coup","January 22, 2018",fake news,reaganwasright,Reaganwasright is a satirical website.,national,0,0,0,0,0,3,a website,"Blair told us his websites are carefully curated social experiment designed to ""feed the Hoverounders their daily need for hate and their undying urge to blame everything in the known universe on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama."" They’re also a vehicle to make money. The point, of course, is to get someone on Facebook to click on the post thinking it is real. ""I discovered that Facebook following plus blog plus ads equals income,"" Blair told us previously. We rate this headline ."
280,4,"Barack (Obama) has one of his biggest supporters in terms of funding, the Exelon Corporation, which has spent millions of dollars trying to make Yucca Mountain the waste depository.","January 15, 2008",ethics,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,Las Vegas,"Obama has not accepted any money from Exelon lobbyists or Exelon's political action committee; rather, the contributions are from people who work at Exelon. Of all these points, it's the last we find most compelling. Obama is not taking money from Exelon as a corporate entity or PAC, rather he's accepting contributions from Exelon executives and employees. (Clinton, by contrast, accepts federal PAC money, though she hasn't accepted any from Exelon.) It's a small but real difference, so we rate her  on Obama's ties to Exelon to be ."
14271,2,Heitkamp has voted against Trump 68 percent of time.,"January 31, 2018",voting record,national republican senatorial committee,The National Republican Senatorial Committee helps elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate.,national,1,3,11,18,14,7,a digital ad,"A North Dakota NRSC ad said, ""Heitkamp has voted against Trump 68 percent of the time."" That’s if you’re only looking at policy votes. When Cabinet and Supreme Court nominations are added to the mix, which is how both the source of the NRSC’s  and traditional legislative trackers score presidential support, Hetikamp supports Trump about half the time. Experts described excluding nominations, like Neil Gorsuch’s, as , as they play a key role in furthering Trump’s legislative agenda. We rate this statement ."
12336,0,"Says President Barack Obama ""has taken less vacation days than any other president in a generation,"" while Congress ""has taken more vacation days than any other Congress in history.","August 20, 2016",bush administration;congress;fake news;history;voting record,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",national,0,2,7,1,8,4,a posting on Facebook,"Occupy Democrats says Obama ""has taken less vacation days than any other president in a generation,"" while Congress ""has taken more vacation days than any other Congress in history."" The post is  for Obama. It is   for Congress. We rate it !"
4094,4,"Says that under President John F. Kennedy, ""government took up"" 27 percent of the economy, and today it ""consumes 37 percent.","August 11, 2011",economy;federal budget;history,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,"Ames, Iowa","The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes statistics that break down the components of national GDP. If you take the category ""government consumption expenditures and gross investment"" for all levels of government -- a figure that doesn’t include transfer payments -- and divide it by GDP, government accounted for 22.0 percent of GDP in 1963 and 20.7 percent of GDP in 2010. So Romney’s numbers are nearly correct, but they don’t tell the whole story. Yes, government spending has risen as a share of GDP, but the actual control on spending exerted by government has not risen by anywhere near that amount, because the bulk of the growth has come in transfer payments that individual Americans ultimately control (and, in many cases, under programs which they had paid into to begin with). On balance, we rate Romney’s statement ."
13904,3,"In the U.S. asylum system, ""claims of 'fear to return' have skyrocketed, and the percentage of claims that are genuinely meritorious are down.","October 12, 2017",immigration;homeland security,jeff sessions,"Jeff Sessions is President Donald Trump's Attorney General. He was previously a U.S. Senator from Alabama.
 ",national,1,2,6,10,4,0,a speech,"Sessions said, ""Claims of fear to return have skyrocketed, and the percentage of claims that are genuinely meritorious are down."" The number of claims by immigrants citing credible fear to return to their home countries has significantly increased from 2009 to 2016. While there has been fraud in the asylum system, it’s uncertain and difficult to determine whether the percentage of ""genuinely meritorious"" credible fear claims is down, experts said. Sessions’ statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
434,4,"The Rev. Wright compared ""the United States Marine Corps with Roman legionnaires who were responsible for the death of our Savior.","April 27, 2008",terrorism,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Coral Gables, Fla","Since we're parsing Wright's words, let's parse McCain's too. He said Wright ""compared"" the Marines to Roman soldiers who persecuted Christ. One could certainly argue whether it is fair or appropriate to draw any parallels between U.S. soldiers and those Roman soldiers, or to what degree Wright was suggesting that they similar. McCain's recounting of Wright's statement seems an attempt to maximize the issue for sensational effect, but it certainly seems to us, based on Wright's interchanging modern language with the biblical tale, that he at least wanted his parishioners to consider a comparison of the two. We give it a ."
10512,1,"Says ""Scott Walker's bad budget includes: No weekend for workers.","July 8, 2015",jobs;labor;unions,wisconsin state afl-cio,"The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO describes itself as the statewide coordinating council for 1,000 unions that represent 250,000 members in Wisconsin. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a voluntary federation of 56 national and international labor unions.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,1,0,a Facebook post,"""If, however, employers tried to make that an overt requirement of employment, the workers could use that as a legal argument against the employer because that would clearly violate the voluntary nature of the action,"" Witte said. Our rating The state AFL-CIO said, ""Scott Walker’s bad budget includes: No weekend for workers."" But the provision does not apply to all workers, as the  suggests. What’s more, it is a voluntary thing -- workers could agree to the extra day to, for instance, earn extra overtime. We rate the  . "
21190,0,"A Florida court sets atheist holy day"" on April 1.","March 29, 2022",religion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It’s also unclear what the plaintiff would be attempting to accomplish by filing the lawsuit. Federal holidays can only be recognized by the U.S. Congress , and there are several observances that are not tied to religion, like Independence Day and Labor Day. PolitiFact found no coverage by Florida newspapers of the event. But we did find that the facetious story has appeared on the internet numerous times in the past, dating back to at least 2001. We rate this recycled hoax !"
976,2,"Mitch McConnell opposed ""legislation to create and protect Kentucky jobs . . . help for the unemployed. . .  health care for Kentucky's children,"" and ""fair pay for women.","July 2, 2009",economy;health care;workers,democratic national committee,The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats.,national,7,8,12,9,2,0,a television ad,"When we dug into the nitty gritty of the Senate votes, we found that McConnell supported alternatives or objected to the legislation for other reasons. The ad says that McConnell opposed legislation to ""create and protect Kentucky jobs,"" ""help for the unemployed,"" ""health care for Kentucky's children,"" and ""fair pay for women."" Actually, McConnell said he supported all of those values, but he didn't agree with Democratic methods for achieving them. It's an important distinction. We rate the ad from the Democratic National Committee as ."
14209,2,Road projects across the state are staying on track or getting done sooner thanks to the good work of the team at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.,"December 18, 2017",state budget;transportation,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a tweet,"The state is pinning its hopes for the expanded freeway and related work on a $246.2 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that would pay for about half the remaining cost. Our rating In a tweet, Walker said ""Road projects across the state are staying on track or getting done sooner thanks to the good work of the team at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation."" A spokesman said Walker was referring to the early completion of the State Highway 441 project. But that was not specified in the tweet, and a wide range of other projects -- including major ones -- have been delayed. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate the  ."
11610,1,"Says professional football coach Rex Ryan ""won championships in New York. The AFC, I think, twice.","April 18, 2016",sports,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"This  rates . Correction:   The Colts made up an 11-point deficit to beat the Jets in the 2009-10 AFC Championship. We apologize for listing the  team in an earlier version of this fact-check, and for rubbing salt in the wounds of Jets fans. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3545a6ac-cb46-461f-a52e-3723ab604886"
16893,1,"In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.","January 7, 2020",medicare;social security,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,newsletter from the Bernie Sanders campaign,"A Sanders campaign newsletter said, ""In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare."" That stems from a speech Biden gave in 2018 in which he spoke about Ryan. Biden appeared to be mocking Ryan, not praising him. The Sanders campaign omitted what Biden said next: the importance of protecting Social Security and Medicare and to change the tax code, which he said benefitted the mega rich. Overall, the point of Biden’s speech was to criticize tax cuts for the rich and call for more help to the middle class.  The Sanders campaign plucked out part of what Biden said but omitted the full context of his comments. We rate this statement . "
23093,1,"Pop-Tarts and other foods ""have antifreeze in them.","May 17, 2023",food;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram reel,"An Instagram reel claimed certain foods and drinks ""have antifreeze in them"" because they contain propylene glycol, an additive. Propylene glycol, like many additives, has a variety of uses in foods and nonfoods. Although propylene glycol is sometimes used in antifreeze, that doesn’t mean foods that contain the additive propylene glycol also contain antifreeze. The FDA limits how much propylene glycol can be used in foods, and the amount is much smaller than what would be used in nonfoods. Additionally, not all of the foods and drinks listed in the Instagram reel contain propylene glycol. We rate this  ."
21457,1,"Merrick Garland ""sicced the police on parents when they were at the school boards simply trying to be heard for the safety of their children.","May 12, 2022",education,winsome earle-sears,"Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, was elected Virginia's lieutenant governor in 2021. She is the first Black woman to be elected to statewide office in Virginia.
Sears lives in Winchester, Va. and owns a plumbing and appliance repair store. She was born in Jamaica in 1964 and reared in New York City. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Old Dominison University and a Master of Arts degree in organizational leadership from Regent University. 
Sears served in the U.S. Marines from 1983 to 1986. She represented Virginia Beach in the House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004 but did not seek reelection, opting to launch an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. House of Repesentatives in 2004. ",virginia,0,0,0,1,3,0,a TV interview,Her comment apparently refers to Garland’s order in 2021 that the FBI work with local governments to help handle a national spike in threats against local school board members. Garland has said his goal is to enhance safety by training board members and educators how to recognize and report threats. Garland has no power to increase local police protection at school board meetings and has said that federal officials will not be attending them. He has said parents have a constitutional right to speak out at school board meetings; there is nothing in his order that says otherwise. We rate Earle-Sears' statement .  
10020,3,We have cut taxes more than 40 times in four years.,"March 3, 2015",taxes,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,the State of the State address,"Scott said, ""We have cut taxes more than 40 times in four years."" A list his office sent us last year with 41 things they considered tax cuts likely explains that sum. But the list is full of esoteric tax credits, changes in unemployment compensation and sales tax holidays that don’t meet the purest definition of a tax cut. Scott’s tax  is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
6430,3,"Says black women are ""fastest-growing demographic group in ... Texas seeking concealed handgun licenses.","August 30, 2012",guns,stefani carter,Stefani Carter is a Republican state representative from Dallas.,texas,0,0,2,0,0,0,USA Today,"Carter claims black women are the fastest-growing group of permit-seekers. We accept her explanation that she meant to refer to permits issued each year. And her statement fairly captures available data and research. However, the lack of information on Hispanic permit recipients makes it impossible to conclude which Texas subgroups are getting permits most often. We rate the statement as ."
21254,2,As your Lieutenant Governor…I cut your taxes.,"March 28, 2022",economy;taxes,rebecca kleefisch,"Rebecca Kleefisch was the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 2011-19 under Gov. Scott Walker. She previously worked as a TV anchor and reporter, most recently with WISN-TV in Milwaukee. Kleefisch was defeated August 9, 2022 in her Republican primary bid for Republican nomination for governor.
 ",wisconsin,2,1,5,5,7,1,TV ad,"Taxes were surely cut during the Walker administration – to the tune of more than  $8 billion during their eight years in office.   Kleefisch participated in budget discussions and held listening sessions across the state. And she may have advocated for those tax cuts, but the lieutenant governor simply isn’t responsible for voting on or signing tax cuts or other types of legislation into law.   Our definition of  is a statement that ""contains an element of the  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here.  "
17465,2,"Says Robin Vos wore protective gear that ""election workers he forced to work … do not have.","April 7, 2020",elections;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post shared widely chastised Vos for wearing protective gear at the polls that ""election workers he forced to work today do not have."" Other poll workers in Burlington wore the same gear as Vos, so he didn’t receive any special treatment there like the  implies. Poll workers in other parts of the state had some – but not necessarily all – of the same equipment used by Vos. That leaves us with a  that contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
12895,0,"Says ""Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is resigning from the post of associate justice of the Supreme Court.","January 2, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"We attempted to contact some of the sites that reposted the article to see if they knew it was , but did not receive any responses. Clearly many readers in the comments sections of these websites are unaware the story is fabricated. Adding a real, out-of-context quote from Ginsburg with no disclaimer that the story is  only confuses matters more. We rate this headline ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/dc5b1ca1-6077-46a8-b207-34f63443e650"
2147,5,(I) helped to invent a system that saved over a billion dollars on welfare.,"June 19, 2010",candidate biography;economy;families;federal budget;poverty,kenneth block,Kenneth Block is a software engineer and president of Simpatico Software Systems. He founded Rhode Island's Moderate Party and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010. He switched to the Republican Party in 2013 and made an unsuccessful run for Rhode Island Governor in 2014.,rhode island,1,3,2,0,3,0,a TV and Internet commercial,"In the end, Block did help develop the EBT system and the system likely saved -- directly or indirectly -- more than $1 billion in waste and fraud since its implementation 15 years ago. We rate his  as . The candidate, in interviews and on his blog, insists that he played a key role in fraud detection. He maintains that he continues helping with that task today. But Block is now aware, through our contacts with his office, that two Texas officials consistently and adamantly dispute that."
6771,3,"The average kid comes out of Virginia colleges with about $25,000-plus in debt.","December 6, 2012",education,bob mcdonnell,"Bob McDonnell is the Republican governor of Virginia until January 2014. McDonnell was elected over Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
McDonnell previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2006 and as state Attorney General from 2006 to 2009.
McDonnell graduated from the University of Nortre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., with a bachelor's degree in 1976. He then served in the U.S. Army on active duty from 1976 to 1981 and in the reserves until 1997, retiring as a lieutenant colenel. He received a master's degree in business adminsitration from Boston University in 1980 and a master's and law degree from Regent University, Virginia Beach, in 1989.",virginia,8,6,7,6,5,3,a news conference,"McDonnell said the average student graduating from Virginia colleges is about $25,000 in debt. The study he cites says that’s the level of debt among students who have taken out loans. But McDonnell omits a key point. The average he cited doesn’t count a large number of students who graduated debt free. When they are included, the average is $14,628. So we rate his  ."
9180,1,"Says a $12.5 million incentive deal she approved for Abbott Laboratories contained ""strong protections for taxpayers if job creation goals were not met.","July 9, 2014",jobs;state budget,mary burke,"Burke is a former Trek Bicycle executive and former Wisconsin Commerce Department secretary who announced on Oct. 7, 2013 that she would seek the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin in the fall 2014 election against incument Republican Gov. Scott Walker. She lost to Walker on Nov. 4, 2014. She is a school board member in Madison, Wisconsin.",wisconsin,2,8,11,5,5,3,a news release,"If Abbott couldn’t produce by a date certain, ""then KABA should have had the ability to exercise alternative property rights to develop the land in accordance with (block grant) standards,"" he said. Our rating Burke’s campaign said the $12.5 million incentive deal she approved for Abbott Laboratories contained ""strong protections for taxpayers if job creation goals were not met."" While the land provides some collateral, the deal’s protections and structure fell short of those used in many such cases, leaving the state vulnerable to picking up some or most of the pieces if Abbott doesn’t deliver. And it’s hard to reconcile how ""strong protections"" could have allowed the scenario now unfolding in which the state is paying cash to HUD. We rate the  ."
7179,3,"Air travelers ""can't get on a plane in the United States without someone doing a background check"" on them.","April 3, 2013",guns,dannel malloy,"Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, is the governor of Connecticut. Before being elected governor in November 2010, Malloy served as the mayor of Stamford from 1995 to 2009.",national,0,1,1,0,0,0,an interview on MSNBC,"Malloy said he ""can’t get on a plane in the United States without someone doing a background check on me,"" while less oversight exists for gun purchases. Background checks on gun purchases -- which assess a person’s criminal history -- do not apply to the private transfer of weapons, only to purchases from licensed gun dealers. And it’s  that many guns are bought legally with no background check. But the Secure Flight program does not check people’s legal history in the same way. It compares passenger information with lists of suspected terrorists. It’s a security measure, but not a  background check. Though unlike with guns, it applies to everyone. Malloy’s statement is only partially accurate. We rate it ."
5296,3,Up to 80 percent of small businesses will be forced to give up their current plans due to new Obamacare regulations.,"March 22, 2012",health care;message machine 2012;small business;workers,senate republican conference,The Senate Republican Conference is the group representing Republican members of the U.S. Senate.,national,0,0,1,1,0,0,a Web video,"A Senate Republican Conference video argues that ""up to 80 percent of small businesses will be forced to give up their current plans due to new Obamacare regulations."" In doing so, it is choosing an estimate that is at the high end of a range that also includes estimates of 66 and 49 percent, but the video does say ""up to."" Businesses give up that status by changing their plans, whether by choice or because of the exigencies of the market. The health care law doesn’t directly force businesses to give up their plans, which makes the statement only partially accurate. We rate it ."
19938,1,"Carnage"" is being caused ""by people who are coming across the border.","June 16, 2021",immigration;border security,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a press conference,"And it's the people who are crossing the border that are causing ""carnage"" in the state, he said.    But this violent rhetoric is an exaggerated depiction of what law enforcement agencies are encountering on the ground.   If we take carnage to mean criminal violence and killings, state and local crime data doesn’t back that up. Although various law enforcement agencies in border communities have recorded a rash of property crimes attributable to traveling migrants — like break-ins, cut fences and car thefts — violent crime is relatively steady compared to last year.    We rate this  . "
17575,2,"Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ""has just been stripped of her emergency coronavirus powers by her state legislature.","April 27, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a screenshot,"The Instagram post also errs in saying that Republicans targeted Whitmer’s emergency powers because she used them to issue orders ""blocking sales of vegetable seeds and American flags."" We rated two similar claims  — Whitmer’s executive orders do not ban the sale of any particular product. Since Michigan legislators have moved to limit the governor’s emergency powers, the Instagram post contains an element of . But Whitmer’s emergency powers have not yet been repealed, and she has said she will veto the legislation if and when it reaches her desk. We rate the post ."
2092,5,"In 1935, more than 50% of the elderly population lived in poverty. Today that poverty rate stands officially at 9.4%.","August 10, 2010",social security,eddie bernice johnson,Eddie Bernice Johnson is a U.S. House member who has represented Texas’ 30th district since 1993.,national,1,0,0,0,1,0,a speech on the House floor,"The poverty rate among the elderly has dramatically declined. Whether that was the result of Social Security or other factors is beyond the scope of this review.  By the best available measures the rate in 1935 was, as she stated, more than 50 percent. And she was just a fraction off on the current level of 9.7 percent. So we rate her statement ."
20671,0,"Around the world, people who exercise their ""health autonomy"" and don't get vaccinated are being put ""basically into internment camps.","December 8, 2021",health care;public health;coronavirus,ron johnson,"Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.",wisconsin,8,18,15,28,11,4,Radio interview,"UPDATE Dec. 14, 2021 at 9:02 a.m. : A prior version of this article incorrectly stated that quarantined Australians were tested three times a day at the site. They are tested three times during their two-week stay."
21745,0,"NASA photos of the moon and Earth show that ""space is fake.","July 20, 2022",science;space;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"Now we have governmental agencies , astrophysicists, and astronomers dedicated to the study of space. The statement that this image shows ""space is "" is  and . That’s our definition for ! RELATED:    The James Webb Space Telescope and the images it has taken are real RELATED:  Fact-checking the ‘hollow earth’ conspiracy theory"
7449,5,The Pink Pony club in DeKalb County has never been cited for any violation of an ordinance or state law.,"May 13, 2013",legal issues,pink pony,The Pink Pony is an adult entertainment club located in the city of Brookhaven. It opened in 1991.,georgia,1,0,1,0,0,0,an interview,"The Georgia Bureau of Investigation looked under the Pink Pony, Trop Inc. and owner Dennis Williams and could not find anything related to the DeKalb County business. Again, we were focused on examining the  that the club ownership -- not individual dancers or staff -- has not violated any laws or ordinances. Nothing to see here, it seems. No agency could find any record of a violation. We rate this statement ."
6084,3,"Says Joe Garcia ""voted to raise our utility rates.","July 18, 2012",candidate biography;energy;government regulation;voting record,gloria romero roses,Gloria Romero Roses is a Democrat running in the Congressional District 26 primary in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties in Florida.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,a mailer,"Romero Roses said Joe Garcia ""voted to raise our utility rates."" He did take votes in favor of utility rate increases while serving on the Public Service Commission between 1994 and 2000. The role of commissioners is to review rate increases and determine if they are warranted and if so grant them. But Garcia’s tenure on the commission can’t be boiled down into a simple sentence. Some of those increases contain caveats -- for example, they were limited to only part of the state or to certain customers. Garcia also voted in favor of a $1 billion settlement for consumers who used FPL. Whether all of Garcia’s votes for increases or decreases add up to on average less or more for a consumer could vary depending on where that consumer lived at the time. We rate this  ."
18796,1,"Deep RED cities are not boarding up"" and the National Guard is ""not being called in, in case Biden wins.","November 2, 2020",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,an image,"In Texas, National Guard troops could be sent to cities like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, according to the Military Times.   The Instagram post is . We rate it . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
10021,4,"The average person only pays about $1,800 in state taxes — which is the lowest of all 50 states.","March 3, 2015",taxes,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,the Florida State of the State address,"Scott said, ""The average person only pays about $1,800 in state taxes — which is the lowest of all 50 states."" That’s not exactly what the average person pays in taxes; it’s actually the state taxes collected per capita, which factors in children and other residents who pay little to nothing in taxes. That’s not necessarily the impression you would get from Scott’s statement. Still, according to two credible analyses, that number was the lowest in the country in 2013, the last year of available data. Other breakdowns put Florida among four states with the lowest tax burden per capita. We rate Scott’s statement ."
3988,3,"This past (legislative) session, we passed out of the Legislature a resolution requiring Congress to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the (U.S.) Constitution.","July 19, 2011",deficit;federal budget,david dewhurst,"David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.",texas,4,5,10,8,8,5,a campaign video,"In February, after the Texas Senate passed a different version of the call for a balanced-budget amendment, Dewhurst issued a statement characterizing the resolution as urging prompt action, noting that it takes ratification by three-fourths of the states for a constitutional amendment to stick. In contrast, Dewhurst’s campaign video leaves the misimpression Congress can, by itself, change the Constitution. It also misrepresents the Texas resolution by saying it ""requires"" Congress to affix the balanced-budget amendment. But the spirit of his message — that Texas legislators are aboard with the constitutional change — is accurate. We rate his statement ."
16471,2,"The difference between what I support and what you support, Vice President Biden, is that you require them to opt in (to a Medicare public option), and I would not require them to opt in. … They would automatically be enrolled. That's a big difference. … Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?","September 12, 2019",health care,julián castro,"Julián Castro is a former U.S. secretary of Housing & Urban Development. He was the youngest member of Barack Obama’s cabinet, serving from 2014 to 2017. Just before he became secretary of HUD, he was the mayor of San Antonio, elected in 2009. Castro received a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out on Jan. 2, 2020.",national,6,6,5,1,1,0,a Democratic presidential debate,"Castro said, ""The difference between what I support and what you support, Vice President Biden, is that you require them to opt in (to a Medicare public option), and I would not require them to opt in. … They would automatically be enrolled. That’s a big difference."" He also suggested Biden was contradicting what he’d said moments before. Castro’s plan is an opt-out plan while Biden’s is an opt-in plan, but the differences between those are much less than Castro suggests. Biden’s plan would guarantee Americans who are in need access to Medicare coverage, just like Castro’s would. The differences would likely amount to the nature or timing of paperwork, rather than being significant barriers to access. Castro used this questionable distinction to charge that Biden had said opposing things within two minutes, but that’s an exaggeration at best.  The statement has an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
8017,3,"In 1929, the Secretary of State shut down a program that was ""collecting information to protect America"" because it was ""unseemly,"" but that move led to ""millions and millions"" of deaths in World War II.","November 3, 2013",history;foreign policy,mike rogers,"Mike Rogers is a Republican from Michigan who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015, including a stint as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. A former FBI special agent, he is now a national security commentator for CNN.",national,1,2,1,1,1,1,"an interview on CBS' ""Face the Nation""","Rogers said that in 1929, the Secretary of State shut down a program that was ""collecting information to protect America"" because it was ""unseemly,"" but that move led to ""millions and millions"" of deaths in World War II. He is generally correct in his description of that year’s shuttering of a pioneering codebreaking project called the Black Chamber, but historians dismiss any suggestion that the program led inexorably to the onset of World War II. At best, they say, that notion is greatly exaggerated. We rate Rogers’ statement ."
14306,2,"I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!","February 20, 2018",foreign policy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said, ""I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total  News!"" There’s broad agreement that on election meddling, Obama’s actions — while arguably insufficient to the threat at hand — were stronger than Trump’s. On a broader geopolitical level, there has been a significant degree of consistency between the Obama and Trump administrations in actual U.S. policy, and even a few examples where Trump has gone further than Obama did. That said, Trump’s own record of Russia- and Putin-friendly comments have sent contrary messages about U.S. policy toward Russia. We rate Trump’s statement ."
17003,0,Says drinking a bleach solution will prevent you from getting the coronavirus.,"January 28, 2020",consumer safety;fake news;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"""The FDA is not aware of any scientific  supporting the safety or effectiveness of MMS products, despite claims that the solution is an antimicrobial, antiviral and antibacterial. The FDA encourages consumers to talk to a health care professional about treating medical conditions or diseases."" Our ruling  Backers of the QAnon conspiracy are recommending drinking a bleach solution to ward off the deadly 2019 Novel coronavirus. While the MMS solution has been touted by fringe groups as a ""miracle cure"" for a number of ailments, officials have repeatedly warned consumers against ingesting it, saying that doing so could cause severe vomiting, diarrhea and acute liver failure. This alarming theory is full-on !"
14236,5,New York consistently ranks as one of the worst voting turnout states in the nation.,"January 23, 2018",elections,andrea stewart-cousins,Andrea Stewart-Cousins is the Democratic Leader in the New York State Senate. She represents parts of Westchester County.,new york,2,0,0,0,0,0,a press conference,"Stewart-Cousins said ""New York consistently ranks as one of the worst voting turnout states in the nation."" Voter turnout rates reported by the U.S. Census Bureau and McDonald confirm that . New York state has ranked near the bottom of states for voter turnout in most elections over the last few decades. We rate her  ."
20775,1,"When a person cries, if the first drop of the tears come from the right eye, it's happiness. But when it comes from the left eye, it's pain.","January 13, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""Short answer: No. Long answer: Not . ""  Every time you blink, according to the National Eye Institute , a thin layer of tears called ""tear film"" covers your cornea. Tears come from glands above the eyes, then drain into the tear ducts — small holes in the inner corner of the eyes. But they don’t play favorites.   We rate this post ."
3770,4,Creating 25 jobs in Umatilla County has the same impact as 500 jobs in the metro region.,"April 19, 2011",economy;jobs,john kitzhaber,"John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, was governor of Oregon for two terms, starting in 1995. He was inaugurated in 2011 for an unprecedented third term.
He was elected to the Oregon Legislature in 1978, rising to the position of Senate President. He spearheaded the Oregon Health Plan as a legislator and as governor. Kitzhaber graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Oregon Medical School (now Oregon Health & Science University). He worked as an emergency room physician in Roseburg from 1974 to 1988.",oregon,4,4,4,1,1,0,a press release,"That makes sense to us. Once it’s clear the governor is talking about local impact, his statistics hold up -- they’re even understated. But, without that clarity you might hear that statement and think that 25 jobs in Umatilla had the same impact for the state as a whole as 750 in Portland, which just isn’t the case. So, we’ll give the governor a  here -- the statement is accurate but needs some clarification. Comment on this item."
42,3,"When NAFTA was passed, there was an acceleration of immigration from Mexico because people were
in search of jobs.","September 9, 2007",immigration,dennis kucinich,"Dennis Kucinich is running in the Democratic primary for governor of Ohio in 2018. Kucinich was elected to Congress in 1996. He previously served as a member of the city council and as mayor in Cleveland, the city where he was born in 1946. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Case Western University. He has been married since 2005 to Elizabeth Harper. He was married twice before and has one child. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 25, 2008.",national,12,6,5,1,4,0,"Miami, Fla","Emigration was already high before 1994, especially due to people fleeing the wars in Central America in the 1980s. Poverty, coupled with natural disasters (Hurricane Mitch in Honduras in 1998 and an earthquake in El Salvador in 2001) continues to draw large numbers of migrants from Central America. In fact, immigration patterns were not substantially affected by NAFTA, according to a February 2004 report by the Congressional Research Service. The report found that while legal and unauthorized worker migration from Mexico to the United States did accelerate after NAFTA was implemented in 1994, the trade agreement was ""largely irrelevant."" It found that workers were drawn to the United States by Mexico's inability to provide jobs for a burgeoning work force, as well as periodic financial crises that caused huge job losses and undermined confidence in the Mexican economy."
20219,4,"The average hospital stay for a case of COVID-19 costs about $17,064. The vaccine is free.","August 30, 2021",health care;public health;coronavirus,pramila jayapal,Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal serves in Congress representing Washington’s 7th District.,,0,2,0,0,0,0,an Instagram post,"The vaccine is free."" It’s difficult to determine an average cost for a hospital stay for COVID-19. Many individual factors can cause estimates to swing widely. But Jayapal’s figure is in line with several credible estimates, and to her bigger point, the vaccine is much cheaper. We rate her statement ."
18098,0,"Photos show Portland, Ore., after protests.","July 29, 2020",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",oregon,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"One of the photos of cars is from August 2019, when a fire in Portland destroyed a townhouse, a gym and dozens of vehicles.   The second car photo , taken by AP photographer Julio Cortez, is from May 30 and shows a parking lot filled with scorched vehicles in Minneapolis ""after a night of fires and looting"" after the death of George Floyd, according to the caption .   The third photo shows the aftermath of a natural gas explosion near a construction site in Portland in October 2016. The fourth and fifth photos are also from after that explosion.   We rate this post ."
22136,1,"Suggests fentanyl, not Derek Chauvin, killed George Floyd","October 16, 2022",criminal justice;race and ethnicity;pop culture,kanye west,Kanye West is an award-winning rapper/producer.,,0,0,1,1,1,1,an interview,"The lawyer for Floyd’s family said  Oct. 16 that the family would sue West for his comments. The mother of Floyd’s daughter also filed to sue West for $250 million for ""harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress."" Floyd’s brother is also considering a lawsuit. West suggested that fentanyl, not Chauvin, killed Floyd. We rate that  . "
22818,1,DO Black credit card is part of a government plot to control people's lives.,"February 26, 2023",climate change;economy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"A video shared on Facebook claimed a credit card Mastercard released was part of a government plot to control people’s lives.  The post cited baseless conspiracy theories related to the World Economic Forum, claiming the organization under its ""Great Reset"" initiative from 2020 wants to reshape the world under a single, totalitarian government.  The DO Black card, introduced in 2019, limited people’s spending based on the carbon emissions from their purchases. The card aimed to make people more aware of their purchases’ environmental impact.  The Doconomy CEO told PolitiFact using the card was voluntary and didn’t restrict people’s lives.  The card was discontinued in 2022.   We rate this  ."
13307,4,Trump's Cabinet is more white and more male than any first Cabinet since President Ronald Reagan's.,"April 25, 2017",history,center for american progress,The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. ,national,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"In a tweet, American Progress said, ""Trump's Cabinet is more white and more male than any first Cabinet since President Ronald Reagan’s."" That  is based on a credible New York Times analysis that found that Trump’s first cabinet had a smaller percentage of women and nonwhites combined than any president since Reagan. When you look at each demographic separately, however, George H.W. Bush has the most male cabinet. With that in mind, we rate this  ."
8670,5,"Women in Oregon are paid 79 cents for every dollar paid to men. If the wage gap was eliminated, a working woman in Oregon would have enough money for 2,877 gallons of gas, 72 more weeks of food for her family or nearly 12 more months of rent.","April 8, 2014",economy;families;income,national partnership for women & families,"The National Partnership for Women & Families is a non-profit, non-partisan organization ""promoting fairness in the workplace, reproductive health and rights, access to affordable health care and policies that help women and men meet the dual standards of work and family.""",oregon,1,0,0,0,0,0,a news release,"That compares with the $139.10 per week for the 72 weeks in the group’s pay-gap . Our Ruling A national advocacy group, in spotlighting Equal Pay Day, claimed that a pay gap between men and women exists in Oregon. PolitiFact Oregon has looked at the gap before and found that it’s real, but we took the next step by fact-checking the group’s  that the gap is big enough to pay for 2,877 gallons of gasoline, 72 months of food or nearly 12 months of rent. All three elements of the  checked out -- or were very close -- according to independent sources. We rate the  ."
12137,0,"Nobody covered"" the remarks of Patricia Smith, the mother of a Benghazi victim, ""live, but almost everybody covered Khizr Khan's, Mr. Khan's remarks live.","August 1, 2016",pundits;punditfact,brian kilmeade,"Brian Kilmeade serves as co-host of FOX News Channel’s live morning news program, “Fox & Friends,""  the No. 1 cable morning program. Immediately after “Fox & Friends”, Kilmeade hosts “Kilmeade and Friends,” a nationally syndicated three hour radio show on FOX News Radio. Additionally, he is the network’s sports reporter covering breaking national sports stories and major sporting events.",,0,0,0,0,3,1,on Fox and Friends,"Kilmeade said ""nobody"" aired Patricia Smith’s remarks live, but ""almost everybody"" covered Khan’s remarks live. CNN, MSNBC and C-SPAN  covered both speeches live. Coincidentally, Fox News — of which Kilmeade is an employee — covered neither live. Point being: the speeches were covered the same. Kilmeade’s statement rates . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/fb15c5db-ef84-4542-8265-735674c9eaf5"
16499,2,"There are 1,600 new coal-fired power plants being constructed as I speak around the world.","September 4, 2019",energy,cecil roberts,"Cecil Edward Roberts, Jr., is a sixth-generation coal miner who has served as president of the United Mine Workers of America since 1995.",west virginia,0,0,0,1,0,0,a speech,"Roberts said, ""There are 1,600 new coal-fired power plants being constructed as I speak around the world."" A New York Times article from more than two years ago cited the 1,600 figure, but even then it described units being ""planned or under construction"" -- not strictly under construction.  In addition, those numbers appear to have shrunk in the succeeding two years. Using the same website as the Times used, there are 458 coal-fired units being built worldwide today, and 903 if you include those in the pre-permitting or permit phase -- significantly less than what Roberts indicated.  We rate his statement ."
3777,5,A couple of hundred American cities are infested by members of the Mexican cartels.,"June 7, 2011",drugs;homeland security;crime,michael cutler,"Cutler spent 30 years with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (most of them as a criminal investigator) and is a fellow with Californians for Population Stabilization, which wants to limit both legal and illegal immigration in that state.",rhode island,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an appearance on the ""Helen Glover ShowV","Prosecutors said kidnapping and beating was used to drive competitors out of the region. To sum up, Cutler said that ""a couple of hundred [U.S.] cities are infested by the Mexican cartels,"" a 2008 Justice Department report said the cartels either run drug distribution sites or supply illegal drugs for distribution in 230 cities, and the latest report said the influence of those cartels have only grown. We rate his statement  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
5657,1,"An ""Obamacare slush fund"" paid to spay and neuter dogs and cats, then counted it as an ""anti-obesity campaign.","May 14, 2012",animals;corrections and updates;health care;stimulus,allen west,"Allen West announced in July 2021 that he is running for the Republican primary for Texas governor. He served for about a year as chairman of the Texas Republican Party, stepping down in June 2021. West represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013. Lieutenant Colonel West retired from the Army in 2004 after 22 years of service.",florida,3,1,3,6,10,4,a newsletter,"West said in a May 14 newsletter that among examples of ""absurdity"" in our country was this: ""ObamaCare Slush Fund Money Being Use To Spay Stray Dogs And Cats – Counts As An Anti-Obesity Campaign."" Publicity information, news coverage and even the federal government’s own website about the stimulus did suggest that taxpayers paid for pets to get spayed or neutered as part of an effort to help people exercise outdoors free from the threat of stray dogs. There is a connection between the federal money and the clinics. A program specialist whose salary was paid for through the grant promoted the clinics, and the grant-funded animal control officers were on hand at the clinics. But it’s not accurate to say that the money was used to spay or neuter the animals. And the money did not come from an ""Obamacare slush fund"" -- it wasn't part of the health care law. Calling it a ""slush fund"" could lead readers to view it as a secretive stash of money, when in reality Congress approved the stimulus act that included money for community-based prevention. Information about the communities that got the grant is publicly available online. Finally, by the time West made his , The Hill and Congressional Quarterly had both reported that the initial claims were . In fact, PetSmart Charities gave the humane association $35,000 to pay for pet neutering and spaying. We rate this  ."
6389,2,Bob Menendez actually voted in favor of higher taxes more than 70 times!,"August 29, 2012",taxes,joseph kyrillos,"Joseph Kyrillos, Jr. is a Republican state senator representing part of Monmouth County. The former chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee, Kyrillos is running in the November 2012 general election for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democrat Robert Menendez.",new jersey,0,2,2,3,3,1,an online news release,"The Kyrillos campaign claims in a news release that ""Bob Menendez actually voted in favor of higher taxes more than 70 times!"" More than half of the votes cited by the Kyrillos campaign have no effect on tax law or are procedural matters. There also are Menendez votes that give or extend tax breaks to the middle class at the expense of the wealthy and corporations – but federal budget experts have said that a tax break for one group isn’t the same as a tax increase for another. Menendez did vote in favor of bills that would mean higher taxes, so there’s an element of  to the . But since so many of the bills would have no effect on tax law or policy, that’s a critical fact that would give a different impression – and that meets the definition for . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
4759,1,"Says it cost Massachusetts taxpayers $100,000 when Mitt Romney and his staff purchased computer hard drives.","December 6, 2011",message machine 2012;new hampshire 2012,democratic national committee,The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats.,new hampshire,7,8,12,9,2,0,a Democratic Natonal Committee advertisement,": The total difference between the original lease and the second computer contract signed by the Romney administration was about $97,000, close to the $100,000 mentioned in the DNC ad. But this is not an apples to apples comparison. Rather, the total difference in cost passed on to taxpayers during the term of the first lease was about $49,000 -- not quite half of the DNC total. Further, administration officials had already been looking into a new computer lease when the aides purchased the hard drives, so the lease costs are not a direct result of the sale of the hard drives, as the DNC alleges. We rate the  ."
13956,1,Says diversity visa immigrants are not vetted.,"November 1, 2017",immigration;homeland security,sarah huckabee sanders,"Sarah Huckabee Sanders became the governor of Arkansas in January 2023. She worked as White House press secretary 2017-2019. The daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, she was a surrogate for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.",national,0,1,0,0,4,1,a White House press briefing,"Sanders said diversity visa immigrants are not vetted. There are concerns about potential vulnerabilities related to the admission of diversity visa immigrants, and there are difficulties in verifying documents of individuals from certain countries. But vetting mechanisms exist, including additional in-depth review of applicants who need additional scrutiny. Not all who are awarded the lottery end up getting a visa, but individuals who do make it to the visa application process must undergo background checks and security screenings. We rate Sanders’  ."
799,4,"The race will tighten, just because that's what happens at the end of campaigns. They always have.","October 19, 2008",elections,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a TV interview,"(Gore briefly polled better than Bush in 2000, but that was for just one out of the last 21 days. Similarly, Carter polled better than Reagan in 1980, but for only three out of the last 21 days.) But we're not in the prediction business, we're in the fact business. And the fact is, 14 out of the last 16 elections have tightened in the final few weeks of the campaign. So Obama's  that elections tighten at the end is .  "
12889,1,"Americans don't ""care at all"" about Donald Trump's tax returns.","January 11, 2017",candidate biography;polls and public opinion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a press conference,"Trump said Americans don't ""care at all"" about his tax returns. Several polls, including one released the day before his latest press conference, show that a sizable portion of the public does think Trump’s tax returns are an important issue. These polls word their questions differently, but most results showed a majority of Americans believed the issue was relevant, undermining Trump’s assertion that only the media wants to explore the issue. We rate Trump’s statement ."
9311,1,"At ""least a quarter of those apprehended"" at the border ""have criminal records.","July 21, 2014",immigration;crime,david dewhurst,"David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.",texas,4,5,10,8,8,5,a news story,"Dewhurst said at ""least a quarter of those apprehended"" at the border ""have criminal records."" Dewhurst’s described basis for this statement was a methodologically unsound mash-up fueled by the U.S. criminal histories of deported immigrants. In reality, less than 5 percent of people apprehended by the Border Patrol near the U.S.-Mexico border from October 2012 through June 2014 had a U.S. criminal conviction or immigration violation. Public data on home-country criminal records don't appear to be available. We rate this statement .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
2,1,For every single scientist that tells you (global warming is) happening and that it's our fault...I can stack up another group of reports that say just the opposite.,"May 15, 2007",environment;climate change,tom tancredo,"Tom Tancredo is a former congressman from Colorado who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. In 2010, Tancredo ran for governor of Colorado as a member of the Constitution Party and placed second to Democrat and then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.",national,0,1,1,2,4,0,"Columbia, S.C","Their February 2007 report said warming was ""unequivocal"" and that most of it has been caused by greenhouse gas concentrations caused by humans. The report said that humans have caused a significant increase in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide since 1750. Yes, there have been dissenting studies over the years about global warming. But the IPCC is an effort to forge an international consensus. It has included more than 2,500 expert reviewers, more than 800 authors and more than 450 lead authors working for the past six years."
4983,3,"Says with ""Gov. Chris Christie and bipartisan reformers"" New Jersey had ""the most job growth in 11 years.","January 25, 2012",jobs,committee for our children's future,"Committee for Our Children's Future, a nonprofit group known as a 501(c)4, launched a television campaign in September 2011 to tout the reform efforts of Gov. Chris Christie.",new jersey,0,1,2,0,0,0,a video ad posted on YouTube,"A group that supports the governor  released a video ad that said with Christie and bipartisan reformers, New Jersey had ""the most job growth in 11 years."" The state gained more jobs overall last year than in seven years -- not 11 years. In 2004, the state added 37,700 jobs. In 2011, we added 36,400 jobs. Public-sector growth boosted job gains in 2004, while last year the state added jobs despite a decrease in government employment    . The ad doesn’t make a distinction in the types of jobs gained, but a spokesman said it was referring to private-sector employment. Last year, New Jersey had the most private-sector job growth in 11 years. Overall, we rate this statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
2677,0,"Small businesses that have ""$250,000 in gross sales for the business. They're the ones that are looking at massive tax increases.","November 16, 2010",small business;taxes,michele bachmann,"Michele Bachmann, first elected to the U.S. Congress in 2006, represents the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota. She was reelected in 2008. Previously, she served in the Minnesota State Senate. Prior to that, she spent five years as a federal tax litigation attorney. Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, who have five children and have opened their home to 23 foster children, live in Stillwater, Minn., and own a mental health care practice.",national,5,4,6,8,23,16,"an interview on ""Good Morning America.""","Good Morning America posted a note on its website after Bachmann's appearance, noting that her statement was . We asked her spokesperson for a comment but didn't hear back. The proposed increases have been discussed many times and for several years. Her misstatement of the facts on Good Morning America seems designed to scare small business owners into thinking they're in line for a tax increase, even if their income is modest. For distorting the tax proposals to a  extent, we rate her statement .  "
3903,1,Says legislative debate of airport pat-down procedures initiated federal changes in security procedures.,"June 29, 2011",homeland security;transportation,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,a press release,"But as we’ve said before, we do believe that making it a legislative issue in the midst of Americans’ escalating frustration toward TSA’s invasive pat-down searches played a role in the agency’s decision to finally take action, and make changes to its policy that are a step in the right direction."" It’s reasonable to say the debate in Austin brought even more attention to pat-downs. But the TSA was already catching flack for the procedures two months before the Legislature convened. And we found no  the Texas debate initiated, as Perry puts it, the administration’s policy change. We rate Perry’s statement ."
20984,1,"President John F. Kennedy ""was planning to end the Federal Reserve.","February 6, 2022",economy;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said Kennedy ""was planning to end the Federal Reserve."" Experts said that there is no  to support this . The Congressional Research Service, more than 30 years after Kennedy’s death, said that an executive order that proponents of this  hold up as  actually does the opposite of what they suggest.  Kennedy’s pre-election speeches also indicate he did not intend to eliminate the central bank. We rate this  . "
9994,5,Georgia's share of money from the Federal Highway Trust Fund declined 12 percent between 2008 and 2013.,"February 21, 2015",state budget;transportation,the associated press,"The Associated Press, major news organization.",georgia,2,0,0,0,0,0,a newspaper article,"Overall, in that period, Georgia’s funding through the trust fund increased at a steady clip -- about 34 percent. Our ruling. The money Georgia receives from the Federal Highway Trust Fund fell by more than 12 percent in 2008 through 2013. State and federal data we reviewed backs up that finding by The Associated Press. We rate the statement .  "
22049,0,Hurricane Ian was orchestrated as part of a pandemic-related conspiracy to devastate Floridians.,"September 29, 2022",weather;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"""Ninety percent of all hurricane deaths are the result of storm surge. ""   The notion that this hurricane — or any hurricane — was engineered by humans as some sort of political punishment appears to be spreading among adherents of QAnon, a baseless conspiracy theory that promotes the idea that the world is run by a cabal of pedophiles that include high-profile Democrats and celebrities and that former President Donald Trump is working with military leaders to quash it. Hurricanes are natural disasters, not man-controlled. This  is !"
12547,4,"Says Colorado congressional candidate Morgan Carroll ""voted to allow welfare recipients to use your tax dollars at ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries.","October 11, 2016",welfare;marijuana,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,colorado,4,5,9,20,14,9,a TV ad,"NRCC says, ""Carroll voted to allow welfare recipients to use your tax dollars at ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries."" There's slightly more to this than the NRCC lets on: Carroll voted, unsuccessfully, to allow welfare recipients to continue withdrawing money from ATMs at strip clubs and pot dispensaries.  Carroll’s spokesman said the senator voted against the bill that prohibited people from using public benefit cards for cash withdrawals at strip clubs and marijuana dispensaries because she was concerned about the impact on residents of poor neighborhoods where there are few -- if any -- banking services. State officials and lawmakers warned that Colorado could face financial sanctions for failing to comply with federal prohibitions against the use of benefit cards at adult entertainment venues. With that additional information in mind, we rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/db00eb39-eb87-464b-92df-ce08bfbe0d45"
20491,2,Greenland's ice sheet isn't shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago.,"October 26, 2021",climate change,steven koonin,Steven Koonin is a physicist and director of the Center for Urban Science and Progress at New York University.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,an Instagram video,"Koonin said that ""Greenland's ice sheet isn't shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago."" Koonin relied on a study that had data through 2010. Experts agree that a period of warmer temperatures caused a large loss of ice in the 1930s. But the most recent data shows a period of steeper and longer lasting declines in the Greenland ice sheet between 2010 and 2020 than in the period 80 years ago. There is uncertainty in the data, but Koonin’s numbers are incomplete and obscure the scale of recent ice losses. We rate this  ."
5256,3,"Despite President Barack Obama's promise to cut healthcare costs, ""the average cost of a family policy is up $1,300.","March 19, 2012",health care;message machine 2012,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,a campaign ad,"The RNC ad uses a legitimate figure, though its meaning can’t be fully understood without additional context. Families aren’t shelling out $1,300 more for health coverage this year; they are paying $132 more, with their employers picking up the rest, a financial burden that may, or may not, be passed on indirectly to the employee. Meanwhile, uncertainty remains about why premiums have risen in the past year. Given that some provisions of Obama’s health care law are already in effect, such as the requirement that health plans include children to age 26, the law has probably had some impact. However, premiums were already on an upward track well before the law was passed. On balance, we rate the  ."
501,4,McCain lobbied for (a) $10-million pork project honoring conservative justice.,"June 12, 2008",federal budget,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a campaign e-mail to reporters,"But another important aspect of a pork project is its parochial nature. Pork projects are typically only of interest to people in a particular region, and those people, pork-busters like McCain usually argue, should be the ones to pay for it. The latter is what's at stake in the request for $10-million for an academic center at the University of Arizona, even if it is named after the late U.S. chief justice. For a purist on spending like McCain, it's hard to argue this wasn't a parochial, pork-barrel project. As a result, we find Obama's charge ."
19784,1,Businesses cannot legally ask for proof of vaccination and cannot deny entry based on vaccination status.,"May 19, 2021",constitutional amendments;public health;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",california,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post on Instagram,"An image posted on Instagram and Twitter claimed that it is illegal for businesses to ask for proof of vaccination or deny entry to customers based on their vaccination status. Furthermore, the image alleged that business owners or employees who ""violated your rights"" could be held liable under a section of federal law that addresses deprivation of rights, which could result in life imprisonment or the death penalty. Legal experts say businesses are allowed to ask for proof of vaccination from customers. In some states, certain businesses are required to ask about vaccination status under current reopening guidelines.  Additionally, businesses can generally deny entry to unvaccinated customers, provided they offer reasonable accommodations for people who might be unable to receive a vaccine because of a disability, a medical condition or their religious beliefs. Experts say a reasonable accommodation does not necessarily mean the individual would be able to walk into the business or access their services in person. Experts also say that the law cited as punishment applies to public officials, not private businesses. No business owner or employee who asks a customer for proof of vaccination would be imprisoned for life or face the death penalty. Therefore, we rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate."
10529,0,President Barack Obama met with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.,"July 22, 2015",foreign policy;military;nuclear;terrorism,restoration pac,Suburan Chicago-based Restoration PAC is a super PAC that was formed in January 2015.,wisconsin,0,0,0,3,0,2,a TV ad,"In a statement, Curry criticized BuzzFeed as ""not able to provide any proof that the photo was "" and noted the photo ""is in circulation widely on the internet, posted on dozens of websites. There also are no articles directly claiming the image is . However, out of an abundance of caution, we are replacing the image with side-by-side Obama and Rouhani photos that makes exactly the same point."" Editor's note II: When posted, this item included a link to a video of the ad in question. The group has now taken it down, so we have removed the link."
19108,1,"Says Joe Biden is on video ""admitting to"" election fraud in a ""confession.","January 11, 2021",elections;pundits;punditfact,greg kelly,"Greg Kelly is the host of “Greg Kelly Reports” on Newsmax TV. He also hosts ""The Greg Kelly Podcast.""",,0,0,0,0,2,0,a TV segment,"Kelly said that Biden is on video ""admitting to"" election fraud in a ""confession."" That’s . The full-context video shows Biden was describing an effort to prevent voter suppression and help people vote when he misspoke.  We rate Kelly’s statement ."
22537,3,"Classified documents can never be taken out of a (sensitive compartmented information facility), ever.","January 22, 2023",congress,brian fitzpatrick,"U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican from Pennsylvania's Bucks County ",national,0,0,2,1,0,0,an interview on Fox News Sunday,"Fitzpatrick said, ""Classified documents can never be taken out of a (sensitive compartmented information facility), ever."" This is exaggerated. SCIFs must be used when documents with the highest-level classifications have to be reviewed. But even the most highly classified documents can be taken out of a SCIF, as long as specific precautions are taken that ensure similar levels of security.  In addition, it’s not required that documents with lower levels of classifications be viewed in a SCIF in the first place.  Fitzpatrick’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . RELATED : Trump is ; Biden did have the right to declassify records as VP RELATED : Read the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, what agents took"
22034,1,"The true meaning of Hurricane,"" or Her-ricane, is the spirit of ""the African woman who has been stolen.","September 28, 2022",environment;race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The syllable ""her"" isn't in the word’s actual derivation. However, Zimmer told PolitiFact that the Taino word does relate to a goddess figure.   ""Regardless of the rhetorical point, this shouldn't be taken as a serious etymology,"" Zimmer said. ""The resemblance of the first syllable of 'hurricane' to the English word ‘her’ is coincidental."" We rate the purported etymology ."
22358,1,"The World Health Organization director general confirmed ""some countries are using boosters to kill children.","November 15, 2022",children;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"He then correctly pronounced the same syllable immediately after, with it coming out audibly as ‘cil-children.’"" His comments in the video in the Instagram post, put in context , make clear that he’s not talking about countries killing children with vaccines. Tedros was fielding questions from reporters in Geneva on Dec. 20, 2021, about vaccine inequity around the world. He said that it’s better to vaccinate high-risk people in countries where vaccines haven’t been as accessible, rather than giving booster shots to children in high-income countries.   We rate claims that he was asserting that countries are using vaccine boosters to kill children ."
16249,3,Americans are traveling to Canada to pay 12 times less for insulin than they would here in the US.,"July 8, 2019",health care,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a tweet,"Scott said that Americans go to Canada to pay 12 times less for insulin than they would in the United States. The difference for most people would not be that great, and in reality, it was not that large even for the people Scott had read about. Nevertheless, insulin prices in Canada tend to be many times lower  than in the United States. Scott’s number points in the right direction, but it overshoots. We rate this  ."
3304,4,"Says ""legislation pending in the House would effectively limit or eliminate 'time-and-a-half' for people who work overtime.","March 17, 2011",labor;small business;workers,armond budish,"Rep. Armond Budish, a Democrat from Beachwood, Ohio, formerly was speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. Be became the minority leader in 2011 after Republicans regained control of the House in the 2010 elections.",ohio,2,3,2,0,1,0,The Plain Dealer,"If the same worker won a lawsuit under federal labor laws, he could win his job back and wages covering those that were lost from the point of termination. ""What employer will continue to pay time-and-a-half for each hour of overtime if they can effectively force employees to agree to take comp time at their normal rate of pay?"" Gittes said in his testimony to the House Small Business and Economic Development Committee. So where does Budish’s  rate on the -O-Meter? We rate Budish’s statement as ."
11931,0,"Says Hillary Clinton ""presided over $6 billion lost at the State Department, sold uranium to the Russians through (her) faux charity, illegally deleted public records, and murdered an ambassador.","June 28, 2016",candidate biography,michael cohen,Michael Cohen is a former attorney for Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,a tweet,"Cohen tweeted a meme that says Clinton ""presided over $6 billion lost at the State Department, sold uranium to the Russians through (her) faux charity, illegally deleted public records, and murdered an ambassador."" There are significant problems with each part of the post. During Clinton’s tenure at as secretary of state, the department was reprimanded for shoddy paperwork affecting $6 billion worth of contracts, not ""losing"" the money. The Clinton Foundation did not sell uranium to the Russians. Clinton’s State Department approved Russia’s purchase of a company with uranium assets in the United States but it was one of 11 organizations to do so. There’s no  that she personally advocated for the deal, nor is there  that people related to the company who donated to the Clinton Foundation did so on a quid pro quo basis. Clinton deleted over 30,000 emails off her private email server without government review. Experts say that’s certainly skirting the rules and her email server in general was not allowed. But to say that it was ""illegal"" takes it too far, at least for now. Finally, terrorists murdered the U.S. ambassador. None of the seven probes into the Benghazi attacks held Clinton personally responsible for the ambassador’s death, let alone charge her with murder. This  is outrageous. For the post's egregious claims, we rate it !   https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/889dbb44-ef60-4990-aab4-e3cbb0ffe7a4"
15752,1,"Says Bernie Sanders ""did not mention race or gender until 23 minutes into this speech"" announcing his 2020 presidential run.","March 2, 2019",civil rights;punditfact,zerlina maxwell,Zerlina Maxwell is an MSNBC political analyst and former staffer for the Hillary Clinton campaign.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,a panel discussion,"Maxwell said, Sanders ""did not mention race or gender until 23 minutes into this speech"" announcing his 2020 presidential run. Sanders made reference to race and gender within the first five minutes of his speech. Maxwell has since acknowledged that she overlooked this, and deleted an erroneous tweet. We rate this ."
8910,4,Graduation and third-grade reading scores are up in the state since I took office.,"April 16, 2014",education,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a radio interview,"But it’s clear that longer-term trends are at play here on the shorter time frame Walker cites. Our rating Walker said, ""Graduation and third grade reading scores are up in the state since I took office."" The numbers, in both cases, are up compared with the year before he took office, though the reading scores bounced around some. Some credit may be due prior elected officials, though, because the trend lines haven’t really changed much going back deeper into the pre-Walker era. We rate his statement ."
17275,1,Says Tom Hanks has a volleyball to keep him company while he's quarantined.,"March 12, 2020",pop culture;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"We hate to break it to you, Hanks Nation. The image is from a satirical website called The Betoota Advocate . The story , which includes  information about Hanks and the coronavirus, ends on a cheeky note: ""To keep him company, the thoughtful and overworked staff at the Gold Coast hospital have brought Hanks in a Wilson volleyball to keep him company during the duration of his stay."" The image of Hanks holding a volleyball appears to be edited using this footage of Hanks holding a volleyball someone tossed him at a New York Rangers game in 2015. We rate this Facebook post ."
15717,2,We have record bankruptcies in farming country.,"February 24, 2019",agriculture;bankruptcy;punditfact,heidi heitkamp,"Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, served as a U.S. senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019.",,0,1,2,1,1,0,"a roundtable on ABC's ""This Week""","Heitkamp said, ""We have record bankruptcies in farming country."" In her backyard, the upper Midwest, farm bankruptcies have indeed reached their highest level in at least a decade. But nationally, farm bankruptcies are holding steady, perhaps even falling slightly, and they sit below the levels seen as recently as 2009 to 2012. We rate the statement ."
16532,4,"The United States is ""#1 in oil consumption"" in the world.","August 25, 2019",energy,richard ojeda,"Richard Ojeda, a U.S. Army veteran and Democratic state senator, ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. House seat in West Virginia in 2018. He has announced his interest in pursuing the presidency in 2020.",west virginia,2,1,2,1,0,0,a tweet,"Ojeda said the United States is ""#1 in oil consumption"" in the world. That’s correct for total consumption, but that’s partly because of the United States’ large population. On a per capita basis, the United States ranks third behind Saudi Arabia and Canada. We rate the statement ."
11608,2,"As a U.S. senator with salary and perks, ‪#‎Bernie‬ is in the top 1 percent, but still paid only 13 percent in taxes last year.","April 17, 2016",income;taxes;punditfact,dinesh d'souza,"Dinesh D’Souza is a former policy analyst in the Reagan White House and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He served as the president of The King’s College in New York City from 2010 to 2012 and is the author of numerous books and director several documentary films, including ""2016: Obama's America.""",,0,0,0,1,2,1,a Facebook post,"D’Souza said, ""As a U.S. senator with salary and perks, ‪#‎Bernie‬ is in the top 1 percent, but still paid only 13 percent in taxes last year."" Sanders and his wife made $205,617 in 2014, which is at least $100,000 short of what they would need to make it into the top 1 percent of earners. And it would be near impossible for Sanders to make up the difference with Senate perks, given the stringent rules against gifts. That being said, Sanders’ household income likely lands him in the top 6 percent or higher of earners, so still significantly higher than the average American. About 13 percent of Sanders’ income went to federal taxes; it’s a little higher if we include state taxes. As far as we can tell, though, he paid what was expected of him under current law. D’Souza far overstates Sanders’ earnings, and he makes unprovable accusations about perks that Sanders receives as a senator. We rate his  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/df9c222b-a9be-40de-a846-78066affc802"
20142,2,"A six-month study from Pfizer shows that its vaccine ""reduces severe COVID symptoms/hospitalizations by .1%.","August 4, 2021",health care;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post said a Pfizer study showed that its vaccine ""reduces severe COVID symptoms/hospitalizations by 0.1%.""  That’s not what the study showed, Pfizer and one author of the study said. The study showed the vaccine is 96.7% effective in preventing severe symptoms or hospitalization from COVID-19, compared with a placebo.   The Instagram user said she arrived at her own efficacy number by calculating the absolute risk reduction instead of relative risk reduction. The two metrics measure different things. A representative from Pfizer and the study’s lead author both said the 0.1% figure was incorrectly calculated but did not provide further information. Absolute risk reduction is a valid measure of vaccine efficacy, but the Instagram user used a flawed calculation. We rate this  ."
6008,3,"It's ""typical"" for a presidential candidate to release 10 or 11 years of tax returns.","July 13, 2012",candidate biography;taxes,bill clinton,"Bill Clinton was president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is married to Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.",national,9,12,13,5,2,3,an interview on 'Today',"Clinton said most candidates release about 10 years of tax returns. That's more than the two years of returns Romney has released. Clinton is exaggerating a bit when he puts the ""typical"" number at 10. Over the decades, we found candidates released anywhere from 30 years of tax returns to one year. A majority of the recent candidates we surveyed did not in fact release a full 10 years of tax returns. On the other hand, a majority of recent candidates did release far more than two years of tax returns. So Romney lags behind most of the pack. Clinton’s statement is partially accurate, but it leaves out important details. We rate his statement ."
