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
419,4,"Barack Obama is ""the only candidate who doesn't take a dime from oil company PACs or lobbyists.","April 16, 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,a television ad,"It's worth noting, however, that Obama's total lags his significantly behind Clinton, who got $865,290, from lobbyists, and John McCain, who got $590,952. Is it possible that Barack Obama took ""a dime"" from someone connected to oil and gas lobbyists? Yes. But it looks as if Obama took good-faith measures not to accept money from current lobbyists for any industry, including oil and gas. For these reasons, we find his statement ."
9163,2,"Says Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, ""skipped an important VA reform hearing to attend three fundraisers.","July 25, 2014",congress;veterans,concerned veterans for america,Concerned Veterans for America is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for veterans.,national,0,1,0,1,0,0,a television ad,"An ad said Braley ""skipped an important VA reform hearing to attend three fundraisers."" He had three fundraisers the same day, but none overlapped with the veterans affairs committee hearing. He was counted as present at an oversight hearing about Fast and Furious that happened at the same time. We rate this  ."
6396,0,Says Mitt Romney's investments created zero jobs.,"September 17, 2012",candidate biography;corporations;economy;jobs;message machine 2012,workers' voice,"Workers' Voice is a ""super PAC"" affiliated with the AFL-CIO",national,0,0,0,0,2,2,a mailer,"Workers’ Voice says the ""number of jobs that Romney’s investments created"" is zero. That ignores Bain’s role as a venture capital firm that helped build companies that hired tens of thousands of workers. The PAC, unable to provide data to back up its , said the goal of Romney’s investments wasn’t jobs, but profits. That doesn’t prove Bain’s job creation was zero. Nor do examples of Romney investments that lost jobs. This catchy  comes up empty. We rate it ."
14074,3,"Under the House Republican tax plan, in Wisconsin, ""the median household of four gets about a $2,000 tax cut, on average.","December 1, 2017",children;families;income;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,"That’s  if the typical household Ryan describes claims a standard deduction on their taxes rather than itemizing deductions. The savings would be $2,081 -- in 2018. But many Wisconsin households at that income level would see a savings of several hundred dollars less because they would no longer be able to  deductions such as one for medical expenses, which the House bill eliminates. Moreover, because of the way the House bill is written, even the household that saves $2,081 in 2018 would see that savings drop in each year, down to an estimated $767 in 2027. Ryan’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details -- our definition of ."
19719,5,"There are more job openings than there are people on unemployment"" in Iowa.","May 11, 2021",economy;jobs,lindsay james,Lindsay James is an Iowa state representative from Dubuque County.,iowa,1,0,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"After hearing about pandemic-related layoffs and job cuts the past year, seeing that more people are seeking jobs in Iowa than are taking unemployment benefits might surprise some. But the numbers back it up and both sides of the argument on what Iowa should do about unemployment benefits do not dispute it. We are confining our rating to the numbers and rate the  to be ."
3268,4,Lake Erie supports nearly 10 percent of Ohio's jobs and generates $750 million in state and local taxes.,"March 3, 2011",environment;economy;federal budget;tourism,betty sutton,Rep. Betty Sutton is a Democrat from Ohio's 13th Congressional District.,ohio,2,2,1,0,2,1,a House committee hearing,"It is the state's tourism industry that accounts for nearly 10 percent of Ohio's more than 5 million jobs, according to Ohio Travel & Tourism. Nevertheless, Lake Erie does support a large number of jobs -- more than 100,000 in northeast Ohio. Sutton relied on a credible official source for her numbers, and she cited them accurately, though one of her sources, a credible one at that, misstated its data. That’s a piece of information needed for clarification. We rate her statement as ."
6076,0,"Says the federal government ""mandates transexuals (sic) and homosexuals grabbing children in their stranger-danger zones in the name of airport security.","August 5, 2012",privacy issues,mark clayton,"Mark Clayton won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, although Tennessee's Democratic Party has disavowed him as a Democrat and is asking its members to write in a candidate. He is a floor installer and former Army Reserve aircraft technician.",tennessee,0,0,0,0,0,1,a post on his campaign's Facebook page,"The state Democratic Party’s disavowal of Clayton is but one indication of his lack of credibility. This kind of baseless statement is yet another. The TSA does not mandate that any of its screeners ""grope"" children in any ""zone."" Clayton is making a , reckless , and for that we give this statement a !"
17001,1,"Says a ""Clorox bottle claimed it could kill (the 2019 coronavirus)... before it was developed.","January 28, 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,"A Facebook post claims a ""Clorox bottle claimed it could kill (the 2019 coronavirus)... before it was developed."" It’s  that some Clorox products have labels that  they’re effective against human coronaviruses. But that’s because they were proven effective against past strains of coronavirus — not the one currently spreading from China. There is no  that the 2019 coronavirus was ""developed"" prior to the outbreak. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
23218,0,NASA space rockets can't reach space.,"June 14, 2023",space;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,"Launches are done over water for safety , partly to avoid populated areas, in case of a malfunction. After decades of space travel, it’s  and  to  that NASA rockets can’t reach space. We rate the Instagram post ! RELATED: Fact-checks about space"
23067,1,U.S. destroyer recently fired at an armed Iranian ship.,"May 25, 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 describes a real event. The USS Mahan, a Navy guided-missile destroyer, fired a warning flare toward an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel that had gotten within about 1,000 yards, according to several news reports published April 26, 2017. The Mahan was forced to change course, CNN reported . The account that posted the video and framed it as recent news often shares older videos as current events from the Next News Network, a site the Chicago Tribune reported promotes conspiracies; it was recently demonetized by YouTube.   The  that a U.S. Navy destroyer recently fired at an armed Iranian ship is ."
20429,3,"Gas prices were WAY higher in 2008, under REPUBLICAN president George W. Bush.","October 20, 2021",bush administration;energy;gas prices;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"More broadly, experts say, movements in gas prices have little to do with who’s president. Rather, they reflect the balance between global supply and demand, and the global supply is largely determined by OPEC. Occupy Democrats modified its post to add context, but our rating is based on the original post. We rate this  . PolitiFact senior correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this report."
4838,1,"Ballistic tests have confirmed that the death of at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent was caused by"" weapons that were part of a federal arms trafficking operation.","December 13, 2011",criminal justice;guns,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 post on his campaign website,"By all accounts, Fast and Furious weapons were found at the scene of a U.S. agent's death. Dewhurst's campaign was emphatic, though, that ballistics tests confirmed that the weapons killed the agent. We found no information indicating that's so. Dewhurst's statement rates ."
1099,3,"Families are paying $900, on average, ""in higher premiums because of uncompensated care.","September 20, 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,an interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos,"Barring new , this seems like a genuine disagreement between experts on a complex issue. President Obama said ""You and I are both paying 900 bucks on average — our families — in higher premiums because of uncompensated care."" That's an accurate citing of older data. But another study found that cost-shifting for the uninsured was not significant. Because there's major disagreement on this issue, we rate Obama's statement ."
7540,3,We're already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail.,"June 30, 2013",lgbtq,tony perkins,Tony Perkins is president of the Washington-based Family Research Council. He was a former Louisiana state legislator and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2002.,florida,0,0,1,0,1,0,a TV interview,"After the Supreme Court rulings about gay marriage, Perkins said, ""We're already seeing bakers and florists and photographers forced to participate in same-sex marriages under the threat of law and in some cases even jail."" We didn't find cases where people were forced to participate against their will. However, if vendors refuse service, there are consequences. There are 21 states that forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation. Vendors who refuse service there could face legal actions and fines. The ""jail"" part of Perkins’  is an exaggeration. We couldn’t find any  that a vendor had been sent to jail or that any legal authority had threatened jail time. In some states, if a business owner loses an anti-discrimination case and refuses to comply with an order, the owner could face jail, but we found no  of that ever happening. One state, Colorado, specifically took action to remove the threat of jail. We rate this  ."
9246,2,"Sen. Jack Reed ""cast the deciding vote in the Senate for the Affordable Care Act.","August 3, 2014",congress;health care;history;public health;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,"an interview on ""10 News Conference.""","Mark Zaccaria said that Sen. Jack Reed ""cast the deciding vote in the Senate for the Affordable Care Act."" Zaccaria's position is that because every ""yea"" vote in the motion to end debate on the act was crucial to passage, each of those votes -- 60 in all -- was the deciding vote. Reed's vote was crucial. Zaccaria could have called it ""a"" deciding vote (of which there can be many) but there is no  that his was ""the"" deciding vote (of which there is one). Because his statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts -- in this case, the 59 other yes votes, including the 15 ""ayes"" that came after his -- that would give a different impression, 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.)"
14175,3,"In Trump's first year as president, job growth slowed to a six-year low.","January 16, 2018",economy;jobs,democratic national committee,The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats.,national,7,8,12,9,2,0,a Medium post,"The DNC wrote that ""in Trump’s first year as president, job growth slowed to a six-year low."" This statistic is carefully chosen to make what is actually a strong job market appear disappointing. Experts say the gain of more than 2 million jobs in 2017 was healthy, especially coming at a later point in the recovery, and it was similar in scope to half of the years during Obama’s presidency. We rate the statement ."
15053,0,Miami Dolphins fire 2 kneeling players before pre-season kickoff.,"September 1, 2018",sports;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"The NFL is  not expected to implement a new national anthem policy this season. While several Miami Dolphins have knelt during preseason games this year, none of them share the names of the players in the article, and no one was fired or penalized. Miami Dolphins wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson knelt during the national anthem during the Sept. 9 season opener against the Tennessee Titans, eight days after the article's  was made. They have not been penalized as of deadline for this story. We rate this  ."
51,5,"In New York, when she ran for reelection, she carried 58 of our 62 counties. George Bush had won 40 counties in New York just two years earlier.","September 5, 2007",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,a comment by husband Bill Clinton on Larry King Live,"Joe Lenski, executive vice president of Edison Media Research, says she gained 18 percentage points among independent voters from 2000 to 2006 -- even better than her 15-point gain among moderates. But he and others also attribute the increase to the fact that Mrs. Clinton was a well-known incumbent with a weak Republican challenger. And she also had the advantage of a national wave, fueled by the unpopularity of President Bush and the Republican-led Congress, that propelled Democrats nationwide in 2006 and helped them regain control of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Mrs. Clinton may not be able to count on moving independents elsewhere. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 47-percent of independents nationally view her unfavorably."
18965,1,"Says Charles Schumer supports ""putting everybody on the Medicare system. He wants the Green New Deal … reduce funding for the police.","November 16, 2020",congress;health care;medicare;public safety;new york,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 television interview,"Scott said that Schumer was in favor of Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and reducing funding for police.  Schumer is not on record supporting Medicare for All, though he has said that a strong health care bill would pass if Democrats take control of the Senate.  He is not a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, though he does support legislation to combat climate change supported by a coalition of progressive organizations, known as the Green New Deal Network.  Schumer supports legislation to make the receipt of federal funds by local and state governments conditional on adopting certain reforms. It would not reduce police funding automatically.    We rate Scott’s statement .   "
20193,2,"It would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the U.S."" and ""halting global warming would cost $300 billion.","July 29, 2021",climate change;homeless;housing;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"Models for estimating cost often do not account for possible public resistance, limited resources and lack of international cooperation.   Our ruling  A Facebook post claimed that it would cost $20 billion to end homelessness in the U.S. and $300 billion to halt global warming.   These issues are complex, and there are no firm estimates of the cost of addressing them. That said, expert analysis suggests that $20 billion falls short of the actual cost to end homelessness in the U.S. Similarly, while cost models for meeting climate change targets differ widely, $300 billion is much lower — sometimes by a hundredfold— than other estimates posited by experts.   We rate this  ."
2952,0,"Says a ""Canadian provincial prime minister came to Ohio for his medical treatment because of the delay in Canadian health care which would have endangered his life.","January 3, 2011",health care,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,the Ohio House of Representatives,"When he speaks, people listen. Yet neither he nor his office could point us to any concrete  that a high level provincial official came to Ohio for treatment. And given that the best they could come up with was that it was ""widely speculated"" that Williams might have come to Cleveland, the  is more than just ; it’s  to a point that we’re ready to set the good speaker’s double-knits ablaze. We rate Batchelder’s  . Comment on this item."
7864,1,The crime rate in some Atlanta neighborhoods has dropped by 35 to 51 percent.,"September 23, 2013",crime,city of atlanta,City of Atlanta,georgia,1,0,1,1,1,0,a press release,"But that came after the initial,  information was broadcast to the public and only after PolitiFact Georgia questioned the initial numbers. PolitiFact has had others who’ve offered mea culpas when we’ve inquired about the accuracy of their claims. In those instances, PolitiFact will still report our findings and note the speaker admitted to making an error. The city fessed up, but that does not erase the initial error. We rate the city’s initial  ."
13256,3,Wisconsin's economy is in the best shape it's been since 2000.,"March 23, 2017",economy;income;jobs;poverty,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 address,"Although Wisconsin’s economy is larger now than it was in 2000, the fact that the poverty rate is higher and that there is growing income inequality indicates that the benefits of our growing economy have gone mainly to those with the highest incomes."" Our rating Walker said: ""Wisconsin’s economy is in the best shape it’s been since 2000."" The latest figures for the unemployment rate, wages and gross domestic product support Walker’s . But the figures for labor participation rate, income and poverty do not. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is .  "
19261,1,"Innocent lives will be saved"" by ending taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.","January 24, 2021",abortion;medicaid,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,"""  Since 1976, Medicaid dollars have never been used to fund abortion or abortion-related services thanks to the Hyde Amendment. Instead, the federal funding the state is attempting to block from Planned Parenthood provides family planning services and healthcare for 8,800 Medicaid patients. Because Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment, it’s unclear how he connects Medicaid funding to abortions. Other anti-abortion advocates like Pojman of the Texas Alliance for Life argue that Planned Parenthood’s referral practices lead women to abortion facilities, although he couldn’t provide proof of that .   Due to the lack of  establishing this connection, and because the burden of proof is on the speaker, we rate this  ."
3667,2,"Wisconsin's technical college graduates ""have a higher employment rate and starting salaries"" than four-year college graduates nationwide.","May 19, 2011",education;jobs,michael rosen,Michael Rosen is an economics instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College. He  is also president of the union representing MATC faculty and staff. He also is a blogger.,wisconsin,0,0,0,1,0,0,a blog posting,"Rosen said Wisconsin’s technical college graduates have a higher employment rate and starting salaries than four-year college graduates nationally. On the first , a direct comparison of 2010 grads can’t be made because a complete breakdown wasn’t available, but more 2010 tech college grads found work than the 2006 through 2010 four-year grads.    On the second , Rosen admitted he was . We would also note that the tech college data comes from an unscientific survey and the four-year grads data was from a scientific survey. We don’t know how Rosen would score this all out on an economics quiz, but on our scale it rates a ."
20507,1,"The Spanish High Court has announced (COVID-19) is a bio weapon with a patent, not a virus.","October 22, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a public Facebook group,"The Facebook post claimed that Spain’s supreme court announced that COVID-19 is a patented biological weapon. This   is based on a distortion of events that took place in Spain. The country’s highest court said no such thing. The post lacks  for its  that the Chinese created the virus that causes COVID-19 as a bioweapon, and there was no patent for the virus before the pandemic started.  We rate the post ."
10237,1,There are more young black males involved in the criminal justice system than there are in higher education.,"April 22, 2015",census;criminal justice;education,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",wisconsin,0,3,3,8,12,4,a speech,"Carson did not provide  that backs his . The latest federal figures we found show 75,000 black males in that age group who were in prison in 2013 and in the range of 690,000 to 779,000 who were in college. We are not aware of any recent figures for the number of black males ages 18 to 24 arrested, in jail, or on probation or parole at any particular time. If figures do surface, we’ll re-evaluate this item, but we rate Carson’s  .   To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page ."
2782,5,"In 2007, ""the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income,"" which is ""more than the entire bottom 50 percent.","November 30, 2010",economy;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.",national,21,62,48,26,18,0,a Senate floor speech,"When we asked Kennickell whether there was some reason to prefer one study over another, he responded that they all have their own merits. ""There are many definitions of income that may be appropriate for various purposes,"" he said. So, we're left with three studies that vary slightly but which all point in the same general direction -- showing the top 1 percent earning between 21.4 and 23.5 percent of the national income in 2007. The studies also show that this share exceeds what the entire bottom 50 percent of the United States earns. So we rate Sanders' statement . "
12980,3,"The seven nations identified in Donald Trump's travel ban were ""identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists.","January 29, 2017",immigration;foreign policy;terrorism,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,"But nine other countries or regions are on the safe havens list, too. Our rating Priebus said Trump's executive order that temporarily bans nearly all travel to the United States from seven nations were ""identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists."" Prompted by concerns about terrorism, the Obama administration did put those seven countries -- Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen -- on a list that makes travel into the United States somewhat more difficult. But that list doesn’t necessarily identify the seven as being the most dangerous. For a statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context, our rating is ."
17721,2,Children don't seem to be getting this virus,"April 28, 2020",public health;coronavirus,janel brandtjen,"Janel Brandtjen is a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, a Republican representing District 22. She took office in January 2015.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,1,0,Facebook post,"Our ruling  Brandtjen claimed ""Children don’t seem to be getting this virus."" Hundreds of kids in Wisconsin, and tens of thousands in the U.S., have fallen ill with COVID-19.   That said, children do not seem to be contracting the virus as much, or as seriously, as the rest of the population. That’s an important nuance, particularly amid such a contentious debate.    We rate Brandtjen’s  . "
15491,3,"Over 1,000 people were denied a ballot on Election Day"" in the 2016 North Carolina primaries.","November 27, 2018",elections,terry van duyn,"Terry Van Duyn (pronounced ""Van Dine"") is a state senator from Buncome County, home to Asheville.",north carolina,0,0,1,0,0,0,a speech,"Van Duyn said ""over 1,000 people were denied a ballot on election day"" in the 2016 primary. She’s got a point that more than 1,000 people showed up to vote and that their votes ultimately didn’t count. But her  gives the impression that would-be voters were turned away by election workers, which isn’t the case. They were offered provisional ballots and didn’t take the necessary steps to make them count. Her  in the committee is partly accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, so we rate it ."
22166,0,"There are no photos of ""Biden in the Oval Office"" from after early 2021.","October 23, 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.",national,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"A photo taken by New York Times photographer Doug Mills on Sept. 15 of Biden meeting there with negotiators from railway companies and unions.   A Getty Images photo of Biden meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the Oval Office on July12.   Hundreds of Associated Press images of Biden in the Oval Office, or arriving or departing from the Oval Office, in the past year.   And, in an Oct. 16 White House Instagram post , Biden and his dog, Commander, in the Oval Office. We rate claims that there are no images showing Biden in the Oval Office since early 2021 !"
15466,1,$21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.,"December 2, 2018",federal budget;health care;medicare;military,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 tweeted, ""$21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon."" The comparison is specious. In fact, the data suggests that the Pentagon hasn’t spent $21 trillion in the entire history of the United States. Rather, the $21 trillion figure refers to a collection of transactions in which the same dollar could have been transferred between internal accounts multiple times. As such, it’s comparing apples and oranges to say that ""Pentagon accounting errors"" would have been equivalent to two-thirds of Medicare for All’s projected 10-year costs. We rate the statement ."
10921,0,Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no federal elected office experience.,"November 4, 2015",history,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",national,0,3,3,8,12,4,an edited Facebook post,"Both the initial and the revised versions of Carson’s  are far off base. About half or more of the declaration’s signers had held elective office previously, a reality that severely undercuts Carson’s overall point that the drafting of the Declaration of Independence showed how a lack of political experience can produce landmark political achievements. As for his later addition of ""federal"" to the comment, this makes the  nonsensical, since there was no federal government prior to the signing of the declaration. We rate Carson’s  .  "
3607,5,No other Northeastern state has passed a photo ID law,"May 4, 2011",elections,rhode island aclu,"The Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union is an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. The national ACLU, founded in the 1920s, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to upholding and protecting the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.",rhode island,1,0,0,0,0,0,a news release,"Connecticut, too, has in the past considered photo identification, but has so far rejected the idea. In its attempt to portray Rhode Island as remarkably isolated on the issue, the ACLU has omitted some relevant facts: other states in the country are increasingly turning to photo ID laws; the majority of new bills under consideration across the country would require photo IDs; and two of Rhode Island’s neighbors in New England are considering such mandates. But the ACLU is factually correct when it states that no other state in the Northeast requires photo ID. That’s why our judges (whose IDs, incidentally, we did not request) voted to rate the ACLU  . (To comment or offer your own ruling, visit us on Facebook .)"
22985,1,"Video shows the ""Grim Reaper"" appearing at King Charles III's coronation.","May 7, 2023",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 Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) That wasn’t the grim reaper darkening the new king’s door, Newsweek reported . Westminster Abbey identified the person as a verger, a member of the abbey community who helps with religious services.   Vergers also lead tours at the abbey, and one can be seen pictured on the Abbey’s website wearing an outfit akin to the one that appears in the coronation video.   We rate claims that the video shows the Grim Reaper ."
23297,1,"Health professionals are being ""urged"" to call vaginas ""bonus holes"" to avoid offending transgender or nonbinary patients.","July 9, 2023",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 Instagram reel,"""Women are our main audience at Jo’s, however some trans men and/or nonbinary people have cervixes and to reduce as many cervical cancers as possible it is important that we also provide information for this group and the health professionals who support them,"" the spokesperson said. This is in line with health care industry guidance on how to treat LGBTQ+ patients. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health recommends in its latest Standards of Care guidelines, published September 2022, that health care professionals discuss with transgender and gender diverse people what language or terminology they prefer. PolitiFact found no mention of the ""bonus hole"" terminology in guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center . We rate the  that health care professionals are being ""urged to call vaginas ‘bonus holes’"" ."
17551,1,"A banner with a swastika, ""Trump"" and ""Pence"" is from a Michigan coronavirus protest.","April 17, 2020",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 containing a photo of a man carrying a banner that bears a swastika and the last names of the president and the vice president is not from a demonstration in Lansing, Mich., that protested stay-at-home coronavirus orders. We rate the post ."
11350,3,"An economic impact study found that for every $1 invested in pre-K in Pennsylvania, a total of $1.79 is generated in total spending within the state.","February 17, 2016",education,jim kenney,Mayor of Philadelphia and former City Councilman,pennsylvania,2,1,1,1,1,0,a speech before the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce,"Mayor Jim Kenney cited a study saying every dollar spent on pre-k education in Pennsylvania would yield $1.79 for the state economy. Comcast’s David L. Cohen noted the same study in an editorial.   While studies and experts agree the economic impact of quality pre-kindergarten programs could be substantial, the study pointed out by Kenney is about shorter-term effects on the state’s output. Taxes required to pay for the pre-K program could lessen the economic effect, adding up to less than an extra 79 cents per dollar spent.   But research and expert opinion illustrate quality pre-K likely will have a substantial, positive effect on the local economy.   We rule the  ."
6761,3,I have the experience as Senate Budget Chair of cutting $4.5 billion in spending -- to close the deficit while protecting education and health care.,"December 11, 2012",state budget,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 video advertisement,"Buono claimed, ""I have the experience as Senate Budget Chair of cutting $4.5 billion in spending -- to close the deficit while protecting education and health care."" The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services confirms a $4.481 billion decrease in spending from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2010. The recession had much to do with the cuts, with revenues plummeting from fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2010 and spending adjusted accordingly. Also, the federal government, not Buono, protected education and health care with $2 billion in stimulus money. While it’s  that Buono’s chairmanship gave her experience in budget cutting, she alone isn’t responsible for cutting $4.5 billion. It was a team effort. And the last word on cuts, funding and balanced budgets belongs to the governor. For those reasons, we rate her statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
18826,1,"More mail-in ballots were counted in Lancaster County, Pa., than were returned.","November 4, 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.",pennsylvania,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The Lancaster County elections board website showed that, in all, 273,527 ballots had been cast by mail or in person. The majority of those votes went to President Donald Trump, who leads Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with 156,938 votes to Biden’s 112,536.    We rate the  that more mail-in ballots were counted in Lancaster County that were cast . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
23289,1,"Donald Trump arrested"" July 5.","July 5, 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,"Trump wasn’t arrested in July.   He surrendered in June in a classified documents case after he was indicted on federal charges in Miami, and he made his first court appearance in a different case in New York in April in connection with alleged hush money payments to a former adult film star.   He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.   In July, however, Trump could be found campaigning — not in custody.   We rate the  he was arrested on July 5 ."
13835,4,We're the only developed nation in the world that doesn't have paid maternity leave.,"August 22, 2017",children;women,claire mccaskill,Claire McCaskill is a Democrat and a U.S. Senator from Missouri.,missouri,5,1,3,5,5,0,"Monett, Mo","Senator McCaskill said the United States is the only developed nation without paid maternity leave. Based on OECD and ILO data, the United States is the only industrialized nation without paid maternity leave. Yet, as previously reported in PolitiFact, some nations with paid maternity leave exclude certain groups of workers, meaning it isn’t quite universal. In the same sense, the United States has some states that do mandate paid maternity leave and parents can take unpaid time off after a child is born or adopted, although there isn’t a national law. We rate this statement ."
20887,1,"Says Johns Hopkins virologist ""James Kelly"" said the COVID-19 vaccine ""discriminates, divides, and judges society as it is.","February 1, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""  Searching for part of the quote online, we found no results that supported the  that a Johns Hopkins virologist named James Kelly — or anyone with Johns Hopkins Medicine — said this. We didn’t find a James Kelly searching among doctors on Johns Hopkins’ website , or anything to lend credence to the post’s  that a Johns Hopkins doctor made the statement shared there.   We did find a 2018 Baltimore Sun obituary for Dr. James H. Kelly,  who in 1985 was named associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins Medical School.   But we found nothing to corroborate this post.   We rate it ."
3608,3,Gas prices have gone up $2 since Obama took office.,"April 26, 2011",energy;gas prices,michael williams,Michael Williams is a former member of the Texas Railroad Commission. He lost his 2012 bid to be the Republican nominee for a U.S. House seat. He was later appointed the state's education commissioner.,texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a tweet,"The relationship is a correlation, and other factors contribute to public perceptions of a president."" Our take? Gas costs $2 more per gallon than it did when Obama took office; in the past 35 years, no other president saw such a price surge by this point of his presidency. However, Williams errs by implying the president is at fault; key factors driving gas prices are beyond a president’s control. We rate the statement ."
8023,4,When is a farm bill not a farm bill? When 90 percent of it is for food stamps.,"October 31, 2013",poverty;pundits;welfare;punditfact,brad blakeman,"Bradley A. Blakeman is a former adviser to George W. Bush. He now appears regularly as a political analyst on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.",,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview on Fox News,"Blakeman said that 90 percent of the farm bill went to food stamps. The more accurate figure is 80 percent in the legislation currently under discussion in Congress. The 10 percentage points difference doesn’t change Blakeman’s essential point, but it is enough to bring our rating down a notch. We rate the  ."
6416,1,"Right now, the (Congressional Budget Office) says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year.","October 3, 2012",debates;health care,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,Denver,"    Romney said, ""Right now, the (Congressional Budget Office) says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year."" That number is cherry-picked, and many of those 20 million will be leaving employer coverage voluntarily for better options. Romney also ignores that under the status quo, many more people today ""lose"" coverage than even the highest, cherry-picked CBO estimate. We rate his statement ."
4688,4,"Most of, if not all of, the [DeKalb school construction] projects always came in on or were under budget.","November 7, 2011",education,thomas brown,"Thomas Brown, a Democrat, is the sheriff of DeKalb County, Georgia.",georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview,"Woods also defended the quality of the work, which has been a concern of some DeKalb parents who closely watch the district’s spending. He did say some subcontractors have been late in meeting deadlines. The DeKalb school district’s spreadsheet and what we saw ourselves backs up much of Thomas Brown’s argument. The recession has apparently helped lower bid prices -- even though a few projects were still seriously over budget. We rate Brown’s  as ."
23002,1,"Video shows Elon Musk saying ""I just unbanned President Trump's Twitter and I already have crybaby liberals threatening to quit Twitter.","May 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,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post sharing the video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The footage in the video comes from an April 2022 interview Musk gave while appearing at the TED2022 conference. But he didn’t mention Trump, liberals or the Parrot app , which describes itself as ""the world’s first AI celebrity voice maker that sounds real."" We rate claims this video shows Musk really saying this ."
22174,1,"When electric cars get in accidents, they explode, they catch fire very very badly because of the lithium batteries.","October 20, 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,"An Instagram post says, ""When electric cars get in accidents, they explode, they catch fire very very badly because of the lithium batteries."" Electric vehicles are not more likely than gas-powered cars to catch fire in crashes. Tesla, which makes more than half of the electric vehicles sold in the U.S., reports five car fires per billion miles driven, compared with 55 fires per billion miles driven in gas-powered cars. We rate this  .  RELATED : Electric vehicle fires can be extinguished with water"
16345,3,"Asked what his administration would be doing about ""the gun problem,"" said, ""We have done much more than most administrations. … We've done, actually, a lot.","August 4, 2019",guns,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,"Morristown, N.J","Asked what his administration would be doing about ""the gun problem,"" Trump said, ""We have done much more than most administrations. … We’ve done, actually, a lot."" Trump has banned bump stocks, supported a bipartisan effort to improve the background-check database, and prioritized gun-related prosecutions. This number does compare favorably to what some other recent presidents have accomplished. At the same time, Trump’s comment ignores that his administration has pursued multiple efforts to expand gun laws and regulations or to block efforts to tighten them.  We rate the statement ."
5852,3,"By eliminating the public intervenor's office, ""I was the first one to fire Kathleen Falk.","June 4, 2012",environment;state budget,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 speech,"In making the remark, he did so in the context of abolishing the office, so he’s on target there. In a colloquial sense, ""fired"" may fit because Thompson knew Falk would no longer be intervenor due to his actions. But he went too far in leaving the impression Falk was out on the street. And Falk was never removed from any other job we know of, so Thompson misfired with ""first to fire."" We rate the  ."
12917,4,Our Navy has shrunk from more than 500 ships in 1991 to 275 in 2016.,"January 20, 2017",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.",florida,36,85,120,194,360,179,a statement on the White House website,"The Trump White House website says that ""our Navy has shrunk from more than 500 ships in 1991 to 275 in 2016."" Trump’s numbers are correct according to a document from the Navy, which shows the annual size of the fleet. However, sheer numbers do not tell the full story. The ships of today are more powerful than those in 1991. The United States remains the world's most powerful Navy. We rate this  ."
11144,3,"Says Hillary Clinton called Barack Obama ""naive"" for saying he was would ""sit down and talk to the Iranians"" during the 2008 Democratic primary.","January 17, 2016",foreign policy;nuclear,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 Clinton called Obama ""naive"" for saying he was would ""sit down and talk to the Iranians"" during the 2008 Democratic primary. This is a simplified description of the back-and-forth between Clinton and Obama. Both candidates said they supported more diplomacy between Iran and the United States than what the Bush administration had pursued. Clinton’s position differed from Obama’s in that she supported a slower approach, starting with lower-level talks. Obama, on the other hand, said he would be willing to meet with Iranian leaders in his first year as president, without preconditions. It was Obama’s approach to diplomacy with Iran that she called naive, not the idea of pursuing diplomatic relations in general. Ultimately, Obama did not meet himself with Iranian leaders in his first year. Sanders’ statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context, so we rate it ."
7687,3,"Says that each year, about 25,000 American women become pregnant through rape or incest.","July 15, 2013",abortion;crime,wendy davis,"Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth attorney, was initially elected to the Texas Senate in 2008. She was the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, giving up a shot at winning re-election to the Senate.",texas,0,12,8,5,1,1,an opinion article,"Davis said, ""Each year, about 25,000 American women ... become pregnant through rape or incest."" She offered no backup for the incest part of the statement, and we found none. Estimates of rape-related pregnancies per year vary from 3,200 to 50,000. Davis’ number, despite dating from 1998, fits inside that range, but there is too much disagreement for us -- or Davis -- to pin any one statistic as the definitive number of rape-related pregnancies per year. We rate her statement as ."
20289,2,Haitian migrants took an implausible route to Texas-Mexico border area.,"September 20, 2021",immigration;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"​​Our ruling A Facebook post suggests that Haitian migrants took an implausible route across the Gulf of Mexico to arrive at the Texas-Mexico border. The Haitians who are arriving in Texas did not take a direct route from Haiti. They are people who left their country following the 2010 earthquake and went to South America to find jobs in Brazil and Chile. When opportunities dried up in those countries and conditions worsened, they began traveling north through Latin America toward Mexico. We rate this statement . "
4158,1,Public-employee unions spent $30 million in Wisconsin unsuccessfully trying to flip the state Senate to Democratic control.,"August 18, 2011",campaign finance;elections;state budget,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,a television interview,"Priebus claimed public-employee unions poured $30 million into the state Senate recalls in Wisconsin. But the publicly disclosed spending reports that he cites -- by our account as well as groups affiliated with the left and right -- put total spending by pro-Democrat groups at $15 million or less. And that includes campaigning by liberal groups not connected to unions. Based on available information, even if he meant to say all pro-Democratic spending he was way off. We rate his  ."
18757,3,"When Sen. Kelly Loeffler heard about the COVID-19 risk, she ""focused on her own portfolio"" and ""profited from the pandemic.","October 28, 2020",ethics;financial regulation;coronavirus,raphael warnock,"The Rev. Raphael Warnock is a U.S. Senator from Georgia elected in a special runoff election in January 2021 and running for re-election in 2022. Warnock, a Democrat, served as the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, located in Atlanta. The church's former pastors include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.",georgia,1,3,4,0,1,0,an interview,"Warnock claimed Loeffler ""focused on her own portfolio"" after hearing about the COVID-19 threat and ""profited from the pandemic,"" suggesting that she used non-public information about the coronavirus outbreak to make beneficial stock trades. Loeffler denied using inside information, and Senate Ethics Committee and Justice Department investigations found she did not violate laws or Senate rules barring insider trading.  Her disclosures and other news reports show that on the day she received a private coronavirus briefing and in the weeks weeks afterward, there were stock trades made on her behalf involving companies that would be affected by the pandemic, and she benefited from those trades.  We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
6642,2,"After Patrick Murphy's charges were dropped, Murphy's father gave the prosecutor a huge campaign donation.","October 25, 2012",campaign finance;candidate biography,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 campaign ad,"West’s ad says ""After Patrick Murphy’s charges were dropped, Murphy’s father gave the prosecutor a huge campaign donation."" There is a sliver of  here: After the 2003 case against Murphy was dropped, his father’s companies gave $1,500 to Fernandez Rundle’s re-election campaign. Murphy’s father also gave $500 to Fernandez Rundle in 2000. But there are two significant problems with this . First, we wouldn’t call $1,500 in donations ""huge."" They weren’t huge for Fernandez Rundle, who raised about $800,000 in her 2004 campaign. And the amount wasn’t huge for the companies, either. They had given five-figure donations to the Republican Party of Florida in the past -- and $50,000 to Sink since then. West’s campaign emphasized that the ad simply lays out the facts for the viewers to decide. But the ad’s images of shadowy meetings and large piles of cash leave viewers with the impression that there was an exchange of campaign donations for Murphy’s case being dropped. We see no  to prove that connection. We rate this ad ."
15693,4,"The partial government shutdown in early 2019 affected ""18,000 federal employees in West Virginia.","January 2, 2019",federal budget,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 tweet,"Manchin tweeted that the partial government shutdown in early 2019 affected ""18,000 federal employees in West Virginia."" Manchin is close on the number of federal workers in the state. However, it’s important to note that not all of those federal workers in West Virginia were either furloughed or required to work without pay; those employed by agencies with valid spending bills were working and getting paid as normal. We rate the statement ."
20421,5,Southwest Airlines announce they will no longer terminate employees over the mandate.,"October 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,"A Facebook post claims that Southwest Airlines will no longer fire its employees who choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. The company announced in early October that employees must be vaccinated or seek an exemption from the vaccine to continue employment. However, the company’s CEO later said that no one will be fired over the vaccine mandate, and that the airline will encourage unvaccinated workers to seek an ""accommodation.""  Employees whose exemptions have not been processed or approved by Dec. 8 will remain employed, and the company will adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols as it encourages its unvaccinated workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the company’s spokesperson and its CEO. We rate this  . "
20434,0,"Clintons, Powell, and Hunter Biden have already undergone military tribunals.","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,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) Military tribunals come up in the QAnon conspiracy theory , which maintains without  that powerful cabal of politicians and celebrities run a global child sex trafficking ring. In the video in this post, the woman speaking refers to the cabal and makes other comments that sound rooted in QAnon.   But there’s nothing to corroborate the  that former President Bill Clinton, former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell, and Hunter Biden, son of the president, have been subject to military tribunals.   We rate this post !"
12766,4,"Says Donald Trump said he intends ""to open up additional areas off the coast to oil drilling"" during the campaign.","November 16, 2016",environment,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 Senate floor speech,"Nelson said that Trump said during the campaign he intends ""to open up additional areas off the coast to oil drilling."" In official campaign and transition team statements, Trump repeatedly has called for making it easier to drill for oil. He called for opening offshore areas and reducing ""unnecessary restrictions."" Since he won, Trump’s administration has reiterated its pro-drilling stance. He hasn't been so clear about his specific plans for Florida. In one interview, he appeared skeptical about expanding offshore drilling closer to Florida. He is limited in the extent that he could expand drilling anywhere near Florida’s coasts because current law bans it within at least 125 miles.   With that caveat, we rate Nelson’s point ."
18067,1,"Says Sen. Thom Tillis ""doesn't think restaurant workers should have to wash their hands.","July 24, 2020",public health;coronavirus,majority forward,PAC affiliated with Senate Majority PAC,north carolina,0,0,0,1,1,0,a television ad,"The ad says Tillis ""doesn’t think restaurant workers should have to wash their hands."" He never said restaurant workers shouldn’t wash their hands. In context, he was saying he didn’t think the government needed to regulate handwashing at restaurants, because customers would stop going if that happened. He later reversed that statement, saying ""of course"" it needs to be regulated.  What’s more, his 2015 comments had nothing to do with the pandemic. During the pandemic, Tillis has held up hand washing as an important public response. The ad is , so we rate it ."
5492,5,Wisconsin lost more jobs over the past 12 months than any other state.,"April 30, 2012",jobs,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 news release,"In a news release issued Monday, Buono offered this statistic about the Badger State: ""Wisconsin lost more jobs over the past 12 months than any other state."" According to federal labor statistics, Buono’s  is accurate. From March 2011 to March 2012, Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs, or 0.9 percent, placing the state in last place for both measures. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
20025,0,Americans not vaccinated before 2022 will be put in camps,"July 20, 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,Instagram,"An Instagram post claimed that Biden announced that Americans not vaccinated by 2022 will be placed in ""quarantine camps."" The  derives from an article that is labeled ""satirical"" — but it is being shared on social media without that context or disclaimer. !"
20732,1,"President Joe Biden ""never had a"" COVID-19 ""plan.","December 29, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;ad watch;coronavirus,save america pac,Save America PAC is a leadership political action committee affiliated with former president Donald Trump.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,an ad,"An ad from the Trump-aligned Save America PAC claimed that ""Biden never had a plan"" for COVID-19. The ad seized on a recent Biden remark about the pandemic that ""there is no federal solution."" Biden’s comment was in the context that the fight is not merely a federal one, but is carried out at the state and local levels, as well. Moreover, as a candidate and as president, Biden has advanced a number of plans to counter the virus. We rate the  . PolitiFact staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
6746,3,"Under Charlie Crist, Florida lost 825,000 jobs and the unemployment rate increased from 3.5 percent to 11.1 percent.","December 11, 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,a news conference,"Scott is right about the grim jobless figures: The state’s employment picture worsened almost as soon as Crist became governor and did not let up. But Scott misses the mark for implying the state’s recession was the result of a poor handling by Crist. Florida’s economy tanked largely as a result of the housing market crisis, a tornado of issues over which Crist had little to no control. We rate Scott’s statement . Update: This fact-check was updated shortly after publication to include comment from the governor's office."
6638,1,The Ryan budget gets rid of Medicare in 10 years and turns it into a voucher program.,"October 23, 2012",health care;medicare,sheldon whitehouse,Sheldon Whitehouse is a Democratic U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.,rhode island,11,7,2,2,3,0,a debate,"He said Medicare would be gone in 10 years. Under the latest version of the Ryan plan, it wouldn’t. We rate Whitehouse's statement  . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
6543,1,"As a Member of Congress, Chris Murphy ""was raking in $1 million in salary.","October 11, 2012",candidate biography,linda mcmahon,"Linda McMahon, the 2012 Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut, is the former chief executive officer of WWE, the professional wrestling organization.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign ad,"The method for calculating Murphy’s salary was disclosed on the screen, but it is in such small type -- and it was calculated in such an unorthodox way -- that the explanation is greatly outweighed by the narration and the visuals. We’ve never heard of anyone refer to their ""salary"" as six cumulative years of earnings. By phrasing it this way, the ad is pulling a fast one. We rate the statement ."
3846,3,"Only seven of 18 federal food assistance programs have been associated with positive health and nutrition outcomes, while the remaining 11 have not been effective.","June 1, 2011",federal budget,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 House committee hearing,"But the second part of his , that other 11 were found to be ineffective, was . To his credit, his office readily acknowledged the . But a tenet of PolitiFact is that words matter, and in this case, a part of his remarks made in a formal hearing was . His underlying point -- that more assessment of the programs is needed -- is buttressed by the GAO report. With half the statement on point but the other half off target, on the -O-Meter his  rates as ."
589,2,"Obama ""promises more taxes on small business, seniors, your life savings, your family.","August 8, 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,a television ad,"Those higher incomes constitute a small percentage of U.S. taxpayers,  the top 1 percent. The ad says that Obama ""promises more taxes on small business, seniors, your life savings, your family."" That sounds like a broad-brush statement of Obama's taxation philosophy. But Obama does not promise those things; in fact, he promises more taxes for taxpayers with the highest incomes. McCain's statement is a distortion of Obama's proposals, and we find it ."
3171,2,"There are nearly 500,000 registered sex offenders across the country and at any one time about 100,000 are unaccounted for.","January 25, 2011",children;crime,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,"A team of academics says they’re substantially overstated. Data from Rhode Island and nearby states supports that view. Clearly, when even one registered sex offender is missing, that’s a serious problem -- a problem Palumbo is trying to fix. But public officials owe it to their constituents to get the facts right when they’re trying to address such issues. Palumbo’s statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression -- the PolitiFact definition for ."
81,3,"When I was mayor of New York City, I encouraged adoptions. Adoptions went up 65-70 percent. Abortions went down 16 percent.","May 3, 2007",abortion,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,,"So, he's got his numbers right on abortion rates, but he has inflated the adoption figures by getting too fancy with his math. We find his overall  . UPDATE: We've corrected the launch date for the Administration for Children's Services. We mistakenly said 2006 when we should have said 1996."
17329,1,"George Soros owns the WuXi PHARMA LAB located in Wuhan, China where COVID-19 was developed and conveniently Broke Out.","March 15, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a text post,"RELATED: 7 ways to avoid misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic An article published March 17 says that, while the exact origin of the coronavirus is still unclear, its genetic makeup of the coronavirus precludes it from being created in a lab. ""If genetic manipulation had been performed, one of the several reverse-genetic systems available for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used,"" the analysis reads. ""However, the genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone."" The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
18146,1,"Scores of politicians and others are on a ""list"" of sex cases from newly unsealed Ghislaine Maxwell court documents.","July 31, 2020",criminal justice;crime;sexuality;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting"" a child, the post says. Childs had served as a Republican on the Hawai'i County Council from 1992 to 1996. He pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child in 2000 and served jail time. We rate the post . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
9556,4,"More than 70,000"" job openings are listed on a state jobs website.","September 20, 2014",economy;jobs;workers,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,remarks during a campaign stop,"Our rating Walker said ""more than 70,000"" job openings are listed on a state jobs website, JobCenterofWisconsin.com. The raw number of job listings exceeds that figure. But not all of the listings are verified by the state and thousands of the jobs are outside of Wisconsin. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is .   To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page ."
9821,1,"The cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys have ""entertained more troops in the world than Bob Hope.","January 9, 2015",corrections and updates;military,jerry jones,Jerry Jones has been the owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team since 1989.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,1,"an interview with ESPN aired Jan. 9, 2015","Jones said the cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys have ""entertained more troops in the world than Bob Hope."" The cheerleaders may be outpacing other groups in USO tours, having toured nearly 80 times. But it looks like Hope, who died at 100 in July 2003 , performed before more troops, given that he had nearly 200 USO swings. We rate Jones'  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. UPDATE, 4 p.m., Jan. 13, 2015: We updated this story Jan. 12, 2015, to correct the spelling of a USO official's name and to fold in that group's count of the troops entertained by the Cowboys cheerleaders since 2002. We updated it afresh the next day to add an Air Force mention of Hope entertaining millions of troops. These changes did not affect the rating of the statement."
20943,1,"COVID spelled backward is ""divoc"" which means ""possession of the evil spirit"" in Hebrew.","January 19, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A woman in a Facebook video claims that COVID spelled backward is ""Divoc,"" which means ""possession of the evil spirit"" in Hebrew. There is no such word in Hebrew. The closest existing word in the language is ""dibbuk,"" which means evil possession, but the two are not the same word, linguistic experts said. We rate this . "
2749,4,"Measures taken by my administration ""have saved taxpayers $1 billion.","November 8, 2010",state budget,donald carcieri,"Donald Carcieri, a Republican, served as Rhode Island's governor from 2003 to 2010. He is a former CEO of Cookson America.",rhode island,0,1,1,0,0,0,The Providence Journal,"""We would have had to either increase taxes or other revenues or reduce expenditures in areas that might have been Draconian,"" she said. But there's no doubt that the Carcieri administration,  in concert with the General Assembly, helped save taxpayers a lot of money over the past eight years. If you take the most liberal interpretation claimed by the governor -- factoring in both past and future pension-reform and retiree health-care savings -- the final figure could be substantially more than $1 billion. If you take the most conservative estimate -- only counting pension-reform and retiree health-care savings to date and excluding ""cost avoidance"" -- the final figure, by our calculation, would total in the neighborhood of $930 million. We take the moderate approach, rating Carcieri's  ""."""
10923,4,"Go look on the West Point website and you'll see those specific words, 'full scholarship to West Point.' So even though it is, you know, given as a grant for anybody who gets in, those words are used.","November 8, 2015",candidate biography,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",national,0,3,3,8,12,4,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Carson defended his use of the word scholarship in discussing his recruitment to West Point, saying, ""Go look on the West Point website and you’ll see those specific words, ‘full scholarship to West Point.’"" The military academy has used the words ""full scholarship"" a few times in admissions literature and advertisements and in one place on its website. However, experts say Carson’s use of the word scholarship doesn’t properly explain the application and appointment process to West Point. Carson’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. That meets our definition of . Correction: After this story was published, we found an additional instance of the words ""full scholarship"" on West Point’s website. The article has been updated to reflect that. The ruling remains ."
13508,1,Most likely the primary control knob (for the earth's temperature) is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.,"June 19, 2017",environment;climate change,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,"Energy Secretary Rick Perry said, ""Most likely the primary control knob (for the earth’s temperature) is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in."" Perry’s  contradicts settled science. While natural factors certainly affect the climate, human factors are the main contributor to global warming, and carbon dioxide has acted as the ""primary control knob"" governing the earth’s relatively recent uptick in temperature. We rate Perry’s statement ."
19095,0,"The DC looting was staged"" by antifa","January 8, 2021",elections;jan. 6,jonathan wichmann,Jonathan Wichmann is a Wisconsin Republican who says he is running for governor in 2022. He describes himself as a small business owner/entrepreneur.,wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,1,a YouTube post,"Wichmann said ""the DC looting was staged"" by antifa. Wichmann presents no  to back this  online or in response to our requests. This is a pure fiction that contradicts an array of easily accessible information. We rate this  ."
329,1,"She said, you know, 'I voted for it, but I hoped it wouldn't pass.' That was a quote on live TV.","February 10, 2008",bankruptcy,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,"Alexandra, Va","And yet, the latter is how Obama characterizes Clinton's words. We need to be clear on this point, given that Obama sets up his charge against Clinton as an example of ""political talk"" and follows it up with, ""That kind of talk, I think it makes people not trust government."" Absolutely, Clinton said she regretted her vote. And, had Obama phrased his charge differently, he would have a case here. But because he portrays her wording as a precise quote, and is so  about it, we give him a ."
14317,2,"Last year, I proposed directing more of the education budget to teacher salaries, a move that would have resulted in an average $10,000 raise for teachers.","January 16, 2018",education;state budget,dan patrick,"As a Houston state senator, Dan Patrick won election as lieutenant governor of Texas in November 2014 after earlier defeating incumbent David Dewhurst for his party's nomination. Patrick also has hosted a daily talk show on AM700 in Houston.",texas,7,7,5,6,7,9,a campaign video,"Patrick said: ""Last year, I proposed directing more of the education budget to teacher salaries, a move that would have resulted in an average $10,000 raise for teachers."" Patrick made no proposal to direct more of the state's education budget to teacher salaries. Rather, he told reporters that lawmakers should tell school districts to set aside more money for such salaries by reducing other expenditures. That idea, which Patrick said would boost the average salary by $8,000, never got written into a legislative proposal. 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."
12437,1,"NATO is opening up a major terror division. ... I'm sure I'm not going to get credit for it, but that was largely because of what I was saying and my criticism of NATO.","September 26, 2016",foreign policy;military;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 presidential debate at Hofstra University,"Trump said, ""NATO is opening up a major terror division. ... I'm sure I'm not going to get credit for it, but that was largely because of what I was saying and my criticism of NATO."" The change he’s apparently referring to -- the creation of a new senior post and division for coordinating intelligence sharing -- is just the most recent incremental change in how the alliance handles counter-terrorism, a topic it has addressed, in big ways and small, for more than 30 years. There is no  that the change was made in response to Trump’s complaints about the alliance. Experts said such changes typically require a longer gestation period so that all member nations can get on board. We rate Trump’s statement ."
12572,2,"Many of (Hillary Clinton's) friends took bigger deductions (than me). Warren Buffett took a massive deduction. (George) Soros, who is a friend of hers, took a massive deduction.","October 9, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,the second presidential debate,"Trump said, ""Many of (Hillary Clinton’s) friends took bigger deductions (than me). Warren Buffett took a massive deduction. Soros, who is a friend of hers, took a massive deduction."" Trump’s $916 million loss could have allowed him to have a $50 million deduction each year for 18 years. As for Buffet and Soros, Trump is likely referring to a $514 million deduction Buffett’s company, not Buffett himself, took in 2013. (We’ll note that this amount is actually smaller than what Trump would have been permitted to take.) Buffett says he personally took a $5.5 million deduction. Soros manages a hedge fund. Experts told us any deductions from this hedge fund would not appear on Soros’ personal tax returns. Without copies of actual tax return forms, it’s impossible to tell for sure what each man did with their taxes, but with the information available, it seems that the situations of Buffett and Soros are not that similar to Trump’s. We rate Trump’s  ."
3739,5,"The budget currently being debated ""significantly decreases the use of one-time resources.","May 28, 2011",state budget,ron amstutz,"State Rep. Ron Amstutz represents the 3rd House District, which includes all of Wayne County, Ohio. He has 30 years of service in both the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House.",ohio,1,1,0,0,0,0,a newspaper column,"Again, he says the state is relying on $1.2 billion in one-time money in the first year of the proposed budget, which is pretty darn close to $1.16 billion. And, as he says, the budget eliminates in the second year all one-time money except $100 million. Though debate still exists over the exact figure of one-time money used in the last budget cycle, the level of one-time money used was unprecedented and is clearly far greater than what is proposed in the new budget. Amstutz’ statement is accurate and there’s nothing significantly missing for a full understanding. On the -O-Meter, PolitiFact Ohio rates Amstutz’ statement as .  "
20280,1,"Peak active cases"" of COVID-19 for 2020 vs. 2021 show ""this is not a 'pandemic of the unvaccinated.'","September 12, 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,a Facebook post,"A viral image claimed that ""peak active cases"" of COVID-19 for 2020 vs. 2021 show ""this is not a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated.'"" ""Peak active cases"" is not a term used by researchers and it was not clear what figures listed in the image were counting. New cases in the U.S. peaked in August 2021, after the more contagious delta variant became predominant. But data show the unvaccinated are far more likely to become infected, and to become hospitalized or die, than the vaccinated. We rate the post ."
16428,1,Says an image shows a photo of hurricane-ravaged Abaco Island in the Bahamas.,"September 2, 2019",weather;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The caption indicates that the image was taken Oct. 17, 2018, in Mexico Beach, Fla., after Hurricane Michael — a storm that caused catastrophic damage in the Florida Panhandle. However, early reports and images from the Bahamas, and the Abaco Islands specifically, do indicate that there has been widespread devastation. The New York Times reported that thousands of homes have been destroyed, and early images from the Associated Press show flooding and structural damage. The Facebook post is not accurate. We rate it ."
10700,4,Atlanta has issued an increasing number of citations - and collected an increasing amount of revenue - since Mayor Kasim Reed took office in 2010.,"September 3, 2015",crime;public safety,reader ,A reader of PolitiFact Georgia.,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,1,an email from a reader,"A reader reached out to PolitiFact Georgia, claiming Atlanta has issued an increasing number of misdemeanor citations since Mayor Kasim Reed took office in 2010. The reason was money, the reader argued. We couldn’t confirm the numbers the reader had calculated. But our research showed that tickets issued since Reed took office have increased, both when issued by city police and the city’s outsourced parking enforcer. Combined, the number of citations increased about 16 percent in that time – and the revenue collected from them swelled a whopping 45 percent. City leaders have a point that some growth would be expected, given the private parking enforcement and the increase in officers in the city. Proving the motivation – increased revenue, more focused policing or a combination of both – is difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint. But even with the caveats, the statistics back up the  about ticket and revenue growth. We rate the  ."
2930,1,The health care law includes tort reform.,"January 19, 2011",health care;legal issues,anthony weiner,"Anthony Weiner is a former congressman who represented parts of New York City, including Brooklyn, Kew Gardens and Rockaway.",national,0,0,2,2,1,0,a speech on the House floor,"But in claiming that the law includes tort reform, he is significantly mischaracterizing the law. Although it has a tiny amount of money for state pilot projects that look at alternatives to litigation, they are so small that they were ignored by the leading group that opposes tort reform -- the trial lawyers. The group's president said the projects weren't anything to be concerned about. That puts the projects at such a great distance from any sort of traditional notion of tort reform that they're just not even in the same ballpark. We rate Weiner's statement ."
4368,1,"Today, the Social Security system is broke.","October 1, 2011",social security,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,an interview on News 12 New Jersey’s Power & Politics show,"Lonegan claimed ""the Social Security system is broke."" It’s  that annual tax revenues no longer support the program’s expenses. But made up of government securities, Social Security’s trust funds should be able to cover full benefits until at least 2036. That deadline may be cause for concern, but it also means the system is not broke. We rate the statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
20963,1,"According to Congress, travel nurses need a pay cap.","February 6, 2022",congress;corrections and updates;health care;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said that ""according to Congress, travel nurses need a pay cap."" A group of nearly 200 legislators sent a letter to the White House asking for a federal investigation into what it called ""inflated"" prices that staffing agencies are charging hospitals to supply nurses. A similar letter was sent by hospital and nursing home groups. No investigation has been announced by the White House or FTC. However, the letters did not call for pay caps on what travel nurses make, nor has any legislation been proposed in Congress. The two main authors of the letter said they do not want to see lower pay for travel nurses as a result and would not support any legislation that proposes that. Some states are considering rate caps on what staffing agencies can charge hospitals and that could ultimately result in lowered salaries for nurses, an industry expert said. But that’s not what the Facebook post is claiming. We rate this  . CORRECTION, Feb. 17, 2022: U.S. Rep. Peter Welch is a Democrat. An earlier version of this post listed the  party affiliation. "
17479,2,"The president looks like he was ahead of the curve – as you know, he talks about this all the time – on shutting down travel from China.","April 13, 2020",coronavirus;pennsylvania,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,on CNN,"Santorum said, ""The president looks like he was ahead of the curve – as you know, he talks about this all the time – on shutting down travel from China."" Trump wasn’t ""ahead of the curve,"" as Santorum said. He was following the advice of experts in his own administration – and the actions of the industry directly affected by the move. And about 45 nations restricted travel from China before the United States. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this  .  PolitiFact’s Miriam Valverde contributed to this report."
8477,1,"Says Lamar Smith ""sponsored the bill that funded Obamacare.","February 22, 2014",federal budget;health care;space,texas liberty pac,"Dave Nalle, a founder of the Texas Liberty PAC, told us it is a Republican-led super PAC founded in February 2014 with an initial focus on defeating two Republican House members.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,Austin,"The PAC’s sign said Smith ""sponsored the bill that funded Obamacare."" To the contrary, legislative leaders amended a brief Smith proposal related to space ships to fold in the 2014 appropriations act, which included some Obamacare-tied expenditures. This  distorts a leadership strategic maneuver to continue government spending to misrepresent Smith’s role and position on the Obamacare law. We rate it as .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
7879,4,"Virginia is ""the number one state per capita in screening out people with mental illness from gun purchases.","September 25, 2013",guns,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 debate,"Cuccinelli said Virginia is ""the number one state per capita in screening out people with mental illness from gun purchases."" His  is based on outdated numbers.   Virginia used to be No.1, but was surpassed by Pennsylvania last year. Now, we’re a distant No. 2. That’s still impressive. So Cuccinelli’s statement is largely accurate but needs the clarification. We rate it ."
455,1,"Says Obama called Israel ""a constant sore"" that infects U.S. foreign policy.","May 12, 2008",israel,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 news release,"Boehner's statement alleges that Obama was saying that Israel, a key ally of the United States, is a ""constant wound ... constant sore."" But it's clear from the rest of the interview that Obama was referring to the Middle East conflict, not Israel. And Goldberg himself said in this blog posting ""that Obama was clearly calling the Middle East conflict, and not Israel, a sore."" Goldberg added sarcastically that he was sure Boehner would issue a corrected press release because during the interview, ""Obama expressed — in 12 different ways — his support for Israel."" Given the context for Obama's remarks and his repeated support of Israel throughout the interview, we find Boehner's statement to be ."
1384,2,Mayor White has major stake in Barnett Shale production company.,"February 9, 2010",environment;economy;energy;transparency,farouk shami,"Farouk Shami is a Palestinian-born businessman from Houston. He is the founder and chairman of Farouk Systems, Inc., a $1 billion corporation known for it's BioSilk and CHI hair care product lines.",texas,1,0,2,1,2,1,a press release,"But Shami's assertion that White's $45,000 investment in Exxon constitutes a ""major stake"" in XTO is off the mark. Though we found that White has a larger interest in ConocoPhillips, which owns another company drilling in the Barnett Shale, that too is a tiny piece of a multinational oil company's action. We rate Shami's statement as . Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to ."
12471,5,"Says Senate candidate Katie McGinty ""made thousands from companies she previously regulated.","September 21, 2016",transparency,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.""",pennsylvania,1,0,1,1,1,0,In a political ad,"The pro-Republican PAC Freedom Partners Action Fund attacked Senate candidate Katie McGinty in a recent ad, stating, ""she’s made thousands from companies she previously regulated."" After McGinty stopped working as DEP secretary in 2008, she worked for or served on the board for energy companies NRG Energy, Iberdrola and Plextronics, among others. NRG Energy and Iberdrola both compensated her with more than $100,000. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, the office is responsible for regulating the activities of energy companies. We rule the  ."
1252,1,"A Medicaid provision added to the Senate health care reform bill ""is not a special deal for Nebraska.","December 22, 2009",health care,ben nelson,"Ben Nelson, a Democrat, is the senior U.S. senator from Nebraska.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech on the Senate floor,"Maybe it will open the door so that in the next seven years, other states will be able to change the law so that they can get the same deal as Nelson got for Nebraska. But for now, Nebraska is the only state in the bill that would get the deal. Other states may fight in the future, but Nelson has already won that battle for Nebraska. And unless or until all states get the same treatment, it is a special deal for Nebraska. We rule Nelson's statement ."
6441,5,"Says Tennessee is providing ""millions of dollars"" to virtual school company for ""results at the bottom of the bottom.","August 31, 2012",education;state budget,andy berke,"A graduate of Stanford University and Chicago University School of Law, Berke returned to his hometown of Chattanooga and in 2007 was elected to the state Senate. He is the vice-chairman of the Democratic caucus.",tennessee,1,0,0,0,0,0,a letter to state Senate education committee chairwoman Dolores Gresham,"One of the state’s leading critics of aggressive ""school choice"" reforms said the state is sending millions of dollars to a virtual-school company but getting results that are ""at the bottom of the bottom."" The numbers back him up. We rate this statement ."
644,5,"Sarah Palin ""has had 12 years of elected office experience.","August 30, 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,"Pittsburgh, Pa.","In 2002, Palin ran for lieutenant governor and lost. She did not run for elected offfice again until 2006, when she won the race for Alaska's governor, ousting incumbent Frank Murkowski in the primary and then beating Democrat Tony Knowles in the election, 114,697 votes to 97,238. She took office on Dec. 4, 2006. Palin was about three month's short of two years in the governor's office when McCain made his remarks, but we'll round up because it would be 12 years total elected experience if the ticket wins and takes office in January 2009. We rule McCain's statement ."
18819,0,"Wisconsin took a break, and when they returned, Biden coincidentally came back ahead by 100k.","November 4, 2020",elections,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A viral Facebook post cites a tweet that claimed, ""Wisconsin took a break, and when they returned, Biden coincidentally came back ahead by 100k."" The Democratic nominee never held that great of a lead in Wisconsin, even when the Associated Press called the race. And some of the state’s election results arrived late due to an influx of mail-in ballots — not because officials ""took a break."" We rate this  ."
5974,5,"In 2010, Mr. [Anthony] Gemma described himself as a 'pro-life' candidate. Now, he claims to be pro-choice.","July 19, 2012",abortion;candidate biography;health care;legal issues;women,naral pro-choice america,"NARAL Pro-Choice America, formerly the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, is the country's oldest abortion rights advocacy group. It advocates for pro-choice rights on the issues of abortion, birth control, sex education and healthy pregnancies.",rhode island,1,0,1,2,1,1,a news release,"NARAL Pro-Choice America said: ""In 2010, [Anthony] Gemma described himself as a 'pro-life' candidate. Now he claims to be pro-choice."" It's clear that Gemma's position on abortion rights has changed. He went from saying that he supported a woman’s right to abortion only in cases of rape, incest and the health of the mother, to saying he would defend a woman's right to choose when it comes to health care and family planning options, although his statement doesn't specifically mention abortion. He may be calling himself a ""pro-life Democrat"" in the same breath, but when the candidate says, ""I vow to protect a woman's right to choose,"" he's trying to put himself in the ""pro-choice"" camp. NARAL says Gemma changed his position after his appearance on WHJJ. Clearly it predates that. But that's a side issue. When NARAL says Gemma has gone from being a ""pro-life"" candidate to calling himself a ""pro-choice"" one, we judge that statement to be  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
12290,4,It has been 269 days since (Hillary) Clinton has held a press conference.,"August 30, 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,an email,"Trump’s email said, ""It has been 269 days since Clinton has held a press conference."" Only one event in the past 269 days -- Clinton’s appearance before the minority journalists’ convention -- could reasonably be considered a press conference, and there are good arguments for why it isn’t. The questioners were limited to a small pool of convention participants, leaving most of the Clinton campaign press corps  -- the dozens of journalists who know the campaign the best and who had complained the most about lack of access -- without an equal shot at asking a question. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/5b54d70d-9710-4f3e-9eff-02268f8a0dc3"
16547,2,"Universal background checks involve asking people ""to submit the serial numbers to their guns to a state or federal official,"" and that violates the Second Amendment.","September 22, 2019",constitutional amendments;government regulation;states;guns,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 TV interview,"Fitzgerald says universal background checks would involve asking people to submit their guns’ serial numbers to the government, which would violate the Second Amendment. The serial numbers that are submitted for background checks don’t end up in government hands for years or decades. And then the federal agency is barred from fashioning them into a database. What’s more, there is no  such a requirement would violate the Second Amendment, since several states have gun registries that have not been struck down by the courts — and a similar provision was upheld by federal courts in a Washington, D.C. case. We define  as ""a statement that contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here."
21194,1,"The Biden administration is attempting ""to criminalize free speech.","March 25, 2022",congress;homeland security;facebook fact-checks,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,a Facebook post,"A video shared on Facebook by Palin said that Sen. Blackburn exposed ""the Biden admin’s attempt to criminalize free speech."" In the video, Blackburn criticizes a National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin . The document from DHS mentions  narratives and conspiracy theories shared online as a contributing factor in a ""heightened threat environment."" But simply drawing attention to online misinformation does not constitute an attempt to criminalize free speech and nowhere in the document does the administration advocate for a policy that would criminalize it. The Biden administration has multiple times expressed its intent to protect free speech in other documents related to the role of misinformation in domestic extremism.  We rate this  ."
3662,0,"Says that PolitiFact Ohio confirms that Betty Sutton ""maxed out federal debt","June 1, 2011",deficit;federal budget,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,ohio,4,5,9,20,14,9,an e-mail news release,"The -O-Meter has other ratings available, of course, including its lowest, . The definition? ""The statement is not accurate and makes a  ."" One other way to put it is: We said what? Both fit the NRCC’s characterization perfectly."
13187,2,"About a third of Wisconsin's high schools ""are missing the mark of graduating young adults who are college ready,"" a ""pass rate of 66.6%.","March 26, 2017",education,lowell holtz,Lowell Holtz was a candidate in the spring 2017 primary for the nonpartisan position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He's a former principal and school superintendent in multiple Wisconsin school districts.,wisconsin,0,1,0,1,0,0,a post on a campaign web site,"The need for any remedial help is established in placement tests after their acceptance. The rating About a third of Wisconsin’s high schools ""are missing the mark of graduating young adults who are college ready,"" Lowell Holtz claimed, a ""pass rate of 66.6 percent."" Holtz cites legitimate data and makes fair use of Evers’ own words to judge the incumbent’s record. But the limits of the data, and Holtz’s blanket characterization of 175 schools as failing on preparing students for college, create significant misperceptions. For a statement that contains some element of  but ignores critical facts, our rating is ."
12948,1,Here's the fact: The No. 1 source of income into Mexico are Mexicans working here and sending the money back.,"January 27, 2017",financial regulation;foreign policy,kellyanne conway,"Kellyane Conway is a White House counselor to President Donald Trump. Previously, she was a Republican strategist and pollster who served as campaign manager for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.",national,0,1,0,5,5,0,"an interview with ""CBS This Morning""","Conway said, ""Here's the fact. The No. 1 source of income into Mexico are Mexicans working here and sending the money back."" A projected $27 billion influx of cash from the United States into Mexico is nothing to sneeze at, and this money makes a real difference in the lives of many Mexicans who have relatives living and working in the United States, whether legally or illegally. However, contrary to what Conway said, remittances do not rank No. 1 on the U.S.-Mexico income flow list. Rather, U.S. purchases of Mexican goods -- to say nothing of services -- are more than 10 times the size of remittances. And remittances also trail foreign direct investment as a source of income in Mexico. We rate the statement ."
1618,3,"Says the American public ""overwhelmingly opposed"" Democratic-steered health care plan.","April 24, 2010",health care,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 radio address,"Where does all this leave Hutchison’s  of overwhelming opposition at the time lawmakers acted? Certainly, many Texans clamored against approval. And national polls show more Americans opposed the action than supported it. But Hutchison overreaches by calling that opposition overwhelming. We rate Hutchison’s statement as ."
11061,4,"Three or four countries"" out of roughly 60 in the anti-ISIS coalition ""are providing military force.","December 13, 2015",military;terrorism,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 with NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Rubio said that only ""three or four countries"" out of roughly 60 in the anti-ISIS coalition ""are providing military force."" The available government data and media reports suggest that Rubio is close to accurate. However, a lack of transparency in the operational data leaves a measure of doubt, and stating it the way he did glosses over the contributions from other nations that are taking important support roles even if they aren’t contributing much in the way of airstrikes. We rate his  ."
17657,2,"Says Joe Biden said voting by mail is a way to ""fundamentally change this country,"" contradicting past statements by Barack Obama and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.","May 8, 2020",corrections and updates;elections,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,florida,4,5,12,9,8,2,a video,"An RNC video says Joe Biden said voting by mail is a way to ""fundamentally change this country,"" contradicting past statements by Barack Obama and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The RNC video only includes snippets of statements by Obama and Wasserman Schultz to leave viewers with a  impression that they were bashing voting by mail in general, and that wasn’t the case. Obama and Wasserman Schultz were talking about voting by mail in a narrow set of circumstances: a controversial proposal to redo the presidential preference primary in Florida in 2008. There is no  that overall either Democrat was broadly critical of voting by mail as an option in elections. The portion of the video about Biden also omits context. The video quotes him stating ""we have an incredible opportunity to not just dig out of this crisis but to fundamentally change this country,"" before launching into the video’s theme that Democrats want to use mail-in balloting to ""radically change"" American elections. But Biden wasn’t talking about elections, he was talking about protecting workers amid the pandemic. This video includes actual quotes by these three Democrats, but lacks context to explain their remarks. This video rates . UPDATE, May 15, 2020: We received a statement from the RNC after publication. It does not affect the rating of the fact-check."
11997,1,Just look at what the FBI director said about her (Hillary Clinton) — her misconduct  is a disgrace and embarrassment to our country.,"July 11, 2016",candidate biography;criminal justice;legal issues;negative campaigning;public service;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 speech,"Trump said, ""Just look at what the FBI director said about her (Hillary Clinton) — her misconduct  is a disgrace and embarrassment to our country."" The Trump campaign indicated Comey said it during his news conference. He didn't. He said her actions were careless, but he didn’t call them a disgrace or an embarrassment or the equivalent. It's possible that Trump was trying to convey two different thoughts, urging people to look up the FBI director's comments and the ""disgrace and embarrassment"" comment was supposed to be his own characterization. But that's not how it comes across, both when spoken and in the transcript. With that in mind, we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/b1a6a5e7-b27c-496b-a3cd-73f65def2f05"
6607,1,"Sherrod Brown ""voted six times to raise his own pay.","October 2, 2012",congress;message machine 2012;voting record,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 campaign commercial,"As PolitiFact Ohio has noted previously, legislators frequently face the dilemma of having to vote against something they might normally support because it is included in wide-ranging legislation that also has other provisions they cannot support. In the case of these cited procedural votes, all involved broad pieces of legislation. None were focused purely on the pay raise issue. The Mandel ad claimed that Brown voted six times to raise his own pay. On the -O-Meter, that  rates ."
16044,5,Texas actually leads in the number of (Confederate) monuments removed.,"May 7, 2019",history,brandon creighton,"Republican Brandon Creighton serves as a Texas Senator representing District 4, which includes Conroe.",texas,1,0,1,0,0,0,the Texas Senate,"Creighton said, ""Texas actually leads in the number of monuments removed."" Creighton’s  was based on an active study from the Southern Poverty Law Center of monuments, memorials and other symbols to the Confederacy that have been removed or are still standing. The study showed that Texas, which is among the states with the most Confederate symbols to start with, has removed more symbols and monuments than any of the 32 states with such symbols. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing."