5849,3,"Says ""our 12 month job increase was the sixth highest in the nation.","July 2, 2012",jobs,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,a speech before the state Legislature,"In a speech Monday during the special session of the state Legislature, Christie claimed ""our 12 month job increase was the sixth highest in the nation."" That’s a very specific , but it’s only  when you look at New Jersey’s net increase of 59,800 total nonfarm jobs between May 2011 and May 2012. The percentage increase of nearly 1.6 percent leaves the state in 13th place. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
3236,1,"A new ruling by the EPA would force dairy farmers to comply with the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Program when dealing with spilt milk -- the same regulations oil and natural gas producers must follow.","February 11, 2011",environment,morgan griffith,"Morgan Griffith, a Republican congressman, represents Virginia's 9th District, which includes much of Southwest and part of Southside Virginia. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2010. He serves on the House's Energy and Commerce Committee, which includes assignments on the Health, Energy and Power, and Oversight and Investigations subcommittees.
He previously served in Virginia's House of Delegates from 1994 to 2011 and was the House Majority Leader beginning in 2000.
Griffith graduated in 1980 from Emory and Henry College, Emory, and obtained a law degree in 1983 from Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington.",virginia,1,0,2,3,2,0,a newsletter,"That’s the exact opposite of what Griffith claims. Sure, Griffith got some of his information from an  editorial in The Wall Street Journal. But a  congressman who is railing against a federal agency has the means to get his facts right. Griffith is dishing udder cow chips. We rate his statement ."
17766,1,"George Floyd's death and the ensuing protests were planned to introduce martial law and ""purge"" the United States.","June 1, 2020",criminal justice;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Floyd could have been a member at a lodge under a different Minnesota jurisdiction, or he could have been a member in another state and never joined a lodge in Minnesota.   Floyd was the latest in a long line of black men who have died in police custody and outrage over his death, and racism in America, have fueled protests across the country in recent days.   The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating Floyd’s death as a possible civil rights violation. The officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.   We rate this Facebook post ."
9392,2,It is true that we know that ISIS is present in Ciudad Juarez (Mexico),"September 12, 2014",immigration;homeland security;iraq;terrorism,trent franks,Trent Franks is a Republican member of the U.S. House representing a district in Arizona.,national,0,0,0,2,1,0,a phone conference,"Franks said, ""It is  that we know that ISIS is present in Ciudad Juarez."" We found that it is highly unlikely that ISIS would operate in Mexico and stage an attack that involves crossing the border. The claims originated in an article with unnamed sources, published by a right-wing outlet. We could not find one law enforcement official or another media outlet that independently verified or corroborated the claims. It’s a far stretch to say ""we know"" with certainty that ISIS is in Juarez, so we rate this  ."
7091,3,"DEP has 2,812 employees, the lowest level since the mid-'80s.","March 2, 2013",environment;climate change;state budget;workers,jeff tittel,Jeff Tittel is the director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club.,new jersey,0,0,1,0,1,1,an op-ed column on NJ.com,"So Tittel is off by 78 workers. It’s worth noting that Christie has the final say on the budget and must approve it by June 30. The new fiscal year starts on July 1. So how is DEP staffing now compared with the mid-1980s? We asked Ragonese for annual DEP staffing levels from 1970 to present, but since Tittel wasn’t more specific than ""the mid-80s,"" we’ll look at years 1983 through 1987 and compare those with more recent years."
3972,5,"Says that U.S. Rep. Allen West is ""a constituent of mine.","July 20, 2011",elections;redistricting,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,florida,6,15,8,7,9,3,an interview on CNN,"West said. We won't answer that. But on the matter at hand, Wasserman Schultz is correct that she can count West as a constituent. And it's okay, according to the U.S. Constitution. We rate this  ."
7210,3,"Says a gun bill before the Senate would make it a federal felony to ""leave town for more than seven days, and leave someone else at home with your firearms.","April 10, 2013",civil rights;criminal justice;crime;guns,arizona citizens defense league,"The Arizona Citizens Defense League advocates for ""restoring and protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.""",national,0,0,1,0,1,0,an email to supporters,"An Arizona group says a gun bill before the Senate would make it a federal felony to ""leave town for more than seven days, and leave someone else at home with your firearms."" Indeed, S. 649, as introduced in the Senate, allows for ""temporary transfers"" of guns in your own home that last less than seven days. But leaving a house-sitter or roommate with access to weapons while you’re away for a longer stretch, attorneys explained to PolitiFact, could raise the possibility of violating federal law under the bill’s provisions. Still, experts told us a gun owner might avoid such a consequence by locking up weapons and denying permission to use them. And it’s not clear courts would interpret mere access as a transfer of possession. The  is just partially accurate. We rate it ."
13011,0,Idaho mother sentenced to prison after multiple citations for breastfeeding in public.,"September 3, 2016",fake news;punditfact,theseattletribune.com,A website associated with posting fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,a headline,"The state reportedly has a higher rate of breastfeeding mothers than any other state. In 2016, Miss Idaho America Christi Van Ravenhorst teamed up with a group called the Idaho Breastfeeding Law Coalition to push for a bill, and mothers staged a ""nurse-in"" on the steps of the state Capitol. The headline on this post, meanwhile, continues to draw the ire of breastfeeding supporters with its  details. We rate it ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3fb86d8d-c282-4528-b43d-fabd03ef658c"
9418,1,"Says President Barack Obama is ""sending a much larger (force) "" to deal with Ebola ""than ISIS is getting.","September 21, 2014",ebola;iraq;foreign policy;military;public health;terrorism;punditfact,brit hume,Brit Hume is a Fox News political analyst.,,0,0,0,1,3,0,"a broadcast of ""Fox News Sunday""","Hume said the president is sending a much larger force to deal with Ebola than ISIS was getting. Hume’s statement only holds water so long as you limit the tally to the additional ground forces assigned to each mission. But that framework ignores the airstrikes, the main tool the president had used against ISIS as of Sept. 21, before the strikes were expanded to ISIS targets in Syria. If ISIS was ""getting"" something, what it got came from forces already in the region, and it seems to make little difference if an ISIS position was destroyed by a soldier newly arrived in the theater or one who had been there a while. At the very least, those strikes relied on carrier-based war planes. According to a former Air Force colonel and the Pentagon, the number of soldiers needed to launch those attacks is larger than the 3,000 troops deployed to fight the Ebola outbreak. We rate the  ."
7068,5,More than 80 percent of Americans believe we need to have universal background checks.,"March 4, 2013",guns,nan orrock,"Nan Orrock, a Democrat, is a Georgia state senator from Atlanta.",georgia,2,0,0,1,0,0,a speech,"PolitiFact concluded more than 80 percent of Americans support universal background checks. Obama’s , though, was rated  because his statement suggested strong support for other proposals by his administration, not just universal background checks. To sum up, the senator said more than 80 percent of Americans support universal background checks on gun purchases. In each recent poll we reviewed, the public support for universal background checks was well above 80 percent. We rate Orrock’s  ."
6474,4,"Says Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton has accepted $42,000 from strip-club interests and $10,000 from local alcohol distributors.","October 7, 2012",campaign finance;criminal justice;crime,raymond frank,Raymond Frank is a former Travis County sheriff and Air Force veteran.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,an advertisement,"Frank says Hamilton has accepted $42,000 from strip-club interests plus $10,000 from local alcohol distributors. His math  holds, though it looks like up to $22,500 of the so-called strip-club total occurred after a donor no longer was shown as having an ownership stake in Sugar’s. Removing these possibly post-ownership donations whittles down the amount Hamilton’s campaign has gotten from such interests. Missing from the , too, is the fact that candidates are not restricted from accepting donations from such interests. We rate the  as ."
7107,5,We have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats.,"March 16, 2013",consumer safety;corrections and updates;government regulation;regulation;states;supreme court;workers,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,a speech at CPAC,"Cruz, railing against modern interpretations of the Commerce Clause and the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, said, ""We have a federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats."" While federal attention to toilet seats has dropped since its brief foray into seat shape in the ‘70s, and now mainly addresses toilet access for workers and height for wheelchair users, Cruz is firmly right that the courts, Congress, and executive agencies  federal power to regulate them. His toilet trivia is . Editor's note: We updated this item on March 26, 2013, to clarify that the U.S. Access Board requires most restrooms in ADA-covered buildings to have at least one accessible toilet."
15865,1,Pritzker and Madigan want to change the constitution to allow a permanent jobs tax on middle class families.,"March 21, 2019",taxes,ideas illinois,"Ideas Illinois is a project of the Coalition for Jobs, Growth and Prosperity, a 501(c)(4) non-profit group that advocates for low taxes.",illinois,0,0,0,0,1,0,an ad,"An ad from the anti-tax organization Ideas Illinois claims Pritzker’s tax plan calls for changing the constitution ""to allow a permanent jobs tax on middle class families."" But Pritzker is proposing an income tax, which is exactly what its name implies: a tax on income, not on jobs. As for permanence, any initial rates set under a graduated tax can be revised up or down, just like the current flat rate has been changed in both directions over the last decade. The only difference is that a rate hike under the flat tax hits all taxpayers, while under a graduated tax it could be engineered to impact only the wealthy. We rate this  .  — The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
2610,4,The Fulton County vote count will be finished by 11:30 p.m. on election night.,"November 2, 2010",elections,barry garner,"Garner is Fulton County's Director of Registration and Elections. He previously worked in Miami-Date County, Florida.",georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a newspaper article,"The only precincts that missed the 11:30 p.m. cutoff kept their doors open late because of high turnout. Garner's promise was that he'd be finished by then if polls closed as scheduled, so it's fair to say he met his goal.    Since workers counted almost all absentee ballots Tuesday night, results from precincts that closed on schedule arrived on time. Tallies appeared on the Web within minutes of deadline, and the department came extremely close to meeting Garner's high expectations. That makes Garner's statement ."
4981,3,We wiped out a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes.,"January 3, 2012",state budget;taxes,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a television ad,"Walker has disputed the characterization of the credit change as a tax increase, saying that decreasing a tax credit is reducing spending, not increasing taxes. But outside experts, including one with the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and another with the Wisconsin Budget Project, told us they considered it a tax increase. And even though the language in Walker’s ad is somewhat different than his 2010 pledge, it still ignores those tax increases in his budget. The bottom line on Walker’s  of eliminating a $3.6 billion deficit without raising taxes: It’s a mixed message. So is ours: ."
4694,2,"Says Mitt Romney belittled middle-class tax cuts ""as nothing more than 'little Band-Aids.'","December 1, 2011",taxes,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,a news release,"Florida Democrats used Romney as an example of a Republican ""willing to raise taxes on middle-class Americans just to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires."" They accused him of ""belittling middle-class tax cuts as nothing more than 'little Band-Aids.'"" But the context of his Oct. 11 debate performance shows he decries not ""middle-class tax cuts,"" but ""a temporary change to the payroll tax"" as part of a stimulus bill. He argued, essentially, for permanently lower tax rates, including for the middle class. Meanwhile, the debate performance stands as an exception to Romney's published support for lowering payroll taxes. Democrats get some credit for accurately pointing out that in the debate, Romney didn't support Obama's effort to extend his payroll tax cut. He did indeed call temporary tax changes ""little Band-Aids."" But they ignore critical context from the debate and Romney's published tax proposals when they declare he belittled ""middle-class tax cuts,"" creating the impression he opposes middle class-tax breaks. We rate the statement ."
17789,1,Photos show cemeteries and war memorials damaged during George Floyd demonstrations.,"June 1, 2020",crime;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The cracked memorial to Murphy, who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2005, was vandalized in July 2018 . A teenage boy was arrested after the stone engraved with Murphy’s image was found smashed at a lake on New York’s Long Island, Stars and Stripes reported at the time.    And, finally, that image of graffiti covering rows of names? It’s a Vietnam memorial in Venice, Calif., that was vandalized in 2016 . We rate these Facebook posts ."
19193,1,"An ""audit report"" found that a voting system used in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election was designed to ""create systemic fraud.","December 15, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",michigan,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An article widely shared on Facebook said an ""audit report"" found that a voting system used in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election was designed to ""create systemic fraud."" The firm that made the fraud allegation, about voting in one Michigan county, provided this and other analyses and affidavits for lawsuits brought by Trump allies, falsely alleging voter fraud and election irregularities.  Michigan’s election director stated under oath that the report ""ascribes motives of fraud and obfuscation to processes that are easily explained as routine election procedures or error corrections."" And an official hand audit of the county’s votes confirmed that Trump won the county, with only slight changes in the vote totals that had already been certified. We rate the statement ."
20020,2,"Ex-AARP members wrote this letter criticizing the ""Biden Regime.","July 18, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""   While much of this letter is the same as the Millers’ version, it is being shared as if it’s a new attack on Biden’s policies. In reality, it was written more than a decade ago, when its authors were frustrated with then-President Barack Obama’s administration.   Biden, of course, served in that administration as vice president, but this message has been edited and altered in the years since to mislead readers into believing it is current. It’s not. We rate this post ."
17328,0,"Says the New York Times exposed the ""real reason behind coronavirus hype: Crash the market to harm Trump's re-election chances.","March 13, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Second, the New York Times article is a political analysis examining how recent events could affect Trump’s re-election chances. It cites as factors  COVID-19’s potential impact on the economy coupled with Joe Biden’s rise as the top presidential Democratic contender. But the story also notes that what’s happening now, in March, may ultimately have little bearing in November.   A report on the potential of a pandemic hurting a president’s re-election bid is not  that a worldwide virus was manufactured. This is !"
1716,4,Sixty-four percent of Americans support the Arizona immigration law.'',"May 27, 2010",immigration;pundits,glenn beck,"Glenn Beck is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show. He also hosts an Internet-based TV show. Beck formerly hosted a television talk show on CNN Headline News and then Fox News.",national,4,2,7,5,8,6,commentary on his television show,"Glenn Beck said on his program that 64 percent of Americans support Arizona's new immigration law. That statistic, however, comes from a single poll. Other polls show slightly lower approval ratings. Still, his underlying point that most Americans agree with Arizona is correct. We rate this one ."
13808,2,"Says Ted Cruz is the ""same senator who once supported a ban on sex toys.","September 12, 2017",candidate biography;sexuality,new york post,The New York Post is a daily newspaper for New York.,texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"The Post ’s tweet called Cruz ""the same senator who once supported a ban on sex toys."" This statement incorrectly suggests that Cruz called for a ban on sex toys while serving in the Senate or otherwise personally held that belief. We find no  to support that contention. In his position as a state lawyer, still, Cruz helped unsuccessfully defend a Texas law barring commercial promotion of sex toys--an action giving this  an element of . We rate the statement .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
22679,1,"Andrew Tate was released from prison and ""proven not guilty.","February 21, 2023",facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"A self-described misogynist, Tate, who has 5.1 million Twitter followers, is under investigation on suspicion of sexual assault and exploitation. Tate’s lawyer has said there is ""no "" against him and that Tate was ""playing a character"" on social media. Something did happen on Feb. 21 but it wasn’t Tate’s release — rather, a court in Bucharest extended his detention by 30 more days.   A judge had previously extended Tate’s custody until Feb. 27.   We rate claims that Tate has been released and proved innocent ."
5003,5,One out of every three automobile fatalities can be attributed to alcohol.,"January 31, 2012",alcohol;drugs,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,a television commercial,"Deal would have been more accurate to say that one out of every three automobile fatalities involves a drunken driver. That said, this is a minor point. Deal’s overall point holds. We won’t dock him on this technicality. He earns a ."
1794,5,"Rick Scott ""has heavily invested in a company that is geared to helping illegal aliens transfer money to family and friends out of the country.","June 15, 2010",immigration,bill mccollum,"Bill McCollum is a former Florida Attorney General. He campaigned to be governor and was defeated in the Republican primary on Aug. 24, 2010. ",florida,3,0,2,2,1,1,a press release,"Technically, no, but helping a relative keep their cell phone service available is financial help. McCollum's  was that Scott invested in a company that was ""geared to helping illegal aliens transfer money to family and friends out of the country."" Emida’s spokesman and its press releases acknowledge that’s the business the company is pursuing. Even if some of Emida's products are just launching this year, news articles since at least 2003 have described the company as providing ""money transfer"" -- even a press release from the company used that phrase in 2004 -- so it is clearly ""geared to"" that business. We rate this  ."
6964,5,The 12 hottest years on record have come in the last 15 years.,"February 12, 2013",environment,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,the State of the Union Address,"Obama said, ""The 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15."" Data from NASA shows 13 of the hottest years on record have come in the last 15, and by a different data set produced by NOAA, 14 of the hottest years on record have come in the last 15. Obama was actually over-cautious in his statement, so we rate his statement ."
13523,1,"President Trump has signed more bills into law ""than any president previously before at this stage in the game.","June 19, 2017",congress,devin nunes,Devin Nunes is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing a district in California. He serves as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.,california,0,0,2,0,2,0,a radio interview,"California Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, said on Trump’s 150th day in the White House that Trump had signed more bills into law ""than any president previously before at this stage in the game."" Research from GovTrack.us and reporting by news outlets show Trump’s 39 bills signed into law trailed totals by Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Carter and Clinton. It tied him with President George H. W. Bush’s total through this period. The congressman’s  would have been accurate had he cited the correct timeframe (the 100 day mark in office) and context (since President Truman). Instead, he repeated an outdated talking point. We rate Nunes’ statement .    –  The statement is not accurate. Click here for   more   on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
17913,4,"Hays County in Central Texas has seen an ""incredible 845% increase in (COVID-19) cases since June 7.","June 22, 2020",coronavirus,lloyd doggett,Rep. Lloyd Doggett was initially elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.,texas,5,8,4,2,0,0,a tweet,"Doggett said that Hays County had experienced ""an incredible 845% increase in cases since June 7."" Doggett was actually speaking about an increase in the 14-day average of new COVID-19 cases — a less common measurement of the increase in COVID-19 cases in an area — but his figure is accurate.  We rate this  ."
12311,2,"Says ""Hillary Clinton has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, and her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare for illegal immigrants, breaking the federal budget.","August 31, 2016",immigration;children;debt;deficit;economy;families;federal budget;health care;history;homeland security;jobs;legal issues;medicaid;medicare;retirement;social security,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said, ""Hillary Clinton has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, and her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare for illegal immigrants, breaking the federal budget."" She has not pledged to grant amnesty in her first 100 days. She's promised to submit immigration legislation. Her plan doesn't ""provide"" Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare to immigrants. They'll have to pay into the system to get those benefits just like everybody else. In the case of Social Security and Medicare, it would be at least a decade — perhaps several — before they get any benefits. In the case of Obamacare, even if all 11 million undocumented immigrants were so poor they qualified for Medicaid, it would not ""break"" the $4 trillion federal budget. But Clinton has said they would not automatically be eligible for Medicaid or subsidies. Trump has gotten so much  here, we rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3878d3cf-2365-43a5-895f-219cac443911"
17822,1,Hillary Clinton is on trial for Bengazi (sic) this week.,"June 4, 2020",terrorism;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Her lawyers asked the federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to vacate the ruling. According to coverage of the hearing by the National Law Journal , Politico and other news reports: Judicial Watch attorney Ramona Cotca told the court that the group wants to identify all sources where Clinton emails reside, and wants the State Department to do an adequate search for emails. Clinton attorney David Kendall told the court a deposition could be harassing, saying footage of a video deposition could be used by Judicial Watch for political or fundraising needs. We don’t know how the legal maneuvering will turn out, but we do know the  that Clinton is on trial is . We rate the Facebook post .  "
9795,4,"Says that in 2008, President Barack Obama said normalization with Cuba would first require ""liberation of all political prisoners and some basic steps toward freedom, including freedom of the press, political parties, labor unions.","December 18, 2014",human rights;foreign policy,mario diaz-balart,"Mario Diaz-Balart was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 to represent Florida’s 25th Congressional District, which at the time, covered portions of Miami-Dade County, Collier County, and Monroe County. After the 2012 redistricting cycle, he ran for the newly redrawn 25th Congressional District which includes parts of Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier, and Hendry counties.",florida,1,1,0,0,1,0,a press conference,"Diaz-Balart said that in 2008, Obama had said that normalization with Cuba would first require ""liberation of all political prisoners, and some basic steps toward freedom, including freedom of the press, political parties, labor unions."" Obama did suggest such a linkage in 2008, though his phrasing was open to some interpretation. And on other occasions during the 2008 campaign, Obama offered a vaguer formulation for how Cuban relations could be normalized. On those other occasions, Obama said that if he saw unspecified steps toward democratic change in Cuba, he might pursue normalized relations with Cuba. Diaz-Balart’s  glosses over these nuances, so we rate the  ."
5678,2,We came out against Deepwater and everybody is now paying for [the project] in their electric bills.,"May 21, 2012",environment;energy,lisa blais,Lisa Blais is on the board of directors of Ocean State Tea Party in Action.,rhode island,0,0,0,1,0,0,a radio interview,"Lisa Blais of the Ocean State Tea Party In Action said that, in the wake of the state's approval of the Deepwater Wind project, ""everybody is now paying for it in their electric bills."" When we asked for the source of her information, she said she remembered it from the debate over Deepwater, but said she should have referred to the extra cost as something consumers will be facing. ""I would have been more precise if I said now 'we face' paying for it, which was the tenor of my comments on Glover's show,"" she said. If the Deepwater Wind project becomes operational and if prices for purchasing electricity don't change significantly, Blais' statement could become . But most radio listeners would have heard what we did: that we're paying for the project now. In the strictest sense, we're paying less than 3.5 cents a month for some incidental National Grid expenses connected with the project. That's enough to avoid a  on the -O-Meter, but not enough juice to move the needle very far. We rate her statement  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
8314,0,"Forty years ago, hardly anybody in the country had health insurance.","January 23, 2014",health care,louie gohmert,"Louie Gohmert, a U.S. House member since 2005, is a former chief justice of the Texas 12th Court of Appeals and Smith County state district judge. He lives in Tyler.",national,0,0,2,2,7,3,an interview on Fox News,"Gohmert said that ""40 years ago, hardly anybody in the country had health insurance."" Even ignoring the millions of Americans covered in 1974 by Medicare and Medicaid, 80 percent of Americans under age 65 back then had private insurance coverage, and a solid majority of those plans covered routine doctor visits and prescription drugs in addition to hospital care. These numbers are so far off from Gohmert’s  that we rate it ."
18689,3,"Says Donald Trump ""is pushing to slash Medicare benefits.","October 9, 2020",health care;medicare;health check,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a TV campaign ad,"An attack ad by the Biden campaign states that Trump is ""pushing to slash Medicare benefits"" and ties this charge to the administration’s position on the pending legal challenge to the ACA. The Biden campaign pointed to an ACA provision that sought to close the Medicare doughnut hole to support this . It may not be the best example, though, because some experts suggest it may not be as vulnerable as other parts of the law. Experts outlined a range of other Medicare provisions that either provided new benefits or shored up the program’s financial fitness. If the whole law were to be nullified, as the administration has advocated, these changes could also be erased — a step that would affect benefits and potentially cause premiums to rise. But even if the Supreme Court accepts the Republicans’ arguments in this case, it’s not certain that the justices would overturn the entire law. Overall, the Biden ad seems plausible, even though the context linking Trump’s position on the legal challenge and its impact on Medicare benefits is missing from the ad. We rate the statement ."
16795,1,Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election.,"December 8, 2019",elections;impeachment,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,a TV interview,"Our Ruling During a television interview, Cruz said that ""Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election."" Cruz’s  is based on the existence of two social media posts and one op-ed from 2016 written by different Ukrainian officials criticizing Trump. He also highlighted reports about efforts by some Ukranians to discredit Paul Manafort, then Trump’s campaign chairman.   However, multiple intelligence officials said there is no  Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.   We rate this  ."
12591,5,"We have 17 intelligence agencies, civilian and military, who have all concluded that these espionage attacks, these cyberattacks, come from the highest levels of the Kremlin, and they are designed to influence our election.","October 19, 2016",elections;history;homeland security;foreign policy,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,the third 2016 presidential debate,"Clinton said, ""We have 17 intelligence agencies, civilian and military, who have all concluded that these espionage attacks, these cyberattacks, come from the highest levels of the Kremlin, and they are designed to influence our election."" We don’t know how many separate investigations into the attacks they were. But the Director of National Intelligence, which speaks for the country’s 17 federal intelligence agencies, released a joint statement saying the intelligence community at large is confident that Russia is behind recent hacks into political organizations’ emails. The statement sourced the attacks to the highest levels of the Russian government and said they are designed to interfere with the current election. We rate Clinton’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/542ece9a-ae39-433c-8215-4a41906b75c9 The now former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made a comment when speaking before Congress May 8, 2017, that some readers interpreted as going against our findings in this article. Here’s why we disagree with that interpretation. We wrote this article Oct. 19, 2016, responding to an Oct. 7, 2016 , joint statement from Clapper’s former office, which oversees the entire intelligence community, and Homeland Security. Clapper’s May 2017 congressional testimony, on the other hand, was about the much more comprehensive January 2017 report produced by the CIA, FBI and NSA. The process of putting that report together didn’t start until months after we published this article, in December 2016, at which point the intelligence community decided to restrict the investigation to those three agencies. Here’s what Clapper said, according to Congressional Quarterly . (""ICA"" refers to the January 2017 ""intelligence community assessment."") ""Additionally, I'll briefly address four related topics that have emerged since the ICA was produced. Because of both classification and some executive privilege strictures requested by the White House, there are limits to what I can discuss. And of course my direct official knowledge of any of this stopped on 20 January when my term of office was happily over. ""As you know, the (ICA) was a coordinated product from three agencies; CIA, NSA, and the FBI not all 17 components of the intelligence community. Those three under the aegis of my former office. Following an extensive intelligence reporting about many Russian efforts to collect on and influence the outcome of the presidential election, President Obama asked us to do this in early December and have it completed before the end of his term."" The January report presented its findings by saying ""we assess,"" with ""we"" meaning ""an assessment by all three agencies."" The October statement, on the other hand, said ""The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident"" in its assessment. As we noted in the article, the 17 separate agencies did not independently come to this conclusion, but as the head of the intelligence community, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence speaks on behalf of the group. We stand by our rating."
22711,1,Muslims by the millions are converting to Christianity.,"February 20, 2023",religion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"In a separate report from 2018, Pew wrote that Christianity was largest in sub-Saharan Africa, ""largely due to high fertility rates."" It did not mention conversions.   Religious and demographics experts said a lack of reliable data makes it hard to know the  number of religious conversions.   Without clear data to support this  and data showing that Islam is the fastest-growing major world religion, we rate the statement . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report"
16090,1,"How to Survive The Coming Ice Age"" was a Time magazine cover story in 1977.","May 20, 2019",climate change;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""Add in the media-hype cycle — which was  then as it is now — and you have some coverage that turned out . But thanks to the Internet, those stories stay undead, recycled by notorious climate skeptics like George Will. Pay no attention to Photoshop. It’s the science we should heed — and the science says man-made climate change is real and very, very worrying."" We rate this Facebook post as ."
7728,5,"Says U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson voted to let oil and gas companies emit ""unlimited carbon pollution into our air","August 14, 2013",environment;climate change;energy;transportation,league of conservation voters,"The Washington, D.C.-based League of Conservation Voters, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, is “a liberal-leaning organization that raises money primarily in support of environmentally friendly public policy.”",wisconsin,3,1,2,0,0,0,a TV ad,"Chip Knappenberger , assistant director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, told us that as a practical matter, the only way to reduce carbon pollution is to reduce the amount of fossil fuel produced. But he said Johnson's votes do preserve the status quo, which has no limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Our rating The League of Conservation Voters said Johnson voted to let oil and gas companies ""keep spewing unlimited carbon pollution into our air."" Johnson voted twice to prohibit the EPA from regulating any carbon emissions. We rate the statement ."
22058,1,A 1956 video warned about COVID-19.,"October 2, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,""" It was uploaded by RamsesThePigeon, the handle of the video's creator who identified himself to The Associated Press as Max Patrick Schlienger.   The YouTube post makes clear that the footage in the video was used with ""archival and public domain footage,"" and Schlienger told the AP that ""the piece was intended to make a satirical commentary on the anti-science, misinformation-favoring perspectives that were already starting to be spread at the time. ""  In August, as the video started to gain traction again, Schlienger tweeted that he made the video in 2020 and ""it was intended to satirize the very perspectives it’s now being used to support. Misinformation-peddlers cut out all the punchlines. ""  We rate claims that this is an old, authentic PSA warning about a disease like COVID-19 ."
8952,3,"There are 278 Republicans in Congress. (With Eric Cantor's defeat), they are now all Christian and all white except for one black senator, who was appointed.","June 13, 2014",congress;race and ethnicity;religion;punditfact,bill maher,Bill Maher is a comedian and host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. He also works as a comedian and actor.,,1,5,1,0,3,0,"a ""Real Time with Bill Maher"" episode","Without Cantor, Maher said, the GOP in Congress is ""now all Christian and all white except for one black senator, who was appointed."" Maher’s show did not respond to a request for comment. If we learned anything from this fact-check, it is that straightforward sounding claims about religion and race are rarely that straightforward. Still, Maher’s unequivocal statement glosses over some diversity within the GOP’s ranks. On religion, Maher's  comes down to how you view Mormonism. On race, the question is even more murky. There are two members of federally recognized American Indian tribes, which is classified as a race by the U.S. Census Bureau, and there are as many 10 Republicans in the House and Senate with Hispanic roots. Some may consider their race white, Hispanic or something else. Also, Cantor isn’t leaving office until the end of his term in January. It’s possible the November elections will bring non-Christian or non-white Republican members who will take office when Cantor leaves. Maher’s statement is partially accurare but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
14854,2,"Says John Brennan ""was a member of the Communist Party during the Cold War.","July 16, 2018",candidate biography;history,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",florida,2,10,9,13,14,2,an interview on Fox News,"DeSantis said Brennan ""was a member of the Communist Party during the Cold War."" Brennan has openly confirmed voting for a Communist Party candidate for president in 1976. But the DeSantis campaign did not provide  that he was a card-carrying party member, and we did not find any. Voting for a particular candidate in a party does not make the voter a member of that party. Because it contains an element of  but twists facts to give a different impression, we rate this  ."
11956,4,"For 21 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, ""we simply do not have data to say anything about trends in poverty.","June 29, 2016",global news service;economy;foreign policy,morten jerven,"Morten Jerven is associate professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.  In 2013, he wrote ""Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It"", published by Cornell University Press",,0,1,0,0,0,0,an article,"Jerven said that for 21 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa,  ""we simply do not have data to say anything about trends in poverty."" His number comes directly from a careful vetting of poverty surveys by the World Bank. That analysis described in detail the holes in the information needed to track poverty. Jerven pushed his point a bit too far by saying that we can’t say anything about trends. Alternative methods give a reasonably reliable picture of overall trends, even if they can’t tell policy makers what the actual poverty rate might be. But at the end of the day, the consensus among the experts we reached is that the gap Jerven talked about is real and rather than use workaround techniques, everyone would prefer solid data. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/26108662-dcbd-407b-aabe-b10379895175"
15692,3,"Comprehensive immigration reform, the bill we had back in 2013 ... brought the debt down $158 billion.","February 18, 2019",immigration;federal budget,amy klobuchar,"Amy Klobuchar is a senator from Minnesota. Klobuchar was elected as senator in 2006 and re-elected in 2012 and 2018. Klobuchar received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. In 2019, she announced she was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out March 2, 2020.",national,5,9,4,1,1,0,a CNN town hall,"Klobuchar said, ""Comprehensive immigration reform, the bill we had back in 2013 ... brought the debt down $158 billion."" The bill would have brought down projected future deficits by a total of $158 billion over 10 years. But the debt would have still gone up, just at a slower rate than it would have otherwise. We rate the statement ."
8954,4,"Thousands of Westerners and Americans"" are fighting with extremists in eastern Syria and Iraq.","June 15, 2014",homeland security;iraq;islam;military;terrorism,mike rogers,"Mike Rogers is a Republican from Michigan who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015, including a stint as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. A former FBI special agent, he is now a national security commentator for CNN.",national,1,2,1,1,1,1,"an interview on ""Fox News Sunday""","Rogers said there are ""thousands of Westerners and Americans in both the eastern Syria and Iraq who have Western passports"" fighting with extremists. The highest estimates put the figure between 2,000 and 3,000, which would make it technically accurate, but somewhat exaggerated, to say ""thousands."" A March estimate from the U.S. government said there were about 1,000 Westerners in Syria. Only a few dozen of them are from the United States, though, and you might not get that impression from Rogers’ comment. So Rogers may have amplified the numbers a bit, but he did not overstate the threat. Experts we spoke with, along with U.S. and Western governments, have expressed legitimate concerns about this issue. Therefore, we rate Rogers’ statement ."
11995,3,You're more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in Milwaukee than in 96 percent of the country.,"July 10, 2016",crime;population;public safety;urban,van wanggaard,"Wisconsin state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, was elected to the Senate in 2010. He lost his seat in a recall election in 2012, but won the seat back in a regular election in 2014. He is a retired traffic investigator with the Racine Police Department and a former member of the Racine County Board of Supervisors.",wisconsin,1,1,1,1,2,0,an opinion article,"""Usually if you’re not hanging out"" in high-crime neighborhoods, ""your chances of being a victim of crime are pretty low,"" said Michael Jacobson , executive director of the City University of New York Institute for State & Local Governance. Our rating Wanggaard said: ""You're more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in Milwaukee than in 96 percent of the country."" Three rankings using violent crime rates from the FBI give Milwaukee such a ranking. But the FBI warns against using its figures to do rankings; the rankings compare Milwaukee to relatively tiny cities; and the  makes a broad  about Milwaukee but ignores the fact that most violent crime in the city is limited to certain neighborhoods. For a statement that is partially accurate but takes things out of context, our rating is ."
4280,3,"In the month of July alone, EU exports to South Korea increased by over 36 percent. A lot of that is our market share. Those are our farmers and our service providers who are suffering.","September 7, 2011",trade,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,a news conference,"The senator accurately quoted the trade stats he obtained from the Korean embassy’s August 25 news release. But the data doesn’t support the other part of his  -- his underlying point that countries which have adopted trade pacts are gaining market share that would go to U.S. farmers and companies. It is contradicted by the data for August trade available from Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy released two days before Portman spoke. And statistics for the six months before the EU trade agreement kicked in show EU trade growth. On the -O-Meter,  we rate Portman’s  .  "
6550,1,"Says Tammy Baldwin ""voted to gut Medicare for seniors.","October 16, 2012",federal budget;health care;medicare,tommy thompson,"Tommy Thompson, a Republican, was a 2012 candidate for the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin. He served as governor of Wisconsin from 1987 until 2001, when he left office to become President George W. Bush's secretary of health and human services. He previously spent 20 years in the Wisconsin Assembly. Thompson briefly ran for president, withdrawing in 2007.",wisconsin,3,5,2,6,8,3,a TV ad,"Thompson’s new ad says the  is that ""Baldwin voted to gut Medicare for seniors"" when she backed the health reform law’s cost-containment measures in the Medicare program. This is off base or  on several fronts. The health care law slows Medicare’s growth but spending would still rise significantly, and some new services are added. The changes do not promise to hold seniors harmless, but Medicare is not being gutted. We rate the  .  "
10036,2,The labor participation rate is at an all-time low.,"March 8, 2015",economy;jobs,lindsey graham,Lindsey Graham is a U.S. senator from South Carolina. He was a candidate for the Republican nominee for president in 2016.,national,2,2,6,2,4,0,"comments on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Graham said, ""The labor participation rate is at an all-time low.""  Graham’s office did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment. The rate was lower than it is today from 1948 to 1978. That said, it's not necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison and the labor participation is at about its lowest level in 37 years.  The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it .  "
17583,0,Pelosi was in (Wuhan) China 6 days after the impeachment HOAX failed.,"April 22, 2020",coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said that Pelosi was in Wuhan, China, ""6 days after the impeachment HOAX failed."" Travel records last show Pelosi in China in 2015. The rest of the post is Mad Libs for conspiracy theorists. This statement rates ! "
17454,2,"While all COVID-19 news has been going on, the U.S. Government has been sneakily trying to remove end-to-end encryption"" which means ""the government will be able to see all of your messages and listen to all of your calls.","March 17, 2020",legal issues;technology;privacy issues;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,social media posts,"The post said, ""While all COVID-19 news has been going on, the U.S. Government has been sneakily trying to remove end-to-end encryption"" which means ""the government will be able to see all of your messages and listen to all of your calls."" If the EARN IT Act passed — which is not imminent — it would make it easier for law enforcement to demand information from technology companies about certain users of their services. But the bill is receiving public scrutiny and proceeding through Congress in a typical way, so it’s not accurate to describe it as sneaky. The post is also  about the official scope of the act. Far from green-lighting government intrusion into ""all"" messages and calls, any such requests would have to be premised on a link to suspected child exploitation.  Whether that limitation would hold in practice is hotly debated between civil libertarians and law enforcement. The post contains an element of , but leaves out important context that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
17904,5,"North Carolina is one of four states"" that hasn't opened gyms.","June 22, 2020",coronavirus,dan forest,Dan Forest is North Carolina's Lieutenant Governor.,north carolina,2,0,0,1,4,1,a tweet,"Forest tweeted that ""46 states have gyms/fitness centers open"" and that ""North Carolina is one of four states that does not."" Our review found that North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts are the only states where gyms remain closed across the state. It’s worth noting that, in other states, government leaders are opening gyms in some counties, but not others. But Forest’s wording is broad enough to account for that variation.  We rate this  ."
12413,1,Former President Bill Clinton and his Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) distributed 'watered-down' HIV/AIDS drugs to patients in sub-Saharan Africa.,"September 19, 2016",global news service;consumer safety;corrections and updates;public health,daily caller,The Daily Caller is an online publication with a conservative lean.,,0,0,0,0,2,0,the Daily Caller,"The Daily Caller said that the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative distributed ""watered-down HIV/AIDS drugs to patients in sub-Saharan Africa."" At the most literal level, the statement is a misreading of a report from a conservative Republican who said the foundation ""likely facilitated"" the distribution of watered-down HIV/AIDS drugs. Neither version of the  -- centering around the drugmaker Ranbaxy -- is proven. In fact, a host of regulatory agencies have found the drugs in question to be safe. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there was no  the drugs themselves were substandard. The World Health Organization, South Africa’s Medicines Control Council and the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency tested the Ranbaxy drugs and found them to be safe. Such testing dates back to at least 2005. We rate this statement . Update and correction (Sept. 29, 2016): After this item posted, we heard from Mark Tapscott, executive editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization that says it provides investigative reporting for the public benefit. The group does not publicly list its donors. Tapscott listed what he called nine factual errors in our story. We reviewed his claims and found most of them without merit, as they failed to distinguish between Ranbaxy’s HIV/AIDS drugs and its other products. Tapscott, however, correctly noted that in 2004 WHO decertified three of Ranbaxy’s HIV/AIDS drugs. Ranbaxy’s HIV/AIDS drugs were recertified the following year. The story now reflects that information, as well as the correct year in which the Justice Department filed charges against Ranbaxy. Our rating remains unchanged. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/19ee7189-664a-4b8e-869b-f11f5b211c33"
21480,1,"Photos of a person in a skirt show the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter.","May 24, 2022",crime;sexuality;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,These Facebook posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) (Screengrab from Facebook) We separately looked into claims that Ramos is transgender and found no  to corroborate them.   Claims that these photos of a transgender girl show Ramos are .
14657,1,"Says ""Nancy Pelosi came out in favor of MS-13.","May 22, 2018",immigration;homeland security;crime,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said Pelosi ""came out in favor of MS-13."" Trump’s  is based on Pelosi’s criticism of Trump for using the word ""animals"" during an immigration meeting with California officials. Trump used that term after a sheriff spoke about MS-13 gang members. A day after Trump’s comment, Pelosi said ""calling people animals is not a good thing"" and defended ""undocumented immigrants."" Pelosi did not mention MS-13 gang members in her comments. While Trump blasted media reports and others for missing the context of his remarks, he did just that with Pelosi’s comment. We rate it ."
8162,3,"John Cornyn has voted to increase the debt, raise taxes, bail out Wall Street banks and fund Obamacare.","December 9, 2013",corrections and updates;debt;financial regulation;health care;taxes,senate conservatives fund,"The Senate Conservatives Fund, focused on electing conservative senators, was founded by former Sen. James DeMint.",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,as quoted by Politico,"The PAC said Cornyn ""has voted to increase the debt, raise taxes, bail out Wall Street banks, and fund Obamacare."" It's not that simple. Cornyn voted for the 2008 bailout and has occasionally voted to raise the debt ceiling. Also, Cornyn’s 2013 vote for the taxpayer-relief act raised taxes for most households though, signficantly, it also preserved lower income-tax rates than ones that would have hit if the measure didn’t make it into law. Finally, the idea that Cornyn voted to fund Obamacare by agreeing to general appropriations is a political turnip; how those votes are interpreted probably depends on one’s political prism. Beyond that, the government evidently can tap the funding it needs to implement the law regardless of congressional spending decisions. Cornyn voted against the Obamacare law when it came to be and continues to oppose it. We rate this partially accurate , which takes some votes out of context, as . CORRECTION, 1:13 p.m., Dec. 12, 2013 : This story has been amended to reflect Cornyn’s vote against raising the debt ceiling in October 2013. This change did not affect our rating.  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
17611,1,"Models projecting COVID-19 deaths ""are talking about without mitigation.","May 5, 2020",coronavirus,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview on ABC,"When Trump was asked about new models projecting COVID-19 deaths, Trump responded that they ""are talking about without mitigation."" The Johns Hopkins data was preliminary, and not designed as a forecast. The researcher told NPR that he assumed some degree of mitigation. Trump is clearly  about the University of Washington’s model, which does take into account mitigation efforts. We rate this  ."
3357,5,We lost more jobs in this great recession than the last four recessions combined.,"April 3, 2011",economy;jobs;labor;this week - abc news,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,national,10,5,3,7,7,1,"a roundtable segment on ABC's ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour""","We wondered, though, whether the result would be different if we factored in the size of the labor force, which has grown over the past three decades. It’s impossible to make the same exact comparison Will did -- that is, comparing the sum of the past four recessions with the current one -- because you can’t simply add together percentages drawn from different time periods. But we thought we’d at least see whether the 2007-2009 recession registered more jobs lost on a percentage basis than any of the prior ones. Here are the numbers for jobs lost as a percentage of the labor force: Jan. 1980 to July 1980: 1.0 percent July 1981 to Nov. 1982: 3.1 percent July 1990 to March 1991: 1.1 percent March 2001 to Nov. 2001: 1.2 percent ""Great Recession"" -- Dec. 2007 to June 2009: Recession decreased jobs by 5.4 percent So job losses in the ""Great Recession"" have, on a percentage basis, exceeded those in each of the past four recessions. We rate it ."
9579,3,"Says David Perdue wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, which would cost Georgia schools $1 billion a year and eliminate millions in student loans.","October 14, 2014",education;federal budget,democratic senatorial campaign committee,The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,georgia,2,2,5,2,3,0,a television ad,"That brings us back to the ad, which claims David Perdue supports eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, a position that could cripple Georgia schools, students and loan recipients. Our research finds there is reason to believe Perdue does support abolishing the department and transferring funding to the local level. But it is alarmist to suggest the end of the department would be the end of all K-12 money. And suggestions that it would mean the end of student loan programs ignores the history that has already shuffled their administration. For that reason, we rate the  ."
2279,3,Julie Lassa willingly took a hefty pay raise at a time when people throughout her district and the state were losing their jobs.,"August 25, 2010",state budget,sean duffy,"Sean Duffy is a Republican member of the U.S. House, representing Wisconsin's 7th District in the northwestern part of the state. The former Ashland County district attorney was elected In November 2010, taking the seat previously held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Obey of Wausau.",wisconsin,0,2,8,6,3,3,a campaign news release,"So, where does that leave us? The Duffy campaign is partially right: Lassa took the pay raise -- for about 13 months. But long before they launched the attack and before she announced her congressional campaign, Lassa had already started to give some back. With her approach, she will give 48.41 percent of her raise back, or about half. That’s where we rate Duffy’s statement as well: ."
5263,1,"The administration has issued rules for ""$1 abortions in ObamaCare"" and ""requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay"" an abortion premium.","March 12, 2012",abortion;health care,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog posts and links on the Internet,"The  that the Obama administration has issued rules for ""$1 abortions in ObamaCare"" is ; the administration has simply set a floor for how much money per month of the premiums paid by those who have chosen plans that include abortion must be placed in a segregated account in order to make sure that there’s enough money available to pay for abortion services incurred by people enrolled in that plan. The bigger charge -- that the Obama health care law ""requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay a separate premium from their own pockets to fund abortion"" -- is also . The provision in question only affects people who purchase insurance plans that cover abortion and who do so on the exchanges -- a much narrower group than the  suggests. And people who make such purchases will be paying their private dollars into abortion coverage accounts voluntarily. Despite some puzzling wording, ultimately the law allows for full disclosure of its abortion rules at the most obvious time, when someone is signing up for coverage. On balance, we rate this  ."
5984,4,"Says Minnesota has more Fortune 500 companies than Oregon and ""one of the most obvious differences is they've invested in their schools.","July 9, 2012",economy;education,jefferson smith,"Jefferson Smith represents Oregon State House District 47.  He is a native of east Portland, the district he represents.",oregon,2,4,0,1,1,0,school board testimony,"Oregon used to be above the national average in per-student funding and we still didn’t rank high in the number of Fortune 500 companies. There are dozens of factors for a business to consider. That said, Smith’s central point here is accurate -- better education is important to business -- and most of his numbers stand up. But we think it’s important to understand that improving education, while important, won’t necessarily lead to dozens of Fortune 500 companies locating in Oregon. We’ll call this one ."
3225,0,Roughly 25% of RI has a criminal record,"March 9, 2011",criminal justice;jobs;labor;legal issues;crime,direct action for rights & equality,"Direct Actions for Rights and Equality (DARE), was formed in 1986 in Providence. It says its mission is to organize low-income families in communities of color to win economic, social and political justice. It is unrelated to the national D.A.R.E. programs in which police officers teach children about the dangers of drug abuse and violence.",rhode island,0,0,0,0,0,1,an online petition,"Chief Devine and his staff estimate the  percentage might be 4 or 5 percent. They can’t be sure of the exact percentage because of the way the data is collected, but they’re certain it’s nowhere near 25 percent. DARE’s statement is based on old, flawed statistics that were tweaked and re-tweaked to make a point. The idea that 1 of every 4 Rhode Islanders is a criminal is  on its face. We rate the statement ."
15983,0,"Quotes George Soros as saying ""I've made my life's mission to destroy the United States. I hate this country and I hate all of the people in it!","April 20, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A quote attributed to Soros is spreading on social media, claiming he told Newsweek in 1979 that he’s made it his ""life’s mission to destroy the United States,"" and that he hates the country and all the people in it. There is no  that Soros said anything close to this. As well, not one news source in the last 40 years has ever mentioned, reviewed or criticized the comment. This is faux quote is !"
11477,5,Virginia now is the number one exporter of (agricultural) products to Cuba. We have now jumped to number one.,"March 21, 2016",economy;trade,terry mcauliffe,"Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, was elected governor of Virginia on Nov. 5, 2013. He received 47.8 percent of the vote in defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who came in at 45.2 percent. Robert Sarvis, a Libertarian, finished a distant third with 6.5 percent.
McAuliffe's inaguration as Virginia's 72nd governor is scheduled on Jan. 11, 2014.
McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and noted political fundraiser, was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008. In 2009, McAuliffe unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor.
McAuliffe was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on Feb. 9, 1957. He has a bachelor's degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. McAuliffe has lived in Fairfax County for more than 20 years, is married and has five children.
 ",virginia,7,4,3,16,7,4,an interview,McAuliffe said Virginia is the top exporter of agricultural products to Cuba. The numbers from the latest year available back his . We rate his statement .
10681,5,Trump proposed enacting the largest tax increase in American history.,"August 21, 2015",candidate biography;taxes,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,florida,14,24,17,18,5,2,a fundraising email,"Bush said, ""Trump proposed enacting the largest tax increase in American history."" Yes, in 1999, Trump proposed a historically large one-time tax increase. Trump said the tax would have raised $5.7 trillion and wiped out the national debt. It would have applied only to the wealthiest Americans. This  rates ."
16360,5,More Americans are uninsured today than when (President Donald) Trump took office.,"June 24, 2019",health care;public health,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a tweet,"Baldwin said ""more Americans are uninsured today than when Trump took office.""  Census Bureau statistics show that there was a steady decline in the number of uninsured Americans following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act — a trend that reversed and began ticking upward under Trump. We rate Baldwin’s statement . "
18130,1,"Photo shows ""Myrtle Beach 30 minutes ago.","August 3, 2020",weather;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The image was posted on Instagram on May 20 by Brent Shavnore, who creates digital storm art. The photo also appears in the artwork section of his website.   In an Instagram story about his background, Shavnore explains that he ""started getting bored with regular photography and took it to the next level. ""  You can watch a tutorial of how he created a similar image as the one in the Facebook post using two photos from Miami and a storm in Colorado here . We rate this Facebook post ."
13572,2,Collusion is not illegal.,"July 11, 2017",elections;legal issues;punditfact,eric bolling,Eric Bolling is a conservative political commentator. He is a former Fox News host.,,0,1,1,3,2,0,comments on 'Fox News Specialists',"Bolling said ""collusion is not illegal."" Legal scholars told us the word ""collusion"" is vague and may not be specifically used in legal language. But conduct that may be described as collusion could potentially be subject to multiple federal laws, including statutes on foreign contributions to elections and fraud. We rate Bolling’s statement ."
16853,0,"Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar vowed ""to remove senior's 'entitlements,' Social Security/Medicare.","December 23, 2019",medicare;social security;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"There was no press conference for cutting entitlements. In fact, both congresswomen have spoken in favor of Medicare for All, which would change the private insurance system to a government-run approach that would cover most Americans. Ocasio-Cortez has also advocated for the Social Security 2100 Act, which aims to raise the program’s benefits — including those provided by Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. The article is  and makes a  . We rate it !"
5519,3,"Says Gov. Scott Walker ""has caused Wisconsin to lose more jobs than any other state in the country.","April 26, 2012",economy;jobs;workers,tom barrett,"Tom Barrett served as the 44th mayor of Milwaukee from 2004 until 2021. The mayoral position is non-partisan. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly (1984–1989), Wisconsin Senate (1989–1993) and U.S. House of Representatives (1993–2003).
Barrett lost bids for governor in 2002, 2010 and in the 2012 recall race against Gov. Scott Walker. He was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg on Dec. 23, 2021.",wisconsin,3,5,9,2,5,3,a tweet,"Indeed, in 2008 and 2009, amid and immediately after the recession - while Democrat Jim Doyle was Wisconsin’s governor - the state lost 164,000 jobs, although it added 12,000 in 2010. Our rating Barrett said Walker ""has caused Wisconsin to lose more jobs than any other state in the country."" He is accurate on the job losses but overstates Walker’s role in causing them. We rate Barrett’s statement .   (You can comment on this item on the Journal Sentine's web page .)"
1135,4,"During the Reagan era, while productivity increased, ""wages for working people remained frozen.","October 2, 2009",economy,michael moore,"Michael Moore directed the movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story"" and is a well-known documentary filmmaker. His movies includes ""Roger and Me,"" ""Bowling for Columbine,"" ""Fahrenheit 9/11,"" and ""Sicko."" He won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002 with ""Bowling for Columbine,"" and he was a nominee in 2007 for ""Sicko."" Michael Moore's Web site is www.MichaelMoore.com.",national,2,6,1,4,5,0,"his movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story""","Still, adjusted for inflation, and when looking at nonsupervisory production workers, it's  that during the Reagan years, productivity rose while wages remained frozen (or even dipped slightly). We dock Moore some points, though, because the decline/stagnation of wages pre- and postdated the Reagan era; and total compensation (including payments for benefits) rose. Moore left out some important qualifiers. Still, while you may not agree with Moore's conclusions, he can back up his  with legitimate numbers. And so we rate it ."
18830,0,USPS failed to deliver 27% of mail-in ballots in South Florida,"November 4, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks;florida,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"Posts on Facebook and Twitter said that the U.S. Postal Service failed to deliver 27% of mail-in ballots in South Florida. That was based on data that the postal service clearly said did not reflect ballot delivery rates. The sources cited by websites spreading this  included that reality check. The two largest counties in South Florida went to postal facilities to find any wayward ballots. In one county, they found none. In another they found 30. All issues were resolved before Election Day. There is nothing to this . We rate it . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
73,5,Obama Skips Out On Condemning Left-Wing Attacks On Gen. Petraeus Despite Casting Other 'Important Votes' Earlier And Later In The Day.,"September 21, 2007",iraq,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,,"The resolution was offered by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and it passed 72 to 25. Here's the text: ""To express the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces."" An alternative, offered by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., also passed, 50 to 47. All the Republicans opposed it, while all Democrats, including Obama, voted for it. Here's the text: ""To reaffirm strong support for all the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and to strongly condemn attacks on the honor, integrity, and patriotism of any individual who is serving or has served honorably in the United States Armed Forces, by any person or organization."""
3123,4,State employees haven't received a raise in five or six years.,"February 21, 2011",state budget,florida department of corrections worker,"A Florida Department of Corrections worker asked a pointed question to Florida Gov. Rick Scott about potential benefits cuts for state workers at a meet-and-greet on Feb. 21, 2011.",florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a question to Gov. Rick Scott,"A state employee asking a pointed question about Scott's proposal to cut benefits for state workers noted that state workers haven't received a raise in ""five or six years."" The last general pay adjustment for state employees occurred on Oct. 1, 2006, almost four years and five months ago. And state employees did receive a lump-sum $1,000 bonus in 2007, though that did not affect their salary rate. Those two details add more context to the worker's . We find this statement ."
20860,0,"In 2022, illegal immigrants will have MORE FREEDOMS and easier access to healthcare and ballot boxes than most Americans... Just think about that.","January 16, 2022",immigration;border security;elections;health care,ronny jackson,Rep. Ronny Jackson currently serves Texas' 13th Congressional District. He was elected to that position in November 2020 and is running for re-election in 2022. He previously led the White House Medical Unit as Physician to the President during the Obama and Trump administrations. Jackson's committee assignments include the House Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.,texas,0,0,0,0,0,1,a tweet,"Rep. Ronny Jackson tweeted ""In 2022, illegal immigrants will have MORE FREEDOMS and easier access to healthcare and ballot boxes than most Americans... Just think about that."" Unauthorized immigrants don't have access to the ballot for federal, state, and almost all local elections. Though immigrants can have access to some medical assistance programs depending on where they live, they also do not qualify for any health insurance coverage with any federal dollars. They do not qualify for Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage  even if they pay costs without ACA subsidy . We rate this  as ."
11546,4,"There are no rules governing"" the 2016 Republican convention, ""the rules have not been set.","April 3, 2016",elections;legal issues;states,john kasich,"John Kasich is the governor of Ohio. A Republican and a former congressman, he defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. He ran for president in 2016.",wisconsin,16,18,10,9,8,3,an interview,"Once a majority of the convention delegates adopt the report, the rules become the permanent rules governing that Convention. Our rating Kasich said ""there are no rules governing"" the 2016 Republican convention, ""the rules have not been set."" The 2016 convention will essentially start with the same rules that were in place for the 2012 convention. But the new rules committee for the 2016 convention can change any of the rules. We rate the statement ."
9959,4,Nearly one in five women in America has been a victim of rape or attempted rape.,"February 8, 2015",criminal justice;crime;sexuality;women,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a public-service video during the Grammys,"Obama said that ""nearly one in five women in America has been a victim of rape or attempted rape."" A well-respected survey by the CDC found that 19.3 percent of women reported experiences that are considered to be rape or attempted rape under the survey’s guidelines. There are other surveys, using a different methodology, that show lower rates of rape, but researchers say the data in the CDC study is at least as credible, if not more so. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it ."
14123,2,Check out the record of #jobs created by #TaxCuts 7.8 million new jobs after Bush's 2003 tax cuts 12 million new jobs after Kennedy's 1964 tax cuts 14.8 MILLION new jobs after Ronald Reagan's tax cuts in 1981.,"November 13, 2017",economy;jobs;taxes,jason smith,"Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in June 2013. ",missouri,1,1,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Smith claimed that the Bush, Kennedy and Reagan administrations signed into law tax cuts that created millions of jobs by saying, ""America needs the #TaxCutsAndJobsAct. Check out the record of #jobs created by #TaxCuts 7.8 million new jobs after Bush’s 2003 tax cuts 12 million new jobs after Kennedy's 1964 tax cuts 14.8 MILLION new jobs after Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts in 1981."" Jobs were created after each of the laws went into effect, but some of Smith’s numbers were off, and experts agree that there are too many factors that create jobs to simply say tax cuts are the reason. We rate this statement ."
16458,1,"Says after a car accident comedian Kevin Hart has been ""paralyzed from the neck down"" and his ""vocal cords have been paralyzed as well, leaving him with the inability to speak.","September 2, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It then credits the statement found in the Facebook post to an unnamed Hart representative. The website attempts to make it look like it posts legitimate entertainment news, but buried at the very bottom of the page in tiny,  legible writing (3.5 font size to be exact) is a disclaimer that everything on the site is satire:  ""THE STORIES POSTED ON LFRSOLUTIONS.COM ARE FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. THE STORIES MAY MIMIC ARTICLES FOUND IN THE HEADLINES, BUT REST ASSURED THEY ARE PURELY SATIRICAL."" Beyond the disclaimer’s impossibly small text, when a portion of a  story is lifted from a satire site and posted separately on social media, users have no chance of coming across a disclaimer. We rate this post . "
13862,1,"North Carolina has ""the strictest anti-gerrymandering standards in the entire country.","September 15, 2017",elections;redistricting,phil berger,Phil Berger is a Republican from Eden and the president pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate.,north carolina,1,0,1,3,1,0,In a press release,"Berger claimed in a press release that North Carolina has the strictest anti-gerrymandering protections in the entire country. North Carolina may have strict rules for grouping counties and a unique formula for measuring compactness. But the legislature didn’t require themselves – at least on paper – to use that compactness formula, and other states have similar rules for the shapes of districts. Furthermore, experts consider other states to do a better job of promoting fairness by mandating the inclusion of both parties or, in a handful of cases, strictly prohibiting mapmakers from favoring one party over another. Perhaps most tellingly: PolitiFact couldn’t find, and Berger’s office couldn’t point to, an expert or ranking system that puts North Carolina’s redistricting standards among the nation’s best. We rate this  .    "
2062,5,I've even cut my own salary -- twice.,"July 14, 2010",message machine 2010;state budget,kevin boyce,"Kevin Boyce, a Democrat, is Ohio's state treasurer.",ohio,1,0,0,0,0,1,a campaign video,"Boyce’s gross salary this year will be $105,757. Boyce lumped both cuts -- each about 2 percent -- in the same memo, but he effectively trimmed his salary twice. Had he not extended the cut into 2010, his pay would’ve jumped back up to $109,986, a spokeswoman for the administrative services department said. We find Boyce’s statement . Comment on this item ."
19912,0,Maxine Waters just introduced a bill to re-name Memorial Day — George Floyd Day.,"May 26, 2021",congress;criminal justice;crime;military;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Furthermore, we couldn’t find a single media outlet reporting that Waters proposed renaming Memorial Day.   Waters co-sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, but that bill does not propose renaming Memorial Day after Floyd.   We rate this statement as .    – The statement is not accurate and makes a  "
5707,4,"It took us four years to balance the budget. Then I gave you four surplus budgets for the first time in more than 70 years, paid $600 billion down on the national debt.","June 2, 2012",deficit;federal budget,bill clinton,"Bill Clinton was president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is married to Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.",new jersey,9,12,13,5,2,3,a video posted on YouTube,"At a June 1 campaign event, Clinton touted his fiscal record in the final years of his presidency. ""Then I gave you four surplus budgets for the first time in more than 70 years, paid $600 billion down on the national debt,"" Clinton told the crowd. Clinton delivered four consecutive surplus budgets for the first time in more than seven decades, but the former president misstated the level of debt reduction. During those four fiscal years, the debt held by the public dropped by nearly $453 billion, but total debt jumped by about $400 billion. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
18418,1,This Is Real: Biden Waves To An Empty Field.,"September 16, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Another video of Biden descending the stairs clearly shows him waving in the direction of a firetruck at the other end of the field. And in yet another video shared by Bloomberg News reporter Tyler Pager, four people are seen standing near the fire truck facing him.   We rate this post .   This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
21354,1,"Conservatives gained Twitter followers after the company announced its deal with Elon Musk because ""Twitter lifted a broad anti-conservative, anti-Trump shadow ban.","April 27, 2022",pundits;technology;punditfact,sean hannity,"Sean Hannity is a conservative political commentator and hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, as well as two television shows on the Fox News Channel. In a 2013 interview Hannity said that he is a “registered Conservative” and ”not a Republican, though people often mistake me for one.” Hannity has authored three books.",,5,2,4,5,14,1,a TV segment,"Hannity said that conservatives gained Twitter followers after the company announced its deal with Musk because ""Twitter lifted a broad anti-conservative, anti-Trump shadow ban."" Hannity provided no  that right-leaning accounts on Twitter were subject to a shadow ban before Musk agreed to buy the company, or that prominent conservatives saw their follower counts spike because such a ban was ""lifted"" as employees ""cover(ed) their tracks.""  Twitter locked down employees’ abilities to make changes to its platform after announcing the deal with Musk, according to news reports.  The company said that the follower count fluctuations were organic, triggered by people creating and deactivating accounts. Independent researchers have said the same. We rate Hannity’s statement ."