3182,3,"Says neither President Barack Obama nor Mexico President Felipe Calderon ""have been on the border to see what's happening to the citizens of Mexico, and for that matter the citizens of Texas.","March 2, 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.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,an interview,"As for whether Obama is ""right for not visiting the border,"" that’s a separate question, Shirk said, adding that the answer depends on whether the ""situation and the (status) of border residents today (is) more important"" than other issues on the nation’s agenda. To our inquiry about Obama’s border travels, White House spokesman Adam Abrams declined comment. We didn’t hear back from Perry and failed to connect with Calderon’s office. Perry’s statement appears to be accurate per Obama, but it’s unmoored regarding Calderon. We rate it ."
12297,4,"The Clinton Foundation is a charity where President and Secretary Clinton and their daughter, they take no salary, they get no money from it, they take no personal benefit from it.","August 24, 2016",candidate biography;ethics;punditfact,hilary rosen,Hilary Rosen is a Democratic strategist and pundit who appears frequently on CNN.,,0,2,0,0,0,0,"""The Diane Rehm Show""","Rosen said, ""The Clinton Foundation is a charity where President and Secretary Clinton and their daughter, they take no salary, they get no money from it, they take no personal benefit from it."" Rosen’s  is correct on its face. The Clintons do not take any sort of paycheck, bonus or fees from the Clinton Foundation. It is possible the foundation has boosted the Clintons’ public image since Bill Clinton left office, and this has helped them command hefty speaker fees and book advances, and it’s also given them extra opportunities to mingle with the global elite. But they may have gotten these benefits even without the Clinton Foundation. Their celebrity primarily comes from their track record in politics. We rate her  ."
9825,5,"Western Europeans ""can fly in the United States without even having a visa.","January 11, 2015",terrorism,michael mccaul,Michael McCaul was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004.,national,4,5,2,2,0,0,"an interview on CBS ""Face the Nation""","McCaul said that Western Europeans can fly to America without a visa. That is accurate. However, while a visa is not required, European travelers must fill out an application. This is the start of a digital record that allows officials to sift through a variety of databases that can flag suspicious people. To date, the experts we contacted and the research we read spoke to a set of strategies that have so far been effective at reducing the risk of European terrorists entering the country. We rate the  ."
2226,1,"Like me, Scott Walker opposed the 1998 transportation bill and the $9 billion of wasteful spending.","September 10, 2010",federal budget;message machine 2010;taxes,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 radio ad for the Scott Walker gubernatorial campaign,"And Bader suggested that because Sensenbrenner was Walker’s congressman, he would have supported Sensenbrenner’s position. That’s all as much of a reach as the original move by Walker to tie Neumann to Pelosi. So far the only information on the record from the time shows Walker supported at least a portion the bill. It’s possible that more  will surface to back up Sensenbrenner’s  that Walker joined him in opposing the bill. But for now we rate it ."
10758,2,"The tax policies of George W. Bush ""created a dynamic effect of high growth.","September 27, 2015",economy;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. ,national,14,24,17,18,5,2,"an interview on ""Fox News Sunday""","Jeb Bush said the tax policies of George W. Bush ""created a dynamic effect of high growth."" The definition of ""high,"" of course, is relative, but if you look at the most directly comparable examples -- the past five presidents’ records in average, annual, inflation-adjusted growth in gross domestic product -- George W. Bush ranked fourth among the five presidents, and trailed the two strongest presidents in this regard, Clinton and Reagan, by a particularly wide margin. (Reagan’s policies included both tax cuts and tax increases.) Bush has so far maintained a lead over Obama, although Obama’s tenure is not finished yet. Still, it’s always worth noting that a president’s impact on the economy is not all-encompassing. Overall, though, the  doesn’t show that high growth occurred in the wake of the Bush tax cuts. We rate the  ."
10875,0,"The president said he's going to bring in 250,000 (Syrian and Iraqi) refugees into this country.","October 19, 2015",immigration;foreign policy;terrorism;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 of Fox News' ""Hannity""","Hannity said, ""The president said he’s going to bring in 250,000 (Syrian and Iraqi) refugees into this country.""   Hannity says his number represents a three-year figure of the total number of refugees the United States is expected to admit worldwide. But that’s all lost on the viewing audience, who gets no idea of the time frame and would reasonably think he’s talking about only refugees from Syria and Iraq. From 1980-2008, the United States has accepted around 83,000 refugees a year. The Obama administration has said it will accept around 70,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2015 and is saying it will accept 85,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2016 and 100,000 in Fiscal Year 2017. Over those three years, that’s about 6,000 refugees more than the recent annual average. Overall, Obama is asking the country to take in an additional 45,000 refugees in 2016 and 2017. Most, but not all, of those additional refugees will come from Syria. Hannity’s  rates !"
21311,1,A video shows the Russian warship Moskva exploding.,"April 14, 2022",military;facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,,0,1,3,9,60,18,a TikTok post,"The Norwegian Navy blasted one of its own decommissioned ships with a missile as part of a military exercise meant to test out new weaponry. The same video was published online in 2013 by CNN , Military.com , and South West News Service , a British news agency. ""That is some serious Scandinavian firepower right there,"" CNN’s John Berman said in a June 2013 TV segment that played the footage. ""That’s the Norwegian Navy blowing up one of its own ships to test out a new long-range stealth missile."" We rate this miscaptioned TikTok post ."
7572,2,"This is the same (farm) bill we voted on a few weeks ago, with the exception of one or two sentences.","July 11, 2013",agriculture;federal budget,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 news conference,"Boehner said, ""This is the same bill we voted on a few weeks ago, with the exception of one or two sentences."" He’s off on the numbers: interest groups identified several changes to the bill, including an entire section. But more to the point, he downplayed the substance of those changes, which not only repealed old law but made new programs permanent — which some Democratic lawmakers and a range of policy groups argued was a serious difference that called for open debate. It’s  changes didn’t affect many sentences in the 600-page bill. But that obscures a different reality, in which those sentences had a significant impact on the legislation. We rate Boehner’s  ."
21974,0,"If Jeff Bezos' net worth reaches $1 trillion, ""he could literally end world poverty and give everyone $1 billion and he will still have $91.5 billion left.","September 14, 2022",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a photo on Facebook,"A Facebook post claimed that if Bezos’ net worth reached $1 trillion, ""he could literally end world poverty and give everyone $1 billion and he will still have $91.5 billion left."" This math doesn’t work out. If Bezos shared his wealth of $149.5 billion equally across the globe, each person would receive about $19. We rate this  ! CORRECTION, Sept. 19, 2022: This fact-check has been updated to fix the numerical version of $7.9 quintillion. The rating is unchanged. RELATED: A  about distributing Jeff Bezos’ billions gets the math "
7856,2,The United States Senate — Democrats and Republicans — (voted) to keep our government open.,"September 27, 2013",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,remarks at the White House,"Obama said, ""The United States Senate — Democrats and Republicans — acted responsibly by voting to keep our government open."" The president has a point that 25 Republicans backed a procedural motion to proceed to the bill itself. But experts said that when analyzing Obama’s comment, it’s more important to note that not a single Republican ultimately voted ""to keep our government open"" when the chamber took up the bill itself. We rate the  ."
5949,4,"Nearly 100,000 people get shot every year. That's 270 people a day and 87 dead.","July 21, 2012",guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on the Internet,"The numbers in the Facebook post are close to accurate, as long as you make one major assumption -- that suicides count as ""get(ting) shot."" We think that assumption is debatable, but there is no question that at least 100,000 people did die or become injured from firearms. On balance, we rate this  ."
16332,3,"Ida B. Wells refused to give up her seat 71 years before Rosa Parks did. At age 33, she owned the first African American newspaper in Chicago, the Chicago Conservator. Why do you never hear about her? Because she was a Republican.","July 19, 2019",corrections and updates;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,post on Facebook,"The Facebook post gets these things right: Wells refused to give up her seat 71 years before Rosa Parks did, and she owned the first African American newspaper in Chicago in her early 30s. But the post also said that people never hear about Ida B. Wells because she was a Republican. That’s not .  Wells ran for a seat in the Illinois Senate as an independent but she was the child of Republicans and supported Republicans. African Americans were largely partial to the Republican Party during Reconstruction. Historians note it’s not the Republican Party of today, though it bears the same name.  Though Wells may not have received enough credit for her journalism and activism through much of history, the record shows that she hasn’t been invisible. When she was overshadowed at points in history, it doesn’t appear that it was due to her political affiliation but rather that she was writing in detail about lynching at a time when the African American voice and experience, and especially the African American female voice and experience, was devalued in a society dominated by white men. Today, Wells has several namesakes and markers to her legacy. McFerren suspects she gets the most attention of her contemporaries of the 1800s. We rate this Facebook post as . Correction , Aug. 7, 2019: The husband of Ida B. Wells, Ferdinand Barnett, was appointed assistant state's attorney in Illinois. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that her father, James Wells, was appointed."
8977,1,"The proposed Gogebic iron ore mine is ""just up the hill"" from the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore caves along Lake Superior.","June 14, 2014",environment;energy,al jazeera america,"Al Jazeera America is a cable news network that launched in the U.S. in 2013.
 ",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a documentary,"Our rating Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines program about the Gogebic mine states that the proposed mine site is ""just up the hill"" from the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore caves. That statement, and the way footage from the caves is interwoven with scenes from the mine site, leaves the unmistakable impression that the mine would be close to the caves. But it’s more than 50 miles from the caves to the mine site. And Al Jazeera officials pledged to edit out the  statement after we asked about it. We rate the  ."
4732,2,Speaker Gingrich has said that we ought to get rid of our child labor laws.,"December 7, 2011",education;labor;poverty,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,an interview on Fox News,"Romney said, ""Speaker Gingrich has said that we ought to get rid of our child labor laws."" We found that Gingrich has proposed some unconventional changes to child labor legislation, which he called ""truly stupid."" Specifically, he said that kids younger than 14 growing up in poverty should be allowed to work as a means of elevating themselves. But he also clarified that children shouldn’t hold mining or industrial jobs. While Gingrich appears to be in favor of easing age restrictions on working, he has given no indication that he wants to ""get rid of"" many other provisions, such as those that prohibit kids from working in certain dangerous occupations. On balance, we rate Romney’s statement ."
12945,3,"The various people who have, in fact, committed terrorist acts in this country, from 9/11 on, none of them came from any of the seven countries that are the subject of the president's executive order.","January 28, 2017",immigration;homeland security,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 CNN interview,"Nadler said, ""The various people who have, in fact, committed terrorist acts in this country, from 9/11 on, none of them came from any of the seven countries that are the subject of the president's executive order."" Experts on terrorism tell us that since 9/11 no one in the United States has been killed in a terrorist attack by someone from the seven countries for which Trump’s executive order temporarily suspends admission. Those countries are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. But there have been at least three non-deadly cases in which the perpetrator was connected to Iran or Somalia. Nadler’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
5920,4,"Says President Barack Obama promised a ""pathway to citizenship"" to undocumented immigrants and ""didn't deliver jack squat on any of it.","June 26, 2012",immigration;children;families;homeland security,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,"And Zepecki cited Obama's executive order. Our rating Priebus said Obama promised a ""pathway to citizenship"" to immigrants ""and he didn't deliver jack squat on any of it."" Obama has not delivered the pathway to citizenship, although Priebus does not make it clear that Obama’s effort -- the DREAM Act -- was blocked by Republicans. That makes Priebus’ statement accurate but needing additional information. We rate it ."
21464,1,"A Mars Rover photo captured by NASA shows a doorway, suggesting extraterrestrial life.","May 13, 2022",space;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Posts on social media  that NASA released an image that shows a doorway on Mars, suggesting life on the planet. NASA officials and Mars experts did release a photo of a rock formation that, at some angles, looks like a doorway-shaped structure. But NASA dismissed claims that the formation is  of extraterrestrial life and said the opening is an unremarkable, naturally-occurring crevice that matches many others on the planet. We rate these posts ."
2264,4,"As the CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina laid off 30,000 workers.","September 15, 2010",candidate biography;corporations;message machine 2010;workers,barbara boxer,Barbara Boxer is California's junior senator.,national,0,4,3,2,0,1,a political ad,"And it's clear that by October 2005 the merged company employed more workers than the two separate companies had pre-merger (Fiorina had been forced out seven months earlier in February 2005). But some of those jobs may have resulted from acquisitions, and some may have been abroad. A company as large as HP is very dynamic, so it's possible that the initial layoffs resulted in a stronger company that contributed to job growth in the long run. That's good in the macro sense, but it doesn't cancel the fact that 30,000 workers lost their jobs. So we rate the  ."
14082,0,Roy Moore's accuser arrested and charged with falsification.,"December 8, 2017",elections;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a fake news website,"The website has a disclaimer on its navigation bar, should any reader care to click on it: ""USAMirrorNews.com is a satirical publication that may appear sometimes to be telling the . We assure you that’s not the case. We present fiction as fact and our sources don’t actually exist."" Several other  news sites carried this story. It is !"
5153,5,Says local Texas chambers of commerce were granted exemptions from paying property taxes on their headquarter properties.,"February 17, 2012",congress;drugs;economy;jobs,becky moeller,"Becky Moeller, head of the 235,000-member Texas AFL-CIO labor federation since 2007, became the first female statewide elected official  in the group in 2003 by becoming its secretary-treasurer, according to biographical information posted by the group. She announced in 2014 plans to step down in July 2015. Before coming to the Texas AFL-CIO, Moeller was president of the Communications Workers of America Local 6137, the Corpus Christi local representing workers at SBC (now AT&T), the entry says.",texas,2,0,0,0,0,0,a press statement,"""If the Legislature wants to allow the public to start subsidizing non-profit organizations that engage in the political process,"" the email says, ""then alternatively we ask you to adopt an amendment that would include labor union organizations in that subsidy. We don’t think it would be great public policy, but it would create a more level playing field. It would be preferable, though, to oppose"" the exemption proposal. ""We believe that taxpayers do not want to subsidize chambers of commerce and other politicized organizations through tax subsidies."" We rate Moeller’s statement ."
13754,3,"Says Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton ""all voted for"" a border wall as senators.","September 5, 2017",immigration;homeland security,jeff denham,Jeff Denham is the U.S. Representative for California's 10th congressional district in the state's Central Valley. He is a Republican. ,california,0,0,1,0,1,0,an interview on NPR,"Denham recently claimed that Obama, Schumer and Clinton voted for a border wall in 2006. They 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. Still, the fence they voted for is not as substantial as the wall Trump is proposing. Trump himself called the 2006 fence a ""nothing wall."" PolitiFact has rated several similar claims , noting they are partially accurate but ignore important context. Denham’s  also gets it about half right, but leaves out key information. We rate it .   – 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."
18383,2,Houston Texans coming out for the Black National Anthem then going into the locker room for THE REAL NATIONAL ANTHEM is DISGRACEFUL.,"September 11, 2020",race and ethnicity;sports;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The Texans continued to remain in their locker room until the ""Star-Spangled Banner"" ended. At that point, the Texans ran onto the field and ""both teams came together at the center of the field for what the public address announcer called ‘a moment of silence to support racial equality in our country,’"" according to USA Today.   ""The Texans had discussed staging a protest during both anthems in an attempt to continue to draw attention to the ongoing problems of police brutality against people of color and systemic oppression,"" the newspaper said. While this Facebook post is correct that the Texans stayed in their locker room for the national anthem, it’s  about the team’s actions during the song known as the Black national anthem, and it misleads readers into thinking the players pointedly took the field for one song and not the other. We rate this Facebook post . "
17161,1,Obama ordered CIA to train ISIS Jihadists,"February 9, 2020",military;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"The headline said, ""Obama ordered CIA to train ISIS Jihadists."" Obama authorized a program in 2013 that trained and armed Syrian opposition forces. The program had its flaws, including that CIA-provided weapons were systematically stolen and sold on the black market, ending up in enemy hands. However, the declassified DIA document contained nothing that suggested the United States or its allies intentionally ""facilitated"" the rise of ISIS in their efforts to oppose Assad. Further, there was no  the program ever trained known members of ISIS. That was never ordered by Obama. We rate this  ."
17239,3,"With regard to the cost, let me be very clear: HHS has designated the coronavirus test as an essential health benefit. That means, by definition, it's covered in the private health insurance of every American, as well as covered by Medicare and Medicaid.","March 4, 2020",health care;health check;coronavirus,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 press briefing,"Pence said ""HHS has designated the coronavirus test as an essential health benefit. That means, by definition, it's covered in the private health insurance of every American, as well as covered by Medicare and Medicaid."" There are a number of moving parts to this statement, but it tends to leave out important details. For instance, many private and employer health plans have flexibility about what benefits they cover and what consumers will pay. In addition, coverage does not necessary mean low cost.   Bottom line: Pence's comment is an overstatement. It fails to acknowledge the need for action at the state level and from the private sector, too. For these reasons, we rate this  as .  "
6176,3,A Gallup report recently said that nearly 50 percent of small business owners aren't hiring because of what they call 'regulatory uncertainty.',"August 28, 2012",economy;jobs;government regulation;regulation;small business,sher valenzuela,"Sher Valenzuela,  a small business owner and professional writer, is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Delaware in 2012.",national,0,0,1,0,0,0,Tampa,"(It’s a bit short of 50 percent, and it was a survey from nine months ago.) However, this  leaves out some important context. Five other factors ranked higher on a list of eight factors that might be impeding hiring. Essentially, Valenzuela cherry-picked one of the factors to make her point, which suggested that it was the only, or main, reason for the lack of hiring. We rate the statement ."
13144,4,"Wisconsin is ""the most -- if not Number 1, number 2 -- gerrymandered state in the country"" for state legislative boundaries.","March 5, 2017",elections;legal issues;population;redistricting,dave hansen,"Hansen, a Democrat from Green Bay, is a former teacher and truck driver who was elected to the Wisconsin Senate in 2000 and re-elected since. He was recalled in 2011 during the fallout from Republican Gov. Scott Walker's collective-bargaining bill and the subsequent protests, but won the recall election and held onto his seat. Hansen was one of 14 Democrats who fled the state for weeks rather than vote on Walker's union limits bill.
In November 2002, he was elected Senate Assistant Minority Leader by his colleagues. In November 2006, he was elected Senate Assistant Majority Leader. Hansen in 2013 was serving as Senate Assistant Democratic Leader.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,1,0,an interview,"Justin Levitt , a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who maintains a website on redistricting , cautioned that ""there are no universally agreed-upon rankings, in part because gerrymandering usually describes an unfair drawing of the lines, and there's no universally agreed-upon sense of what's fair, or what's fair for what purposes."" Our rating Hansen says Wisconsin is ""the most -- if not Number 1, Number 2 -- gerrymandered state in the country"" for state legislative boundaries. A federal court has said maps drawn in 2011 by Wisconsin Republicans were among the most heavily skewed to one party of any plan in the country going back more than 40 years. And, with the caveat that there isn’t a universally accepted definition of gerrymander, two studies put Wisconsin at or near the top. We rate the statement ."
22412,1,"Canada is ""allowing children to seek out medically assisted death.","December 5, 2022",health care;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,"An Instagram post claimed that Canada is ""allowing children to seek out medically assisted death."" Canada’s current medical assistance in dying law applies only to people 18 and older.  The issue of extending access to ""mature minors"" is being studied by a joint commission of Parliament, which will present its report in 2023.  We rate the  ."
14225,4,"Says one year later, ""the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and Syria.","January 30, 2018",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 2018 State of the Union address,"Trump said that after one year, coalition forces had freed almost 100 percent of the territory just recently held by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. According to data from a private defense and security group, the Islamic State controls 93 percent less terrority today than it did at the start of 2015, and 89 percent less since Trump took office. The fight against the Islamic State began two years before Trump became commander in chief, and the radical militant group saw significant territorial losses by the end of 2016. His words link the most recent gains too closely to actions taken during his time in office. We rate the statement ."
12392,1,Says eight Americans died in a knife attack at a Minnesota mall.,"September 19, 2016",terrorism;guns,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.",colorado,0,1,1,2,4,0,a fundraising email,"Tancredo's PAC said that ""the threat of radical Islam is higher than ever as the nation mourns the death of eight Americans at the hands of a Somalian refugee in Minnesota.""   He acknowledged the statement was  and issued a correction. People were injured in the attack, but no one died. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/b24a9f25-b836-47f7-a984-374f524f8058"
9079,3,"Teenage births cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 billion in health care, foster care and lost tax revenue in 2010 alone.","July 9, 2014",abortion;sexuality;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,"comments on MSNBC's ""Ed Show""","In the course of comparing the results of Colorado’s public contraceptives program to Texas’ high teen birth rate and abstinence-only program, Michael Eric Dyson said, ""Teenage births cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 billion in health care, foster care and lost tax revenue in 2010 alone."" Dyson’s stat comes from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, who experts say is a reliable source. But Dyson misrepresents their data in three minor ways: He gives an incomplete list of the components of that cost; he implies that teenage births cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 billion when, in fact, births in Texas cost all taxpayers $1.1 billion; and he doesn’t mention that the National Campaign’s stat is a conservative estimate on an issue that’s difficult to quantify. Dyson gets the gist of the statistic right, though he was inartful in his phrasing. We rate his  ."
821,4,"We've added, in the last eight years, $4 trillion of debt to the nation's obligations.","January 18, 2009",federal budget,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.",national,1,2,3,4,3,0,a news interview,"You can check out all these numbers for yourself via the Treasury Department's debt history search application . So what does the -O-Meter say when someone is off by $1 trillion? As we've said with our policy on statistical claims , ""to assess the  for a numbers , the biggest factor is the underlying message."" So even though he is off by about 20 percent, the fact that the number has been surging lately supports his point that the debt increased greatly under Bush. So we rate his statement ."
5478,1,"In my years in the State Legislature, I have never voted for a tax increase.","April 17, 2012",message machine 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,a blog post on his campaign website,"In an April 17 message on his campaign website, Kyrillos offered this biographical note: ""In my years in the State Legislature, I have never voted for a tax increase."" Kyrillos has voted against certain major tax hikes -- such as increasing sales and income taxes -- but the senator is  to  he ""never voted for a tax increase."" In December 1997, Kyrillos voted to double the tax rates on cigarettes and tobacco products. More recently, Kyrillos has supported some measures labeled by his own Republican colleagues as ""tax increases."" We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
8753,1,Some of the wealthiest Americans are African-American now.,"April 28, 2014",wealth;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 said, ""Some of the wealthiest Americans are African-American now."" We reached out to Limbaugh with our finding but have not heard back. Of the top 400 wealthiest Americans, exactly one is African-American -- that’s .25 percent. Also, no other African-American is really all that close to breaking into the Top 400. Limbaugh’s  severely distorts reality. We rate it ."
16968,0,"Says Nancy Pelosi said, ""If impeachment fails, I will resign immediately.","January 20, 2020",impeachment;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"""  Indeed, this story is . In December, another website — ""Breaking News"" — poached the same satirical story and reposted it without any hint to readers that the information was made-up. We rated that  .   Maga2020 likewise lacks any context indicating this isn’t real news.   We rate this post ."
16406,1,"Says 12 restaurants and food companies are ""supporting Trump's re-election.","August 8, 2019",campaign finance;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 that 12 food companies are supporting Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Campaign contribution data show that, while many of their employees and affiliates give money to Republican candidates, none of the companies mentioned have donated to Trump’s re-election effort directly. One company is associated with a PAC that gave to the president in 2016, and one is associated with a PAC that has given to Trump during this election cycle. News stories speak to the companies’ political views and past contributions, but they don’t prove support for Trump. Six companies denied making direct political contributions and/or endorsing presidential candidates. The post is not accurate. We rate it ."
3385,2,Fifty percent of our students who enter higher education need to take remedial courses because they are not prepared for college-level work.,"April 3, 2011",education;state budget,donna howard,Donna Howard is a state representative from Austin.,texas,5,3,1,1,0,0,remarks on the House floor,"Taking into account all students who enroll in a Texas institution of higher education, nearly 40 percent aren’t prepared for some aspect of college-level work. And if you only look at students who enter higher education directly from high school, that rate drops to 31 percent. We rate Howard’s statement as . Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to ."
1367,3,"President Barack Obama's ""initial response when we heard about the Christmas underwear bomber"" was to say that ""this was the act of an isolated extremist.","February 14, 2010",homeland security;terrorism;this week - abc news,dick cheney,Dick Cheney served as Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush.,national,3,2,2,5,4,1,an interview on ABC's This Week,"Ultimately, Cheney is correct that Obama did use the words ""an isolated extremist"" in his first statement addressing the Christmas Day bombing attempt. But we think it's a stretch for Cheney to say that the phrase signals  the president initially believed that Abdulmutallab had acted alone. Obama did expressly say that ""we do not yet have all the answers,"" and he reported that an investigation had been launched that would hold accountable ""all who were involved."" So we find Cheney is right that Obama used those words, but we find he  their significance by failing to take into account the other things Obama said. We find Cheney's statement to be ."
12723,2,"Democrat Stephen Webber ""voted to allow sex offenders to be within 500 feet of childcare centers and playgrounds, and even voted to allow sex offenders to be coaches.","October 12, 2016",candidate biography;children;crime,caleb rowden,Caleb Rowden is a member of the Missouri House of Representatives representing District 44.,missouri,1,2,2,1,1,0,a YouTube video,"Rowden said Webber ""voted to allow sex offenders to be within 500 feet of childcare centers and playgrounds, and even voted to allow sex offenders to be coaches."" That’s a  version of events. Webber actually supported the House version of the legislation in question. But the bill was amended in the Senate to include a provision that allowed some sexual offenders to have their names removed from the sexual offender registry. Webber opposed that addition, his campaign said, and voted against the final bill. There is an element of  to this  but not much more. We rate it ."
14303,4,"Says ""50 percent of venture capital goes to California. Most of the rest of it goes to New York and Massachusetts.","December 31, 2017",states;technology,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. ",ohio,0,1,2,1,2,2,an interview on Face the Nation,"Vance is largely correct but doesn't describe the situation with precision. Data from a trade association showed that California received 55 percent of venture capital money followed by New York at 10.6 percent and Massachusetts at 8.9 percent.   If we looked at the number of deals closed that year, the three states’ share added up to 52 percent. That left almost half of the deals for the rest of the country. We rate Vance’s  ."
5207,5,"If we keep the minimum wage at the current level, then single-parent families earning the minimum wage at a full-time job will live in poverty in New Jersey.","February 27, 2012",poverty;workers,wayne deangelo,Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo is a Democrat who represents parts of Mercer and Middlesex counties.,new jersey,1,0,0,0,0,0,The Times of Trenton,"The assemblyman said: ""If we keep the minimum wage at the current level, then single-parent families earning the minimum wage at a full-time job will live in poverty in New Jersey. "" A New Jersey resident working full-time at a job paying the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour makes roughly $15,000 annually. For a family of two, the federal health department’s poverty guideline is $15,130. We rate the  . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com . Editor's Note: A research fellow with the business-backed Employment Policies Institute took issue with this ruling. We address his points in this story ."
4999,4,"Says U.S. Senate Democrats ""have gone without any budget at all"" for more than 1,000 days.","January 23, 2012",federal budget,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 news release,"On three other occasions (fiscal years 1999, 2005 and 2007), the House and Senate failed to reconcile their different bills and pass a compromise measure. In these latter three cases, the Republicans were in the majority in both chambers of Congress. Our rating Ryan said ""Senate Democrats have gone without any budget at all"" for 1,000 days. It hasn’t been quite that long since the last Senate budget resolution expired, but it has been 1,000 days -- and counting -- since the Democrat-controlled Senate adopted a budget. We rate Ryan’s  ."
4871,3,Says Rick Perry cut taxes.,"January 3, 2012",corrections and updates;state budget;taxes,craig james,Craig James has been a football analyst for ESPN. He's a former star running back who played in Texas for the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 2012.,texas,0,0,1,0,0,1,an online video ad,"Perry put in motion major tax hikes generating less revenue than state-ordered reductions in local school property taxes the governor also signed into law. However, it’s overly simplistic to say that Perry simply reduced taxes. He cut some, raised others. This statement rates ."
15451,2,"Sanctuary jurisdictions ""violate the laws of our nation.","November 15, 2018",immigration;homeland security,steve daines,Steve Daines is a U.S. Senator from Montana.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a Senate hearing,"Daines said, sanctuary jurisdictions ""violate the laws of our nation."" Daines was referring to Section 1373, but his office did not name a jurisdiction found to be violating that law. Instead, his office named jurisdictions that the Justice Department contends might be violating it. No courts have found a jurisdiction in violation of the law, and some courts have said the law itself might be unconstitutional. Daines’ statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
20789,1,"Carlos Gimenez ""wants a national database to track you and discriminate against you.","January 10, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ad watch;coronavirus,america first political committee,America First Political Committee is a conservative political organization.,florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,an ad,"The Facebook ad said Gimenez ""wants a national database to track you and discriminate against you."" We found no  to back the attack on Gimenez. We rate it ."
1008,0,"John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, ""has proposed forcing abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population.","July 22, 2009",abortion;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,his TV program,"But in seeking to score points for a political argument, Beck seriously mischaracterizes Holdren's positions. Holdren didn't advocate those ideas then. And, when asked at a Senate confirmation hearing, Holdren said he did not support them now. We think it's irresponsible to pluck a few lines from a 1,000-page, 30-year-old textbook, and then present them out of context to dismiss Holdren's long and distinguished career. And we rate Beck's  !"
17464,0,"This particular pandemic is one where I don't think nationwide, there's been a single fatality under 25.","April 9, 2020",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 meeting,"DeSantis claimed that the novel coronavirus hasn’t killed anyone under the age of 25 in the United States. That’s , according to the CDC, contemporaneous news reports and the counts of state health officials in places like New York. While we don’t have precise numbers, we can say with certainty that deaths in people 25 and under do exist. We rate this  !"
3793,1,"As the Democrats finally maxed out their government spending credit card Monday, Kurt Schrader continued to stand with his party leaders in failing to offer any viable long-term solution.","May 18, 2011",,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,oregon,4,5,9,20,14,9,a press release,"Schrader, like most Democrats, has selectively voted to boost spending. But he’s also offered proposals calling for deep and specific cuts. The NRCC attack ignores both the facts and the basic history of spending decisions that predate Schrader’s arrival in Congress but which contribute to the fiscal reality that lawmakers and all Americans must face. Taken together, those oversights are substantial and the reason we rate this : . Return to OregonLive to comment on this statement and ruling.  "
19834,4,Texans have some of the highest property taxes in the nation,"May 10, 2021",taxes,don huffines,"Don Huffines, a Dallas businessman elected in 2014 to represent Texas Senate District 16, was vice chair of the Veteran Affairs & Border Security Committee in the 2017 Legislature. He is a 2022 candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas.",texas,0,1,1,1,0,0,campaign material,"""  There are several different ways to compare and rank states’ property tax burden.  From the ranking methodologies reviewed here, Texas has between the 6th highest and 13th highest property taxes.   Huffines’ statement is somewhat subjective — there’s no absolute way to define ""some of the highest. "" Nonetheless, experts generally agree that, even though there’s no standard way to compare and rank states‘ property tax burden, Texas is heavily dependent on property tax revenue.    We rate this  .  "
12125,3,"Says Indiana Gov. Mike Pence ""denies that there's such a thing as evolution.","July 27, 2016",religion;science,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 speech at the Democratic National Convention,"California Gov. Jerry Brown said GOP Vice Presidential candidate Mike Pence ""denies that there's such a thing as evolution."" Pence, in a 2009 interview on MSNBC, said: ""I embrace the view that God created the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that’s in them."" When asked again and again whether he believes in evolution, he demures, stopping short of explicitly rejecting it. He clearly did not want to answer the question, which ends up sounding like a ‘No.’ Our research found no  that Pence has expanded on his less-than-clear view on evolution, leaving it open to interpretation. In more recent years, the Indiana governor has criticized other science-based initiatives, including efforts to slow climate change. Brown’s statement says Pence ""denies"" evolution. The Indiana governor certainly doesn’t affirm it. That’s not the same as denying it. We rate Brown’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. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/76a37fb0-f532-4470-ab06-9d9e1f4e36b5"
4325,3,We have had over 40 days this summer where it was unsafe to breathe the air.,"September 15, 2011",environment;transportation,jennette gayer,Jennette Gayer is staff advocate for Environment Georgia,georgia,0,1,1,0,0,0,a meeting,""" To be more technical, the state’s chart shows 18 of those days were in May and early June, before the official start of summer. Gayer said she based her comments at the meeting on Atlanta’s smog season, which begins May 1 and ends Sept. 30. Gayer’s comment was generally accurate -- with an emphasis on generally.   But it also leaves out some key details. We rate it ."
9286,2,"Points of Light is  ""the world's largest volunteer organization.","August 7, 2014",,michelle nunn,"Michelle Nunn was the chief executive officer of the Points of Light Foundation, a charitable organization. She is the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, a Democrat from Georgia. Michelle Nunn is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat.",georgia,2,2,1,3,0,0,television ad,"Nunn has used her stewardship of the non-profit to burnish her leadership credentials in the race against businessman Perdue. But her political ad undercuts how Points of Light describes itself on its website  --  as ""the largest organization in the world dedicated to volunteer service. ""  That’s substantially different from the world’s largest volunteer organization. .We rate the ad statement as .  "
9674,3,"Says Obama's net neutrality proposal ""puts the government in charge of determining Internet pricing, terms of service and what types of products and services can be delivered.","November 10, 2014",government regulation;technology,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 Facebook post,"Cruz said, Obama’s net neutrality proposal ""puts the government in charge of determining Internet pricing, terms of service and what types of products and services can be delivered."" While theoretically possible, Obama said specifically that he does not want the FCC to regulate Internet prices, and the FCC typically does not regulate prices for similar things, such as telephone services. In terms of product offerings, the proposal would allow the FCC to prevent Internet service providers from giving certain websites priority over others. But Cruz’s statement conjures an image of FCC officials sitting around a table designing Internet service packages and their prices, and this is not what Obama is proposing. We rate Cruz’s  ."
12645,2,"On ISIS, (Michael Bennet) chose the (Washington) insiders over our generals.","October 13, 2016",terrorism,restoration pac,Suburan Chicago-based Restoration PAC is a super PAC that was formed in January 2015.,colorado,0,0,0,3,0,2,A TV ad,"Restoration PAC says Bennet ""chose the (Washington) insiders over our generals"" in the battle against Islamic State. The group says President Obama’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq fueled the rise of ISIS and blames Bennet for supporting the withdrawal and for generally backing Obama. However, Bennet has advocated for a strong defense against terrorism, passed legislation to prevent potential terrorists from using the Visa Waiver Program to easily enter the United States and backs initiatives to counter extremists from recruiting people online.      It's a big stretch to say that because Bennet supported the withdrawal and welcomed home U.S. troops after a long war, he chose Washington insiders ""over our generals."" We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/631c3593-8987-495b-9829-ce229320ff0f"
8478,0,"I've been a cop in Lake County, Michigan, since 1982 thereabout. I conduct federal raids with the DEA and ATF and U.S. Marshals and the FBI and Texas Rangers.","February 24, 2014",candidate biography;punditfact;guns,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,comments on CNN,"Nugent said he is and has been a cop in Michigan and that he conducts raids with several federal and state law enforcement agencies. He said ""we are re-arresting fugitive felons"" and painted a vivid picture of being with agents immediately afterward. ""When we are done with these kinds of raids, we get together and our hearts are broken that we have to face these monsters,"" Nugent said. The single piece of this narrative that Nugent confirmed is one ride-along with U.S. Marshals in 2005. He is not a cop in Michigan by any conventional meaning of the word. No agency said that he presently plays any role in any of their raids. Nugent may have been passionate but his words take him far beyond the facts. We rate this  ."
3020,0,"The city building code violations on my properties only involve exterior issues; ""within the households, it's fine.","January 21, 2011",candidate biography;housing,lee holloway,"Lee Holloway is the chairman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. He represents the county's 5th District, which encompasses parts of Milwaukee's north side. He was elected to the board in 1992 and has served as chairman since 2004.",wisconsin,0,1,0,1,2,1,a statement at a candidate forum,"But inspection records paint a different picture: Roaches, exit signs, smoke detectors, ceiling plaster. All of those -- and more -- are interior issues. There’s even a note about faulty fire extinguishers. That seems appropriate. We rate Holloway’s statement ."