9461,0,Mary Landrieu voted to take away your gun rights.,"September 24, 2014",supreme court;guns,national rifle association,An advocacy group that fights restrictions on the right to bear arms.,national,1,6,1,5,6,4,a campaign ad,"The NRA ad claims, ""Mary Landrieu voted to take away your gun rights."" This is quite a leap in logic. After initially staking its  to a background check bill that didn’t pass Congress — nor did it ""take away your gun rights,"" leaving women defenseless in their homes — the group now pins its  on Landrieu’s vote to confirm Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. But that’s questionable, since there is no way to know in advance how a justice will vote. And the NRA has endorsed two other senators, Graham and Alexander, who cast exactly the same vote. Meanwhile, on the other major gun vote of this term, a key assault-weapons ban, Landrieu voted the NRA’s position. Given all this, to run an ad as scary as this one can only be described as fear mongering. We rate the  ."
2564,3,"Company may close, ""all because government essentially says if they don't hire a lifeguard to watch their workers, they can't stay open.","September 26, 2010",economy;jobs;legal issues;message machine 2010;small business,jeff brandes,"Jeff Brandes, a Republican who represents St. Petersburg, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2010 and was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2012. ",florida,2,1,1,0,0,0,a campaign video,"It's cut and dry. And it's a federal regulation,"" said Geoff Thielst, a 30-year commercial diver and program director of marine technology training at Santa Barbara City College. But Brandes said the business was threatened ""all because"" Scuba Clean didn't hire a lifeguard – the tender. The bulk of the alleged violations and fines that have put this business' future in doubt involved training of divers, equipment and safety practices, not just the absence of a lifeguard. Therefore, we rule this  . "
5789,2,Says a national Coca-Cola study showed Texans love Texas more than residents of any other state love their state; Wisconsinites ranked second.,"June 9, 2012",history,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",texas,11,16,24,23,7,5,Fort Worth,"We count on individuals who air claims to have factual backup. On this front, an unattributed eBay post about focus groups is insufficient. And while it’s believable that Coca-Cola ad campaigns launched 20 years ago drew on research, that does not demonstrate there was an exhaustive national study like the one described by Ryan. Ryan's  still strikes us as having a touch of . As prideful Texans, we’re hat-in-hand sorry to rate this  ."
15515,1,Border agents discover body of 6-year-old girl: 'She was raped By 30 men'.,"December 2, 2018",immigration;fake news;homeland security;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"A blog post on Newspunch.com claims, ""Border agents discover body of 6-year-old girl: ‘She was raped By 30 men'."" We found no  to support this . U.S. border security officials said they have no record or recollection of this incident. We rate this  ."
18576,1,"Says that Nikita Khrushchev said, ""Your children's children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but, we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism.","October 5, 2020",history;facebook fact-checks,nikki haley,"Nikki Haley announced on Feb. 14, 2023 that she is running for president in the Republican primary. Haley was the governor of South Carolina 2011-2017 and then served as President Donald Trump's ambassador to the UN in 2017 and 2018.",,0,4,4,4,4,1,a post on Facebook,"On Facebook, Haley quoted Khrushchev as saying, ""Your children's children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but, we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find you already have Communism."" Apart from one anecdotal  from an individual whose story was inconsistent, there is no  Khrushchev said any variation of this quote. We rate this  ."
11506,2,"Emory University students were provided counseling after someone wrote ""Trump 2016"" in chalk on campus.","March 22, 2016",education,viral media reports,this is for facebook post and twitter feeds,georgia,0,0,0,1,1,0,"Newspaper, television and social media",Various media outlets reported that counseling was specifically offered to Emory students upset over the fact that someone chalked pro-Trump messages on campus. But no funds were provided for any kind of emergency counseling due to the incident. Counseling is routinely provided to Emory students upon request. But there was no organized effort to counsel students due to this specific incident. The university cannot confirm whether any individual students sought routine counseling as a result of the chalkings. And that does create a bit of uncertainty in the dust-up over the Trump chalkings and their aftermath. We rate this statement .
22393,4,"When you compare us to the European Union, we're something like 23 times more likely"" to have homicides and handgun killings.","November 23, 2022",crime;guns,cliff hayes,"Cliff Hayes Jr., D-Chesapeake, was elected to Virginia's House of Delegates in 2016. Prior to that, he served eight years on the Chesapeake City Council. He is a graduate of Norfolk State University and works in information technology.",virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a TV interview,"Hayes said that when the U.S. is compared with the European Union, ""we're something like 23 times more likely"" to have homicides and handgun killings. The University of Washington research he cites shows the 2019 homicide rate from firearms — not just handguns as Hayes said — was 22 times higher in the U.S. than in the EU. The report did not contain worldwide homicide rates from handguns, and we have been unable to find that data.   Although there’s a slight error in Hayes’ language, his eye-popping gist about the preponderance of gun homicides in the U.S. compared with the EU holds up. We rate his statement .  "
17671,4,"Beachgoers trash Florida beaches with 13,000 pounds of litter after beaches reopen.","May 12, 2020",environment;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A headline said ""beachgoers trash Florida beaches with 13,000 pounds of litter after beaches reopen.""  That referred to the amount of garbage collected during the first weekend in May at Cocoa Beach. It was the amount of garbage collected from trash bins as well as from the beach, which means it wasn’t all improperly discarded litter. We rate this  ."
12751,5,"Financial conflict-of-interest ""laws don't apply to the president, right? So, the president doesn't have to have a blind trust.","November 13, 2016",campaign finance;corrections and updates;ethics,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,"CNN's ""State of the Union""","Giuliani said financial conflict-of-interest ""laws don't apply to the president, right? So, the president doesn't have to have a blind trust."" The president is, in fact, exempt from the primary conflict-of-interest provision in the U.S. code. So presidents do not have any legal obligation to put their financial holdings in a blind trust or to detach themselves from their financial interests in any way. As president, Trump will have to comply with financial disclosure requirements, however, and it's possible he is constrained by a clause in the Constitution regarding income from foreign governments. We rate Giuliani’s  . Update Jan. 12, 2017: We have updated this story to add more information about the Emoluments Clause. Our rating remains unchanged.  "
12457,3,Since I came into office … we have increased the VA budget by 85 percent.,"September 28, 2016",federal budget;veterans,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a CNN town hall,"Obama said, ""Since I came into office … we have increased the VA budget by 85 percent."" Obama has a point that the VA has seen significant percentage increases during his tenure, particularly for a period of budgetary belt-tightening elsewhere. However, it’s a stretch for him to take credit for that, since so much of the increase stemmed from mandatory spending that originated with a continuing stream of veterans returning home and qualifying for benefits. Obama has also cherry-picked the highest numerical figure he could have. His statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/31e464bc-18c7-4796-aadf-5c9cb65de6c7"
4489,4,Says adding toll lanes on I-95 in Broward County improved rush-hour traffic for non-toll lanes from 25 mph to 45 mph.,"October 10, 2011",transportation,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a radio show interview,"A program overview for 95 Express shows Gov. Scott was about right when he said speeds for rush-hour traffic in non-toll lanes had improved from 25 mph to 45 mph. DOT's first study of the program shows traffic speeds during the peak periods were actually lower than 20 mph before the program. In 2010,  traffic speeds during peak periods increased by 35 mph for southbound general lanes and by 22.5 mph in northbound general lanes. Still, Scott misidentified the program's location. We rate his  ."
18486,1,"Says Merrick Garland is investigating Donald Trump's ""tax evasion case.","September 29, 2020",crime;supreme court;taxes;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The Supreme Court then kicked the case back to the appeals court for further review. It’s now being briefed again before the three-judge panel, Vladeck told us.   The panel does not include Garland, who stepped down as chief judge in February but continues to serve on the court.   ""The only way he’d even be involved in this case at this juncture is if it goes before the en banc (full) court rather than the three-judge panel, which seems more than a little unlikely,"" Vladeck said in an email.   We rate this Facebook post ."
14128,0,Julia Roberts claims 'Michelle Obama isn't fit to clean Melania's toilet',"December 14, 2017",corrections and updates;fake news;pop culture;punditfact,usa daily portal,USA Daily Portal posts fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a headline,"A  news story stated that Roberts claimed ""‘Michelle Obama isn’t fit to clean Melania’s toilet."" We rate this headline . Correction : An earlier version of this fact-check stated that Roberts read one of Molly Ivins’ columns. Allison Engel, co-author of the play Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins , contacted PolitiFact after our fact-check published to tell us that the excerpt that Roberts read was from the play. Engel said she supplied the text to the producer of the fundraiser."
3309,4,"Oregon concealed gun applications include ""home phone numbers, home address, Social Security numbers, what kinds of guns you have in the house … whether you were dishonorably discharged from the military, what controlled substances you are taking and  were you ever accused of -- accused, mind you -- of stalking.","March 17, 2011",privacy issues;guns,kim thatcher,"Kim Thatcher is the state representative for House District 25, Marion County. She is owner of KT Contracting.",oregon,0,1,0,0,0,0,a House floor session,"But that’s just no . On certain applications, you have to noted whether you are currently under a court order. That’s considerably different, in our view. Still, we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that some of the necessary nuance was left out because her comments were spoken -- not written -- and rate this  . Comment on this item."
19899,1,"Says President John F. Kennedy said, ""There are people in Washington, D.C., in positions of power to whom the border is just a nuisance, and I think some of them believe that illegal immigration is a moral good. It is not.","June 21, 2021",history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"As for John F. Kennedy, immigration was an important issue to him. His final book, published posthumously, was called "" A Nation of Immigrants ."" In it, he writes, ""Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life."" The Standing for Freedom Center has the  man. We rate the post ."
5087,5,'Wrong precinct' rules exacerbate our provisional ballot problems (and) HB 194 does nothing to solve the wrong-precinct problem.,"February 8, 2012",elections,kathleen clyde,"Kathleen Clyde was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in November 2010. Her 68th District includes the majority of Portage County. She currently resides in Kent.
 ",ohio,3,0,0,0,0,0,an email,"There were more than 14,000 such ballots in the 2008 election. We’re not rating whether HB 194 will worsen those problems. But that the legislation  ""permits, instead of requires, an election official to direct a voter who is in the  precinct to the voter's correct precinct,"" shows it’s not an attempt to aggressively address the issue. The duty remains on the individual voter to ensure that a ballot is cast in the correct precinct. On the -O-Meter, Clyde's statement rates ."
22195,1,"Photo shows ""Russian soldiers with a Ukrainian girl, celebrating their human trophy.","October 25, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"(Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. ) That’s because the photo has been online for more than a decade and isn’t related to the current conflict in Ukraine.   Haaretz posted the image in August 2010 as part of a story about Israeli Defense Forces soldiers posting photos on Facebook that show them posing with bound Palestinian detainees. The caption of the image that appears in that story says: ""IDF soldiers with a Palestinian detainee. ""  We rate claims that this image shows Russian soldiers with a Ukrainian girl ."
20132,5,"324,000 pregnant people experience domestic violence during their pregnancy.","August 3, 2021",children;health care;public health;women,gwen moore,"U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore is a Democratic member of Congress, representing Wisconsin's 4th District, which primarily includes Milwaukee. Moore, who served in the state Legislature from 1989 to 2004, was elected to Congress in 2004.",wisconsin,7,8,8,5,5,1,Twitter,"Moore said that 324,000 pregnant people experience domestic violence during their pregnancy.  That number is backed up by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  We rate her  .    "
21992,1,"Nancy Pelosi ""almost burst out into laughter"" at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex in Yerevan.","September 18, 2022",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"In the video, she can be seen dabbing her nose and eyes, which appear wet with tears. She is not seen laughing.   In a statement Pelosi issued the day after visiting the memorial, she said that she and other members of the congressional delegation who joined her on the trip ""prayed for the 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children murdered in the genocide. Congress is committed to ensuring that the  of the genocide is never erased."" We rate claims that she was ."
2663,5,We haven't had control of the House for the last two years and it's been malfunctioning. We had 109 sessions scheduled and held 49.,"October 18, 2010",,william g. batchelder,"William G. Batchelder is speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. He represents the 69th House District, which encompasses most of Medina County.",ohio,2,1,1,0,1,3,an interview,"He mentioned passage of a two-year state budget and work on legislation to help create jobs. McCarthy can disagree with Batchelder’s attack on the House’s productivity under Budish’s leadership, but he can’t really quibble with the number of canceled sessions Batchelder claimed. He was off by one in his total of actual sessions, but that miscalculation was insignificant. We rate Batchelder's  as . Comment on this item."
8628,5,"The National Science Foundation awarded $700,000 to fund a climate change musical.","March 26, 2014",climate change;federal budget;science,lamar smith,Lamar Smith is a Republican congressman from a San Antonio-based district in Texas. He became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in January 2011.,texas,4,3,2,2,5,0,a committee hearing,"Smith said the science foundation awarded $700,000 for a climate change musical. The NSF awarded nearly that much for a theater company to produce a musical play that focuses on climate change and biodiversity conservation. We rate this statement as ."
13839,3,The average tax bill for Americans in 2016 was a 41 percent increase from 2013.,"September 18, 2017",taxes,lamar smith,Lamar Smith is a Republican congressman from a San Antonio-based district in Texas. He became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in January 2011.,national,4,3,2,2,5,0,a letter to a constituent,"Smith wrote that ""the average tax bill for Americans in 2016 was a 41 percent increase from 2013."" Smith has accurately cited the results of the federal Consumer Expenditure Survey, even though he’s glossed over the simultaneous increases in income and the fact that increases for richer taxpayers drove that increase. However, the survey’s leadership acknowledged to PolitiFact that, for technical reasons, the 2013-to-2016 comparison is undercut by methodological differences. An alternative measurement using different federal data showed that taxes, after adjusting for income increases over the same period, rose by 3 percent. That’s an increase, but a more modest one. So we rate the statement ."
11967,4,We got the highest vote count in the history of the Republican Party.,"July 5, 2016",candidate biography;elections;history;polls and public opinion,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",north carolina,36,85,120,194,360,179,"Raleigh, N.C","That’s accurate. He received 13.3 million votes, beating George W. Bush’s record of 11.5 million votes. Yet what Trump failed to mention is that he also holds the record for the most votes cast against a primary candidate, and that he’s one of only a few Republican frontrunners in modern history to have been supported by less than half of the party’s primary voters. Because Trump’s  was accurate but missing that context, we rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/be10f613-3754-43fd-9d02-e89f00619253"
14965,4,Texas is one of the most gerrymandered states in the union.,"March 16, 2018",elections,beto o'rourke,"Beto O’Rourke is a former representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional District. He represented the district from 2013 until 2019, when he gave up his seat to run a senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz, which O’Rourke lost. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Columbia University. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president.",texas,7,11,7,6,2,0,"remarks on HBO's ""Real Time with Bill Maher""","O’Rourke said, ""Texas is one of the most gerrymandered states in the union."" There are many ways to analyze this question, and depending on the method, the rankings vary a bit. But studies that look at the intersection of geographical compactness and partisan voting history consistently place Texas between fifth and seventh on the list of most gerrymandered states in the nation. Since O’Rourke called Texas ""one of the most"" gerrymandered states, such studies support his point. We rate his statement ."
634,1,"Obama says Iran is a 'tiny' country, 'doesn't pose a serious threat.'","August 27, 2008",foreign policy,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,a TV ad,"You know, Iran, they spend one-one hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance. And we should use that position of strength that we have to be bold enough to go ahead and listen."" We find the McCain ad, like the McCain speech before it, is grossly distorting Obama's remarks by suggesting that Obama was dismissing Iran as too small to be taken seriously as a threat. We find the  in the McCain ad, like the McCain speech before it, to be ."
21658,4,Ninety-two percent of abortions in Virginia take place before 15 weeks.,"July 9, 2022",abortion;health care,bob good,"Bob Good is the 2020 Republican nominee for Virginia's 5th Congressional District seat. A self-described biblical conservative, Good is a former associate athletic director at Liberty University, and served a term on the Campbell County's Board of Supervisors.
Good defeated incumbent Rep. Denver Riggleman at a convention in June 2020 to win the 5th District's GOP nominaion. He is opposed in the general election by Democrat Cameron Webb, a Charlottesville physician.
Webb graduated from Liberty in 1988 with a degree in finance.",virginia,0,1,0,1,2,3,an anti-abortion rally,"He slightly understated his case. According to CDC, 97.5% of Virginia abortions in 2019 — the latest year for which data was available — occurred at 15 weeks or earlier. Good also said, ""Ninety-nine percent of abortions take place in Virginia take place before 20 weeks."" The actual figure is 99.4% and Good accurately rounded it down. All told, we rate Good’s comments ."
2585,2,"Of the states that have a lieutenant governor, many are currently discussing the need for such an obsolete office.","October 18, 2010",,robert healey,"Robert Healey is a lawyer and businessman who ran three times for governor and three times for lieutenant governor. During his 2014 run for governor, as a representative of the Moderate Party, he garnered 21 percent of the vote. He is founder of the Cool Moose party.",rhode island,1,0,0,1,0,0,The Providence Journal,"Louisiana State Rep. Cameron Henry, whose bills never moved out of committee, said in a phone interview that he plans to file a bill in the next session ""to keep the lieutenant governor’s office, and merge the secretary of state’s job with it."" When we presented Healey with our findings, he said, in his view, ""When people are talking about it in editorials or newspapers, people are talking about the issue. That’s pretty much about the issue."" In our view, his statement that many states are ""currently discussing"" the need for the office suggests substantially more than just people or columnists giving their opinions, or recent efforts that have failed. We rule his statement ."
15916,1,"The Southern strategy is a ""myth"" that ""never happened.","April 9, 2019",elections;history;race and ethnicity;punditfact,candace owens,"Candace Owens is a conservative commentator, author and host on the Daily Wire. She formerly worked as a spokeswoman for Turning Point USA. She started Blexit, an effort to get black voters to leave the Democratic Party. She previously co-founded the website Degree180.",,0,0,0,3,5,0,a House Judiciary Committee hearing,"Owens said the Southern strategy is a ""myth"" that ""never happened."" Efforts by the Republican Party starting in the 1960s to win over white Southern voters have been documented by scholars for decades. The strongest  that it happened comes from the Republicans who were part of that strategy. There are numerous instances of them talking about the approach in documents or interviews. We rate this statement ."
16950,1,CNN reports DemDebate had 2.3 million viewers. Trump rally had 6.7 million last night!,"January 15, 2020",debates;elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"As to the number of viewers the Trump rally received, we know that Fox Business, a cable channel that aired the rally in its entirety (as CNN did for the debate), pulled in 662,000 viewers at 8 p.m. and 476,000 viewers at 9 p.m. Combined, ""Hannity"" and ""Tucker Carlson Tonight,"" two top shows on Fox News, aired less than 15 minutes of the hour-plus Trump rally. Each show had more than 3 million viewers that night, as they typically do. But it would be a stretch to conclude that the millions who watched the two shows equal millions who tuned in to solely watch Trump’s rally. The Facebook post makes a  with numbers that don’t add up. We rate it ."
20975,1,Airline CEO gets pied for forcing vaccinations,"February 8, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,,0,1,3,9,60,18,a video,"The footage is real but not recent — the incident happened in 2017 , before the COVID-19 pandemic. Joyce was speaking at a business breakfast at a hotel in Perth, in Western Australia, when Tony Overheu pied him in the face to protest Joyce’s advocacy for same-sex marriage, NBC News reported at the time. Qantas announced in August 2021 that it would require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Some Qantas employees are suing in an effort to stop the mandate, but so far their legal battle has been unsuccessful . We rate the  that Joyce was pied in the face for forcing COVID-19 vaccinations .   "
23336,0,Former President Donald Trump recently dispatched troops to the border.,"July 22, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The July 23 post, meanwhile, has a video showing a montage of clips of migrants and members of the military set to dramatic music. These, too, appear to be old. One, for example, shows an October 2018 shot of the Guatemala-Mexico border where thousands of migrants were stopped . Trump is not the president and no longer has the authority to send U.S. troops to any border.   We rate claims that he recently did !"
6687,1,"A precinct in the Allen West-Patrick Murphy recount has ""7 registered voters in Guatemalan community and the tally showed 900 voted!!!!!","November 20, 2012",elections,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"A Palm Beach Post article paraphrased West campaign manager Tim Edson saying that, ""Preliminary totals showed 900 voters cast ballots in Precinct 93, where only seven voters are registered."" The same  was picked up by people on Facebook. It's not . A machine that had the label of Precinct 93 was actually counting votes from another precinct. In the end, only six people voted in Precinct 93, which has seven total voters. We rate this  ."
22560,1,Aretha Franklin's 1968 song 'A Natural Woman' deemed 'offensive' by trans community.,"January 24, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""  A Jan. 23 blog post on iHeartradio.ca said the account responded to the platform in a direct message and said ""this is a parody account"" and ""never imagined anyone would take it seriously lol."" Franklin’s performance of ""(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman"" was released as a single 1967 and quickly rose up the charts. Written by Carol King and Gerry Goffin, it became an undisputed hit song, appearing again on the U.K. charts after Franklin died in 2018. It has been covered by numerous performers.    We rate claims that transgender activists are trying to get Aretha Franklin’s song removed from music streaming sites ."
479,3,"Obama's wife said her goal in life was to put the black community ""first and foremost.","May 13, 2008",candidate biography,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"I hope they don't pull up my college thesis papers."" The quote about Obama wanting to help the black community ""first and foremost"" is an actual quote from her senior thesis. But it's not given the proper context. And nowhere in her thesis does she say the black community should be elevated over the white community, as the person who wrote the e-mail claims. On these grounds, we rate the statement ."
14334,3,"Says Florida has ""roughly 1,500 resource officers dealing with about 3,800 schools.","February 26, 2018",education,bill galvano, Sen. Bill Galvano is a Republican politician who has served as a member of the Florida Senate since 2012. ,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,a committee meeting,"Galvano said Florida has ""roughly 1,500 resource officers dealing with about 3,800 schools."" A Florida Department of Education report found that there were 1,517 resource and law enforcement officers that served a total of 2,432 schools in the 2015-16 school year. However, that report does not include every school resource officer in the state. Galvano arrived at his 3,800 figure by taking the overall number of schools and excluding a handful of non-traditional schools. But as the report states, those 1,500 officers served 2,400 schools.  Galvano’s larger point  — that many schools lack school resource officers — appears to be on point. But his numbers are off, so we rate this  ."
11164,0,"Blue Cross Blue Shield cancelled all their individual (health care) policies in the state of Texas, effective Dec. 31.","January 21, 2016",corrections and updates;health care,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,a New Hampshire appearance,"Cruz said: ""Blue Cross Blue Shield cancelled all their individual (health care) policies in the state of Texas, effective Dec. 31."" Actually, the company continues to sell coverage all over Texas, according to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. The company also says individual customers like Cruz were notified months before 2016 changes—including an end to individual PPO plans--kicked in. So, Cruz was both  about Blue Cross’ offerings in Texas and evidently mischaracterized how his own coverage came to lapse. That adds up to !   – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. UPDATE, 9:43 a.m., Jan. 25, 2016: After we published this fact check, Cruz’s campaign separately said Cruz hadn’t realized when he spoke in New Hampshire that after Dec. 31, 2015, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas shifted Cruz’s family from the policy it was losing to an HMO plan. That is, he wasn’t uninsured after all. We’ve added this detail to our story; it did not change our rating of his general ."
17349,3,"Says ""Senator Joe Manchin hit (an) all time low saying seniors and the disabled did not need the relief package $1000 on Fox News.","March 18, 2020",disability;workers;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",west virginia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on social media,"Manchin said that federal government compensation should be targeted at those who have suffered a direct financial hit due to business closures, including the newly unemployed. Manchin said that workers who remain employed would not fit those criteria for receiving checks. Nor would people whose income consists of government checks that remain steady and reliable, such as those who live on Social Security and/or disability checks. This is a nuanced position involving how to structure government aid, rather than a shot at seniors and the disabled, as the post suggests. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
10610,2,One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically.,"August 6, 2015",federal budget;jobs;social security,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,a Republican presidential debate,"Huckabee said that ""one of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically."" Several aspects of this  are problematic, starting with the inaccuracy that only wages support Social Security. In addition, Baby Boomer retirements are shifting the ratio of recipients to workers in the  direction, but it’s not as simple as there being a dramatic decline in the number of people who get their income from wages. In fact, Huckabee overstates the impact of non-wage income on Social Security’s fiscal health; the shift from wage income to non-wage income is happening among the richest Americans, but this group still accounts for a fraction of all income earned in the country. On balance, we rate the  ."
2031,4,"In 2009, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranked Ohio 11th in the nation and 1st in the Midwest for overall business climate.","July 17, 2010",economy;small business,ted strickland,Ted Strickland was governor of Ohio from 2007 through 2010. He lost his bid for re-election in 2010 to Republican John Kasich.,ohio,1,4,7,2,6,1,a news release,"And it considers both personal and corporate taxes and other categories that reflect the state’s larger narrative about business climate. So while Strickland may overstate Ohio’s Midwest ranking, his  about the SBE’s rankings is on point and the SBE’s methodology reflects the larger context of the tax debate. We rate Strickland’s  . Comment on this item ."
9761,5,The United States right now incarcerates more African-Americans as a percentage than apartheid South Africa did.,"December 4, 2014",criminal justice;punditfact,nicholas kristof,Nicholas Kristof is a columnist for the New York Times who frequently writes about international development issues.,,2,2,0,0,1,0,"a broadcast of the ""Daily Show""","Kristof said that America puts African-Americans behind bars at a higher rate than South Africa did under apartheid. Based on the known , that appears to be correct. In 2010, the black male incarceration rate in the United States was 4,347 people per 100,000 in the United States. That comes nowhere close to reported incarceration rates of blacks in South Africa during and immediately after the apartheid era. We rate the  ."
18991,1,"You know what the biggest lie is, is that restaurants are spreaders of COVID. There's no science for that.","December 8, 2020",public health;pundits;punditfact;coronavirus,laura ingraham,"Laura Ingraham is a conservative broadcaster and commentator. On April 13, 2014, she was named an ABC News contributor.",,0,0,1,3,8,1,a TV handoff,"Ingraham said, ""You know what the biggest lie is, is that restaurants are spreaders of COVID. There's no science for that."" In fact, plenty of  suggests restaurant dining has helped spread the coronavirus. Places that allow indoor dining and don’t follow safety protocols are considered especially unsafe. We rate Ingraham’s statement . RELATED: Laura Ingraham  about 'no real scientific basis' for social distancing"
13475,5,How many federal rulings have NOW found intentional discrimination by #Txlege since 2011? 6.,"April 20, 2017",elections;history;legal issues;redistricting,rafael anchia,"Rafael Anchia, a Dallas lawyer, initially won election to represent Texas House District 103, taking in a western corridor of Dallas County, in 2004.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Anchia said that six times since 2011, federal rulings found intentional discrimination by the Texas Legislature. We confirmed six such rulings from August 2012 through April 2017 issued by federal judges regarding Republican-drawn U.S. House and Texas House districts or the GOP-driven law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls. We rate the  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
16197,1,"Says police are warning that a new technique by gangs is to throw eggs at your windshield and to not ""operate the wiper"" because it will ""block your vision up to 92.5%,"" forcing you to stop the car and become a victim.","June 20, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""After smashing the eggs on the driver's side of the windshield, a thick, clear film covered the glass. Instantly spraying the glass with fluid and turning on the wipers removed most of the residue. Although making a mess, the eggs would not force a driver to immediately pull off to the side of the road because of reduced visibility."" We even found a YouTuber who tested the  on video, using his wipers and windshield spray to try to clean up the mess of multiple broken eggs during daylight and night, and found, to quote him, ""This is not a problem, not an issue."" We rate this warning ."
6037,0,"Medicare insurance premiums will be rising to ""$120.20 per month in 2013 and $247.00 per month in 2014.","July 12, 2012",federal budget;health care;medicare;poverty;retirement,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",rhode island,6,5,9,11,44,107,a message via the Internet,"A chain e-mail says Medicare insurance premiums will be rising to ""$120.20 per month in 2013 and $247.00 per month in 2014."" The  has been repeatedly debunked and although the  can easily be found with a quick Google search, it continues to spread. Even newer estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that the increases projected through 2021 will bring the premium to $161.20 -- not even close to the $247 premium that the e-mail says will take effect in 2014. So if you're feeling hot and bothered after reading and passing along this bit of e-mail twaddle, it's not because seniors will be facing a 105 percent premium increase from 2013 to 2014. It's because you've got  ! (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
9824,2,Keystone means unlocking the Canadian tar sands.,"January 11, 2015",environment;energy,chris coons,"Chris Coons is the junior U.S. senator from Delaware, having defeated Republican Christine O’Donnell for Vice President Biden’s old seat. He served formerly as the county executive of New Castle County, Delaware.",national,1,0,1,1,0,0,"an interview on ""Fox News Sunday""","Coons said building ""Keystone means unlocking the Canadian tar sands."" Oil production has been steadily growing in the Canadian tar sands without the Keystone XL pipeline. Most experts expect that trend to continue despite current low oil prices. Coons would have been on safer ground if he said Keystone XL would unlock Canada’s ability to further increase its production capacity. The pipeline would offer much lower transportation costs than current transportation methods, which would encourage greater oil production. But his literal words weren’t accurate. We rate his  ."
3817,0,"The WIC program ""is an incredibly cost effective program, serving nearly 10 million Americans each year and costing less than $100 per person. In my district, more than 18 percent of residents suffer from food insecurity and depend on WIC to make ends meet.","June 14, 2011",children;federal budget;health care;poverty;women;taxes,david cicilline,"David Cicilline was elected to the 1st Congressional District in 2010. Before that, he was mayor of Providence, beginning in January, 2003. A Brown University graduate, he received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.",rhode island,8,4,5,7,4,1,a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives,"And if the GOP cuts were to take effect, the number of people affected in his district wouldn't be close to 1,000 -- it would be more like 225. They say that two wrongs don't make a right. We say that this many Falses in 46 seconds warrants a ! (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
16081,4,"The state contributed $80 million for the new Bucks arena, but new income tax revenue from basketball events alone ""is estimated to be probably over $600 million over the life of the lease.","May 12, 2019",sports;taxes,scott neitzel,Scott Neitzel formerly helmed the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Currently heads Wilson Wells Advisory Services. ,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,a TV interview,"Neitzel said the  state contributed $80 million for the new Bucks arena, but new income tax revenue from basketball events alone ""is estimated to be probably over $600 million over the life of the lease."" Stadium financing experts called the projections ""fantasy figures"" and ""hyperbole"" and noted such projections rarely have come  on past projects. That said, the estimates were created by state agencies. And Neitzel couched his  as a projected figure. We rate his  ."
22602,1,"A vigilante ""shot down the Chinese spy balloon in an extraordinary act.","February 4, 2023",china;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"But people unfamiliar with the Sam Hyde meme should have a hard time suspending their disbelief that a lone gunman on the ground knocked out a balloon miles and miles overhead.   Brynn Tannehill, a former naval aviator and senior technical analyst at the Rand Corp. think tank, told Insider that trying to take out a high-altitude balloon with the air defense systems the United States has is ""very difficult"" because most systems ""weren’t designed to shoot down things operating at the kinds of high altitude balloons can operate at. ""  How high does a bullet go? A physicist explored the question for Wired in 2009 and cited MythBusters, which concluded that a .30-06 cartridge will go 10,000 feet high, while a 9 mm cartridge will travel 4,000 feet.   We rate claims that a vigilante shot down the Chinese balloon ."
19508,1,There is no discernible difference between the spread and deaths of COVID in Virginia than there is in Florida.,"March 12, 2021",public health;coronavirus;virginia,pete snyder,"Pete Snyder is a Virginia entrepreneur and a Fox News contributor. He is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2021.
He founded New Media Strategies, a social media marketing agency, in 1999. That company was acquired and Snyder worked as CEO through 2011, but continued as a senior adviser afterwards. In 2012, Snyder founded Disruptor Capital, a firm that invests in technology, marketing and public affairs start-ups in Virginia. 
Snyder graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, and is a member of the board of visitors there. He unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor in 2013.",florida,0,0,1,0,2,0,a radio interview,"Snyder recounted criticism of DeSantis in April 2020 when the Florida governor resisted some COVID restrictions, including mandatory mask wearing. ""Nearly a year later, there is no discernible difference between the spread and deaths of COVID in Virginia that there is in Florida,"" Snyder said. In fact, there are easily discernible differences between that April and March 12,2021, when Snyder made his statement. Florida’s cumulative COVID case rate was 29% higher than Virginia’s; its cumulative death rate from the virus was 28% higher. So, we rate Snyder’s statement .  "
19289,1,"Nobody's health is at risk right now"" from PFAS contamination, as long as they are receiving bottled drinking water","January 31, 2021",environment;public health;water,scott manley,"Scott Manley serves as chief lobbyist for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and oversees the government relations program by directing a team of lobbyists and policy experts. He also manages WMC’s issue advocacy program, ",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,TV interview,"Elevated levels of PFAS have also been found in the livers of deer in the Marinette area, prompting the DNR to issue consumption advisories for the organs, according to a September 2020 report in the Journal Sentinel .   So even though residents may have access to clean water via deliveries of bottled water, there is still a risk of consuming contaminated produce, fish or meat from the area, which could contribute to a buildup of PFAS in the body.   Our rating Manley claimed that no one’s health is at risk if they’re receiving bottled drinking water due to contamination in their home’s water supply.   While precautions put in place to provide safe drinking water have helped mitigate the problem in the short term, residents can still ingest PFAS through other means, such as meat or fish hunted from nearby land, or possibly even produce harvested from areas where PFAS are present in the soil.   We rate the  .  "
16214,2,"Says the U.S. Department of Justice has ""seen in the past"" that police department ""consent decrees don't work, that there's very little change, that oftentimes immediately after a consent decree goes into effect, crime actually goes up.","June 21, 2019",public safety,kevin graham,Kevin Graham is the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7.,illinois,0,0,0,1,0,0,an interview,"Graham said the Justice Department has ""seen in the past"" that police department ""consent decrees don’t work, that there’s very little change, that oftentimes immediately after a consent decree goes into effect, crime actually goes up."" His office pointed us to an academic report that found court-enforced interventions were associated with an uptick in crime. What he left out is that the same report found those effects to be temporary. Experts also pointed out that such an increase doesn’t negate the progress cities under consent decrees have made in the years following implementation when it comes to improving relations between police and members of the communities they protect. Trump’s Justice Department has indeed stepped back from pushing for reforms at individual police agencies. But the same agency had lauded progress fostered by consent decrees and concluded they did not appear to endanger public safety. We rate Graham’s  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."
18943,2,"Says Raphael Warnock defended the ""hatred"" of Jeremiah Wright, the pastor who said ""not God bless America, God damn America,"" and gave Wright ""an award for truth telling.","November 13, 2020",candidate biography;religion,kelly loeffler,Kelly Loeffler is a former U.S. Senator from Georgia.,georgia,0,0,0,4,2,0,an ad,"Loeffler claimed that Warnock defended the ""hatred"" of Wright, the pastor who said in a 2003 sermon, ""not God bless America, God damn America,"" and that Warnock gave Wright ""an award for  telling."" Wright’s sermon decried America’s historical mistreatment of Black people. What Warnock defended was Wright’s role as a preacher in the "" telling"" about that mistreatment. A Texas divinity school, not Warnock, honored Wright for his career in ministry. Loeffler’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. That’s our definition of . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. RELATED: PolitiFact fact-checks and articles about the two Georgia Senate runoffs"
19236,0,"Says Joe Biden said, ""Buy a man eat fish, he day, teach fish man, to a lifetime.","February 8, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"In this case, the jumbled quote attributed to Biden appears to be made up.   PolitiFact searched Google, Nexis news archives and Factba.se , an interactive transcript website that tracks Biden’s public remarks. We found no record of Biden botching the saying in such a way. If you found yourself fooled by this Facebook post, go fish. It’s !"
15024,2,"Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department.","September 3, 2018",congress;legal issues,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said the investigations of two Republican congressmen began under Obama. The jumping-off point for the Collins insider-trading investigation was a phone call that began months after Obama left office. The start date of Hunter’s investigation is a bit trickier. A congressional watchdog looked into campaign finance allegations prior to Trump’s presidency, and some of the misconduct he’s since been indicted for also predates the 2016 presidential election. But the first public reports that Hunter was under criminal investigation appear to have surfaced in March 2017, during Trump’s presidency. We rate this ."
4602,2,"The largest number of gamblers are ""from the poorest segments of the population.","October 20, 2011",gambling;poverty,john stemberger,"John Stemberger is the president of the Florida Family Policy Council, a conservative Republican group that advocates against same-sex marriage and adoptions.",florida,0,0,0,1,2,0,a website,"The council's blog stated ""the largest numbers of gamblers comes from the poorest segments of the population."" The council's president said he was speaking in general about gambling -- not specific to lotteries or casinos or to any specific location. The data about the income demographics of gamblers must be explained in the context of the type, frequency and sometimes location of gambling. There is a lot of data to suggest that lottery sales outlets are concentrated in poor neighborhoods and that poor lottery ticket buyers end up spending a higher portion of their income. But that isn't what the council claimed. And the research about lotteries would not necessarily apply to the Las Vegas-style casinos that the Florida legislature is now considering. We rate this  . "
6583,1,"Says U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson supports a plan for ""privatizing Social Security.","October 1, 2012",federal budget;medicare;message machine 2012;social security,workers' voice,"Workers' Voice is a ""super PAC"" affiliated with the AFL-CIO",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,2,2,a campaign flier,"But the 2012 plan included no mention of privatizing Social Security. And we could find no  Thompson backed the 2010 plan or the earlier ones. Thompson promoted Bush’s ideas on privatization as a member of his cabinet until 2004. But that circumstantial , no matter how suggestive, doesn’t help prove this very specific  that Thompson endorsed a Ryan plan that touted private accounts. Based on what we know now, we rate the  ."
14353,0,BREAKING Trump Removes Muslim Federal Judge For Trying To Implement Sharia Law In America,"February 28, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"The link to trumpsolidsupporters.me remains on Miller’s Facebook page, yet an amended description for the link says: ""Well it looks like I may have been duped. This may be  news, but I still think Sharia law has no place in the United States of America."" A webviners.com post claimed Trump removed a Muslim federal judge for trying to implement Sharia law in the United States. But the post is riddled with inaccuracies and cites as a source a purveyor of  news. We rate webviners.com’s post !"
6831,4,"The United States has ""an immigration system where only 6.5 percent of people who come here, come here based on labor and skill.","January 12, 2013",immigration,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,an interview,"In an interview on reforming our immigration system, Rubio said ""I'm a big believer in family based immigration. But I don't think that in the 21st century we can continue to have an immigration system where only 6.5 percent of people who come here, come here based on labor and skill. We have to move toward merit and skill-based immigration."" Rubio pulled his number from a 2011 Brookings paper that said, ""Some 36 percent of all Canadian immigrant visas are in the ‘skilled-worker’ category, as opposed to only 6.5 percent in the United States."" Immigration data shows that most people come here for family reasons. The number of legal immigrants who come based on an employment varies depending on the type of visa and category of employment. But one valid example is to look at legal permanent residents -- 13.1 percent were employment-based preferences in 2011, and professionals with advanced degrees accounted for 6.3 percent. The data isn’t as precise as Rubio makes it sound, but his basic premise is correct, and some numbers do support his . We rate this  ."
18597,1,"Says Kamala Harris said, ""American churches are PROPAGANDA CENTERS for intolerant homophobic, xenophobic vitriol.","October 10, 2020",lgbtq;religion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"She grew up going to predominantly Black Baptist churches in Oakland, according to the Deseret News . Her mother, an immigrant from India, also took her to a Hindu temple . On Oct. 4, the paper published an opinion piece by Harris, who wrote about singing in the children’s choir at the 23rd Avenue Church of God.   ""Leadership, in my view, is strengthened by faith,"" she wrote.   We rate this post ."
10326,5,One out of five of our children live in a family that's on food stamps.,"May 16, 2015",agriculture;children;federal budget,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,Iowa,"Perry said: ""One out of five of our children live in a family that’s on food stamps."" To be precise, the latest federal estimate is that in 2014, 1 in 5 children received SNAP benefits. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
19429,2,"Says a lack of transparency for small-dollar donations is the ""same thing"" as dark money","March 10, 2021",campaign finance;elections,thom tillis,Thom Tillis is a Republican who serves as U.S. Senator from North Carolina.,north carolina,0,2,7,3,2,0,a committee meeting,"While talking about dark money, Tillis said small donations through aggregation tools are the ""same thing"" as anonymous donations to political groups. This is . While it’s  that some types of political donations aren’t reported, it’s  to say the names of people who donate through aggregators -- a type of donation that Tillis specifically mentioned -- aren’t reported. They are. Beyond that, experts say it’s  to compare the influence of a small donor with those of deep-pocketed outside interests, since the scale of the latter’s donations will carry far more weight with the candidate. Tillis’ statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
20125,1,"Photo shows Ron DeSantis holding a shirt that says, ""Your mask is as useless as Joe Biden.","August 8, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",florida,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""Great to visit the HQ for @PopeyesChicken and @BurgerKing in Miami,"" DeSantis tweeted. ""I’ve been looking for the elusive sandwich, but the stores are still out. Maybe it’s time to issue an executive order requiring all Popeyes in Florida to re-stock them ASAP?? "" We rate this post ."
18271,5,"Police are ""20.8 times more likely to kill than be killed by a criminal.","August 24, 2020",legal issues;wisconsin,chris larson,"Chris Larson, a Milwaukee Democrat, was elected to the Wisconsin state Senate in November 2010. A former member of the Milwaukee County Board, he is a candidate for Milwaukee County executive in 2016.",national,4,2,0,6,7,1,Facebook post,"The Post database breaks down another important data point: Black Americans are more likely to be shot and killed by police than white Americans. Black people account for less than 13% of the U.S. population but are killed by police at more than double the rate of white people  Black people are killed by police at a rate of 32 deaths per million people, Hispanic people at a rate of 24 per million, and white people at a rate of 13 per million, according to the database.   Our rating  Larson said police are ""20.8 times more likely to kill than be killed by a criminal. ""  FBI statistics and a national database show that checks out: In 2019, police killed 999 people, and 48 officers were killed by a criminal act in the line of duty. We rate Larson’s  . "
3144,3,Says Florida's pension plan faces the same long-term funding problems as Social Security.,"February 23, 2011",retirement;social security;state budget,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,comments to employees at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation,"Where does this leave us? Scott said that without changes, ""there might not be a pension plan, just like we're worried about Social Security."" There's no real suggestion that Florida's pension plan faces a major crisis, even from Rauh, a pension critic who believes most government plans are doomed. That said, Florida's plan -- like most government programs -- is underfunded and needs either reform or better investment returns over the long run. In that way it's not that unlike Social Security, a federal program that must be reformed in the coming years to avoid benefit cuts. We rate this statement ."
9407,3,"When I left office, there was a $7-million surplus in Providence,"" but in 2008, the city had a $110-million deficit.","September 10, 2014",candidate biography;city budget;city government;message machine 2014,"vincent ""buddy"" cianci","Vincent ""Buddy"" Cianci is a talk-radio host and ex-convict who spent more time serving as mayor of Providence (21 years from 1975 to 2002) than anyone in the city's history. He is the author of ""Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Advised a President, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale."" He was defeated in the 2014 mayoral election when he ran as an independent.",rhode island,1,2,1,0,2,1,a TV commercial,"In a TV commercial, former Providence Mayor Cianci says, ""When I left office, there was a $7-million surplus in Providence,"" but in 2008, the city had a $110-million deficit. That certainly sounds dramatic. But it’s not entirely accurate. While he was right about the surplus -- it was actually a little higher than he claimed -- he was  about the deficit. There’s an argument to be made that some type of structural deficit existed in 2008, but pegging that number at $110-million is a big leap. And Cianci’s  ignores the difference -- a big one -- between a deficit and a structural deficit. Finally, the ad implies that things were rosy under Cianci and went downhill after he left. That ignores the future problems he caused by underfunding the pension system, the effects of the Great Recession, and the strides Taveras made to bring the city back from the brink of bankruptcy. The judges were split on this one, but ultimately ruled  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
8021,3,"Says administrator salaries were increased, ""but other school employees were left behind.","October 10, 2013",education;unions,portland association of teachers,"The Portland Association of Teachers is the labor organization for teachers at Portland Public Schools, Oregon's largest school district.",oregon,0,0,1,1,0,0,a newsletter,"After all, teachers wouldn’t see as much of a base increase as administrators under the contract in question, and administrators are doing better when compared with their peers. But to determine whether teachers are truly behind, we think it’s necessary to look at more than one year. The statement ignores the five-year history, which shows that teachers are modestly behind peers in other districts but not Portland Public Schools administrators. We rate this  . ( Note : This PolitiFact replaces and earlier version an was updated to reflect new information.)"
12777,0,"There was ""serious voter fraud"" in New Hampshire.","November 27, 2016",elections;government regulation;voting record,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",new hampshire,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Our rating Trump claimed ""serious voter fraud"" existed in New Hampshire and two other states on election day, Nov. 8. Those in charge of overseeing New Hampshire’s elections and investigating election complaints said any instances of voter fraud in the state have historically been extremely rare. The most recent election was no exception, with no complaints of voter fraud filed in an election in which more than 728,000 ballots were cast. It’s a reckless  with zero . We rate the  .  "
22848,2,"Florida man charged with a hate crime"" for defacing pride crosswalk.","April 3, 2023",crime;lgbtq,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,florida,2,4,6,12,98,39,a Tweet,"Because the crosswalk is city property and the city cannot have a sexual orientation, the charge was not applied.   Jerich was ultimately charged with felony criminal mischief  exceeding $1,000 and misdemeanor reckless driving causing damage. In June 2022, Jerich pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and a mental health screening.   The  that Jerich was charged with a hate crime contains an element of  about the initial arrest, but it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression about the outcome. That’s our definition of ."
3833,1,"There is no $30 million pot of money"" for redistricting issues, including defending redistricting lawsuits. ""Your tax dollars are not being spent on anything like that.","June 22, 2011",redistricting,will weatherford,"State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, is Florida's Speaker of the House for 2013-14.",florida,0,3,4,2,3,0,Panama City,"There are two pots of money available for lots of things, but the House speaker said the money predominantly is available to fight potential redistricting lawsuits. That admission, which is not in dispute, defies Weatherford's other point, that ""your tax dollars are not being spent on anything like that"" -- referring to redistricting lawsuits. The Legislature is planning on doing exactly that. There's too much about this  that is missing. We rate it ."
2642,0,Pres. Obama's finance team is recommending a . . . 1% tax on all transactions at any financial institution.,"October 31, 2010",deficit;economy;taxes,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",rhode island,6,5,9,11,44,107,a message via the Internet,"One final point about the e-mail that's been circulating in Rhode Island. It says at the beginning, ""You can confirm with Snopes as it is no exageration (sic),"" a reference to our good friends at Snopes.com, which examines the truthfulness of urban legends. Yet if you actually search Snopes.com, you'll discover that the website concluded that it IS an exaggeration. That's a trend we've been seeing a lot lately -- e-mails with bogus information that try to sound authentic by falsely claiming that Snopes has found it to be . For all those reasons, we rate this  e-mail ."
2001,0,"Nobody's invited us"" to the Obama events in Atlanta.","July 24, 2010",elections,chris carpenter,Manages Roy Barnes campaign,georgia,0,0,0,0,0,1,radio news story,Was Barnes invited to any Obama event while the president is in town? The people doing the inviting said Barnes was indeed invited to the Obama fund-raiser. It would be bizarre if Barnes were not on the invitation list since he has been a contributor to both Obama and the DNC. PolitiFact Georgia smells smoke on this one. We give Carpenter a .
11353,2,"Spending on welfare, on prisons, and education, all of those have dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars"" because of Arizona's immigration laws that drove out undocumented immigrants.","February 25, 2016",immigration,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",arizona,8,22,21,48,47,11,remarks during the GOP debate at the University of Houston,"Cruz said, ""spending on welfare, on prisons, and education, all of those have dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars"" because of Arizona’s exodus of undocumented immigrants. That’s far from clear. While it’s technically possible to receive cash welfare through U.S.-born children, undocumented immigrants do not receive cash welfare directly. And, the state’s prison and education budgets do not solely account for those without papers. Even then, any potential savings would be hard to calculate. It is not an apples to oranges comparison. The recession played a significant role in Arizona’s immigrant population decline, too. There’s been no noticeable windfall in the state budget for welfare, education and prisons that we could document. We rate Cruz’s  as ."
17780,0,"Says ""a rioter accidentally dropped"" a riot manual with detailed instructions.","May 31, 2020",public safety;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Some of the protests in Baltimore did become violent, but the one this document talks about escalating into a riot was not. Back then, NBC reported that protestors gathered in front of the Western District station, put their hands up and turned their backs to the police station. There was no complicated route like the one shown in the ""riot manual,"" and there were only peaceful demonstrations. To sum up, this ""riot manual"" was created in 2015 and doesn’t apply to the protests happening in 2020. We rate this  !"
1522,3,"Cuba wants to let the Chinese drill in some of the very parts of the gulf that American producers are currently forbidden to touch, as close as 45 miles off the Florida coast.","March 30, 2010",energy,cliff stearns,Cliff Stearns is a Republican from Ocala serving in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Congressional District 6.,florida,1,1,2,0,0,0,a statement on his campaign Web site,"Cuba controls its own offshore, just like the United States. And the Chinese lease wouldn't be 45 miles from the Florida coast. The areas closest to the United States haven't been leased yet. But he's right in suggesting that Cuba could end up drilling closer to U.S. shores than America currently allows in its offshore waters. We rate his  ."
18485,3,"The typical elementary school teacher pays $7,239 in federal income taxes, and firefighters pay $5,328, while Donald Trump paid $750.","September 27, 2020",elections;taxes,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a campaign ad,"A Biden ad compared the amount of federal income tax Trump reportedly paid in 2017 with the ""typical income tax"" paid by categories of essential workers.  According to tax policy experts, the Biden campaign used incomplete data to arrive at the amounts for the ""typical income tax"" paid by essential workers. The figures were based on tax estimates for single taxpayers with no children or dependents, or other sources of taxable income, and it didn’t account for workers in other filing categories. But the experts said the general thrust of the ad is accurate: Most Americans paid far more than $750 in federal income taxes.  The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate this ad ."
12230,4,"Says the director of an anti-abortion group receiving a Texas grant to provide women's health services ""believes HIV can be spread through the sewer system.","August 10, 2016",health care;public health,joaquin castro,"Initially elected to the Texas House in 2002, Joaquin Castro initially won election to the U.S. House in November 2012.",texas,2,3,3,1,0,0,a tweet about Carol Everett of the Heidi Group,"Castro said Everett ""believes HIV can be spread through the sewer system."" Everett didn’t explicitly say as much and told us she doesn’t believe it. However, on two occasions, she raised the ""what-if"" spectre of a woman somehow passing along the virus or an STD through fetal material flushed down a drain. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/148168e6-0c97-4ec3-a073-4a6344d56ce6"
5989,4,"Says Chris Christie ""has refused to fund pensions by billions of dollars,"" and got legislative approval to begin ""properly funding pensions"" in 2018.","July 23, 2012",pensions;retirement,dannel malloy,"Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, is the governor of Connecticut. Before being elected governor in November 2010, Malloy served as the mayor of Stamford from 1995 to 2009.",new jersey,0,1,1,0,0,0,a radio interview,"In a radio interview, Malloy claimed Christie ""has refused to fund pensions by billions of dollars,"" and got legislative approval to begin ""properly funding pensions"" in 2018. In March 2010, Christie introduced his first budget without including billions’ worth of recommended pension payments, and then signed legislation delaying a full annual contribution until fiscal year 2018. Christie made a payment in fiscal year 2012 and an even larger payment is scheduled for fiscal year 2013, but those payments still fall short of full contributions by billions of dollars. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com .  "
14521,0,"Says Sen. Jon Tester ""took an income raise in the omnibus bill.","March 28, 2018",congress,matthew rosendale,Matthew Rosendale is seeking the Republican nomination in Montana’s 2018 U.S. Senate race. He is currently Montana's state auditor.,national,0,0,0,1,0,3,a debate,"Rosendale said Tester ""took an income raise in the omnibus bill."" Congress’ pay has been frozen at $174,000 per member since 2009. Under the omnibus spending bill, it remains frozen through 2018. Rosendale has no basis for his . We rate it !"
11411,4,Seventy percent of Missourians support voter photo ID legislation.,"March 4, 2016",elections;legal issues;race and ethnicity,caleb rowden,Caleb Rowden is a member of the Missouri House of Representatives representing District 44.,missouri,1,2,2,1,1,0,a Columbia/Boone County League of Women Voters Town Hall,"Rowden’s statement that ""70 percent of Missourians support voter photo ID identification"" isn’t fully supported by the poll he provided. The poll Rowden cited only asks about ""requiring Missouri driver’s licenses or other valid form of ID to vote."" It doesn’t specify that the proposed legislation restricts valid identification to IDs that have photos. But national polls show about 75 percent of Americans support requiring a photo ID to vote. The wording in the poll Rowden cited is confusing, but the results mirror the national trend. We rate this statement ."
70,3,21-million Americans could have a four-year college scholarship for the money we've squandered in Iraq. 7.6-million teachers could have been hired last year if we weren't squandering this money.,"June 28, 2007",iraq,mike gravel,"Mike Gravel is a former senator from Alaska. Gravel served as senator from 1969 until 1981 and ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008.. He is also a former lieutenant in the U.S. Army, serving from 1951 to 1954. Gravel received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University School of General Studies. In 2019, he announced he is running for the Democratic nomination for president.",national,1,0,1,1,0,1,"Washington, DC","The U.S. Department of Education reports the average teacher salary was $47,750 in 2005, the most recent year available. That produces a total of $363-billion, well below the lowest estimate. The Congressional Budget Office conservatively estimates the entire bill for the Iraq war since 2001 is $413-billion. The Congressional research did its own calculation to show that the price tag to date is $450.4-billion. So Gravel's comparisons are at once exaggerated and underestimated, but they are within the same range of the projected costs."
22335,1,The death of a 4-year-old who appeared in vaccination campaign posters is linked to vaccines.,"November 13, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"Multiple Argentine news outlets reported that Santino Godoy Blanco died Nov. 3 after coming down with a fever and being admitted to a local hospital. An autopsy determined Blanco died from bilateral pneumonia, which involves infection of both lungs .   Blanco was featured in a recent advertising campaign from the Argentine Ministry of Health encouraging childhood vaccinations against measles, mumps, polio and rubella. The campaign was unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccine.    We rate the  that the death of the 4-year-old poster boy from a vaccination campaign is linked to vaccines . "
12015,5,There are at least twice as many licensed firearm dealers in California as there are McDonald's.,"July 6, 2016",guns,safety for all initiative,The Safety For All Initiative is a California measure proposed for the November ballot. It is led by Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and includes restrictions on gun and ammunition purchases in the state.,california,1,1,0,0,0,0,an email,    – The statement is accurate and there's nothing significant missing.   Click here for   more   on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/021386a3-8596-462e-b6b4-00ac302b2bff    
8054,5,Says the Affordable Care Act has already reduced the number of uninsured in Oregon by 10 percent.,"November 4, 2013",health care;public health,jeff merkley,Jeff Merkley is a Democratic senator from Oregon. He was elected in 2008. Merkley won his first campaign for the Oregon Legislature as a representative in 1998. He was elected Democratic leader in 2003 and speaker of the House in 2007. He studied international relations at Stanford University and earned a graduate degree in public policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.,oregon,5,6,3,0,1,0,a newspaper article,"The ruling: Even if you count all of them as having lost their insurance, though, when Merkley’s staff referenced the 10 percent figure on Nov. 4, some 70,000 had received coverage through the fast-track program. That means you still have a net gain of 56,000 people covered. Put another way, Oregon had reduced its uninsured by 10 percent. We rate this  . Share your thoughts on this ruling back on OregonLive ."
2199,4,"The president's party always gets shellacked in midterms. It's only twice, 1934 and 2002, that the president's party actually gained in both the House and the Senate.","September 5, 2010",elections;history;pundits;this week - abc news,mary jordan,"Mary Jordan is moderator of Washington Post Live, a conference and events arm of the Washington Post. She was the Washington Post's co-bureau chief in Tokyo from 1995 to 1999 and in Mexico City from 2000 to 2005.",national,0,2,0,0,0,0,"a roundtable discussion on ABC's ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour""","So because of this oddity, we'll leave 1902 out. In all, then, Jordan is on target by singling out 1934 and 2002 as the only years in which a president's party gained seats in both chambers during a midterm election. But she stretched a bit when she said that ""the president's party always gets shellacked in midterms."" If she'd said ""usually gets shellacked,"" she would have been on safe ground, but the examples of 1962, 1990 and 1998 demonstrate that an incumbent president can in fact lose ground in Congress without being ""shellacked."" On balance, we rate Jordan's statement ."
13055,4,"Midland, Texas, now beats the San Francisco area in the percentage of jobs created by startups.","January 31, 2017",economy;states,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,his State-of-the-State address,"Abbott told legislators Midland ""now beats the San Francisco area in the percentage of jobs created by startups."" The Midland area in 2014 whaled the San Francisco area by this metric. We don’t know where either region ranks now; the government hasn’t done an update. It’s worth clarifying too that startups in this context simply means new businesses; Midland didn’t become a better-than-California high-tech hub. The two economies differ in scale and job types. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2dd15238-00ae-4b72-8d66-4b42a615d80f"
17448,0,North Carolina & Virginia State line is closed. Nothing in or out.,"April 6, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",north carolina,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A viral Facebook post says ""North Carolina & Virginia State line is closed. Nothing in or out."" The NC-Virginia border isn’t closed, according to officials from both states. Nor is there a statewide ban on movement in or out of the state.  The post broadcasted serious misinformation at a time when people are nervous about how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their work and their access to essential goods. We rate this  ."
6773,5,Faculty salaries at UW System institutions have now fallen more than 18 percent below the national average.,"December 7, 2012",education;state budget,kevin reilly,"Kevin P. Reilly began his tenure as the sixth president of the University of Wisconsin System on September 1, 2004. Reilly served as Chancellor of UW-Extension from July 2000 through August 2004. He was Provost and Vice Chancellor of Extension from 1996 to 2000. A native of New York City, Reilly came to Wisconsin from the State University of New York System, where he was Associate Provost for Academic Programs and then Secretary of the University.",wisconsin,1,0,1,0,0,0,public remarks,"Curtis cautioned that a system-wide number may signal a disparity in a broad sense, but really is not very meaningful for addressing pay institution-by-institution because the overall figure combines a wide range of institutions of different types. A system-wide look does not shed light on pay differences by field, either -- history professors vs. engineering professors, etc. Our rating Reilly said ""faculty salaries at UW System institutions have now fallen more than 18 percent below the national average."" The aggregate figure has its limitations as a precise guide for future action, but Reilly scores with this broad comparison, which suggests a significant disparity. We rate his  ."
15008,5,"Says he's a ""small-town supervisor who has kept a balanced budget, who has increased surpluses, who has led us to the highest credit rating our town has ever had.","August 8, 2018",candidate biography;city budget;city government,nate mcmurray,"Nathan McMurray is supervisor of the town of Grand Island, New York. He is a Democrat running for a seat in the House of Representatives in the 27th District. ",new york,2,2,0,1,0,0,Hamburg.,"Still, his  about keeping a balanced budget is . McMurray’s  about increasing surpluses is . The town had more surplus funds at the end of 2017 than it did when he took office, though it decreased slightly in his second year in office. His  that the town has the highest credit rating it has ever had is , based on all available information. We rate his statement .      "
10387,1,Even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work. It came out recently they have equipment that is 30 years old. They don't know if it worked.,"June 16, 2015",military;nuclear,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,his presidential announcement speech,"Trump said that ""even our nuclear arsenal doesn't work. It came out recently they have equipment that is 30 years old. They don't know if it worked."" There have been a number of high-profile lapses in the management of the country’s nuclear stockpile in recent years, but those problems have to do with personnel and training. They’re not an indication that the weapons themselves ""don’t work"" -- which, if it were , would be a significant problem for the nation’s strategic military position in the world. In reality, the United States has been spending $35 billion a year to upgrade its nuclear stockpile, and officials tasked with certifying the safety and reliability of the current arsenal have consistently given their seal of approval. We rate Trump’s  ."
878,1,"Obama nominee Dawn Johnsen ""called motherhood 'involuntary servitude.'","March 23, 2009",abortion,house republican conference,House Republicans are represented by the House Republican Conference.,national,0,1,4,0,3,1,a blog post,"After we asked the Republican Conference about the , staffer Ericka Andersen acknowledged it was . ""You are correct that the post was written inaccurately,"" she told us in an e-mail. She corrected the post to say Johnsen ""equated forced pregnancy with 'involuntary servitude.'"" Kudos to the conference for acknowledging the error. But we still find the original  ."