21385,1,"Says photo shows ""the sharpest image of the sun ever recorded.","May 8, 2022",space;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a photo,"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 .) The photo is a ""heavily software-processed image,"" photographer Jason Guenzel wrote in a Jan. 20, 2021, Twitter post about the image. He also explained in a 2021 interview that he had digitally enhanced the image by using software to sharpen it and change its contrast. ""Walking the thin line between science and art ... perhaps blurring it a bit,"" Guenzel tweeted.  "
18185,2,"Says Donald Trump ""just promised that if he wins reelection, he'll gut Social Security and Medicare.","August 9, 2020",social security;california,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,an Instagram post,"Harris said Trump ""promised that if he wins reelection, he’ll gut Social Security and Medicare."" Trump did not make that statement, and his payroll tax deferral does not affect the funding for Medicare.  The element of  is that Trump offered no clear plan to replenish the loss to the Social Security trust fund, which could undermine Social Security. In the scheme of things, a $100 billion loss would advance the trust fund depletion date from 15 years from now to 13 or 14 years from now.  We rate this  ."
12664,1,"Says FBI Director James Comey's letter about new developments in the investigation into her emails ""only"" went ""to Republican members of the House.","October 28, 2016",congress,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 press conference,"Clinton said Comey’s letter about new developments in the investigation into her emails ""only"" went ""to Republican members of the House."" Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate received this letter. We rate Clinton’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/1bf568b6-3a28-4aeb-be69-59c015b09a23"
18023,5,"Homicides are intraracial. When you look at white-on-white crime, it's 84%. Right? Homicides. White people kill white people.","July 15, 2020",crime;race and ethnicity;pundits;punditfact,sunny hostin,"Sunny Hostin is a co-host of ABC's ""The View"" and a senior legal correspondent and analyst for ABC News. Hostin is a former federal prosecutor.",,1,0,0,0,1,0,"an episode of ABC's ""The View""","Hostin said, ""Homicides are intraracial. When you look at white-on-white crime, it's 84%. Right? Homicides. White people kill white people."" An ABC spokesperson clarified that Hostin’s 84% figure referred to the percentage of white homicides that involved white offenders. A 2011 report on data from 1980 to 2008 showed 84% of white homicide victims over that 28-year period were killed by white people. The report is almost 10 years old, but more recent annual data from the FBI also puts the percentage of white homicide victims killed by white offenders in the same range. Experts say most homicides where race information is known are intraracial. We rate this statement ."
9955,4,Our median household income in 2013 was the highest in the nation.,"February 12, 2015",census;economy;families,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,her budget address,"Gov. Maggie Hassan said New Hampshire’s ""median household income in 2013 was the highest in the nation."" Looking at U.S. Census data only for that year, Hassan is correct. For other recent periods, however, New Hampshire ranks just below the top. In the meantime, census data is widely trusted, but other calculation methods may have produced different results. However, Hassan was correct in qualifying that statement by suggesting that the survey might not tell the whole story. The  is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate the  ."
14050,3,"In the House Republican bill, ""70 percent of the tax relief goes to those families making less than 200,000.","November 26, 2017",taxes,kevin brady,Brady represents a Houston-area U.S. House district.,national,2,1,2,2,0,0,an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo,"Brady said that in the House Republican bill, ""70 percent of the tax relief goes to those families making less than 200,000."" That’s only accurate if you look at the individual income tax portions of the House bill. Once you factor in tax changes related to business income, which tend to benefit wealthier taxpayers, the share earned by those under $200,000 is actually 58 percent in 2019, falling to 50 percent in 2027. And if you factor in the impact of the estate tax, it would be as low as 54 percent initially and 31 percent by 2027. We rate the statement ."
4348,3,"Says that in 2001, Rick Perry spoke favorably of binational health insurance between Mexico and Texas.","September 22, 2011",immigration;health care,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.,texas,6,7,14,13,17,5,a Republican presidential debate,"Perry talked about binational health insurance in a 2001 speech, as Santorum said. However, his dig about Perry's mention wrongly implies that the governor is working to establish binational health insurance. We found no  of Perry taking further action in the 10 years since. We rate Santorum's statement . To comment on this ruling, ""like"" us on Facebook ."
9015,4,Nearly 60 percent of women who use birth control do so for more than just family planning.,"June 30, 2014",health care;supreme court;women,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 statement to the media,"Wasserman Schultz said that ""nearly 60 percent of women who use birth control do so for more than just family planning."" This  gets support from a Guttmacher Institute report that found 58 percent of pill users citing at least one non-contraceptive reason. However, Wasserman Schultz’s comment glosses over two important caveats. First, she said ""women who use birth control,"" even though the study looked at women who use the birth control pill specifically -- a type of birth control that wasn’t even one of the ones directly at issue in the Supreme Court case. Second, the Guttmacher study found that birth control is indeed the most common reason that women use the pill, with 86 percent saying it was one of the reasons they chose that option. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
21616,2,The Supreme Court ruled that border agents can enter anyone's home within a 100-mile radius of the border without a warrant for any reason and federal courts cannot do anything about it.,"June 21, 2022",immigration;border security;legal issues;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,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claimed that the Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents can enter any home within 100 miles of the border without a warrant and that federal courts have no way to address it.  The Supreme Court ruling in Egbert v. Boule does not grant any new powers to Border Patrol agents, who still cannot enter any home without a warrant or probable cause under the Fourth Amendment.  The ruling did narrow the path that victims of excessive force and other constitutional violations have to seek monetary damages from those agents through federal courts. Critics of the decision argue the ruling makes it more difficult for agents to be held accountable when they do violate people’s rights.  We rate this statement .   "
21217,3,"Gov. Kathy Hochul's ""record"" includes ""firing"" 34,000 health care workers.","January 20, 2022",public health;coronavirus,rob astorino,"Rob Astorino is a Republican who is the former county executive of Westchester County, N.Y., just north of New York City. He is running for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.",new york,0,0,1,0,2,0,a tweet,"Astorino said Hochul’s record included ""firing"" 34,000 health care workers. About 34,000 health care workers in New York state did leave their job after the vaccine mandate was enacted. However, less than a third of those could be described as being due to ""firing."" About two-thirds of the lost jobs stemmed from resignations, retirements, or furloughs by employees waiting to see how litigation against the mandate played out. We rate the statement ."
1069,1,"A scheduled speech by President Barack Obama will be ""the first time an American president has spoken directly to the nation's school children about persisting and succeeding in school.","August 26, 2009",education,arne duncan,"Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education. Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan was chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools.",national,0,2,1,1,2,0,a letter to principals,"We looked for news reports of Democrats protesting Reagan's broadcast, but were unable to find any in electronic research databases. We should emphasize that this may be due to the fact that many news reports from 1986 are unavailable online. We feel that President George H.W. Bush's speech to students is enough  to show that Obama was not the first president to speak ""directly to the nation's schoolchildren about persisting and succeeding in school."" Bush's speech was quite explicitly ""about persisting and succeeding in school."" Duncan's statement is not accurate, so we rate it ."
8241,4,"Under the Espionage Act, (Edward Snowden would not be) allowed to come into court and say 'I was justified in disclosing this information.' There is no whistleblower exception in the Espionage Act.","January 2, 2014",homeland security;legal issues;crime;foreign policy;punditfact,glenn greenwald,"Glenn Greenwald is a journalist formerly of the ""Guardian."" Greenwald published classifed material from National Security Administration contractor Edward Snowden. Greenwald is in the process of starting a new journalism project funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
 
 ",,0,1,0,0,0,0,"a broadcast of CNN's ""The Lead""","Greenwald said that if Snowden returned to the United States, he would have no protections under the Espionage Act and would not be allowed to justify his actions in court. In terms of the law, Greenwald is literally correct. Two other legal documents, however, could have provided Snowden some potential protections before he shared classified information with the press. But once he did, no law offers Snowden any shelter. Greenwald’s further  on what Snowden could say in his defense is less clear because it depends on what government prosecutors would do. We can’t assess the accuracy of any statement about future outcomes. However, it is clear that there is ample precedent to show that Snowden would have no guaranteed opportunity to explain his motivations. Folding in that ambiguity, we rate the  ."
6908,5,Forty-seven percent of (members of Congress) are millionaires.,"January 25, 2013",congress,rob woodall,"Rod Woodall, a Republican, is the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 7th Congressional District.",georgia,1,0,2,0,0,0,a meeting,"They are John Barrow, Phil Gingrey, Tom Graves, Johnny Isakson, Jack Kingston, Tom Price and Austin Scott. U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who announced last month that he will not seek another Senate term in 2014, has a net worth of $337,505, according to the Post and about $400,000, according to Open Secrets. To sum up, Woodall said 47 percent of the members of Congress are millionaires. The research we found shows there’s a very strong case that he’s correct. We rate his  ."
3707,4,"Kasich's budget increases state spending from $50.5 billion to $55.6 billion. This is the second largest, two-year spending increase in Ohio history.","May 14, 2011",state budget,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 newspaper column,"From that perspective, Budish’s statement seems logical. Lawmakers and the public have traditionally focused on the general revenue fund because it is the figure that lawmakers have direct say so over how to spend. Knowing that the GRF represents part of all state spending, and that the all funds budget is much larger, is an additional point that provides clarification. And while Budish couldn’t provide documentation for his ""Ohio history"" reference, it is clear that Ohio has never passed a general revenue fund budget prior to 1968 that is anywhere in the stratosphere of what lawmakers are presently debating in the Statehouse. On the -O-Meter, we rate Budish’s comment ."
11352,1,"Says Mahatma Gandhi once said, ""First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.","February 28, 2016",history,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 Instagram meme,"Trump quoted Mahatma Gandhi as saying, ""First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."" There's no  that Gandhi ever said any such thing. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and many others have made the same . The  is ."
9559,5,"In the past three years, we have prosecuted or brought more cases on access to public records than in the previous 12 years combined.","October 2, 2014",candidate biography;history;legal issues;government regulation;transparency,peter kilmartin,"Peter Kilmartin has been Rhode Island's attorney general since Jan. 4, 2011. He is a lawyer and retired captain in the Pawtucket Police Department who, until his election, had been a state Representative since 1991.",rhode island,1,1,2,0,0,1,an interview on Rhode Island Public Radio,"Whitehouse had just one during his four years in that office. We can't say if the trend is due to previous attorneys general being less aggressive in prosecuting violations of the state's open government laws than Kilmartin, or if public bodies are getting more brazen in ignoring them. Certainly the latest ACCESS/RI report offers  that the phrase ""open government"" is -- for some of Rhode Island's ""public"" bodies -- an oxymoron.     Rhode Island's culture of secrecy persists, but Kilmartin has filed more lawsuits than his two predecessors conbined so we rate Kilmartin's  as  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
13659,4,United Nations Resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever on North Korea. Over one billion dollars in cost to N.K.,"August 5, 2017",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,"Trump tweeted, ""United Nations Resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever on North Korea. Over one billion dollars in cost to N.K."" The United Nations Security Council on Aug. 5 passed a resolution to sanction North Korea in response to its ballistic missile tests. The resolution bans the country’s export of coal, iron, iron ore, seafood, lead and lead ore to other countries; freezes assets of certain entities and individuals; and prevents other nations from increasing the number of work permits to be issued to North Korean nationals. Overall, the sanctions could represent about $1 billion in costs to North Korea — but experts say that greatly depends on other nations’ full enforcement of the sanctions. Trump’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
21785,3,"About a federal hospital price transparency requirement, ""Nobody's enforcing that law.","April 19, 2022",health care;health check,power to the patients,"Power to the Patients, a national organization national organization working to combat hidden health care prices, is in partnership with Fat Joe the rapper to bring to light information about hospital price transparency. ",,0,0,1,0,0,0,a television ad,"Hospitals have taken their time in posting the required price information. Many still need to provide some, or all, of what is required. And enforcement has proved to be time-intensive and bureaucratic. However, the transparency directive is a first-of-its-kind rule, so a learning curve was to be expected, for both hospitals and regulators, as they determined the types of data required and the format in which to post the information. Although it is correct to say that the enforcement has been slow and spotty, experts maintain that ramping it up takes time. And when the ad first aired this spring, enforcement was especially lackluster. However, the ad continues to run unaltered, even as enforcement efforts have started to gain steam. In other words, the statement is partly accurate but leaves out important context. We rate this ."
13465,1,Says former FBI Director James Comey admitted to leaking classified information.,"June 8, 2017",homeland security;legal issues;states,north carolina republican party,The N.C. GOP is a political party in North Carolina,north carolina,0,1,0,4,4,1,an official statement,"Speaking for the North Carolina Republican Party, former U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes said former FBI Director James Comey admitted to leaking classified information. That’s . Comey never admitted to leaking classified information, which would be a crime. In fact, he said he was careful to write the one memo that he did leak so that it would not contain any classified information. The accusation was  and easily debunked. We rate this  ."
5630,1,"Says new figures he released showing Wisconsin job gains for 2011 are ""the final job numbers.","May 16, 2012",jobs;message machine 2012;workers,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,"Walker didn’t respond to our request for comment on his . But his own Department of Workforce Development, which submits the jobs data to BLS, notes that BLS won’t issue an official figure for 2011 until the end of June. Our rating Walker said new figures he released indicating Wisconsin added more than 20,000 jobs in 2011 are ""the final job numbers."" But the count won’t become final until after it is reviewed by the federal government. We rate Walker’s statement ."
3232,1,"Tampa mayoral opponent Bob Buckhorn ""supported forcing police officers to keep their guns locked in the trunks of their cruisers.","March 10, 2011",candidate biography,rose ferlita,Tampa mayoral candidate Rose Ferlita.,florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign TV ad,"Ferlita’s ad says ""Buckhorn supported forcing police officers to keep their guns locked in the trunks of their cruisers."" Buckhorn worked for Freedman, yes, but the record shows that the shotgun-in-the-trunk policy came from police themselves, not from the mayor's office. Also, the policy in question concerned shotguns, not all guns. And officials have twice refuted this . As a result, we rate this statement ."
18929,1,"North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's ""daughter is having a big wedding today. 500 people. Then going to lock you down on Monday.","November 22, 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,"Can we all go back to focusing on slowing the deadly virus that’s circulating?"" The Facebook post is also  that the state is in lockdown. On Nov. 23, Cooper announced additional COVID-19 measures , such as tightening the existing statewide mask requirement, that go into effect on Nov. 25.   The state was already under other restrictions that limit most indoor gatherings to 10 people and most outdoor gatherings to 25 people.   We rate this Facebook post ."
17519,0,News photo from stay-at-home protest was doctored to add Confederate flag.,"April 19, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post showing two photographs from a rally that protested coronavirus stay-at-home orders suggests that one of the photos, taken by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was doctored. Our analysis found the photo, which shows one man holding a Don’t Tread on Me flag and a Confederate flag, was not altered. The person is visible in several other posts we found that were not from the newspaper. We rate the statement ."
20652,1,"Gas prices were ""$1.86 when I left"" the White House.","December 8, 2021",gas prices,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 Hugh Hewitt,"Trump said that gasoline prices were $1.86 a gallon when he left office. The national average price for gasoline when Trump left the White House was actually $2.38, or about 28% higher than what Trump said. We rate the statement ."
3782,2,Muslims tried to use Sharia law to influence court decisions in New Jersey and Oklahoma,"June 13, 2011",religion,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,"Manchester, NH","Voters did pass an amendment to the state constitution that would prevent the use of Sharia law in state courts, but supporters found no instance where ""Muslims did try to influence court decisions with Sharia law,"" as Cain said. There was a New Jersey case in which a judge considered Islamic law when he denied a request for a restraining order. However, since the issue of Islamic law arose only when the New Jersey judge questioned the couple’s imam, it is unfair to accuse Muslims of trying to ""influence court decisions with Sharia law."" The judge raised the subject. We rule Cain’s statement ."
7423,3,"The violent crime rate in America is the same as it was in 1968, yet our prison system has grown by over 500 percent.","May 17, 2013",civil rights;criminal justice,john lewis,"Civil Rights icon John Lewis represents Georgia's 5th Congressional District. He was the recipient of the presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in February 2011. 
Lewis is the oldest surviving keynote speaker of the 1963 March on Washington.
 ",georgia,0,1,2,0,1,1,an op-ed,"The data we saw show they are correct about the growth of the prison system, but the nation’s violent crime rate has increased nationally. They used California and New York City to make their case about the crime rate, but the national crime rate has increased since 1968 and so has the crime rate in cities like Atlanta. We believe more  is necessary for Lewis and Stevenson to prove the first part of the statement. The second part is on target. On balance, we rate this  as ."
17525,1,"A photo taken by a journalist showing a beach in Jacksonville, Fla., isn't from after the government
reopened the beach as news reports have claimed.","April 19, 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.",florida,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"David Rosenblum, the photographer that shot the image in question, told us he was surprised people were claiming the pier in his photo looked the same as it did before it was battered by the hurricane.   ""Biggest giveaway would be the original had three bench/huts and a ‘T’ on the end,"" he said. ""Both are gone. Only 2 benches/huts remain."" We rate claims that the crowded Jacksonville Beach photos aren’t from during the pandemic ."
885,5,"The Republican leadership's budget proposal ""doesn't contain any numbers.","March 26, 2009",federal budget,robert gibbs,Robert Gibbs served as White House press secretary for President Barack Obama. He now is a Democratic consultant.,national,4,1,0,1,1,0,a statement during a press briefing,"The Republican House leaders said they will be releasing more data next week. Perhaps that will include some numbers. But Gibbs was right. The first version of the ""Republican Road to Recovery"" is a budget without budget numbers. We find Gibbs' statement to be ."
11065,2,The head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those (Syrian) refugees.,"December 15, 2015",foreign policy,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 GOP debate on CNN,"Cruz said, ""The head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees."" The Cruz campaign pointed to comments Comey made about how he cannot personally vet every refugee admitted to the United States (required by a House bill that seeks to toughen the admissions process). But the FBI director never said, as Cruz claims he did, that the government ""cannot vet"" refugees. Comey has said there are challenges and gaps to the process and that there are always risks to admitting people from conflict zones. But he also said  the process is effective and has gotten more so in the past few years. We rate Cruz’s  ."
21942,0,North Korea confirms it has landed a man on the sun.,"September 11, 2022",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,"""   But the website has a disclaimer at the bottom of the page. Readers who click on it will learn that Waterford Whispers News is a satirical site.    Even so, anyone who is trying to land on the sun should be advised that it’s a giant ball of heated gas that’s about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit with no solid surface.   We rate claims that North Korea landed a man on the sun . "
5289,0,"Says under the new health care law ""the patient-doctor relationship will be eliminated.","March 15, 2012",health care,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,a campaign e-mail,"Under the Obama administration’s health care law, Kyrillos claimed ""the patient-doctor relationship will be eliminated."" That’s a hefty charge. And there’s little proof to substantiate it. Provisions in the health care law allow changes to payments to health care providers and influence what’s covered by certain insurance plans, but nothing in the bill prevents physicians and patients from making health care decisions together. Kyrillos may need to call a doctor after this ruling: ! To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
8940,2,"Under Gov. Scott Walker, ""employer confidence now stands at 95 percent,"" compared to ""only 10 percent"" at the end of the ""Gov. Jim Doyle-Mary Burke administration.","May 30, 2014",economy;jobs;polls and public opinion,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 statement,"Our rating The state Republican Party said that under Walker, ""employer confidence now stands at 95 percent,"" compared to ""only 10 percent"" at the end of the Doyle- Burke administration. The statement contains an element of , in that 95 percent of chief executive officers who are members of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and who responded to the latest WMC survey, agreed that ""things in Wisconsin are going in the right direction"" rather than ""on the  track."" But the  ignores critical facts in suggesting that the 95 percent figure applies to all Wisconsin employers, when in fact the CEOs responding to the survey are not a representative sample of all employers. And although only 10 percent said the state was going in the right direction at the end of Doyle’s term in 2010, the rate was 51 percent in the survey done shortly before Burke left Commerce in 2007. We rate the state GOP’s statement ."
2040,1,Canada sets aside 36 percent of their visas for people with skills they think their country needs.  We set aside 6 percent.,"August 1, 2010",immigration,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.",national,7,8,5,1,3,0,"an interview on ""Meet the Press.""","While Bloomberg correctly noted an interesting disparity between Canadian and U.S. immigration policies, his facts are off. First, he says that the U.S. and Canada both set aside certain percentages of their visas. But only the U.S. limits visas for specific types of immigrants, and it does so with a number, not a percentage as he claims. And there is no ""set aside"" as Bloomberg says. We find the statement ."
3486,1,"President Barack Obama ""took exactly none of his own deficit reduction commission's ideas. Not one.","April 25, 2011",deficit;federal budget,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 with ABC news,"If Boehner had offered a more measured assessment, he would have had a fair point about the differences between Obama’s fiscal approach and that outlined by the commission. The president certainly could have gone further in embracing the recommendations of the panel he had commissioned. But he did embrace a wide variety of them, so to say bluntly, as Boehner did, that Obama ""took exactly none of his own deficit reduction commission’s ideas"" is simply not correct. To one degree or another, the commission’s recommendations are sprinkled throughout Obama’s budget proposals, in recognizable -- if not always in identical -- form. So we rate Boehner’s statement ."
12612,3,"Nobody knows about it, nobody talks about it, but under Obama, millions of people have been moved out of this country, they've been deported.","October 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,the third presidential debate,"Trump said ""Nobody knows about it, nobody talks about it, but under Obama, millions of people have been moved out of this country, they've been deported."" More than 2.4 million people have been deported under Obama’s presidency. But Trump’s  that ""nobody knows about it, nobody talks about it,"" is completely . Not only is federal data issued about it on a yearly basis, there has also been extensive media coverage about it. Immigration advocates have called out the president for it and congressional hearings on deportations have also taken place. Trump’s  is partly right. We rate it ."
21598,3,"Adam Laxalt ""supports eliminating Nevada's protections for legal abortions.","June 14, 2022",abortion;health care;government regulation;women;ad watch,catherine cortez masto,Catherine Cortez Masto was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2016 in Nevada. She previously served two terms as Nevada's Attorney General.,nevada,0,2,4,1,2,0,an ad,"Cortez Masto said Laxalt ""supports eliminating Nevada's protections for legal abortions."" Laxalt has said that the matter of abortion rights in Nevada is settled law. Nevada law allows abortion through 24 weeks of pregnancy and after 24 weeks, if it is to preserve the woman’s life or health.  However, Laxalt has also said that if the Supreme Court overturned Roe, it would be a ""​​historic victory for the sanctity of life."" Additionally, he has expressed support for a referendum that would ask Nevada voters about restricting access to abortions in the state. Cortez Masto’s  about Laxalt is partially accurate. We rate it . RELATED: Fact-checking ads in the 2022 campaigns RELATED: What would state laws look like in a post-Roe world? RELATED: The race for the Nevada Senate seat: A guide"
23133,1,"Photo of woman in Team Trump attire is Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge presiding over the classified documents case.","June 9, 2023",legal issues,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,"It’s hard to say. ""  Slate changed the caption June 12 to say only ""Trump rallygoers,"" noting at the bottom of the story that it was ""updated to reflect the fact that these are not members of the judiciary. ""  Slate didn’t misidentify Cannon in the photo, but social media users who claimed the image depicted the judge said it came up in Google image searches for Cannon.   This  is .   RELATED: 9 Trump claims about the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe, fact-checked , June 7, 2023"
7613,1,Rhode Island has the highest percentage of lawyers per capita in the country.,"July 12, 2013",legal issues,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 newspaper interview,"Helio Melo said Rhode Island has the highest percentage of lawyers per capita in the nation. We found that Rhode Island actually ranks 13th. That does put us in the upper third of the states, but here at PolitiFact Rhode Island, we tend to be literal. He’s still way off. The judges rule . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
3593,0,"The $1.8 billion in [transportation] bonding, we don't have a repayment mechanism.","May 7, 2011",state budget;transportation,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 speech,"State party chairman Brian Moran earned a  in January for saying the McDonnell had no plan for paying back the debt. Moran, while serving in the House of Delegates, had voted for the two bills that allocated automobile insurance taxes to transportation debt payments. By saying the state ""didn’t have a repayment mechanism,"" McAuliffe misled voters. He admitted to us he knew all long that a repayment plan exists.    We rate his  ."
9971,1,"The current debate over authorizing military action against the Islamic State ""would be the first time Congress would place limits on the commander-in-chief's ability to be commander-in-chief.","February 15, 2015",congress;history;military;terrorism,adam kinzinger,Adam Kinzinger is a U.S. congressman from Illinois’ 16th district and a former member of the Air Force.,national,0,0,1,1,2,0,an appearance on ABC's 'This Week',"Kinzinger said that the authorization for use of military force now pending in Congress would represent ""the first time Congress would place limits on the commander-in-chief's ability to be commander-in-chief."" A plain reading of that statement finds it problematic. Time and time again, Congress has intervened to rein in presidents from taking certain types of actions or continuing combat longer than lawmakers want. To do this, Congress simply has to use the power it is granted in the Constitution, authority that has been affirmed and reaffirmed by courts for centuries. Even the narrower interpretation of the statement that Kinzinger’s office stands by — that it only refers to the war on terrorism  — doesn’t hold up. We rate the statement ."
10014,5,America produces more oil and gas than any other nation in the world.,"February 24, 2015",energy,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.",virginia,26,24,43,30,31,18,a speech,Perry said the U.S. produces more oil and natural gas than any other country in the world. EIA figures show he’s correct. We rate his statement .
4257,2,"The jobs bill includes ""President Obama's tax on soup kitchens","September 14, 2011",economy;jobs;workers;taxes,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.
 
 
 ",national,7,4,4,9,6,4,a blog post,"Cantor's blog post was headlined ""President Obama's tax on soup kitchens."" That is  in two important ways. First, Obama did not single out soup kitchens for special tax treatment. And second, the proposal is not a tax on soup kitchens, or any other charitable organizations; it effectively increases the existing tax burden on a small percentage of households, which may indirectly cause disincentives for donations to soup kitchens. We rate the  ."
23201,1,"The Pentagon ""said we accidentally sent $6.2 billion to Ukraine.","June 20, 2023",federal budget;foreign policy;military;facebook fact-checks;ukraine,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,The Pentagon did not say that it mistakenly sent Ukraine $6.2 billion in cash.   We rate the Facebook post . RELATED: Lie of the Year 2022: Putin’s lies to wage war and conceal horror in Ukraine RELATED: Where do Republican presidential candidates stand on Ukraine?
16354,1,A Fox News affiliate reported on a shooting before it happened.,"August 5, 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,"""I was looking at and trying to decipher an image grab of a tweet that had been made in east coast time,"" she said. ""El Paso is the only major city in Texas that sits on Mountain time. Just trying to process the timeline after a marathon of wall to wall coverage. ""  There’s no conspiracy here.   We rate this Facebook post ."
17726,1,Joe Biden tells voters he's 'going to beat Joe Biden.',"May 25, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"An article said, ""Joe Biden tells voters he's 'going to beat Joe Biden.'"" In its complete context, the video from an interview with CNBC appears to show Biden saying he’s ""going to be Joe Biden,"" not ""beat Joe Biden.""  The words do sound similar, but the context is telling, with Biden saying he’s going to stay  to his own political positions. CNBC’s transcript quotes Biden as saying ""be,"" not ""beat,"" as do news reports from the Associated Press and New York Times.  We rate this statement ."
5472,3,"Says Mitt Romney's top five donors are Wall Street firms, while Barack Obama's top five are technology companies and universities.","April 27, 2012",campaign finance,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Even though the post may have been several months old by the time we checked it, the list of each candidate’s top contributors was pretty accurate, although it doesn't quite match the latest version from OpenSecrets. But the Facebook post doesn’t accurately describe what the list means. First, it incorrectly labels one of Obama’s donors. Second, the companies and colleges did not donate to Obama and Romney; their employees or related PACs did, which is an important detail. On balance, we rate the post ."
5240,4,"Because of the new health care law, ""2.5 million young adults now have coverage.","March 16, 2012",health care;message machine 2012,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 film ""The Road We've Traveled""","Using annual and semi-annual figures rather than quarterly numbers, the number grew by 1.3 million. The HHS analysis makes the case that, for various technical reasons, its method is superior. We think both estimates are reasonable, and while the 2.5 million figure got more traction in the media, we also think it’s worth noting that the underlying federal study offers an alternative -- and smaller -- number. In essence, the film cherry-picks the higher number. So the statement is accurate but needs clarification, which fits our definition of ."
6866,3,The last time Republicans held hostage a resolution to ensure that our country's bills were paid cost us more than $1 billion in added interest and slowed the economic recovery.,"January 7, 2013",bipartisanship;debt;federal budget,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 Facebook post,"Doggett said ""the last time Republicans held hostage a resolution to ensure that our country’s bills were paid cost us more than $1 billion in added interest and slowed the economic recovery."" The government took on more than $1.3 billion in added interest during the delay period, the GAO estimates. However, it’s not clear the delay slowed the economic recovery. And while it seems to us that Republican desires for spending cuts greatly explain the delayed action, it’s also correct that GOP leaders wanted the ceiling raised while some House Democrats voted against the measure raising the ceiling. We rate Doggett’s  as ."
5538,5,We are coming up on our 40th anniversary of electing a Republican to the United States Senate. 1972 was the last time New Jersey sent a Republican to the United States Senate.,"May 4, 2012",congress;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,a speech at a Cato Institute event,"Christie said: ""We are coming up on our 40th anniversary of electing a Republican to the United States Senate. 1972 was the last time New Jersey sent a Republican to the United States Senate."" In 1972, New Jersey sent Republican Clifford Case to the U.S. Senate to serve a fourth term. Since then, New Jersey voters have not elected another GOP candidate to the Senate. And though a Republican from New Jersey briefly served in the Senate in 1982, he was appointed, not elected. We rate Christie’s statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c878bd49-4149-4aa0-81b1-9293c0da3700"
11581,3,We have tougher standards holding toy gun manufacturers and sellers to account than we do for real guns.,"April 14, 2016",debates;voting record;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,New York,"Clinton said, ""We have tougher standards holding toy gun manufacturers and sellers to account than we do for real guns."" She’s parroting a line she has stated previously. Clinton points to a 2005 law granting the gun industry certain immunity from lawsuits. In her camp are scholars who believe the law made the gun industry less susceptible to liability than other industries, including the toy gun industry. But other scholars think the law made the gun industry’s liability about the same as that of a toy gun manufacturer. And because real guns carry so much more risk for injury than toy guns, it’s hard to compare them effectively.   This is a complex legal question, on which reasonable minds can disagree, so we rate Clinton’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4319fa9b-87b6-473d-a29c-487b2e070a6c"
15283,0,Canadians face major donut shortage after first day of cannabis legalization.,"October 18, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,worldnewsdailyreport.com,worldnewsdailyreport.com is a fake news satirical website.,,0,0,0,0,0,4,post on Facebook,"The first day of marijuana sales did result in shortages — of cannabis, not donuts. Customers in Quebec waited in lines for hours. Cannabis-selling websites glitched, sold out of product and crashed. We can’t say the same for the Canadian donut industry. We rate this  !"
20665,0,Hillary replaces Kamala Harris.,"December 10, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Away from the federal government, she is hosting a podcast , promoting a new book , and, recently getting choked up on MasterClass reading the victory speech she had written in case she won the 2016 presidential election.   Harris, when asked about it by reporters, has denied that there’s any bad feelings between herself and the White House.   ""I’m very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished,"" she said in a recent interview. ""But I am also absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we’re going to  get it done."" We rate this post . "
5055,3,"Says Milwaukee blacks have 55 percent male unemployment, 60 percent truancy, a 50 percent graduation rate, the ""worst"" reading scores and ""lead"" in infant mortality.","January 23, 2012",children;education;health care;jobs;urban,david a. clarke jr.,David A. Clarke Jr. served as Milwaukee County sheriff from 2002 to 2017.,wisconsin,0,1,2,3,6,2,remarks,"Clarke was  in two parts. He overstated unemployment among black males in metro Milwaukee, which was 29.5 percent in 2010, and he understated the graduation rate among black MPS students; it is nearly 60 percent. On the remaining part of the , reading scores among black MPS students were nearly the worst among 20 school districts in a study. But that doesn’t mean they were the worst in the nation, which is what Clarke said. On balance, we rate Clarke’s statement ."
3036,1,"Fox News ""said the New Black Panther Party decided the election for Barack Obama.","December 15, 2010",civil rights;elections;pundits,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.,national,5,6,4,6,7,1,an interview on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman,"That's an opinion, but it doesn't support her allegation that Fox said the New Black Panther Party ""decided the election"" for Obama. Maddow would have been correct if she had simply said that Fox's coverage was more extensive and hyperbolic than other networks. But her  that Fox News ""said the New Black Panther Party decided the election for Barack Obama"" is not supported by the transcripts we reviewed. In reality, Fox’s coverage focused on legal, racial and media-related issues, rather than the electoral impact on Obama. So we find her  ."
10354,4,"Says Scott Walker ""cut back early voting and signed legislation that would make it harder for college students to vote.","June 4, 2015",civil rights;education;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 speech,"Our rating Clinton said Walker ""cut back early voting and signed legislation that would make it harder for college students to vote."" Legislation signed by Walker reduced the number of days allowed for so-called early voting, in which voters cast absentee ballots at a municipal clerk's office before Election Day, but the blanket  about college students overstates those changes. Some provisions could make it more difficult for certain college students to vote -- if, for example, they don't have a Wisconsin drivers license, or moved to Wisconsin less than 28 days before an election. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is . (Here is a look at other factchecks from Clinton's speech, relating to the other GOP contenders .)"
11398,2,"As a legislator, (Marco Rubio) flipped on a key vote after making a quick $200,000 from selling the house to the mother of the bill's lobbyist.","March 7, 2016",candidate biography;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.",florida,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign ad,"Trump said of Rubio, ""As a legislator he flipped on a key vote after making a quick $200,000 from selling the house to the mother of the bill's lobbyist."" There’s no  Cereceda met the state’s strict definition of lobbying, and he was not registered as a lobbyist. He did, however, pressure Rubio to extend a PIP insurance mandate the then-speaker of the House opposed. His mother also bought Rubio’s house in the middle of a legislative session that could have dealt with the issue, at more than $200,000 what Rubio paid for it. Both men deny the sale influenced debate in Tallahassee, and no one can prove otherwise. Rubio didn’t really have a change of heart on any insurance vote. Months after the 2007 session ended, the House and Senate overwhelmingly agreed on new PIP terms that included fraud protections meeting Rubio’s expectations. Trump’s  has a basis in real events, but there are several problems with the ethical implication he’s making about Rubio’s time in the Legislature. We rate the statement ."
19212,1,I don't even know what (QAnon) is.,"February 3, 2021",congress,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.",california,0,1,5,3,14,4,a press conference,"McCarthy said, ""I don’t even know what (QAnon) is."" McCarthy has spoken about QAnon in at least three public appearances. He has also explicitly denounced the extremist ideology before.  We rate his  ."
5241,2,"Because of the new health care law, ""17 million kids can no longer be denied for a pre-existing condition.","March 16, 2012",health care;message machine 2012,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 film ""The Road We've Traveled""","We find this  problematic on several levels. While the law does serve as a backstop for those at risk of being denied coverage, the film cites the higher of two equally plausible estimates, cherry-picking a number that’s more than four times as high as the smaller estimate. And it glosses over a key difference: The study focused on people who could potentially be helped by the law if they found themselves uninsured in the future, not on those who actually were uninsured and were blocked from getting coverage by pre-existing conditions today. We rate the  ."
16048,4,The so-called 'heartbeat' law outlaws abortion before most women even know that they're pregnant. This is one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in our country.,"May 8, 2019",abortion;health care;health check,eric swalwell,"Eric Swalwell is a representative of California’s 15th Congressional District. Swalwell has represented the district since 2013. He received his bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in July.",,0,1,2,0,0,0,posted on Twitter,"Swalwell runs into data obstacles with the first half of his . He says a six-week ban prohibits abortion before ""most women"" know that they are pregnant, but there isn’t any research that conclusively says that’s correct. Some clarification would help him here. Most women who aren’t trying to conceive are less likely to know this early that they are pregnant. They probably aren’t taking pregnancy tests or closely monitoring their periods. And women seeking abortions are generally coming in after six weeks. To be fair to Swalwell, his broader point here is : The women more likely to seek abortions are, six weeks from their last period, less likely to realize they are pregnant. The second half of this  is unequivocally correct. Georgia’s law is indeed among the nation’s strictest. This  is correct but could use more context and clarification. We rate it . Update: On May 16, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the state legislation referenced in this fact-check. It does not affect the rating."
19746,1,University of Miami researchers have found that the COVID-19 vaccine affects sperm production.,"May 11, 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,an Instagram post,"A fever can temporarily suppress male fertility, Dr. Parviz Kavoussi, a reproductive urologist at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, told the Austin American-Statesman . And a percentage of people who receive any vaccine, including a COVID-19 vaccine, could experience a fever after getting the shot. But the effects are short-term. ""At three months, it’s going to bounce back,"" he said.   We rate claims that studies show the COVID-19 vaccine will affect sperm production ."
17800,1,"The man pictured in a mugshot is not Derek Chauvin, the officer who was recorded kneeling on George Floyd's neck.","June 4, 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 mugshot in the Facebook post is from the Ramsey County Jail, where Chauvin was held after first being taken into custody. He was later transferred to the Hennepin County Jail — which released another mugshot — and then moved to a corrections facility in Oak Park Heights, Minn., partially due to COVID-19 concerns, a local CBS affiliate reported. There are no credible reports about confusion over Chauvin’s identity or location. Claims that the person in custody is someone else are unfounded and defy what we know from public records.   We rate this Facebook post ."
19850,1,"Tim Tebow says he is wearing #85 to honor his former friend/teammate and fellow TE Aaron Hernandez, who passed away in 2017.","June 2, 2021",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,"We found no credible sources to corroborate the  that Tebow is wearing No. 85 as a nod to Hernandez.   On May 20, a Twitter account for ""Barry McCockiner,"" which Fox Sports Radio once described as a ""satirical prankster"" who ""continues to dupe some of the biggest names in sports broadcasting,"" tweeted that Tebow was wearing No. 85 to honor Hernandez.   ""I understand Aaron killed people, but as long as he said he was sorry for it, that’s good enough for me,"" the account quoted Tebow as saying.   There’s no  that Tebow actually said this, or that he’s wearing No. 85 for Hernandez.   We rate this post ."
12361,1,"Says the Donald J.Trump Foundation's money ""is his money.","September 12, 2016",candidate biography,kellyanne conway,"Kellyane Conway is a White House counselor to President Donald Trump. Previously, she was a Republican strategist and pollster who served as campaign manager for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.",national,0,1,0,5,5,0,an interview on CNN,"The ruling Conway said the Donald J.Trump Foundation's money ""is his money."" That may have been accurate several years ago, but no longer. Tax records show Trump hasn’t given to the foundation since 2008. We rate Conway’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/e0381608-a288-4546-ae4a-14d929bc262d"
14343,4,The US has approximately 5% of the world's population and 42% of civilian gun ownership.,"February 15, 2018",guns,pricey harrison,N.C. House rep.,north carolina,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,Harrison said that the United States has approximately 5 percent of the world's population and 42 percent of civilian gun ownership. Those numbers are based on a study that’s now 10 years old. And experts say tracking guns is very difficult. But Harrison’s  is on roughly par with the information available. We rate this  .
18500,1,"Amy Coney Barrett has said that a woman should not be able to own property, buy or sell without the permission of her husband or a male relative.","September 26, 2020",legal issues;supreme court;women;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The Facebook  said, ""Amy Coney Barrett has said that a woman should not be able to own property, buy or sell without the permission of her husband or a male relative."" Finding no  to back the statement, we rate it ."
2438,1,Joe Garcia raised utility rates on families.,"September 29, 2010",energy;message machine 2010,david rivera,"David Rivera, a former Florida state Representative, is a Republican Congressman representing Congressional District 25 in South Florida. He was elected to the U.S. House on Nov. 2, 2010.",florida,0,0,0,0,2,0,a television ad,"First, the  Rivera offers that Garcia ""raised utility rates"" is for a different vote on an accounting issue. Second, the next-day vote (the one Garcia missed) to pass on fuel cost to customers wasn't a rate hike -- though we acknowledge that to customers, it surely felt like one since the monthly bill went up. The ad is plainly not accurate given Garcia's consumer-friendly stands. In fact, it reminds us of the statement made by Average Joe in the Rivera ad (""he lied to us""). So we rate the  ."
5845,3,"Says he ""passed"" eight measures, including ones to prevent groping at airport security checks and to bar ""sanctuary"" cities in Texas.","June 9, 2012",immigration;candidate biography;homeland security;legal issues;transportation,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,Fort Worth,"In his speech, Dewhurst listed the unsuccessful sanctuary and anti-groping proposals with other proposals, saying he ""passed"" each of them -- a characterization leaving the impression that every one of them became a statute. That's correct for six of them. But the fact that the sanctuary and anti-groping measures fell short amounts to vital missing detail, making his statement ."
18092,0,"If you have worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Labor has finally authorized up to $4,800 in hazard pay for qualified essential workers.","July 28, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"They are all hoaxes directing people to click on the link that opens the image of the gorilla.   New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called on the federal government to provide hazard pay for ""essential public workers on the front lines. ""      But the latest proposed coronavirus stimulus package from the U.S. Senate does not include hazard pay , drawing criticism from Democrats.   We rate this Facebook post ."
8460,4,Most folks' wages haven't gone up in over a decade.,"January 30, 2014",corporations;economy;income;jobs;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.",wisconsin,124,165,163,71,71,9,a speech,"Our rating Obama said: ""Most folks’ wages haven’t gone up in over a decade."" It’s not possible to know, considering all Americans, whether most of them saw a wage increase in the period cited by the president. But he cites the best-available figure, which shows the  median weekly wage, adjusted for inflation, was $1 less at the end of 2013 than it was in 1999. We rate the president’s statement . Follow us on Twitter and Facebook ."
21245,0,Special Forces arrest Deep State Dr. Anthony Fauci.,"April 11, 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,"The decoy vehicles, our source said, often held Fauci lookalikes or even mannequins that someone had built and painted to resemble him."" Real Raw News stories, including the one about Fauci, all have the byline of ""Michael Baxter,"" which is a pseudonym. After PolitiFact contacted Facebook in fall 2021 for a story about Real Raw News, the social media giant removed the website’s page from its platform. The  that special forces arrested Fauci is . We rate it !   "
710,2,I introduced a bill that would've helped stop the multimillion-dollar bonus packages that CEOs grab on their way out.. (McCain) opposed that idea.,"September 24, 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,"Dunedin, Fla","But there's simply no  to support Obama's contention that McCain ""opposed that idea."" We can find no record that McCain ever uttered an opinion on Obama's proposal, and in fact it's clear that McCain has criticized excessive executive payouts in the past. The only thing the Obama campaign has to support its contention that McCain opposed Obama's executive pay bill is a remark in a news story from one of his to advisers about McCain's general preference for private-sector remedies — a remark made a full year after the Obama bill was introduced. It's not unreasonable to think McCain might have preferred a different approach to what Obama proposed, but that's just not enough to support what Obama is saying. We rate this attack ."
11964,2,We're losing as many people to heroin and opioid overdoses as we lost to the AIDS epidemic at its peak.,"June 22, 2016",drugs,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,Buffalo before signing legislation to combat heroin addiction,"Cuomo’s comparison is a reach. If he had been referring to the total number of drug overdoses, his  would have been fine. There are more people dying from drug overdoses overall than the number who died from AIDS at the peak of the AIDS crisis. But the number of deaths from heroin and opioids alone continues to rise, more than doubling in Erie County alone between 2014 and 2015. We rate this  as ."
13601,4,"Says Paul Ryan ""has not had a public town hall within the district for over 600 days.","July 9, 2017",elections,randy bryce,"Democrat Randy Bryce, an Army veteran, union leader and iron worker, lives in Caledonia in Racine County, Wisconsin. In November 2018, he lost a bid for Wisconsin's 1st District congressional seat, which had been held by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Janesville Republican. Bryce also lost races for the Wisconsin Legislature in 2012 and 2014 and lost a 10-way primary for the Racine County Board of Education in 2013.   ",wisconsin,0,2,1,1,0,0,a TV interview,"In contrast, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner ( R-Wis.), the dean of the state’s congressional delegation, has not shied away from open town halls, sometimes facing raucous crowds. Sensenbrenner has held more than 80 public town halls so far in 2017, according to the calendar on his website. Our rating Bryce said ""Paul Ryan has not had a public town hall within the district for over 600 days."" Bryce’s  is broad and doesn’t account for the emerging ways people can communicate with public officials, but he’s  on target in saying Ryan hasn’t held a traditional town hall in almost two years. We rate his  ."
19871,0,I inherited the largest budget deficit in the history of the state from the Republicans.,"June 10, 2021",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 tweet,"McAuliffe tweeted, ""I inherited the largest budget deficit in the history of the state from the Republicans.""  In fact, he inherited two balanced budgets from his predecessor and then, in the first months of his governorship, saw state revenues shrink because of federal policies. In addition, the revenue shortfalls that ensued were not the largest budget gaps in state history. After repeatedly being called out by fact-checking on this  over several years, McAuliffe should know better. Yet he keeps repeating it in his current campaign. We rate his statement !  "
20426,1,"There's been no"" TV commercials for the COVID-19 vaccines because ""they are required by law to list all adverse side effects.","October 15, 2021",government regulation;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 claimed: ""There’s been no"" TV commercials for the COVID-19 vaccines because ""they are required by law to list all adverse side effects."" The vaccine manufacturers have been kept from advertising their vaccines because FDA rules don’t allow advertising for drugs that have only emergency use authorization and not full FDA approval. For the vast majority of the time that the three COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S., they have been available through an emergency use authorization. On Aug. 23, Pfizer’s vaccine became the first to gain FDA approval. Pfizer plans to advertise its vaccine in compliance with the FDA’s disclosure rules, a spokesperson said. We rate the statement ."
19976,1,"A study found an ""82% miscarriage rate"" among women between 30 days and 20 weeks pregnant who got an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.","July 6, 2021",public health;women;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claims that a scientific paper found an 82% miscarriage rate among women who got an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine between 30 days and 20 weeks pregnant. The Instagram post achieves the 82% figure by cherry-picking and manipulating data from a preliminary study. The post makes a conclusion based on a small sample of completed pregnancies known by researchers. The majority of study participants are either still pregnant, or have not yet had follow-ups with the paper’s authors. Early results have not found an increased risk of miscarriage associated with COVID-19 vaccination. But until more authoritative data is released, any statistic on this topic should be considered preliminary.  We rate this  ."
4004,5,The deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office.,"July 25, 2011",deficit;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,"""But even with all of this waste, the deficit was still not out of control."" We're not going to wade into the debate over how much of the deficit to assign to Bush or Obama's policies. Obama may be laying too much blame for the deficit crisis on Bush policies, and not enough on the recession. But the economic downturn was in full bloom when Obama took office and he is correct that before he enacted any policies as president, the CBO projected a 2009 deficit of $1.2 trillion (as well as significant projected deficits in years to come as well). We rate his statement ."
8371,4,Eighty-five percent of the states in the United States that had electrocution have now abolished it.,"January 21, 2014",criminal justice;states,scott surovell,"Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2009. He is a Virginia native who graduated from James Madison University in 1993 and the University of Virginia law school in 1996. Surovell is a co-founding partner and owner of Surovell Isaacs Petersen & Levy PLC, an 18-attorney law firm in Fairfax",virginia,0,1,1,0,0,0,a floor debate,"Academic research shows 26 states have allowed electrocutions since the 19th century. A review of laws today shows that six states may still use their electric chairs at a condemned prisoner’s request. That means 77 percent of the states that had electrocutions have ended the practice. Surovell is right that states are shutting down their electric chairs, but his percentage is slightly off. We rate his statement ."
12232,2,"Says military commanders have said that if Donald Trump were elected, ""they would not follow his orders.","August 15, 2016",legal issues;military,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,"Scranton, Pa","Biden said military commanders have said that if Trump were elected, ""they would not follow his orders."" Biden has a point that retired military officials have spoken out against Trump. But he exaggerated when he described them as ""military commanders.""  The current active leadership has not spoken out against Trump. We rate his statement . "
9148,1,"The state of New York is the ""worst in the nation in economic recovery.","July 25, 2014",economy;jobs;states,rob astorino,"Rob Astorino is a Republican who is the former county executive of Westchester County, N.Y., just north of New York City. He is running for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.",national,0,0,1,0,2,0,"an interview on ""Fox & Friends""","Astorino said that New York state is the ""worst in the nation in economic recovery."" His staff now acknowledges that the candidate misspoke. He did have a point that several commonly used statistics suggest that New York’s recovery has been weaker than average among the 50 states. But that’s a far cry from ""worst in the nation."" We rate his  ."
20604,1,Celine Dion has been paralyzed by the COVID vaccine and cancels her tour.,"November 28, 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 .) We found no news reports, tweets, or statements to support this .   Claudette Dion, the singer’s sister, said on a TV show that ""she shared with me that the stage had a steep incline when she was performing that would cause problems to her muscles, legs and feet. ""  Dion delayed the opening of her Las Vegas show, canceling performances from Nov. 5 through Feb. 5, 2022, but she still has 19 shows on the books in North America in March and April 2022, and more shows scheduled abroad well into 2023 .    We rate this post ."
19847,1,Airlines are meeting today to discuss the risks of carrying vaxed passengers due to the risk of clots and the liabilities involved.,"May 30, 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 user claimed, ""Airlines are meeting today to discuss the risks of carrying vaxed passengers due to the risk of clots and the liabilities involved,"" and suggested that soon only unvaccinated people would be allowed to fly.  Industry leaders said they had no knowledge of such a meeting, and there is no  that any airlines plan to prevent vaccinated people from flying. Additionally, experts said that blood clots are far more likely to develop as a result of COVID-19, rather than as a result of the vaccine.  We rate this  ."
109,2,"In 2006, Arizona had four ballot issues that were ""very tough on illegal immigration... Forty-seven percent of the Hispanics in Arizona voted for them.","September 10, 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,,"Deputy Secretary of State Kevin Tyne said, ""We're precluded from tracking that kind of information. ""
 But just to be sure there wasn't another source for Tancredo's numbers, we talked to Quin Monson, assistant director at the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University; to John A. Garcia, a University of Arizona political science professor who has done extensive polling of Hispanics; to Earl de Berge, research director at the Behavior Research Center, a public opinion firm in Phoenix; and to Fred Solop, a Northern Arizona University political science professor and pollster. Not one knew of data to support Tancredo's statement. So, applying one correct statistic to four different ballot questions rates a ."
4176,3,The United States is the No. 1 country in the world for energy resources. … We are the king daddy dogs when it comes to energy.,"August 27, 2011",environment;energy,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,a campaign event,"Bachmann can point to some very specific numbers from a credible source -- CRS -- that place the United States first in the world in fossil-fuel reserves. But while she cited this big number from the CRS report at Poinciana, she also glossed over a number of caveats that raise questions about the significance of the No. 1 ranking. The U.S. lead is predominantly due to its large stores of coal, yet coal’s environmental effects pose a question mark for the future use of these resources. Meanwhile, for both coal and other fossil fuels, there’s continuing uncertainty about whether the U.S. will be able to exploit these resources in a way that’s economically feasible. Finally, there’s no way of knowing which renewable or experimental energy sources will become important in the future, and as a result, whether the U.S. will be well placed to dominate the field. We find Bachmann’s statement supportable based on available statistics, but the statistics may not be completely reliable. Some of the estimates include resources that would not be tapped if companies found it more profitable to exploit resources outside the U.S. We consider Bachmann's statement to be accurate, but find that it leaves out important details. We rate it ."
13454,3,"Nearly $2 billion in cash was flown over to Iran, money that the Obama administration has admitted is being used for terrorists and to support further activities there.","June 6, 2017",foreign policy;nuclear;terrorism,karen handel,"Karen Handel is the former secretary of state of Georgia. She is also the former chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Handel, a Republican, lost the runoff for the GOP nomination for Georgia governor in 2010.",georgia,2,3,5,3,2,1,a debate,"Handel said the Obama administration admitted that nearly $2 billion flown to Iran is being used to fund terrorism and various supporting activities. She is more specific than the record supports. One way or another, the United States transferred $1.7 billion owed to Iran. As for what the administration admitted, Kerry said it was likely that some portion of any money Iran received would go to its top security organization and some of that money would end up advancing terrorism. Beyond that general statement, details are lacking. We rate this  ."
1644,3,Says he cut 'tax rates five times',"May 2, 2010",message machine 2010;taxes,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 television ad,"Those figures rose slightly each year, from $784.15 to $902.63. Summing up: White is right that the city's property tax rate was cut five years in a row on his watch, and in Houston, where the mayor has substantial power, his  of responsibility is warranted. However, property values citywide were increasing at a faster pace. The result: The average residential tax bill rose by an annual average of 4.8 percent from 2006 to 2009. We rate his statement as ."
3647,3,There's a 1.5 percent to 2 percent overhead in Medicare. The insurance companies have a 20 percent to 30 percent overhead.,"May 24, 2011",health care;medicare,barbara boxer,Barbara Boxer is California's junior senator.,national,0,4,3,2,0,1,an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews,"There is some disagreement over how much Medicare pays in overhead. It could be a few percentage points higher than the 1 to 2 percent that Boxer cites. But Boxer’s numbers are defensible since they come straight from the Medicare trustees’ report. Meanwhile, Boxer’s 20 percent-to-30 percent figure for the private sector is more squishy. Some plans have overhead rates that high, but only a fraction do, and the industry-wide average is quite a bit lower -- 11 to 12 percent. We’re convinced that Boxer’s underlying point -- that private plans have higher overhead than government plans -- is correct, if for no other reason than that profits matter only for private insurers. But for most plans and patients, the difference between Medicare overhead and private-sector overhead is not as great as she suggests. So we rate her statement ."
2421,1,"Shows in a television ad that police took evidence from Solantic, Rick Scott's new health care company, after allegations emerged that the company was engaging in fraud.","October 10, 2010",health care;legal issues;message machine 2010,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,a TV ad,"Ads are about both the visuals and the words campaigns choose. In this case, the Democratic Party is inflating the allegations against Solantic by including video of sheriff's tape and police collecting . There have been no reports that we could find of police raiding a Solantic facility, and the Democratic Party, when asked, could provide no  of any such search. As such, we rate this  ."
22388,3,"Herschel Walker ""is heavily funded by the oil and gas industry, raking in more than $140,000 in donations from Big Oil and other energy interests.","November 28, 2022",congress;energy,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.”",georgia,3,1,2,0,0,0,a statement on a website,"The League of Conservation voters said Walker ""is heavily funded by the oil and gas industry, raking in more than $140,000 in donations from Big Oil and other energy interests."" The league pulled the number in July from Open Secrets, a reliable source of federal campaign finance data. The amount of direct donations from the oil and gas industry to Walker’s campaign is now about $190,000.  The  could mislead voters into thinking that Walker has outsized support from the oil and gas industry. Viewed in the context of overall donations, that’s not the case. The money from oil and gas-aligned groups and employees amount to less than 1% of donations to his campaign — far from ""heavily."" Oil and gas interests have donated bigger bucks to PACs that support Walker. Warnock has also taken money from the oil and gas industry, although less than Walker. We rate this statement . RELATED : Herschel Walker on PolitiFact’s -O-Meter RELATED : Raphael Warnock on PolitiFact’s -O-Meter RELATED : Fact-checking the Georgia Senate debate between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker"
6013,5,Says 1 in 7 American families is on food stamps.,"July 27, 2012",economy;pundits;welfare,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.",texas,14,6,9,9,21,6,The Woodlands,Palin’s figure is supported and may even understate the share of families on food stamps. Her statement rates .  
4298,2,Says that Romney touted the Massachusetts health plan for the nation in his hardcover book but then deleted it for the paperback edition.,"September 22, 2011",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,Orlando,"Perry's right that Romney's comments about health care were edited between editions. Among other things, a line that advocated the Massachusetts model as a strong option for other states was replaced by a shorter, more generic sentence. But Perry  by making it sound as though Romney had advocated his state's plan as national health care policy -- a potentially damaging position in a Republican primary. That's not what Romney wrote. We rule Perry's  ."
17262,0,Says Daniel Radcliffe has the coronavirus.,"March 10, 2020",fake news;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,My apologies for confusion. Here's a good read on the hoax: https://t.co/qdfjfdza0v The Boy Who Lived does not have the coronavirus. Obliviate this from your memories. !
17895,1,"Gov. Gavin Newsom ""has no legal authority"" to make wearing face coverings mandatory in California.","June 18, 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,"Some local government leaders and widely-shared facebook posts  Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn’t have the legal authority to make face coverings mandatory in California.  To justify the move, the Newsom administration pointed to the California Emergency Services Act, the same authority it used to order a statewide stay-at-home requirement in March due to the COVID-19 crisis.  Two constitutional law experts said Newsom, indeed, has broad powers under that law and under the state’s public health authority to make masks mandatory.  Unless face coverings are shown to be ineffective, they said Newsom’s requirement should also hold up against legal challenges. We rate the  the governor doesn’t have the power to make masks mandatory as .   – The statement is not accurate."
13145,5,"The average margin of victory in the House of Representatives was 37%"" for Democrats and Republicans in the 2016 election.","February 23, 2017",congress;elections;redistricting,arnold schwarzenegger,"Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican and was governor of California from November 2003 to January 2011. 
 ",california,1,2,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently claimed the  ""average margin of victory in the House of Representatives was 37%"" among Republicans and Democrats during last year’s election. That  is supported by the 37.1 percent margin calculated by independent election tracker ballotpedia.org and longtime politics professor Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College, who put the margin slightly higher at 39 percent. The  shows Schwarzenegger was on target with his . We rated it .   – 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."
15851,0,"Says Adam Schiff used taxpayer money to ""reach a sexual harassment settlement with a 19-year-old male.","March 21, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"Viral social media posts  that Schiff used taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment allegation with a ""a 19-year-old male."" Despite the rapid spreading of the rumor, not a single credible news source picked up the story. The account could only be found in sporadic, unsourced social media posts and partially in a junk news website that used a fabricated interview and a phony photo. This conspiracy theory is full-on !"
13258,0,"Says President Barack Obama ""tax audit exposes MILLIONS in offshore accounts stolen from taxpayers.","April 4, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"It’s difficult to say whether the other sites are in on the joke or not. FederalistTribune.com’s Contact Us link doesn’t seem to perform any action, and FreedomsFinalStand.com doesn’t appear to have contact information at all. Both sites are privately registered , with no personal contact information. At any rate, the tale of Obama using an alias to bilk millions from the U.S. Treasury for naming his signature health care law was made up. We rate the statement !"
18077,1,"This virus has a cure. It is called hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax. I know you people want to talk about a mask. Hello? You don't need (a) mask. There is a cure.","July 27, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,stella immanuel,Dr. Stella Immanuel is a Houston-based primary care physician and minister.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,a press conference,"In a viral video, Immanuel said there is a cure for COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine can treat it and people don’t need to wear masks to prevent the spread of the virus. All of those claims are . There is no known cure for COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine is not a proven treatment, and public health officials advise everyone to wear face masks in public. Immanuel’s statement is ."
3126,3,"Says that in some Texas communities, ""our unemployment rate is still at 10 and 20 percent.","February 15, 2011",economy;jobs,garnet coleman,"Coleman, initially elected to the Texas House in 1991, formerly chairs the Texas House Committee on County Affairs. Coleman says in his online biography that he's one of the authors of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in Texas, a program that makes health insurance available to more than 500,000 children from working families. He said he also helped simplify access to Medicaid for more than 600,000 Texas children, and worked to secure an increase of $161.5 million for at-risk child care services.",texas,1,0,1,1,0,1,a press conference,"""Some communities, some pockets, are experiencing high unemployment."" All told, parts of Texas experienced jobless rates of 10 percent or more in December, including one county where unemployment approached 19 percent. We didn’t confirm any with 20 percent unemployment. Coleman’s statement is solid at the low end, teetery at the top. We rate it ."
347,5,"He's been endorsed by ""every major newspaper here in the state of Texas.","February 21, 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,"Austin, Texas","San Antonio Express-News: ""America needs a president that tries to create unity out of diversity, marshalling all the forces — red, blue or purple — that make this country great.
 Sen. Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate that offers the best chance to reach that lofty objective."" Fort Worth Star-Telegram: ""Obama might be shorter on detail, but he is by far longer on inspirational spirit, charisma and an ability to energize previously unengaged Americans in the voting process, particularly the usually unengaged up-and-coming generations on whose shoulders America's future rests."" Corpus Christi Caller-Times: ""The Editorial Board endorses Sen. Barack Obama because it believes that he offers the kind of inspirational leadership the country is hungry for."" El Paso Times: ""A weary America, tired of the status quo, fed up with business as usual, is longing for a positive change — and Barack Obama is that change."""
22483,1,Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican requested that President Biden not attend Benedict's funeral.,"January 4, 2023",religion;facebook fact-checks,newsmax,Newsmax is a conservative magazine and website.,national,0,1,0,0,1,0,a Facebook post,Newsmax claimed that Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican requested that Biden not attend Benedict’s funeral. There’s no  that Biden was purposely not invited. The Vatican announced that Benedict had asked for a simple ceremony and that only delegations from Italy and Germany would be formally invited.  The U.S. ambassador to the Holy See attended the funeral. We rate this .
22890,0,"A video shows Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., playing a phone conversation between Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Hunter Biden.","April 13, 2023",congress;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"He spoke about the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, among other topics. Again, he made no mention of Ocasio-Cortez or Hunter Biden, much less played a phone conversation between them. We searched news archives and Google and found no reporting that reveals audio of a call between Ocasio-Cortez and Hunter Biden, nor did we find any legitimate reporting that Kennedy claimed to have such a recording. Fact-checkers at USA Today and Check Your Fact have rated similar claims . We rate this  !"
12223,3,"Says Donald Trump ""has a long history of exporting jobs overseas.","August 5, 2016",jobs,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,"But it’s  to say he exported jobs, in that it’s not as though he created those jobs in the United States and then moved them overseas. Trump has complained that China manipulates its currency, making it more expensive to make products outside of China. Our rating Baldwin said Trump ""has a long history of exporting jobs overseas."" For more than a decade, Trump-brand products such as his clothing have been made overseas, although those were jobs that were created overseas, not U.S. jobs that were moved. We rate Baldwin’s statement ."
19200,2,"Says Nancy Pelosi bought $1.25 million in Tesla stock the day before Joe Biden signed an order ""for all federal vehicles"" to be electric.","January 31, 2021",ethics;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"An image shared on Facebook claims that Nancy Pelosi bought $1.25 million in Tesla stock the day before Biden signed an order ""for all federal vehicles"" to be electric, implying that she sought to profit from inside information about new government policies. The House speaker did report transactions involving Tesla stock, but the post misrepresented the purchases and Biden’s policies to create the  impression that the transactions represented improper insider trading in Tesla shares. The statement contains an element of , but ignores critical facts would give a different impression — our definition of ."
17062,1,"Says the 2019 coronavirus ""causes sudden death syndrome.","February 8, 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,"A Jan. 30 study of 99 coronavirus cases found that the virus ""can result in severe and even fatal respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome."" Three-quarters of the patients in the study showed signs of double pneumonia, and the characteristics of those who died were consistent with a warning model that predicts who’s most likely to die from the disease. Some patients did die after experiencing heart problems, including cardiac arrest, but the study did not establish a link between the virus and sudden death syndrome. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
17883,1,"Six months before the COVID 'plandemic,' Bill Gates had negotiated a $100 billion contact tracing deal with (the) Democratic congressman sponsor of bill.","June 14, 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,"An article shared widely on Facebook claimed: ""Six months before the COVID ‘plandemic,’ Bill Gates had negotiated a $100 billion contact tracing deal with (the) Democratic congressman sponsor of bill."" There is no  of Gates collaborating on the bill, which would provide $100 billion to faith-based organizations, clinics, medical centers and other organizations that perform COVID-19 testing, conduct contact tracing or provide services for individuals who are isolating at home.  We rate the statement ."
16107,0,Says Donald Trump said he believes suicide bombers deserve the death penalty.,"May 28, 2019",fake news;terrorism;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Breaking Burgh describes its site as ""a satirical blog serving Western Pennsylvania and beyond."" In the old satirical story, President Trump apparently made the suggestion (with no time or place identified) that ""anyone who terrorizes and kills good people by suicide bombing deserves nothing less than the highest penalty, which is to pay with their life,"" and ""If you detonate yourself with high explosives in the United States, I will make you regret it. Believe me."" There is no  Trump ever said this, and while the blog has a disclaimer that all of its content is satire, the content has been repurposed in social media posts that do not provide users any information suggesting that the statement was fabricated. We rate this !"
5006,5,"The national debt is equal to $48,700 for every American or $128,300 for every U.S. household. It is now equivalent to the size of our entire economy.","January 24, 2012",deficit,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 blog post,"Our ruling: Forbes said the national debt is equal to $48,700 per person and $128,300 per household. He also said the debt is equivalent to the size as the U.S. economy. On all three scores, he’s pretty much on target. We rate the  .  "
2190,2,"After Ronald Reagan cut taxes in 1981 the U.S. enjoyed ""exponential growth.","August 20, 2010",economy;federal budget;history;taxes,john loughlin,"John Loughlin is state representative from Tiverton who ran an unsuccessful 2010 campaign for Congress in Rhode Island's 1st District. He owns a television, radio and film production company and served 26 years in the military, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve in 2006. He is married with two daughters.",rhode island,1,0,0,1,2,1,a campaign commercial,"In the end, Loughlin is correct that Reagan cut taxes in 1981. Yet he omits the important fact that the 40th president subsequently approved substantial increases, an omission we consider significant. As for exponential growth after the Reagan tax cut, the candidate acknowledges that that's an exaggeration, although he shares the conviction of many others that the 1981 cut played a key role in economic growth in the 1980s. In an economy as complex as ours, cause and effect statements like Loughlin's are great for a campaign ad, but they make the -O-Meter shudder. So we'll give the candidate a ."
8439,3,"When union membership goes down, so do (middle class) wages.","February 12, 2014",income;unions;punditfact,ed schultz,Ed Schultz is the host of the Ed Show on MSNBC.,,0,1,4,3,1,2,"a broadcast of ""The Ed Show""","Schultz said when union membership goes down, so do wages. Schultz emphasized that ""all workers"" have a stake in this and his chart tied union membership to the income of everyone in the middle class. Schultz would have done better to have talked about the distribution of income rather than wages. His  is most likely to be  for male union workers and only partly  for non-union workers. Even for union workers, other factors such as globalization and technology have diminished the union effect. The ability of unions to push up wages for workers outside the union is limited to certain industries that operate in the same region. Schultz’s statement has a measure of  but in today’s economy, the data don’t support the strong tie he suggests between unions and wages overall. We rate the  ."
6781,5,Individuals with mental illnesses die an average of 25 years earlier than those without a mental illness.,"December 6, 2012",health care;medicaid,terry russell,"Terry Russell is the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio, an organization that serves as an advocate for people with on mental  health issues. 
NAMI Ohio was created in 1982 by a small group of family members to provide mutual support, education, and advocacy for individuals and families affected by serious brain disorders. Over the years, its membership has expanded to include family members, mental health consumers and providers, community mental health boards, mental health organizations and other supporters.",ohio,1,0,0,0,0,0,an interview,"Among its recommendations, the report called for better access to physical health care for people with serious mental illnesses to fight what it called an ""epidemic of premature death and its contributing causes."" Russell said that people with mental illnesses, on average, die 25 years earlier than those without a mental illness. He accurately cited findings of a major study on the issue. And in Ohio, the average is actually greater than 25 years. On the -O-Meter, his  rates ."
21823,2,"Democrats are voting to add an army of 87,000 IRS agents who will target middle class taxpayers and conduct at least 1 million more audits each year. ","August 10, 2022",taxes,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 tweet,"There is no basis for saying the IRS will target the middle class. To the contrary, the administration has ordered no increase of auditing earners making less than $400,000. The last part of his statement — that the IRS will conduct at least 1 million more audits a year — is undetermined. It’s clear the agency will be auditing more tax returns from high earners, but there’s no official estimate on how many more.   All told, we rate Good’s statement .   "
15412,1,"If you cross the border illegally in the U.S., you get a drivers license, medical insurance, housing, career training, the right to vote.","October 31, 2018",immigration;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 Facebook post said, ""If you cross the border illegally in the U.S., you get a drivers license, medical insurance, housing, career training, the right to vote."" The post attempts to contrast illegal border crossing consequences and punishments in other countries and the United States. If someone is caught crossing U.S. borders illegally, they're placed in removal proceedings or returned to their countries. They don't automatically get the benefits outlined in the meme. People who already live in the United States illegally may be able to get some priviliges such as a driver's license or medical care — if their state allows it, not many do. Those benefits are not guaranteed across the country. Immigrants in the country illegally are barred from federal housing benefits. Children can go to public school regardless of immigration status, though it's unclear if that's what the post suggests by ""career training."" Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections, a few jurisdictions allow noncitizens to participate in local elections. The post leaves out important context to distort the facts. We rate it ."
7029,4,"Since January 2010, New Jersey has added 103,000 new private sector jobs. The last two years -- 2011 and 2012 -- have been the best two years of private sector job growth since 1999.","February 26, 2013",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 budget speech to the New Jersey Legislature,"Christie said during his budget address Tuesday that, ""Since January 2010, New Jersey has added 103,000 new private sector jobs. The last two years -- 2011 and 2012 -- have been the best two years of private sector job growth since 1999."" The governor is right that New Jersey has gained 103,000 new private-sector jobs since 2010, but that’s counting from February 2010, his first full month in office. He cited job growth from January 2010. Christie also is correct that 2011 and 2012 represent the best two years of private-sector job growth since 1999, according to BLS data and calculations from a Rutgers University economist. We rate his  . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
21526,3,"With the $53 billion spent in Ukraine aid, the U.S. ""could pay five SWAT members $80,000 each and have them at EVERY school front door.","May 26, 2022",education;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a photo on Facebook,"A Facebook post claimed that with the $53 billion spent in Ukraine aid, the U.S. ""could pay five SWAT members $80,000 each and have them at EVERY school front door."" The U.S. has allocated about $53 billion in aid to Ukraine. And if one wanted to pay this amount to station five SWAT members at every public and private K-12 school in the country, it would also add up to about $53 billion over one year. But that statement alone lacks context about current security funding for schools and what research shows about the effect of such measures. More than $2.7 billion is already spent each year on school safety equipment and services nationwide. And this $53 billion, if spent as the  suggested, would cover just one year of SWAT team coverage for schools. Additionally, research shows that the presence of armed officers on campuses does not help prevent school shootings from happening. We rate this  . RELATED: Research: Armed campus police do not prevent school shootings RELATED: How do we prevent school shootings?"
8684,5,"From 1972 until 2011, the number of EPA employees increased by 107 percent while the number of total federal personnel decreased by 15 percent.","March 25, 2014",environment;jobs,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,congressional testimony,"Griffith said, ""From 1972 until 2011, the number of EPA employees increased by 107 percent while the number of total federal personnel decreased by 15 percent."" There are a few minor issues with Griffith’s choice of dates and numbers, but we won’t quibble. The EPA increase would have dipped below 100 percent if Griffith had used the most current employment figures from 2013. On the other had, Griffith could have made the growth sound more dramatic if he had started his comparison in 1970, when the EPA was born. We rate Griffith’s statement ."