2984,5,Says there have been 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade was decided.,"January 22, 2011",abortion,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,a speech,"Representatives of abortion rights organizations Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas told us that the Guttmacher Institute is the best source for this information. Summing up: Perry's statement indicating that there have been 50 million abortions in the United States since 1973 appears to be on target. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that there were 49.3 million abortions in the U.S. through 2008 — 700,000 shy of 50 million. Considering that Guttmacher says there were more than 1 million abortions in both 2007 and 2008, it's reasonable to conclude that the United States has reached the 50 million mark. We rate Perry's statement ."
3736,4,The Obama administration has cut taxes on small businesses 17 times.,"June 12, 2011",health care;small business;stimulus;taxes,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press',"As for allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, that might certainly affect a number of small business owners. But that's still just an Obama proposal. It hasn't happened. The only policy actually signed by the president so far was a compromise agreement that extended the tax cuts through 2012. So we rate Wasserman Schultz's comment ."
3284,3,"The Congressional Budget Office has this economic model where they measure the economy going forward, and they are now telling us that the entire economy crashes in the year 2037 because their computer simulation can't conceive of any way in which the U.S. economy can continue.","March 18, 2011",economy,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",national,11,16,24,23,7,5,a private briefing to Members of Congress,"""The  is that nobody really knows what would happen as the debt-to-GDP ratio pushes through 100 percent on the way to 200 or 300 percent. The models certainly are not capable of anticipating the effects.   But you don't have to have an economic model to appreciate the clear picture of fiscal Armageddon."" Generally, then, Ryan’s oversimplifications and exaggerations lead us to downgrade our rating, but his broader point about the perils of the debt for the nation’s economy remains accurate. On balance, we rate his statement ."
22479,2,Kevin Adams wants to ban abortion.,"December 23, 2022",abortion,aaron rouse,"Aaron Rouse has been a Virginia Beach City Council member since 2018. He is the 2023 Democratic nominee in a special election for a state Senate seat that opened with the election of Republican Jen Kiggans to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rouse is a Virginia Beach native and sociology graduate of Virginia Tech. He played professional football with the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants from 2007 to 2009. He is the founder of  Rouse's House, a non-profit helping children.
 
 ",virginia,0,0,0,1,0,0,a TV ad,"Virginia now bans elective abortions at the end of the second trimester — about 26 weeks. A Rouse spokesman said the 15-week compromise is a ban because it would block some women from ending pregnancies. That qualification, however, is not in the ad. Viewers are simply told Adams ""wants to ban abortion."" We rate Rouse’s  .  "
14946,3,"Claims that Democratic candidate for governor Matt Flynn ""told one child predator to 'wait and see,' when he should have turned him in to authorities.","August 1, 2018",children;elections;legal issues,republican party of wisconsin,The Wisconsin Republican Party works to elect Republicans to state and federal offices and advance the GOP agenda.,wisconsin,0,4,5,9,4,0,a radio ad,"Our rating The Wisconsin GOP claims that Flynn ""told one child predator to ‘wait and see,’ when he should have turned him in to authorities."" Knighton and the archdiocese have described events that would support the , but their accounts have been disputed by Flynn. That said, Knighton does not legally qualify as as a child predator (or even a sex offender) -- which is central to the  in the GOP ad. Finally, Flynn had no legal obligation to report a non-client to the authorities, but some might argue he had a moral one. On balance, we rate the  ."
1355,3,"The House passed a pay-as-you-go rule that said, ""If you wanted to have an investment, an entitlement, etc., you had to pay for it.","February 4, 2010",federal budget;stimulus,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,a press conference,"But the second part of her statement -- ""if you wanted to have an investment, an entitlement, etc., you had to pay for it"" -- contains some aspects that are . Investments made with discretionary spending, from highway-building to elementary school aid, were never supposed to be subject to PAYGO. Nor were ordinary increases in entitlements. In addition, even for key bills that should have been subject to PAYGO, Democratic leaders have acted to waive the rule on several occasions. So we rate Pelosi's statement ."
5586,4,New Jersey has the largest transit system in the entire country.,"May 3, 2012",transportation,bill pascrell,Bill Pascrell is Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey.,new jersey,0,4,4,0,3,0,"an interview on WOR 710-AM's ""The John Gambling Show""","Pascrell claimed during an interview on ""The John Gambling Show"" that New Jersey’s transit system is the largest in the nation, but didn’t distinguish that there are statewide systems and regional systems. Still, transportation experts and agencies we spoke with don’t discount the congressman’s statement. New York’s MTA is the biggest overall and New Jersey is within the top 10. In terms of statewide systems, New Jersey’s is, indeed, the largest. We rate the statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
11123,4,"The economy is ""too weak to raise income levels.","January 12, 2016",economy;income,nikki haley,"Nikki Haley announced on Feb. 14, 2023 that she is running for president in the Republican primary. Haley was the governor of South Carolina 2011-2017 and then served as President Donald Trump's ambassador to the UN in 2017 and 2018.",national,0,4,4,4,4,1,the Republican response to the State of the Union address,"Haley said the economy is ""too weak to raise income levels."" While the economy under Obama has made significant strides in such areas as job creation, income has not been an area of significant improvement. Median income is lower now compared to 2009. It is, however, slightly up from its low point in 2012. Haley’s  is generally accurate but somewhat depends on your time frame and what you would consider a rise in income levels. We rate her statement ."
8982,3,I don't own a single stock or bond … I have no savings accounts.,"June 23, 2014",campaign finance;ethics;income;transparency,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,the White House Summit on Working Families,"Biden said, ""I don't own a single stock or bond... I have no savings accounts."" Biden was  to say that he doesn't have a savings account because he shares one with his wife. However, he doesn't have ownership over any stocks and bonds -- those all belong to his wife. We rate his statement ."
15352,2,"Says Ken Paxton ""shut down the world's largest human trafficking marketplace.","October 25, 2018",crime,ken paxton,"As a Republican state senator, Ken Paxton won election as Texas attorney general in 2014. He previously served as a Texas House member from McKinney.",texas,1,1,0,3,2,3,a TV ad,"Paxton says he ""shut down the world’s largest human trafficking marketplace."" We see an element of  to this : The Texas attorney general’s office helped shut down the Backpage website, which is what another Paxton ad says. However, the federal government led the shutdown and officials in other states pitched in. Significantly too, we otherwise landed no confirmation that the Backpage site, which profited from ads about sex, also was the world’s largest trafficking marketplace--a classification that experts found dubious and unverifiable. All told, we rate this statement .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
3942,3,"Sherrod Brown was just voted two years in a row the most liberal senator in the United States of America"" and is more liberal than Sen. Bernie Sanders.","June 24, 2011",,josh mandel,"Josh Mandel, a Republican from Lyndhurst, is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He served as Ohio treasurer from 2011 to 2019.  Before that, he was a state representative from the 17th Ohio House District. He unsuccessfully challenged Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 US Senate race. Mandel is running for the GOP nomination for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat in 2022.",ohio,5,5,3,5,6,7,a radio interview,"And both were careful to say that Brown was ""rated"" or ""judged"" the most liberal, attributing the  as opposed to making it themselves.   Yet there is so much more information available, and so many more details -- the nine-way tie in 2010, the Sanders position in only one of the years (and not the most recent), the other ratings in which Brown was not first.    A casual  listener or reader would miss out on important context if he or she only heard their  and didn’t see the fuller picture. A statement that is accurate but leaves out important details like these gets one rating on the -O-Meter: . Comment on this item ."
19231,1,"Shell Oil laying off 9,000 workers"" because of Joe Biden.","February 8, 2021",energy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The move followed similar steps taken by its European rivals, BP and ENI, which also plan to reduce their focus on oil and gas and build new low-carbon businesses, according to Reuters. Shell said in April that it would become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.   The job cuts will range from 7,000 to 9,000 workers by the end of 2022, according to Business Insider. Shell’s CEO has said there are ""too many layers in the company"" and that it is ""looking to remove that complexity, and cost."" We rate this Facebook post ."
382,2,"Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to raise taxes on dividends, a move that would crash the stock market.","March 13, 2008",taxes,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"Another tax policy expert also shot down the stock-market-crash scenario: ""Raising the dividend tax could cause some high income U.S. investors to move some of their wealth out of stocks, but all the analyses I have seen suggested the effect on the stock market would be small and would be swamped by changes in stock prices due to other causes,"" said Eric Toder, a tax policy expert with the Urban Institute. We find the e-mail gets its summary of the dividends tax only partially correct, though it is right that Obama specifically proposes an increase on the tax and Clinton has indicated she wants to let the Bush tax cuts expire for higher-income taxpayers. But Clinton hasn't staked out a specific change on the dividends tax and it's  for the e-mail to use one. And, the e-mail is  to suggest a change in the dividends tax would cause the stock market to crash. We rate its claims ."
3360,5,"Says ""some [states] with the largest reductions in crime have also lowered their prison population.","January 7, 2011",criminal justice;crime;state budget,newt gingrich,"Newt Gingrich is a political adviser and author. A former Georgia congressman, Gingrich served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich sought the GOP nomination for president in 2012.",georgia,7,11,21,17,15,12,an op-ed,"There is some debate about what factors are causing a decline in crime. Gingrich and Nolan argued that ""some"" states with major reductions in crime have also had large drops in their incarceration rate. The Pew figures provide support to Gingrich’s point. So does the National Institute of Corrections data. Therefore, we rate Gingrich’s statement as ."
13731,5,"I think what the authors of the (25th) Amendment principally had in mind was some kind of physical incapacitation or serious mental illness or a breakdown, an inability to function in office.","August 20, 2017",congress;disability;legal issues,adam schiff,"Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He represents California's 28th congressional district and was first elected to Congress in 2001. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University.",national,1,0,0,0,1,0,an interview,"Schiff said, ""I think what the authors of the (25th) Amendment principally had in mind was some kind of physical incapacitation or serious mental illness or a breakdown, an inability to function in office."" The framers used deliberately broad language to allow for flexibility. But the record clearly shows they intended section four of the 25th Amendment to apply when a president is ""unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office"" due to either physical or mental inability, and not principally as a strategy for ousting an unpopular president. We rate Schiff’s statement ."
7797,3,"According to the most recent jobs report, ""we've got more Americans leaving the workforce than we have finding jobs.","September 12, 2013",economy;jobs,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,a press conference,"Boehner said that, according to the most recent jobs report, ""we've got more Americans leaving the workforce than we have finding jobs."" That is what the most recent one-month jobs report found. However, there’s less to this piece of data than meets the eye. Looking at the year-to-date and year-to-year figures show the opposite pattern, and Boehner’s calculation doesn’t account for the large numbers of baby boomers who are retiring because they no longer want to work. In all, Boehner has stated one fact correctly -- and put his finger on an issue of concern to economists -- but he’s ignored other pieces of that give a more nuanced impression. We rate his  ."
9640,4,"The gender gap in his support is ""not unique to me"" and ""there's not a huge gap from where Republicans have been in presidential, gubernatorial and US Senate elections"" in recent years.","October 14, 2014",elections;women,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,an interview,"Burke has been winning 48 percent of female registered voters and 40 percent of male registered voters.         Our rating Walker said the gender gap in his support is ""not unique to me"" and ""there’s not a huge gap from where Republicans have been in presidential, gubernatorial and US Senate elections"" in recent years. Walker is correct when he suggests the gender gap in his race is not dramatically different from that seen for other Republican candidates in other comparable races in Wisconsin in recent history. At the same time, according to exit polls, Walker’s 2012 recall win featured a bigger gender gap than any other recent race for governor or U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. We rate his  ."
16075,1,"Vanilla ice cream was black until 1912, when ""white people couldn't tolerate eating something that tasted soooooo delicious being black.","May 15, 2019",civil rights;history;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The  that vanilla ice cream used to be black appeared online around the same time. Snopes, for example, fact-checked it back in 2017 . ""We contacted a representative for Morgenstern’s in 2017, who told us that the image indeed shows its ‘coconut ash’ flavor and confirmed that they also sold black cones,"" the story says. Since then, New York City has banned activated charcoal from food and drink in the city. We rate this Facebook post ."
3164,4,"Under a proposed Georgia law, ""women who miscarry could become felons.","February 23, 2011",abortion,liberal blogger,Liberal blogger,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,1,a blog post,"Women in Georgia and across the nation have previously been prosecuted for actions investigators think adversely affected their fetuses, even if the law does not specifically call for them to do so.    However, women who miscarry might not be handled as felons. It depends on how prosecutors and judges decide to handle the law. The statement could use a little more context. We therefore rule Phillips’ statement ."
21093,3,"Says President Joe Biden ""is trying to send taxpayer dollars to manufacturers overseas that do not abide by the same (carbon emission) standards we do at home.","February 3, 2022",environment;economy;trade;taxes,glenn grothman,"Republican Glenn Grothman, of the Town of Glenbeulah in Sheboygan County, was first elected to Congress in 2014 after serving 21 years in the Wisconsin Legislature. He represents the 6th Congressional District in east-central Wisconsin that includes all or parts of Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Fond du Lac, Dodge, Winnebago, Columbia, Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara counties.  
 ",wisconsin,8,2,6,4,7,0,Twitter,"Grothman claimed Biden ""is trying to send taxpayer dollars to manufacturers overseas that do not abide by the same (carbon emission) standards we do at home."" That is certainly not the intent of the Build Back Better plan, which includes ""Made in America"" provisions and efforts to guard against this happening. But economists note that China’s dominance in rare earths, for instance, means they would benefit from the spending as well. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, our rating is .  "
6197,3,"In Massachusetts, Gov. Romney narrowed the gap between students of different races.","August 30, 2012",education,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,national,14,24,17,18,5,2,a convention speech,"    Bush said, ""in Massachusetts, Gov. Romney narrowed the gap between students of different races."" State education figures over two years support Bush’s  about learning gains when Romney was governor, although it’s worth noting that some areas declined on Romney’s watch, such as the drop-out rate. And it’s always somewhat dubious to take a snapshot of statistics from only one or two years, when, as d'Entremont said, ""significant gains in student achievement don’t happen overnight, and the gains in Massachusetts are the result of a 20-year reform effort.""     What’s more, Romney, a single-term governor, should not get all the credit for improvement in the achievement gap, which is influenced by myriad factors.     Bush’s statement about Romney is partially accurate but omits a lot of important information and overstates the former governor’s impact. We rate it ."
7146,3,Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed held not one conversation with the public about the new Falcons stadium project,"March 20, 2013",city government;transparency,william perry,William Perry is the executive director of Common Cause Georgia.,georgia,0,1,1,0,0,0,newspaper column,But the mayor did not initiate any of those meetings. And Reed did not host any town hall meetings in the communities that will be impacted most by the stadium. Perry has a point -- Reed could have done a lot more to engage the public in person. But Perry’s  statement needs a lot of context to be fully understood. We rated Perry’s statement .
5082,2,"If you look at states that are right to work, they constantly do not have budget deficits and they have very good business climates.","January 27, 2012",economy;labor;states;unions;workers,nicholas kettle,"Rhode Island State Sen. Nicholas D. Kettle, a Republican, represents Coventry, Foster and Scituate.",rhode island,0,0,0,1,0,0,a radio talk show,"Kettle said not only that right-to-work states do not run deficits, but that they ""constantly"" do not. But the source he used for this  clearly shows that since 2009 many right-to-work states have had budget deficits. For 2013, a much smaller share of right-to-work states are facing deficits than union states, but in past years the ratios have been very close. Clearly, then, this part of the  is not accurate. For the second part of the  -- that business climates are better in right-to-work states -- the research is not as clear. We found one study that found a greater historical increase in manufacturing jobs in select counties in right-to-work states than in neighboring counties in union states. But the author of that study was emphatic in saying that he could not prove that the increase was due to right-to-work laws. And the author of the Wall Street commentary Kettle cites also says pro-business policies matter for growth, not right-to-work laws specifically. The same can be said of the multiple business climate indexes we found. They did generally rank right-to-work states higher than union states, but they considered many other factors, including tax policy, that could account for the better rankings. We could not find any studies to prove Kettle’s  -- that right-to-work laws lead directly to better business climates. Overall, we rate Kettle’s statement . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
3704,3,"Says that Sarah Palin and Craig Huey ""would ban a woman's right to choose in every case","June 7, 2011",abortion,janice hahn,"Janice Hahn is a Democratic Los Angeles City Councilwoman and is running to be a U.S. Congresswoman from California.
 ",national,1,0,1,0,0,0,a TV ad,"Whether they ""would ban"" a woman’s right to choose, depends a bit on how you interpret the phrase ""would"" and whether they make any exceptions. It's  that Congress does not have the power to overturn Roe v. Wade -- which Huey’s campaign says he understands and respects. But we also think it's fair game to say what your opponent ""would"" do if they could. However, we think the word ""ban"" is too sweeping, since Palin, at least, makes an exception for the life of the mother.   We rate the  ."
15511,0,"Says 19,000 text messages exchanged between former FBI officials that were ""purposely and illegally deleted ... would have explained (the special counsel investigation) hoax.","December 18, 2018",legal issues,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said 19,000 text messages exchanged between former FBI officials that were ""purposely and illegally deleted ... would have explained (the special counsel investigation) hoax."" The Justice Department inspector general’s report suggests the texts slipped through the cracks due to technical glitches with the FBI’s data-collection tool, not because Strzok and Page deliberately deleted them. An outside expert hired by the inspector general concluded ""it was unlikely that Strzok and Page attempted to circumvent the FBI's text message collection capabilities,"" and the watchdog found no  they did. Trump’s suggestion that the messages are permanently lost is . The OIG recovered more than 19,000 messages from the government-issued Samsung phones of Strzok and Page, totaling more than 126,000 lines of text. And lastly, there is no  the texts show that the special counsel investigation is, as Trump called it, a ""hoax."" We rate this  ."
15895,4,"Abortion providers perform almost 60,000 procedures in Texas every year.","April 1, 2019",abortion,donna campbell,"Donna Campbell, a New Braunfels physician, won election to represent Texas Senate District 25 in November 2012. In 2010, she was the Republican nominee for the U.S. House seat held by Democrat Lloyd Doggett of Austin.",texas,1,2,1,1,1,1,the Texas Senate,"In 2016, there were more than 54,000 abortions performed in Texas. Not all of those procedures were performed by providers who would fall under Campbell’s proposal. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."
11669,0,"Frankly, (Hillary Clinton) doesn't do very well with women.","May 2, 2016",polls and public opinion;women,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on CNN's ""New Day""","Trump said, ""Frankly, (Hillary Clinton) doesn’t do very well with women."" The  he used to support this  during the CNN interview -- his large margins among women in recent GOP primaries -- is undeniable, but says nothing about how well Clinton does among women. In fact, looking at a cross-section of April polls, Clinton’s average lead over Trump among female voters is bigger than any nominee has registered in an actual presidential election election in at least 36 years. We rate Trump’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/7c1e3b4d-d33c-4769-96e9-886d503a362a"
7446,1,"Says less than half of 1 percent of all the Texas legislators who ever served draw ""a benefit"" from pensions tied to the salaries of state district judges.","May 21, 2013",pensions,doug miller,"Doug Miller, a House member since 2011, is a former mayor of New Braunfels and former chairman of the board of the Edwards Aquifer Authority.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a Texas House floor debate,"Miller said that ""less than half of 1 percent"" of Texas legislators through history have drawn a benefit from the pension tied to the salary of a state district judge. Granted, the state cannot reveal which legislators have qualified or chosen to take the pension. But by our reckoning based on legislative rosters, more than 7 percent of legislators through history could have qualified for the pension benefit. That’s  in itself, though, because only about 1,000 legislators have served since the benefit was put into law. We estimate that 39 percent of actual potential beneficiaries have served 10 years or more, meaning they could have qualified for the pension. Either percentage is considerably more than ""less than half of 1 percent,"" leaving this  as ."
1084,5,"As a candidate, President Obama ""declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this 'right' would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president.","September 10, 2009",abortion;health care,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",national,17,4,11,13,22,2,a statement from the Minority Leader's office,"So back to Boehner's . He said that candidate Obama ""declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this 'right' would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president."" The record shows that Obama did indeed make those statements. His message to the abortion rights group may have been deliberately fuzzy, but it's clear what he meant — and it was confirmed by the campaign to the Tribune reporter. We find Boehner's  to be ."
21701,1,"Antifa was already inside the Capitol with floor plans dressed as Trump supporters"" on Jan. 6, 2021, proving the attack ""was 100% a setup.","July 15, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The woman seen in the Facebook video shouting directions to ""coordinate"" through a bullhorn is Rachel Powell of Pennsylvania, who started embracing Trump during his presidency and voted for him in 2020, she told The New Yorker . Powell was indicted on eight counts in March 2021. She has pleaded not guilty on all counts. Her case has not yet gone to trial. We rate this Facebook post ."
7768,5,Trenton politicians cut $1.3 billion from education.,"September 3, 2013",education;state budget,new jersey education association,The New Jersey Education Association is the state's largest teachers union.,new jersey,2,0,1,0,0,0,a video ad,"A recent video ad by the NJEA claims, ""Trenton politicians cut $1.3 billion from education."" Christie made two rounds of cuts between the time he took office in January 2010 and in the FY 2011 budget, which was ultimately approved by the state Legislature. The combined cuts totaled just under $1.3 billion. Although some aid has since been restored, the NJEA  is correct about the amount of the cuts. We rate the  . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
6250,2,"The auditor [for the city of Providence] was not locked out"" of access to the city's finances.","September 4, 2012",city budget;city government;debt;deficit;economy;legal issues;transparency,david cicilline,"David Cicilline was elected to the 1st Congressional District in 2010. Before that, he was mayor of Providence, beginning in January, 2003. A Brown University graduate, he received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.",rhode island,8,4,5,7,4,1,a debate,"Former Providence Mayor David Cicilline said that the internal auditor for the city ""was not locked out"" of access to the city's finances. The auditor now says that he was not locked out in the usual sense of the word. But there's a fine line between being locked out and stonewalled. Cicilline's spokesman emphatically says that ""neither of those happened."" But the record shows that Lombardi faced many months of delay in getting information he was entitled to by the City Charter. He was forced to use the state’s open records law to get information and waited months for it. And key information -- that Cicilline had been tapping the rainy day fund -- wasn’t provided until October 2010, after Cicilline’s primary victory. Whether it was part of a long-running political wrangle between the mayor and the City Council, which hires the internal auditor, is irrelevant. Open record laws require the release of information regardless of the motives of the person seeking it. The auditor was not locked out in the strictest sense. But the inability of the internal auditor to get information that might have led to a timely disclosure of the city's serious financial problems had the same effect. Because the statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate it  . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
10650,0,"Planned Parenthood is ""not actually doing women's health issues.","August 25, 2015",abortion;women,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,national,14,24,17,18,5,2,Colorado,"Bush said, Planned Parenthood is ""not actually doing women’s health issues."" It’s hard to reconcile Bush’s statement with the fact that -- setting abortion procedures aside -- Planned Parenthood offered more than 10 million services in 2013. Those services included contraception, breast exams, pregnancy tests, pap tests and STI testing and treatment. Bush is opposed to abortion, but it doesn’t make sense to say that Planned Parenthood isn’t addressing women’s health issues. We rate Bush’s  ."
7196,4,"Under Republican Chris Christie, New Jersey had the highest increase in unemployment in the country last year. Nearly 1 in 10 jobless. The worst unemployment in the region. Near the bottom in economic growth, yet Christie protected a tax cut for millionaires but vetoed a minimum wage hike.","April 9, 2013",economy;jobs;states,one new jersey,One New Jersey is a 501(c)4 advocacy organization that opposes Gov. Chris Christie's policies.,new jersey,0,2,1,0,0,0,a TV ad,"One New Jersey’s new ad claims, ""Under Republican Chris Christie, New Jersey had the highest increase in unemployment in the country last year. Nearly 1 in 10 jobless. The worst unemployment in the region. Near the bottom in economic growth, yet Christie protected a tax cut for millionaires but vetoed a minimum wage hike."" Each  had varying degrees of accuracy. New Jersey and New Hampshire tied for the highest increase in unemployment last year. Nearly 1 in 10 New Jerseyans are jobless, and our state’s unemployment rate is the worst in a five-state region. The state has been near the bottom in economic growth, even though experts have said that’s not entirely Christie’s fault, and the governor vetoed a minimum wage hike. Christie technically didn’t cut the millionaire’s tax since it expired before he took office, but opinions vary wildly on that . We rate the ad . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
13137,3,"2009-2010, let's remember, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted in the ACA.","March 12, 2017",bipartisanship;congress;health care,luis gutierrez,Luis Gutierrez is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois.,national,0,3,3,0,0,0,CNN's State of the Union,"Gutierrez said that ""hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted"" during the drafting of the 2010 health care law. His statement has some basis, because Republican amendments were adopted in both the House and the Senate during the legislative process. Most of these amendments were not particularly meaningful, though, so calling it a bipartisan enactment effort remains a stretch. We rate this  ."
20007,0,Biden concedes 6 million votes.,"July 15, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Trump did not get more than 75 million votes. Official results from the Federal Election Commission show there were nearly 158.4 million votes cast for president: 81.3 million (51.3%) for Biden — some seven million more than the 74.2 million (46.9%) for Trump; the rest of the votes were for other candidates. Biden left out the word ""million,"" but he did say ""more than."" He did not concede six million votes. We rate the statement !"
17866,0,163 paid protesters just filed a lawsuit against George Soros for not paying their bail.,"June 12, 2020",civil rights;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"More recently, conservative commentators have falsely claimed that Soros, through his Open Society Foundations, has paid people to violently protest against police brutality and racism in the United States. There is no  to support that assertion. Open Society Foundations has not given grants to organizations to support violent protesting. The article is  and makes a  . We rate it !"
2717,1,Wisconsin's projected state budget shortfall is now as low as $1.5 billion,"November 19, 2010",state budget,jim doyle,"Jim Doyle, a Democrat, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was elected to the post in 2002, after serving as the state's attorney general, and was re-elected in 2006. He did not seek a third term in 2010 and went to work for a Milwaukee-based law firm.",wisconsin,0,1,1,1,1,0,a statutorially required report on the state budget deficit,"With less than two months left in the term, Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration department released a report showing a $1.5 billion deficit for the next two-year budget cycle. Although that number is official, the agency’s chief -- noting caveats included in the report -- almost immediately began portraying the actual deficit as closer to $2.2 billion. In constructing the official number, the report makes an $800 million assumption -- it counts as continued savings cuts that are really decisions for the new governor. It also counts on an iffy $500 million in federal cash and skates over $200 million the courts say the state owes to one of its funds. Here’s our official rating: ."
4939,4,"Speaker Gingrich for 20 years supported a federal individual mandate"" for health insurance.","January 23, 2012",health care;legal issues,rick santorum,Rick Santorum is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.,national,6,7,14,13,17,5,"Tampa, Fla","Santorum said Gingrich ""for 20 years supported a federal individual mandate."" We found no references earlier than 1993, when Gingrich said ""I am for people, individuals -- exactly like automobile insurance -- individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance."" In the years since, he made repeated statements asserting that people who don’t purchase insurance should have to do so or to post a bond, a concept he calls ""a variation"" on the mandate. While the specifics of Gingrich’s viewpoint on the individual mandate have shifted -- ending with his opposition to it now -- it’s clear that for most of two decades he planted himself comfortably on the spectrum of compelling people to have health insurance. That’s enough to rate Santorum’s statement ."
17467,3,'Private' messages sent to individual people during a Zoom meeting show up in the end-of-meeting transcript along with all other public messages.,"April 4, 2020",technology;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""If you (the meeting host) save the chat log for yourself, it will also include private chats you’ve been involved in, so be very careful about sharing that file with anyone else. Don’t just post it in the group chat for everyone to read. If a host chooses to enable this setting, Zoom will notify you and give you a chance to opt out."" There is no  that messages between people who don’t have recording privileges will show up in a transcript, however. We rate this post . "
2036,4,"Georgia has lost more than 124,000 jobs and the unemployment rate has increased since the stimulus passed","August 2, 2010",stimulus,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,georgia,4,5,12,9,8,2,a press release,"So where does that leave us? The RNC's numbers are correct, but a closer look at all of the data shows Georgia's unemployment woes would have been worse without the stimulus. The USA Today report shows Georgia may not be getting its fair share in stimulus funds. It seems there are some mitigating factors to consider when looking at the RNC's statement. We rate it as ."
8948,4,"When Rick Scott ""was deposed in lawsuits about his company, he took the Fifth 75 times.","June 17, 2014",candidate biography;legal issues,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,a TV ad,"The Florida Democratic Party’s TV ad states that when Rick Scott ""was deposed in lawsuits about his company, he took the Fifth 75 times."" We have two quibbles with the ad: the Democrats don't specify that the deposition was from a civil business case -- not the federal government’s criminal fraud investigation into Columbia/HCA. However, Scott used the Fifth Amendment due to that federal investigation. Also, the ad refers to multiple lawsuits -- Scott was deposed in separate lawsuits, but he took the Fifth Amendment 75 times in only one of them. We rate this  ."
14103,1,"Missouri is one of ""13 states this year have seen unemployment drop to the lowest levels in the history of their state.","November 29, 2017",economy;jobs,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",missouri,36,85,120,194,360,179,"St. Charles, Mo","The seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate for October is 3.5 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The historic low was from October 1999 through January 2000 when the unemployment rate was 3.1. Our Ruling In a visit to St. Charles, Trump said that Missouri is one of ""13 states this year have seen unemployment drop to the lowest levels in the history of their state."" In fact, the state’s lowest unemployment rate on record occurred in 1999 and 2000. We rate this statement ."
17639,1,Actor Tom Selleck praised President Donald Trump in a meeting with Breitbart.,"May 31, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,A blog claims that Tom Selleck praised President Trump in a long tirade during an interview with Breitbart. Selleck didn’t say any of it. Most of the words are lifted from a 2016 Breitbart interview with actor Jon Voight. We rate this .
3646,3,"Without ethanol, gas prices would be at least 15% higher. With gas at four bucks, that means you're saving 12 bucks on a 20 gallon fill up.","May 27, 2011",agriculture;gas prices,wisconsin corn growers association,The Wisconsin Corn Growers Association is an industry group active in promoting corn and related products.,wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,a radio ad,"And using food for fuel drives up the cost of your grocery bill, even as the price at the pump is offset by the program. And there are pollution and fuel efficiency concerns tied to the additive. Those are also unmentioned. So, while generally , the  leaves out important information. On our gauge that’s a Half  ."
20159,1,Video shows Afghan riding on plane engine.,"August 17, 2021",afghanistan;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"These posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) The TikTok user who posted the video, @huyquanhoa , has posted other scenes on the plane engine in the clip, including him cooking , him sitting at a computer , him sitting at a table sipping a drink while the song ""I Believe I Can Fly"" plays, and him perched on the edge of the engine. On March 27, 2020, he posted an explanation of how he made the video of him perched on the engine, showing part of the process involving a green screen and fans.   We rate claims that one of his videos shows an Afghan man fleeing the Taliban ."
17863,1,"Nazi Germany's Hermann Göring worked to ""defund and eliminate the police departments so that they would not interfere with his Brown Shirts.","June 14, 2020",civil rights;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an image,"An Instagram post claims that Nazi’s defunded and eliminated police departments in Germany. That’s . In reality, the Nazis relied on police forces to maintain control of Germany and commit genocide in the lead-up to World War II. That is very different from today’s calls to ""defund the police,"" which can mean anything from divesting from police departments to abolishing the police altogether. The Instagram post is . We rate it ."
20653,1,"COVID-19 vaccines do not stop transmission of COVID, but instead increase it.","December 6, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"Our rating A headline and video  that ""COVID-19 vaccines do not stop transmission of COVID, but instead increase it."" As proof, it cites statistics from a recent surge in breakthrough cases among people over 60 in Germany. While breakthrough infections have risen in Germany among people over 60, it’s  to say the vaccines do not stop transmission of the virus and  to say it increases it. The  fails to take into account that there are far more vaccinated people than unvaccinated in Germany, that the delta variant is more highly contagious than previous versions of the virus, and that the effectiveness of vaccines wanes over time, particularly among the elderly, who often received them earlier than others and have not yet gotten booster shots. We rate this  ."
2778,5,I think [a little] less than half of the people in our prisons are in there for less than a year.  ... We have people who are check kiters and don't pay child support and we are locking them up in the state pen.,"December 3, 2010",criminal justice;state budget,john kasich,"John Kasich is the governor of Ohio. A Republican and a former congressman, he defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. He ran for president in 2016.",ohio,16,18,10,9,8,3,a gathering with reporters,"And while they represent just a fraction of the population, the governor-elect is basically on point: low-level, non-violent crimes are clogging the system. Kasich is off point when he derides the ODRC for not having ideas on how to become more efficient, given the department’s efforts to support reform and the legislature’s failure to make it happen. But that comment isn’t part of the  we’re evaluating here. So, where does this leave his comments -O-Meter? We rate his  ."
5902,2,"Because of the health care act, ""The people who have health care and like it in this county are not going to be able to keep what they have.","June 28, 2012",health care,eric cantor,"Eric Cantor is a former congressman who represented Virginia's 7th District from 2001 to 2014. He rose to House minority whip in 2009 and House majority leader in 2011. Cantor was upset by Dave Brat in the 2014 GOP primary for congress. He is now vice chairman and managing director of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank.
 
 
 ",virginia,7,4,4,9,6,4,a TV interview,"Cantor said that because of the health care law, ""The people who have health care and like it in this country are not going to be able to keep what they have."" His statement suggests that losing the health insurance you like is guaranteed by the law. Cantor’s office backs the  by noting the law makes it cheaper for companies to drop health coverage for their employees and pay a penalty tax. His office cites the bleakest of nine scenarios in Deloitte studies, under which 42 percent of workers would lose their company insurance. The Cantor camp doesn’t mention that most of the other scenarios estimate a loss under 10 percent. We found five other studies that conclude the law will cause less than a 3 percent net loss of workers with company insurance. That group includes people expected to voluntarily give up their work policies because they prefer private plans that will become available under the health care act. Even before the coverage mandate has taken effect, the number of companies that switch their plans each year has been substantial. The health care law is expected to increase that rate modestly, not exponentially as Cantor says. We rate Cantor’s statement ."
8631,2,"David Alameel ""is giving thousands of dollars to support the Republican Party candidates"" including John Cornyn and Greg Abbott.","March 27, 2014",bipartisanship;campaign finance;candidate biography,kesha rogers,"A follower of fringe political figure Lyndon LaRouche, frequent candidate Kesha Rogers of Houston has called for the impeachment of President Obama. The Texas Democratic Party declared her “not a real Democrat” before the March 2014 primary, in which she came second but with enough votes to trigger a runoff to determine the Democratic nominee opposing Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. In 2010 and 2012, she won the Democratic nomination for a Houston-area U.S. House seat.",texas,0,0,1,1,0,0,an interview,"Rogers said Alameel ""is giving thousands of dollars to support the Republican Party candidates"" such as Cornyn and Abbott. Alameel donated some $5 million to political committees including individual Republicans and Democratic candidates from 1989 on, and his donations included aid to campaigns for Cornyn and Abbott. However, records do not show any donations to Republicans after 2008. Whether Rogers misspoke or not, what she said is , though we see an element of  due to Alameel’s historically bipartisan giving, making this interview  ."
11645,4,"We knew Strom Thurmond had proposed"" the amendment that blocked Puerto Rico's use of Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.","April 24, 2016",bankruptcy;corrections and updates;punditfact,john oliver,"John Oliver is the host of ""Last Week Tonight"" on HBO. Previously he was a correspondent for Comedy Central's ""The Daily Show.""",,4,4,2,0,0,0,"a broadcast of HBO's ""Last Week Tonight""","Oliver said ""we know that Thurmond proposed"" the text that stripped Puerto Rico of the right to let municipalities and public utilities declare bankruptcy. There is no question that Thurmond introduced the amendment with that change. So technically, he did propose it. But there’s no  that he came up with the idea, and experts question that he understood the significance of the change that would follow. The statement is accurate but requires some additional information. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/260b6aad-f921-45fc-9937-1d82d35f7874 This fact-check previously contained erroneous references about the timing of Strom Thurmond's Senate career and Lin-Manuel Miranda's birthplace."
19177,1,Joe Biden admits he is governing like a 'dictator.',"January 26, 2021",facebook fact-checks;punditfact,charlie kirk,"Charlie Kirk is the founder and president of Turning Point USA, a conservative group that advocates for limited government and free markets.",national,0,1,1,2,7,3,an Instagram post,"We reached out to Turning Point USA and the White House for a comment, but we haven’t heard back. Kirk’s Instagram post is . We rate it . RELATED: How Joe Biden’s first executive orders compare with past presidents"
23331,1,"Under the ""2023 Solar Incentive Program,"" U.S. homeowners can ""now qualify to get a full, state-of-the-art solar system at absolutely no cost from the government.","July 11, 2023",environment;consumer safety;energy,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video shared on Facebook,"A Facebook video claimed the government ""launched a program called the 2023 Solar Incentive Program"" which means American homeowners ""can now qualify to get a full, state-of-the-art solar system at absolutely no cost from the government."" The U.S. government does not provide free solar panels. The Energy Department and the Solar Energy Technologies Office have warned consumers about this type of online scam involving solar panels.  We rate this  . RELATED:  The federal government is providing free solar panel installation and $8,500 incentive checks to eligible homeowners. RELATED: Don’t fall for this Facebook post promising cheap Walmart bikes"
291,3,Bill Clinton's peace dividend . . . cut the military 25 and 30 percent.,"January 24, 2008",military,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,Boca Raton,"Total defense forces also shrank, from 3.3-million to 2.9-million. The Republicans are trying to portray Clinton and the Democrats as weak on defense and to make the peace dividend look like a partisan effort. But contrary to the Republicans' claims, the post-Cold War shrinkage of the U.S. military was very much a bipartisan effort. It began under a Republican president and a Democratic Congress and continued under a Democratic president and a Republican Congress. And so we find, as we did before, that this  is ."
14754,5,"Since taking office, we have enacted more than $8 billion in cumulative tax relief.","May 31, 2018",income;state budget;taxes,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a tweet,"Like us on Facebook . Follow us on Twitter: @PolitiFactWisc Among them: The manufacturing and agricultural tax credit gave an estimated $22 million in credits to 11 individuals who had an adjusted gross income of $30 million or more in 2017, according to the state fiscal bureau. Our rating Walker says: ""Since taking office, we have enacted more than $8 billion in cumulative tax relief."" The state’s official nonpartisan budget scorekeeper puts the figure -- since Walker took office in 2011 and through the current budget that runs through mid-2019 -- at $8.47 billion. We rate Walker’s statement ."
6807,0,Our numbers are going up at the airport.,"January 1, 2013",economy;tourism;transportation,james bennett,James Bennett is chairman of the  board of the Rhode Island Convention Center and director of Providence's Department of Economic Development.,rhode island,0,0,0,0,1,1,a Gov. Lincoln Chafee YouTube video,"James Bennett said, ""Our numbers are going up at the airport."" When experts talk about the success of an airport, they look at the number of passengers using the facility, not the number of seats available to purchase. We believe the vast majority of viewers of Chafee’s YouTube video will come away believing that, when Bennett reports that ""our numbers are going up,"" he is reporting that passenger volume is up. In fact -- as The Journal has repeatedly reported -- the opposite is . The passenger numbers have been dropping for years. Maybe the addition of JetBlue will reverse the downward trend. But the impression Bennett is giving in the video is so at odds from the facts, the judges rate his statement  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
9890,4,"Assault weapons and handguns are allowed in the state Capitol while bullhorns, trumpets, helium balloons and flags on poles are banned.","January 19, 2015",guns,virginia house democratic caucus,"The House Democratic Caucus consists of the 32 Democrats in the 100-member Virginia House of Delegates. Its chairman is Del. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax.",virginia,0,1,0,0,1,0,,"Calling for reform to Virginia’s gun laws, House Democrats noted that firearms -- including assault rifles -- are allowed to be brought in the state Capitol while helium balloons, flags on poles, trumpets and bullhorns are banned. The list of barred articles holds up. The firearms issue is a bit trickier. They can be brought into the Capitol, but only by lawmakers, valid concealed weapons permit holders and law enforcement. They are banned in the Senate gallery. We rate the  ."
14855,1,Hillary in hiding as police discover dead body hidden in Huma Abedin's dumpster.,"July 12, 2018",fake news;crime;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"A headline said, ""Hillary in hiding as police discover dead body hidden in Huma Abedin’s dumpster."" A dead body turned up in the trash compactor at the same apartment building that Abedin used to call home, but we could not find any  that Abedin and Clinton played any role in the incident or were implicated in the police investigation. We rate this statement ."
5405,0,"In April 1997, there was a 'gas out' conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.","March 30, 2012",energy;gas prices,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",new jersey,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"With rising gas prices, calls for a one-day gas boycott are again making the rounds. A Facebook post promoting a ""gas out"" for April 15  said: ""In April 1997, there was a ‘gas out’ conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight."" There’s no  and no data to support this . The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline varied by less than a penny in April 1997. Stand back, readers. This  is highly flammable: ! To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
14040,4,"Among states, Missouri ranks ""3rd (in) average yearly growth of high-tech industries.","October 19, 2017",economy;states,missouri department of economic development,The Missouri Department of Economic Development is a state government agency that supports economic growth in the state.,missouri,0,1,0,0,0,0,a proposal to Amazon.com,"Missouri officials claimed Missouri ranked ""3rd (in) average yearly growth of high-tech industries."" While Missouri high-tech industries may have seen growth, the size of base matters. Missouri has seen a growth in high-tech jobs, but the  can be  when you don’t consider the size of the base. Overall, Missouri is about average in the rankings. We rate this ."
1400,3,The costs for families (in the individual market) for the same type of coverage that they're currently receiving would go down 14 percent to 20 percent.,"February 25, 2010",health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,the televised health care summit,"Obama tries to gloss over this by comparing costs ""for the same type of coverage that they're currently receiving."" But the fact is, most would not be getting the same kind of coverage. Some of the shift to better coverage would be due to personal choice -- with subsidies, many people would be able to get better coverage at the same cost or cheaper -- but some would be tied to new government-mandated minimum coverage and the threat of tax penalties if you decide not to get insurance. And for those who opt to grandfather in their current individual policies (even if they don't meet the new government minimum standards), the CBO doesn't see much of a change in premiums one way or the other. And so we rule Obama's statement ."
19868,2,"Illinois Republican lawmakers ""have argued that they want an independent [redistricting] commission, but they didn't do anything about it.","June 3, 2021",redistricting,jb pritzker,J.B. Pritzker is Illinois' 43rd governor and a former Chicago venture capitalist and entrepreneur.,illinois,1,5,3,7,3,0,a TV interview,"Pritzker said Republican lawmakers ""have argued that they want an independent commission, but they didn't do anything about it."" Republicans filed and promoted legislation this session aimed at creating an independent redistricting commission, and in his remarks to WTTW Pritzker cited creating an independent panel via legislation as one of the ways lawmakers could have tried for an independent map. Whether or not the GOP plan would have held up in court, it’s clear Republican lawmakers made at least some effort to create a redistricting commission not controlled by the legislature. We rate Pritzker’s  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
18577,2,"Says ""Property crime rising in Austin. This is the kind of thing that happens when cities defund and deemphasize police. Residents are left to fend for themselves.","October 1, 2020",city budget;crime,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a tweet,"Abbott’s tweet made two factual claims: that property crime in Austin is on the rise and that this increase is causally linked to the city’s police budget cuts. He based the first on figures presented in a KVUE article that cited an 11% increase in burglaries so far this year. However, property crime on the whole is not rising this year. In fact, it has dropped by 2% compared to last year. Although property crime increased slightly in 2018 and 2019, property crime has dropped significantly over the past decade. The article Abbott referenced also cited data that showed crime rates as of August, which is before cuts to APD’s budget took effect on Oct. 1. The second part of his , that increased property crime is ""the kind of thing that happens when cities defund and deemphasize police,"" appears to be based on assumption. Researchers have demonstrated how numerous intervening factors confound the relationship between police force size and crime. Rather, strategic crime deterrent strategies are seen as having a more direct impact on crime rates. We rate this  ."
3585,3,"President Barack Obama deserves to be called ""the most successful food stamp president in American history"" because ""47 million Americans are on food stamps.","May 15, 2011",economy;families,newt gingrich,"Newt Gingrich is a political adviser and author. A former Georgia congressman, Gingrich served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich sought the GOP nomination for president in 2012.",national,7,11,21,17,15,12,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Where does this leave us? Gingrich was close on the numbers of Americans receiving SNAP benefits. In addition, the number of beneficiaries is at a record level, and it has risen every month of the Obama presidency. On the other hand, Gingrich oversimplifies when he suggests that Obama should be considered ""the most successful food stamp president in American history,"" because much -- though probably not all -- of the reason for the increase was a combination of the economic problems Obama inherited and a longstanding upward trend from policy changes. On balance, we rate Gingrich’s statement ."
1495,5,"Says she was the ""the only Democrat who voted against the Wall Street bailout.","February 27, 2010",candidate biography,kathy castor,"Kathy Castor is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida’s 14th Congressional district, which includes Tampa and St. Petersburg and parts of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties. She was first elected in 2006.",florida,1,0,1,0,0,0,an interview with the Tampa Tribune,"Again, Castor was the lone Florida Democrat in the House to vote against the measure. This is what she said at the time: ""After thoughtful consideration and review, I voted against President Bush's $700 billion bailout. The Bush plan does not provide sufficient help to middle-class families in the housing squeeze or taxpayer protections.”    So Castor is right, with the caveat that she was referring to Florida Democrats.    And so we rate her  ."
1260,4,Why is January 8th an important date in American history? This day in 1835 is the only day in our history when we have not been in debt.,"January 8, 2010",federal budget;florida,george lemieux,George LeMieux is a former U.S. Senator from Florida. He was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2009 to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Mel Martinez and served until January 2011.,national,2,4,6,4,1,0,a message on Twitter,"Jackson biographers don't note it that way. Neither does the government office that tracks the debt. Scholars also say it lasted much more than a day. And since Jackson was bent on retiring the debt, we'd at least expect him to spend a day or two with an empty credit card account before racking up a bill again. We rate LeMieux's comment ."
11443,5,"We do not have an overcrowding problem. As a matter of fact, Rhode Island has one of the lowest incarceration rates in the country.","February 23, 2016",criminal justice,richard ferruccio,"Richard Ferruccio has been a correctional officer in Rhode Island since 1984.  He was president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers for nine years, stepping down in 2008.",rhode island,1,0,0,0,1,0,a legislative hearing,"However, the state also has a very high probation rate, which he did not mention.    He also said the prisons do not have an overcrowding problem. He is correct. The Department of Corrections confirmed that the prisons are not ""crowded"" by the Palmigiano standards. We rate this  "
11310,4,"There is great disparity, tremendous disparity, in the (capital) funding on a per-student basis between our traditional public schools and our charter public schools.","February 9, 2016",education;state budget;taxes,janet adkins,Janet Adkins lives in Fernandina Beach and was elected as a Republican to the state Legislature in 2008.,florida,0,1,1,1,0,0,a House Appropriations Committee meeting,"Adkins said, ""There is great disparity, tremendous disparity, in the (capital) funding on a per-student basis between our traditional public schools and our charter public schools."" While charter schools do get a larger per-student share of one kind of state capital funding, traditional schools can bring in much more by taking advantage of school board levies and other sources that charters can’t access.   There are many fine details that can get lost in discussions about the subject. But we found that currently, traditional schools potentially can get six times the capital funding per pupil than charter schools can. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
19892,3,That meth … it's almost all coming across the southern border and it's been accelerating for the last six months.,"June 16, 2021",border security;drugs;homeland security,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",florida,2,10,9,13,14,2,a press conference,"But it’s unknown exactly how much meth comes through the southwest border undetected or at what pace. One metric, seizure data, does not show a steady uptick in the monthly number of pounds seized nor in the number of seizure events. Meth seizure at the southwest border has been increasing for years. DeSantis’  is partially accurate but leaves out important details and context. We rate it ."
17023,1,"Says the coronavirus isn't new because ""Lysol has it listed as one of the viruses that it kills.","January 31, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"But that assumption is . The Lysol spray has demonstrated effectiveness against past strains of coronavirus. The current outbreak spreading from Wuhan, China, is caused by a previously unidentified strain known as the 2019 Novel coronavirus. Cleaning products that list coronavirus on their labels are not referring to this strain. We rate this Facebook post ."
18627,5,"Georgia has ""almost 100,000 more (COVID-19) cases, almost twice as many deaths and almost 600 more nursing home deaths than North Carolina.","October 14, 2020",north carolina;coronavirus,roy cooper,"Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is the governor of North Carolina. Previously he was the attorney general, a state senator and a state representative.",georgia,3,9,8,4,0,0,a debate,"Cooper said Georgia has ""almost 100,000 more cases, almost twice as many deaths and almost 600 more nursing home deaths than North Carolina."" His  about cases requires the most rounding, but isn’t far off. But his  about deaths — in total and in nursing homes — are spot-on. We rate this  ."
10725,4,We're the only major oil-producing nation in the world with a self-imposed ban on exporting our crude oil to other nations.,"September 25, 2015",energy;trade,barry duval,"Barry DuVal was named President & CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce on April 28, 2010.　
His public service began in 1988 when he was elected to the Newport News City Council. In 1990, he was elected mayor of the city. He served as mayor from 1990 through 1996, when he stepped down to become the president and CEO of a regional economic development organization representing Southeast Virginia.
From 1998 through 2002 DuVal served as Virginia's scretary of trade and commerce under then-Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican.
His private sector experience includes serving as president and CEO of DuVal Associates, Inc, a diversified real estate firm, from 1983-1996. Upon the completion of his term as the secretary of commerce and trade, he served as president and CEO of Kaufman & Canoles Consulting, LLC, an economic development consulting firm specializing in public-private partnerships and strategic planning for business and government agencies.
 ",virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview,"DuVal said the U.S. is the only major oil-producing nation in the world that bans export of its crude oil. Two experts we contacted agreed with DuVal’s statement, and officials at the EIA said they’re not aware of any other country with similar export restrictions. But the ban is not absolute -- a small portion of U.S. crude is exported to Canada. So we rate his DuVal’s statement ."
1193,5,President Obama campaigned on a promise to put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan.,"November 9, 2009",abortion;health care,planned parenthood,"Planned Parenthood Federation of America identifies itself as the nation's leading women's health care provider, educator, and advocate, serving women, men, teens, and families. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Planned Parenthood Votes is a super PAC affiliated with Planned Parenthood.
 ",national,4,0,1,1,0,1,an alert to members,"Obama's promise to the abortion rights group during the primary campaign could now be a liability before a broader audience that includes many people opposed to abortion rights. Still, Planned Parenthood is correct that Obama campaigned on a promise that he would put reproductive health care at the center of his reform plan."" After all, he was speaking to . . . Planned Parenthood. So we find the group's  to be ."
1123,2,"After Fahrenheit 9/11 came out, ""Bush's approval rating never was better, it only got worse.","September 29, 2009",elections,michael moore,"Michael Moore directed the movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story"" and is a well-known documentary filmmaker. His movies includes ""Roger and Me,"" ""Bowling for Columbine,"" ""Fahrenheit 9/11,"" and ""Sicko."" He won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002 with ""Bowling for Columbine,"" and he was a nominee in 2007 for ""Sicko."" Michael Moore's Web site is www.MichaelMoore.com.",national,2,6,1,4,5,0,a press conference,"Bush's ratings hit their all-time low in October 2008, during the financial crisis, when he had an approval rating of 25 percent. So Moore was  when he said that ""Bush's approval rating never was better, it only got worse"" after the movie came out. The ratings actually increased and were pretty much the same a year after Fahrenheit . On the other hand, Moore qualifies his statement by suggesting that it took years for the film to have an impact, and indeed, Bush's ratings did decline overall for much of his second term. So we rate Moore's statement ."
11797,3,The vast majority of minimum wage workers get a raise within a year.,"May 17, 2016",economy;jobs;poverty,national federation of independent business-virginia ,The National Federation of Independent Business is a small association representing small and independent businesses.,virginia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a website post,"The National Federation of Independent Business here in Virginia says on its website that ""the vast majority of minimum wage workers get a raise within a year."" The group finds support from an older report from 12 years ago that says two-thirds of workers who stayed on the job got a raise within a year. The most recent numbers show that 72 percent of minimum wage workers got a raise between 2014 and 2015. But one-fifth of them got the boost only because their state had raised its minimum wage - a step the NFIB opposes. That means 57.5 percent of the workers got a raise at the discretion of their employers or because they had found better-paying jobs. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2d50a0a2-974e-4229-bf51-191c8b60d9b2"
6526,4,"Says Barack Obama has pension investments that include Chinese firms, and ""investments through a Caymans trust.","October 16, 2012",china;debates;pensions;taxes,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",wisconsin,31,33,58,35,32,19,debate comments,"You also have investments outside the United States. You also have investments through a Caymans trust."" It’s an accurate set of statements when you consider investments made by managers of the Illinois pension fund in which Obama has an account. As we noted in reviewing previous claims about Romney’s investments in China, the investments involved are indirect and -- as far as anybody has said -- made without the knowledge of the account holder. With that clarification, we rate Romney’s statement ."
15877,0,"Quotes Harriet Tubman as saying, ""I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.","April 1, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"During the 2008 presidential primary matchup between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Morgan wrote a follow-up to her famous 1970 essay ""Goodbye to All That."" Challenging women who didn’t support Clinton, Morgan wrote, ""Let a statement by the magnificent Harriet Tubman stand as reply. When asked how she managed to save hundreds of enslaved African Americans via the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, she replied bitterly, ‘I could have saved thousands—if only I’d been able to convince them they were slaves.’"" The Maxwell Perspective also found the quote to be inauthentic, and several scholars who studied Tubman were unable to locate a primary source for the statement. This faux quote is !"
21671,0,Images from Hunter Biden's laptop show Joe Biden naked with a young girl.,"July 11, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) PolitiFact has previously debunked out-of-context , manipulated or otherwise  viral images that purported to show Biden acting inappropriately with women or children. We rate this Facebook post ! RELATED: Fact-checking the pedophilia attacks against Joe Biden"
19251,4,No state gets back less from Washington than New York state.,"January 14, 2021",state budget,andrew cuomo,"Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, was elected to his first term as governor of New York in 2010.",new york,15,5,8,7,3,0,a tweet,"Cuomo said that ""no state gets back less from Washington than New York state.""  This aligns with a widely cited study by the Rockefeller Institute of Government that looked at every state’s balance of payments with the federal government from 2015 to 2018.  However, that same study notes a slightly different result when population is taken into account. On a per-capita basis, New York ranked fourth, after Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts. We rate the statement ."
19242,1,"Only one person died on that day"" during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.","February 8, 2021",elections;crime;pundits;punditfact;jan. 6,greg kelly,"Greg Kelly is the host of “Greg Kelly Reports” on Newsmax TV. He also hosts ""The Greg Kelly Podcast.""",,0,0,0,0,2,0,a Newsmax TV segment,"Kelly said, ""It's not  (that five people died on Jan. 6). Only one person died on that day. You know who it was? The unarmed woman, Ashli Babbitt."" That’s . Four people died at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer, died the following day after he was injured in the violence. We rate Kelly’s statement . If you or people you know are thinking about suicide, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. "
8209,0,"The fact that one town has three lanes dedicated to it, that kind of gets me sauced.","December 2, 2013",transportation,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,response to subpoenas being sent out over a bridge lane-closure controversy,"Earlier this month, in response to subpoenas being issued in the so-called ‘Bridgegate’ scandal, Christie said, ""The fact that one town has three lanes dedicated to it, that kind of gets me sauced."" Christie is way off here. Never mind that his  makes it seem as if a significant part of the bridge’s total number of lanes are dedicated to a borough with a land area only 2.5 square miles in size, with approximately 35,000 residents. The facts are that the George Washington Bridge is physically in Fort Lee and there are local access lanes from the bridge. But none of the lanes are dedicated for use only in or by the borough. All motorists are able to use them as an entry point to the span. Know what gets the -O-Meter sauced, governor?   claims. ! To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
11532,4,A college loan is the only loan in the United States that you cannot refinance when interest rates go down.,"April 3, 2016",debt;economy;education,bill clinton,"Bill Clinton was president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is married to Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.",california,9,12,13,5,2,3,a campaign speech,"Former President Bill Clinton said at a recent campaign rally in Los Angeles: ""A college loan is the only loan in the United States that you cannot refinance when interest rates go down."" Borrowers of federally backed student loans, which account for about 90 percent of student loans, cannot refinance those into lower-interest federal loans. Congress sets the interest rate on these loans, and there’s no provision in federal law that allows for them to be refinanced. Depending on factors such as income, some borrowers can refinance their federal loans into lower-interest private loans, though they risk losing their federal loan protections. Clinton most likely was referring only to federally backed loans when he made his statement, but a clarification about private loans would have helped. We rated his  .   – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
15648,1,"The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities. Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country.","February 5, 2019",immigration;homeland security,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,State of the Union address,"Trump said, ""The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation's most dangerous cities. Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country."" Crime data shows that El Paso has not been one of the most dangerous cities in the nation. From 1985 to 2014, El Paso’s violent crime rate was significantly lower than the average for cities of comparable size. Border authorities added fencing in the El Paso region in the late 2000s. In the immediate years before and after construction, the violent crime rate went up, contrary to Trump’s . Trump’s statement is . We rate it ."
16805,0,"A state senate bill would ""criminalize a father teaching his own son how to use a hunting rifle.","November 27, 2019",public safety;guns,mike adams,"Mike Adams is a prolific blogger who is critical of vaccines and medical research, and is pro-gun and pro-survivalist. He is the founding editor of NaturalNews.com. Many of his posts have been labeled false by scientists. In 2019, Facebook revoked the Natural News age for violating spam rules. Adams is based in Cody, Wyo.
 ",virginia,0,0,0,0,0,2,a blog,"Adams wrote that a bill in the General Assembly ""would criminalize a father teaching his own son how to use a hunting rifle."" That’s flat out . The bill would add a clause to the state’s paramilitary laws making it a felony for groups to train or march with weapons with ""the intent of intimidating others."" The bill, however, does not change a code section that exempts from the paramilitary act ""lawful activities related to firearms instruction."" Another  Adams’ : The bill ""would instantly transform all martial arts instructors into criminal felons."" State paramilitary laws specifically exempt common efforts to  ""teach or practice self defense or self-defense techniques such as karate clubs."" Adam’s claims are devoid of  and inflammatory. We rate them ""."""
17540,3,"Racial comparisons on coronavirus statistics in Monroe County, N.Y., show that the impact on minorities is ""basically on par, a little bit up, from the population numbers,"" meaning that ""we don't see that disparity as much here.","April 8, 2020",race and ethnicity;public health;coronavirus,lovely warren,"Lovely Warren, a Democrat, is the mayor of Rochester, N.Y. ",new york,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press conference,"Meanwhile, Hispanics have accounted for 22% of ICU hospitalizations, which is more than double their 9% of the population. Our ruling  Referring to racial comparisons on coronavirus statistics in Monroe County, N.Y., Warren said the impact on minorities is ""basically on par, a little bit up, from the population numbers,"" meaning that ""we don’t see that disparity as much here."" That was essentially accurate when looking at the share of deaths from the coronavirus. But at the time of her comment, African Americans accounted for a significantly higher share of ICU and non-ICU hospitalizations in the county, and the same was the case for Hispanics and non-ICU hospitalizations. The statement is partially accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
11527,3,"Says Bernie Sanders ""fundamentally changed the lives"" of Immokalee farm workers in Florida for the better.","March 19, 2016",agriculture;human rights;poverty;workers,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",florida,21,62,48,26,18,0,a TV ad,"Sanders’ ad says he ""fundamentally changed the lives"" of Immokalee farm workers in Florida. Sanders helped give national publicity to the struggles of Immokalee tomato pickers in 2008. He visited with the workers, wrote letters to tomato purchasers urging them to join a program to pay workers more, met with a representative from the growers exchange and held a Senate hearing in 2008.  About two years later, the workers reached an agreement with the growers. The coalition and the growers’ exchange both say Sanders should get some credit, although it’s likely that the agreement could have been reached without his efforts. Whether the agreement ""fundamentally changed the lives"" of the workers is difficult to quantify. The agreement included an increase for purchasers which goes toward pickers, but it’s unclear on average how many dollars more each picker earns per week as a result of it. There have been other successes in the agreement, including the resolution of worker complaints. We rate this statement ."
9455,2,"A 2011 measure passed into law with Wendy Davis' support ""removes from the attorney general the ability to settle lawsuits just like"" the school funding case.","September 19, 2014",corrections and updates;education;regulation,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,the Rio Grande Valley,"Abbott said Davis voted for a 2011 measure that removes the attorney general’s ability to settle lawsuits like the school funding case. That’s not so; a 2007 law created the legislative hurdle for major settlements -- and, significantly, Davis wasn’t a senator then. Still, this  has an element of  because Davis joined nearly every other lawmaker in tightening the limit in 2011 by reducing the threshold for settlements the attorney general may reach without legislative sign-off to those costing the state $10 million or less. Given how Abbott characterized the law at issue, we rate his  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
5326,3,"Having an entirely Democrat congressional delegation in 2009, when the [federal stimulus] bill passed, increases the per capita stimulus dollars that the state receives per person by $460.","March 23, 2012",congress;elections;stimulus,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",rhode island,6,5,9,11,44,107,a message via the Internet,"If you compare the all-Democrat states to all the other states, the correct number is closer to $338. So states with a purely Democrat congressional delegation have, in fact, garnered quite a bit more money per capita than other states. But because the $460 amount is off by about 36 percent, we rate the statement  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
830,1,"There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jump-start the economy.","January 9, 2009",economy;stimulus,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a news conference,"So where does that leave us for our ruling? We can't tell you which side is right on the stimulus bill. But we do know that Obama is  when he says there is ""no disagreement that we need action by our government."" Clearly, there is disagreement. We rate his statement ."
20968,1,"Durham's documents show that Hillary Clinton hired people who hacked into Trump's home and office computers"" and ""planted evidence, fabricated evidence connecting Trump to Russia.","February 14, 2022",criminal justice;elections;foreign policy;pundits;technology;punditfact,jesse watters,"Jesse Watters is the host of ""Jesse Watters Primetime"" and a co-host of ""The Five"" on Fox News.",,0,0,0,0,3,0,a TV segment,"Watters said, ""Durham’s documents show that Hillary Clinton hired people who hacked into Trump’s home and office computers before and during his presidency, and planted  that he colluded with Russia ... fabricated  connecting Trump to Russia."" None of that is backed up by Durham’s filing, a motion over a conflict-of-interest matter in the case against an attorney linked to the Clinton campaign who was charged for lying to the FBI.  We rate Watters’  ."
21000,1,"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has amassed the ""largest collection of human data in history"" through COVID-19 PCR tests.","February 17, 2022",science;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a Instagram post,"While the swab used in the PCR test would likely possess some human DNA, the sequencing is carried out on the coronavirus. One of the first steps of genomic sequencing is to isolate and extract the coronavirus genetic material from the sample.   The CDC clarified that personal identifying information is not extracted. Independent scientists agreed that human DNA was not needed to sequence the virus that causes COVID-19. We rate this  . "
11412,5,"We understand that this heroin is primarily coming from Mexico, over the border.","March 8, 2016",drugs,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,Department of Homeland Security hearing,Portman said that heroin is coming to the United States primarily from Mexico. He hasn’t been studying drug facts for nothing. We rate this  .
7945,2,"Common Core means ""there are over 300 data elements the government is going to be collecting about your children and about you.","October 15, 2013",education,tim curtis,Tim Curtis is a member of the tea party group 9/12 in Tampa and ran for Congress in 2010.,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,Tampa,"Tim Curtis, an activist against Common Core, said that thanks to Common Core, ""There are over 300 data elements the government is going to be collecting about your children and about you."" Common Core State Standards do not include new requirements for the government to collect data on school children. It’s  that school districts and the state of Florida already collect a long list of data on students. That data is aggregated for the federal government, after stripping out students’ personal information, and that data collection doesn’t change whether states adopt Common Core or not. Common Core opponents are mixing two separate issues here: the transition to Common Core and data collection that already occurs. We rate this  ."
3230,5,Just 400 Americans -- 400 -- have more wealth than half of all Americans combined.,"March 5, 2011",economy;poverty;state budget,michael moore,"Michael Moore directed the movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story"" and is a well-known documentary filmmaker. His movies includes ""Roger and Me,"" ""Bowling for Columbine,"" ""Fahrenheit 9/11,"" and ""Sicko."" He won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002 with ""Bowling for Columbine,"" and he was a nominee in 2007 for ""Sicko."" Michael Moore's Web site is www.MichaelMoore.com.",wisconsin,2,6,1,4,5,0,"Madison, Wisconsin","So that drags down the total net worth for the poorer half of U.S. households that Moore cited. We also want to add one cautionary note, from Mitchell of the Cato Institute, about Moore’s methodology: The Federal Reserve uses hard numbers to calculate the net worth of all households, but Forbes uses assumptions and interviews along with hard numbers in estimating the net worth of the Forbes 400. There’s no way to know how the differences between the two affect the net worth numbers, but Moore used the data that are available and there’s no indication he ""cherry-picked"" figures for a desired result, Mitchell said. With that caveat, our assessment indicates that as of 2009, the net worth of the nation’s 400 wealthiest individuals exceeds the net worth of half of all American households. We rate Moore’s statement ."
15153,0,Christine Blasey Ford claims that she called a friend on her cell phone after the 'attack' in or around 1982.,"September 29, 2018",legal issues;facebook fact-checks,top stories usa,Top Stories USA is a website that runs a variety of conservative content.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a Facebook post,"A Top Stories USA post on Facebook said, ""Christine Blasey Ford claims that she called a friend on her cell phone after the ‘attack’ in or around 1982. The first cell phone was sold for $3,995 in March of 1984."" Ford never said anything about using a cell phone after the alleged attack. We rate the statement ."
8822,5,Ninety-seven percent of the time. That's how often Mark Warner votes with President Obama.,"April 25, 2014",message machine 2014;voting record,republican party of virginia,The Virginia wing of the national Republican Party.,virginia,1,0,0,2,0,1,a web ad,"The Republican Party of Virginia says Warner has voted with Obama ""97 percent of the time."" Warner, since entering the Senate in 2009, indeed has taken the same position as the president 97 percent of the time when Obama outlined a clear position, according to Congressional Quarterly. That includes voting for Obamacare. The presidential support rating is by no means a wide measure of performance by Warner or any other member of Congress. The president staked out a position on only 28 percent of the Senate roll call votes since 2009 and more than half of those were to confirm presidential appointments. Senate Democrats, on the whole, have backed the president 95.4 percent of the time during Warner’s term. It should be noted that broad voting studies by the National Journal and Open Congress rate Warner as one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate. Warner’s presidential support rating, however, is what it is: 97 percent. So we rate the GOP’s statement ."
19372,1,Photos show U.S. senators sleeping in the chamber.,"February 25, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"But the images in the tweet show members of the House of Lords , the upper house of Parliament in the United Kingdom — not American lawmakers.    The images in the post can be found online with the context that they were taken in the Lords Chamber. The original tweet describing these people as U.S. senators has been deleted. The account posted that it had mistakenly used images of the House of Lords . We rate this post . "
7812,0,Obamacare will question your sex life.,"September 15, 2013",health care;privacy issues,betsy mccaughey,Betsy McCaughey is chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and former lieutenant governor of New York state.,national,0,0,0,0,0,2,the New York Post,"McCaughey says in ""Obamacare will question your sex life"" that you can thank the president’s health law for questions about your sexual activity, even if your doctor finds them unnecessary. She suggests it’s part of Obamacare’s move toward electronic health records. But incentives for electronic health records were part of the Recovery Act, not Obamacare. And they don’t require participating doctors to ask questions about your sex life. McCaughey frames her concern for patient privacy with an -free attack on Obamacare that veers toward the . We call it ."
5341,4,"Says Ronald Reagan ""understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases.","April 3, 2012",history;taxes,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,remarks to the Newspaper Association of America,"Obama said Reagan ""understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases."" Reagan typically did not make tax increases part of his own proposals. But he did approve and even advocate for budget deals that included increases to tax revenues, and he spoke of tax fairness in ways that contrast sharply with today’s Republicans in Congress. We rate Obama’s statement ."
15253,3,"Says Ted Budd ""voted to gut protections for pre-existing conditions … letting insurance companies deny coverage for (necessary) treatment.","October 9, 2018",health care,kathy manning,Kathy Manning is a candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 13th Congressional District.,north carolina,0,0,2,0,0,0,a television ad,"Manning’s ad said Ted Budd ""voted to gut protections for pre-existing conditions … letting insurance companies deny coverage for the treatment (Lilly) needs."" The bill included a line stating that insurers would not have been allowed to restrict access to healthcare for people with pre-existing conditions. But in a limited way, the AHCA would have rolled back protections for pre-existing conditions by letting some insurers raise premiums based on a person’s health status under certain circumstances. This could have led to somewhere between 4 and 13 percent of people under 65 with pre-existing conditions facing higher premiums.   Overall, Manning’s ad is partially accurate, but leaves out important details and context. We rate this statement . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide."
6466,3,"Bill Nelson ""leased land that he owned for six cows, taking advantage of an agricultural tax loophole to dodge $43,000 in taxes just last year.","October 2, 2012",agriculture;taxes,american crossroads,American Crossroads is a 527 campaign committee that supports Republican candidates.,florida,1,0,4,5,5,0,a TV commercial,"The ad’s claims and figures about Nelson’s tax bill and Brevard County property are rooted in a report from the Tampa Bay Times . It’s accurate to say that Nelson was shielded from paying about $43,000 in property taxes because of his land has a greenbelt designation. The group emphasizes that Nelson is leasing the land, though the Times story is clear he does not charge for the Melbourne farmer to graze cows there. We think American Crossroads is stretching the  by claiming Nelson is ""dodging"" his taxes. That’s a derogatory phrase commonly used for someone who doesn’t pay what they owe. That’s not the case here, though people may disagree with Nelson paying the lower agricultural rate based on the presence of six cows on a vast pasture. We rate this  ."
7485,4,"People want the minimum wage, they want marriage equality, they want women's health care. There's issues that actually that really do matter, social issues that matter to the people of this state. So I know Barbara would support those issues, I know the governor hasn't. You've seen the actions he's taken on them.","June 1, 2013",health care;lgbtq;marriage;state budget;women;workers,stephen sweeney,State Senate President Stephen Sweeney is a Democrat representing Salem County and parts of Gloucester and Cumberland counties.,new jersey,2,1,3,1,2,0,"an interview on ""On The Record with Michael Aron"" program","Sweeney said, ""People want the minimum wage, they want marriage equality, they want women’s health care,"" Sweeney said during the June 1 episode of ‘On The Record with Michael Aron.’ ""There’s issues that actually that really do matter, social issues that matter to the people of this state. So I know Barbara would support those issues, I know the governor hasn’t. You’ve seen the actions he’s taken on them."" We’ve determined that Christie appears to support a minimum-wage hike, albeit one that is quite a bit smaller than the one supported by Democrats; opposes gay marriage, but supports civil unions and letting voters decide the matter via referendum; and cut funding for that women’s health care that closed six family planning centers in the state. We rate Sweeney’s  .   To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
22062,1,2018 interview shows Bill Gates has changed his position on clean energy,"September 26, 2022",energy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"Our ruling  A Facebook post suggests that a 2018 interview shows Gates has changed his position on clean energy. The video cherry picked a moment from Gate’s commentary on climate change to suggest he was critical of efforts to support sustainable energy. The full interview makes it clear that Gates supported renewable energy. He said that more must be done to deal with greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes, cows, cement, steel and other sources.   We rate this  . "
5489,3,"Says ""Amanda Fritz publicly claimed to be endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, both on her website and in the voter's guide.","April 24, 2012",city government;message machine 2012;women,mary nolan,Mary Nolan represents Southwest Portland in the Oregon House of Representatives. She has said she will run for a seat on the Portland City Council in 2012,oregon,2,0,3,0,0,0,a campaign press release,"She listed the Choice Action Team under supporters and online as a green-light giver. She even received written permission from a Choice Action Team person to use the group’s name in the Voters’ Pamphlet. NARAL says Fritz shouldn’t  support but other candidates are freely doing the same thing without complaint from the group’s leaders. The statement is accurate about the website, but  about the voters’ guide. We find Nolan’s statement ."
8796,4,"When Deborah took office, the (Sellwood Bridge) project had languished for years, with only $11 million in funds. With her leadership the remaining funding was secured that got the project moving forward.","April 15, 2014",county government;elections;infrastructure,deborah kafoury,Deborah Kafoury is a former Multnomah County commissioner and state legislator. She currently is running for Multnomah County chair.,oregon,0,1,0,0,0,0,a campaign website statement,"Kafoury also lobbied federal officials for a grant that closed a remaining funding gap, but work around that grant was largely staff-driven. Kafoury played a pivotal role in securing the bridge’s first big chunk of money, which was key to getting it going. But she wasn’t the only to show ""leadership"" on the project. Other legislators had to buy into the transportation bill, and leaders such as Adams, Wheeler and Cogen helped secure money from the city of Portland. We rate Kafoury’s  ."
9725,4,Every president since Eisenhower has taken executive action to address immigration issues.,"November 20, 2014",immigration;history,tim kaine,"Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.
Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.
 ",virginia,14,17,15,8,4,0,a news release,"Kaine, in backing Obama, said, ""Every president since Eisenhower has taken executive action to address immigration issues."" Historical records back Kaine. But Kaine’s compact  omits important context: Obama’s immigration actions can be viewed as much more sweeping than those of his predecessors. So Kaine’s statement is accurate but needs more information. We rate it ."
20959,1,Study proves children's hearts destroyed by COVID vaccine.,"February 5, 2022",health care;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus, infowars,Infowars is a conspiracy oriented website run by Alex Jones.,,0,0,1,1,3,3,an InfoWars video,"""Children are much more likely to develop heart issues after COVID-19 infection than after the vaccine,"" said Elias. ""When children develop myocarditis after COVID-19 infection, it’s typically much more severe than when it occurs post-vaccine."" The American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics both recommend COVID-19 vaccination for children over age five. Children are more likely to avoid heart complications from COVID-19 with vaccination than without. We rate this  ."
16469,2,"Says aquatic life near Alaska, Canada and Australia have been found with cancer and mutations as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.","September 8, 2019",environment;natural disasters ;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed that several species of marine life near Alaska, Canada and Australia have been found with cancer, mutations and radiation as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. None of the photos included in the post have been linked to radiation from the disaster, or even to Japan in general. Studies show that sharks and other marine life are capable of getting cancerous tumors and lesions, albeit not exclusively because of radiation. And while scientists have found elevated levels of radioactive elements in fish off the coast of Fukushima, most sea life is safe to consume — and officials in the U.S. and Australia have not found similar radiation. The Facebook post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
1940,5,"House Republicans who complained they didn't have enough time to consider a constitutional ban against oil drilling ""shoved through a proposal in just a few days to open state waters to oil drilling.","July 20, 2010",environment;energy;oil spill,alex sink,"Alex Sink is a candidate for Congress in Florida's 13th Congressional District. She served as Florida's Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2011. She was the Democratic Party's nominee for governor in 2010, but lost to Rick Scott.",florida,10,4,2,1,2,0,remarks to reporters,"The special session to consider the oil drilling constitutional amendment was scheduled to last four days . Of course, it lasted just a few hours. In chastising Republican lawmakers, state CFO Alex Sink said the House ""shoved through a proposal in just a few days to open state waters to oil drilling."" It took House lawmakers just five working days from first seeing the bill to passing it. We rate Sink's statement ."
19838,0,"Says Donald Trump signed the Insurrection Act and ""still is president.","May 27, 2021",legal issues;military;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""Every prior president to invoke the Insurrection Act has complied with this requirement,"" Anderson said. ""Trump never issued such a proclamation so, regardless of what he did or did not sign on January 14th, he did not take the steps necessary to invoke the Insurrection Act."" Syracuse University law professor Mark Nevitt, whose specialties include constitutional and national security law, said there is no  that the National Guard has been federalized, or the military has been activated under Insurrection Act authorities.   ""President Biden is currently the commander in chief and Lloyd Austin is the secretary of defense; they have legal authority over the military,"" he said. We rate the post ."
10463,5,Jasper County in Texas raised property taxes by 7 percent in order to pay for one death penalty case.,"June 14, 2015",criminal justice;crime;taxes,ron paul,"Ron Paul, a Texas physician, served two stints in the U.S. House. He also was the Libertarian Party nominee for president in 1988 before later seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012. He didn't seek re-election to the House in 2012.",texas,8,8,8,5,10,3,an opinion column,"Paul said Jasper County ""raised property taxes by 7 percent in order to pay for one death penalty case."" The chief appraiser’s research and letter demonstrates there was nearly a 7 percent first-year increase in taxes attributed to the costs of a death penalty trial. We rate Paul’s  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
7455,2,"Says a group ""estimates that the annual cost to Oregon taxpayers for government services to illegal aliens, after any income tax revenue from them, is $1 billion.","May 29, 2013",immigration;economy;education;state budget;workers;taxes,oregon republican party,The Oregon Republican Party is the state GOP party.,oregon,0,0,0,1,1,0,a press release,"The statement includes an element of . There is some basis for some of the numbers. We can sympathize with critics of illegal immigration who say it’s appropriate to include the costs of educating children, even if they are U.S. citizens. But citizens are not ""aliens"" and the bulk of the estimated $1 billion goes to provide services to people entitled to receive those services. We find the statement ."
10666,2,"Says Russ Feingold cast the ""deciding vote"" for the ""largest tax increase"" in history","August 7, 2015",history;taxes,national republican senatorial committee,The National Republican Senatorial Committee helps elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate.,wisconsin,1,3,11,18,14,7,a news release,"In a news release, the National Republican Senatorial Committee said Russ Feingold cast the ""deciding vote"" for the largest tax increase in history. The 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act was the largest at the time in terms of raw dollars, but does not get the top spot by the measure preferred by economists. As for Feingold being the ""deciding vote,"" the Democrat once declared that himself. But Gore's vote was the real tiebreaker. Our definition for  is a statement that ""contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here."
7875,3,"Only ""four countries in the world… allow abortions after 20 weeks"" of pregnancy.","September 28, 2013",abortion,anita perry,"Anita Perry became the First Lady of Texas when her husband, Rick, became governor in late 2000. According to a biographical post on the governor's website, she is dedicated to improving the health of her state, preserving its culture and promoting its business climate. Her husband didn't seek re-election in 2014.",texas,0,1,1,0,0,0,an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival,"Perry said only four countries allow legal abortions past 20 weeks into the gestational period. The United States, Canada, North Korea and China fit that measure, but Singapore and the Netherlands do as well. Also, far more countries permit abortions in certain circumstances in which the pregnancy would damage the woman’s well-being, be it physical, mental or economic. We rate this partially accurate  as .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
13791,3,African Americans in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement officers than caucasians.,"August 2, 2017",legal issues;race and ethnicity,derrick johnson,Derrick Johnson is interim president and CEO of the NAACP.,missouri,0,0,1,0,0,0,a travel advisory,"Johnson stated that African Americans in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement officers than caucasians. Blacks in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be stopped by law enforcement officers than whites, which is reflected in the attorney general data. That’s not  about searches. Blacks are 57 percent more likely to be searched than whites. The discrepancy in searches is huge, but it’s not 75 percent. We rate Johnson’s statement ."
14834,1,"Gov. Bruce Rauner has ""created no jobs over the past three years.","June 28, 2018",jobs,juliana stratton,Juliana Stratton is an American politician who has served as a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives since January 2017. She is the running mate of J.B. Pritzker in his campaign for Illinois governor.,illinois,0,0,0,0,1,0,a radio interview,"Stratton said Rauner has ""created no jobs over the past three years."" But federal employment data indicate jobs have increased by 188,000 since Rauner took office. Even the response from the Pritzker/Stratton campaign, which knocked the employment growth rate under Rauner for falling short of his predecessor’s, tacitly acknowledged that job growth had occurred. More to the point, however, Stratton didn’t comment on the state’s employment growth rate during the interview. Instead, her remarks called into question whether any jobs were created under Rauner. The numbers fail to support her there, so we rate her statement ."
9498,3,"Says Thom Tillis ""has cut $500 million from public education.","October 7, 2014",education;state budget,kay hagan,Kay Hagan served one term as a Democrat representing North Carolina in the U.S Senate.,national,0,2,1,1,0,0,a debate,"Sen. Hagan’s statement attacking Tillis said he ""has cut $500 million from public education."" Literally, the statement is . As North Carolina's Speaker of the House, Tillis helped pass a budget in 2013 that increased actual spending on education in comparison to previous years. But the budget spent almost $500 million less than what was requested to maintain the status quo, accounting for inflation and increased costs of various services. Additionally, the actual budget increase had a lot to do with rising costs of employee benefits, and not a lot to do with money that ends up in the classroom. We rate this  ."
4850,4,"In the past year, Floridians, not government, created almost 135,000 new private sector jobs. We netted more than 120,000 total jobs in the first 11 months of 2011; the third most of any state in the nation.","January 10, 2012",economy;jobs,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,his State of the State address,"Scott said, ""In the past year, Floridians, not government, created almost 135,000 new private sector jobs. We netted more than 120,000 total jobs in the first 11 months of 2011; the third most of any state in the nation."" Scott's figures are correct, although what he has done here is point to a 10-month job change. We also question how significant it is that Florida ranks third for new jobs, given that we're one of the largest states population-wise. Our unemployment rates would suggest we still have quite a way to go. Still, Scott's numbers are on track. We rate this ."
9018,4,Hobby Lobby provided this (birth control) coverage before they decided to drop it to file suit.,"June 30, 2014",health care;supreme court;punditfact,sally kohn,"Sally Kohn is a liberal columnist and TV pundit based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kohn is a contributor for CNN and writes columns for the Daily Beast. She also works as a communications consultant and has been active in social justice organizations.",,0,1,1,0,1,0,a segment on CNN,"On CNN, Kohn said, ""Hobby Lobby provided this coverage before they decided to drop it to file suit."" The Christian-owned company did previously offer insurance plans that included coverage of a few contraceptives at issue in the case, namely morning-after pills, but reports suggest owners weren't aware they offered that coverage. When the company found out -- in the wake of the contraceptive requirements that came out after the health care law -- the company stopped offering the drugs and took the contraceptive mandate to court. Kohn’s statement is accurate but leaves out that Hobby Lobby says it unwittingly offered this kind of birth control coverage. We rate the  ."
17689,0,"Says ""the feds closed the courtroom"" when El Chapo started naming Democrats he paid off.","May 11, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A post shared by Ted Nugent claims that federal agents ""closed"" the courtroom when Joaquín ""El Chapo"" Guzmán started naming Democrats he paid off.  This  is unfounded. The trial was covered by media organizations around the world and federal agents couldn’t have closed off Guzmán’s testimony because he never gave one. We rate this !"
16257,1,"Somebody in the Obama regime decided to get rid of"" the citizenship question in the census.","July 12, 2019",immigration;census;punditfact,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",,0,2,5,10,17,12,"a ""Fox & Friends"" appearance","Limbaugh said ""somebody in the Obama regime decided to get rid of"" the citizenship question. A citizenship question hasn’t been asked of all U.S. households since 1950. Between 1970 and 2000, the question was limited to the long-form census questionnaire, which went out to only 1 in 6 households.  In 2010, the Obama administration ended the entire long-form version. The Census Bureau had already begun sending the question, since 2005, to about 3.5 million households by way of the American Community Survey. The statement is not accurate. We rate it ."
19519,1,Image of expansive pit shows a lithium mine.,"February 5, 2021",environment;consumer safety;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post says a photo of an expansive, arrid pit shows a lithium mine."
9452,2,94 percent of those that are employed by the Department of Education at the federal level were deemed by the department as nonessential employees.,"September 28, 2014",education;federal budget,joni ernst,"Joni Ernst is a Republican senator from Iowa. A former state senator, she won the 2014 GOP primary for an open U.S. Senate seat and defeated Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley in November. She was sworn into Congress in January 2015, replacing long-time Senator Tom Harkin.",national,1,3,5,2,2,0,a debate,"Ernst said, ""94 percent of those that are employed by the Department of Education at the federal level were deemed by the department as nonessential employees."" While it’s  that the Education Department did furlough 94 percent of its employees during the 2013 government shutdown, those employees were neither called ""nonessential"" in official documents nor were they ""nonessential"" in any casual definition of the word. The Education Department’s furlough rate was 94 percent because its employees were not saving lives or protecting property -- the standard for being exempt from furloughs. The  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
4703,0,"When the country was founded, Congress had exactly the same attitude about the sanctity of Christmas celebrations that a 7-Eleven does today: 'Yeah, we're open.'","December 6, 2011",history;pop culture;pundits;religion,jon stewart,Jon Stewart is a comedian and host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.,rhode island,2,1,1,0,2,1,"a segment of ""The Daily Show""","Jon Stewart, ridiculing Fox News' coverage of the ""War on Christmas,"" repeated a  by the History channel that Congress met nearly every Christmas Day from 1789 to 1856. The ACLU makes the same , based on a magazine article. But daily records show the complete opposite, with just one exception each for the House and Senate. So the assertion that Congress met virtually every Christmas during that period is completely . The idea that members would do so when there's a 1 in 7 chance that Dec. 25 would fall on a Sunday makes this idea . So gather friends and family around the hearth as we give this Christmas  by Stewart, the ACLU and the History channel a collective ! (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
13722,1,Says Rick Kriseman is $35 million over budget on St. Petersburg's new police station.,"June 14, 2017",infrastructure,rick baker,"From 2001 to 2010, Rick Baker served as mayor of St. Petersburg. In 2017, Baker announced he would run for a third term",florida,1,1,1,1,1,0,"a ""Tampa Bay Times"" article","Baker said that the new police headquarters is over budget. Baker considers the budget for the police department to be $50 million, which was the amount that was originally set aside in 2006 when he was mayor. However, before Kriseman took office, a consultant said the city would need $74 million to build a new police headquarters. With the addition of features such as a shooting range and a parking garage, the project’s expected cost is now $86 million. Baker’s insistence that Kriseman should have stuck to a budget developed 11 years ago ignores the changed expectations before Kriseman took office. Moreover, the city is not far enough along on the project to say that it is over budget. So far, there’s no indication that the city is spending more than what the council approved. Baker’s statement is . We rate this  ."
20797,1,"Former President Donald Trump ""is fluent in Japanese.","January 13, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,A Facebook post claimed that Trump is fluent in Japanese. There is no  that the former president is proficient in Japanese or any other foreign language. As president he required translation assistance. We rate this  .
6295,5,"Says ""if current trends continue, by 2040, one out of three Texas workers will not have a high school diploma.","August 21, 2012",education;population,bill hammond,"Bill Hammond, a former Texas House member, also previously served as chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission.",texas,1,1,0,1,0,0,the Houston Chronicle,"Hammond said ""if current trends continue, by 2040, one out of three Texas workers will not have a high school diploma."" Murdock’s projection is that all factors staying the same, about 30 percent of workers will lack a high school diploma. We rate Hammond’s statement as ."
3551,4,"The ""six largest cities in Ohio all have higher rates of violence and crime than every major city along the U.S.-Mexico border.","May 9, 2011",immigration;crime,silvestre reyes,"Rep. Reyes, D-El Paso, was first elected to the U.S. House in 1996. He was the first Hispanic American in U.S. history to chair the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which drafts the laws that govern, fund and oversee the 16 agencies that comprise the U.S. intelligence community. He lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for the seat in 2012 to Beto O'Rourke, a member of the El Paso City Council.",texas,1,1,2,0,0,1,a press release,"We rate the statement . CORRECTION, 10:25 a.m., May 11, 2011 : The day this article posted, we subsequently amended our reference to the 2009 rate of aggravated assaults in Columbus. The initial article incorrectly said the Ohio city had the lowest rate of all the checked cities. In addition, the article's conclusion was later amended to correct the Columbus reference."
8398,4,Americans work way more than an average of industrialized countries around the world.,"February 9, 2014",jobs,keith ellison,"Keith Ellison is a Democratic congressman from Minnesota, representing a district that includes all of Minneapolis and portions of two neighboring counties. In 2017, Ellison became the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee.",national,1,1,0,1,1,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Ellison said that an average U.S. employee works ""way more than the average industrialized countries around the world."" The data shows that U.S. workers spend about 1,790 hours per year on the clock, which is above an average of developed countries at 1,715 hours. So he’s right that Americans work a lot, but we’ll dock Ellison a notch on our -O-Meter for exaggerating the difference. We rate his  ."
11684,4,"Says Donald Trump promised to repeal Obamacare, build a wall, ban Muslims, and more.","May 3, 2016",abortion;immigration;health care;human rights;islam;foreign policy;religion;terrorism;guns,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,a Clinton campaign tweet,"A Clinton campaign video listed eight steps Trump has promised to take as president. Five of those are firmly on the Trump agenda. That includes repealing Obamacare, building a wall along the Mexican border, deporting illegal immigrants, banning Muslims at the border, and restoring waterboarding and other torture techniques. On eliminating gun-free zones on school grounds, he hasn’t repeated it recently, but we saw no  he had changed his stance. There might be some debate over his plan to defund Planned Parenthood, because he links that to continued abortions. However, there is no indication that the group plans to stop providing that service, so a President Trump would need to cut funding if he wanted to keep his promise. The one exaggeration in the video is his threat to kill the families of terrorists. Trump seems to have backed off that promise. He has said he would make them suffer, not necessarily kill them. The video might miss a couple of nuances, but it is generally accurate. We rate the collective package . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a27d6e08-b5ec-40bb-aeb2-e15557be8d62"
12054,4,"Says Hillary Clinton ""supported North American Free Trade Agreement), and she supported China's entrance into the World Trade Organization…. She supported the job-killing trade deal with South Korea. She supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership.","July 21, 2016",candidate biography;trade,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech at the Republican national convention,"Trump said Clinton ""supported NAFTA, and she supported China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization…. She supported the job-killing trade deal with South Korea. She has supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership."" Trump is right that Clinton once supported NAFTA and TPP and has yet to revoke her support for China’s inclusion in the WTO or the deal with South Korea. But there are caveats. Clinton no longer supports NAFTA or TPP, and it’s not entirely clear that trade with South Korea has killed jobs. Trump’s statement is accurate because it’s carefully phrased, but it needs additional context. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/68c1a4d5-56ad-4a84-87b6-564b5037df5b"
17509,2,"NC liquor stores were deemed essential ""because we have a lot of people who are chemically dependent on alcohol and if we suddenly cut off their access they would go into withdrawal and flood the emergency rooms.","April 6, 2020",alcohol;coronavirus,jeff jackson,Jeff Jackson represents the Charlotte area in the North Carolina state senate.,north carolina,1,0,1,2,1,0,a tweet,"Jackson said liquor stores are still open because ""we have a lot of people who are chemically dependent on alcohol and if we suddenly cut off their access they would go into withdrawal and flood the emergency rooms, which we can’t have right now."" Gov. Cooper is responsible for determining which businesses are considered essential, and his administration hasn’t mentioned alcohol dependency as a reason for the designation.  The only  Jackson cited was an ABC operations manager in Asheville who said some store owners are concerned about closures potentially affecting the hospital system. But it’s not clear that that concern is shared among all 170 ABC store owners. Jackson’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression about North Carolina’s Executive Order. We rate it ."
3125,1,I campaigned on (the proposals in the budget repair bill for Wisconsin) all throughout the election. Anybody who says they are shocked on this has been asleep for the past two years.,"February 21, 2011",labor;state budget,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a news conference,"In an audiotape released Feb. 23, 2011, Walker compares his union plan to a history-making act and portrayed his union plan as a ""bomb."" Walker aides acknowledge the tape is real , but say Walker simply was saying privately what he has said publicly about his budget-repair bill. Of a meeting with his cabinet, Walker in the tape says: We talked about what we were going to do, how we were going to do it. We had already built plans up. This was kind of the last hurrah before we dropped the bomb."" )"
11732,4,"Every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns.","May 15, 2016",history;taxes;punditfact,chris wallace,"Chris Wallace is the host of ""Fox News Sunday.""",,0,1,3,0,0,0,"an episode of ""Fox News Sunday""","Wallace said, ""Every Republican nominee since Richard Nixon, who at one time was under an audit, has released their tax returns."" The IRS did audit Nixon, and he did release his tax returns. But he released them after he won re-election. His successor, Ford, released a tax summary spanning several years but never his full returns.   That being said, every Republican nominee since then — six nominees over nine elections — has disclosed their tax returns. Wallace’s telling of history is a little off, though the force of his point is correct: The Republican has released his tax returns in the last nine presidential cycles. We rate this  ."
3015,3,"Says the Texas Forest Service planted 6,000 trees in the Dallas/Fort Worth area before the Super Bowl for unknown reasons at an unknown cost.","February 3, 2011",environment,michael sullivan,"Sullivan helms Empower Texans, which says on its website that it exists to create and sustain a system of strong fiscal stewardship within all levels of Texas government, ensuring the greatest amounts of economic and personal liberty, and promoting public policies that provide individuals with the freedom to use their strengths and talents in pursuit of greater opportunities.",texas,1,1,3,1,0,0,a Twitter post,"For an unknown purpose? Not so, times two. Besides, ""your Forest Service,"" as Sullivan puts it, didn’t plant the trees by its lonesome. Moreover, half the expenses were covered by private donations. We rate the statement ."
10692,3,"Contrary to media reports, Georgia's gas tax change led to no price increase at the pump.","August 14, 2015",gas prices;taxes,e. frank stephenson,E. Frank Stephenson is chairman of the Department of Economics at Berry College.,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a Georgia Public Policy Foundation blog post,"In Atlanta’s car-centric world, gas prices are nearly as hot a topic as bad drivers. So Berry College economist E. Frank Stephenson caught our attention with his piece that the change how Georgia taxes gasoline was ""much ado about nothing"" because an analysis of prices before and after the change show rather than increasing taxes, pump prices went down this summer. ""Georgia’s gas tax change led to no price increase at the pump,"" Stephenson wrote in dismissing warnings of a tax increase. Stephenson is correct that average gas prices dropped this summer in Georgia, where we plunged to an 11-year low during the recent Labor Day weekend. He used neighboring states to show that Georgia prices dropped the same as states that did not alter their gas taxes this summer. That analysis, however, doesn’t indicate what sorts of market forces could depress pump prices, even as a growing share of that cost is taxes. And, the math shows just what was predicted when Georgia switched to a higher statewide excise tax on July 1: motorists paying several cents more per gallon than they would have under the former system. If not for the tax change, Georgia motorists would be paying even less at the pump now. Stephenson uses accurate numbers but leaves out critical facts that provide that important context. We rate his  ."
3089,1,"Within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security.","February 11, 2011",economy;federal budget,mitch daniels,"Mitch Daniels served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush and is now the governor of Indiana.
 ",national,0,0,0,0,3,1,a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference,"This mathematical sleight-of-hand was not disclosed in Daniels' speech. So he is  that ""within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security.""   It is  that interest on the national debt will grow faster than any other category of federal spending, even Medicare. But the comparison Daniels drew to illustrate that falls short under any reasonable definition of ""national security"" spending. We rate his statement ."
3920,3,Social Security and other federal checks may not go out on Aug. 3 if the debt ceiling is not increased.,"July 12, 2011",deficit;federal budget;social security,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,an interview with CBS News,"While it's not a certainty that the Obama administration could prioritize cutting checks to seniors, there's a reasonable shot that the administration could do it. On the other hand, doing so would likely cause a lot of collateral damage to other American creditors, federal workers, students, Pentagon vendors and countless others -- and could also hamper the broader economy at a particularly sensitive time. The president is probably justified in saying that the possibility of an un-raised debt ceiling jeopardizes Social Security checks -- after all, it hasn't happened before, so no one knows for sure. But we also think the president probably has tools at his disposal to avoid the worst-case scenario for seniors that he expresses concern about. Acknowledging that there are a lot of uncertainties, we rate his statement ."
22485,2,Ray Epps confessed to Jan. 6 Committee he 'orchestrated' attack on Capitol,"December 30, 2022",facebook fact-checks;jan. 6,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"An Instagram post said Epps confessed to orchestrating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. During an interview with the House committee investigating the attack, Epps said that he attended the rally, walked to the Capitol and recruited other people to join him. In a text message obtained by the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6, he used the word ""orchestrate."" But he later said he used that word to express pride about being there and believed in retrospect that it was the  word choice. He did not ""confess"" to having orchestrated the insurrection. Epps’ use of the word ""orchestrate"" in a text message is a kernel of  here, but overall this  ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. There is no  Epps took a leading role in planning violence that day. Epps did not enter the Capitol and he is not among the more than 950 people who have been charged with crimes stemming from the day’s events. We rate this . "
18161,3,"Let me splain how 'no payroll taxes' helps you, it doesn't. It helps employers.","August 9, 2020",social security;taxes;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"A Facebook post claims, ""Let me splain how ‘no payroll taxes’ helps you, it doesn’t. It helps employers & defunds years of Social Security you already paid."" Many observers say it makes life harder for employers, because it’s unclear where things will stand next year after the election. Payroll taxes flow through employers. If they simply let workers keep the money, employers would need to pay back the amount deferred in fairly short order, depending on the next president and Congress. We rate this post ."
10930,3,"Obamacare insurance cooperative failures ""should be expected"" because they're like any business, and ""when you start businesses in America, at the fifth year, half of the businesses have closed.","November 3, 2015",health care;punditfact,ezekiel emanuel,Ezekiel Emanuel is Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served as special adviser for health policy to the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.,,0,0,2,1,0,0,"a discussion on MSNBC's ""Up with Steve Kornacki""","Emanuel said the Obamacare insurance co-ops failed at a rate that’s typical for American businesses over a five-year period. The underlying comparison is flawed. While the age of each co-op is subject to debate, we used the Census Bureau’s definition to determine when they were born. Interviews with experts, government audits, and regulators’ actions point to three years as the typical lifespan of a failed co-op. About 50 percent of the co-ops shut down. Compared to the three-year failure rate in America, the co-ops have done much worse -- cratering at a rate that is about 40 percent faster than average. But Emanuel could turn out to be right. We won’t know the five-year rate for the entire group until late in 2016 or early 2017. If the remaining co-ops are still running, then the group’s failure rate will be close to the national average. Emanuel’s statement is accurate regarding the five-year-average but leaves out important details. We rate this  .  "
3152,4,An illegal immigrant who gains admission at a public college takes class space away from students who are legal residents.,"February 15, 2011",immigration;education,don balfour,"State Sen. Don Balfour is a Republican from Snellville.
 ",georgia,1,2,0,0,0,0,a committee hearing,"If a single illegal immigrant snags a spot in a popular course that fills up, legal residents can miss out. However, Balfour’s statement does not acknowledge the fundamental problem, which is tight resources. Given the small number of ""undocumented"" students, it’s safe to say that most of the time, legal residents are taking the slots away from one another.    Balfour’s statement is accurate but could have used clarification. Therefore it meets the -O-Meter’s definition of ."
2636,4,"Says he's arrested more criminals, ""including thousands of child predators and sex offenders,"" than any previous Texas attorney general.","October 13, 2010",criminal justice;crime;public safety,greg abbott,"Greg Abbott won election as governor of Texas in November 2014, carrying 59 percent of the vote. Abbott was re-elected in 2018. Abbott, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court, served three terms as the state's attorney general before being succeeded by Ken Paxton in early 2015.",texas,15,13,13,19,15,6,a campaign television ad,"Summing up: Abbott's campaign ad stated that he had made ""thousands"" of arrests. Abbott hasn't personally arrested anyone, but he has put into place criminal investigation units that had taken into custody more than 2,000 ""child predators and sex offenders"" through mid-October. Legislative actions during the past 20 years lend credence to the  that the arrests outnumber those of his predecessors, though his campaign didn't have data to prove it. By the same token, most earlier attorneys general didn't have the same manpower or authority to make arrests. We rate Abbott's statement ."
8077,3,You've seen where we're now going from a $700 million surplus to getting into the next biennium with almost a $750 million deficit.,"November 6, 2013",state budget,mary burke,"Burke is a former Trek Bicycle executive and former Wisconsin Commerce Department secretary who announced on Oct. 7, 2013 that she would seek the Democratic nomination for governor in Wisconsin in the fall 2014 election against incument Republican Gov. Scott Walker. She lost to Walker on Nov. 4, 2014. She is a school board member in Madison, Wisconsin.",wisconsin,2,8,11,5,5,3,an interview,"His numbers also checked out individually, and his overall point on the big turnaround from red to black in his first budget is correct. But he mixed different ways to define the size of the turnaround, throwing the numbers off a bit. Our rating Burke said the state is going from a $700 million surplus ""to getting into the next biennium with almost a $750 million deficit."" Her numbers check out, and she properly identifies a big swing in Walker’s budgeting, but -- like Walker’s similar  -- there’s a problem because the two numbers aren’t easily compared. We rate her  ."
6904,3,"Eighty percent of those who have applied for licenses have no cancer, no Parkinson's disease or glaucoma. They have nothing you would associate [with] the use of medical marijuana.","January 8, 2013",drugs;health care;marijuana,patrick kennedy,"Patrick Kennedy is a former Democratic congressman from Rhode Island. He served from 1995 to 2011, opting not to seek re-election in 2010 following the death of his father, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.",rhode island,0,1,3,0,1,0,news story,"Former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy said that ""eighty percent of those who have applied for licenses have no cancer, no Parkinson’s disease or glaucoma"" and that ""they have nothing you would associate [with] the use of medical marijuana."" Kennedy is right about the comparatively small percentage of medical-marijuana patients who use it for the conditions he named. But he is  that most of those using the drug do so for conditions not associated with it. In fact, states with medical marijuana laws allow use for chronic and severe pain -- the most common conditions cited by patients. Does everyone who has permission to use medical marijuana actually have a  medical need for it? We don’t know, but neither does Kennedy. We rate the statement  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
12568,3,"When asked about equal pay for women, (Rubio's) quote was that it was a waste of time.","October 17, 2016",labor;women,patrick murphy,Patrick Murphy won his first seat in 2012 for the U.S. House of Representatives representing District 18 in Florida. Murphy lost a U.S. Senate race against Marco Rubio in 2016. ,florida,3,5,4,2,1,0,a U.S. Senate debate,"Murphy said, ""When asked about equal pay for women, (Rubio’s) quote was that it was a waste of time."" Rubio did use the expression to describe Democratic efforts to advance the Paycheck Fairness Act. Rubio thought the bill focused too much on allowing workers to sue employers for discrimination, and not enough time focusing on job training and other solutions. That’s not the same as dismissing efforts to close the gender pay gap out of hand. Murphy misrepresented the context of Rubio’s response. We rate Murphy’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/94b2ce38-f51a-4520-850d-1879affad57d"
11978,2,"(Big banks) have invested over $300,000 in (Joe Heck), and Heck has sponsored $44 million dollars in tax breaks for banks.","July 1, 2016",campaign finance,senate majority pac,Senate Majority PAC is a super PAC that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,nevada,0,3,8,5,4,0,a television ad first airing on July 1,"A new ad from Senate Majority PAC claims banks ""have invested over $300,000 in him, and Heck has sponsored $44 million dollars in tax breaks for banks."" The implication that funds raised from the banking industry were an ""investment"" in Heck is highly . The majority of bank donations came during Heck’s current run for U.S. Senate, nine years after sponsoring a bill that would have lowered the payroll tax rate for banks. Because it’s so , we rate this  ."
17054,1,"Says ""the coronavirus was engineered by scientists in a lab.","February 3, 2020",corrections and updates;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,naturalnews.com,NaturalNews.com is an alternative-health website.,,0,0,0,0,3,0,an article,"Other blogs and social media users have speculated that a lab near Wuhan could be the source of the virus. The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is a maximum-security biolab that deals with some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens, including Ebola and SARS. As of now, however, there is no  that the lab is the source of the outbreak. The Natural News article is unsupported by . We rate it ."
15047,0,"Says Texas has ""had over 600,000 crimes committed by illegals since 2011. Over 1,200 homicides.","August 26, 2018",immigration;crime,ken paxton,"As a Republican state senator, Ken Paxton won election as Texas attorney general in 2014. He previously served as a Texas House member from McKinney.",texas,1,1,0,3,2,3,an interview on Fox & Friends,"Paxton said Texas has ""had over 600,000 crimes committed by illegals since 2011. Over 1,200 homicides."" Both of these numbers--which we’ve twice debunked in detail since 2010--exceed what the state estimates by more than 400 percent. DPS-posted figures lately suggest that since mid-2011, Texas-jailed individuals believed to be living in the U.S. without legal permission account for 229 homicide convictions among more than 114,000 convictions across a range of  minor offenses. We rate Paxton's  .  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
1871,4,"As a senator, Barack Obama supported ""an amendment that basically gutted the legal temporary worker program.","July 4, 2010",immigration;this week - abc news;workers,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"an interview on ""This Week.""","He said that Barack Obama supported an amendment ""that basically gutted the legal temporary worker program."" Clearly Obama did vote for a bill that would have curtailed the legal temporary worker program, an important part of comprehensive immigration package. Still, Obama did cast other votes to move the bill forward. We feel it's important to note that the vote was not a clear-cut refusal of the entire package. So we rate McCain's statement ."
19308,2,"The result of lockdowns ""has been the destruction of millions of lives across America as well as increased deaths from suicide, substance abuse and despair without any corresponding benefit in Covid mortality.","February 2, 2021",health check;coronavirus,ron desantis,"Ron DeSantis announced on May 24, 2023 that he is running for president in the Republican primary. DeSantis won the race for Florida governor in 2018 and 2022. DeSantis was first elected to Congress in 2012 and resigned in September 2018 to focus on his campaign. He represented Florida's 6th Congressional District which is south of St. Augustine and north of Orlando and includes Daytona Beach. DeSantis initially ran for U.S. Senate in 2016 but dropped out after Marco Rubio decided to seek re-election.",florida,2,10,9,13,14,2,a press conference,"The pandemic certainly has caused anxiety and distress across the country and state and local restrictions designed to tamp down on the coronavirus’s spread have also affected people’s financial and emotional wellbeing. But currently, no clear data supports DeSantis’ strongly worded . Researchers agreed that more research is necessary before such broad conclusions could be drawn. In addition, experts said that COVID-19 death rates vary by state and numerous factors beyond state strategies to combat the virus affect this metric. We rate the statement ."
17801,1,"Text from someone ""connected"" to Raleigh police: ""antifa may be heading into the wealthy neighborhoods tonight to take what should be theirs.","June 2, 2020",fake news,chain message,"Anonymous chain messages often circulate on platforms like iMessage, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger during major news events.",north carolina,0,0,0,0,6,0,a text,"A text message circulating through the Raleigh community says ""Antifa may be heading into the wealthy neighborhoods tonight to take what should be theirs,"" one text said. This message is part of a broad network of misinformation across the country. It hasn’t been  in other communities and local authorities said it’s not  in Raleigh, either. We rate this  ."
5979,0,"Says U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy is among seven ""Tea Party freshmen"" who ""spent an average of $15,000 on cars for themselves.","July 16, 2012",congress;transportation,scott keyes,"Scott Keyes is a reporter for ThinkProgress.org, a web site of the left-leaning Center for American Progress Action Fund. The fund is run by John Podesta, who served as chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,0,1,a blog post,"If he's going to use budget deficits to justify taking food stamps away from poor people, he should at a minimum be willing to lead by example in eschewing his own office expenses (like many of his GOP colleagues who represent much larger districts have done)."" Our rating Keyes accused Duffy of using tax money for a car for personal use, saying he is among seven ""Tea Party freshmen"" who ""spent an average of $15,000 on cars for themselves. ""   But Duffy leases a bus that is used as a ""mobile office,"" not a car for himself. That makes the  about Duffy  and  and leaves Keyes at this destination: ."
14599,3,"Welders are coming out of their tech schools at $28 an hour"" and ""pipefitters are making six figures.","May 5, 2018",education;income;jobs,adam putnam,"Adam Putnam lost the Republican primary for Florida governor to U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in 2018. A former Republican Congressman from Congressional District 12 in Central Florida, was elected Florida Commissioner of Agriculture on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014.",florida,3,2,5,3,1,2,a Republican candidate forum,"Putnam said ""welders are coming out of their tech schools at $28 an hour"" and ""pipefitters are making six figures."" It’s unlikely someone just starting out as a welder or pipefitter will make as much as Putnam said. That said, people who work in the industry say it’s possible to make that much depending on the industry you choose and the amount of training you get. Putnam's figures are overstated for young workers in those fields. We rate this  ."
12762,5,"Texas spends ""more per day to house an inmate than we do on a student.","October 17, 2016",criminal justice;education;crime;state budget;states,"virginia ""jennie lou"" leeder","Virginia ""Jennie Lou"" Leeder, the 2016 Democratic nominee to represent Texas Senate District 24, has served as chairman of the Llano County Democratic Party since 2007, she said on her campaign website.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,an interview with the Austin American-Statesman,"Leeder said Texas spends ""more per day to house an inmate than we do on a student."" This contention holds up if you divide total costs for prisons versus schools by the 365 days in a year. It’s also narrowly so--by 17 cents a day in 2012, we found--if you limit the school part of Leeder’s comparison to the 180 days in a Texas school year. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/870006ee-24a2-4c30-be2d-ca62b01eea69"
18086,1,Portland goon squads were Blackwater contractors not federal officers.,"July 20, 2020",homeland security;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",oregon,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a text post,"A Facebook post claims that officers detaining protesters in Portland are from Academi, not the federal government. We found no publicly available  to support that . Homeland Security personnel have been sent to Portland amid ongoing protests against police brutality. Officials say they are backing up the Federal Protective Service to defend public property. The FPS does have thousands of contract security guards. Academi has a contract with the federal government to provide security training for law enforcement officers and first responders, and two related companies have contracts to provide security personnel.  But we could find no statements from public officials, public documents or news reports about the government using contractors in lieu of federal agents to quell protests in Portland. There may well be Academi-linked contractors defending federal buildings in the city, but the Facebook post said they are standing in for federal officers. That  is , and we rate it ."
3294,5,"Since 1980, over 145 incidents have been documented of suction entrapment in swimming pools and spas, including 36 deaths of children.","February 16, 2011",children;consumer safety,leticia van de putte,"Leticia Van de Putte, a pharmacist, was the 2014 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. She previously served in the Texas House.",texas,2,1,4,2,2,1,a press release,"Finally, we sought Texas-specific data. Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of State Health Services, told us the agency tabulates pool drownings, but not yet drain entrapments. All told, it looks like Van de Putte understates the 154 people, at least, who have been sucked into a U.S. pool or spa drain. While her backup information didn’t prove that 36 children died as a result, the sources we culled suggest that at least 39 children have perished. We rate her statement as ."
20541,1,"No new COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, India, due to use of ivermectin","November 1, 2021",public health;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Claims that Uttar Pradesh reduced its COVID-19 case count by using ivermectin have spread on social media.  While cases appear to have fallen in Uttar Pradesh, it’s not clear why. There is no scientific, randomized controlled study showing that ivermectin led to a reduction in the spread of the virus in Uttar Pradesh. The available research regarding the drug’s use to prevent or treat the virus is either unreliable or inconclusive. Scientists have said that more study is necessary.  We rate this  .    "
13000,4,Over 39% of violent criminals return to prison following their release.,"February 1, 2017",criminal justice;crime,joe sanfelippo,Joe Sanfelippo was elected to the State Assembly in 2012 as a Republican from West Allis. He's a small businessman who owned and operated a landscaping business. He served a term on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors from 2008-12.,wisconsin,0,2,0,0,1,1,an online video,"A Corrections Department rule allows that action. Our rating Sanfelippo claimed that ""over 39% of violent criminals return to prison following their release."" The number tracks a credible report by the state, so it’s on target. But it needs clarification because Sanfelippo portrays the repeat offenders as ""terrorizing"" neighborhoods when some very likely were imprisoned anew for lesser violations. That’s our definition of .  "
7113,5,Nearly 65 percent -- almost two-thirds -- of all new permanent residents obtained that status by virtue of their family status.,"March 5, 2013",immigration,jeb bush,Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. ,florida,14,24,17,18,5,2,his book 'Immigration Wars',"Bush said that by 2011, of the one million immigrants granted permanent legal residence, ""nearly 65 percent -- almost two-thirds -- of all new permanent residents obtained that status by virtue of their family status."" Bush correctly cites the numbers, and his broader point is correct, too -- our system favors family reunification. We rate this  ."
11789,2,"It's entirely possible that the Democratic nominee, [Hillary Clinton], earned more money giving a single speech on Wall Street than I made the six years that I was there back in the 1980s… In fact, it's quite likely.","May 19, 2016",income,pat toomey,"Pat Toomey is a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, having won election to his seat in 2010 by defeating Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak. Toomey occupies the seat formerly held by Sen. Arlen Specter, to whom he narrowly lost in the 2004 Republican U.S. Senate primary.",pennsylvania,3,1,4,5,2,0,an interview with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT,"Pat Toomey said that it was possible and even likely that Hillary Clinton earned more money giving a single speech to a Wall Street bank than he did in his six years there. Clinton earned $260,000 in her most profitable speech to a Wall Street bank, so Toomey would have had to have earned an average of about $43,000 per year on Wall Street. It’s possible the entry-level salary for a trader was less than $43,000 in the 1980s, but Toomey was a trader at the forefront of the derivatives operation at Morgan Grenfell. So it’s likely he earned a significant bonus, which would put his earnings over that threshold. It gets less likely if we adjust Toomey’s non-bonus-inflated potential salary for inflation. An annual salary of about $43,000 in 1985 would make significantly more than $260,000 over six years in 2016 dollars. And Toomey didn’t just say it was ""possible"" he made less in six years on Wall Street than Clinton did in one speech. He said it was ""likely."" Based on average salaries and bonuses from this era of Wall Street and input from experts, it does not seem likely. It gets less likely if we adjust Toomey’s non-bonus-inflated potential salary for inflation. An annual salary of about $43,000 in 1985 would make significantly more than $260,000 over six years in 2016 dollars. We rate this  ."
16637,0,"Over the last two years, the number of murders in America and America's major cities has dropped, unlike here (Chicago), by more than 10%.","October 28, 2019",crime,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",illinois,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Referring to Chicago, Trump said that ""over the last two years, the number of murders in America and America’s major cities has dropped, unlike here, by more than 10%."" Chicago has seen a nearly 30% decrease in murders over the past several years. That well outpaces the national decline of just under 7%. Rather than holding the nation back, as Trump suggested, Chicago’s progress has contributed to the national decline in violent crime. We rate Trump’s  !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
20362,0,Terry (McAuliffe) calls in his friend Joe Biden to actually put the DOJ on Virginia parents.,"October 6, 2021",education;public safety,glenn youngkin,"Republican Glenn Youngkin was elected Virginia's governor in November 2021. He defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who was governor from 2014 to 2018.
Youngkin was reared in Richmond and Virginia Beach and won a basketball scholarship at Rice University, where he earned an engineering degree. He earned a MBA from Harvard University. Youngkin worked 25 years at the Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm based in Washington with $230 billion in assets. He retired in 2020 as CEO after taking the company public. His net worth is estimated at $254 million, according to The Washington Post.
Youngkin's 2021 campaign for governor is his first bid for public office.",virginia,0,5,4,1,3,1,a TV interview,"  Youngkin says, ""Terry (McAuliffe) calls in his friend Joe Biden to actually put the DOJ on Virginia parents."" McAuliffe says he never contacted Biden or anyone in the White House to request FBI protection for educators facing increasing protest for school policies on health and social issues. Youngkin provides no proof to the contrary.  This is a made-up  by Youngkin on a highly charged issue, and he’s said it at least three times. We rate Youngkin’s statement ! "
13675,0,"Barron Trump Rushed To The Hospital, Hospital Releases Statement On His Condition","August 6, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"I could send you one but it's of me in a wheelchair, connected up to tubes, in a hospital. Better? That’s more than enough to seal the fate of the  that Barron Trump was rushed to hospital with severe pneumonia. We rate this  !"
20513,2,"Says N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein has gone after Jan. 6 protesters but he has ""said nothing"" about violent summer protests in North Carolina and was ""derelict in his duty.","October 21, 2021",jan. 6,mark robinson,"Mark Robinson, a Republican, was elected Lt. Governor of North Carolina in 2020.",north carolina,0,0,0,1,1,0,an interview with Diamond and Silk,"Robinson said Stein decided to ""go after his political enemies"" who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, but has ""said nothing"" about violent protesters ""and has been derelict in his duty in prosecuting any of those people."" Robinson embellished Stein’s role in finding people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. The attorney general’s office, which doesn’t have jurisdiction to prosecute federal charges, merely collected and relayed tips to the FBI. Robinson is  about Stein staying ""silent"" about violent protests in North Carolina. He released a statement in June. He also appears to be  about Stein being ""derelict in his duty"" to prosecute violent protesters. Stein’s office says it hasn’t received a request to participate in a local case, which it would legally need in order to get involved. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
13077,3,"Currently, when we ship products out of America, many other countries make us pay very high tariffs and taxes — but when foreign companies ship their products into America, we charge them nothing or almost nothing.","February 28, 2017",trade,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech to Congress,"Trump said, ""When we ship products out of America, many other countries make us pay very high tariffs and taxes — but when foreign companies ship their products into America, we charge them almost nothing."" Trump’s  makes a generalization about the reality of trade in the United States and abroad. There are examples of countries who make the United States pay high tariffs and taxes, but there are other countries who charge about the same or nothing (Canada). It’s really a mixed bag. As for the second part — that we charge them almost nothing — we do charge something, but experts said that something is relatively low on a global setting, so Trump has a point. Overall, we rate this  ."
4572,2,"Says the Treasury Department ""says 41 percent of all business income reported on individual returns would be hit by the [millionaires'] surtax"" that ""would harm small businessmen and women, the very people we are counting on to create new jobs.","November 4, 2011",income;small business;taxes,rodney frelinghuysen,"Rodney Frelinghuysen is a Republican Congressman representing New Jersey's 11th district, which includes all of Morris County and parts of Sussex, Somerset, Passaic, and Essex counties.",new jersey,1,1,0,1,0,0,an email newsletter,"Frelinghuysen claimed the Treasury Department said ""41 percent of all business income reported on individual returns would be hit by the surtax. Thus, the President’s tax would harm small businessmen and women, the very people we are counting on to create new jobs and hire new workers!"" The congressman’s use of the statistic is . Frelinghuysen applies the statistic to small business owners, saying it would hurt the individuals we are counting on to create jobs. But the figure represents income from all businesses, not just small businesses. And the same report he’s basing his information on found that slightly more than one-fifth of small businesses are employers. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
21876,0,The Supreme Court will put Donald Trump back in office in October,"August 18, 2022",elections;legal issues;supreme court,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a TikTok on Facebook,"A TikTok video on Facebook suggests the Supreme Court will put Donald Trump back in office in October. The TikTok references an election law case the court has agreed to take up pertaining to the powers of state legislatures. A ruling is not expected until next summer.  While Trump can run for election in 2024, the Supreme Court can’t just place him back in the White House. We rate this statement ! RELATED : All of our fact-checks about elections"
14311,2,"In most states, you can buy an assault rifle with no proof of ID, but in every state, you need proof of ID to vote.","February 18, 2018",elections;guns,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",national,4,13,35,53,711,331,on the Internet,"The viral image said that in most states, you can buy an assault rifle with no proof of ID, but in every state, you need proof of ID to vote. It is indeed possible to buy an assault rifle without an ID if you go to a gun show — but the graphic neglects to mention that these sales are the exception rather than the rule. A significant majority of gun purchases are made in transactions that require ID and a background check. As for the voting , some states have imposed strict photo ID laws at the voting booth. However, the graphic ignores that about one-third of states require no ID at all to vote, and that many of those that do require identification allow a range of documents to serve that purpose, including student IDs, utility bills and debit cards. We rate the viral image ."
16543,2,"Barack Obama asked Ukraine to investigate his political rival's campaign manager, 3 Democrat senators asked Ukraine to investigate Trump, and the DNC solicited Ukraine's help to dig up dirt on Trump.","September 29, 2019",criminal justice;impeachment;foreign policy;punditfact,charlie kirk,"Charlie Kirk is the founder and president of Turning Point USA, a conservative group that advocates for limited government and free markets.",,0,1,1,2,7,3,a tweet,"Kirk said, ""Barack Obama asked Ukraine to investigate his political rival's campaign manager, 3 Democrat senators asked Ukraine to investigate Trump, and the DNC solicited Ukraine's help to dig up dirt on Trump, and the media was silent about all of it."" Kirk’s three claims are all rooted in events or incidents that did transpire, but they oversimplify what happened in such a way that they give a  impression. We rate this statement ."
20186,1,"It is the vaccinated, NOT the unvaccinated, spreading mutant variants.","August 13, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants were first detected in unvaccinated populations. Most variants were detected before vaccines were even approved for use and they have accelerated in unvaccinated populations. While research has found that vaccinated people who become infected with COVID-19 are able to transmit the virus, studies also show that unvaccinated people are far more likely to contract and spread the delta variant than vaccinated people. We rate this  .   PolitiFact staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
23185,2,"Photo shows President Joe Biden sitting with ""Lisa Monaco, second in charge of the DOJ, probably working on future Plots and Schemes against Republicans.","June 19, 2023",,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a Truth Social post,"""I think that in a Biden administration you’ll see a lot of women and people of color."" Trump’s  Social post suggests to viewers that the image of Biden and Monaco is current, referring to her role as the No. 2 Justice Department official. But the picture is a decade old. We rate this statement .   RELATED : Fact-checking 2024 presidential candidates, who’s running"
19077,2,"Voting machines didn't work in heavily GOP areas for the Georgia runoff elections, leaving some voters unable to cast ballots.","January 5, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",georgia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An article shared on Facebook claimed that during the Jan. 5 Georgia runoff elections voting machines didn’t work in some heavily Republican areas and that some voters were kept from casting their votes. President Trump shared similar reports about broken machines. Election officials said that while there may have been some isolated mechanical issues, the matters were resolved and there is no indication that votes were not cast as a result of those problems. Election protection lawyers, local media and Georgia’s  secretary of state all confirmed there was no indication of widespread problems. We rate the statement ."