8586,4,"Says he ""forced Washington to open up the Arctic Ocean to oil drilling.","March 20, 2014",environment;energy,mark begich,U.S. Sen. Mark Begich is a Democrat from Alaska. He was elected in November 2008.,national,0,2,0,0,0,1,a TV ad,"Begich’s ad claimed that ""he forced Washington to open up the Arctic Ocean to oil drilling."" Begich wasn’t in the Senate when the government awarded leases to Shell, but the leases were only the first step toward drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Numerous other federal permits were required before Shell could drill there, and by multiple accounts, Begich played a key role in pushing the administration from the time he began serving in the Senate. Shell did drill in 2012 -- the first activity in that region of the Arctic in decades -- though after complications arose, including legal ones, the company hasn’t done so again. So Begich can rightfully take credit for helping advancing Shell’s oil-drilling permits in the Arctic Ocean, but there’s currently no drilling taking place. We rate his  ."
10925,0,"Everyone on California's roads is properly licensed, tested and insured.","September 25, 2015",public safety;transportation,luis alejo,"Luis Alejo, Democratic state lawmaker from Salinas",california,0,0,0,0,0,1,a press release,"Assemblyman Luis Alejo says ""everyone on California’s roads is properly licensed, tested and insured."" This statement is clearly a dream, with no basis in fact. While indicators show the number of uninsured motorists is dropping, CHP officers are still very busy citing uninsured drivers. They wrote more than 66,000 tickets for uninsured drivers from January through August. Insurance experts call Alejo’s   and wishful thinking. They also strongly doubt the problem will ever be fully solved. We rate the  , which we define as a statement that is ""not accurate and makes a  ."" Click here for more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
12109,1,"Just on the issue of immigration alone, it is next to impossible to find a policy difference between (Donald) Trump and Congressman (Joe) Heck.","July 14, 2016",immigration,catherine cortez masto,Catherine Cortez Masto was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2016 in Nevada. She previously served two terms as Nevada's Attorney General.,nevada,0,2,4,1,2,0,a news release,"Cortez Masto claims that ""on the issue of immigration alone, it is next to impossible to find a policy difference between (Donald) Trump and Congressman (Joe) Heck."" There are areas where Heck and Trump overlap on immigration policy: mandatory E-verify for employers, upping border security and questioning birthright citizenship. However, Cortez Masto made it sound like Heck and Trump are lockstep on the issue, and that's clearly not the case. There are major stated policy differences between the two Republicans — Heck opposes mass deportation, which Trump campaigned on during the primary season. And Heck has supported a pathway to citizenship for people not legally in the country, as well as supported a version of the DREAM Act. It wasn't ""next to impossible"" to find those differences. We rate this statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/311dcdb1-c61d-47a8-a370-327fe6ef5998"
14228,4,Top CEOs (are) making 300 times the average worker.,"January 30, 2018",economy;income,joe kennedy,"U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy represents the Fourth District in Massachusetts. Prior to being elected to Congress, Joe served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as an Assistant District Attorney in both the Middlesex County and Cape and Island’s District Attorneys’ Offices. He lives in Newton.",national,0,1,0,0,0,0,response to State of the Union address,"Kennedy said, ""Top CEOs (are) making 300 times the average worker."" His numbers describing today’s ratio, while credible, are on the high side of research. The AFL-CIO put the ratio at 347-to-1. The liberal Economic Policy Institute said CEOs make either 271 or 224 times that of average employees, depending on how you measure stock options. Bloomberg pegged the ratio at 265-to-1. We rate his  ."
1514,1,The New England Journal of Medicine released a survey the week that President Obama signed Obamacare stating that over 30 percent of American physicians would leave the profession if the government took over health care.,"March 28, 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,"on CBS's ""Face the Nation""","An NEJM spokesman said they are reviewing their policies to make sure this kind of confusion doesn't happen again. But on top of getting the source , we think Bachmann sensationalizes the Medicus results, saying that ""30 percent of American physicians would leave the profession"" if the health care bill passed. The survey language was that they would ""try to leave"" or ""try to retire early"" if it passed. There's a difference. Altogether, we rate her  ."
17228,5,"You've raised a lot more money than I have, Bernie.","March 5, 2020",campaign finance,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 NBC,"Biden said, ""You’ve raised a lot more money than I have, Bernie."" The numbers change quickly, and there’s a lag in official reporting to the Federal Election Commission. Still, the best estimate is that Sanders has raised about $71 million more than Biden has since the start of the 2020 campaign. We rate the statement ."
4865,4,"In 1790, the first Congress, which was packed with framers, required all ship owners to provide medical insurance for seamen; in 1798, Congress also required seamen to buy hospital insurance for themselves. In 1792, Congress enacted a law mandating that all able-bodied citizens obtain a firearm.","January 5, 2012",congress;health care;history;government regulation;supreme court,einer elhauge,Einer Elhauge is the Petrie Professor of Law at Harvard University.,rhode island,0,1,0,0,0,0,the New England Journal of Medicine,"Harvard Law professor Einer Elhauge said that early Congresses, particularly the first Congress, had no qualms about forcing purchases. Our research confirmed that. Congress required merchant ship owners to purchase medicines or provide health care for their workers. Seamen were later taxed to pay for what might be regarded today as an 18th-century health maintenance organization to provide for hospital care. And most able-bodied men were required to purchase weaponry for their service in the militia. Although he correctly characterized the laws, to say that the framers of the Constitution ""packed"" that first Congress is too much of a stretch. ""Packed"" means at least a majority; 22 percent is not a majority. For that reason, we rule his statement  . (An earlier version of this item incorrectly reported that Washington signed all three bills. John Adams, a founding father who was not a framer because he was in Europe when the U.S. Constitution was written, signed the 1798 legislation.) (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
4397,2,"Says someone earning $50,000 a year will fare better under his ""9-9-9"" plan than under the current tax system.","October 5, 2011",taxes,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.",florida,0,3,5,4,11,3,"St. Petersburg, Fla., aboard his campaign bus","There's some cherry-picking there, since the numbers change if you select $40,000 or $30,000. Moreover, while calculating the impacts of 9-9-9 might be simple, comparing them to the current tax system is much more complicated. Cain's assumption holds when you look at single earners, but married couples and people with children making $50,000 a year would likely pay more under 9-9-9 than the current system. We knock the  down one mark for cherry-picking a figure of $50,000 a year and two more because the  itself is only half right. To us, that equals a ."
10436,4,"Says Jeb Bush ""oversaw (an) average in-state tuition increase of 48.2 percent during his tenure.","June 25, 2015",education,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,a press release,"The Florida Democratic Party said Bush ""oversaw average in-state tuition increase of 48.2 percent during his tenure."" While not having the power to increase tuition himself, Bush did sign budgets in which the Legislature increased tuition substantially. We came up with 56.9 percent ourselves, counting the strict cost of tuition per hour over the eight years Bush was governor. That hike doesn’t beat estimates of the nationwide average at the time, however, and in-state, undergraduate tuition was still quite a deal compared to other states when Bush left office. The statement is accurate, but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it .  "
15613,3,"Health care is the ""No. 1 reason for bankruptcy.","January 30, 2019",bankruptcy;health care,josé oliva,"José Oliva, a Miami Lakes Republican, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives on June 28, 2011and reelected subsequently. He is the House Speaker for 2018-2020. He is CEO of the Oliva Cigar Company and a former Hialeah Housing Commissioner 2001-2005.",florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,Tallahassee,"Oliva said that health care is the ""No. 1 reason for bankruptcy."" Research in 2009 found that in 62 percent of cases, medical illnesses or bills contributed to bankruptcy, based on surveys of the people who declared bankruptcy. But other academics have disagreed with that conclusion, particularly those who are wary that people tend to blame financial problems on illness when there are other reasons as well. A paper published in 2018 concluded that adult hospitalizations caused 4 percent of personal bankruptcies, but that data also has limitations. It is difficult to pinpoint a top reason for bankruptcies because multiple factors could collide, causing someone’s debt to mount and leading to bankruptcy. Researchers are still debating how different issues contribute. We rate this  ."
6262,2,We know there are more Democrats in Georgia than Republicans. We know that for a fact.,"September 3, 2012",elections,mike berlon,Mike Berlon is the chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia.,georgia,0,0,0,1,0,0,an article,"There’s little concrete  that definitively shows which party has more voters since Georgia does not allow partisan voter registration and the secretary of state’s office doesn’t keep statistics on voters’ party preference. There is some information that supports Berlon’s argument, and some that counter his . While more people voted Democrat in the 2008 primary, Republicans dominated in the 2010 statewide races, and more Georgians voted on the GOP ballot in July. The polling data says it’s close, but election results and the most recent makeup of the Georgia Legislature suggest there are more Georgians who consider themselves Republican. We give Berlon a ."
17633,2,"Regarding the risks of coronavirus transmission on an airplane, ""It's as safe as an environment as you're going to find.","May 3, 2020",health check;coronavirus,gary kelly,Gary Kelly is the chief executive officer of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.,texas,0,1,0,1,0,0,an interview on CBS,"The CEO of Southwest Airlines said during a TV interview that the risks of COVID-19 transmission on an airplane are no greater than anywhere else and that ""it’s as safe as an environment as you’re going to find.""  Research shows that airplanes’ strong ventilation systems do filter out virus particles. However, studies also indicate that some level of risk regarding the transmission of an infectious disease persists, particularly if you are seated near a contagious person. And passengers’ ability to take steps to mitigate that risk is limited.   Kelly’s statement contained an element of  regarding planes’ air filtration and mitigation steps taken by the industry, but he took it a bit too far and left out key pieces of information and context.  We rate it as . "
16684,1,"JFK Jr was declared the frontrunner for the NY Senate seat in 1999. Days later his plane crashed, making Hillary Clinton the newly elected senator.","November 5, 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,"""Earlier this year, in one of the best-kept secrets in state politics, Kennedy considered seeking the seat of retiring Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-N.Y.) in 2000, the friends confirmed yesterday,"" the story says. Though a private poll in 1997 found that JFK Jr. was the state’s most popular Democrat by far, according to the story, ""the idea became moot once First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled her interest in running, but the two friends said they expected the son of the slain president eventually would have jumped into politics as a candidate. ""  A 1999 Washington Post story says that a ""Kennedy insider"" claimed leading Democrats had unsuccessfully approached Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run for Moynihan’s seat.    Hillary Clinton was elected to Moynihan’s vacated seat on Nov. 7, 2000. We rate this Facebook post ."
5266,5,"New Jersey loses net, that is minus those who come into the state, 30,000 students a year.","March 13, 2012",education,susan cole,Susan A. Cole has served as the president of Montclair State University since 1998.,new jersey,1,0,0,0,0,0,an interview on NJTV,"The president of Montclair State University said: ""New Jersey loses net, that is minus those who come into the state, 30,000 students a year."" According to the most recent federal education statistics, 36,135 first-time freshmen students left New Jersey and 5,268 came to the state. That’s a net loss of 30,867. And when narrowing  the data to freshmen who graduated in the  past 12 months or students attending four-year institutions, the net loss is still more than 27,000 students. Cole’s on the mark with this statement. We rate it . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
7676,4,"Says President Barack Obama ""has taken 92 days of vacation since he was sworn in,"" compared to 367 for President George W. Bush at the same point in his presidency.","August 9, 2013",bush administration;pundits;recreation,al sharpton,"The Rev. Al Sharpton, a minister based in New York City, is founder of the National Action Network civil rights organization. He is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and he hosts MSNBC PoliticsNation. Sharpton has run for the U.S. Senate and was a Democratic candidate for president in 2004.",national,0,1,1,2,1,0,"a segment of his MSNBC show, ""Politics Nation""","Sharpton said that Obama ""has taken 92 days of vacation since he was sworn in,"" compared to 367 for President George W. Bush at the same point in his presidency. While this discrepancy is explained by the fact that Bush often worked from a family home in Texas whereas Obama has no equivalent family retreat, Sharpton has correctly cited data from the leading authority, CBS News’ Mark Knoller. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate the statement ."
3083,3,"Americans, in the last 30 years, ""have more than doubled the amount of money we are spending per child (on education) … and the results have gotten worse, not better.","February 9, 2011",education,michelle rhee,Michelle Rhee is the former chancellor of the Washington D.C. public schools system.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,talking to Florida legislators,"During her trip to Florida, Rhee said that Americans, in the last 30 years, ""have more than doubled the amount of money we are spending per child (on education) … and the results have gotten worse, not better."" Per-pupil education spending has grown significantly over the past 30 years, and the United States spends among the most to educate its K-12 students. But to say that student results have gotten worse is simplifying things a bit. Maybe the return for the increased spending isn't what people want, but student performance in math and reading has improved slightly over the past 30 years, according to statistics kept by the U.S. Department of Education. Different assessments essentially show that U.S. students have failed to make the gains that other countries have. But they haven't showed U.S. students performing worse. We rate this  ."
17556,4,"During the 1918 flu pandemic, San Francisco residents formed the ""Anti-Mask League."" San Francisco ""was ultimately one of the cities that suffered the most with a high death rate.","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 during the 1918 flu pandemic, San Francisco residents formed an ""Anti-Mask League."" San Francisco ""was ultimately one of the cities that suffered the most with a high death rate."" Residents angry about the reinstatement of a mask order did form the Anti-Mask League in January 1919. It appeared to be short-lived, as the mask rule was quickly rescinded. Researchers found that San Francisco did have one of the higher death rates in the country, but it is impossible to say whether that was directly related to the mask protests. A photo of masked police officers that accompanies the post is real, but it shows officers in Seattle. We rate this statement ."
6345,2,We have more natural gas than Saudi Arabia has oil.,"September 11, 2012",environment;energy;transportation,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 speech,"We don’t think it is so clear, given that Thompson made no mention of production. Our rating Thompson stated: ""We have more natural gas than Saudi Arabia has oil."" The U.S. produces more natural gas than Saudi Arabia produces oil. But in terms of reserves -- those that are proved and those that are technically recoverable -- Saudi Arabia leads. We rate Thompson’s statement ."
14583,3,"Says Luke Messer and Todd Rokita ""voted to fast-track Obama's trade deals.","April 30, 2018",candidate biography;trade,mike braun,"Mike Braun is a Republican running in the Indiana GOP primary for U.S. Senate. Having built his career in business, Braun served on the Jasper School Board and in the state House of Representatives.",national,0,0,1,1,0,0,GOP debate,"Braun said Messer and Rokita ""voted to fast-track Obama’s trade deals."" Messer and Rokita indeed voted in favor of fast-track authority in 2015. The authority was for three years, counting toward both Obama and his successor’s trade deals. It has and will apply to Trump’s trade deals for another three years if Congress does not vote to block it come July. The law would have applied to the TPP if it had come up for a vote. But a vote in favor of the authority does not equate a vote in favor of the deal. Messer and Rokita could have still voted against ""Obama’s trade deals."" We rate this statement ."
2855,4,Rhode Island has the highest percentage of uninsured adults of any state in New England.,"December 17, 2010",economy;health care;poverty,marie ghazal,Marie Ghazal is the chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Free Clinic in Providence.,rhode island,0,1,0,0,0,0,The Providence Journal,"Ultimately, if you ignore the margin of error, Ghazal is correct about our ranking compared with other New England states. But if you take that into account, its possible that her statement could be . More importantly, she's making a selective comparison. When you compare us with the rest of the country, we're better than average. Because of those omissions, we rate her statement ."
8882,3,"Says Hillary Clinton ""defended Syria's President Assad as a possible reformer at the start of that country's civil war.","June 1, 2014",foreign policy;punditfact,chris wallace,"Chris Wallace is the host of ""Fox News Sunday.""",,0,1,3,0,0,0,"comments on ""Fox News Sunday""","Criticizing parts of Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, Wallace said Clinton ""defended Syria’s President Assad as a possible reformer at the start of that country’s civil war."" Clinton’s original comments in March 2011 were not that straightforward. The statement in question was actually, ""Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer."" Clinton was talking about the beliefs of Congress and didn’t ""defend"" Assad, as Wallace put it, instead saying that the use of force that he deployed was more ""than any of us would want to see."" Still, Clinton’s choice to talk about those members’ opinions of Assad without knocking them down suggests she may have found them credible and bolsters Wallace’s . Wallace’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and takes things out of context. We rate the statement ."
13413,0,"NASA will pay you $18,000 to stay in bed and smoke weed for 70 straight days.","January 2, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an Internet post,"That means eating, exercising, showering and even, yes, using the facilities while lying down. A NASA spokesman told us that there have not been any sleep studies that involved consuming cannabis. There also aren’t any more sleep studies currently planned, so it’s not like NASA is suddenly going to try it the next time. Blog posts that have been saying that NASA is paying subjects $18,000 to lie in bed and smoke marijuana for 70 days are pretty far out. The only lighting up we see here is when we rate this !"
7507,2,"The Senate immigration bill ""has immediate legalization ... and the border security is sometime in the future, and just like in 1986, it's designed never to come into being.","June 24, 2013",immigration;corrections and updates,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 Fox News,"Cruz said the Senate immigration bill offers immediate legalization of unauthorized immigrants and that it indefinitely defers action on border security. Cruz said this bill was just like the major reform bill in 1986. On legalization, the process would not be immediate, but as the CBO uses the term, it would come before the border is fully secured. Proponents of the bill refer to this as ""provisional"" status. By and large, immigrants could not apply to receive permanent legalized status until border security meets certain benchmarks. The Senate measure also appropriates more than $46 billion for border security and makes that money available immediately. So Cruz is  to say the security measures are designed ""never to come into being."" Cruz was reasonably accurate on legalization but was way off the mark on the bill’s border security being ""designed never to come into being."" We rate his statement . Editor's note: This item has been updated to include additional comments we received from Cruz's office after our initial publication."
8832,2,Estimates for adopting Obamacare's Medicaid expansion show it will cost Virginia taxpayers $902 million through 2022.,"April 29, 2014",medicaid;state budget,campaign for liberty,"The Campaign for Liberty is a non-profit political organization by former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, in the aftermath of his 2008 presidential campaign. The group, which claims 500,000 members, is dedicated to electing candidates who share its beliefs for limited government, a non-interventionist foreign policy and opposition to the Federal Reserve System.",virginia,0,0,0,1,0,0,a petition,"Campaign for Liberty says estimates show Medicaid expansion will cost Virginia taxpayers $902 million over the next decade. One forecast indeed showed that: A 2012 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation offering broad estimates of the net cost expansion for each state. Kaiser stressed in the report that it did not examine all of the savings states might realize and said its net projections ""should be considered an overestimate of costs or an underestimate of savings."" The Campaign for Liberty ignores the most current and detailed study, released in January by Virginia’s Medicaid agency. This report, which examined all avenues for savings based on updated trends, concluded Medicaid expansion would save the state $604 million through 2022. The campaign’s use of the plural ""estimates"" suggests there’s broad agreement Medicaid expansion will cost Virginia taxpayers $902 million. Not so. So the campaign’s statement has an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
20369,0,The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines contain a deadly parasite.,"October 10, 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 blog post,"What’s more, she said, there’s no  of a parasite in the image.   ""The blurry object shown is not Trypanosoma cruzi or any other parasite,"" she said.   As for the  that this particular parasite causes AIDS, that’s also , she said.   ""The only thing that causes AIDS is an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),"" she said, ""and this cannot be acquired through the Pfizer vaccine. ""  We rate the post !"
15456,1,"Says of immigrant family separations at the border, ""we had the exact same policy as the Obama administration.","November 25, 2018",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,"Tweeting about family separations at the border, Trump claimed, ""we had the exact same policy as the Obama administration."" That’s not . Families were separated at the border as a result of a new Trump policy called ""zero-tolerance."" There were some family separations under the Obama administration, but experts say not at the scale of the Trump administration's and that they were relatively rare. We rate Trump’s statement ."
6428,0,"I never supported"" a state income tax for Texas.","October 2, 2012",taxes,paul sadler,"Paul Sadler, a lawyer who previously worked with the Wind Coalition energy advocacy group, served in the Texas House from 1991 through 2003, an East Texas district around Henderson. He was his party's 2012 U.S. Senate nominee.",texas,2,2,1,1,0,1,Dallas,"Sadler said he has ""never"" supported a state personal income tax. To the contrary, he authored a 1992 proposal that, with voter approval, would have resulted in a state personal income tax dedicated to education and five years later, he was clear about not ruling out legislative study of an income tax as members explored tax options. Cruz may have been  in the debate when he said Sadler used to routinely introduce himself as the guy for an income tax. However, Sadler’s rejoinder -- that he never supported an income tax -- isn’t supported by his legislative record or his past comments. This ""never""  isn’t just . It’s . !"
11724,1,"We've already lost $500 million in economic impact"" from HB2 fallout in North Carolina.","May 4, 2016",economy;lgbtq;sexuality;states,chris sgro,Chris Sgro is the executive director of Equality NC.,north carolina,0,1,0,0,1,0,a press release,"North Carolina’s economy has already lost, by various counts, either $77 million, $86.3 million, $141.7 million or $201.3 million. None of those are even close to the $500 million Sgro claimed has already been lost. It’s  that the state might eventually lose up to $567.5 million in economic impact, according to one study. Sgro was using that number, but the vast majority of that money hasn’t already been lost, like he claimed it had been. What’s more, many of the businesses threatening boycotts haven’t even said for certain that they will cancel if HB2 remains law, meaning the $567.5 million figure could drop substantially. And if HB2 is repealed, it’s also possible that some of the ""already lost"" money might return in the form of new jobs and investments. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/48fe6bc0-b383-4020-adf3-d8135ab9a49a"
21584,2,"Zach Nunn took money from Adventureland's CEO, then sponsored legislation to loosen amusement park safety rules. A child died. Zach Nunn put his big donor first, ahead of the safety of Iowa families.","June 14, 2022",campaign finance;recreation;ad watch,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 campaign ad,"The Axne for Congress ad said, ""A tragedy that could have been avoided. But Zach Nunn took money from Adventureland’s CEO, then sponsored legislation to loosen amusement park safety rules. A child died. Zach Nunn put his big donor first, ahead of the safety of Iowa families."" Nunn sponsored a bill in the Iowa Senate that was the counterpart of one that became law in 2021. The law reduced the minimum age for running an amusement park ride in Iowa from 18 to 16. In addition, he has accepted $34,000 in campaign donations collectively from the family that owned the park at the time. However, the ad oversteps when it suggests that the Adventureland death could have been avoided if the law hadn’t passed. The operators of the ride that led to the teenager’s death were older than 18. We rate the statement ."
16520,1,"Says Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a school computer program, ""saying it would be better spent in urban districts like Madison and Milwaukee.","September 5, 2019",education,rob swearingen,"State Rep. Rob Swearingen, R-Rhinelander, is a member of the Wisconsin state Assembly, first elected in 2012.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,Republican weekly radio address,"Swearingen claimed Evers vetoed a statewide computer devices program, ""saying it would be better spent in urban districts like Madison and Milwaukee.""  The setup paints Evers as not prioritizing rural districts like those Swearingen represents. But Swearingen offered no convincing  to support his . Evers didn’t specifically shift the funds. And nothing in the veto message signals a rural-to-urban shift like the one Swearingen suggests — much less anything specific to Milwaukee and Madison. Evers offered ideological objections based on how funding was allocated and how he felt education dollars could be best spent. We rate Swearingen’s  ."
22168,1,"A CNN headline shows Uganda's president saying he doesn't support Ukraine because it would be ""disgusting.","October 22, 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,"The story features a paused video of Museveni in which he appears wearing the same outfit and in front of the same background as the image of him in the Instagram post.   The headline of this story: ""Uganda president: ‘Homosexuals are ‘disgusting.’"" At the time, Museveni was talking to CNN about anti-homosexuality laws in Uganda. We found no credible news reports or other sources documenting Museveni as saying it would be disgusting to support Ukraine.   We rate that  ."
12966,3,The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia.,"February 1, 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 tweet,"Trump tweeted, ""The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia."" Trump’s referring to a deal for the United States to take in 1,250 people --  from Iran, Iraq and Somalia -- held by Australia in offshore detention centers. The detainees were caught at sea by Australian officials as they tried to illegally land on the island. The United States is expected to vet the individuals and determine who will be accepted as refugees. Refugees arrive in the United States legally. Trump’s  is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/e3995915-11af-4036-a175-903c2c7a4786"
13001,4,Tanzania farmers face 12 years in prison for trading seeds thanks to foreign aid.,"January 9, 2017",global news service;agriculture;food;poverty,danielle nierenberg,Danielle Nierenberg is president of the advocacy group Food Tank.,,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Nierenberg tweeted, ""Tanzania farmers face 12 years in prison for trading seeds thanks to foreign aid."" Under the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, Tanzania received millions in aid and investments from Western governments and businesses. At the same time, it enacted stronger intellectual property rights for seed varieties that included a maximum sentence of 12 years for violations.  So the penalty is an indirect effect of the aid, but whether the sentence was a condition for it is unclear. Futhermore, the government doesn't appear to be enforcing the law. We rate Nierenberg’s  ."
15924,3,Governor Evers' budget would increase property taxes by the largest amount in a decade,"March 27, 2019",taxes,wisconsin assembly republicans,Members of the Wisconsin Assembly Republican Caucus,wisconsin,0,0,1,1,1,0,a tweet,"The estimate they relied on does show the largest year-over-year increase since 2009-’10. But the increase is not solely a result of Evers’ budget. Rather, it is based, in part, on a host of decisions by voters in referendums, by local units of government and by Walker and Republican leaders in years past. Indeed, the overall impact of Evers’ budget is to help keep the increase in check. We rate the  ."
15558,2,"Says new U.S. Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib has been linked to an ""unindicted terrorist.","January 8, 2019",fake news;terrorism;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story,"A story with the headline, ""Democrat Congresswoman linked to UNINDICTED Terrorist!"" is being spread online about new U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Siraj Wahhaj has certainly been a controversial figure and, according to documents, was considered by authorities to be someone who may have had a connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But he was never charged and remains a significant figure in the Muslim community. The only connection we could find between Wahhaj and Tlaib is that they were both featured speakers at a November 2018 CAIR banquet in California. While the Columbian Post story contains some  regarding Wahhaj’s past, the clickbait headlines -- especially regarding a supposed ‘link’ between Wahhaj and Tlaib -- are exaggerated and make it appear more sinister. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
18823,1,"Detroit has ""2,503 dead people registered"" including ""one voter born in 1823.","November 4, 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,"A Facebook post stated Detroit has ""2,503 dead people registered"" including ""one voter born in 1823."" The post cites a TV news report in December related to a lawsuit filed that month by the Public Interest Legal Foundation. In June, the foundation dropped their lawsuit after they concluded that Detroit elections officials had taken action to fix the voter rolls. The person on the rolls born in 1823 was a typographical error, according to the elections office. The Facebook post misleads by suggesting that dead people on the voter rolls are tied to the current counting of ballots for the Nov. 3 election. Also, dead people on the rolls doesn’t automatically mean fraud, and elections officials take steps to make sure that ballots aren’t cast in the name of dead voters. We rate this statement .   This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. "
5943,1,"Says President Barack Obama ""has not raised taxes.","July 18, 2012",taxes,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 C-SPAN’s Washington Journal,"Pascrell said ""this president has not raised taxes."" Some taxes have increased during Obama’s time in the White House. In his first months in office, Obama increased the federal excise tax on tobacco products and the national health care law includes a number of tax increases. It’s also  that other taxes -- such as payroll taxes -- have been reduced during the president’s tenure. However, it’s  to broadly state that Obama has not raised taxes. We rate this  . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
14475,3,"The omnibus bill ""does not designate a single dollar for Planned Parenthood.","April 2, 2018",abortion;federal budget,robert pittenger,Robert Pittenger is a Republican who has represented North Carolina's 9th congressional district since 2013.,north carolina,0,0,1,2,0,0,a newsletter,"Pittenger said the spending bill ""does not designate a single dollar for Planned Parenthood."" Technically, in the very literal sense of the word ""designate,"" Pittenger is right. The bill doesn’t specifically direct funding to Planned Parenthood by name. But the federal government continues to pay for Planned Parenthood’s services through Medicaid and other programs. And since voters are more likely to care about whether their tax dollars go to an organization – not whether the organization is specifically named in legislation – we rate Pittenger's  ."
3801,5,"The U.S. is spending ""one out of every six Defense Department dollars on Afghanistan.","June 22, 2011",afghanistan;federal budget;military,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,"an interview on ""Morning Joe.""","Another expert, Laura Peterson of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said you could choose to exclude money that goes to the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons budget as well as money that goes to military construction, and then the Afghanistan spending would be between one sixth and one fifth of Defense Department dollars. Huntsman said we're spending ""one out of every six Defense Department dollars on Afghanistan."" Budget numbers and defense spending experts said that's a reasonable extrapolation, though there are slightly different ways to calculate it as a little more or a little less. Still, Huntsman's number is a legitimate calculation. We rate his statement ."
15501,4,WV's tourism industry grew at a rate 30% above the national rate in 2017. This increase reversed a four-year decline in which travel-generated spending fell more than $600 million.,"September 19, 2018",economy;state budget;tourism,jim justice,"Jim Justice is the Republican governor of West Virginia. A businessman, Justice was originally elected as a Democrat.",west virginia,4,5,2,1,0,1,a tweet,"Justice said, ""WV's tourism industry grew at a rate 30% above the national rate in 2017. This increase reversed a four-year decline in which travel-generated spending fell more than $600 million."" He’s right about the comparison of West Virginia and the nation as a whole, and he’s also correct about the decline from 2012 to 2016. However, he engaged in a bit of cherry-picking of the data and glossed over the role of inflation in the state’s tourism spending increase. We rate the statement ."
12667,2,Jack Berry voted for a plan to cut $23.8 million from our schools.,"October 17, 2016",city budget;education;voting record,levar stoney,"Levar Stoney is a 2016 candidate for mayor of Richmond.
Stoney was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2014 by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. He resigned the post in April 2016 to run for mayor. Prior to that, he served as executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party and worked in a number of campaigns.
Stoney was born in 1981 in New York and later moved to Yorktown, Va. He graduated from James Madison University in 2004, where he was president of the student government.
 ",virginia,2,1,1,1,2,0,,"Stoney’s flier says, ""Jack Berry voted for a plan to cut $23.8 million from our schools."" The Richmond School Board passed a budget in 2012 that exceeded its revenues by $23.8 million and asked the city to make up the difference. Mayor Jones refused and appointed an 11-member advisory committee, which included Berry, to find savings. The panel voted 10-1, with Berry’s support, to recommend a plan that itemized $23.8 million in cuts to the board’s proposed budget. The City Council largely adopted that plan. Stoney’s statement suggests that Berry had an official role in the budget deliberations. He didn’t. Berry served as an adviser to the mayor with instructions to find efficiencies. He didn’t have a say in the actual appropriation of city funds for education; that remained in the hands of the City Council. It’s also  to say, as Stoney does, that the plan ""cut"" $23.8 million from schools. Most of that sum was hoped-for new money from the City Council that the School Board never received.   So Stoney’s statement contains an element of  but ignores important facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
13220,2,"Says Tammy Baldwin ""supported legislation allowing citizens to withhold funding for our troops.","March 21, 2017",federal budget;military;polls and public opinion,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 video,"Clearly this is intended for a conscientious objector to feel better about their taxes, but it doesn’t reduce their tax bill or really withhold funding for our troops.’"" Our rating Restoration PAC says Baldwin ""supported legislation allowing citizens to withhold funding for our troops."" Baldwin on four occasions, most recently in 2009, cosponsored a bill that would have allowed conscientious objectors to direct the federal government not to use their income taxes and other tax payments for any military purpose. But the bill would not have restricted Congress’ ability to allocate money to the military; even the organization pushing the legislation acknowledges it would not reduce military funding; and experts agree it is a symbolic measure that would not result in funding being withheld from troops. For a statement that contains an element of  but leaves out important details, our rating is ."
15122,3,"Says Ohio congressional candidate Danny O'Connor has raised ""90 percent of his campaign funds from liberal out of staters.","September 6, 2018",campaign finance,troy balderson,Troy Balderson is a Republican member of the U.S. House representing Ohio District 12. ,ohio,0,0,2,0,0,0,a news story,"Balderson said O’Connor has raised ""90 percent of his campaign funds from liberal out of staters."" In the most recent fundraising report, almost 90 percent of O’Connor’s campaign contributions came from donors outside of Ohio. That’s donors, not money. But when it comes to O’Connors overall itemized donations thus far in the race, the situation isn’t as stark. Combined, 23 percent stemmed from in-state contributions, and 77 percent came from all other states combined. The percentages do not include contributions under $200, because the FEC doesn’t require certain information such as donors’ addresses. Balderson’s statement is inflated and incomplete. We rate it ."
14048,1,"If you don't pay income taxes ... you'll have more money"" under the Republican tax plan.","November 26, 2017",health care;taxes,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.",national,1,1,2,1,4,0,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week""","Scott said, ""If you don't pay income taxes ... you'll have more money"" under the Republican tax plan. Scott’s logic rests on Americans who do not pay income taxes no longer having to pay the penalty for not carrying health insurance. However, people who decided to keep buying health insurance despite the lifting of the individual mandate penalty wouldn’t benefit under Scott’s scenario. And if they decided to forgo health insurance and pocket the amount of the individual mandate penalty instead, they would only end up ahead if they remained healthy enough to keep their medical costs low. That’s more of a gamble than anything close to a certainty. We rate this statement ."
9913,4,More people have watched 'Morning Joe' than CNN and HLN 5 years in a row.,"January 29, 2015",polls and public opinion;punditfact,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.",,1,4,3,1,4,0,a tweet on Twitter,"Scarborough tweeted that more people have watched Morning Joe than CNN and HLN 5 years in a row. In the most general sense, the average daily audience each year for anyone 2 years old and up, he is correct. But there are many other ways to slice the apple that paint a more complicated ratings picture. Looking at the more valuable television demographic for advertisers, 25-to-54-year-olds, MSNBC has been in a dogfight with CNN and HLN. And more recent month-by-month data shows CNN clearly is gaining ground and has surpassed Morning Joe . Scarborough’s  is literally accurate, but experts we consulted said it’s a bit deceiving given the other data that exists. That most closely fits our definition of ."
14960,0,VIDEO Kevin Bacon Saying 'We Are Blessed To Have Donald Trump As Our President',"August 14, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"But the Gossip Cop story shared by Bacon noted that the actor hadn’t been on the ABC show since 2007 . The Phoenix Post’s headline explicitly says ""Kevin Bacon,"" but the text of the story replaced his last name with ""publisher 1st baron verulam,"" or ""1st Baron Verulam"" (apparently trying to reference a title given to the philosopher Francis Bacon ). PunditFact has fact-checked multiple hoaxes about celebrities praising Trump, including these involving Denzel Washington , Emma Stone , and Jennifer Aniston . Bacon did not say ""we are blessed to have Donald Trump as our president."" We rate that fabricated story as !"
15314,0,The pipe bomb suspect's van was staged.,"October 25, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"Some of the town’s residents reported regularly seeing such a van with windows plastered ""with a thick collage of pro-Trump stickers,"" according to the paper. ""It struck me because of the crazy, conspiratorial stickers covering the windows,"" the Times quoted former Aventura resident David Cypkin as saying. ""It was unsettling."" Other media outlets, including the  Washington Post and the Miami Herald , have also reported on the van, posting photos of the vehicle and talking to Floridians who recall seeing the van before the pipe bombs were mailed. We rate this statement as !"
6702,3,"Says President Barack Obama ""did not come into office with the economy in a free fall.","October 10, 2012",economy,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,"Was the economy plunging downward, hit bottom, or had it hit and was on the upswing? As Jacobsen notes, it’s hard to call January 2009 a time of free fall in a technical sense. Cratered might have been a better way for Team Obama to describe it. Johnson is correct on the lagging nature of economic indicators and agrees that the economy was in rough shape at the time. We rate his  ."