19359,1,"Says Rachel Levine supports ""government-funded sex reassignment surgery without parental notification or authorization"" for all children.","February 26, 2021",lgbtq;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"Facebook posts said that Rachel Levine supports ""government-funded sex reassignment surgery without parental notification or authorization"" for all children. There is no record of Levine supporting genital surgery for young children. In a lecture, Levine stated that ""there is no medical treatment"" for prepubescent children with gender dysphoria.  Performing genital surgery on prepubescent children violates the standards of care laid out by professionals in transgender medicine.  This  is ."
5324,3,"Says ""today unemployment has been running near 12 percent or more for the last four years"" and the Legislature hasn't done much to lower it.","March 6, 2012",jobs,tim knopp,"Former Oregon Rep. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, is challenging state Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend, for Senate District 27 in the May 2012 primary.",oregon,0,1,1,0,0,0,campaign website,"(We gave it a .) We think the same way here. Knopp appears to be as responsible for a 6 percent unemployment figure as Telfer is for a 12 percent unemployment rate, and that’s not very much. His figures are correct, making the statement partially accurate, but there’s important information missing: The context of a global recession. We rate the statement ."
20114,3,"I will need to show proof to do anything indoors in"" New York City, ""but not when I vote?","August 4, 2021",elections;government regulation;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",new york,4,13,35,53,711,331,a viral image,"A viral image claimed that ""I will need to show proof to do anything indoors in"" New York City, ""but not when I vote?"" In New York State, including New York City, you don’t need to show identification to vote — if you are a registered voter. And proof of vaccination is not required to vote. But the  about ""anything indoors"" is . Starting Aug. 16, the city will require customers and employees to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to enter certain venues — for indoor dining, indoor fitness, and indoor entertainment and performances. But the mayor’s order does not include other types of indoor venues. We rate the post . RELATED:   As extremes shape voter ID debate, the rules keep getting stricter"
15366,5,"West Virginia added the highest percentage of new construction jobs in 2017 in the United States, at 14.4%. This amounted to 4,300 additional jobs! In fact, #WV was the only state with double-digit growth!","September 14, 2018",economy;housing,west virginia republican party,The West Virginia Republican Party is the official Republican state party organization in West Virginia.,west virginia,6,6,1,0,1,0,a tweet,"The West Virginia Republican Party tweeted that ""West Virginia added the highest percentage of new construction jobs in 2017 in the United States, at 14.4%? This amounted to 4,300 additional jobs! In fact, #WV was the only state with double-digit growth!"" A look at the original data shows that the No. 1 ranking, the percentage increase, and the raw increase in jobs are all correct. So is West Virginia’s distinction as the only state with double-digit growth in 2017. We rate the statement ."
2010,5,"Jeff Greene can buy anything"" ...  he owns two mansions.","July 29, 2010",candidate biography;elections;message machine 2010,kendrick meek,"Kendrick Meek is a former U.S. Representative for Congressional District 17 in Miami, serving from 2003 to 2011. He campaigned for the U.S. Senate and was defeated on Nov. 2, 2010.",florida,5,4,1,2,6,1,a TV ad,"That's the same yacht that tore up a coral reef in Belize, by the way . In Kendrick Meek's second TV ad, he uses pictures of two homes and labels them ""Mansion"" and ""Mansion 2"" to help illustrate rival Jeff Greene's personal fortune. We wanted to know if those images were real or simply placeholders. Turns out, what you see is what you get. We rate Meek's  ."
22295,1,Delayed election results are proof of fraud.,"November 5, 2022",elections,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"Each state has its own laws about when counting can begin for mail-in ballots, and some of those procedures can slow the counting process. That doesn’t prove that fraud is at play. We rate the  .   RELATED: No, every vote wasn’t previously counted on election night RELATED : Ask PolitiFact: What steps do election officials take to prevent fraud?  "
11876,2,"Says the Clinton Foundation ""accepted millions and millions of dollars from governments like Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates,"" which violated ""a ban on all contributions to the Foundation from foreign nations.","June 8, 2016",candidate biography;elections,steve chabot,"U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot has proudly served Ohio's First Congressional District for 18 years. A lifelong Cincinnatian, Steve previously served as a Cincinnati City Councilman and Hamilton County Commissioner for four years each prior to being elected to Congress in 1994.",ohio,0,0,0,1,2,0,his campaign blog,"Chabot wrote, ""The Clintons violated that ban time and time again, and accepted millions and millions of dollars from governments like Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Oman and United Arab Emirates."" The agreement, a memorandum of understanding, was not a ban. At the very least, the Clinton Foundation accepted $1.5 million from Algeria and Oman, and at most, $5.5 million. Oman’s donation was allowed under the memo’s terms, but Algeria’s was not. Is the amount likely ""millions and millions?"" Probably. The Clinton Foundation has accepted funds from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, too, but not while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. We rate his statement ."
2160,5,"Under the new health care law, ""if a landscaper wants to buy a new lawnmower, or a restaurant needs a new ice-maker, they have to report that to the feds.","August 24, 2010",health care;taxes,john boehner,"John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.",ohio,17,4,11,13,22,2,a speech at the City Club of Cleveland,"Repeal the whole provision and soften the health care bill’s requirement that individuals buy insurance with, if needed, government subsidies. If the insurance bill were to cost less, it would reduce the need for this money, Republicans say. You may agree or disagree with any of these approaches, but the issue here is simply Boehner’s statement on the $600 reporting requirement. It’s about mom-and-pop stores and lawn-mowing services, and we rate it . Comment on this item ."
21512,1,TV interviews with two different men who are each identified as Uvalde victim's father show the Robb Elementary School mass shooting was staged.,"May 29, 2022",education;public safety;facebook fact-checks;guns,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,a tweet,"A tweet said that the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting was staged and cited as  separate TV news interviews showing two different men being identified as the father of a child shot to death in her classroom. However, the explanation is much simpler: One man was the child’s biological father and the other was her stepfather. There is no  the shooting, which claimed 21 lives, was staged. We rate this  ."
8583,3,"For educational testing, Florida ""has chosen a company that has a significant history of promoting identification of the GLBT lifestyle for children as young as seven years old.","March 19, 2014",education;lgbtq,florida stop common core coalition,The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition is a group that opposes Common Core.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,1,a letter to supporters,"The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition said that the American Institutes for Research promotes the identification of homosexual lifestyles in young children. It is  that AIR does research on LGBT youth issues and offers advice to organizations that request it on how to assist these children. This is one piece of the group’s initiatives, which also include work on disease management and student assessments. AIR does not advocate a homosexual lifestyle for children, nor is it an advocacy group at all. There is no indication that the organization or the state will have a homosexual agenda in its state testing. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and takes things out of context. We rate the statement ."
18189,2,"GOP-backed ""racist disenfrachisement"" led to only five polling places being open in Milwaukee for April 7 election.","August 10, 2020",elections;race and ethnicity,mandela barnes,"Mandela Barnes is an American politician serving as the 45th lieutenant governor of Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, Barnes is a former state representative. On August 14, 2018, he won the Democratic primary in a landslide and became the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tony Evers. Evers and Barnes went on to win the November 2018 election, defeating incumbent Republicans Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch. Barnes became Wisconsin's first African American lieutenant governor.
 
 ",wisconsin,3,2,1,2,1,0,a public forum,"Meanwhile, there may be other factors at play as well, such as the fact the 2016 primary included competitive contests on the Republican and Democratic sides, while that was not the case in 2020. Our rating Barnes claimed that GOP-backed ""racist disenfrachisement"" led to only five polling places being open in Milwaukee for April 7 election. While closing polling places did appear to have a disproportionate impact on Black voters, the context of the  suggests the goal of closing polling places was racial disenfranchisement. While Republican maneuvering contributed to the chaos and uncertainty around the election, decisions on polling places were made in Milwaukee, not Madison.   We rate this  ."
4881,1,I also voted 98 percent of the time with Republicans in the Oregon Legislature.,"January 10, 2012",bipartisanship;message machine 2012;voting record,suzanne bonamici,Suzanne Bonamici is a member of the Oregon Senate. She is also the Democratic nominee to represent the state's 1st congressional district.,oregon,3,0,0,0,3,1,a debate,"They also work on many bipartisan issues.        But it’s  to say that she voted with Republicans 98 percent of the time. The closest she comes is a 90 percent match voting record with Sen. Jackie Winters over one session. We find no  of a Republican who has voted with her 98 percent of the time, much less the majority of Republicans. We rule the statement ."
15043,2,"Says ""Mimi Walters raised taxes on middle-class Californians.","September 5, 2018",taxes,katie porter,Katie Porter is a Democrat running for Congress in 2018 in California's 45th Congressional District.,california,0,0,0,1,0,0,a campaign ad,"That's . While a provision in the tax bill will result in tax increases for some middle-class Californians, it won't for many more.  The ad ignores all that context, along with the fact that lion's share of the tax increases Porter is talking about will be paid for by wealthy Californians. Porter's statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
7716,1,"Says Terry McAuliffe is ""the person who invented the scheme to rent out the Lincoln Bedroom.","August 10, 2013",campaign finance;ethics;history,ken cuccinelli,"Ken Cuccinelli became acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on June 10, 2019. Cuccinelli, a Republican, was Virginia's attorney general from 2010 to 2014. In 2013, he lost the general election for governor to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. In 2016, he was a adisver to the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Born in 1968, Cuccinelli has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Geroge Mason University School of Law and an M.A. in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.
He represented Fairfax County in the state senate from 2002 to 2010.
 
 
 
 
.",virginia,3,2,5,1,10,1,a speech,"Cuccinelli, in attacking McAuliffe’s ethics, says the Democrat is ""the person who invented the scheme to rent out the Lincoln Bedroom."" McAuliffe authored a memo in early 1995 listing ways Clinton could connect with top Democratic patrons. But the original note did not mention White House sleepovers; that idea was later added in the handwriting of others. McAuliffe has always denied he came up with the scheme; Clinton in 1997 took full responsibility for the idea. No doubt, McAuliffe strongly backed the sleepovers and recommended heavy hitters that should be offered a night in the Lincoln Bedroom. But we see no  that McAuliffe ""invented the scheme."" We rate Cuccinelli’s statement ."
4003,5,"Thirty-four of the last 44 (debt ceiling increases) have been for less than a year. So, this notion that short-term is somehow the exception, it's actually the rule.","July 25, 2011",deficit;federal budget,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,an interview on MSNBC,"""You could argue things are different now – it’s more difficult for Congress to act, and the spending and deficit problems we face combine with legislative uncertainty around the debt limit deadline to create undesirable financial market pressures,"" Hennessey wrote in his blog. But he added, ""A debt limit extension of three, six, or nine months would be routine based on historic practice."" That’s what Portman said, too -- that 34 of the last 44 have lasted for less than a year. Portman’s statement was accurate. On the -O-Meter it rates ."
11663,2,"Says both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton say Planned Parenthood is ""terrific and that it should keep taxpayer funding.","May 1, 2016",abortion,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,"an interview on ""Meet the Press""","Cruz said both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton say Planned Parenthood is ""terrific and that it should keep taxpayer funding."" Trump and Clinton seem to agree that Planned Parenthood does some positive work as it pertains to things like cancer prevention, and Trump has described that work as ""wonderful."" However, Clinton supports their abortion services, and Trump does not. He thinks Planned Parenthood should not receive taxpayer dollars as long as they provide abortions. Clinton, on the other hand, has said Planned Parenthood should receive even more funding than it does now. We rate Cruz’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/e027987b-21b8-4919-bf16-b2931b5366cc"
18758,3,"Says Joni Ernst ""supports the lawsuit that's headed to the Supreme Court that will"" repeal the Affordable Care Act.","October 22, 2020",health care;supreme court;iowa,theresa greenfield,Theresa Greenfield in a Democratic candidate for Senate in 2020. ,national,1,1,1,0,0,0,a tweet,"Greenfield said that Ernst supports the lawsuit striking down the Affordable Care Act. But Ernst has failed to give a clear, publicly stated stance on the lawsuit. Greenfield’s  is based on Ernst’s consistently critical assessment of the ACA and votes in favor of repealing the law. Ernst also voted to cut the individual mandate, which led to the law being challenged in court.  Even though Ernst hasn’t taken a position on the lawsuit itself, she’s expressed a repeated desire to roll back the ACA. We rate Greenfield’s  ."
6878,5,Spending of government money is 17 percent less than it was a decade ago.,"January 17, 2013",state budget,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,a twitter post,"Deal explained the decrease in his speech. ""Using 2012 dollars, our per capita spending of government money is 17 percent less that it was a decade ago,"" the governor said. Adjusted for inflation, the fiscal year 2003 budget would now be $20.15 billion. The difference between that budget and Deal’s proposed budget is about $3 billion, a 17 percent decrease. We rate this statement ."
21158,1,Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wore a Nazi cross symbol.,"March 16, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,Social media posts  that a Nazi symbol can be seen on Zelenskyy’s T-shirts. This is . The symbol visible on Zelenskyy’s shirt is the official emblem of Ukraine’s military and doesn’t represent a Nazi Iron Cross. We rate the  .
8699,2,We know that Sunday mornings have usually been given over to conservative white men.,"April 14, 2014",pundits;punditfact,michael eric dyson,Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and an MSNBC political commentator.,,0,0,1,1,0,0,"a broadcast of ""The Ed Show""","Dyson said the the Sunday talk shows are usually given over to conservative white men. It would have been much more accurate if he just said white men. According to the liberal group Media Matters, conservative white males made up 29 percent of the guests when looking at four Sunday shows. That's the largest of any group when breaking things down for ideology, race and gender, Media Matters found. Our database for 2014 presents different findings. So far, 25 percent of all appearances on the Sunday talk shows in 2014 have been made by conservative white men. That's slightly less than neutral or ""other"" white men who made up 27 percent of all guest appearances so far in 2014. Dyson described the Sunday shows as having been ""given over"" to conservative white males. While that phrase isn't exact, it does suggest a dominant presence. The numbers don’t back that up. Conservatives outman the liberals but by the time you drill down to white, male, conservatives, they lose much of the edge. Dyson pushed too far on his adjectives. We rate the  ."
17135,2,Violent crime in South Bend doubled during Mayor Pete's tenure.,"February 10, 2020",crime,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An article shared on Facebook claims: ""Violent crime in South Bend doubled during Mayor Pete’s tenure."" The raw numbers suggest such an increase — but not because the number of violent crimes doubled. What happened is that, based on guidance from the FBI, South Bend changed the way it defined a type of assault, and counting of that violent crime increased significantly. The FBI said South Bend’s violent crime numbers from 2016 forward can’t be compared with those from previous years. We rate the statement  ."
18229,1,"Photos show Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Gretchen Whitmer and Cory Booker violating COVID-19 safety precautions.","August 19, 2020",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a post on Facebook,"In reality, the rally happened before such limitations existed.   We rate this post . Correction:   This story has been updated to reflect that Sen. Cory Booker is from New Jersey. The story initially said he was from New York. "
2064,1,McCain opposed the border fence.,"August 5, 2010",immigration;message machine 2010,j.d. hayworth,"J.D. Hayworth is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and host of a conservative talk radio show. He challenged Sen. John McCain for renomination in the 2010 Republican Senate primary, but was defeated.",national,0,1,1,0,1,2,a TV ad against John McCain,"It also ignored McCain's key role in securing the passage of The Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized construction of a 700-mile fence on the border. Finally, it neglected to mention that the defeated amendment would have been paid for with cuts from other parts of the 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill. Republican leaders -- who voted with McCain -- say that adopting the amendment would have resulted in cutbacks in hiring new border patrol agents. The ad is technically right that McCain voted against additional funding at one point. Still, we found that the  is a gross exaggeration, so we rate it ."
20251,3,"Polling center tells some Republicans they 'already voted'"" in the California recall election.","September 13, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks;punditfact,breitbart,Breitbart is a conservative news website.,california,0,1,2,0,3,2,an article,"The Breitbart headline said, ""Polling center tells some Republicans they ‘already voted’"" in California recall election, suggesting that GOP voters were being targeted. The  indicates not rigging, but an election error, which happened at two polling places and was remedied. It affected potentially any voter, not just Republicans. And people were allowed to vote by casting provisional ballots. Those ballots will be counted so long as the voter is eligible.  The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
6677,5,"Says the Multnomah County Library system ""is the second busiest in the nation.","October 21, 2012",taxes,libraries yes! committee,The Libraries Yes! Committee is an organization that advocates on behalf of the Multnomah County Library System.,oregon,3,0,0,0,0,0,a campaign mailer,"A report released by the institute in December 2009, said Multnomah County Library boasted the third highest circulation rate in the country -- there’s no mention of who is first or second. Those figures, of course, would be somewhat dated compared to the other survey -- though potentially more complete. It’s often said that the Multnomah County Library system is the nation’s second busiest. The most recent available statistics from a survey used widely in the industry backs up the . We rate this  ."
471,5,"When McCain was questioned about hiring lobbyists to his campaign staff, ""his top lobbyist actually had the nerve to say, 'The American people won't care about this.'","May 21, 2008",elections;ethics,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Tampa, Fla","NBC News' Carrie Dann recounted the interview with Black as follows: ""Asked today if questions about potential conflicts of interest might be affecting the choices of average American voters, Black responded bluntly: ""Hell, no."" He was careful to say that Sen. McCain is committed to maintaining the integrity of the campaign — hence his commitment to the re-vetting process. But, Black added, 'I do not believe that average voters out there care.'"" Sure sounds like Black was saying he doesn't think the American people care about this issue. We rate Obama's statement .  "
16776,0,"Says Elizabeth Warren tweeted, ""Looks like I'm the last woman of color left in this race.","December 4, 2019",candidate biography;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"(Parody)."" The tweet that appears in the Facebook post is also here , and people have retweeted it about 3,700 times.   Back in December 2018, Warren said in a speech to a group of largely black students: ""I’m not a person of color. And I haven’t lived your life or experienced anything like the subtle prejudice, or more overt harm, that you may have experienced just because of the color of your skin. ""  We rate this Facebook post !"
15246,2,"Says Beto O'Rourke ""voted in favor of a $10 a barrel tax on every barrel of oil produced in the state of Texas.","October 16, 2018",energy;taxes,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,San Antonio,"O'Rourke didn't vote in favor of a $10 tax. He voted against condemning a proposal to do that, one that wasn't even up for consideration in his chamber or the Senate.  Also, despite Cruz’s suggestion, nothing about the proposal was directed specifically at Texas.    Cruz’s  thus has an element of  but is otherwise off the mark. We rate Cruz’s  ."
19521,5,U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz was the lone vote in the House against an anti-human trafficking bill.,"March 30, 2021",congress;facebook fact-checks;florida,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said Gaetz was the lone vote in the House against an anti-human trafficking bill. In 2017, Gaetz was the lone vote against a bill that directed federal officials to take steps to combat human trafficking, including the creation of an advisory committee. Gaetz said that combating human trafficking was important, but he was against creating a new federal entity to do so. We rate this statement .  RELATED: U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on the -O-Meter RELATED: Graph showing rising human trafficking arrests under Trump draws on bogus data"
5123,4,"New Jersey has the second highest rate of institutionalization"" of people with developmental disabilities ""in America. Only Texas puts more of its citizens -- confines more of its citizens -- to institutions than New Jersey.","February 21, 2012",disability;health care,chris christie,"Chris Christie announced June 6, 2023 that he is running for the Republican nomination for president. Christie was the governor of New Jersey and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. As governor, Christie won office in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. ",new jersey,21,20,27,11,17,8,his budget speech,"Christie said: ""New Jersey has the second highest rate of institutionalization in America. Only Texas puts more of its citizens -- confines more of its citizens -- to institutions than New Jersey."" Christie is right, according to the population of large, state-operated institutions. Only Texas has more people with developmental disabilities in such institutions than New Jersey. However, as a rate compared to the general population, the governor is slightly off. Arkansas and Mississippi institutionalize more people with developmental disabilities than New Jersey by that measure. Texas is 43rd. Still, experts agree that the governor’s point is on target: New Jersey lags the rest of the country in moving people with developmental disabilities out of institutions and into the community. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
17550,5,"North Carolina is ""in the small minority of states that requires an absentee ballot to be signed by two witnesses or a notary public.","April 10, 2020",elections;coronavirus,jay chaudhuri,Jay Chaudhuri is a Democratic member of the N.C. Senate who represents parts of Raleigh and Cary.,north carolina,1,1,0,0,0,0,an op-ed,"State Senators Marcus and Chaudhuri said ""North Carolina is in the small minority of states that requires an absentee ballot to be signed by two witnesses or a notary public."" According to a nonpartisan organization that tracks state laws, NC is one of only three states (6 percent of the US) that requires absentee ballots to be signed by two witnesses or a notary public. We rate this statement ."
379,1,"It's ""common knowledge"" that al-Qaida is receiving training from Iran.","March 18, 2008",iraq,john mccain,"John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. ",national,37,37,31,32,39,8,"Amman, Jordan","The rest of the Islamic world is  Sunni, though many Sunni countries have Shiite minorities. Saudi Arabia has an estimated 4-million Shiites out of a total population of 27-million, and Shiites there face discrimination. Under Saddam Hussein, Sunnis were the ruling class of Iraq, even though the country was majority Shiite. That division has hurt U.S. efforts to unify the country. McCain recovered quickly, but we still rate his statement  for saying that everyone knows Iran and al-Qaida are working together."
22743,0,"The 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was ""an American intel op against Trump.","March 8, 2023",city government;race and ethnicity,scott adams,"Scott Adams created the ""Dilbert"" comic strip. He hosts the ""Coffee with Scott Adams"" video podcast.",national,0,0,0,0,1,1,a tweet,"Fuentes and Gionet have shared their affinities for Trump — both were in Washington, D.C., during the Jan. 6, 2021, Stop the Steal rally and attack on the U.S. Capitol. Gionet is a named defendant and pleaded guilty for his actions. Alt-right activist Richard Spencer, who shouted ""Hail Trump"" when the former president was elected, was at the rally and later returned to Charlottesville in October 2017 for another white nationalist rally . Spencer later disavowed himself from Trump.  Adams’  that the Unite the Right rally was staged is ! PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
18724,4,Now with the COVID-19 … more people are dependent on drugs or alcohol.,"August 19, 2020",drugs;public health,joe manchin,Joe Manchin is a U.S. senator from West Virginia. The former governor of West Virginia won a special election in November 2010 to complete the balance of the late Sen. Robert Byrd’s term.,west virginia,7,12,4,3,3,0,an interview with the Washington Examiner,"Manchin said, ""Now with the COVID-19 … more people are dependent on drugs or alcohol."" Manchin misused the term ""dependent"" to refer to overdoses and other individual drug crises like those targeted by his bill. (It’s also no longer the preferred term in the field.) That said, official West Virginia data shows increases in emergency room visits due to overdoses in June, July and August 2020 compared with the same months in 2019. National data shows increases in reported overdoses in a majority of participating counties, as well as increases after the enactment of stay-at-home orders. And one academic study found increased alcohol use nationally during the pandemic. We rate the statement ."
12689,5,Wisconsin is one of several states where you can change your early ballot if you think you've made a mistake.,"November 1, 2016",city government;elections;states,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Our rating Trump says: ""Wisconsin is one of several states where you can change your early ballot if you think you've made a ."" As long as you do it in time -- in Wisconsin, several days before election day -- you can ""spoil"" your original ballot and cast a new one. At least three other states allow re-voting, too. We rate Trump’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a44566ab-602e-42cc-bac3-47e4efcdee04"
3936,4,Says recent polls show Americans agree with Republicans that the federal debt ceiling should not be raised and the debt and deficit should be dealt with mostly by cutting spending.,"July 13, 2011",deficit;federal budget;polls and public opinion,josh treviño,"Joshua Treviño, formerly of the Texas Public Poilcy Foundation, based in Austin, says in an online biographical entry that he was previously the founder and president of Treviño Strategies and Media, where he worked on national and international media campaigns. His entry also says his experience encompasses work in more than 30 countries.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a TV appearance,"Put another way, at least 43 percent indicated some support for tax increases — most of them also backing budget cuts. ""Americans' preferences for deficit reduction clearly favor spending cuts to tax increases,"" Gallup sums up, ""but most Americans favor a mix of the two approaches."" Its write-up closes: ""A key question to be answered in the days ahead is whether an agreement to raise the debt ceiling will include any tax increases. This is something many Republican members of Congress oppose, but most Americans do not seem to share this view."" We rate Treviño’s statement ."
9739,3,A golf course closes somewhere in America every 48 hours.,"July 21, 2014",sports,bryant gumbel,"Bryant Gumbel, an award-winning journalist, hosts HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,an episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,"Gumbel said a ""golf course closes somewhere in America every 48 hours."" In 2013, actually, the rate was one 18-hole course closing every 56 hours and that’s before appropriately taking into account the year’s 14 reported openings, which means the nation experienced one less golf course every 61 hours. We rate Gumbel’s catchy but only partly accurate statement .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
9375,5,"The president referred to the Syrian opposition just a few months ago as pharmacists and doctors, and so on.","September 14, 2014",iraq;terrorism;punditfact,michael hayden,Michael Hayden is a retired U.S. Air Force general and former Director of the National Security Agency and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.,,1,0,0,0,0,0,"comments on ""Fox News Sunday""","In discussing Obama’s decision to arm opposition forces in Syria, Hayden said, ""The president referred to the Syrian opposition just a few months ago as pharmacists and doctors, and so on."" We found several examples of Obama, as recently as June and August, characterizing the Syrian rebels as pharmacists and doctors, as well as dentists, radio reporters and teachers. Usually he was describing their capacity to fight Assad, but that doesn’t make Hayden’s point any less accurate. We rate Hayden’s statement ."
1804,0,"With his decision on whether to fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama ""has to fix yet another problem he inherited from the Bush administration.","June 22, 2010",afghanistan;military;pundits,ed schultz,Ed Schultz is the host of the Ed Show on MSNBC.,national,0,1,4,3,1,2,"a commentary on MSNBC's ""The Ed Show""","(We contacted MSNBC's publicity department but received no clarification about what Schultz meant.) So if Schultz believes that McChrystal is a problem inherited from Bush, he's . Obama didn't just appoint McChrystal to fill a vacant spot; he effectively sacked the general in charge to create a vacancy that he then proceeded to fill with McChrystal as his fix-it man. The lesson for Democrats is that not everything can be blamed on President Bush. We rate Schultz's comment !"
14708,2,One legislative Republican's district gets almost all the school supply funding.,"May 30, 2018",city budget;education,roy cooper,"Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is the governor of North Carolina. Previously he was the attorney general, a state senator and a state representative.",north carolina,3,9,8,4,0,0,a tweet,"Cooper tweeted: ""One legislative Republican’s district gets almost all the school supply funding."" Cooper has a point that budget writers designated a large portion of new school supply funding to schools in one Republican legislator’s district. But his tweet lacks important context, giving the impression that school districts might go without new school supplies this year — which isn’t . We rate this  ."
3771,2,The president came in and campaigned against me 12 times.,"June 13, 2011",elections,john kasich,"John Kasich is the governor of Ohio. A Republican and a former congressman, he defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. He ran for president in 2016.",ohio,16,18,10,9,8,3,an interview on Fox News,"As we have said before, there is a small element of  in Kasich’s . Obama did make 12 visits to Ohio prior to the November 2010 election. But he made just three trips directly on Strickland’s behalf and he mentioned Kasich by name in his remarks on just one. Those are critical facts that give a different impression. On the -O-Meter, that means Kasich’s  rates .  "
14648,0,Hillary Clinton furious at 'special gift' Melania Trump sent her from her hospital bed,"May 17, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog post,"The story provides no  of the gift, and no major news outlets reported anything about it. The story did, however, get something right: the popularity of Melania as a baby name. The name came in fifth among the fastest-growing girls’ names, leaping from spot 1,650 in 2016 to 930 in 2017, according to Social Security data. But that doesn’t support the  headline. We rate this statement !"
14853,1,Puerto Rico mayor facing fraud charges over $3M in federal disaster relief,"July 15, 2018",fake news;crime,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"The article said, ""Puerto Rico Mayor Facing Fraud Charges Over $3M In Federal Disaster Relief."" The article was styled to make it seem that Cruz, the vocal San Juan mayor, was responsible for the fraud. The entire first half of the article focuses on her liberal politics and her objections to Trump, rather than any specific crimes. All of this is severely . The reporting on the underlying fraud itself is bungled. It has nothing to do with ""federal disaster relief."" The story mixes up two unrelated cases of fraud stemming from Puerto Rico that took place over a year before Maria struck. We rate the statement ."
443,3,If Senator Clinton or John McCain had stood up in previous years for increases in fuel efficiency standards . . . then we would not be in this same situation in the first place.,"May 4, 2008",energy,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press,"Clinton – and McCain, for that matter – have been more skeptical about having the government promote one fuel over another, especially if it's too costly to compete without government help. During another energy debate, in June 2003, Clinton supported a pair of amendments to weaken federal ethanol mandates. However, majorities in both houses supported the alternative fuel, and wound up mandating greatly expanded usage in both the 2005 and 2007 energy laws. Obama's criticism is right on Clinton, but  on McCain. Because Obama neglects to recognize McCain's prominent role in a bipartisan effort to legislate increases in federal fuel-economy standards and depicts him as less-than-serious player on the issue, we rule his statement: ."
18510,1,I don't think there's any doubt (Joe) Biden's senile.,"September 29, 2020",debates;health care;punditfact,brit hume,Brit Hume is a Fox News political analyst.,,0,0,0,1,3,0,a Fox News interview,"Geriatrics experts said they do not observe Biden to be ""senile"" — a word that may imply someone is slow moving and cognitively impaired. The word ""senile,"" which one expert said was a pejorative, is also often used by some people to mean dementia. A person with dementia has difficulties independently carrying out daily life functions. The experts we spoke to said Biden does not exhibit this problem. We rate Hume’s  ."
13081,0,"Says White House adviser Steve Bannon said, ""Nobody can blame you for beating your wife if it's out of love.","November 14, 2016",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"Newslo.com stories take a small bite of real news or quotes by real people and build  stories around them. They feature a pair of buttons that allow readers to highlight the  parts of their stories, so readers can conceivably know the difference. But on other sites without the buttons, there’s no way to know. The Bannon story originated on a site known for generating  stories. We rate it !"
2365,2,"Rick Scott's prison plan would cut Florida's prison budget in half, close prisons, and release tens of thousands of prisoners early -- murderers, rapists, sex offenders, armed robbers, drug dealers.","September 27, 2010",crime;message machine 2010,florida police benevolent association,The Florida Police Benevolent Association is a law enforcement union group supporting Alex Sink for governor.,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a TV ad,"The Scott campaign maintains they can reach their targeted spending levels without closing prisons or releasing prisoners early, and has taken the option of releasing inmates off the table. The PBA is editorializing, in essence, what would happen if Scott is elected and has a say over the Department of Corrections budget. At PolitiFact Florida, we shy away from trying predictions, so we're specifically not ruling on what would happen if the state cuts $1 billion out of its prison budget. But we can say the PBA is about right on the size of the budget cuts being suggested by Scott, and  that's Scott's plan is to close prisons and release inmates. We rate the group's  ."
12998,3,"Says former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominations ""required 60 votes.","February 5, 2017",congress;supreme court,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,an interview on CNN,"Sanders said Obama’s Supreme Court nominations ""required 60 votes."" Going into the nomination fight, Obama had to prepare for the possibility that his nominees would need 60 votes to support cloture, as Alito required during the Bush administration. But once the unanimous consent agreement or cloture was reached, all the nominees needed was a simple majority. We rate the statement ."
19045,0,"North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper ""has not left the Governor's Mansion since the start of the #COVID19 crisis.","December 27, 2020",coronavirus,north carolina republican party,The N.C. GOP is a political party in North Carolina,north carolina,0,1,0,4,4,1,a tweet,"The NC GOP tweeted that Cooper ""has not left the Governor's Mansion since the start of the (COVID-19) crisis.""  That’s not only , the party knows it’s . Cooper has left the mansion numerous times since March, and made many public appearances. We rate this  ."
14075,3,"In the current law, if you report harassment, you're the one that has to go into 20 hours of counseling before you can decide whether you were really harassed.","November 19, 2017",legal issues;women,roy blunt,"Roy Blunt is the junior U.S. senator from Missouri. He was formerly a U.S. representative from Missouri’s 7th district, and served for six years as the Republican whip in that chamber.",missouri,5,2,4,3,3,1,"an interview on ""Meet the Press""","Blunt said, ""In the current law, if you report harassment, you’re the one that has to go into 20 hours of counseling before you can decide whether you were really harassed."" According to the Office of Compliance, any employee or member of Congress must go through counseling for a 30-day period before they can continue with further steps of reporting the harassment. However, we were unable to find  detailing how many hours the 30-day period includes. Blunt’s statement is on the right track but needs further clarification with the ""hours"" . We rate it ."
19128,1,"Says Gen. David H. Berger, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps., refused Nancy Pelosi's request to use the Marines for inauguration security, telling her ""we don't work for you.","January 13, 2021",military;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story,"The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection,"" the memo reads. ""As Service Members, we must embody the values and ideals of the Nation. We support and defend the Constitution. Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values, and oath; it is against the law."" We rate the  story about a general rebuffing a request from Pelosi ."
22264,4,"Katie Hobbs ""has voted to double our gas tax.","October 12, 2022",energy,kari lake,"Kari Lake, a former anchor for Fox 10 News in Phoenix, was the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona in 2022. She lost the general election to Katie Hobbs.",arizona,0,1,2,1,3,0,a press conference,"Kari Lake said that Katie Hobbs ""has voted to double our gas tax."" Hobbs co-sponsored a bill in 2018 to raise the state gas tax from 18 cents per gallon to 36 cents per gallon. The bill never received a vote. We rate this  ."
17446,0,"As soon as I endorsed (Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly), the Wisconsin Democrats said, let's move the election to two months later.","April 7, 2020",elections,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a news conference,"Trump claims his endorsement of Kelly caused the Wisconsin attempts to push the election back until June. That’s not at all how it happened. Trump had already endorsed Kelly back in January.  And in any case, the action from Evers that coincidentally followed Trump’s reiterated endorsement on Twitter was to shift to a mail-in election, not to move the whole election by several months. That leaves us with a  that is both  and . We rate this ."
4198,4,Point Pleasant Beach does not own its beaches; they are privately owned and operated by businesses such as Jenkinson's,"August 22, 2011",environment;income,vincent barrella,Vincent Barrella is the mayor of Point Pleasant Beach.,new jersey,0,1,0,0,0,0,a column published on NJ.com,"Barrella says the borough’s beaches are privately owned and operated by various businesses in town. While Jenkinson’s and others do own most of the beachfront, the borough owns slightly more than an acre of prime real estate: the Maryland Avenue beach. For that reason, we rate Barrella’s  .  To coment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
2218,0,Sean Duffy backed plan to privatize Social Security.,"August 30, 2010",message machine 2010;social security,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,wisconsin,1,1,8,14,8,9,a campaign TV ad,"But Duffy is on the record repeatedly as opposing privatizing Social Security and says he is not supportive of Ryan’s entire ""roadmap"" plan. What’s more, Democrats say Duffy would leave recipients at the mercy of Wall Street, when the plan would restrict investments to government managed accounts and guarantee them against long-term losses. The Democrats’  is not just , it’s  so. Where’s a match? We rate it ."
13412,2,"Voter turnout in 2016 was reduced by approx. 200,000 votes because of WI's photo ID laws.","May 17, 2017",civil rights;elections;government regulation;states,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a tweet,"Our rating Baldwin says: ""Voter turnout in 2016 was reduced by approx. 200,000 votes because of WI’s photo ID laws."" A report she cites from a Democratic candidate-supporting group says a decline in voter turnout between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections in Wisconsin was entirely due to the state’s new photo identification requirement for voting. But experts say that while photo ID requirements reduces turnout to some extent, they question the methodology of the report and say there is no way to put a number on how many people in Wisconsin didn’t vote because of the ID requirement.   We rate Baldwin’s statement ."
11638,2,"Marijuana is a Schedule I drug, ""which you understand means that you can't do any research about it.","April 21, 2016",drugs;government regulation;regulation;science;marijuana,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"a ""Good Morning America"" town hall","Clinton said marijuana is a Schedule I drug, ""which you understand means that you can’t do any research about it."" It’s hard to research marijuana, especially using plants (as opposed to synthetic versions) in studies involving human subjects. There are many regulatory hoops scientists have to navigate, and the government has a single-source monopoly on marijuana plants to be used for research. All of this makes setting up a marijuana experiment a lengthy and daunting process. However, there are scientists currently studying marijuana, and federal funding supports some of these experiments. Clinton’s statement gives the impression that the government bans marijuana research flat-out, and that’s not the case. Her statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
14612,3,"Each year ICE detains someone, it costs taxpayers over $50,000. For comparison, by the way, that's four times the amount the federal government spends on each child in our public schools.","May 8, 2018",immigration;education;homeland security,patty murray,Patty Murray is a Democratic senator who represents the state of Washington. ,national,1,0,1,0,0,0,a Senate subcommittee hearing,"Murray said, ""Each year ICE detains someone, it costs taxpayers over $50,000. For comparison, by the way, that's four times the amount the federal government spends on each child in our public schools."" The current bed rate to house one adult detainee multiplied by 365 days is $50,074.35.  The most recent per-student expenditure total multipled by four comes to $52,400. The numbers alone don't capture the full story. It's important to note that not all immigrants spend a year in detention. Also, schools' major sources of funding are local and state governments, not the federal government. Murray’s statement is partially accurate and needs additional information. We rate it ."
4949,5,"Sherrod Brown ""has voted with Barack Obama 95 percent of the time.","January 22, 2012",voting record,ohio republican party,Statewide organization for Ohio's Republicans.,ohio,1,1,3,2,2,0,an interview with The Plain Dealer,"Brown has disagreed with Obama on foreign trade and on some greenhouse gas-regulation issues. But Maloney says that ""you’ve got to look at the record."" And the record -- compiled not by an opposition party but by a publication regarded as eminently impartial -- provides an average of 95 percent. The figure is current. On the -O-Meter, Maloney’s  merits a rating of ."
13955,5,We are spending more on affordable housing than we're spending on Dix Park right now.,"October 20, 2017",housing;recreation,nancy mcfarlane,Nancy McFarlane is mayor of Raleigh,north carolina,1,0,1,1,0,0,a televised debate,"McFarlane said the city is ""spending more on affordable housing than we're spending on Dix Park right now."" The city’s $52 million purchase of the Dix property was certainly a big one. But the city’s is paying for it incrementally and McFarlane is right that the city this year is spending more on affordable housing – $7.24 million – than it is on Dix Park – $6.3 million. We rate her  ."
19523,1,"From Europe: 3,964 people have died from adverse drug reactions for COVID-19 'vaccines' – 162,610 injuries.","March 28, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"A post claimed that in Europe ""3,964 people have died from adverse drug reactions for COVID-19 ‘vaccines’ – 162,610 injuries."" That’s a misrepresentation of information in an European database that tracks suspected reactions to medicines, including COVID-19 vaccines. The agency behind the database cautions that the information is only of suspected side effects, and that it should not be interpreted as meaning that the medicine caused the effects or that it’s unsafe. A detailed evaluation and scientific assessment of all available data is needed before drawing conclusions, the agency said. The COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to millions of people across Europe and the United States, and health agencies have vouched for their safety and effectiveness. We found no definitive proof that a COVID-19 vaccine caused someone’s death. We rate this  .  RELATED : Why you shouldn’t worry about getting Bell’s Palsy from the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine RELATED : The ‘shaking’ COVID-19 vaccine side-effect videos and what we know about them"
12181,4,Half of all NC legislative candidates are unopposed because of gerrymandering.,"July 19, 2016",elections;legal issues;redistricting;states,common cause,"Common Cause is a national group devoted to fighting for reforms to gerrymandering, political spending and other issues.",north carolina,0,1,0,0,0,0,an online video ad,"Common Cause claimed that half of all races for the state legislature will be uncontested this year because of gerrymandering. It’s actually a bit less than half, but not too far off. And experts agree that while gerrymandering isn’t wholly to blame, it does contribute significantly to the high number of uncontested races. We rate this  . The premise is accurate, although it’s slightly exaggerated.  "
4990,3,Says the U.S. federal income tax rate was 0 percent until 1913.,"January 16, 2012",history;taxes,ron paul,"Ron Paul, a Texas physician, served two stints in the U.S. House. He also was the Libertarian Party nominee for president in 1988 before later seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012. He didn't seek re-election to the House in 2012.",texas,8,8,8,5,10,3,South Carolina,Paul’s statement that the federal income tax rate was zero until 1913 reflects the timing of the constitutional change enabling the current tax. But his  disregards two pre-1913 efforts to impose an income tax — one of which was in place for a decade. This debate  rates .
20325,2,"Says Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema ""are Republicans … Just look at the way they vote.","September 29, 2021",national;congress;federal budget;arizona,don lemon,Don Lemon is a CNN anchor based in Atlanta and New York City.,west virginia,1,1,0,1,1,0,an exchange between CNN hosts,"Lemon said that based on their voting records, Manchin and Sinema are Republicans. Both of them have voted with the Democrats essentially 100% of the time. But they have broken with their party over the immediate effort to pass a multi-trillion-dollar reconciliation bill, a top Democratic priority. And so far, they have opposed changes in the Senate filibuster rule, another key roadblock to the Democratic agenda. We rate this  ."
17344,2,"For coronavirus cases ""in the U.S. 38% of those hospitalized are under 35.","March 19, 2020",coronavirus,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",,21,38,35,41,30,5,a tweet,"Rubio tweeted ""in the U.S. 38% of those hospitalized are under 35."" We could not find any current data that matches Rubio’s tweet. It is possible that he was citing widely reported data that included people up to age 54. The CDC reported that 20% of the hospitalizations were ages 20-44 and 18% were 45-54. But the data is preliminary, so it’s challenging to draw conclusions at this stage about the ages of people hospitalized.  Rubio’s office didn’t get back to us but we have to wonder if the  in his tweet amounted to a simple transcription error. Rubio does have a point that younger people are vulnerable to coronavirus — it’s not only older people who have been hospitalized. But because the data point is , we rate this statement ."
803,1,Senator McCain would pay for part of his (health care) plan by making drastic cuts in Medicare — $882-billion worth.,"October 17, 2008",health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Roanoke, Va","McCain’s campaign responded to Obama's Roanoke remarks, saying the Democratic front-runner was committing “Medicare malpractice” and spreading lies by perpetuating the Center for American Progress Fund analysis.    It’s unclear whether McCain could extract sufficient savings using the methods he’s outlined to achieve his ""budget neutral"" goal. Still, the Center for American Progress Fund analysis flatly assumes McCain will cut Medicare benefits and services when McCain has not even broached the idea in speeches or statements. Obama is overstepping by repeating the analysis’ conclusion and portraying the dollar amount of the cuts as part and parcel of McCain’s plan. We rule his  ."
13874,0,President Trump signs executive order stripping NFL of 'non-profit' status.,"October 9, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"Change tax law!"" But he didn’t sign any executive order rescinding the league’s tax status, which it had voluntarily changed already. The  story appeared to originate two days before Trump’s tweet, in an Oct. 8 post on FreedomJunkshun.com , which looks to be member of a series of  websites associated with Christopher Blair, a self-described liberal troll who creates fictional stories to try to fool conservative readers. FreedomJunkshun.com uses the same website architecture as other Blair - affiliated sites , and carries a disclaimer that reads , ""All people, places, names and images should be considered fictitious or fictitious representations."" After further review, our ruling on the story stands: !"
16680,1,"Says Thomas Jefferson said ""the government will one day be corrupt and filled with liars and the people will flock to the one who tells the truth.","November 6, 2019",fake news;history;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Berkes also wrote a blog post in 2011 to help people know how to spot  Jefferson quotes. Among her tips: Jefferson almost never used contractions nor did he use the word ""you"" as an indefinite pronoun. Berkes also warned readers to be wary of quotes that have no citation as to when and where it was said and those that can only be found in non-historical literature. There’s no  to support that Jefferson said or wrote this. We rate it . "
15786,4,Women earn on average 80-cents on the dollar compared to white men doing similar jobs.,"February 26, 2019",income,bobby scott,"Bobby Scott, D-3rd, has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. The district is comprised of all of Charles City and Surry counties and Petersburg and Portsmouth and portions of Henrico and Prince George counties and Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Richmond. Scott has seats on the Judiciary and Education and Labor committees.
Scott previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1979-83 and in the state Senate in 1983-93. He was a member of the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. He was a lawyer in a private practice from 1973-91.
Scott was born in Washington, D.C. He earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., in 1969 and a law degree from Boston College in 1973.",virginia,5,7,1,1,4,0,a speech,"Scott said, ""Women earn on average 80-cents on the dollar compared to white men doing similar jobs."" BLS statistics support Scott, showing the median pay of white men in 2018 was higher than that of all women in each of 22 job fields listed in the data set.   We take issue with Scott’s context, however. He presents pay disparity as the product of discrimination. But gender pay is a complicated subject and there are many reasons - in addition to discrimination - why a gap exists: women tend to work fewer hours than men; they tend to choose lower paying professions than men; they tend to take more time off than men to tend to children. Scott’s statement, and his entire speech, lack this framework. So we rate his  . Correction: Women earned 78.7 percent as much as white men, overall, in 22 broad fields of work in 2018, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. An earlier version of this story misstated the statistics."
13120,2,'TrumpCare' would allow insurance execs to personally make millions off your health care.,"March 8, 2017",corporations;health care;income;taxes,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a tweet,"Our rating Baldwin says ""‘Trumpcare’ would allow insurance execs to personally make millions off your health care."" One provision in a Trump-supported Republican bill to replace Obamacare is a tax break worth an estimated $400 million over 10 years. It’s possible that money could fund raises for health care company executives. But the tax break is for the companies, not individuals; the companies could use the savings for other purposes; and even if the savings were used for raises, there’s no  that executives would get millions. For a statement that contains only an element of , our rating is ."
23302,1,"The U.S. Justice Department removed international child sex trafficking from its ""list of offenses that deserve a high degree of attention.","July 13, 2023",immigration;children;criminal justice;facebook fact-checks,david harris jr.,David Harris Jr. is a conservative commentator.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,an Instagram post,"We rate the  . Read a version of this fact-check in Spanish. RELATED: Studio behind ‘Sound of Freedom’ rejects  AMC is sabotaging movie screenings RELATED: Rumors persist about Mel Gibson child sex trafficking documentary, but  doesn't support that RELATED: Social media posts distort Trump, Biden child sex trafficking records"
171,4,I believe in tax cuts. I believe in being a supply-sider. I cut the income tax I think it was 24 percent. We got 42 percent more revenues.,"October 9, 2007",taxes,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,"Dearborn, Mich","Who knows? One sign that something else is involved is that during the years in question the revenue increase ranged from 41.4 percent in Queens to 60 percent in Brooklyn. We have changed our ruling since this item first published in November 2007. We understated Giuliani's role in the city income tax cut, and we simply misstated the origin of the tax that was in question. Upon further review, in light of clarifying information provided by the Giuliani campaign, we are giving Giuliani a  ruling.  "
5976,5,I ended up my time as governor with a general fund budget that was smaller than the one I started with.,"July 21, 2012",state budget,tim kaine,"Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.
Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.
 ",virginia,14,17,15,8,4,0,a debate,"Kaine said the general fund budget was smaller at the end of his gubernatorial term than at the start. The raw numbers hold up his : The general fund budget was $15.1 billion when Kaine took office and $14.8 billion when he left. These figures don’t include $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money the state used to support general fund programs during Kaine’s last year. But this does not detract from Kaine’s . Virginia did not count the one-time stimulus money as part of the general fund, which mainly consists of income and sales tax revenues. And when the stimulus ran out, there was no backfill for the budget cuts Kaine endorsed. We rate Kaine’s statement ."
13351,1,"Says John Quincy Adams said, ""If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.","May 1, 2017",history,ivanka trump,Ivanka Trump is an American businesswoman and the daughter of and assistant to President Donald Trump.,national,1,3,0,2,3,0,her new book,"The quotation Ivanka Trump chose, one of many, is a worthy reflection. But it was a silly and easily avoided  to assign the words to John Quincy Adams, as others on the internet have done, when there is no record of him saying it. There are a lot of other verified options. We rate this statement ."
15000,0,"US President D. Trump Approves Scholarship for 50,000 African Student to Study in USA 2018"" ​","August 22, 2018",education;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"We searched on Nexis to see if any major news outlets reported on the news of Trump approving scholarships for African students, and could not find any  to support the headline’s . A Google search revealed that this hoax has appeared before in a similar form. Another website previously touted that Trump had approved ""fully government sponsored scholarships for international students … in USA universities."" Studentapply.info did not respond to a request for comment sent through its contact form . We rate this  !"
22356,1,"Video is evidence of a recent increase in robberies in Spain by ""migrants from the Middle East and Africa.","November 17, 2022",immigration;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"The video is from 2020 and shows scenes from a protest against COVID-19 lockdown measures.   On Oct. 30, 2020, Libertad Digital reported that people gathered in Barcelona’s city center to protest pandemic measures that had closed businesses such as bars, restaurants and theaters. The demonstration turned riotous when some protesters attacked police and threw barricades, rocks and other items, and broke into stores. A Twitter post dated Oct. 30, 2020, shows the same video from the Instagram post.   The  that this video is  of an increase in recent robberies in Spain by ""migrants from the Middle East and Africa"" is . "
10470,4,"A ""working woman"" will earn $7.70 on $10.","June 18, 2015",income;labor;women;workers,tom toles,Tom Toles is the editorial cartoonist at the Washington Post. He won the Pultizer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1990.,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,an editorial cartoon,It’s not. The cartoon is an oversimplification of complex data that has been misread and misused repeatedly. But adding more context would have meant more than a one-panel cartoon. Toles keeps his  broad enough to fall in line with the U.S. Census studies. We rate his  .
22433,1,Recent blood clots or strokes in four major athletes are an unwanted effect of COVID-19 vaccines.,"December 10, 2022",public health;sports;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An Instagram post suggested strokes and blood clots recently reported in four young athletes are related to COVID-19 vaccines. But two of the athletes were suffering from other conditions that caused their health issues. One said tests to determine his stroke’s cause were inconclusive. A college student had blood clots in her lungs, but there were no other public details available about her condition or vaccine status. Meanwhile, there’s no  linking the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to an increased risk of blood clots, though there is a small risk associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Experts said studies show that the COVID-19 virus can increase someone’s risk of blood clots. We rate the  . RELATED: 'Died Suddenly' repeats debunked COVID-19 vaccine claims, promotes conspiracy theory RELATED: No clear  that COVID vaccines are responsible for strange blood clots observed by embalmers RELATED: No, COVID-19 vaccines aren’t responsible for an increase in deaths"
20255,0,California Has 1.8M More Registered Voters Than It Should,"June 22, 2021",elections,election integrity project california,Election Integrity Project California is an elections watchdog group. ,california,0,0,0,0,0,1,a headline,"In California, voters must be inactive for a certain period of time in order for their name to be purged from the county’s voter roll, as per the rules stipulated by the National Voter Registration Ac t. As a result, there are a number of inactive voters on county voter rolls which could make it appear as if there is a greater number of registered voters than people who are eligible to vote. Inactive voters do not receive election materials or mail in ballots, and must follow state protocol in order to start receiving those materials again and participate in elections.   We rated the  that there are 1.8 million ineligible registered voters in California as .  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  ."
9657,1,"Over 214,000 doctors opt out of Obamacare exchanges.","October 30, 2014",health care,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"A chain email claimed that more than 214,000 American doctors are ""opting-out of Obamacare exchange plans."" That is based on a survey of a select group of doctors and even the makers of the survey said it can’t be extrapolated for the entire country. Further, of the doctors responding to the survey, 42 percent said they weren’t participating in marketplace plans because they were never asked to, not because they were ""opting out."" The estimate is the result of a flawed methodology and a misreading of survey data. We rate the  ."
7494,5,"Says 97 percent of food stamp benefits ""are paid in the proper amounts to people who are really eligible.","May 15, 2013",agriculture;poverty,pete gallego,"Pete Gallego, initially elected to the Texas House in 1990, won election to the U.S. House in November 2012. He lost his re-election bid in 2014. In July 2018, he ran in a special election to represent Texas Senate District 19.",texas,2,2,2,1,1,0,a U.S. House committee meeting,"Gallego said 97 percent of food stamp benefits ""are paid in the proper amounts to people who are really eligible."" We are mindful this  did not speak to misdeeds that can occur once someone receives food stamps. Setting that aside, nearly 3 percent of such payments were overpayments in fiscal 2011, the latest year of available data, and nearly 1 percent were underpayments, according to the government. That’s a total of about 96 percent. Gallego’s statement comes close enough. We rate it as ."
5465,3,"Under Republican economic policies, ""the typical American family saw their incomes fall by about 6 percent.","April 18, 2012",economy;families,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Elyria, Ohio","Obama has a point that incomes for the ""typical"" family have fallen since 2000 when adjusted for inflation. But using a time frame that treats Obama’s tenure and Bush’s tenure equally, the decline was about 3 percent, not the 6 percent he cited. Meanwhile, on Obama’s larger point of blaming Republicans for the weak economy, we found a consensus that Obama is partly, but not completely, on defensible ground. On balance, we rate the statement ."
12390,3,"Says Charlie Crist ""stood there, over 3 African-American prisoners in chains, on their knees, on the side of the road. Saying that it was a great sight. Saying we needed to bring it to Florida. And you did this — whether you know or not — on the eve of Juneteenth, the day the African-American community celebrates the end of slavery.","September 19, 2016",criminal justice,david jolly,"David Jolly won a special election in March 2014 to represent the 13th U.S. Congressional District in Pinellas County, Florida. He won re-election in 2014 and was defeated by Democrat Charlie Crist in 2016. He is a former Washington lobbyist and aide to C.W. Bill Young.",florida,2,1,1,4,0,0,a debate,"Jolly said, Crist ""stood there, over three African-American prisoners in chains, on their knees, on the side of the road. Saying that it was a great sight. Saying we needed to bring it to Florida. And you did this — whether you know or not — on the eve of Juneteenth, the day the African-American community celebrates the end of slavery."" Jolly missed the mark on the finer points of the visit and the photograph. Crist went to Alabama to observe chain gangs in action more than a week prior to Juneteenth. He also didn’t say it was ""a great sight,"" although he expressed his approval of the practice. He also wanted to bring the same style of chain gangs to Florida, which had just passed a law allowing it. The Department of Corrections only implemented individual leg irons later that year. The statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a70ef2b5-29a4-481c-9367-3307b97d5cbe"
9008,3,I had the lowest net worth of any American president in the 20th century when I took office.,"June 29, 2014",history;wealth;punditfact,bill clinton,"Bill Clinton was president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is married to Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.",,9,12,13,5,2,3,"comments on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Clinton said, ""I had the lowest net worth of any American president in the 20th century when I took office."" Without a doubt, Clinton’s net worth was one of the lowest of 20th century presidents, experts told us. Whether it was the lowest is hard to say, and we could not find information to support it. There’s a good case to be made that Truman entered the White House with a (albeit unknown) smaller net worth. There’s not enough  to prove Clinton correct, but he is at least right in his larger point: He did not enter the White House with the wealth of many of his contemporaries. On balance, we rate his  ."
15374,2,"Liberal Democrats"" who back Dan McCready ""cut $716 BILLION from Medicare to fund their healthcare scheme: Obamacare.","November 22, 2018",health care,mark harris,Rev. Mark Harris is the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte. He has been a candidate for U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress in North Carolina.,north carolina,0,0,1,1,3,0,,"However, his use of the number also gives a  impression. The number actually represented a projection of how much federal money Obamacare would save over the years, mainly at the expense of insurers, medical providers and hospitals. We rate this  . This story was produced by the North Carolina Fact-Checking Project, a partnership of McClatchy Carolinas, the Duke University Reporters’ Lab and PolitiFact. The NC Local News Lab Fund and the International Center for Journalists provide support for the project, which shares fact-checks with newsrooms statewide.  "
21515,0,Nobody in any election in America gets 74% of the votes. Ever. It doesn't happen.,"May 26, 2022",elections,emerald robinson,"Emerald Robinson served as chief White House correspondent for One America News from 2017 to 2020 and fo Newsmax from 2020 to 2022. Her she has a TV show, ""The Absolute Truth,"" on FrankSpeech.",georgia,0,0,0,0,0,1,a Substack post,"Robinson wrote, ""Nobody in any election in America gets 74% of the votes. Ever. It doesn’t happen."" It happens all the time. It occurred in dozens of general elections for U.S. House seats in 2020. Even just looking at Trump’s endorsed candidates, at least 59 have won races with between 74% and 100% of the vote so far this year. On the same primary election day in Georgia, three Trump-endorsed candidates won with at least 74% of the vote. We rate the statement ! RELATED : All of our fact-checks about elections RELATED : All of our fact-checks about Georgia"
16576,1,"Says Fox News anchor Shepard Smith stepped down after Attorney General William Barr ""had a closed door meeting with Rupert Murdoch.","October 11, 2019",fake news;punditfact,the other 98%,The Other 98% is an activist organization that favors an increase in the minimum wage and opposes favorable tax treatment for large corporations.,,0,1,0,4,1,0,a Facebook post,"A Facebook meme said Fox News anchor Shepard Smith stepped down after Attorney General William Barr ""had a closed door meeting with Rupert Murdoch."" There’s no  that Smith’s departure was in any way connected to the Barr-Murdoch meeting, although little is known about what happened at the meeting. Smith’s spokesperson told the New York Times that the anchor came to the decision on his own. We will re-evaluate this statement if the facts change. But based on what we know about the Barr-Murdoch meeting and Smith's decision, we’ll rate this statement ."
6906,3,"In 2009, the FBI ""referred more than 71,000"" cases of people failing background checks when trying to buy a gun to another federal agency, ""but U.S. attorneys ultimately prosecuted only 77 of them.","January 23, 2013",criminal justice;crime;government regulation;guns,mayors against illegal guns,Mayors Against Illegal Guns describes itself as a coalition of U.S. mayors that works to help law enforcement target illegal guns.,wisconsin,0,0,3,0,0,0,a website post,"So, there are indications that federal law enforcement authorities could file more criminal charges in cases in which a gun purchase application is denied. But it’s also clear that large numbers of the denials don’t involve any crime at all and some cases are not provable. Our rating Mayors Against Illegal Guns said that in 2009, the FBI ""referred more than 71,000"" cases of people failing background checks when trying to buy a gun to another federal agency, ""but U.S. attorneys ultimately prosecuted only 77 of them."" The two numbers are essentially correct, but the statement takes things out of context in that, in a significant number of cases, no crime was committed and other cases are not provable. We rate the statement ."
7642,5,They've seen employer-supported coverage increase in Massachusetts after this law (Romneycare) was implemented.,"July 28, 2013",health care,elizabeth roberts,"Elizabeth Roberts has been Rhode Island's Secretary of Health and Human Services since January 2015. Previously, she served as lieutenant governor from 2007 to 2015, the first woman to hold that office. Prior to that, she was a State Senator from Cranston and Warwick.",rhode island,2,0,2,1,0,0,a TV interview,"Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Elizabeth H. Roberts said that Massachusetts has ""seen employer-supported coverage increase"" since ""Romneycare"" was implemented. Massachusetts officials have published figures that back her up. The judges rate her   .      "
8199,3,There never really was a 'Hastert Rule.',"December 18, 2013",punditfact,dennis hastert,Dennis Hastert is a former Speaker of the U.S. House from Illinois.,,0,0,1,0,0,0,"a broadcast of MSNBC's ""The Cycle""","Hastert said there never was a Hastert Rule. As a formal rule, adopted by the Republican Conference or the House Rules Committee, that is accurate. Boehner himself broke the Hastert rule at least twice in 2013 and suffered no consequences. Yet, the Hastert Rule has become shorthand for a belief popular among Republicans that has no-doubt shaped GOP policy in the past and present. And Boehner could face consequences from his Republican caucus if he continued to violate the rule -- namely losing his speakership. In that sense, the Hastert Rule has become a little akin to common law among the GOP. Hastert has a technical point but glosses over some important caveats. We rate his  ."
22232,0,"Security cameras at Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home malfunctioned ""for the duration of the break-in, so officials have ended their investigation.","October 30, 2022",crime;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",california,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"The police are conducting a review of the Oct. 28 incident, including looking at their command center, ""which was monitoring the security camera feed from Pelosi’s home, according to a person familiar,"" Politico said.   Officials have not ended their investigation into the attack. The FBI San Francisco field office, the Capitol Police and the San Francisco Police Department are all investigating . David DePape, 42, the man accused in the assault, faces state and federal charges including assault, attempted kidnapping, attempted murder and elder abuse.   We rate this post !  "
19417,1,Says Meghan Markle was paid $7 million for giving an interview to Oprah.,"March 9, 2021",facebook fact-checks;punditfact,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an image posted on Facebook,"Chris Ender, executive vice president for CBS Entertainment, also declined in an email to PolitiFact to reveal the agreed upon license fee. However, on March 5, two days before the interview was slated to air, The Wall Street Journal reported that CBS shelled out between $7 million and $9 million for the license fees, adding that a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not being paid for the interview. Representatives for Archewell, the organization founded by the couple that includes audio and video production arms as well as a nonprofit, did not respond to an email from PolitiFact. There is no  that suggests Meghan Markle was paid any amount, let alone $7 million, to give an interview to Oprah. We rate this  ."
15391,3,"Says a manufacturing operation in his hometown that made gunstock for Remington rifles ""closed down, we lost those jobs and it's been devastating for my little town.","October 25, 2018",economy;jobs;guns,josh hawley,Josh Hawley took office as U.S. Senator from Missouri in 2019. Hawley previously served as Missouri’s Attorney General. ,missouri,1,4,1,8,1,0,a debate,"Hawley said that the gunstock manufacturing plant in his hometown of Lexington ""closed down."" Of the three S&K Industries locations in Lexington, one site shut down for gunstock manufacturing, but the rest continued operations and were purchased by Remington Arms without much hassle. So technically, Hawley is right, but it was just one facility, not an entire business. His statement overstates the effect, making it seem like the manufacturing business left town or was shuttered. We rate this statement ."
16479,0,"Says instead of arresting a teen who was sneaking into a gym, a Chicago cop ""shot him 53 times.","September 13, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Valenti responded, and when he found out the teen had a membership that expired after his mother couldn’t afford it anymore, ""he offered to pay $150 out of his own pocket, asking fitness center workers how much membership time that would buy for the boy,"" the Tribune reported .   It covered up to about four months, but after the gym’s corporate office found out about the situation, they said the $150 would go toward a two-year membership, instead, with the gym picking up the rest of the cost. The  Facebook post includes Valenti’s full name and photo and appears to be the same photo published by the Tribune . In the post’s caption, it’s obvious the original text was erased and the part that says he ""shot him 53 times"" was inserted, as the text size and style doesn’t visually match up with the rest of the sentence. We rate this !"
20751,0,"Hochul is an ""interim Governor.","January 4, 2022",,tom suozzi,Tom Suozzi is a Democrat who represents New York's 3rd Congressional District. He's running for governor.,new york,0,0,1,0,0,1,a Tweet,"Suozzi has been calling Gov. Kathy Hochul ""interim governor.""  Suozzi’s team told us that Hochul is an interim governor because she was not elected as governor and is serving in an interim capacity until the next election.  Hochul is interim governor only to the extent that any other governor is ""interim"" - they all serve fixed terms and are subject to election, Bopst said.  While political campaigns employ colorful language to persuade voters and discount their rivals, using ""interim"" to describe Hochul’s governorship can be . The New York State Constitution does not make any modifications or qualifications on lieutenant governors who become governor after a vacancy. The newly ascended governor has the full powers and duties granted to all governors. Nobody called Theodore Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson interim presidents when they assumed office. The state constitution is clear that Hochul shouldn’t be described that way either. We give Suozzi’s statement a  rating."
4582,3,[A]n extra 8 million Americans [are] projected to join state Medicaid programs in the next few years.,"September 15, 2011",health care,phil gingrey,"Phil Gingrey, a Republican, is a congressman from Georgia",georgia,1,1,2,2,5,1,a press release,"Since they’re making projections for an unprecedented overhaul in the country’s health care system, it’s reasonable for their results to vary. All projections foresee a major increase in Medicaid rolls, and Gingrey rightly noted a significant difference between two federal estimates. But he made a  when he understood CMS’ estimate as an update of the CBO figures. Gingrey’s statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context. We therefore rate his  . "
2866,0,"Says the state's Medicaid waiver proposal ""has languished in a file cabinet at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for more than two years.","December 19, 2010",health care;state budget;states,rick perry,"Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,an interview,"She declined to comment on Perry's statement that it's languishing in a file cabinet. Perry's office did not respond to phone calls and e-mails seeking elaboration on the governor's recent characterization. Summing up: Perry’s statement echoes a  we rated  eight months ago. Significantly, the state has not revised its request to meet federal requirements, making this rerun worse than . !"
4560,1,"Governor Christie also remains the only Governor since World War II, among both Democrats and Republicans, who failed to have his party win control of at least one legislative body over the course of his term.","November 7, 2011",elections,john wisniewski,John Wisniewski is a Democratic state Assemblyman representing a part of Middlesex County. Wisniewski also is chairman of the state Democratic Party.,new jersey,3,1,0,2,2,0,a memo on behalf of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee,"Wisniewski said in a memo that Christie ""remains the only Governor since World War II, among both Democrats and Republicans, who failed to have his party win control of at least one legislative body over the course of his term."" But that comparison is not valid. Christie has been in office for less than two years and we found two other governors since World War II whose parties had not won control of a legislative body at the same point in their terms. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
16604,5,"President Trump has sent 14,000 American troops to the (Middle East) region since May. So he can't tell his political rallies that he's getting troops out of endless wars when he's sending 14 times the amount back into the region.","October 20, 2019",foreign policy;military;punditfact,brett mcgurk,"Brett McGurk is President Donald Trump’s former special envoy for the coalition to counter the Islamic State. He previously served in senior national security positions under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
He is currently a lecturer at Stanford University, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a foreign affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.",,1,0,0,0,0,0,an MSNBC appearance,"McGurk said, ""President Trump has sent 14,000 American troops to the (Middle East) region since May. So he can't tell his political rallies that he's getting troops out of endless wars when he's sending 14 times the amount back into the region."" His number matches what the Pentagon has publicly reported in press releases and briefings. We rate this statement ."
17731,0,"[U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb] said he would NOT vote for [Nancy Pelosi] for Speaker, and did.","May 25, 2020",coronavirus;pennsylvania,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump accused Lamb of voting to make Pelosi speaker of the house, but his voting record from the January 2019 speaker election clearly shows he voted for another candidate. We rate this statement . "
18416,0,"Says Ruth Bader Ginsburg tweeted, ""I have information that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton.","September 19, 2020",supreme court;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a faked screenshot,But the  is easily debunked . Whoever created @RBGOfficial in 2013 has zero followers and tweets. Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer in her Washington home. She was 87. We rate this post .
22500,0,Video shows John F. Kennedy Jr. at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.,"January 4, 2023",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"His body was recovered several days after the crash.   This agent was the subject of another conspiracy theory back in 2017. The Daily Mail and Inside Edition among others reported on  claims that he was wearing prosthetic hands so that he could hold a gun under his coat. Video footage of the event disproved this rumor.  Claims that Kennedy is alive stem from the QAnon movement, whose proponents have suggested that he is behind the so-called Q drops .   We rate claims that Kennedy attended Trump’s inauguration !"
23249,1,Bill Gates is behind the five recent cases of malaria in the United States.,"July 3, 2023",public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook reel,"Social media posts claimed Gates’ financial support of mosquito programs led to the five recent cases of malaria in the U.S. Over the years, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given money to companies to help combat malaria’s spread in areas where the disease is most prevalent, such as Africa and Central America. However, the foundation has not funded any U.S. mosquito release programs. The foundation has given money to Oxitec to combat malaria in Africa and Central America. And although Oxitec does research in the U.S., it is unrelated to malaria. The company is using genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes — not the type that carry malaria — to control the mosquito population and reduce the spread of diseases. We rate this  ."
4887,4,"Mayor Barrett saved Milwaukee $25 million, thanks to Gov. Walker's reforms.","January 4, 2012",city budget;state budget;unions,club for growth,The Club for Growth is an anti-tax group.,wisconsin,4,5,5,9,6,0,a billboard ad,"But the billboard refers to Walker’s ""reforms,"" which is the changes tied to  the collective bargaining issue. It is making a narrower , on how much was saved from the reforms, not how the city fared overall. Our conclusion Billboards say Walker’s ""reforms"" allowed Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to save $25 million for the city. The city is that much ahead, but a portion was Barrett’s doing before Walker’s budget was enacted. We rate the  ."
15108,3,"Says Tony Evers ""wants to cut Wisconsin's prison population in half, a dangerous plan that today would mean releasing thousands of violent criminals back into our communities.","September 12, 2018",criminal justice;crime,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a TV ad,"Evers has stated that a 50 percent reduction is a goal. But he has not put a time frame on achieving that — a crucial factor in determining whether inmates of convicted of violent crimes would have to be released. Experts say a 50 percent reduction over a relatively short period, say a few years, would require the release of inmates convicted of violent crimes. But some say it’s possible to cut the population in half, perhaps over 10 years, without the release of any violent offenders, or at least not thousands of them. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is ."
15207,1,"West Virginia has ""more veterans per capita"" than any state.","September 16, 2018",population;veterans,joe manchin,Joe Manchin is a U.S. senator from West Virginia. The former governor of West Virginia won a special election in November 2010 to complete the balance of the late Sen. Robert Byrd’s term.,west virginia,7,12,4,3,3,0,remarks at a teachers' rally,"Manchin said that West Virginia has ""more veterans per capita"" than any state. Compared to the nation as a whole, West Virginia’s percentage of veterans is higher than average. But it’s not first on the list — in fact, it’s not even in the top five. We rate the statement ."
11661,1,"If Austin voters reject Proposition 1, a ""completely new City-run"" criminal background check ""process will cost millions in processing fees, additional staff, and bureaucracy"" with taxpayers getting ""the bill.","April 26, 2016",city budget;city government;transportation;taxes,ridesharing works for austin,"Ridesharing Works for Austin raised the signatures needed to place Proposition 1 on Austin's May 7, 2016 ballot. If approved, the proposition would require the city to accept name-based background checks of drivers for ride-hailing services conducted by the services. If rejected, such drivers would be required to undergo fingerprinting and national background checks run through the FBI.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a voter mailer noted by a reader,"The Ridesharing Works group said that if voters reject Proposition 1, a ""completely new city-run"" criminal background check ""process will cost millions in processing fees, additional staff and bureaucracy"" with taxpayers getting ""the bill."" This  isn’t backed up by Houston’s avowed experience or available facts about Austin’s approach. What happens next does seem a bit unsettled. For instance, it's up in the air who’s going to pay for each background check reviewed by the city. We also found no authoritative cost estimate for the city’s oversight. Additional staff might be needed, we learned, yet the relevant department also advises it can lean on existing staff. However, we neither fielded nor found  the city’s contemplated reviews of background checks will cost millions. Significantly too, taxpayers aren't poised to get the bill; city costs are to be covered from a fee-backed fund, not tax revenue. We rate this statement .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/25a93054-0729-4f6a-b46d-b20268e6c6ec"
470,2,"John McCain, ""one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires,"" says the solution to the housing crisis is for people to get a ""second job"" and ""skip their vacations.","April 5, 2008",economy,moveon.org,MoveOn.org is a left-leaning political advocacy group. It endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.,national,5,0,3,2,4,0,an e-mail,"Instead, he was praising people who took extra steps to meet their house payments. That's a significant distortion of what he was saying. So we find MoveOn's statement to be . Update: This item has been updated to include information about Cindy McCain's tax return, which was released on May 23, 2008."
971,5,"Every year tobacco kills more Americans than did World War II — more than AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, vehicular accidents, homicide and suicide combined.","June 18, 2009",consumer safety,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,national,10,5,3,7,7,1,a Washington Post op-ed,"As for the part about World War II, Will came up with this comparison himself. About 292,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were killed in battle during World War II, according to a U.S. Census Bureau April 29, 2004, report in commemoration of the new World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. An additional 114,000 members of U.S. forces died of other causes during the war, bringing the total to 406,000 people. Will's  — that smoking kills more people annually than in World War II or from other dangerous diseases and habits — holds up with the CDC and the Census Bureau. As a result, we give Will a ."
1087,4,The U.S. ranks 37th in the world for health care.,"September 9, 2009",health care,paul hipp,a singer and actor,national,0,1,0,0,0,0,a YouTube video,"For instance, Italy finished second in WHO's study, even though only 20 percent of its citizens say they were satisfied with their health care system. Meanwhile, Denmark ranked 16th in the WHO report even though 91 percent of Danes say they were satisfied. So while Hipp is right that the United States ranked 37th in the most widely known barometer in the WHO study, it ranked 15th by another WHO ranking and, for one factor (responsiveness) it actually ranked No. 1. Still, this is a rock song, and a well-sourced one at that. So we find Hipp's  to be ."
15148,4,"Says Bill Nelson ""skipped 45 percent of the hearings on national security.","September 18, 2018",congress,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,an ad,"Scott said Nelson ""skipped 45 percent of the hearings on national security."" The Scott campaign’s data for Nelson’s 16 years on the Senate Armed Services Committee shows he missed 284 hearings out of 636. However, this omits that for some types of hearings there is no publicly available attendance record. This count is not perfect. We rate this statement ."
14104,0,"UPDATE: 'Thousands' voted for Doug Jones in Alabama town with population of 2,256","December 13, 2017",elections;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"No mention of it in the U.S. Census’ list of places in Alabama. As of 2 p.m. Dec. 15, Moore had not conceded the race, arguing that military and provisional ballots had not been counted yet and that the Alabama secretary of state still hadn’t certified the race. ( In a CNN interview , the Alabama secretary of state expressed skepticism that election outcome would be different.) Ladies of Liberty says its posts are not  news because they are ""not real."" We say Ladies of Liberty’s post is !"
10364,3,"Says ""Florida is a model"" for successful pretrial release programs.","June 7, 2015",criminal justice;crime;punditfact,john oliver,"John Oliver is the host of ""Last Week Tonight"" on HBO. Previously he was a correspondent for Comedy Central's ""The Daily Show.""",,4,4,2,0,0,0,"a segment about bail on ""Last Week Tonight""","Oliver said ""pretrial service programs have succeeded around the country,"" namely Florida, adding, ""And it is a truly frightening state of affairs when Florida is a model for progressive change."" Experts in pretrial justice, several of whom talked with Oliver’s staff, said certain counties within Florida have demonstrated success with pretrial services as a way to reduce jail costs and eliminate overcrowding in jails. But they said he went a bit too far in leaving his viewers with the idea that Florida is among states that go above and beyond for defendants. There are pockets of progress, advocates said, but the commercial bail bonding industry is also strong in the state, and not every county has pretrial services. Oliver’s  rates  . Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability."
2566,5,Most of the jobs that we lost were lost before the economic policies we put in place had any effect.,"October 27, 2010",economy;jobs;stimulus,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"an interview on ""The Daily Show with Jon Stewart""","Since May, however, the losses -- albeit smaller ones -- have returned, giving Republicans fresh ammunition. For example, payroll employment dropped 57,000 between July and August 2010. ""I watched the president on Stewart’s show last night, and I thought his basic point about the timing of the employment losses was correct and ought to be noncontroversial,"" Gary Burtless, a labor markets expert at the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution said in an e-mail. There's still plenty to debate about the stimulus and its impact on the economy, and the recent reversal of job gains is troubling. But the numbers support Obama's statement, so we rate it ."
19584,1,Marjorie Taylor Greene just scrubbed her Twitter feed of all things Gaetz.,"April 5, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"As recently as April 13, Green tweeted that she has ""proudly defended @mattgaetz from the beginning because I know that he’s done nothing . ""  The photo of Greene and Gaetz that appears in the Facebook post is also still there; she shared it on Feb. 7, 2020 .   And on April 5, the day this post was published on Facebook, Greene tweeted : ""Show me 1 woman who has spoken out against @mattgaetz! … This is nothing but a deep state attack and media smear fest to take him down. ""  We rate this post ."
3538,5,"From 2008 to 2011, ""the pages in the conforming bills have gone from 400 pages to 2,200.","May 7, 2011",state budget,jack latvala,"Jack Latvala is the senator from the 16th district. He was elected in 2010, and previously served in the Senate from 1994-2002.",florida,1,0,1,0,0,0,comments made on the Senate floor,"In total, we counted 2,170 pages of conforming bills (the specific number can vary slightly based on the exact number of pages in the government reorganization bill). Compare that to 2008 , when there were 29 conforming bills and a total of 499 pages. We built a spreadsheet so you can see the difference between the years for yourself. Latvala said that from 2008-2001, ""the pages in the conforming bills have gone from 400 pages to 2,200."" We rate this  ."
8482,4,We have more women living in poverty in this state than almost anywhere else.,"January 23, 2014",economy;population;poverty,maxey scherr,Maxey Scherr describes herself on her campaign website as a single mother and lawyer.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview,"Scherr said more women live in poverty in Texas than almost anywhere else. In raw numbers, California in 2012 had the most women in poverty followed by Texas. But poverty rate is a more reasonable yardstick to compare states. The rounded Texas rate--indicating about 18 percent of its women aged 18-64 lived in poverty in 2012--tied the state for fifth with some other states. Breaking out each state's rate to tenths of percentage points, though, shows 14 states with a greater share of women in poverty than Texas. We rate this , which could have been more precise, as .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
1358,1,"On the new dollar coins, ""'In God We Trust' is gone!","February 5, 2010",patriotism,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a message circulated to many people,"""In God We Trust"" also appears on the front of the Native American and Sacagawea dollars. Since 2009, all of the coins in the presidential series have had ""In God We Trust"" inscribed on the front. The e-mail was as  in 2007 (except for those rare coins mistakenly minted with no inscriptions), and it is  in 2010. You can see ""In God We Trust"" on the presidential , Sacagawea and American Indian dollars. So we find the  ."
8296,0,"The average rate of fraud"" in the Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps programs ""is 20 to 25 percent.","January 10, 2014",federal budget;crime;medicaid;medicare;welfare;taxes,ron johnson,"Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.",wisconsin,8,18,15,28,11,4,a speech,"So, even the average among the four programs would be far less than what Johnson claimed. More importantly, those are error rates; there are no figures on the rate of fraud, which is believed to be a small component of errors. Johnson’s remark to the group was grossly .     For a  that is  and , we give Johnson a . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website .      "
2382,2,Tom Ganley supports a 23 percent national sales tax that would raise taxes on the middle class while giving a huge tax break to millionaires like himself.,"October 6, 2010",taxes,ohio democratic party,Statewide organization for Ohio's Democrats.,ohio,2,2,2,5,1,2,a statement posted on a website,"""Though there are many proposed solutions, lowering taxes to grow the private sector will ultimately help bring our country back to prosperity."" Ganley has called for ""fair taxes,"" but we could not find his ""supportive"" position on the Fair Tax  plan, or his stated openness to it, translating into a direct endorsement. So there’s a shred of  to the . He has called for the Fair Tax to be considered, but:         We rate this  . Comment on this item ."
1563,3,The permission to engage was given before the word RPG was ever used.,"April 12, 2010",ethics;human rights;military,julian assange,"Julian Assange is one of the founders of the whistleblower Web site, Wikileaks.",national,0,0,1,0,0,0,"an interview on Comedy Central's ""The Colbert Report""","Still, the soldiers in the Apache reported, ""Five to six individuals with AK-47s."" That's what the permission to engage appears to have been based upon. RPG's were not specifically referred to by that point, but other ""weapons"" were. And so while Assange's statement is technically accurate, we think it leaves out critical context. And we rule it ."
22434,3,We have 85 million Americans who have no health insurance.,"December 11, 2022",health care,bernie sanders,"Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.",,21,62,48,26,18,0,an interview on CNN,"Sanders said, ""we have 85 million Americans who have no health insurance."" Sanders omitted that his figure included people who either have no health insurance or are underinsured.  Sanders’ spokesperson referred us to data from the Commonwealth Fund that found about 85 million Americans ages 19 to 64 were uninsured or inadequately insured (meaning they had a gap in coverage over the past year or coverage that didn’t provide affordable access to health care).  Sanders accurately cited the Commonwealth Fund report in an October op-ed. His statement on CNN was partially accurate but left out important details and context. We rate it .  RELATED : Uninsured rate for Black Americans declined in Biden's first year in office RELATED : Medicare for All: What it is, what it isn't"
18137,4,"There's a ""direct correlation"" between North Carolina's mask requirement and COVID-19 stabilization.","July 28, 2020",coronavirus,mandy cohen,"Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, was appointed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.",north carolina,1,2,2,0,0,0,a press conference,"Cohen said there’s a ""direct correlation"" between North Carolina’s mask requirement and COVID-19 stabilization. Based on the data available in late July, experts said there does appear to be a correlation, but it’s too early to draw conclusions about it. Verifying the strength of the correlation can take months. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
9694,2,"Says Jonathan Gruber was ""some adviser who never worked on our staff.","November 16, 2014",health care,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,"Brisbane, Australia, for the G20 summit","Obama said Gruber was ""some adviser who never worked on our staff."" This careful wording significantly downplays the MIT economist's role. Gruber was an adviser. But he was not just ""some adviser,"" an especially flip characterization. By HHS’ own documentation, Gruber was considered ""uniquely positioned"" for a contract job assisting with Obama’s health care reform efforts. In that sense, he was a very important adviser. Further, while Gruber never worked ""on our staff,"" he was paid by the federal government quite handsomely, and worked very closely with the staff. His economic simulation model was very important to those writing the bill, even if he wasn’t the person deciding what would make the legislation and what would be left at the cutting board. He also met with Obama in the White House and had a dozen meetings that often included some of the most senior members of Obama’s economic and health care teams. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
6976,5,Says wrestling was a favorite sport of Abraham Lincoln.,"February 17, 2013",history;sports,donald rumsfeld,Donald Rumsfeld served as defense secretary under President George W. Bush.,national,1,0,0,0,0,0,"the ""Washington Post""","Other grapplers who made it to the White House include George Washington (school champ at the Reg. James Maury's Academy in Fredricksburg, Va.), Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt and  William Taft, who ""mastered a wicked move called the Flying Marc that savagely flipped an opponent to the ground."" Rumsfeld said wrestling was a favorite sport of Lincoln's. We found lots of documentation of his wrestling prowess, and it's a reasonable inference to assume he enjoyed it. We rate the  ."
13068,3,Obamacare premiums nationwide have increased by double and triple digits.,"February 28, 2017",health care,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"Trump said, ""Obamacare premiums nationwide have increased by double and triple digits.""  Many people purchasing health care through federal and state insurance marketplaces did see double-digit premium increases, and one, Arizona, saw a larger increase. But as we have noted in previous fact-checks , Trump’s talking point doesn’t accurately reflect the situation overall. Several states did not see such dramatic premium changes, and experts say that health care costs broadly are increasing at a lower rate than before the health care law took effect. Most people get their health care through the employer, which hasn’t seen the same premium spikes. And for people on the health care exchanges, federal subsidies are offsetting premium increases for many. Trump’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/22be5e24-12a9-440b-a32f-0242b44daa7e"
7725,1,"Says U.N. arms treaty will mandate a ""new international gun registry.","August 19, 2013",guns,steve stockman,"Steve Stockman, a Republican from Friendswood, returned for a second term in the U.S. House in 2013 - 16 years after his first term. He unsuccessfully sought his party's U.S. Senate nomination in 2014.",texas,0,0,0,1,3,1,a letter forwarded to PolitiFact,"Stockman said a U.N. treaty is  ""mandating a new international gun registry."" His  takes a treaty intended to curtail illicit weapons trade between countries and describes it as a step toward confiscating gun owners’ property. Nations that ratify the Arms Trade Treaty must track conventional arms that move across their borders, share some information about the transfers with the U.N. and other countries, then report the imports and exports in broad categories such as ""battle tanks"" to the U.N. each year. They must also regulate brokers, but requiring them to ""register"" is optional. Recording details such as the quantity and model of weapons in a shipment is also optional. We rate Stockman’s  as .   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
14486,2,"EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's short-term rental ""was about market rate.","April 7, 2018",ethics,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said that Pruitt paid approximately market rate for the living space he rented from the wife of an energy lobbyist. Trump based that on a review from the EPA, but the agency later said it lacked all the facts to fully assess the situation. A real estate professional familiar with rents in the neighborhood said the terms of the lease were unusually convenient for Pruitt. Our scan of current rents showed that the prices of two-bedroom apartments were higher than what he would have paid if he had stayed there every night for the entire six months. Pruitt was there only about two-thirds of the time, paying closer to $1,000 a month. No one-or-two-bedroom units were available under any terms for that price. The one caveat is we haven’t seen the exact terms of Pruitt’s lease or exactly how he and his family used the condominium. With that in mind, we rate this  ."
12072,4,We are the only industrialized nation that doesn't guarantee workers paid family leave.,"July 25, 2016",families;jobs;women,kirsten gillibrand,"Kirsten Gillibrand is a senator from New York. Gillibrand was appointed as senator in 2009 to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacated seat, as Clinton became U.S. Secretary of State under Barack Obama. Gillibrand won a special election in 2010 to retain her senate seat and won re-elections in 2012 and 2018. From 2007 to 2009, she served as the representative of New York’s 20th Congressional District. Gillibrand received a bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law. In 2019, she ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in August.",national,4,7,4,4,0,1,a speech at the Democratic National Convention,"Gillibrand said that America is the only industrialized that doesn't guarantee workers paid family leave. If you don’t live in one of two states that require paid family leave, or work for an employer that voluntarily offers it, you can take time off when a little one arrives, but you won’t get paid. All other developed countries surveyed by the International Labor Organization mandate at least some paid maternity leave. Another international study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found the same thing. There are some exclusions and limits in some countries, so the benefit is not universal. On balance, the statement holds up and we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a1644f61-7467-4b83-bced-b2c7ac9f3126"
19444,1,"Says Candace Owens tweeted, ""Yes, my husband did cheat on me with my brother. Yes, he said no when I asked to join.","March 17, 2021",pundits;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"There’s another clue in the screenshot that this isn’t an authentic Owens tweet. At the bottom of the screenshot it says ""view Tweet activity,"" which is a link to see data on the engagement with a given tweet. That marker would only appear under a Twitter user’s own tweet, because Twitter users can’t view other users’ tweet activity. For this image to be authentic, the screenshot would have to have been captured by Owens or someone with access to her account.   We rate this  ."
1946,3,"The lieutenant governor has the power to be an ""economic ambassador"" and ""negotiate"" on economic development","July 20, 2010",legal issues,jeremy kapstein,Jeremy Kapstein is a Providence native and senior advisor for the Boston Red Sox. He was formerly a professional baseball agent and the CEO of the San Diego Padres. He was a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2010.,rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,a comment on the Dan York Show,"""Yet there's simply nothing in the Constitution or in statutes or in case law that speaks to that."" So there we are, a little stuck. Kapstein's not completely right. But he's not really  either. As much as we hate to do it, we'll split the difference and call it ."
7093,1,The incidents of threats against (President Barack Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times.,"March 6, 2013",public safety,julian bond,Bond is the former chairman of the NAACP and a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He is a former Atlanta resident and member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Bond has taught college courses and was the narrator of the award-winning “Eyes on the Prize” television series about the civil rights movement.,georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,an interview,"To recap, Bond said ""the incidents of threats against (Obama) are greater than for any other president in modern times."" But a former Secret Service director has twice said there has not been an increase. The Secret Service is, well, secret, so they won’t discuss the number of specific threats against Obama. There’s no concrete  that Bond and others have produced to back up their . We rate Bond’s  ."
2798,2,"Toledo … is fourth in the nation behind much bigger cities — Miami, Las Vegas, Portland — in number of human trafficking arrests and rescues.","December 1, 2010",human rights;crime,teresa fedor,"Teresa Fedor is a Democrat in the Ohio House of Representatives. Her district, the 47th House District, is in Northeast Ohio.",ohio,1,0,0,1,0,0,the Ohio Senate,"""We do know that we had a problem in Toledo, we know that it’s a city of origin and we know we’re making progress there."" So let’s review what we found out: There is a small element of  behind Fedor’s statement; the 2009 report did have Toledo at No. 4 among 39 cities across the country that had arrest sweeps. But Fedor mischaracterized the statistic, omitting the word ""minor"" in her speech on the Senate floor.   And both the state’s top expert and the FBI suspect the statistic is . That’s why we rate her  as  -- but just ."
10038,1,"Every illegal immigrant ""can be eligible for up to $36,000 to $38,000 in earned income tax credits without paying a dime in.","February 28, 2015",immigration;taxes,john fredericks,"John Fredericks, a conservative radio talk show host in Virginia, has spent 25 years as a journalist, spapers in California, Georgia and Virginia. His radio show, The John Fredericks Show airs on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.  His show can be heard on the following stations:  
Hampton Roads – WHKT/AM 1650
Richmond – WNTW/AM 820
Roanoke – WFJX/FOX Radio AM 910
Streaming Online at http://thejohnfredericksradio.com",virginia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a radio show,"Fredericks says, ""Now we find out that every one of these illegals who came into this country illegally, that worked illegally, broke the law a number of times, now they can be eligible for up to $36,000 to $38,000 in earned income tax credits without paying a dime in."" He’s  for a number of reasons: The maximum credits any family could receive is $24,320 for the four most recent tax years. ""Everyone of these illegals"" is not eligible for the maximum credit. To qualify, a family must have at least three children and a taxable income of no more than about $23,000 a year. Only 6.4 percent of families that applied for the credit in 2012  fell into that category. To receive back payments, immigrants would have to produce earning documents from past years. You can’t get the credit ""without paying a dime in."" You’d have to pay payroll taxes. Fredericks offers a scenario in which two families living together with three children apiece could  $36,000 in combined credits if they file taxes separately. But this hypothetical situation lies on the margins and doesn’t buttress Fredericks’  that all reclassified immigrants can be eligible for up to the maximum credit. We rate Fredericks’ statement ."
4103,1,"Credit agency says Rep. Gibbs recklessly caused downgrade, higher interest rates.","August 10, 2011",federal budget,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,ohio,1,1,8,14,8,9,a news release,"In fact, some consumer interest rates could increase in the future, but rates so far have not increased on one indicator, offers for new credit cards. Regardless, we stumble over the DCCC's line that Gibbs can be blamed individually for the downgrade and any of its potential consequences, and over the way it gives the freshman legislator equal billing with Speaker of the House John Boehner. PolitiFact Ohio rated the similar GOP   , noting that it blamed Democrats for the downgrade, a  that contains an element of  because S&P held both parties responsible. The DCCC’s statement specifically claims that S&P blamed Gibbs for ""recklessly"" causing the downgrade and raising interest rates. That simply is not accurate, which on the -O-Meter makes it ."
12835,1,Pro-Lifers Declare 'Ejaculation Is Murder: Every Sperm Cell Is A Life.',"May 16, 2016",fake news;punditfact,thatviralfeed.net,"A website that posts clickbait stories, aggregated social media posts and fabricated articles.",,0,0,0,0,1,0,an Internet post,"While the sensational headline no doubt draws in readers to share the link, the story itself goes on to admit it is . Someone clicking through the pages of the story would see the infamous Trollface meme : There’s no indication on ThatViralFeed.net that anything on the site may be , but in this case, the site makes it clear if you get to the end. Some Facebook users posting the link seem to understand the story is , but many others do not. The site acknowledges the premise of the headline is made up, although you have to keep reading to get there. We rate it ."
16794,2,"Says that in South Bend, Ind., the ""black poverty fell by more than half on my watch.","December 9, 2019",corrections and updates;poverty,pete buttigieg,"Pete Buttigieg is the Transportation secretary under President Joe Biden. Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He decided not to seek re-election and his term ended in January 2020. From 2009 to 2017, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was a lieutenant. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard College and a first-class honors bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College as a Rhodes Scholar. He ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primaries.",national,4,3,4,6,1,0,an interview published by The Root,"(Buttigieg’s comment draws from one-year estimates for 2017.) The other metric, five-year estimates with greater reliability, shows a decline of about 6%. Buttigieg’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . Update: This fact-check was updated Dec. 13, 2019 to include comment provided by Buttigieg's campaign after publication."
8245,5,Our economy still has three people looking for every job (opening).,"January 5, 2014",economy;jobs;labor,gene sperling,Gene Sperling is the director of the National Economic Council for President Barack Obama.,national,1,0,0,1,0,0,"an interview on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Sperling said that in today’s economy, there are three people looking for work per job available. We crunched BLS numbers and got the same ratio, as did economists. The BLS data has shortcomings, some that would make the ratio higher and some that would make it lower. It also might not accurately reflect what the climate looks like from the perspective of employers or job seekers. Still, these are minor quibbles. We rate his statement ."
4665,1,"The Affordable Care Act is ""not the law of the land.","November 17, 2011",health care;public health;states;supreme court,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,"a meeting with the ""Palm Beach Post"" editorial board","Scott said he's refusing federal grant money to implement the Affordable Care Act in Florida ""because it's not the law of the land."""
7780,1,One out of every three students currently today is ready for college before they go there.,"September 10, 2013",education,will weatherford,"State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, is Florida's Speaker of the House for 2013-14.",florida,0,3,4,2,3,0,at Suncoast Tiger Bay luncheon,"For us, the facts here aligned pretty easily (thanks, Twitter). Weatherford said one in three Florida students graduates high school prepared for college. Based on Florida Department of Education  data , it’s two in three. We rate Weatherford’s  ."
20651,1,"A campaign poster for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with the slogan, ""No jab. No job, no refunds.","December 6, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The caption on Shutterstock says the photo was taken Aug. 8, 2020, in Auckland. This PolitiFact illustration shows a campaign poster for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as displayed in Auckland on Aug. 8, 2020, top, and an altered version of the same poster with the text changed, bottom. (Top image: Shutterstock; bottom image: Twitter) The poster in the original photograph is clearer than the altered one circulating on social media, which includes blurry text and grammatical errors, in addition to the broken website link. We rate those posts ."
6774,4,"You see 34 people (are) murdered every single day"" by gunfire in America.","December 23, 2012",crime;guns,cory booker,"Cory Booker is a senator from New Jersey. He was first elected to the Senate in 2013, making him the first African-American senator from New Jersey and the first African-American elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004. Booker served as mayor of Newark from 2006 until 2013. He has a bachelor's degree in political science and a master’s degree in sociology from Stanford University, an honors degree in United States history from The Queens College as a Rhodes Scholar and a J.D. from Yale Law School. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president and suspended his campaign in January 2020.",new jersey,10,11,4,2,6,0,"a roundtable discussion on ABC’s ""This Week with George Stephanopoulos""","In a TV appearance, Booker claimed, ""You see 34 people (are) murdered every single day"" by gunfire in America. The mayor’s statistic isn’t far off. According to the most recent data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a five-year rolling average of final CDC figures puts the number of gun-related murders at about 33 per day. In terms of individual years, there were about 30 gun-related homicides on a daily basis in 2010 and 2011. That figure marks a reduction since the roughly 35 murders per day recorded in 2006, which was the highest amount for any year in the last decade. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
4959,1,The InterLink at T.F. Green Airport is the closest air-rail link in the country.,"January 11, 2012",infrastructure;transportation,lincoln chafee,"Lincoln Chafee is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He served one four-year term as Rhode Island's governor, beginning on Jan. 4, 2011. He was the first Independent to be elected to that office. He subsequently became a Democrat. As a Republican, he served as mayor of Warwick from 1992 to 1999, when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate following the death of his father, Sen. John H. Chafee. He was elected to a full Senate term in 2000. He is married with three children. In April 2015 he formed an exploratory committee to consider running for President.",rhode island,3,4,3,3,5,0,a news conference,"Governor Chafee said the T.F. Green InterLink is the closest air-rail link in the country. Whether he meant closest commuter link or closest Amtrak link, he’s . Several major airports have closer commuter links, including some that run adjacent to or through their terminals. And Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport is closer to an Amtrak line. Plus, it has something T.F. Green does not: an actual Amtrak station. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor does indeed pass near T.F. Green, but Amtrak trains do not stop at the InterLink. Only commuter trains that are operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority -- and use the Amtrak line -- do. Officials have talked of having Amtrak trains stop at the InterLink eventually, but it hasn’t happened yet. So at this point it seems irrelevant that the airport is so close to the Amtrak rail line. We rule Chafee’s statement . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
17759,2,"For the World Health Organization, the international entity whose sole responsibility it is to alert the world of global pandemics like this, to miss this, is a huge problem.","May 5, 2020",coronavirus;pennsylvania,brian fitzpatrick,"U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Republican from Pennsylvania's Bucks County ",national,0,0,2,1,0,0,a radio interview,"During a conservative talk radio interview, Fitzpatrick accused the WHO of missing the pandemic, citing a Jan. 14 tweet in which the organization reported Chinese assurances that  there was no human-to-human transmission of the virus.  Experts argue that the WHO was slow to acknowledge human-to-human transmission, declare the coronavirus a ""public health emergency of international concern,"" and label it a pandemic.  But the agency was actively gathering and disseminating information about the virus in the weeks prior to the official pandemic declaration, and it’s possible to interpret public statements made during this time as cautious, not reckless. Saying the WHO missed the pandemic altogether goes too far. Also, Fitzpatrick’s  doesn’t acknowledge the WHO’s work promoting public health. For these reasons, we rate Fitzpatrick’s  ."
10897,3,We have record numbers of people living in poverty.,"November 1, 2015",poverty,carly fiorina,Carly Fiorina is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. She is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). She was defeated in her attempt as the Republican nominee to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010.,national,3,3,4,5,5,2,"comments on ""Fox News Sunday""","Fiorina said, ""We have record numbers of people living in poverty today."" In terms of raw numbers, Fiorina is correct that more people live in poverty today than ever in the 56 years the census has been keeping track. However, absolute value is an inappropriate measure for poverty analysis, experts said. If we use the right measure, poverty rate, we see that poverty has decreased significantly since 1959. We rate Fiorina’s  ."
17761,3,The Trump Administration is trying to take food assistance away from Wisconsin families when people are out of work and struggling.,"May 15, 2020",food;coronavirus,tammy baldwin,"Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.",wisconsin,10,14,15,12,7,0,a tweet,"Baldwin said ""the Trump Administration is trying to take food assistance away from Wisconsin families when people are out of work and struggling.""  Congress and the Trump administration have launched various assistance initiatives during the pandemic. And one measure specifically lifted a work-related requirement.  However, at the same time, the administration doubled down on its support of a proposed SNAP rule change that would in effect cut off basic food assistance for nearly 700,000 people -- once an emergency is lifted, and if the agency successfully fends off a lawsuit.  We rate the  .  window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND';

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21739,1,Germany weather maps show media exaggerating effects of climate change.,"July 22, 2022",climate change;weather;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that green and red colors showing temperatures in two different weather maps five years apart in Germany show the media is manipulating the maps to push a climate change agenda by adding red to make it seem hotter. But the maps in the post show two different things — one, from 2017, shows a general weather forecast on a green background; one, from 2022, shows only temperatures on a red background. The earlier green background had nothing to do with the temperatures, while the red background in 2022 did. We rate this  . PolitiFact developer Mark Wirblich contributed to this report."
4036,3,"The debt ceiling deal will result in ""the lowest level of annual domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower was president.","July 31, 2011",deficit;federal budget;history,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,remarks from the White House,"But that’s not what Obama said. He said that the deal would bring ""the lowest level of annual domestic spending since Dwight Eisenhower."" By not specifying that he was referring to ""discretionary"" spending, Obama is , since the expenses for mandatory domestic programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will remain high in the years ahead. According to the White House, that's not what he meant, but he still said what he said. On balance, we rate his statement ."
10361,3,"In Muslim countries, under the Sharia, there is a death penalty for blaspheming Mohammad.","June 4, 2015",religion;punditfact,pamela geller,"Pamela Geller is an activist who co-founded Stop Islamization of America, also known as the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a far-right group. In February 2015, Geller's group hosted a ""Draw the Prophet"" event in Garland, Texas, during which two shooters tried to ambush the event but were killed. ",,0,0,1,0,1,2,an interview with Chris Cuomo,"Geller said that ""in Muslim countries, under the Sharia, there is a death penalty for blaspheming Mohammad."" At best, that is an overgeneralization. Yes, there are countries who prescribe the death penalty, and they often do cite the Sharia as the cause for it. But out of 50 countries with Muslim majorities, there are only 11 where this is in some way sanctioned by state law. In addition, not all countries with the death penalty use it. The death penalty is not applied universally, and can be mitigated in cases when the accused repents. Geller’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and takes things out of context. We rate her statement is ."
20955,0,President Biden's Air Force One pilot got fired after this vertical take off.,"February 9, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"But Air Force One never parks at a terminal, because it has to be able to take off quickly if needed, according to reports . Around the 6-minute mark in the video, the simulated plane takes off vertically, as the headline says. The plane depicted in the video also does not match the real Air Force One aircraft. For example, the simulated plane shows two vertical stabilizers , each emblazoned with an American flag, while the real Air Force One has a single vertical stabilizer with one American flag. We rate the  that President Biden's Air Force One pilot got fired after a vertical take off !"
1739,5,"Fulton County has successfully reduced the number of pregnancies"" among 15- to 19-year-olds.","May 26, 2010",women,fulton county government,"Fulton County, home to Atlanta, has the largest population of any county in the state.",georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a press releaase,"Its clinic saw just under 2,000 teens in 2009. Its educational outreach program reached 3,000 teens. The Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University develops and researches successful sex education methods and disseminates information to teens and professionals. While Grady, the Jane Fonda Center and other resources have likely played a major role in the reduction of teenage pregnancy rates, it's fair to give credit to Fulton County as well. We rate its  as ."
9830,4,"Administrative employees at colleges and universities have ""more than doubled over the last 25 years, outpacing the growth of students by more than 2 to 1.","January 12, 2015",education,marco rubio,"Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,a book,"Rubio wrote that college administrators have ""more than doubled over the last 25 years, outpacing the growth of students by more than 2 to 1."" Rubio’s right about the general trend, but one of the two examples he specifically mentions in the book belongs to a different employment category -- one that has been growing more slowly. In addition, there’s  that this is not bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake -- many of the positions increasing in recent years directly support students. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it . Help fund PolitiFact’s Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response."
8720,3,"The U.S. Justice Department has ""taken on more than 100 voting rights cases since 2009.","April 11, 2014",civil rights;elections,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",florida,124,165,163,71,71,9,a speech,"Obama said the Justice Department has ""taken on more than 100 voting rights cases since 2009."" Obama’s statement was somewhat vague, because he didn’t explain during his speech what he meant by ""taken on"" cases. Some listeners could have interpreted that to mean all cases in which the department was the plaintiff. That's not the case though; the Justice Department has a list of 102 cases that include instances in which the department is the plaintiff, the defendant or played some other role. We rate this  ."
14031,0,"Pope Francis at Mass: 'Jesus is Metaphorical, Not Literal.","November 18, 2017",fake news;religion;punditfact,yournewswire.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,1,3,9,a headline,"""He has radically transformed the tone of his office, making a number eye-raising gestures and pronouncements that have liberals cheering and conservatives shaking their heads,"" the Washington Post stated in 2015. His statements that have drawn debate include the topics of atheism, sexuality, abortion, climate change and divorce. ""If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"" he said in 2013. But in this case, we could find no  that he uttered the words in the headline, ""Jesus is Metaphorical, Not Literal.""   We rate this headline ."
15638,4,All of this work helped us increase graduation rates by 42 percent and substantially reduce the racial achievement gap.,"January 21, 2019",education,michael bloomberg,"Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. The billionaire co-founded Bloomberg LP, a financial information and media company, in 1981. On Nov. 24, 2019, he announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president and dropped out on March 4, 2020.",new york,7,8,5,1,3,0,a speech,"Bloomberg said that graduation rates under his administration increased by 42 percent, and that the racial achievement gap was ""substantially"" reduced. The data shows the graduation rate increased by 42 percent. As for Bloomberg’s  that his administration ""substantially"" reduced the racial achievement gap, he looks chiefly to graduation rate data, which showed that the racial achievement gap narrowed. But this part of his statement needs additional information. By a different measure - test scores - experts found that the racial achievement gap was not substantially reduced, and in some analyses didn’t budge or even widened.  We rate Bloomberg’s  ."
3368,4,Says House Republicans rejected a straightforward measure that would prevent members of Congress and the president from being paid during a government shutdown.,"April 1, 2011",ethics;federal budget;voting record;workers,barbara boxer,Barbara Boxer is California's junior senator.,national,0,4,3,2,0,1,a press release,"The House did have a chance to vote on something similar to Boxer’s bill, but it turned it down on a near party-line vote. So Boxer is correct on that point. There’s still a question whether her bill is would pass constitutional muster. We won’t find out, though, because the two chambers seem unlikely to agree on legislation. Given that impasse, we rate Boxer’s statement ."
5273,3,"Metro Atlantans spend ""over an hour every day"" or ""five hours a week"" commuting, for a total of ""260 hours a year.","March 16, 2012",message machine 2012;transportation,metro atlanta voter education network,The Metro Atlanta Voter Education Network is a coalition of businesses and civic groups that is running a public information campaign to educate voters about a July 2012 transportation referrendum.,georgia,1,0,1,0,0,0,a TV ad,"Workers often get a week or so of vacation or sick leave. MAVEN’s numbers are OK for a back-of-the-envelope calculation. They’re also within reason.    However, metro Atlanta is so big and the commutes can be so different that assuming a trip to work takes as much time as the one back home is a bridge too far. We give MAVEN a ."
19127,0,"Says unproven voter fraud claims didn't play ""any role"" in the Capitol riot.","January 14, 2021",elections;pennsylvania;jan. 6,jake corman,Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore ,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,an interview,"Corman said unproven voter fraud claims didn’t play ""any role"" in the attack. No role at all? That’s . A  but deeply held belief that the election was rigged and stolen from Trump led thousands of his supporters to gather in Washington and later storm the Capitol. The claims inspired the riot. We rate Corman’s statement ."
2551,3,"Many of the companies bankrolling the ad campaign against Amendment 4 are recipients of a congressional bailout, in the form of humongous tax refunds earlier this year.","October 12, 2010",florida amendments,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",florida,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain e-mail,"We rule this  . Though if Mr. Hiaasen comes up with that magical database, we’d be happy to reconsider. UPDATE: John Caulfield, who graciously acknowledged his  on a Lennar number, later showed us one of our own errors. Our original post of this item used a year-end tax figure, not a fourth-quarter one, for KB Home. That has now been corrected."
1473,3,"The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the health insurance reform legislation says the bill ""cuts the deficit by $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years.","March 18, 2010",federal budget;health care,nancy pelosi,"Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.",national,6,7,15,12,10,4,a press release,"In fact, the CBO has said a year-by-year projection of the bill's budget effect beyond the first 10 years would ""not be meaningful because the uncertainties involved are simply too great."" It's natural to want to translate the CBO's GDP projection into actual dollars (Who can get their head around a half a percent of GDP 10 to 20 years from now?). And the GDP projections used to extrapolate the $1.2 trillion figure may be perfectly reasonable, if highly speculative. But Pelosi puts a firm number on a projection that CBO so carefully tried to hedge. And so we rate this  ."
6875,0,We just had someone last week in Neenah near a school kill someone with a bow and arrow.,"January 10, 2013",guns,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a news conference,"Trouble was, there wasn’t such a homicide. What’s more, while the incident was near a school (2.5 miles away) it didn’t have anything to do with the school. And the SWAT team was called because the suspect was holed up inside the house -- with potential access to guns. Finally, Walker’s staff allowed his statement to go uncorrected for four days and only admitted that it was  after being asked about it by PolitiFact. ."
4051,2,"Rick Perry ended full-day Pre-K for 100,000 Texas children.","July 5, 2011",education;state budget,progress texas,"On its website, Progress Texas describes itself as a ""nonprofit communications hub that educates the public about politicians, policies and organizations that have a direct impact on the everyday lives of Texans."" Its mission, according to the website, is ""to provide a strong, credible and enduring progressive voice that will ensure more inclusive, just and sustainable policies for Texas.""",texas,0,0,1,3,0,2,a statement for Twitter,"Second, the end of the grants — which helped about 100,000 kids attend a full day of pre-K last school year — doesn't mean all grant recipients are cutting back to half a day. Some are, and some are not. Finally, while Perry signed the legislation that ends the grant money, the budget was the handiwork of the Republican-led Legislature. He didn't stop the grants by himself. We rate Progress Texas' statement ."
11456,1,Ted Cruz is in negotiations to be Donald Trump's running mate.,"February 25, 2016",elections,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post and story from Elect Leaders,"On Facebook, Elect Leaders said Cruz and Trump are negotiating a Trump-Cruz Republican ticket. Anything is possible. But we don't see  the two camps are lately plotting a shared ticket. We rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
1705,1,"Sen. Barbara Boxer ""passed only three bills in 18 years"" into law.","March 10, 2010",legal issues;message machine 2010,carly fiorina,Carly Fiorina is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. She is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). She was defeated in her attempt as the Republican nominee to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010.,national,3,3,4,5,5,2,a Web ad,"But now even the Fiorina campaign admits that number is  -- there are five. And more importantly, experts on Congress say the Fiorina campaign's methodology is a  way of assessing a senator's legislative accomplishments. The Fiorina campaign could still make a case that Boxer is not an effective legislator, but the campaign has failed to do it here. Using the count of bills authored is simplistic and doesn't reflect the reality of the legislative process. We rate the statement ."
308,3,Let's not blame President Bush for all of this. We've got a Congress who sat around on their hands and done nothing but spend a lot of money ... leaving us $9-trillion in debt that we're passing on to our grandchildren.,"January 30, 2008",federal budget,mike huckabee,Mike Huckabee ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former governor of Arkansas; he also sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015.,national,8,3,9,12,6,4,"Simi Valley, Calif","But the former Arkansas governor overlooks the fact that President Bush asked for most of the changes that drove up spending, most notably the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that were not fullly offset by spending cuts and the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, which drove up entitlement costs. There also were national security spending increases after 9/11 and the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republican-controlled Congresses delivered on each of these high-priority items, and Bush signed them into law. So at a minimum, the president and Congress share the blame for the fiscal policies Huckabee cites in the eight-year time frame. For that reason, we rate his statement ."
7666,1,"If we use (Tax Increment Financing) funding, that's going to take funds from the general fund for Pinellas County, as it will take funds from the general fund for the city of St. Pete.","August 6, 2013",taxes,kathleen ford,Kathleen Ford is a candidate in the St. Petersburg mayoral race in 2013. Ford is a former City Council member who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2001 and 2009.,florida,0,1,0,0,1,1,a mayoral debate,"Ford said that TIF money takes away money from the city’s general fund, implying that taxpayers would pay for the Lens with money that could be used elsewhere. Actually, the funds come from a special financing district, not from general funds. We rate her  ."
15723,0,"Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, ""We must block Trump from stopping the return of the heroic Alabama mother from ISIS. In many ways she is more of a hero then our veterans. Welcome home sister!","February 26, 2019",terrorism;veterans;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The parody account uses the same photo avatar as Ocasio-Cortez's personal account. Only the real one is verified with a blue checkmark, which Twitter uses to indicate an account's authenticity. We searched Ocasio-Cortez's actual Twitter account for a statement similar to the one the parody account made and couldn't find it. We also couldn't find any  that she elsewhere lauded the ISIS recruit. We rate this post !"
5533,4,"Says Mitt Romney ""has refused to say whether he would have vetoed or signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.","May 3, 2012",candidate biography;civil rights;supreme court;women,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a graphical tool on the campaign website,"The Obama campaign said Romney ""has refused to say whether he would have vetoed or signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act."" That’s essentially what happened in Romney’s ABC News interview in April, but the  leaves out some details that matter to Julia. The relevant point for Julia isn't whether Romney would sign the bill — it's already the law — but his decision not to change it. Romney also said he  ""certainly support(s) equal pay for women,"" and has ""no intention of changing that law."" Still, the Obama campaign is correct that he dodged the question, so we rate the  . CORRECTION: A previous version of this item said the Supreme Court's Ledbetter decision made it ""impossible for employees who learned of such discrimination later to get relief, such as back pay."" In fact, the court declined to address the question of whether employees who learned of discrimination after the statute of limitations expired would be protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
11856,2,"He leant his name to a bill, did little or nothing three years ago to try to get it passed, (and) since then has done absolutely nothing other than disavow any attempt to move on the legislation.","June 13, 2016",guns,katie mcginty,Katie McGinty is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania. She is a former secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection and served as Governor Tom Wolf's chief of staff.,pennsylvania,1,1,0,1,0,1,an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer,"This  was two-fold, with McGinty claiming 1. That Toomey ""did little or nothing"" to attempt to get the Toomey-Manchin amendment passed and 2. That he has ""done absolutely nothing other than disavow any attempt to move on the legislation"" after it was shot down by the Senate. Toomey signed onto the amendment very late in the game and a vote took place just weeks after his name was added to it. It’s also  that no additional Republicans signed on to vote in favor of the legislation after Toomey added in his support. If McGinty would have said Toomey accomplished little, she would have been right. But to say he ""did little or nothing"" to advance the bill isn’t supported by the facts. The senator also hasn’t re-introduced the legislation since it was shot down and hasn’t indicated that he plans to. But the definition of ""disavow"" is to deny complete responsibility for, and Toomey isn’t against the legislation itself, saying he still supports the measure -- and indeed, he voted for it again. For now, he just won’t be the one to re-introduce it. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/755b59a0-1918-454c-bfd7-b7f52d1be31c"
12207,3,"Says Hillary Clinton once ""wanted a wall"" on the Mexican border.","August 5, 2016",immigration,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign speech,"Clinton did vote for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized building a fence along about 700 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico. For our purposes, the differences between a wall and a fence in this  are not significant -- both block people. But the fence Clinton backed is not nearly as expansive as the wall Trump is promoting. And in his phrasing, Trump seemed to equate the two. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/eb1bee6a-2961-40be-ba2f-877183cc7bc4"
7418,1,The average student comes out of college hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.,"May 29, 2013",debt;economy;education,gina raimondo,"Gina Raimondo served a four-year term as Rhode Island's general treasurer beginning in Jan. 4, 2011 before being elected governor in 2014. She cofounded and served as a general partner of Point Judith Capital. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and a Rhodes Scholar. She is married with two children.",rhode island,6,5,2,2,1,1,an interview with WJAR-TV,"When we heard back from Raimondo's office, she acknowledged the error. Said spokeswoman Joy Fox, ""Although the Treasurer and her husband personally came out of college with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt, she misspoke by saying this was the average amount of student loan debt. According to the Project on Student Debt, the average debt is more in the range of tens of thousands."" We rate Raimondo's   . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
18983,1,"A forensics examination of a Ware County, Ga., Dominion Voting Systems machine found votes were switched from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.","December 4, 2020",elections,jody hice,"Jody Hice won the race for the 10th Congressional District in Georgia in 2014 and was subsequently re-elected. Hice is running in the Republican primary for Georgia Secretary of State in 2022. Hice served as pastor for almost 25 years, and launched the Jody Hice Show, a conservative talk radio program. ",georgia,0,0,0,0,4,0,a tweet,"Hice said ""a forensics examination"" of a Ware County, Ga., Dominion Voting Systems machine found switched from Trump to Biden. The 37-vote difference that election officials caught resulted from human error, not a flaw in Dominion software.  A forensic audit conducted by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office on a random sampling of Dominion voting machines found ""no signs of cyber attacks or election hacking"" and ""no  of the machines being tampered.""  We rate this  . ​"
10306,5,"Says Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has stated that supporting the ""right to health care ... means you believe in slavery.","May 22, 2015",health care;punditfact,sarah silverman,"Sarah Silverman is a comedian, writer, actress and activist for liberal causes. ",,1,0,1,0,0,0,a social media post,"Silverman forwarded a social media meme that said Paul has stated that supporting the ""right to health care … means you believe in slavery."" The meme has been abridged from the full quote, but we see no significant change in his meaning. We also found no  that Paul had backtracked on the views he expressed. We rate the meme’s  ."
13218,1,"Says North Carolina's replacement for HB2 ""orders NC cities to discriminate against LGBT people until at least 2020 and unfair 'bathroom bans' remain.","March 31, 2017",civil rights;government regulation;lgbtq;sexuality;states,caitlyn jenner,"Caitlyn Jenner is a reality TV star, former Olympic gold medalist and one of America's most famous transgender people.",north carolina,0,0,0,0,1,0,,"After North Carolina replaced HB2, pro-LGBT activists said the compromise was not nearly enough. Caitlyn Jenner, one of the country’s most famous transgender celebrities, took that criticism a step further when she tweeted: ""The new law orders NC cities to discriminate against LGBT people until at least 2020 and unfair ‘bathroom bans’ remain."" Neither part of that is correct. The bathroom ban was repealed. And while the new law does continue banning cities and counties from giving LGBT people local discrimination protections, that’s not even close to the same as ordering discrimination. Her statement makes two claims. Neither is accurate, and we rate this  .  "
13095,0,Man pardoned by Obama three months ago arrested for murder.,"February 28, 2017",fake news;punditfact,undergroundnewsreport.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,an Internet post,"When we contacted him via email, the writer identified himself as James McDaniel, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen living in Costa Rica. (The site is privately registered in Scottsdale, Ariz.) ""I admit I kind of stumbled into this on accident just playing around and didn't really expect to get any attention at first,"" McDaniel wrote. ""People proved to be far more gullible than I previously thought."" This  rates !"
12718,4,"(Deborah) Ross defends those who want to burn the American flag, and even called efforts to ban flag-burning 'ridiculous,' yet refused to help a disabled veteran fly the flag.","October 11, 2016",legal issues;military;negative campaigning;patriotism;veterans,senate leadership fund,"Senate Leadership Fund is a Super PAC with the stated goal to ""protect and expand the Republican Senate Majority."" ",north carolina,0,2,2,8,0,0,a TV ad,"The Senate Leadership Fund’s anti-Ross ad said she ""defends those who want to burn the American flag, and even called efforts to ban flag-burning ‘,’ yet refused to help a disabled veteran fly the flag."" The first part of the , about defending flag-burning, is a bit vague. Ross has said she does not support the act of flag-burning but does defend people’s right to do so. The ad is right that she said it was  to try to ban flag-burning. But where the ad diverges further from the  is on the matter of the ACLU declining to represent a veteran when Ross was in charge. While technically correct, the group refused because the man was attempting to bring a  that was not the type of legal battle the ACLU typically fights. We rate this  ."
17118,4,"Says ""black babies die at rates twice as high as white babies because of a lack of access to affordable health care.","February 13, 2020",children;families;health care;women,michael bloomberg,"Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013. The billionaire co-founded Bloomberg LP, a financial information and media company, in 1981. On Nov. 24, 2019, he announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president and dropped out on March 4, 2020.",texas,7,8,5,1,3,0,a rally,"Bloomberg said: ""Black babies die at rates twice as high as white babies because of a lack of access to affordable health care."" Bloomberg’s figures about the black infant mortality rate vs. the white infant mortality rate are accurate. Studies show that access to healthcare is a contributing factor to this disparity, but it is far from being the only issue at play. We rate this  ."
1727,1,Turkey is an Arab country.,"June 6, 2010",foreign policy;pundits;this week - abc news,markos moulitsas,"Markos Moulitsas is the founder and publisher of Daily Kos, a widely read liberal blog.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a roundtable discussion on ABC's This Week,"The one thing that Turkey has in common with the Arab world is religion: An estimated 99.8 percent of the Turkish population is Muslim.    ""I knew I was  as I was saying it,"" Moulitsas told PolitiFact in an e-mail. ""But everything moves so fast that everything had moved on before I could say, 'Boy that was dumb -- I meant 'predominantly Muslim country.'""    Moulitsas has graciously copped to his error (and even invited us to ding him), but the -O-Meter doesn't cut any slack for confessions. So we rate his statement ."
23006,1,The sun prevents skin cancer.,"May 8, 2023",facebook fact-checks;health check,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"People of all ages and skin tones should limit time spent in the sun, especially between midmorning and late afternoon, the National Cancer Institute said. Sunscreen (with a sun protection factor of at least 15) should be applied to uncovered skin 30 minutes before going outside, with reapplication every two hours or after swimming or sweating. You can get enough vitamin D by getting up to 15 minutes of casual sun exposure on your face, arms and hands for two to three days a week in the summer, according to WHO guidance . Avoiding the sun entirely could risk  bone health .   We rate the  that the sun prevents skin cancer ."