15962,0,"In the 'old days' if you were president and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism.","April 23, 2019",economy;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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"Trump said, ""In the ‘old days’ if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism."" Even setting aside the constitutionally protected right of Americans to petition the government with their grievances, Trump lacks basic  for his assertion. At least four prior presidents served during good economic times yet had approval ratings lower than Trump’s are currently, usually because of wars or scandal. We rate the statement ."
15500,3,"Quotes Donald Trump as saying in 2013, ""A shutdown falls on the President's lack of leadership. He can't even control his own party and get people together in a room. A shutdown means the president is weak.","December 13, 2018",federal budget;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims Trump said a government shutdown ""falls on the president’s lack of leadership"" and means the ""president is weak"" in 2013. We couldn’t find an instance when Trump said those exact words all together, but he did repeat similar statements on social media and in interviews at the time, saying ""the pressure is on the president"" during a shutdown and that the president ""has to get everybody in a room and be a leader."" The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate the statement ."
2397,2,"Says that ""93 percent of the time John Boccieri voted with Nancy Pelosi.","October 4, 2010",message machine 2010;voting record,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,ohio,4,5,9,20,14,9,a television election ad,"The NRCC’s underlying point is that Boccieri votes with the majority a lot. But the NRCC’s accuracy suffers because it chose to try to tie Boccieri to a politican it deems unpopular, rather than say what the Washington Post’s database shows. And when you look at how the House speaker’s votes match up with Boccieri’s, his support hasn’t been as lockstep as the Republicans . We rate the NRCC’s  as . Comment on this item ."
15272,1,The KKK was formed by the Democratic Party.,"October 11, 2017",corrections and updates;fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,,"While some Democrats supported the KKK, there’s  no  the group was founded by their political party. And context matters—the anti-black Democratic Party of yore is not the party that Hillary Clinton belongs to today. We rate this statement . Correction: This story was updated to correct the spelling of the Ku Klux Klan."
5037,2,Says Gov. Bob McDonnell's budget would cut pre-kindergarten programs.,"January 11, 2012",education;state budget,george barker,"George L. Barker was first elected to the Virginia Senate in 2007.  Prior to his election, he had been active in a number of civic and community organizations.  
Barker has two degrees from Harvard University, receiving undergraduate honors in Economics and Public Health and a master's in Health Policy and Management.  For three decades he worked for the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia.  He currently consults on health care issues.
Barker and his wife reside in Clifton.  They have two grown children and were foster parents to 13 children. 
 ",virginia,1,0,0,1,0,0,a speech,"McDonnell has ensured that the number of slots available to at-risk preschoolers would increase during the next two budget years. But starting in 2015, as Barker notes, the policy would result in about one-fifth of localities losing state funding for some of the children they serve. Barker’s statement contains an element of  in that some cities and counties eventually could suffer under McDonnell’s pre-K proposal. But it ignores the larger fact that the program would expand in most of the state. We rate Barker’s  ."
16958,3,The percent of millionaires in Congress is 50% while the percent among the U.S. public is 1 percent,"January 12, 2020",congress;income;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 50% of the members of Congress are millionaires compared with only 1% of the American public as a whole. The number of millionaires in Congress is hard to pinpoint precisely, because they disclose their finances in ranges. But data from the Center for Responsive Politics showed that about 48% were worth at least $1 million. The post understates the number of millionaires among the public. A more accurate number would be between 5% and 12%. But the general point that millionaires in Congress far outpace those among citizens is correct. This statement rates .      "
21065,1,"The former Miss Universe-Ukraine, Anastasiia Lenna, turned in her high heels for some combat boots to fight for her country.","February 27, 2022",military;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,A Facebook post claims it shows a Ukrainian beauty queen fighting against the Russians invading Ukraine. That’s not the case. Lenna did not join the Ukrainian military. She posted a photo in which she’s posing with an airsoft gun. She said the photo was meant to inspire people.  We rate this post .
15761,0,"In Wisconsin, because a key provision of the Voting Rights Act was not in effect,  ""somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 people were turned away from the polls (in 2016) because of the color of their skin"" and other factors.","March 3, 2019",elections;supreme court;voting record,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 speech,"The provision in question never applied to Wisconsin. She also has problems with the numbers on both ends of her range. What’s more, the  -- and others like it -- put all of the blame for people not voting on the state’s photo ID law. That ignores other factors, such as a lack of enthusiasm from voters, or the belief -- one apparently shared by candidate Clinton -- that the state was a safe one for her in 2016. We rate the  ."
16342,2,"Dan McCready backed state legislation that raised consumers ""$149 million a year in higher energy costs.","July 25, 2019",energy,club for growth,The Club for Growth is an anti-tax group.,north carolina,4,5,5,9,6,0,a TV ad,"The Club for Growth ad says McCready backed regulations that would cost consumers $149 million a year in their electric bills. While it is  that the clean-energy group pushed to keep a renewable portfolio standard in North Carolina, the standard had already been established for close to a decade at the time McCready joined the group’s board. It is  to say that NCSEA lobbied for ""costly state regulations"" when RPS had already been in the law for years before the House put forward legislation that would have watered it down. The ad gives an exact figure for the costs of the standard, but experts told us that estimates on the effects of RPS vary widely, ranging from savings to costs. What’s more, the ad fails to mention that renewable energy decreases toxic and costly carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, we rate this statement . Correction: A previous version of this story had  figures for the estimated cost of carbon dioxide emissions and a University of Chicago study's estimate of the cost of renewable standards per metric ton of reduced carbon emissions. This does not change our ruling. 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] ."
11499,0,"Says that when Michelle Fields ""found out that there was a security camera, and that they had her on tape, all of a sudden that story changed.","March 29, 2016",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 CNN town hall,"Trump said that when Michelle Fields ""found out that there was a security camera, and that they had her on tape, all of a sudden that story changed."" We see no  that Fields’ story about her altercation with Trump’s campaign manager has changed. She gave an initial account and hasn't backed off of it. We rate Trump’s  ."
3033,1,Property tax exemptions can be granted to small businesses that move into Milwaukee County.,"January 31, 2011",jobs;small business;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 campaign news release,"Abele is touting his idea of granting special property tax breaks to certain businesses. But well-established legal principles, the state’s constitution and expert opinion strongly suggests that not even the Legislature could make this happen. The lack of detail in Abele’s plan may be the best thing going for it, because it’s harder to judge. But it also makes clear how far off base he was in presenting this as a simple matter of a pen stroke by the new county executive. We rate his statement ."
613,3,"Says McCain ""supported George Bush's policies 95 percent of the time.","August 23, 2008",bush administration,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,"Springfield, Ill","He supported Bush as infrequently as 77 percent of the time in 2005, and backed the president's position an average of 89 percent of the time since 2001. By congressional standards, that's solidly partisan, but hardly marching in lockstep. Biden would have been right if, like Obama, he mentioned the year. But he didn't and gave a  picture of McCain's support for Bush. That sounds  to us."
9167,2,"We would create thousands of jobs in Colorado, if the Keystone Pipeline were to be built.","July 28, 2014",environment;climate change;energy;government regulation,cory gardner,"Cory Gardner, a Republican, won a seat to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate in 2014. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Colorado House of Representatives.",national,0,2,1,4,2,0,an interview on Univision Radio,"Gardner said, ""We would create thousands of jobs in Colorado, if the Keystone Pipeline were to be built."" Gardner based that statement off an old study that measured the overall impact of the Alberta oil sands on the U.S. economy, not the Keystone XL pipeline specifically. The State Department study cited by the company building the pipeline estimates that the equivalent of 30,000 direct, indirect and induced temporary jobs will be created in states outside the pipeline’s projected route. However, it doesn’t specify how many of those would be created in Colorado. We rate Gardner’s statement ."
795,4,"In April, Sen. McCain came out against helping women earn equal pay for equal work.","October 20, 2008",legal issues,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,"And that would be , because we are only talking about McCain's opposition to a single piece of legislation that would have eased the statute of limitations for bringing a lawsuit over unequal pay — weighed against McCain's numerous pronouncements of support for equal pay for equal work. On the other hand, one could argue that the woman is simply stating an opinion about McCain's vote on the Ledbetter bill. McCain did oppose it. And one could certainly argue the bill was designed to help women get equal pay for equal work. And so we rule the statement . "
17661,1,"Since the reopening of (Georgia), we've seen our COVID rate skyrocket by 40%.","May 7, 2020",coronavirus,stacey abrams,"Stacey Abrams, a Democrat and national voting rights activist, is running for Georgia governor in 2022. She lost the Georgia governor's race in 2018. She is a former House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and State Representative for the 84th House District.",national,1,2,6,0,2,0,an interview with Mother Jones,"Abrams said that after Georgia’s governor reopened certain business activities, the COVID-19 rate rose 40%. In reality, the period after reopening had 12% fewer cases. Even if the policy shift did cause infections to rise, it wouldn’t appear until several weeks later. Abrams spoke before that effect would show up in the data. We rate this  ."
11395,5,"When the City and the Fairmount Park Conservancy invested $5 million in Hunting Park, crime went down 89 percent within a half mile radius of the park over the next three years.","March 10, 2016",public safety,jim kenney,Mayor of Philadelphia and former City Councilman,pennsylvania,2,1,1,1,1,0,a budget address to City Council,"Our Ruling Kenney used the efforts in Hunting Park as an example of why City Council should authorize more funds to revitalize parks and recreation centers throughout the city. He said ""when the city and the Fairmount Park Conservancy invested $5 million in Hunting Park, crime went down 89 percent within a half mile radius of the park over the next three years."" The Fairmount Park Conservancy confirmed that it -- along with the city and private donors -- invested about $5 million in revitalizing the park. Vandenburg, who conducted the study, said crime did in fact drop by 89 percent within a half-mile radius over the next three years. We rule the  ."
13375,0,"Clinton Foundation cargo ship raided at Port of Baltimore"" caught smuggling 460 undocumented immigrants.","May 11, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"But the port also picked up on this  story the same day it appeared, tweeting out : A story was published on websites mentioning the Port of Baltimore & a cargo ship raid. It is . None of the events it cites took place. We checked the cargo manifest on this  news and found the  didn’t hold water. We rate it !"
17144,0,"Says a Michigan funeral home employee was ""cremated by mistake while taking a nap.","February 25, 2020",crime,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .)   That’s because it seems the story originated on this website , which describes itself as a ""satire web publication."" (The story has since been deleted from the site.) Reposted on the-daily-star.com , however, there’s no such context cluing in readers that this didn’t actually happen.   We rate it .  "
19679,1,"An audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Ariz., ""is confirming the rumors that real ballots have a special watermark.","April 29, 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 Facebook post claims that an audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Ariz., ""is confirming the rumors that real ballots have a special watermark"" — suggesting that  ballots could have been cast in an effort to prevent Trump from being re-elected president. Maricopa County says it does not use watermarks on its ballots.  No  has emerged that the audit, led by a firm headed up by a man who was part of the ""stop the steal"" conspiracy theories about the election, has found any  of watermarks. We rate the post ."
6255,1,"The ""Health Care Compact bill would end Medicare's guaranteed benefit for Tennessee's Medicare recipients and shift management of the federal health care plan to the state's TennCare program.","August 17, 2012",health care;medicaid;medicare,tennessee democratic party,The Tennessee Democratic Party headquarters are in Nashville.,tennessee,2,2,1,1,1,0,a version specifically cri,"If the federal government turned Medicare over to the state Legislature's oversight with no strings attached, as conceivable under the bill, we're not ready to predict what would happen. But the possibility of endangered beneficiaries would be there. Indeed, if the original release language was changed to use the word 'could' instead of 'would,' the party would have a more defensible statement. But we set out to evaluate the original release, not the revised version and not to engage in semantic speculation over what difference the change of a word might have made. The Democrats' declaration that the Health Care Compact bill would eliminate Medicare's guaranteed benefit for Tennessee seniors is ."
691,1,"Holding up a BlackBerry, McCain campaign adviser says, ""you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create.","September 16, 2008",candidate biography;technology,douglas holtz-eakin,Top economic adviser for the McCain campaign.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a conversation with reporters,"In 2004, McCain made headlines when, as chairman of the Commerce Committee, he pushed for stricter steroids policies in professional sports. McCain's appetite for deregulation has by and large made him a friend of the telecommunications industry (witness his campaign contributions), but the wireless revolution largely emerged on its own. Congress acted mainly to regulate or deregulate it, and to sell the airwaves as a public asset. For a chief policy adviser to hold up a BlackBerry and suggest McCain was a major player in fostering its development – even from a regulatory perspective – is more than a stretch. We rule the Holtz-Eakin comment .  "
15058,3,"When two judges said it was illegal to fire a teacher"" who viewed pornography at school, ""Tony Evers worked with Republicans and Democrats and changed the law.","August 20, 2018",children;education;legal issues;sexuality,a stronger wisconsin,"A Stronger Wisconsin, which is backed by the Democratic Governors Association, is supporting Democrat Tony Evers in the 2018 race for governor of Wisconsin.",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,a TV ad,"So, Evers was involved  — as the narrator says in the ad  — but was not the leading force, as the words on the screen . A Stronger Wisconsin says: ""When two judges said it was illegal to fire a teacher"" who viewed pornography at school, ""Tony Evers worked with Republicans and Democrats and changed the law."" Judges ruled that an arbitrator was within her rights to overturn the firing, but they did not conclude that the firing was illegal. Meanwhile, Evers supported the change in state law, but was not the leading force. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is ."
22509,1,"Video shows Elon Musk talking about what ""every failed leader"" he met had in common.","January 11, 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.) In the interview from which this video clip was taken, Musk says none of these things. The audio clip in the Instagram post is fabricated.   The original footage, shared on YouTube by TED in May 2017, shows Musk talking about the future of transportation with TED’s head curator, Chris Anderson .   We rate claims that the video clip in the Instagram post is authentic ."
16118,5,"We saw the prison population expand and vacancy rates for correctional officers go from 2.9% to 15.2%"" over the last eight years.","May 21, 2019",criminal justice;jobs,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 tweet,"Taylor claimed ""We saw the prison population expand and vacancy rates for correctional officers go from 2.9% to 15.2%"" over the last eight years. The Legislative Audit Bureau said the adult inmate population has increased in the last eight years, from 21,941 in 2011 to 23,675 in 2018, or by 7.9%. And Corrections Department numbers show she is correct about the staffing vacancies as well. We rate the  ."
14863,1,"Says the Steele dossier ""was responsible for starting"" Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.","July 23, 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 the Steele dossier ""was responsible for starting"" Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Steele dossier did not trigger Mueller’s investigation. It was information from Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that set the probe in motion. Also, Mueller did not take up the investigation until roughly a year after the triggering event. We rate this ."
23210,1,"Greta Thunberg said the world would end on June 21, 2023.","June 21, 2023",climate change;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,"That means that two things are  in these posts. First, Thunberg’s original tweet didn’t predict that the world would end on June 21, 2023, as social media posts suggested. Rather, it said that a scientist had warned of humanity’s eventual demise if humans didn’t stop using fossil fuels within five years.   Second, that scientist later said reports were  that he claimed climate change will wipe out humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years. We rate claims that Thunberg predicted humanity would be wiped out on June 21, 2023,  ."
2316,1,"A $300 million stimulus allocation to Wisconsin ""has led to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in every corner of this state.","September 7, 2010",stimulus,tom nelson,"In 2022, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. He was the Democratic nominee running in 2016 for the U.S. House seat held by Republican Reid Ribble. He has served as the Outagamie County executive since 2011. In 2010, Nelson won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor but lost in the general election. Nelson served in the Wisconsin Assembly from 2004 to 2010, and the last two years was the Assembly majority leader.",wisconsin,0,1,3,0,1,0,a radio interview,"Where does all of this leave us? Nelson stated that an initial $300 million in stimulus money for road projects created tens of thousands of jobs in Wisconsin. As , he turns to much broader measures -- jobs created or saved, all stimulus spending, the state budget and stimulus money. But the actual jobs figure from the initial allotment  exceeds 1,200 -- and even that is a mix of jobs created and jobs saved. We rate Nelson’s statement ."
21957,0,A Boeing 757 didn't fly into the Pentagon on 9/11.,"September 11, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Sean Boger recalled being in a control tower for the Pentagon’s helipad when he saw the plane flying low, clipping a streetlamp and hitting the building about 10 seconds later. Sheila Moody, who was working her first day at the Pentagon, said the plane hitting the building ounded like ""an explosion, like a bomb. ""  We rate claims that a plane didn’t crash into the Pentagon on 9/11 ! RELATED : 9/11 conspiracy theories misconstrue how World Trade Center buildings collapsed RELATED: Plane debris was found at Pentagon after 9/11"
2820,5,"Earmarks requested in a federal spending bill included  ""$277,000 for potato pest management in Wisconsin.","December 14, 2010",agriculture;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. ",wisconsin,37,37,31,32,39,8,a statement on the U.S. Senate floor,"Citing a database, the Arizona senator said an earmark request had been made for $277,000 for potato pest management in Wisconsin. The database shows the request was made by Obey, the outgoing congressman. He doesn’t dispute it. (But it’s entirely possible his office considers us a pest on this issue.) We rate McCain’s statement ."
186,5,"In the African-American community today, 68 percent of kids born are born out of wedlock.","November 28, 2007",families,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","That's the highest number for all races. The lowest: 15.5 percent for Asian and Pacific-Islander. About 46 percent of Hispanic children were born to unmarried women, and 24.5 percent of white children. The figure is 36 percent for all races. Preliminary numbers for 2005 show similar percentages.  "
1853,5,We're No. 1 in child hunger.,"June 25, 2010",children,carol morgan,Carol Morgan is a private-practice career counselor and writer from Lubbock. She was a 2010 Democratic candidate for the Texas House.,texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a speech at the Texas Democratic convention,"Texas was a close second, with 24.3 percent of its children in food-insecure households. Our sense: It’s most reasonable to stack up the states based on their rates of children in hunger, rather than raw numbers. Based on its rate, Texas was No. 1 in child hunger from 2005 through 2007. It placed a close second to Arkansas in the latest study, but that wasn’t public when Morgan spoke. We rate her convention statement ."
1863,2,"I'm running against a groundhog. He saw his shadow on the primary day, and no one has seen him since.","June 26, 2010",candidate biography;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,"Can I stop there?"" We informed Weems of the activities summarized by Porter's campaign. He stood by his convention critique. Our suss: Porter has kept a low profile, but that does not a Punxsutawney candidate make. The Democrat's statement is ."
12972,1,"Two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. … It didn't get covered","February 2, 2017",terrorism,kellyanne conway,"Kellyane Conway is a White House counselor to President Donald Trump. Previously, she was a Republican strategist and pollster who served as campaign manager for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.",national,0,1,0,5,5,0,There was no massacre,"Conway said that ""two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. … It didn't get covered."" Put simply, there was no massacre. While Conway admitted her  the following morning -- and we're happy she did -- it's important to make sure the record is crystal clear. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/8550f4d4-9408-4f33-899d-ec9ca31437a9"
8911,5,"The Israelis ""gave up 1,000 terrorists in return for one sergeant.","June 4, 2014",foreign policy;military;terrorism;punditfact,charles krauthammer,Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated columnist and a contributor to Fox News.,,1,0,1,1,0,0,remarks on Fox News,"Krauthammer said Israel ""gave up 1000 terrorists in return for one sergeant."" In 2011, Israel freed 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who had been held captive by Hamas since 2006. While we can't confirm that all 1,027 were terrorists, some definitely were, and the definition of ""terrorist"" is often fuzzy. We rate this statement ."
20231,0,"Photo shows a Chinese restaurant sign that says ""F--- DeSantis.","September 5, 2021",facebook fact-checks,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,"You can ""make your own Chinese restaurant sign"" on the website atom.smasher.org.   We made one . The restaurant is called ""PolitiFact,"" and the marquee is much less hostile to DeSantis. It says: ""Fact-checking rules, misinformation drools. ""  We rate claims that this sign is authentic !"
12115,4,"Says Donald Trump said at the Republican convention, ""I alone can fix it.","July 28, 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.",florida,72,76,70,43,31,9,a speech at the Democratic convention,"Clinton said Trump said at the Republican convention ""I alone can fix it."" Trump did say those words when explaining why he thinks he is the best candidate for president. However, Clinton omitted that in other portions of his speech he showed a willingness to work with partners including prosecutors, law enforcement and foreign allies. We rate this  ."
22892,0,"They have been preparing for mass extinction with these death caskets"" in Madison, Ga.","April 9, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",georgia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"The clip is from a video that’s circulated for years on the internet. A longer YouTube clip posted 13 years ago falsely claimed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is headquartered in nearby Atlanta, owned the plastic bins.   A  2008 report from the Madison-based newspaper the Morgan County Citizen explained that Vantage leased the land to store the vaults, which are meant to protect interred caskets and keep the ground from caving in at burial. It’s common practice for people to arrange their funerals before they die, including selecting a casket and burial vault. We rate the  that ""they have been preparing for mass extinction with these death caskets"" in Madison, Georgia, !"
5864,3,Two thirds to three quarters of people without [health] insurance in Rhode Island work.,"July 29, 2012",health care;poverty;public health;welfare,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 panel discussion on ""A Lively Experiment""","Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts said, ""Two thirds to three quarters of people without [health] insurance in Rhode Island work."" Unfortunately, none of the data precisely match up with the way she cast her statement. The Kaiser numbers Roberts cited to support her  represent families, not individuals. The Mathematica study showed far fewer working people without insurance, but it's based on a projection using older data. In cases where the facts don't precisely match up with the statement, PolitiFact tries to use the data that are available and triangulate to get the . Roberts' larger point, that a lot of Rhode Islanders without health insurance are working people, is . But she gave a range of two thirds to three quarters -- 67 percent to 75 percent. The Rhode Island studies we consulted suggest the  number is higher than 48 percent but lower than 77 percent. We rate her statement as  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
10935,3,"Income inequality ""seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats.","November 10, 2015",economy;income,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 Republican presidential debate,"Paul said that income inequality ""seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats."" He has a point that one credible study shows a fairly strong correlation between low inequality and a Republican mayor. But experts say it’s a stretch to draw conclusions from this. The  inflates the actual powers of mayors to shape inequality in their cities and it ignores the role of population size and suburbanization in driving inequality. It also glosses over the fact that metropolitan areas, as opposed to cities, show no such relationship. The  is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
4110,1,"Says that he did ""not exactly"" say that communities have the right to ban mosques.","August 11, 2011",islam,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,"Ames, Iowa","In fact, if he said that he ""never said"" that communities have the right to ban a mosque, his trousers may well have burst into flames. But Cain was careful. He said it was not ""exactly"" what he said. This inched his statement ever so slightly away from patent absurdity. As a result, his  is merely ."
12976,2,"We've dropped from a top 10 state in elementary reading to 30th in the nation"" under State Schools Superintendent Tony Evers' watch.","January 12, 2017",education,john humphries,"John Humphries, a former administrator in the Dodgeville, WI school district, is a candidate for the state's top education job, the state superintendent of schools. He is in a three-way primary. The race in nonpartisan.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,0,0,a Facebook post,"Our rating Humphries said Wisconsin has ""dropped from a top 10 state in elementary reading to 30th in the nation"" under Evers. The drop is real, by an oft-cited ranking from a credible source, but the latest rank is 25th, not 30th. And Facebook readers who aren’t deeply familiar with Evers' career might assume from Humphries  that the decline happened while Evers was state superintendent. Evers was a top staffer for much of that time, but most of the decline came before he took over. We rate the  ."
19816,1,"Not one word"" from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris honoring service members for Memorial Day.","May 30, 2021",military;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  that Biden and Harris didn’t say ""one word"" about American troops, veterans, or fallen military members for Memorial Day.  This is . Biden and Harris each posted a tweet on May 29 about the holiday weekend without mentioning service members. But they made other statements during the weekend honoring military members and their families. Biden spoke at a Memorial Day event in Delaware, and he and Harris participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. We rate this  ."
9141,1,"The fundraising numbers are in, and our grassroots support is unmatched!","July 15, 2014",campaign finance;elections,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,a Facebook posting,"Perhaps he should, but the candidate’s statement was about fundraising. Our rating Grothman boasted that, ""The fundraising numbers are in, and our grassroots support is unmatched!"" But the numbers show that Leibham matched or out-did Grothman on most measures. That reads as pretty matched to us. We rate Grothman’s  ."
3147,4,"Twelve percent of the garbage collected in those SOLV cleanups, by volume, is plastic bags.","February 8, 2011",environment,mark hass,"Mark Hass is an Oregon state senator from Washington County and Southwest Portland. Previously, Hass served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007. He spent 20 years as a journalist.",oregon,0,1,1,0,1,0,a legislative hearing,"That percentage jumped to 13.4 percent in 2008 and 13 percent in 2009 when Oregon was considered alone, according to Ocean Conservancy reports. It seems to us that Hass attributed his 12 percent figure to the  source. That said, the 12 percent figure seems to jibe with the general range the two most recent reports offer. With that in mind, we rate this  . Comment on this item."
8452,2,"Says Alex Sink ""supported higher sales taxes.","February 17, 2014",taxes,republican party of florida,The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.,florida,2,6,6,12,10,4,a campaign mailer,"The Republican Party of Florida accused Sink of having ""supported higher sales taxes."" They pointed specifically to her stance on discussing the repeal of some sales tax exemptions in the wake of falling tax revenues in 2008. The way the GOP words it, however, makes it seem as if Sink were seeking to make a broad-based tax hike. Actually, Sink was supporting a review of sales tax exemptions. While that is not exactly raising the sales tax, it does have the same repercussions as a higher tax on those groups and industries. Overall, though, Sink was asking the Legislature to consider ending sales tax exemptions for a host of interest groups, not supporting raising sales taxes for everyone. Without that context, the  ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
10787,1,"Remember that developers are forced to use the '195 land union' contractors, so tap an extra $10 million into any construction project.","September 20, 2015",baseball;labor;unions,john depetro,John DePetro is a talk-show host on WPRO.,rhode island,0,0,0,0,3,3,blog,"On his blog, DePetro wrote:  ""Remember that developers are forced to use the ‘195 land union’ contractors, so tap an extra $10 million into any construction project."" DePetro was in  territory. But the state has entered into PLAs in the past. Construction unions are influential and the state can decide to only hire union-labor contractors for work on state land. The I-I95 commission, however, has no such requirement. Because of that, the business about $10 million in extra costs for ""any construction project,"" is irrelevant, in addition to being unsubstantiated in the original version of the blog. So ""100 percent ""? Not even close.   We rate this ruling  ."
13040,2,Muslims offended that their kids have to recite national anthem.,"February 20, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"A blog post claiming that Muslims are offended ""their kids have to recite national anthem"" linked to a deceptively edited post that includes images of children standing at attention before an American flag. In reality, the genesis of the story is not from America but Australia, where a spokesman for an international Islamic political group called Hizb-ut-Tahrir questioned why Muslim children should be forced to sing the Australian national anthem. The post, which has been altered after we inquired, is definitely  but not altogether . It also comes from 2015, which isn’t mentioned in the post being virally shared. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2c234c61-4e3b-42c7-b5cf-8e290480c157"
3892,1,China owns more of our bonds than do Americans.,"July 2, 2011",china;deficit;economy,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 TV interview,"Official debt tallies, even using Allen’s definition of ordinary American investors, show U.S. citizens held more government debt than China. As an added defense, Allen’s campaign said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in February testified before Congress that he thinks China owns more than $2 trillion of U.S. government bonds. That still doesn’t prove Allen’s point. The bottom line is that Allen’s methodology of including some U.S. investors and ignoring others is highly questionable, and his  doesn’t add up to his conclusion. We rate the  .  "
20267,0,"Says 2010 video clip showing coffins in a field proves ""COVID was planned.","September 9, 2021",national;public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",georgia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,The containers are burial vaults used to put caskets in when they’re interred in the ground. They are being stored for people who made burial arrangements before death. And there is no  they are linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. FEMA has not operated concentration camp centers in response to COVID-19 or any other disaster. We rate this  !
4595,2,Says President Barack Obama thinks Americans are lazy.,"November 16, 2011",economy;message machine 2012,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 television ad,"Our ruling: Obama said America had acted lazily in some regard. Exactly whom he considers lazy, we're still not sure. But it’s clear that he was not wagging his finger at the American public at large. Perry's presentation distorts the president's remark by taking it out of context. We rate his  ."
1835,3,"It was President Obama's ""inaction that caused over three weeks to go by before he even approved the governor's plan to protect our marsh.","June 15, 2010",environment;oil spill;states,steve scalise,Steve Scalise is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Louisiana.,national,0,0,2,1,0,1,an interview on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News,"Scalise said President Obama's ""inaction ... caused over three weeks to go by before he even approved the governor's plan."" It's the word ""inaction"" here that is most troubling because it suggests nothing was going on when in fact something was happening to address Jindal's idea. Per protocol, the Corps solicited interagency comments, shared them with the state of Louisiana, received a revised plan, solicited comments on it and then approved the plan May 27. Within a week, the money was in place. The omission of this context leads us to rule Scalise's statement ."
1418,5,"Due to ... tax cuts and lower (property) values, 2009 property taxes were almost $3 billion below 2007 property taxes.","March 2, 2010",taxes,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,his State of the State address,"(See page 32 of the report). In his State of the State address, Crist said ""2009 property taxes were almost $3 billion below 2007 property taxes."" A report prepared for a Senate committee pegs the number at about $2.28 billion and the Department of Revenue's annual report pegs the number at $2.9 billion. With the qualifier ""almost,"" that's close enough not to distort the broader point. We rate Crist's  ."
538,5,"U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan include a ""few thousand that are still green card holders who are not even citizens of this country.","July 11, 2008",military,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 airing Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico","An analysis of the Pentagon report by PolitiFact determined that about a quarter of the ""green card"" soldiers are originally from Spanish-speaking countries. In addition, there are 10,533 naturalized citizens serving in the military who were born in Spanish-speaking countries. The thousands of noncitizens serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the military's little-known facts. But apparently not to McCain. We rate his statement .  "
11548,3,"Mexico receives ""approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens.","April 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.",arizona,36,85,120,194,360,179,a plan on his campaign website,"Trump said, ""they (Mexico) receive approximately $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexican nationals working in the United States. The majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens."" The number is right, but saying the majority of that money comes from undocumented immigrants is a pure guess. One estimate, based on data more than a decade old, could associate 48 percent of remittances with undocumented Mexican immigrants. But that’s a stretch at best -- and it’s still not the majority -- as Trump claims. Experts we spoke with said there is no way to track undocumented remittance senders. All in all, we rate Trump’s  ."
3918,4,"From now on, we have to pay the Russians $50 million an astronaut to send Americans to the space station","July 7, 2011",space,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 CBS,"In an op-ed piece a few days later he noted that the contract had risen to $63 million -- which is the current figure. That's a lot of money per astronaut -- but there are two caveats worth mentioning. First, NASA has had a contract to pay the Russians to send someone to the International Space Station for more than a decade. And second, the overall space operations part of NASA's budget is dramatically declining so while $50 million or $63 million sounds outrageous -- it's something of a bargain. We rate this  ."
11491,1,"Nevada lawmakers ""permanently cut taxes for over 95 percent of Nevada's businesses.","March 3, 2016",state budget;taxes,michael roberson,Michael Roberson is a Republican state senator in Nevada and served as the senate majority leader during the 2015 legislative session. Roberson is running for Congress in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District.,nevada,0,0,1,0,1,0,"a candidate forum on March 3, 2016","Republican congressional candidate Michael Roberson said lawmakers ""permanently cut taxes for over 95 percent of Nevada’s businesses."" The changes made to Nevada’s payroll tax aren’t a traditional tax cut. No businesses saw their net tax bill decrease, but many businesses no longer have to worry every two years that their tax bill might suddenly rise. Still, the 95 percent figure isn’t accurate, even if we accept such a generous definition of a tax cut. And narrowly focusing on one tax change ignores many other tax increases passed by lawmakers. We rate this  as ."
5711,3,More Hispanics have fallen into poverty under Obama.,"June 5, 2012",message machine 2012;poverty,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 Web ad,"Romney’s ad correctly states that more Hispanics in the U.S. have fallen below the poverty line since Obama took office: 2.25 million more people through 2010, according to the census. But the ad’s clear message is that it’s Obama’s fault but experts say it's a much more complicated picture than that. We rate the statement ."
20471,0,"Says a CNN headline said, ""In And Out is the fast food of white supremacists.","October 27, 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,"The In-N-Out Burger misspelling aside, this headline doesn’t appear on CNN’s website , nor the name ""Charlie DeClown."" Searching the Internet more broadly , we only found it on meme websites .   The burger chain has been in the news lately for refusing to comply with a local vaccine mandate in Contra Costa County, Calif.   ""We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government,"" In-N-Out’s chief legal and business officer said in a statement quoted in the Los Angeles Times.   We rate claims that this is a real CNN headline ."
8994,4,"Candidates for governor routinely disclose"" their spouses' tax returns.","June 25, 2014",campaign finance;elections,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 commercial,"Scott said ""candidates for governor routinely disclose"" spouses’ tax returns. It is routine when candidates file joint returns with their spouses. It’s only recently that gubernatorial candidates and their spouses have started filing separate tax returns, though. When spouses file separately, there are two instances to look to, when first Alex Sink and then her husband Bill McBride disclosed individual returns for their spouse’s respective gubernatorial runs in 2002 and 2010. So the trend of spouses who file separately is a new one, but one way or the other, spouses' returns have been released over the years. We rate the statement ."
7839,3,"The 2013-'15 state budget backed by Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers ""left our technical colleges funded at 1989 levels.","September 18, 2013",education;jobs;state budget,democratic party of wisconsin,The Democratic Party of Wisconsin focuses on advancing state Democratic candidates and related issues.,wisconsin,3,3,2,10,7,7,a column on the party's website,"Our rating The Wisconsin Democratic Party said the current, 2013-’15 state budget adopted by Walker and Republican lawmakers ""left our technical colleges funded at 1989 levels."" That’s correct for the unrestricted general aid portion of state funding, which is the part the Republicans dramatically cut in the previous state budget. However, total state aid in the current budget is higher than it was in 1989. We rate the statement . If you would like to comment on this item, you can do so on the Journal Sentinel's web page ."
18552,1,"Says Chris Christie told Donald Trump to interrupt Joe Biden during the debate because ""people who overcome stuttering have a harder time maintaining their train of thought when interrupted. Keep interrupting him and he'll stumble when he tries to speak. This will enforce the 'senile' narrative.","October 3, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We found multiple social media posts sharing the statement, but nothing to corroborate them.   On ABC News after the presidential debate on Sept. 29, Christie said the plan was for Trump to be aggressive but that it was ""hotter than it was planned to be"" and that he could ""potentially turn that heat down"" going forward. Christie also addressed Biden’s performance, and he said that he thought Trump’s interruptions ""saved him"" at times when Biden was ""not seeming on the ball, getting numbers , wandering in mid-sentence, not being able to finish thoughts."" Still, there’s no record of Christie giving the advice that we could only trace to posts on social media and an online forum. Without  to support this , we rate it ."
1697,4,"Last year, (Bill McCollum) spent more than $2.2 million dollars to produce and air campaign-style TV ads where you were featured in almost every frame.","May 18, 2010",children;crime;technology,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,an e-mail message,"The rest was spent as follows:   We should note that McCollum took heat for awarding the project to Mottola, his former political consultant, in a no-bid contract. The program was funded through settlements obtained by the AG's office, Copes said. No general revenue dollars were used. So the Florida Democratic Party said that McCollum spent ""more than $2.2 million dollars to produce and air campaign-style TV ads"" and McCollum was ""featured in almost every frame."" McCollum's office spent just under $2.2 million for the ad, but the ubiquity of the AG's mug checked out and so we rule this statement ."