5021,3,"Says New Jersey is ""down nearly 200,000 jobs from its pre-recession peak"" and with Gov. Chris Christie ""New Jersey has trailed the rest of America when it comes to unemployment"" for 12 consecutive months.","January 26, 2012",economy;jobs,one new jersey,One New Jersey is a 501(c)4 advocacy organization that opposes Gov. Chris Christie's policies.,new jersey,0,2,1,0,0,0,an article posted on One New Jersey’s website,"One New Jersey said the state is ""down nearly 200,000 jobs from its pre-recession peak"" and ""for 12 consecutive months, New Jersey has trailed the rest of America when it comes to unemployment."" It’s  the state shed more than 200,000 jobs since its prerecession peak in 2007, but the governor didn’t take office until 2010 and since then that trend has reversed. New Jersey's unemployment rate has trailed the national rate for 11 consecutive months, not 12, the difference was never statistically significant and it’s  to pin blame for the state’s unemployment problem squarely on Christie. The numbers are  right, but they need clarification. So, we rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
19283,2,The United States was energy independent in 2019 for the first time since 1957. In just 10 days we are sent back 50 years.,"February 12, 2021",energy;government regulation;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An image widely shared on Facebook claimed: ""The United States was energy independent in 2019 for the first time since 1957. In just 10 days we are sent back 50 years."" In 2019, U.S. energy production exceeded consumption on an annual basis for the first time since 1957. That’s one definition of energy independence. Through the first 10 months of 2020, the latest period for which data are available, energy production was down from a year earlier, but still exceeded consumption. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to import millions of barrels of petroleum per day. The  that Biden’s orders reversed the trend or the gains in U.S. energy independence is not supported. The government hasn’t published full-year data for 2020, or for the period since Biden took office.  The orders didn’t stop any current production, and any new production from the avenues he closed off would have taken years to materialize.  The image contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
18296,0,"Says Ady Barkan asked Joe Biden, ""Do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding for police?","August 30, 2020",criminal justice;federal budget,steve scalise,Steve Scalise is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Louisiana.,national,0,0,2,1,0,1,a video,"Scalise shared a video that said Barkan asked Biden, ""Do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding for police?"" That’s not what Barkan asked. The video spliced together audio from two different questions, taking advantage of the fact that Barkan speaks with computer voice assistance.  Biden has repeatedly said he does not support defunding the police, including during his conversation with Barkan. We rate Scalise’s video !"
1184,4,"The GOP health care plan ""would allow health insurance companies to continue engaging in unfair and discriminatory practices like denying coverage to people because of a pre-existing medical condition.","November 3, 2009",health care,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,national,6,15,8,7,9,3,a press release,"Still, we think Wasserman Schultz's comments imply that Republicans have simply ignored the issue of pre-existing conditions altogether. They have not. They have taken a different tack from  the Democrats. And Democrats may not agree that dealing with the issue through state-run high-risk pools is an adequate plan, but it is a plan. And so we rule Wasserman Schultz's comment ."
21019,1,Bill Gates hatches 'horribly stupid' plan to block out the sun,"February 21, 2022",environment;climate change;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an article,"An article headline says, ""Bill Gates hatches 'horribly stupid' plan to block out the sun."" Gates did not create such a plan. He is among the donors to a program that’s funding a small-scale experiment proposed by Harvard researchers that would spray aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight back into space. The experiment would measure the risks and effectiveness of the technology and is not an effort at widespread implementation. We rate this  . "
16488,1,Beto O'Rourke wants to confiscate guns because he can't buy one himself due to his criminal record.,"September 13, 2019",crime;public safety;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,,"Both cases were dismissed and he was not convicted of either charge. O'Rourke could have passed a gun-purchase background check and obtained a license to carry once the charges were dismissed. Even if he had been convicted of these charges, he still could purchase a gun today. We rate this  . : The statement is not accurate"
12128,2,Bike lanes and sidewalks have been proven to reduce crashes by up to 38 percent on Austin's streets.,"June 8, 2016",city government;corrections and updates;transportation,bike austin,"Bike Austin, an advocacy group, says its mission is to ""improves quality of life for all of Austin and Central Texas by growing bicycling as a form of transportation, exercise, and recreation.""",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a press release,"Bike Austin said: ""Bike lanes and sidewalks have been proven to reduce crashes by up to 38 percent on Austin’s streets."" Research suggests big drops in pedestrian-vehicle accidents when sidewalks are introduced. But Bike Austin didn’t offer nor did we find research showing the addition of bike lanes in themselves or bike lanes plus sidewalks resulted in any percentage plummet in crashes. Instead, the city analysis states that reconfiguring lanes on part of one road, which also gained bike lanes, preceded 38 percent fewer crashes--with crash reductions averaging 29 percent among five road-diet projects. We rate this  .  – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/17fb7c14-9a39-45dd-a42d-d4fdaae3d443"
12509,2,"Chris Jacobs ""has been financed by the same men who are now facing charges in one of Western New York's largest public corruption schemes","September 25, 2016",campaign finance,matt tighe,Matt Tighe is the campaign manager for Democrat Amber Small in her run for State Senate in 2016.,new york,0,0,0,1,0,0,The Buffalo News,"Amber Small’s campaign manager said in The Buffalo News that Chris Jacobs ""has been financed by the same men who are now facing charges in one of Western New York’s largest public corruption schemes."" It’s  that Ciminelli and Laipple have given to Jacobs in the past, but not in the race for state Senate. Their donations account for a small portion of what Jacobs has raised this year and in years past. We rate this  as ."
8247,0,"Says the media created the term ""polar vortex"" and the cold air proves ""the ice isn't melting.","January 6, 2014",climate change;weather;punditfact,rush limbaugh,"Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as ""America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy.""",,0,2,5,10,17,12,comments on his radio show,"Limbaugh claimed the media made up the ""polar vortex"" to bolster global warming. What the cold snap does prove, he says, is Arctic sea ice is not melting -- that global warming is a hoax. Climate scientists told us his rant is wildly misinformed. The polar vortex has been a part of science for decades, and it certainly does not prove that sea ice is not melting. We rate this !"
18123,1,"A photo shows a large crowd in Berlin protesting the ""covid hoax.","August 2, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The house and techno music parade travels around Lake Zurich; organizers estimated that approximately 850,000 people attended the event in 2019. Meanwhile, thousands of people did participate in demonstrations in Berlin against the country’s COVID-19 restrictions. German police estimated that at least 17,000 people turned out for the Aug. 1 march, which was followed by a sit-in at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.   But this photo doesn’t depict that event. . "
14661,1,"Actor Brad Pitt: 'Trump is not my president, we have no future with this…'","May 13, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog post headline,"A headline on Conservativetown.com said,  ""Actor Brad Pitt: ‘Trump Is Not My President, We Have No Future With This…’"" The content of the article  referenced real quotes, attributed to the  sources. They failed to acknowledge the satirical role Pitt was playing on The Jim Jefferies Show . And while Pitt made comments critical of Trump, he never said, ""Trump is not my president,"" as the headline claimed. We rate this statement ."
7762,4,We cut business taxes so today 70 percent of our businesses don't pay a business tax.,"August 30, 2013",small business;taxes,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a speech at an Americans for Prosperity Foundation conference,"Scott said ""70 percent of our businesses don't pay a business tax."" His general point was that during his tenure, he’s been cutting all sorts of taxes. State data for 2011 taxes shows that 76.8 percent of businesses don’t pay the corporate income tax due to the exemption. Scott is including some very small businesses here in his calculation and omitting that many of them were exempt from paying this tax before he took office. We rate this  ."
19905,1,Hawaii to no longer recognize out-of-state driver's licenses.,"June 14, 2021",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,So does the County of Maui .   The City and County of Honolulu further says that residents of countries that ratified the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic may use their foreign national driver’s license along with a passport to legally drive in Hawaii.   The Hawaii Department of Transportation did not respond to PolitiFact’s query about the post. But a spokesperson for the agency told Snopes that the post is  and that the state isn’t introducing these restrictions.   We rate this post .
2167,4,"The Great Lakes Compact has a loophole. And the loophole is that while you cannot remove the water in a big transport, you can remove it in containers of 5.7 gallons or less.","August 16, 2010",environment,dennis kucinich,"Dennis Kucinich is running in the Democratic primary for governor of Ohio in 2018. Kucinich was elected to Congress in 1996. He previously served as a member of the city council and as mayor in Cleveland, the city where he was born in 1946. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Case Western University. He has been married since 2005 to Elizabeth Harper. He was married twice before and has one child. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 25, 2008.",ohio,12,6,5,1,4,0,a video posted online,"Food & Water Watch, a non-profit organization based in Washington that promotes healthy food and affordable drinking water, estimates that the total amount of tap water and spring water bottled in PET plastic for sale in retail stores across the United States in 2009 amounted to about 5.2 billion gallons. That's for the entire year. Kucinich is correct that the Great Lakes compact allows water to be removed in small containers. But experts appear skeptical that that ""loophole"" will have a serious impact. We rate Kucinich's statement ."
16211,2,I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education.,"June 27, 2019",education;race and ethnicity,joe biden,"Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,Miami,"Biden said ""I did not oppose busing in America. What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education."" Biden qualified his opposition to busing by saying opposing the federal government forcing busing on communities. But the record shows Biden opposed busing, as shown through his positions on legislation, and statements multiple times starting the mid 1970s. We’ll note that while Biden opposed busing in the face of protests from his constituents, he nevertheless supported many other aspects desegregation and civil rights.  We rate Biden’s statement ."
8472,0,A YouGov.com poll shows 71 percent of Obama voters regret voting for him.,"February 18, 2014",polls and public opinion;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,conservative blogs,"Reports on blogs, television, radio and Twitter said a YouGov.com poll showed 71 percent of Obama voters regret voting for him. The number is wildly high, based on incomplete wording in a poll report and a less-than-perfect reading of that report by news organizations. Surveys require a great deal of attention from pollsters and reporters alike, especially ones with political overtones, said Karlyn Bowman, a polling analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. As the sample size shrinks, the margin of error rate expands. Point being, while the overall YouGov poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points, the question about regret would have a much higher margin of error.   ""You’ve got to be really careful when you’re looking at subsamples of subsamples of subsamples,"" Bowman said. In this case, that didn’t happen. We rate this  ."
8102,5,Harry Reid was against (the nuclear option) before he was for it. Mitch McConnell was for it before he was against it. President Obama was against it before he was for it.,"November 24, 2013",punditfact,matthew dowd,"Matthew Dowd is an author and MSNBC analyst. In 2021, he briefly ran for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Texas. He served as chief political strategist to Republican President George W. Bush.",,1,4,3,0,1,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Dowd accused leaders like Obama, Reid and McConnell of changing their stances on the Senate’s nuclear option. In 2005, when there was a Republican president and Senate majority, McConnell and others advocated for (but never invoked) an end to filibustering nominees. Now, when a Democratic president and Senate majority have invoked the same change, McConnell opposed it. Meanwhile, Democrats like Obama and Reid supported the same change they fiercely attacked during the Bush administration. We rate Dowd’s  ."
11474,4,80 percent of the American people haven't gotten a pay raise since the crash.,"March 20, 2016",jobs,bill clinton,"Bill Clinton was president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is married to Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.",arizona,9,12,13,5,2,3,a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton,"Bill Clinton said, ""80 percent of the American people haven’t gotten a pay raise since the crash."" The former president is accurate. While there were modest increases in real wages and median weekly earnings in 2015, they come with asterisks. Inflation’s one-time decline in 2015 is an outlier. And, weekly wages leaves out other sources of income. Some households rely on sources outside of wages and salaries as part of their income. We rate Bill Clinton’s  as ."
494,2,"Obama's plan to raise the capital gains tax ""hurts the middle class.","May 18, 2008",taxes,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,a Web ad,"The ad says that Obama's plan to raise capital gains taxes ""hurts the middle class,"" but it's hard to see how that's  of a tax that directly affects — at most — 11 percent of a very generous definition of the middle class. Are there a few middle-class people who pay the tax? Sure. But on the whole, capital gains taxes are disproportionately paid by higher-income brackets. We find the RNC's  to be ."
22652,0,"President Joe Biden said ""this s--- will turn your pacemaker off.","February 13, 2023",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"(Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The video in the post comes from a Feb. 9 speech Biden gave in Tampa, Florida, about protecting Social Security and Medicare.   He didn’t mention pacemakers, or make the other remarks heard in the post. Here’s an official video of his remarks and here’s the White House transcript . We rate claims that this video is authentic !"
4290,5,"Toledo Mayor ""Mike Bell (once) lost his job as a firefighter because his city ran out of money.","September 6, 2011",labor;unions,building a better ohio,"Building a Better Ohio is a political action committee promoting passage of Issue 2 in Ohio. Passage of the state issue would allow provisions of Senate Bill 5, a law overhauling collective bargaining rules for public workers in Ohio, to be implemented.",ohio,1,1,0,1,0,0,a campaign commercial,"PolitiFact Ohio isn’t rating that part of Bell’s statement today. Whether SB 5 is the answer remains hotly debated and we are not examining its merits or flaws. But the  that Bell was once laid off as a firefighter is accurate. And it is  that his layoff followed an impasse in labor talks with city workers and a strike. On the -O-Meter, the  about Bell in Building a Better Ohio’s rates .  "
8179,1,"The Employment Non-Discrimination Act ""discriminates against Christian daycare, Christian parents, Christian business owners, and the rights of religious freedom.","December 6, 2013",lgbtq;religion;workers,traditional values coalition,"The Traditional Values Coalition is a religious activist group with conservative values based in Washington, D.C.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a fundraising email,"The Traditional Values Coalition said ENDA discriminates ""against Christian daycare, Christian parents, Christian business owners, and the rights of religious freedom."" The bill’s religious exemption indicates that churches, church-run initiatives and other religious businesses need not comply by employing people of all sexualities and gender identities. And there’s no special negative treatment for Christians. Businesses of any religion could qualify for the exemption. Individuals of any faith who oppose sexuality would have to abide by the law, so no religion is singled out. We can understand why religious conservatives may take issue with this bill. However, the rhetoric in the email is too broad and overstated, and claims to speak for all Christians. We rate this  ."
14652,3,"There's more union jobs growing in Texas, which is a right-to-work state, than in Illinois, and factory workers make more money in Texas than they do in Illinois.","May 11, 2018",jobs,bruce rauner,Bruce Rauner was elected governor of Illinois in 2014. He became the first Republican governor in the state in 12 years upon his inauguration in January 2015. The gubernatorial campaign was Rauner's first foray into politics. He previously had been a principal at the private equity firm GTCR in Chicago.,illinois,3,2,4,4,6,4,a policy forum,"While making a point about Illinois’ business climate, Rauner said ""there’s more union jobs growing in Texas, which is a right-to-work state, than in Illinois and factory workers make more money in Texas than they do in Illinois."" His office sent us data indicating Texas grew more union jobs, and at a faster clip, than did Illinois. It also pointed to federal data showing manufacturing workers in Texas made $100 more per week on average than their Illinois counterparts. But such numbers belie the fact that Illinois couldn’t be Texas if it tried. The more populous state has grown its manufacturing — and therefore, its union — jobs thanks to a booming economy that’s received a major boost from its oil and gas industry, something Illinois thanks to its geography and geology simply doesn’t have. And despite a stalled economy in Illinois, union workers still make up a greater share of the workforce in Illinois than they do in Texas, which, according to labor expert Robert Bruno, is a more accurate indicator of employment opportunity for those seeking a union job. Rauner’s claims about union jobs growth and pay disparities in the manufacturing sector pencil out on paper. But his selective use of data leaves out important context and distorts trends far more nuanced than he describes. For that reason, we rate the governor’s assertions ."
5481,2,"Says ""Bill Pascrell voted to eliminate all estate taxes for billionaires, and I voted no.","April 18, 2012",message machine 2012;taxes,steve rothman,Steven R. Rothman served as a Democratic congressman representing parts of northern New Jersey between January 1997 and January 2013. He left office after losing a primary election to Rep. Bill Pascrell.,new jersey,1,1,0,1,2,1,a video posted on YouTube,"In a video posted April 18 on YouTube, Rothman claimed ""Bill Pascrell voted to eliminate all estate taxes for billionaires, and I voted no."" Pascrell did vote in June 2000 for a bill to gradually repeal the estate tax, but after Clinton vetoed the legislation, the congressman reversed his position and rejected the bill in September 2000. In subsequent years, Pascrell voted against repealing the estate tax on at least seven occasions. Since Rothman’s  ""ignores critical facts that would give a different impression,"" his statement is . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
5138,1,"About 800 people refused to get a drug screening because they are ""out there on drugs.","February 15, 2012",drugs;welfare,paige kreegel,"Paige Kreegel is a state representative from Punta Gorda, Fla.",florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,the state Legislature,"Let's review. Kreegel said about 80 people failed a 2011 drug screening requirement to receive welfare, and about 800 more applied for benefits but refused to be screened because they are ""out there on drugs."" One of our principles for fact-checking is that people have to have  for what they say. In this case, Kreegel doesn’t have  to back up that statement. Meanwhile, drug-testing opponents have offered a number of other reasons why someone might not want take a drug test. And the department that administers the tests can't say why people don't take it.  Kreegel's numbers are also off. They’re actually higher than he stated, as 108 people failed the test and 2,306 applied for benefits but did not take the test.  So Kreegel gets the numbers . But more importantly, he makes a blanket statement about people who don't take the test being on drugs, when  doesn't exist. We rate his  ."
17428,3,"Unemployment now pays $24/hour, even if your wages were lower. Why don't 'essential' people forced to still work get $24, too?","March 29, 2020",economy;jobs;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The post says, ""Unemployment now pays $24/hour, even if your wages were lower. Why don’t ‘essential’ people forced to still work get $24, too?"" This is an oversimplification. Other than a one-time stimulus payment of $1,200 that will go to most employed and unemployed adults, the latest  federal stimulus law responding to the coronavirus outbreak does not contain any additional provision to boost the pay of workers still employed, including those in essential jobs earning less than $24 per hour. In addition, the law gives a $600-per-week boost in unemployment payments, meaning that some recipients will receive payments equivalent to a $24 hourly rate. However, the law does not specify that weekly unemployment payments be the equivalent of $24 per hour. Unemployed Americans who live in states with less generous unemployment benefits will receive less.  The statement is partially accurate but needs additional context, so our rating is ."
17673,1,"Says only certain face masks are effective and others, such as cloth masks, are not.","April 2, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Social media posts  that certain face masks are ineffective and provide ""0% protection."" More research needs to be done but we found that medical experts widely refute the . Higher medical-grade masks offer the most protection, but homemade masks are also effective, particularly when they fit snuggly and are made of multiple layers. No mask is 100% effective, but health care officials stress that face masks increase their effectiveness when combined with other measures, such as social distancing and regular hand washing. We rate this .  "
4203,4,"Rail ""doesn't do a great job in lessening traffic.","August 22, 2011",transportation,chip rogers,State Senator Chip Rogers is a Republican from Woodstock.,georgia,1,1,1,1,0,0,a meeting,"A few experts argue that it does little to nothing. That said, Rogers left out an important fact that might have opened his take on the transportation tax to obvious criticism: No increase in capacity -- not even the construction of new road lanes -- can end congestion. Roads and rail have similar effects. Rogers’ statement is accurate, but could have used a little more context. We rate it ."
11805,4,"Says ""Donald Trump says climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese.","June 2, 2016",climate change;foreign policy,hillary clinton,"Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,a foreign policy speech,"Clinton said, ""Donald Trump says climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese."" Trump did tweet that view in 2012, though he made efforts earlier this year to describe that remark as a ""joke."" However, Trump has repeatedly called climate change a ""hoax"" in speeches, tweets and media appearances, and while he hasn’t necessarily repeated the charge that China ""invented"" climate change, he has said as recently as Jan. 18, 2016, that action on climate change ""is done for the benefit of China."" We rate the  ."
6306,2,The significant drop in Florida's unemployment rate is a good economic sign.,"September 13, 2012",economy,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,an Enterprise Florida meeting,"Scott reassured Florida’s economic development leaders, ""We have every reason to brag about what’s going on in our state."" We found his example of the plummeting unemployment rate over 20 months is not something to tout. Experts say the reasons behind the drop are  grim: Thousands of discouraged workers have given up on finding work in Florida. The shrinking workforce can be attributed to a number of factors, but the fact that Florida is last in the nation when it comes to long-term unemployment can’t be ignored. A major factor in the drop in unemployment is the exodus of people who have simply given up looking for work. Job creation, meanwhile, has been below-average. So is the unemployment rate decline a positive economic sign for Florida? We say .  PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the election. See video fact-checks here ."
8644,2,"Gov. McAuliffe's budget would ""raid school, other $$ 4 Obamacare in VA.","March 26, 2014",medicaid;state budget,republican party of virginia,The Virginia wing of the national Republican Party.,virginia,1,0,0,2,0,1,a tweet,"The state Republican Party tweeted that within McAuliffe’s budget, ""we found the part where you were going to raid school, other $$ 4 Obamacare in VA."" McAuliffe invited some concern by submitting a budget amendment that can be interpreted as giving him authority to transfer money in and out of Medicaid from other state programs. The governor disputes that the provision gives him such power. In any case, ""can"" does not mean ""will."" The GOP goes overboard in saying McAuliffe is ""going to raid"" schools and other state programs to help pay for Medicaid expansion -- an endeavor that almost entirely would be supported by federal funds. The Republicans offer no proof that this is McAuliffe’s plan. In making the sensational , the GOP ignores that the governor has proposed using savings from Medicaid expansion to bolster other state programs, including education. So the GOP tweet has a grain of , but ignores critical facts that would give people a different impression. We rate it ."
5954,2,"Says Michael Cargill was ""arrested and incarcerated in Bell County.","July 14, 2012",candidate biography,adan ballesteros,  Adan Ballesteros initially won election as constable in 2008.,texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a political flier,"We suspect most people would interpret Ballesteros’ phrase ""arrested and incarcerated"" to mean Cargill served time as punishment for a crime -- which he did not, as our background check suggested. Nor did Cargill wear the garish jumpsuit shown on the flier. But Cargill was brought to the jail on a warrant for his arrest and held there briefly -- perhaps overnight -- before the charge was dismissed. We rate the  ."
560,1,Says Obama flip-flopped on withdrawing troops from Iraq.,"July 24, 2008",iraq,let freedom ring,Let Freedom Ring is a conservative group.,national,1,0,1,0,2,0,a TV ad airing on cable networks such as Fox and MTV,"And again, that pace translates into having our combat troops out in 16 months' time."" Weighing all these statements together, we find the McCain campaign and Let Freedom Ring are off-base in saying Obama has changed position. Obama repeatedly said facts on the ground could affect the tactical moves of an overall withdrawal. Obama's position was not an ironclad withdrawal timeline in the first place. We find the charge that Obama has reversed position to be ."
20740,1,Pfizer made $37 billion in profit in its last quarter.,"December 23, 2021",health care;public health,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"Our ruling  A Facebook post claims Pfizer made $37 billion in profit in the latest quarter. That’s . The company generated $24.09 billion in revenue in the third quarter, more than half of that coming from its COVID-19 vaccine.   Its profit for the quarter was $8.15 billion.   We rate this  .   "
19371,1,"Says 5-year-olds can ""take hormones and change my sex.","March 1, 2021",health care;sexuality;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,post on Facebook,"The information is unsubstantiated. The guidelines for the medical care of transgender patients, developed by organizations such as the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, do not recommend puberty blockers for children who have not reached puberty; do not recommend hormone treatment for those under 16 years old; and typically restrict genital reassignment surgery to those 18 and older, who also meet other criteria.   We rate this  . RELATED: What the Equality Act debate gets  about gender, sex RELATED:   Rachel Levine does not support gender confirmation surgery for all children"
5008,1,"Says Mitt Romney's campaign ""has already spent more on negative ads than John McCain did during his entire presidential run.","January 31, 2012",campaign finance;candidate biography,debbie wasserman schultz,Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.,florida,6,15,8,7,9,3,a press release,"Wasserman Schultz said that ""Romney’s campaign has already spent more on negative ads than John McCain did during his entire presidential run."" We couldn’t find a precise figure for what Romney spent on negative ads in all the states combined through the end of January, but it’s clearly much less than what McCain spent on his entire general election run. But it was her dramatic contrast between primary spending and general election spending that caught our attention, and that point is clearly . We rate the statement ."
6400,2,"Says President Barack Obama ""already passed all these Obamacare taxes. About a dozen of them hit middle-income taxpayers.","September 30, 2012",health care;taxes,paul ryan,"U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., became Speaker of the House in 2015 and served until his retirement in January 2019. Ryan was elected to represent southern Wisconsin in Congress in 1998 and for part of his tenure chaired the House Budget Committee. He was Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election. He did not seek re-election in 2018.",national,11,16,24,23,7,5,"an interview on ""Fox News Sunday""","Ryan said Obama ""already passed all these Obamacare taxes. About a dozen of them hit middle-income taxpayers."" We find that only eight of these measures are taxes, and in some cases the taxes are imposed on health insurance companies, drug makers and health device manufacturers, not on individual taxpayers. He can make a less-persuasive case for another three measures actually being tax increases. Finally, there will be a substantial variation in how many new taxes affect the middle class. The typical person will not be paying anywhere close to a dozen new taxes. We rate the  ."
11795,5,"Say video ""shows massive alligator strolling across Florida golf course.","June 1, 2016",animals,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,florida,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"Bloggers went crazy over a viral video of a massive alligator on a Manatee County golf course, with many expressing skepticism about the video’s authenticity. After speaking with the course’s regional manager and a University of Florida gator expert (and seeing additional video of the gator), we can say this video holds up. We rate this  as . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/e08e2288-592d-478b-bf29-54b23a8da7a2"
18592,3,Says Joe Cunningham voted for $5 million in taxpayer funds to go into his and other politicians' campaigns to pay for personal expenses and TV ads.,"October 6, 2020",campaign finance;taxes,nancy mace,"Republican Nancy Mace has been a state representative in South Carolina since 2018. In 2020, she ran for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C.",,0,0,1,1,0,0,a debate,"Mace said Cunningham voted for $5 million in taxpayer funds to go into his campaign coffers and politicians like him ""that pay your personal expenses, that pay for your TV ads."" Cunningham voted for a bill that would pay federal matching funds to House candidate campaigns — but it would not be automatic and would not necessarily come to $5 million. In order to receive the matching funds, candidates would need to meet certain requirements that limit the size of the donations they accept. And the maximum match under any scenario would be $5 million. The funds would not come from a tax, but from a fee assessed to criminal and civil fines. A separate provision would allow challengers, but not incumbent candidates like Cunningham, to use campaign funds generally to pay for certain personal expenses, such as health insurance.  We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more."
16164,1,"Says Michael Bloomberg said, ""I have known Trump for decades. We have traveled in the same business circles. He is known among millionaires as a con-artist and among business owners as a cheat out to stiff everyone.","June 7, 2019",candidate biography;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Bill de Blasio, the current mayor of New York City, has more recently called Trump a con. As a candidate in the crowded Democratic presidential race, he’s positioning himself as the person to defeat  ""Con Don,"" as he called him on ABC’s Good Morning America . On June 7, it was widely reported that Bloomberg was donating $500 million to help close all remaining U.S. coal plants. But we couldn’t find the comment that was credited to Bloomberg in this Facebook post, which was published the same day. We rate this post ."
19434,1,"Says Joe Biden is ""now saying he inherited 'a mess' at the border. Fact: 9,000 illegals all of 2020. So far in 2021 108,000 entered U.S.","March 13, 2021",immigration;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a text post,"We reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for a comment, but we didn’t hear back. The post is . We rate it . RELATED:   Did the increase of children arriving at the border start under Trump or Biden?"
2851,2,The Greenest County in America.,"December 23, 2010",environment,dekalb county,"DeKalb County, which includes a portion of the city of Atlanta, is Georgia's third highest-populated county.",georgia,0,1,0,1,0,0,its website,"""Nobody here is claiming perfection, but based on the programs, awards, designations and initiatives DeKalb has in place and ongoing, I am sticking with the motto 'DeKalb is the greenest county in America,' "" Brennan told us in an e-mail. ""After all, 'Cowboy Capital of the World' was already taken,"" added Brennan, referring to Oakdale, Calif. DeKalb has certainly tried to make its mark as an environmentally conscious county. But DeKalb's  of being the ""greenest county"" in the nation ignores critical facts that would give a visitor to its web site a different impression. We rate the county's  as ."
2881,3,Obama's mid-term approval ratings are similar to other presidents who went on to re-election.,"January 2, 2011",polls and public opinion,tim kaine,"Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.
Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.
Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.
 ",virginia,14,17,15,8,4,0,a TV interview,"But the president’s mid-term approval rating -- gauged by the first poll completely conducted in the new mid-term year -- is 8 percentage points below the average of re-elected presidents since 1939. His disapproval rating is 10 percentage points above the average. We know those numbers can change in an instant. But when a politician is down by 8 or 10 percentage points, we say he’s behind but within striking distance. We rate Kaine’s statement . "
5921,3,"When I was governor, not only did test scores improve – we also narrowed the achievement gap.","July 11, 2012",education,mitt romney,"Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,a speech to the NAACP,"Romney told the NAACP that when he was governor of Massachusetts, ""not only did test scores improve – we also narrowed the achievement gap."" State education figures over two years support Romney’s  about learning gains, although it’s worth noting that some areas declined on his watch, such as the drop-out rate. And it’s always somewhat dubious to take a snapshot of statistics from only one or two years, when, as d'Entremont said ""significant gains in student achievement don’t happen overnight, and the gains in Massachusetts are the result of a 20-year reform effort."" What’s more, Romney, a single-term governor, should not get all the credit for improvement in the achievement gap, which is influenced by myriad factors. His statement is partially accurate but omits a lot of important information and overstates his impact. We rate it ."
19883,1,Cuomo opens New York 72 hours before his daughter's wedding.,"June 15, 2021",coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",new york,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook user claimed, ""Cuomo opens New York 72 hours before his daughter's wedding."" None of Cuomo’s daughters are getting married this weekend or plan to in the near future. Cuomo announced that state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions would be lifted on June 15 because 70% of adult New Yorkers have received a vaccine. We rate this  ."
6666,5,"Says a poll shows that ""without a name attached, Democrats are just one point behind"" Gov. John Kasich.","November 7, 2012",elections;polls and public opinion,chris redfern,"Chris Redfern is chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, a post he has held since December 2005.",ohio,2,4,2,0,0,0,a news conference,"Redfern never asserted otherwise. Rather, the state party chairman accurately explained where things stood: A polling firm, which he clearly cited, showed a generic Democrat trailing Kasich by 1 point. A lot can change between now and November 2014. But polls, especially one this far out, should be looked at as a snapshot in time. So on the -O-Meter, Redfern’s statement rates ."
3807,3,Says critics who say he cut Medicaid are wrong; his budget added $1.2 billion to the program,"June 21, 2011",medicaid;state budget,scott walker,"Scott Walker, a Republican, is the former governor of Wisconsin. He was first elected in November 2010. He survived a recall election in 2012, defeating Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett after igniting controversy with a bill curtailing public-employee union collective-bargaining rights.  He won re-election to a four-year term in November 2014 and was a 2016 presidential candidate before dropping out in September of 2015. He was defeated by Tony Evers in the 2018 gubernatorial election. Walker is a former Milwaukee County executive and former member of the state Assembly.",wisconsin,26,45,39,40,44,11,a television interview,"Experts are not united on this one, but Wisconsin’s nonpartisan official budget scorekeeper thinks both the cuts and the increase are accurate claims. Media accounts have portrayed past moves as cuts, as well. What’s more, when Walker introduced his budget, he also described the changes as cuts. So, Walker made a generally accurate statement about the increase, but by dismissing the talk of cuts he left out a lot of context and important details on his budget move. That’s a ."
158,1,''The leading Democratic candidate once said that the unfettered free market is the most destructive force in modern America.'',"October 9, 2007",economy,rudy giuliani,"Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.",national,8,7,10,9,12,7,"Dearborn, Mich","Clinton's campaign didn't want to comment on the issue, but her full answer to the C-SPAN question provides more context. '' The market is the driving force behind our prosperity, our freedom ... (but) it cannot be permitted just to run roughshod over people's lives as well,'' she said. Because of Giuliani's misquote, we give this a ruling of ."
22497,1,"Coronavirus is a Latin word for ""heart attack virus.","January 6, 2023",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Google Translate said that ""heart attack virus"" in Latin is ""cor impetum virus"" — not ""cor ona  virus."" Adding spaces to the syllables as the woman did in the Facebook post appears to puzzle Google Translate. For example, ""Cor ona,"" with one space between the two words, translates to ""heart wave,"" but the search engine seems confused. It suggests you translate the word from Portuguese instead of Latin. We rate claims that coronavirus is Latin for ""heart attack virus"" ."
12551,2,"Says Libya ""Ambassador (Christopher) Stevens sent 600 requests for help"" in Benghazi.","October 9, 2016",history;foreign policy;terrorism,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,the second 2016 presidential debate,"Trump said ""Ambassador Stevens sent 600 requests for help."" There certainly were many requests for security improvements at the mission. But Trump goes way over the line, citing a graph that includes a period when Stevens wasn't even the ambassador and doesn't differentiate between actual requests for improved security and follow-up correspondence. The highest the number could be, according to that data, is 205 and there's no  that those ""requests and concerns"" — which may include duplicates — were even sent by Stevens. We rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/63594c70-fdef-4c85-8495-89eb8f90c67c"
1130,4,"During the Reagan era, ""the richest Americans had their top income tax rate cut in half.","October 2, 2009",taxes,michael moore,"Michael Moore directed the movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story"" and is a well-known documentary filmmaker. His movies includes ""Roger and Me,"" ""Bowling for Columbine,"" ""Fahrenheit 9/11,"" and ""Sicko."" He won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2002 with ""Bowling for Columbine,"" and he was a nominee in 2007 for ""Sicko."" Michael Moore's Web site is www.MichaelMoore.com.",national,2,6,1,4,5,0,"his movie ""Capitalism: A Love Story""","In fact, we first began to look at this  from a fact sheet provided on Moore's Web site before the movie was publicly released. And in the fact sheet, it states that ""the richest had their taxes cut in half."" We were prepared to give that a , as the effective tax rate for the richest was cut by about 10 or 11 percent. But in the movie, Moore describes it as ""the top income tax rate,"" apparently referring to the highest marginal rate. As we said, some may misinterpret that, but we think Moore has been careful enough with his words to get a ."
4859,3,"More than a quarter of mortgage borrowers are underwater, and 11 percent of all homes are vacant.","December 15, 2011",economy;housing,marcia fudge,"Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Warrensville Heights, is the congresswoman from Ohio's 11th district. Prior to her election to the House of Representatives, she was mayor of Warrensville Heights.
 ",ohio,2,4,2,0,2,0,the House of Representatives,"Her statement that 11 percent of the nation’s homes are vacant is technically accurate. But there are many reasons that those homes are unoccupied and a researcher for the source of her figure, the U.S. Census Bureau, cautioned that its survey of vacant homes would not accurately measure foreclosures. And, the fact that 9 percent of homes were unoccupied in the 2000 survey, long before the foreclosure crisis took hold, indicates a large proportion of the vacancies Fudge cites are not foreclosure-related. That’s important information that puts her  into context. On the -O-Meter, Fudge’s statement rates ."
4559,5,"Ilana Shafran Mandel's stake in Forest City Enterprises ""constitutes significantly less than 1 percent"" of the company's shares and any implication of a conflict of interest ""is legally incorrect.","November 4, 2011",candidate biography;transparency,josh mandel,"Josh Mandel, a Republican from Lyndhurst, is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He served as Ohio treasurer from 2011 to 2019.  Before that, he was a state representative from the 17th Ohio House District. He unsuccessfully challenged Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 US Senate race. Mandel is running for the GOP nomination for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat in 2022.",ohio,5,5,3,5,6,7,a news release,"And it isn’t to say that Democrats won’t look at her roughly half-a-million-dollar stake in Forest City and ask whether her husband should have abstained from voting, strictly on principle. We’re willing to bet on that. But the Mandel campaign is accurate in describing her share of Forest City ownership as minor. And it is correct in citing the 1999 advisory opinion that would appear to apply to Mandel’s legislative vote. On the -O-Meter, that makes Mandel’s statement ."
9505,3,"Muslim nations did not ""call out"" the people who celebrated the 9/11 attacks.","October 6, 2014",islam;terrorism;punditfact,bill o'reilly,Bill O'Reilly hosted The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News until 2017. He formerly worked as a television news reporter and has authored numerous books.,,2,5,3,5,6,1,"a broadcast of Fox News' ""The O'Reilly Factor""","O’Reilly said that Muslim nations did not ""call out"" the people who celebrated the 9/11 attacks. So far as we can tell, there was no official condemnation of people celebrating the 9/11 attacks. However, Muslim governments, and religious leaders, condemned the attacks themselves, as did many average Muslims. O’Reilly’s statement is accurate as far as it goes, but it leaves out important information that might lead someone to reach a different conclusion. That meets our definition of ."
6284,3,"On U.S.-Israeli relations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ""set the record straight — he said, our two countries have 'exactly the same policy' (and) 'our security cooperation is unprecedented.'","September 6, 2012",israel,john kerry,John Kerry is the secretary of state. He previously was a senator from Massachusetts and the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 2004.,florida,2,4,2,3,3,0,a speech at the Democratic National Convention,"During his speech at the DNC, Kerry answered Romney’s criticism of Obama’s Israel policy with these words: ""But Prime Minister Netanyahu set the record straight—he said, our two countries have ‘exactly the same policy…’—’our security cooperation is unprecedented...’"" Kerry did accurately quote Netanyahu’s remarks in 2011 and 2012. But Kerry omitted any discussion of the real tensions that exist between Obama and Netanyahu, particularly about Obama’s 2011 comments on Israel’s 1967 borders. And Kerry ignored Netanyahu’s statements in 2012 that showed he wasn’t keen on waiting for diplomacy to work in Iran for much longer. For cherry-picking and lack of context, we rate this  . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the election. See video fact-checks here ."
2483,3,"As state treasurer, Alexi Giannoulias ""lost $73 million in our kids' college savings.","October 18, 2010",economy;education;message machine 2010,mark kirk,"Mark Kirk is a U.S. senator from Illinois, having defeated Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias for the seat formerly occupied by President Barack Obama in 2010. Kirk was formerly a U.S. congressman from Illinois’ 10th district.",national,0,0,2,2,1,0,a TV ad,"It's less clear, though, that it's accurate to  Giannoulias lost that money. Yes, the Tribune story suggests Giannoulias had concerns early on about the aggressive investment strategy in the fund -- but that he opted to stick with the firm's strategy on the advice of Oppenheimer managers and an outside consultant. But analysts also credited Illinois with reacting more quickly to the issues than other states, and Giannoulias helped get a settlement with Oppenheimer to recoup half the losses. There's a lot of context to consider here on both sides of the equation. Having done that, we rate the ad's  ."
2941,5,"Texas leads ""the nation in the percentage of residents without health insurance.","January 6, 2011",health care,paul krugman,Paul Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times and professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008. He describes himself as liberal.,texas,8,4,3,0,3,0,an op-ed column,"California landed fifth, with 21.9 percent. And Massachusetts, which requires residents older than 18 to have health coverage, ranked again as the state with the smallest percentage of uninsured residents: 4.9 percent. Gallup said it interviewed 176,193 adults from Jan. 2-June 30, 2010. By available indicators, Texas has the nation’s highest percentage of uninsured residents. We rate Krugman’s statement as ."
15422,2,Democrats just elected (include)… a man who preys on underage prostitutes … and an anti-semitic racist who beats women.,"November 7, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"There’s a lot to unpack here. The allegations in this Facebook post range from the —comparing Ocasio-Cortez to an amphibian—to the incendiary. But all of the claims, including the ones we didn’t check, are  because they’re presented as if they are uncontested facts, and that’s not the case. The burden of proof is high in claiming someone paid a minor for sex, and in the case of Menendez, that proof is missing. The allegations against Ellison are murkier. We know that, while in law school, Ellison wrote an  article defending Louis Farrakhan against claims that Farrakhan was anti-semitic. Ellison then went on to renounce the Nation of Islam while also addressing those criticisms head-on in an opinion piece for the Washington Post. It seems clear that while this  contains an element of , it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. As to the  that Ellison ""beats women,"" we know that Ellison has not been convicted of assault in a court of law. However, his former partner hasn’t backed down from claims that he harmed her in what was clearly a volatile relationship. Without more , it is hard to rule on this matter. Still, the  does not come out of nowhere. While it contains an element of , this  ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Together, the charges in this post are problematic and, in the end, range from incindiary to largely unsubstantiated. We rate this viral Facebook post ."
1778,3,"If you read the Arizona (immigration) law, what it says is if you are stopped for violating the law and they have a suspicion that you're illegal, they can ask you if you're legal.","June 3, 2010",immigration,rick scott,"Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.",florida,15,36,42,42,38,8,a CBS4 interview,"It is a requirement, not an authorization."" Scott is not alone -- many political leaders have stumbled over the often-convoluted layers of the Arizona immigration law. And with judicial challenges already underway, it's too soon to say for sure how the law will be carried out in practice. Ultimately, Scott's statement falls short on two counts -- on failing to communicate the full range of violations that could trigger a police stop, and on suggesting that the law gives wider discretion to officers on when it should be enforced. So we find Scott's statement ."
21128,1,"Just a reminder that right before Ukraine was invaded, Hillary was found to be guilty of spying on a sitting U.S. president.","March 14, 2022",legal issues;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The indictment alleged that Sussmann told the FBI he was not acting on behalf of clients, when the indictment claimed, he was secretly acting on the Clinton campaign’s behalf. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Clinton has been neither indicted on any charges stemming from the matter, nor found guilty of alleged spying. We found no credible  to support the Facebook post. We rate this  ."
20869,3,"Joe Biden's ""$4 trillion"" Build Back Better bill is ""the largest expansion of welfare programs in 60 years.","January 19, 2022",federal budget;welfare;ad watch,carla sands,Carla Sands is a 2022 Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. She was President Donald Trump's ambassador to Denmark.,pennsylvania,0,0,1,0,0,0,an ad,"Sands said Biden's ""$4 trillion"" Build Back Better bill is ""the largest expansion of welfare programs in 60 years."" The legislation would spend $1.75 trillion, not $4 trillion, over 10 years. Experts said the legislation would be among the most significant expansions of social welfare programs since the 1960s, helping low-income as well as middle-income people. But definitions of what constitutes a welfare program vary, and there are a few different ways to make historical comparisons of legislation. The analysis cited by Sands is based on spending on programs that use means testing, and it shows the bill would be the largest such expansion.  The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it . "
3996,5,President Reagan did it (raised the debt ceiling) 18 times.  George W. Bush did it seven times.,"July 25, 2011",bipartisanship;federal budget,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,a televised address,"Typically, the party that controls the White House has had to take the difficult vote to raise the limit, while the other party was free to criticize. An analysis of the past 10 years of  votes on the debt limit  from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center shows the vote usually splits along partisan lines, with the president's party voting in support. Nonetheless, Obama is correct that raising the debt ceiling has been an issue repeatedly tackled by Republicans and Democrats alike. President Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times and George W. Bush did it seven times. We rate his  ."
15007,1,"Says ""96 percent of (Google News) results on 'Trump News' are from National Left-Wing Media.","August 28, 2018",technology,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump tweeted that ""96 percent of (Google News) results on ‘Trump News’ are from National Left-Wing Media."" This figure is based on a non-scientific study from a conservative website that categorized any media outlet not expressly conservative as being part of the ""left."" These outlets include wire services, broadcast networks and most major newspapers and collectively account for a large percentage of original news reports produced in the United States. The methodology essentially preordains that a large percentage of coverage captured by Google will be what the study defines as ""left,"" which is . We rate the statement ."
7621,3,A provision of the Senate immigration bill would require you to have government permission to get a second job.,"July 13, 2013",immigration;jobs;government regulation,charles kuck,"Charles Kuck is a prominent Atlanta immigration attorney, board member of Georgia Assocation of Elected Officials and a frequent featured speaker on national news programs.",georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,an immigration forum,"But program and independent data show that most workers are automatically confirmed in the E-Verify system. It is possible that an employee whose Social Security number, for example, being used for one job could be flagged when that same number is used to secure another job. But it would most likely occur with multiple uses of the same information. Kuck’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rated his  ."
18714,1,"Says Joe Biden said ""Why am I doing this? Why? What is my real aim?","October 27, 2020",elections,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet by Trump War Room,"The snippet gives the  impression of Biden’s remarks. Biden was quoting part of Pope Francis’ Oct. 3 encyclical letter. We rate it . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
12604,3,"Says Sen. Rob Portman says Ted Strickland earned $400,000 a year as a lobbyist after leaving Ohio for Washington.","October 17, 2016",wealth;workers,rob portman,Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.,ohio,17,11,11,3,5,1,"Columbus, Ohio","Portman said Strickland ""went to Washington, D.C., and he became a lobbyist. He made $400,000 a year."" Technically Strickland wasn’t a lobbyist; he oversaw a liberal think tank’s lobbying and activism arm. As for his income, if you add his disclosed earnings, figures from public IRS forms and retirement income, you get an estimate around $357,000. Not everyone would tally up annual wealth this way. Portman’s statement is partially accurate but a bit sloppy in the details, so we rate his statement ."
2434,3,"Says Lincoln Chafee ""settled a union strike by giving the teachers a 19-percent-raise.","October 6, 2010",economy;education,frank caprio,"Frank T. Caprio Jr. served as Rhode Island's general treasurer from 2007 through 2010. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2010 and ran for treasurer again in 2014, losing in the Democratic primary. Prior to that, he served as a state senator from 1995-2006 and as a state representative from 1991 to 1994. He is married and has two children.",rhode island,0,0,4,0,0,0,a gubernatorial debate,"To reach a ruling, we focused on three key points: Caprio understated the teachers' overall pay increase and incorrectly said the settlement came during a strike. But his intended message -- that Chafee was overly generous to the teachers -- was clear. He ignored the economic context of the era -- and the turmoil in the city's schools -- when the deal was reached. And he neglected to mention that the teachers' agreement covered six years, which we consider a significant  omission. On balance, we find the statement ."
7986,1,78702 is the second-most gentrified ZIP code in the entire country.,"October 12, 2013",housing;poverty;urban,daniel llanes,Daniel Llanes is an East Austin resident long involved in community issues.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,an opinion column,"Llanes said 78702 is the nation’s second-most gentrified ZIP code. According to one breakdown, that East Austin area experienced the nation’s second-greatest urban increase in white residents from 2000 to 2010. However, changes in white residents alone are not an accurate way to measure gentrification, which is multi-factored. By other indicators, including changes in poverty, median household income and the value of single-family homes, 78702 has become more prosperous. Stacked up against other ZIP codes, though, it is not No. 2 nationally. Gentrified? Sure. Second most, nationally? Most  indicates otherwise. We rate this  as .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
4048,0,"Says Sen. Robert Cowles, her recall opponent, supported the sale of state-owned power plants ""not to the highest bidder, but to the biggest donors"" with no oversight.","July 25, 2011",energy;state budget,nancy nusbaum,"Nancy Nusbaum served as the mayor of De Pere, Wis., and as the county executive of Brown County, the home of Green Bay. She twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress -- once as a Democrat and once as a Republican. In 2011, as a Democrat, she unsuccessfully challenged state Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Allouez, in a recall election.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,1,a television ad,"It would have allowed a no-bid process for the sale, but did not designate any specific buyer. Beyond that, the ad has other problems. Cowles never even had a chance to vote on the plan in 2011, apparently backed taking it out and has a history of opposition to slipping the plan into the budget. These are readily available facts on a very high-profile issue, making the ad’s claims -- and its implication of a scandal -- . Thus, we rate the  from Nusbaum against Cowles as ."
22374,1,"Images of a woman having bloody makeup applied show ""fake combatant photos"" in Ukraine.","November 27, 2022",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claims that photos of war wound makeup being applied to a woman are  combat photos, implying the violence in Ukraine isn’t real. But the photos can be traced to an Instagram user who described herself as a combat medic veteran. She shared at least one of the images on Instagram in 2016. A woman with the same handle on Twitter wrote that the photos were from training sessions and were being misrepresented by ""enemy propagandists.""  There is no  the photos were staged to show an injury from the current battle in Ukraine. We rate the  . UPDATE, Dec. 1, 5:30 p.m. ET:  The story was updated Dec. 1 to add the response from an Instagram user received after publication of this article."
22587,1,"The government caused a fire at Hillandale Farms in Connecticut ""so that they can force us into eating their fake GMO meats, or starve us into compliance.","January 30, 2023",food;facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"Most of the cited incidents involving fires and ""destroyed"" poultry weren’t suspicious, according to authorities. And, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are currently no nationwide food shortages or widespread disruptions reported in the supply chain, although ""in some cases the inventory of certain foods at your grocery store might be temporarily low before stores can restock. ""  We looked for credible news reports or other sources suggesting that this fire was suspicious and found none. We also unearthed no sign that this fire was part of a government plot; that  is unfounded.   We rate it ."
4613,5,(Stimulus money) went to critically important projects like studying ants in Africa.,"November 10, 2011",message machine 2012;stimulus,crossroads gps,"Crossroads GPS is a conservative advocacy group founded by prominent Republicans, including former White House political adviser Karl Rove.",virginia,2,1,4,9,1,2,a TV ad,"""Some ants are pest ants, and to better understand and better control pest ants, you need to understand where they come from like where they organize, what their ecology is like in their original range, and what natural enemies they have,"" Ward said. Our Ruling: The Crossroads ad says that $1.9 million in stimulus money went to study ants in Africa. Officials working on the project have said the research could help provide insight into climate change, the spread of disease, natural disasters and could also help findings ways to control pest ants in the United States. But there’s no dispute that ant research is indeed where the money is going. We rate the  .  "
7932,4,"40,000 veterans in Texas won't get health care because Perry rejected Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.","September 25, 2013",health care;veterans,gilberto hinojosa,"Gilberto Hinojosa, a former elected judge for Cameron County in the Rio Grande Valley, won election as chairman of the Texas Democratic Party in June 2012.",texas,0,2,1,0,4,1,an interview on YNN’s “Capital Tonight”,"Hinojosa said there are ""40,000 veterans in the state of Texas that are not going to receive health care as a result of"" the decision to reject expanding Medicaid. Two calculations based on Census data suggest 42,771 or 48,900 uninsured Texas veterans earn less than what would be the poverty threshold for adults qualifying for Medicaid if Texas had embraced that part of the Obamacare law. That’s not the same thing as saying they won’t ""receive health care""; in fact, some likely qualify now for Medicaid or VA care, but aren’t signed up. Hinojosa had a reasonable basis for his figure, but his statement lacked this clarification. We rate it as .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
2249,3,You can't raise taxes in Ohio. We are one of the highest taxed states in the country.,"August 22, 2010",message machine 2010;taxes,john kasich,"John Kasich is the governor of Ohio. A Republican and a former congressman, he defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. He ran for president in 2016.",ohio,16,18,10,9,8,3,a television campaign ad,"We think both are important points that help provide clarification about taxes in Ohio. One thing about Kasich’s  is clear: by one measure, it’s accurate. But how to best define tax burden is cloudier, and a look at other research shows that answers and rankings can vary wildly depending on which taxes are included, which data sets are employed and which projectons are applied. For these reasons, we rate Kasich’s  . Comment on this item ."
10654,3,"Says ""Bush Jr. handed Obama a $1.4 trillion deficit"" and Obama ""reduced Bush Jr.'s deficit to just $492 billion.","April 25, 2015",deficit;punditfact,occupy democrats,"Occupy Democrats, founded in 2012, is an advocacy group created to counterbalance the Republican tea party, and to ""give President Obama and other progressive Democrats a Congress that will work with them to grow the economy, create jobs, promote fairness and fight inequality, and get money out of politics!""",,0,2,7,1,8,4,a meme first posted on Facebook,"Occupy Democrats said that George W. Bush ""handed Obama a $1.4 trillion deficit"" and Obama reduced Bush’s ""deficit to just $492 billion."" The post picked certain years to back that up, and for those years, its numbers were accurate. But many factors complicate this simple picture. While it’s  that Bush pushed policies that drove up deficits, the federal response to the Great Recession was to some extent shared by Bush and Obama. In addition, while deficits have fallen under Obama, the  brushes over that deficits remained above the trillion dollar mark for several years, long after Bush left office. The statement leaves out a lot of important information. We rate it ."
7763,0,"An account of attacks in Benghazi written by former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers shows that the body of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was ""dragged through the streets"" and abused.","September 4, 2013",foreign policy;terrorism,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"The chain email forwarded an account purportedly written by Dee Dee Myers of how her cousin and Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed in the Benghazi attack, including being ""sodomized and beaten and cut and stabbed and burned."" Myers told PolitiFact that she had nothing to do with the email, and that anything it said about her was . As for the email’s claims about Stevens’ being violently attacked and violated rather than killed by smoke inhalation, two government reports and several contemporary journalistic accounts cast strong doubt. The one Web report that supports this scenario was recanted by the website after the mainstream media source it had cited, Agence France Presse, said it had reported no such thing. The email is a combination of fabrication and unsupported speculation. We rate it ."
5804,4,"The DREAM Act ""was written by members of both parties. When it came up for a vote a year and a half ago, Republicans in Congress blocked it. The bill hadn't changed. ... The only thing that had changed was politics.","June 22, 2012",immigration,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,Orlando,"Obama said the DREAM Act was written by members of both parties and since then has been blocked by Republicans, even though ""the bill hadn’t changed, the need hadn’t changed. The only thing that had changed was politics."" The president is correct that Democrats and Republicans worked on the original bill and it had bipartisan support in Congress for several years, though never enough to pass. In 2010, most of the opposition was on the Republican side, but five Democrats helped sustain the filibuster in the Senate. And there have been minor changes to the legislation, most importantly an increase in the age cap from 21 to 30. Other revisions made the bill more restrictive, and thus in theory more appealing to conservatives. Finally, there’s no question that the political debate about immigration has evolved, with the tea party surge crowding out more moderate viewpoints and even pushing some Republicans out of office. Obama’s comment glosses over some of the details, but his statement is largely correct. We rate it ."
1544,1,Giving money to politicians has paid off for Paul Workman. Workman gave thousands to politicians and got millions in government construction projects.,"March 31, 2010",ethics,holly turner,Holly Turner is a lawyer who grew up in Seguin and moved to the district from Fort Worth in July 2009.,texas,1,0,0,0,1,0,a TV ad,"No way to know that."" We agree: There’s no way to know. It’s undisputed that Workman has contributed thousands to political candidates — both local and statewide — and that his company has handled government construction projects worth millions. But that doesn’t mean Workman’s donations ""paid off"" in contracts for his companies, and Turner offers no  of that. We rate her loaded statement as ."
16416,2,"Crimea ""was sort of taken away from President Obama. … And he wanted Russia to be out of what was called the G-8. And that was his determination.","August 26, 2019",foreign policy,donald trump,"Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, ""The Apprentice."" Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"Biarritz, France","Trump said that Crimea ""was sort of taken away from President Obama. … And he wanted Russia to be out of what was called the G-8. And that was his determination."" Obama did oppose Russia’s annexation of Crimea and back its expulsion from the G-8, but Trump’s view leaves out much of the story. Trump’s remark ignores both widespread opposition to Russian’s actions within Europe and among U.S. allies, as well as the strongly worded decision by the remaining G-7 nations to expel Russia from the group. It also ignores that Crimea was ""taken away"" from Ukraine, not Obama. We rate the statement ."
9840,0,"There are actual cities"" like Birmingham, England, ""that are totally Muslim where non-Muslims just simply don't go in.","January 10, 2015",religion;punditfact,steven emerson,"Steven Emerson is the executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, which he founded in 1995, and has co-authored several books on terrorism.",,0,0,0,0,0,1,an interview on Fox News,"Emerson said Birmingham is a city in England that is totally Muslim, ""where non-Muslims just simply don’t go in."" He has since admitted that is , and for good reason. The stats say Birmingham is about 20 percent Muslim. All that is left to say is Emerson’s statement rates !"
5302,2,"Says a Barack Obama ""black imposter"" joke got a standing ovation at San Angelo rodeo.","March 2, 2012",polls and public opinion,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",texas,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"Isley appears to have made a wisecrack about Obama impersonating a president. However, we found no confirmation that the joke included a racial reference or that the audience gave a standing ovation. This chain email has an element of ; we rate it ."
947,0,"If you actually took the number of Muslims [sic] Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.","June 1, 2009",religion,barack obama,"Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.",national,124,165,163,71,71,9,interview with Canal Plus Television,"So Obama is trying to make a point that the United States is in touch with the Muslim world because it has a substantial Muslim population. But he dramatically overreaches by saying the United States would be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. Ranking 58 out of the world's 60 most populous Muslim nations does not a large Muslim country make. Indeed, by even the most generous estimate we found of 8 million, the United States still ranks 29 out of 60. As a result, we give Obama a ."
14598,3,"Says the term ""illegal alien"" is ""a legal term, it's in statute, it's a federal term.","April 18, 2018",immigration,steve mccraw,"Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, previously worked more than 20 years for the FBI.",texas,1,0,1,0,0,0,testimony to a Texas House panel,"McCraw told legislators the term ""illegal alien"" is ""a legal term, it’s in statute, it’s a federal term."" The term appears--yet scarcely--in federal law. Best we can tell, though, no law defines the term as referring to all individuals living in the U.S. without legal authorization. Where the term does appear, it’s undefined or part of an introductory title or limited to apply to certain individuals convicted of felonies. On balance, we rate McCraw’s  .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
21487,1,Suggests a January traffic accident involving lab monkeys was responsible for spreading monkeypox to humans.,"May 21, 2022",public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post suggests that a January traffic accident involving lab monkeys was responsible for spreading monkeypox to humans. There is no  that the lab monkeys were infected with monkeypox or that they spread it to humans. The woman who came into contact with the monkeys had minor symptoms and did not have the characteristic skin rash associated with monkeypox. The incubation period for monkeypox is typically no longer than 21 days, and the traffic crash occurred in January, while the current monkeypox outbreak began in mid-May. We rate this  .   "
18401,1,"An antifa flyer encourages activists ""to disguise yourselves as patriots/Trump supporters"" on Nov. 4.","September 2, 2020",facebook fact-checks,viral image,"Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the ""Internet macro,"" which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.",,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"""While I personally loathe the likes of Antifa and their tactics,"" the author wrote, ""I can assure you that this is simply a hoax. ""  In 2017, Will Sommer, a politics reporter for the Daily Beast who covers conservative media, described the flyer in a Medium post as one of several ""fabricated ‘planning documents’ that urge antifa guerillas to commit violence while posing as police or Trump supporters. ""  In June, a Twitter account — @ANTIFA_US — appeared to call for violence, rallying ""comrades"" to move into residential areas and ""take what’s ours."" But the account wasn’t actually affiliated with antifa activists ; rather, it was created by a known white supremacist group, according to Twitter.   We rate this Facebook post ."
14702,1,"Says ""Rosie O'Donnell apparently committed the same offense five times, five times, when she broke the identical law that Dinesh (D'Souza) was prosecuted for.","June 4, 2018",campaign finance,ted cruz,"Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.",national,8,22,21,48,47,11,an interview,"Cruz said, ""Rosie O’Donnell apparently committed the same offense five times, five times, when she broke the identical law that Dinesh was prosecuted for."" Both D’Souza and O’Donnell violated campaign contribution limits, which is a criminal offense. Those cases are subject to prosecution if determined to be willful. D’Souza’s violation was considered willful. He violated another law by using straw donors to donate $20,000 over the legal limit to one Senate candidate. O’Donnell surpassed the limit by a quarter of that money in donating to five different campaigns under her own name. We rate this statement ."
21084,1,"An image shows ""Ukrainian soldiers praying.","March 6, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"In October 2017, SML Ministries shared the photo on Facebook with the caption, ""Powerful image of U. S. soldiers praying together after a chapel service in Fort Benning, Georgia."" Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, old media is being repackaged on all platforms, Joan Donovan, research director at the Shorenstein Center of Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard, told NPR . ""And so we have been seeing quite a bit of people just trying to get clicks, likes and shares,"" Donovan said. ""Some is financially motivated, and then other parts of it are propaganda."" We rate the  that an image shows Ukrainian soldiers praying .   "
15667,4,"Since 1938 the minimum wage has been increased ""23 times"" and was raised ""21 times during Democratic congresses, and only twice during Republican ones.","February 11, 2019",congress;income;labor;voting record;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A social media meme claims that since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased ""23 times"" and was raised ""21 times during Democratic congresses, and only twice during Republican ones."" Including the introductory federal minimum wage in 1938, the rate has indeed been raised 23 times and 21 of those increases came during a Democratic majority in Congress. But sometimes the bills for increases came as a multi-year package, while others were just single-year raises. That said, four Republican presidents signed the laws that made these raises possible and eight Republican presidents were in leadership at the time these increases took effect. The statement that Democrats controlled Congress 21 of 23 times the minimum wage was increased  is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
3313,2,"Says Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser ""has prejudged matters that are likely to come before the court.","March 16, 2011",legal issues,joanne kloppenburg,JoAnne Kloppenburg of Madison is state Court of Appeals judge and a former assistant state attorney general. She ran for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2011 and is running for the high court again in 2016. ,wisconsin,0,2,0,2,1,1,a newspaper interview,"The fact that Prosser disavowed one statement, about his being a ""complement"" to Walker and other GOP leaders, indicates he had concern about signaling how he might rule on cases.    But Kloppenburg didn’t accuse Prosser of giving signals. She said he had ""prejudged matters that are likely to come before the court."" Yet she could provide no examples. We rate Kloppenburg’s  ."
16353,0,"Quotes Rep. Kevin McCarthy as saying ""there are no mass shootings in Japan because there are no video games there.","August 5, 2019",facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""We’ve watched from studies shown before of what it does to individuals. When you look at these photos of how it took place, you can see the actions within video games and others. ""   While mentioning video games, McCarthy did not mention Japan in the Bartiromo interview after the shootings. The Facebook post’s  came from a screenshot of a tweet that has since been deleted.    This faux quote is !"