8189,2,"Gov. Rick Scott ""backed the federal shutdown.","December 11, 2013",federal budget,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,an online video,"The Florida Democratic Party said that Scott ""backed the federal shutdown."" Scott used the October shutdown as an opportunity to tout the state’s fiscal management and wag his finger at Obama. But a review of Scott’s statements about the shutdown shows that he dodged taking a clear stand favoring or opposing the shutdown itself. We rate this  ."
20431,0,Halyna Huchins' next project was documentary on Hollywood pedophile rings.,"October 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,an Instagram post,"There is no more information there than what appears in the post until you click on the site’s ""About"" page .   ""Prank news website,"" it says. ""Purpose of this website is fun. It should be used for joking with your friends. ""  We rate this  ."
22732,1,"Video shows Elon Musk endorsing ""an anti-aging remedy.","March 8, 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,"The footage in the video comes from an April 2022 interview Musk gave while appearing at the TED2022 conference. He didn’t mention shilajit, a tarlike substance found in Himalayan mountain rocks that has been used in traditional, Eastern and Ayurvedic medicine in India and Nepal, according to the Cleveland Clinic . A TikTok account promoting an app to alter videos ""where you can make any celebrity say anything"" includes other posts with the same footage of Musk appearing to say things that he didn’t. Among them: that Musk loves Angelina Jolie , that he’s ""starting to sell the first tickets to Mars"" and that Apple CEO Tim Cook ""pissed me off.""      We rate claims that this is an authentic video of Musk ."
8615,1,Ralph Hall has never voted to raise the debt ceiling.,"March 10, 2014",debt;federal budget;voting record,catpac,"The Conservatives Acting Together PAC is listed with a Dallas address on the Federal Election Commission's website. A May 21, 2012, Texas Tribune news story said the PAC had spent $113,646 on ads supporting former Railroad Commission chair Michael Williams' bid for Congress.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign mail flier,"The PAC said, ""Ralph Hall has never voted to raise the debt ceiling."" We didn’t have to look further than the votes cited by his opponent’s campaign to find six instances from 1986 through 2005 in which Hall backed debt-limit increases. 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."
21252,1,"The chairman of Virginia's Republican Party made a ""shockingly racist post"" about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.","April 8, 2022",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks;virginia,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 Twitter post,"A tweet from Occupy Democrats pointed to the chairman of Virginia’s Republican Party as the one who authored a racist post about Austin and Honoré. The racist post was real, but it was made by the chairman of the Electoral Board in Hampton, Virginia, not the state’s GOP.   We rate this  . UPDATE, April 12 at 5p.m.:   We updated this fact-check shortly after publication with a tweet addressing the Occupy Democrats  from the Virginia GOP."
23281,1,"Video shows ""breaking news"" because ""President Trump just dropped a bombshell!!!","July 11, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The video was taken in November 2022, when Trump spoke at an America First Policy Institute event . During his remarks, he responded to the Justice Department’s appointment of a special counsel to investigate him in connection with classified documents. We rate claims that this is a recent video showing Trump breaking news . "
8849,4,"Today, the five largest financial institutions are 38 percent bigger than they were back in 2008, when they were too big to fail.","May 19, 2014",economy;financial regulation;government regulation,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,"an interview on ""PBS Newshour""","Warren said, ""the five largest financial institutions are 38 percent bigger than they were back in 2008, when they were too big to fail."" Without fully understanding where her math was coming from, we had to find our own way to measure this. One way seemed to back her up in a narrowly defined time frame. A different method produced a lower number, though the trend is the same. Our experts took some issue with her loose characterization of ""too big too fail"" and some of the context she left out. But her underlying point is largely accurate. We rate her comment ."
22061,4,I voted with Trump on trade.,"September 27, 2022",ohio;congress;trade,tim ryan,"Tim Ryan is a representative of Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. Ryan served the state’s 17th Congressional District from 2003 until 2013, when he assumed office to represent the 13th District. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president. In 2022, he is running for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat.",national,3,10,2,0,1,1,a campaign ad,"Ryan said that he voted with Trump on trade. His vote supporting the USMCA speaks to that. Trump often spoke against free trade agreements. And before Trump took office, Ryan consistently voted against free trade bills. Outside of his voting record, Ryan backed Trump’s use of tariffs against China and Russia, but opposed them when Trump applied the tariffs to U.S. allies in Europe. He warned that without more-targeted tariffs, Americans would be worse off. Research later determined that American earnings and employment suffered under Trump’s trade war. The statement in Ryan’s ad is accurate, but it leaves out worthwhile context. We rate this  ."
11709,2,"Germany ""is crime-riddled right now"" because of migration to Europe.","May 4, 2016",immigration;criminal justice;human rights;crime;public safety,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 NBC News,"Trump said Germany ""is crime-riddled right now"" because of migration to Europe. There are more criminal acts in Germany these days because there are more people, thanks to the influx of 1.1 million refugees in 2015 alone. But the data suggest that the refugees tend to be better-behaved than the typical German. Even if you presume that refugee-related crime is underreported for political reasons, we could find no  in German media reports that the country warrants Trump's riddled-with-crime characterization. Because his statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate it Meist Falsch — . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/de3b3f76-de96-4103-8010-4a5d036cb6f6"
15206,5,"In West Virginia, ""personal income tax collections (were) up 14% from 2017.","August 14, 2018",state budget;taxes,david mckinley,David McKinley is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia.,west virginia,4,2,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"McKinley wrote that in West Virginia, ""personal income tax collections (were) up 14% from 2017."" That’s correct when you compare income tax collections in July 2018 to July 2017. It’s also the third-largest July-to-July improvement since 2001. We rate the statement ."
22601,3,Female student-athletes in Florida need to provide their schools with detailed information about their periods.,"January 25, 2023",corrections and updates;sports;women,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,"A Twitter post claims that female student athletes in Florida ""need to provide their schools with detailed information about their periods."" This lacks important context. A state committee has recommended that students submit the information, but the proposal has not been voted on or implemented. The Florida High School Athletic Association’s board of directors will consider the proposal at the end of February.  The questions about menstrual history are already included on required forms but are marked optional.  The statement is partially accurate. Female athletes are already being asked these questions, and a proposal is on the table to make answering them mandatory. But the  omits that the requirement hasn’t been implemented and that the questions, although currently optional, aren’t new.  We rate it ."
17743,1,"Italy ""went against the WHO's 'law'"" against COVID-19 autopsies and ""discovered covid is not a virus, but a bacterium"" that ""clots the blood and reduces the oxygen saturation.","May 26, 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,"A social media post claimed that Italy found that COVID-19 is an easily treatable bacteria when it went against WHO’s guidelines and performed an ""illegal"" autopsy.  COVID-19’s cause has been extensively studied and identified as a virus, and the WHO never discouraged autopsies of patients who died from COVID-19. We rate this .  "
11721,4,"Half of illegal immigrants ""come on legal visas and then overstay.","May 2, 2016",immigration,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 radio interview,"Cuccinelli said half of illegal immigrants ""come on legal visas and then overstay."" This widely cited statistic stems from an estimate based on research going back to the 1990s. The federal government hasn’t provided updated statistics on overstayed visas, and subsequent research has focused on adapting the old data to new trends. Estimates in those reports have ranged from 27 percent to 58 percent of illegal immigrants overstaying their visas. So Cuccinelli is using what research shows to be a plausible figure. But he would be more accurate to refer to it as an estimate rather than a fact. We rate his statement ."
20220,5,"End of eviction moratorium means ""millions of Americans"" could lose their housing in the middle of a pandemic.","August 27, 2021",families;housing;supreme court,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,Twitter,"Pocan said the end of the eviction moratorium means ""millions of Americans"" could lose their housing in the middle of a pandemic."" The U.S. Census Bureau’s weekly Household Pulse Survey found that 3,511,056 respondents are facing the ""likelihood"" of eviction in the next two months. Several media reports also noted that the threat of homelessness could impact millions as the U.S. Supreme Court ended the pandemic-related federal moratorium. However, there are a few states that have implemented eviction moratoriums at the state level. Wisconsin is not one of those  states. For a statement that is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing, our rating is .   window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND';

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3328,4,Says new EPA water regulations would force the state to make drainage canals every bit as clean as pristine Florida river systems.,"March 1, 2011",environment;water,free market florida,Free Market Florida is a group led by Ryan Houck that is fighting EPA proposed water quality standards for Florida.,florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a web video,"We hope we didn't lose you in explaining these complicated requirements, and how they match up to the  in Free Market Florida's ad. After weeks of studying this issue, we are more convinced than ever just how complicated the proposed rules to regulate Florida's water systems are. The bottom line is Free Market Florida contends that man-made drainage canals will have to meet the same standards as pristine Florida river systems like the Wekiva River in Central Florida. As the regulations stand now, it appears that drainage canals designated as Class III waters in Central Florida would have to meet the same numeric nutrient standards as the Wekiva River. But there are several caveats that could impact the validity of that . For one, rules haven't been implemented for South Florida (home to the many drainage canals). Two, all drainage canals wouldn't have to meet the water quality standards of the Wekiva, just the ones in the geographic area. Three, the state is proposing a change to the rules that could exempt many of the state's drainage canals. And four, the EPA also says it could exempt individual drainage canals based on scientific study. Houck said his group made sure the drainage canal they showed is in the same region as the Wekiva, which in his mind explains away the first two caveats. The third and fourth caveats are possible changes that are not a sure thing. Where does this all leave us? Houck and his group are largely right based on all the  we reviewed. We wish he would have explained a little more of the nuance in the video, but we also are realists. We rate his  ."
18988,0,"In Wisconsin, there are approximately 70,000 absentee ballots that do not have matching ballot applications as required by law.","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 claims in his speech (and a lawsuit) that ""70,000 absentee ballots that do not have matching ballot applications as required by law."" Every part of this is . Trump was actually referring to a group of 170,000 votes, not 70,000. And that group of in-person absentee voters did indeed fill out an application in order to cast their ballot. It was part of the ballot certificate on the envelope, but that doesn’t make it any less valid since state statute doesn’t specify the nature of that application. It’s the same approach that’s been used without issue in Wisconsin elections since 2010 — including the 2016 presidential contest that Trump won. We rate Trump’s  ."
13076,1,"Says ""people who come to"" their dissent actions ""get a 'cease and desist' letter"" from Ron Johnson's office.","February 28, 2017",civil rights;health care;polls and public opinion,citizen action of wisconsin,"Milwaukee-based Citizen Action of Wisconsin describes itself as an “issue-focused coalition of individuals and organizations committed to achieving social, economic and environmental justice.”",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a website posting,"Despite the broadness of the , the group produced a cease-and-desist letter written to only one person who it says has been involved in Citizen Action initiatives such as preserving the Affordable Care Act. The letter demands that the man stop visiting or calling any of Johnson’s staff or offices, but says written communications will be received. And Johnson’s staff says it issued the letter, on the advice of the U.S. Capitol Police, because the man had been harassing and threatening to staff, not because he protested any of Johnson’s actions. We rate the statement . Editor's note: Four days after this fact check was published, Citizen Action posted an apology about its  against Johnson."
14430,0,"80% of black men in Atlanta are Homosexuals, study says","January 7, 2016",fake news,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,georgia,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog post,"Fellow fact-checkers at Snopes.com in February 2016 deemed as  claims that a study found that 80 percent of black men in Georgia were gay. The story debunked by Snopes in 2016 is the same one that has resurfaced on Viralactions.com. Viralactions.com published a story claiming 80 percent of black men in Atlanta are gay, citing a nonexistent Georgia State University study. The  has circulated for years on websites sharing  news. We rate viralactions.com’s post ."
14897,1,"Says he's been Wisconsin secretary of state ""around 25 years.","July 18, 2018",candidate biography,doug la follette,"Madison Democrat Doug La Follette was first elected Wisconsin secretary of state in 1974. He served one four-year term, ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor, and then was elected again to the post in 1982. He has held the secretary of state position since then. He is seeking re-election in 2018.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,an interview,"It looks like it is more like 40 years; let me say, time flies when you’re having fun. Thanks for calling this to my attention."" Our rating La Follette says he’s been Wisconsin secretary of state ""around 25 years."" He’s held the job for a total of nearly 40 years. We rate his statement ."
1322,0,"The president's health care proposals will cause ""most Americans to have their premiums increased, not decreased, and hundreds of millions of people lose their current insurance coverage.","January 27, 2010",health care;pundits,nancy pfotenhauer,Nancy Pfotenhauer is a Republican strategist and was an adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign in 2008.,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,an interview on CNN,"Then she said -- and this was not phrased as an opinion -- that the plans will cause ""most Americans to have their premiums increased, not decreased, and hundreds of millions of people to lose their current insurance coverage."" There's not an independent, nonpartisan analysis out there on the current Democratic proposals that shows that. These are Republican talking points that have repeatedly been proven , but they keep coming back. Pfotenhauer's statement is not just , it's  so. !"
21260,3,Joe Biden is giving smartphones away to illegal border crossers.,"April 11, 2022",immigration;corrections and updates;homeland security;technology;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 immigrants who enter the country illegally are receiving smartphones under President Biden and argues that he should be impeached for it.  The smartphones given to immigrants detained by ICE are used to track them with a pre-installed application after being released from custody. The phones cannot be used for anything else. ICE has been using the phones and the tracking application since 2018, before Biden became president.  The post is partially accurate, but leaves out important details and context. We rate it . UPDATE, April 18, 2022: This post has been updated to clarify with more specificity the nature of the Seklow show's commentary regarding the phones. The rating is unchanged."
12594,0,"When Hillary Clinton ""ran the State Department, $6 billion was missing. How do you miss $6 billion? You ran the State Department, $6 billion was either stolen — they don't know.","October 19, 2016",candidate biography;corrections and updates;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,the third presidential debate,"Trump said that when Clinton ""ran the State Department, $6 billion was missing. How do you miss $6 billion? You ran the State Department, $6 billion was either stolen — they don't know."" The $6 billion figure comes from a State Department inspector general report that found paperwork for various contracts had been mismanaged. The $6 billion was not missing or stolen — it had been doled out in a number of contracts — but the paperwork was missing. We rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/5513387c-9761-413a-abbd-a5d048e1f79c Correction: The alert summarized previous audits of State Department contracts. A previous version of this fact-check was unclear on this point.  "
19553,2,"Says Georgia ""has more day-of voting rights than Colorado.","April 6, 2021",georgia;national;elections,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.",colorado,1,1,2,1,4,0,a tweet,"Scott cited the rules for early voting to say that Georgia has more days for in-person voting than Colorado. But the comparison doesn’t account for Colorado’s universal vote-by-mail option. When 94% of voters mail their ballots, early voting days play a nominal role in elections. And in Colorado, voters have more options to register and use dropboxes on election day. Scott’s  has a thread of accuracy, but what it leaves out creates a  impression about how voting access compares in the two states. We rate this ."
7800,1,1 percent of candidates that (the National Rifle Association) endorsed in 2012 won.,"September 13, 2013",campaign finance;pundits;punditfact;guns,van jones,"Van Jones is a host of CNN's Crossfire. A former environmental and human rights activist, Jones in 2009, served as the ""green jobs"" adviser to President Barack Obama. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012).
 ",,1,2,2,0,1,0,"a discussion on CNN's ""Crossfire""","Jones said ""1 percent of candidates that (the National Rifle Association) endorsed in 2012 won."" An independent analysis did find that about 1 percent of money spent by one particular NRA affiliate either helped elect a winning candidate or helped defeat a losing one. But that ignores a second NRA affiliate that did much better, and the study in question looked at dollars spent -- not endorsements. From the data we compiled, the NRA’s endorsements were about 60 percent successful. We rate Jones’  ."
7861,3,"In states where the federal government helps run these (health care) marketplaces, the average American will have more than 50 different plans to choose from, with different levels of coverage.","September 26, 2013",corrections and updates;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 Largo, Md","Obama said the average American will have more than 50 plans to choose from. A Department of Health and Human Services analysis of the number of plans offered in each state, weighted by population, backs up Obama's figure. But talking about the average number of plans masks significant variation among states and within regions of many states. The average obscures that some people may have far fewer plans to choose from. In some places, just two insurance companies are in the market which undercuts competition even further. We rate the  . Editor’s note: We received a response from the HHS on Oct. 2, 2013, after we initially published our item. The agency clarified that it arrived at its figure of 53 plans by weighting the calculation to account for the number of uninsured in each state, and our report now includes their comments. The rating is unchanged at ."
21577,3,"Blake Masters ""unironically quoted a Nazi, called World War II an unjust war, called the Unabomber one of his intellectual influencers, and shared an article attacking Israel as the North Korea of the Middle East.","June 2, 2022",candidate biography;congress,jim lamon,Businessman Jim Lamon is making his first run for public office seeking the 2022 Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from Arizona.,arizona,0,0,0,0,1,0,a statement posted on Twitter,"Lamon said Masters quoted a Nazi, called World War II unjust, named the Unabomber as one of his intellectual influencers, and shared an article attacking Israel as the North Korea of the Middle East. Each of these statements has some , but leaves out key details. Lamon left out that it was in a college essay in which Masters used a Nazi quote to highlight how governments use propaganda to win support for wars that don’t help their people. In the same essay, Masters implicitly called World War II an unjust war. He has since acknowledged that the statement ""went too far."" Masters did praise Kaczynski's thoughts, but it was in response to a question about a ""subversive thinker,"" and Masters condemned Kaczynski’s actions, calling him a ""terrorist.""  Lamon said Masters ""shared an article attacking Israel."" Masters shared the article on his father’s Facebook page. We rate Lamon’s statement . "
14289,2,"In the rest of the world, there have been 18 school shootings in the last twenty years. In the U.S., there have been 18 school shootings since January 1.","February 14, 2018",education;crime;guns,jeff greenfield,"Jeff Greenfield is a television journalist and author focusing on politics, media and culture. He served as a senior political correspondent for CBS, a senior analyst for CNN, and a political and media analyst for ABC News.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"But only three involved a mass shooting. And the count includes two suicides, three accidental shootings and nine incidents in which there were no fatalities or injuries. As for the rest of the world, Greenfield had no  to back up that part of his . And an expert relied on by the New York Times for gun violence statistics told us there is no way to know how many school shootings -- using the definition Greenfield relies on -- have occurred outside of the United States over the past 20 years. For a statement that contains only an element of , our rating is ."
13445,1,At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!',"June 4, 2017",homeland security;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 tweeted, ""At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’ "" Trump portrayed Khan as an official with his head in the sand about the attacks that disrupted his city. The reality is the president plucked five words from the mayor’s longer message that condemned the terrorist acts and explained why Londoners would see an increased police presence in the coming days. Khan was not saying there is ""no reason to be alarmed,"" period,  by the attack -- he was pre-empting concerns about what law enforcement presence might mean in the days to come.  We rate Trump’s statement ."
8581,3,"The United States stopped plans to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe ""as a gift to Russia.","March 23, 2014",foreign policy;punditfact,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.",,31,33,58,35,32,19,"comments on CBS' ""Face the Nation""","Romney said, the United States stopped plans to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe ""as a gift to Russia."" Romney’s impression about Obama’s decision to end the program is certainly shared by GOP politicians and pundits, and Obama took office with a vow to reset relations with Russia. Russia found Bush’s missile defense program in neighboring countries offensive and was pleased to see it go (though Gates asserts they dislike the new policy more). But Romney’s comments do not reflect the whole story. Gates, the Bush official who recommended the plan in 2006, acknowledged he drove the change in policy because of improved American intelligence of what the Iranians were working on -- not solely to be nice to the Russians. Plus, new defense systems are still planned. We rate the  ."
6136,2,"Says Obama puts ""15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare, who are required to cut Medicare ... that will lead to denied care for current seniors.","August 18, 2012",medicare,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.",florida,11,16,24,23,7,5,"The Villages, Fla","Ryan said that Obama ""puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors."" Board members aren’t elected, but it’s a stretch to say they’re entirely unaccountable. They’re appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The president can fire them for neglect of duty or malfeasance.They’re required to recommend cuts to Medicare in years that other cost-saving measures don’t meet growth targets — but Congress can overrule their recommendations. Meanwhile, ""denied care"" is a strong way to phrase the board’s possible effect. It’s expected to recommend cutting provider payments, with an eye on cutting waste and inefficiency. That could restrict some seniors’ access to care, depending on the what actions the board actually takes. Meanwhile, the board oversees only a small percentage of the Medicare savings in the health care law. Ryan creates the specter of an unaccountable board making all of Medicare’s spending decisions, but that’s scarcely the case. There’s an element of  to his , but his overstatements add up to a  impression."
8692,2,"More ""25- to 34-year-olds are moving to Austin than any other city in America.","March 30, 2014",census;population,will wynn,"Will Wynn, a former Austin mayor, says on his website that he consults with and advises various governments, utilities and private entities on issues related to energy policy, downtown revitalization, public health and the creative class.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a news story,"Wynn said more 25- to 34-year-olds are moving to Austin than any other city in America. Wynn did not offer nor did we find data specific to individual cities. But four major metro areas, led by Washington, D.C., netted more new residents in the cited age group in the latest three years checked by Brookings demographer James Frey. The Austin area ranked fifth among the nation’s major metros. We see no basis for currently declaring Austin No. 1, but Wynn's  has an element of ; the Austin area was the biggest draw for young adults in some recent three-year periods. We rate his statement 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."
22094,1,"The Great Reset advocates replacing capitalism with an economic system that is ""kind of socialism, kind of communism"" but ""mostly just fascism.","February 26, 2022",economy,liz wheeler,"Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler hosts ""The Liz Wheeler Show"" video podcast.",,0,0,0,1,2,0,a video on Facebook,"A Facebook post says the Great Reset advocates replacing capitalism with an economic system that is ""kind of socialism, kind of communism"" but "" just fascism."" The World Economic Forum never advocated for the creation of a totalitarian world government or the replacement of capitalism with another economic system. There is no  to support this theory, and it has been thoroughly debunked.  We rate the  ."
17720,1,"While California is dying … Gavin (Newsom) is vacationing in Stevensville, MT!","May 18, 2020",facebook fact-checks;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, ""While California is dying … Gavin (Newsom) is vacationing in Stevensville, MT!"" There is no  of this. Newsom’s office said he has not been vacationing in Stevensville, and so did the lieutenant governor’s office, the Montana governor’s office and the Stevensville mayor. Newsom gave a live press conference from a California restaurant on May 18, the day the post went up. We rate this post ."
13176,1,"Obamacare ""is in a death spiral.","March 26, 2017",health care;punditfact,hugh hewitt,Hugh Hewitt is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show and a columnist.,,0,0,1,2,2,0,"comments on ""Meet the Press""","Hewitt said Obamacare is ""in a death spiral."" That’s a specific phrase that describes a process where health people leaving the insurance market causes insurance premiums to rise to the point that more healthy people leave the market. At some point, the system becomes unsustainable. Experts say there is no  that cycle has started with Obamacare, because federal subsidies are keeping people from feeling the brunt of premium increases. The CBO and other independent analyses have found the health care system to be stable. We rate this  ."
8427,3,"300,000 Floridians will lose their current health plans"" because of Obamacare, a plan Alex Sink supports.","February 12, 2014",health care,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,national,4,5,9,20,14,9,a television ad,"The National Republican Congressional Committee said in an ad that ""300,000 Floridians will lose their current health plans."" We know that the insurer Florida Blue had to end plans for 300,000 customers when their plans didn’t meet the law’s new requirements for health insurance. But Florida Blue also said it intended to help its customers select and sign up for new health care plans, not leave them without options, and the customers got an additional year, if they needed it, to make a transition. The ad makes it sound as if people would lose their plans without any replacement.  Overall, we rate the ad’s  ."
20336,5,Overdose deaths in WV are up 45% from the prior year.,"August 10, 2021",drugs;public health,david mckinley,David McKinley is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia.,west virginia,4,2,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"So between 2015 and 2021, the number of overdoses in West Virginia rose by 114%.    Our ruling  McKinley said, ""Overdose deaths in WV are up 45% from the prior year."" That figure is correct if you compare calendar year 2019 to calendar 2020. Preliminary data covering a portion of 2021 shows that the increase has accelerated in 2021. We rate the statement ."
17874,5,"Our health department, our city and our county declared racism as a public health crisis last year.","June 14, 2020",city government;county government;race and ethnicity,jeanette kowalik,Jeanette Kowalik is the commissioner of health in Milwaukee.,wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an appearance on WISN-TV's ""UpFront""","Kowalik said ""Our health department, our city and our county declared racism as a public health crisis last year."" All three bodies did make such a declaration, putting them at the forefront of something that has picked up steam nationwide in the months since. We rate this  . "
19797,1,"An image shows the Blue Angels performing a maneuver called the ""Hand of God.","May 14, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"It was created by Kiev-based artist Alexander Zienko, who posted it to the online art gallery Deviant Art on March 9, 2015. Zienko’s original artwork doesn’t reference the Blue Angels.   The image shows a piece of digital art. It is not an actual image of the Blue Angels performing the hand of God maneuver, as the post says. We rate this post . ​"
16417,1,1 out of every 4 car accidents in the U.S. is caused by texting and driving.,"August 20, 2019",public health,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,a tweet,Evers said in a tweet that texting and driving accounts for 1 in 4 crashes nationwide. The general point is right that distracted driving is a significant and deadly problem. And cellphone use is a core piece of that. But the statistic he used to make that point is . Experts say we don’t have enough data to show how many crashes are currently related to texting. And the latest attempt to do that using 2013 data found only 6% of crashes were directly tied to texting — far short of what Evers’ claimed. We rate this  .
16631,2,"Says Hillary Clinton ""paid for a Russian dossier to win an election,"" her husband ""made $500k for a Russian speech,"" ""sold 20% of US Uranium to Russia"" and her foundation ""received $150M from Russia.","October 21, 2019",candidate biography;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 makes four claims about Hillary Clinton’s ties to Russia before and during the 2016 presidential election. The first, that Clinton ""paid for a Russian dossier to win an election,"" contains a hint of  (that the Clinton campaign paid the firm that wrote the Steele dossier), but it isn’t the full picture. It’s  that Bill Clinton once made $500,000 by giving a speech to a Russian company. The  that Clinton ""sold 20% of US Uranium to Russia""  the percentage involved and Clinton's role; she didn’t have sole decision-making power over the deal. And it’s an exaggeration to say that the Clinton Foundation ""received $150M from Russia"" — it may be closer to $4 million from Uranium One investors. The post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
15514,0,"Says ""Three Muslim congresswomen just refused"" to sign an oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution.","December 18, 2018",congress;fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"A popular meme says politicians shouldn’t be allowed to serve if they refuse to take an oath of office and that ""three Muslim congresswomen refused."" Each new member of Congress, along with the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices, are required to take the oath of office when they are sworn in, as written in the U.S. Constitution. The 116th Congress will convene after the holiday break, on Jan. 3, 2019, which is when incoming representatives and senators will take their oath – so no member could have refused yet. This  is !"
6870,2,"Says ""Abortion clinics in Oregon, as in most states, have no state oversight and are not held to basic health or safety standards.","December 26, 2012",abortion,gayle atteberry,Gayle Atteberry is executive director of Oregon Right to Life.,oregon,0,0,0,1,0,0,an online post,"All of those are subject to health and safety regulations. Plus, the people who perform the abortions are licensed medical personnel subject to state oversight. While some abortion clinics are not subject to the state oversight that veterinary clinics or tattoo parlors receive, that doesn’t mean they and the people who work in them are not held to basic health standards. Those are critical facts that would give readers a different impression. We rate this statement ."
20694,1,Santa Claus arrested by German police for not wearing a mask.,"December 14, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"On Dec. 14, state police in the region posted a statement online that the person arrested was protesting COVID-19 restrictions. The demonstration was unregistered — and illegal, according to police — and he was taken to a patrol car ""to determine his identity"" after he refused to give his name to police. He was then released, about an hour after police responded to the protest.   The statement doesn’t mention a mask.   We rate this  . "
8778,2,More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism.,"May 4, 2014",polls and public opinion;punditfact,kareem abdul-jabbar,Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired basketball player who played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Abdul-Jabbar said, ""More whites believe in ghosts than believe in racism."" While we don’t know what research he was citing to support his point, Abdul-Jabbar’s  is a stretch based on the polls we found and the pollsters we consulted. Depending on the question, you could argue that as many as about 6 in 10 white Americans believe in ghosts, though other polls present a smaller ratio. Abdul-Jabbar, meanwhile, seems to have  interpreted polling about white Americans’ views of discrimination as their belief in racism. We'll be happy to revisit this fact-check if someone points out a poll we missed. Polling we found supports the theory that white Americans are less likely than black Americans to think that blacks are being discriminated against. But those polls don’t measure whether white Americans think racism exists in this country. Experts told us that defining racism is difficult in terms of a poll and that a comparison with believing in ghosts is problematic. Abdul-Jabbar fails to acknowledge the wide disparity on polls dealing with ghosts, inaccurately describes the polling on racism and makes a shaky comparison between the two. We rate his  ."
18253,1,"Says Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ""want massive tax hikes on working families.","August 24, 2020",taxes,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 Republican convention speech,"Haley said Biden and Harris ""want massive tax hikes on working families."" Independent tax analysts agree that the Biden plan would not directly raise taxes on any household earning below $400,000 a year, and it would pose small hits from the indirect impact of raising the corporate tax rate. The vast majority of the income losses from the Biden tax proposal would fall on the top one-fifth of incomes, and especially on the top 1%. All in all, the indirect tax hikes on ""working families,"" such as they are, are not ""massive."" We rate the statement ."
18825,0,"Say a video shows ""staffers stuffing ballots in flint mi","November 4, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",michigan,24,50,108,245,1410,570,social media posts,"London’s Victoria & Albert Museum has written that ""the most widespread opinion about the double-headed eagle is that the two heads face East and West, which symbolises the geographic position of Russia. ""  The video does not depict a Flint polling place.   We rate the post ! This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
5288,2,"The CBO says the cost of health care reform will rise to $1.8 trillion, ""increasing the price to far greater than the $900 billion"" originally projected.","March 19, 2012",health care,robert hurt,"Robert Hurt, Republican, represents Virginia's 5th District, which is composed of 19 counties and two independent municipalities and is Virginia's largest, in Congress. Hurt was first elected to the U.S. House in 2010. He serves on the Financial Services Committee and on its Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises and Housing and Insurance subcommittees.
Hurt, a Pittsylvania County native, previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2007 and in the state senate from 2008 to 2010.
Hurt graduated from Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden Sydney, in 1991 and earned a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law, Jackson, Miss., in 1995.",virginia,0,0,1,2,4,0,a statement,"Hurt said the CBO has estimated that the cost of health care reform will rise to $1.8 trillion, ""increasing the price to far greater than the $900 billion projected"" when the law was signed in 2010. The Republican correctly rounded off numbers contained in two CBO reports, but then he made a  comparison between them. The first estimate covers a 10-year period -- from 2010 to 2019 -- including four early years when costs for the phased-in reform are minimal. The second projection covers an 11-year period -- from 2012 to 2022 -- that adds three years when the program is in full force and drops the first two low-cost years of the law. Hurt did not mention these key differences. When you compare the years the reports have in common -- 2012 to 2019 -- gross-cost projections in the the latter study are 8.6 percent higher than in the initial work. So there’s some  in Hurt’s  that estimates for the cost of health care reform have increased. But his statement implies he projections have doubled, and that’s plain . We rate Hurt’s statement ."
17173,1,"Sex traffickers are using a zip-tie contraption on the door handles of vehicles ""to trick females into looking down and digging for something in their purse to cut with ... Once they're distracted, boom! They are quickly forced into another vehicle, never to be seen again by their people.","January 15, 2020",crime;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Shared Hope International , a nonprofit, Christian organization with a similar mission, told us that ""trafficking victims are generally not kidnapped or taken away from their families abruptly."" The bottom line: It’s important to stay aware of your surroundings, and should you want to report or seek services related to a case of human trafficking, you can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or email [email protected] . But the Facebook posts about zip ties — like similar posts before it — are an example of an unsubstantiated warning. We rate this post . "
3174,3,"Says the state share of Texas public education spending increased 82 percent over the past decade, reaching $20 billion in 2009.","February 8, 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 State of the State address,"So, the state spent 84 percent more money in 2008-09 than before and per-student spending from all funding sources also was higher. Yet the state’s share of education spending -- a telling indicator of state support for the schools -- was down from what it was a decade earlier. We contacted Perry’s office about these aspects. Frazier said the governor stands behind his speech statement. We rate the statement ."
19638,1,"Says the Memphis Police Department ""will no longer respond"" to crimes including larceny, breaking and entering, and motor vehicle theft.","April 26, 2021",crime;public 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.",tennessee,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"However, soon after the department wrote on its verified Facebook page that the information in the post is .   ""THIS IS NOT  and is  information that someone (outside of WREG) created,"" the police post says. ""MPD continues to respond to all calls for service."" According to the department’s website, each of the nine police stations located throughout the city has a general investigation bureau that is set up to investigate crimes including: burglary, intimidation, motor vehicle theft, pocket picking, robbery, shoplifting, theft, threatening, obscene or harassing phone calls, vandalism, and stolen property. We rate this  ."
12330,5,"As governor, Ted Strickland left only 89 cents in Ohio's rainy day fund.","August 12, 2016",economy,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.""",ohio,2,1,3,6,4,1,a campaign ad,"Campaign ads criticized Strickland for leaving Ohio’s rainy day fund at $.89 when he left office as governor. Strickland’s defenders say the recession that hit the United States and Ohio required Strickland and state officials to drain the $1 billion fund. And they note the fund started to be replenished at the tail-end of his final budget, even though Strickland had left office. But we don't think that affects the accuracy of this . We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2ce48995-a59a-4079-94eb-6d03717ebdf6"
10065,4,"Wisconsin is ""dead last in the Midwest for job creation.","March 10, 2015",jobs;labor;government regulation;unions;workers,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,an interview,"Our rating Pocan said Wisconsin is ""dead last in the Midwest for job creation."" Among 10 Midwestern states -- in terms of percentage growth in private-sector jobs -- the latest figures show Wisconsin is tied for ninth. So, not quite ""dead last."" We rate Pocan’s statement . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page .  "
12982,2,"ISIS is already using the rhetoric from the Trump administration, the text of this executive order, to incite attacks against us and to recruit more terrorists to their side.","January 31, 2017",terrorism,seth moulton,"Seth Moulton is a representative of Massachusetts’s 6th Congressional District. He has represented the district since 2014. Moulton served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2001 to 2008 and attained the rank of captain. After being discharged from the Iraq War, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School. Moulton previously received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in August.",national,1,0,2,1,0,0,a CNN interview,"Moulton said, ""ISIS is already using the rhetoric from the Trump administration, the text of this executive order, to incite attacks against us and to recruit more terrorists to their side."" Experts we communicated with said they believe the order plays into terrorist groups’ message that the United States is at war with Islam. Terrorist groups' sympathizers have discussed the ban on social media channels. However, experts said that neither ISIS or other major groups had made official announcements on Trump’s policy. We rate Moulton's statement ."
5321,1,And the #jerseycomeback keeps rolling! Thanks to @GovChristie NJ now has lowest corruption risk of any state.,"March 19, 2012",ethics,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 tweet,"Referring to a nationwide investigation comparing states for their risk of corruption, New Jersey’s Republican Party claimed in a March 19 tweet: ""Thanks to @GovChristie NJ now has lowest corruption risk of any state."" But the regulations behind New Jersey’s highest scores were put in place before Christie became governor. As governor, Christie’s proposed ethics reforms have stalled in the Democrat-controlled Legislature. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
6246,3,"Jeb Bush recently noted, Reagan himself would have been too moderate, too reasonable for today's GOP.","September 6, 2012",history,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 Democratic National Convention speech,"We think it’s clear Bush said the partisan divide would make it difficult for Reagan to govern the way he did (i.e., Republicans might have been mad at him for working with Democrats, and Democrats might be unwilling to work with him because he’s a Republican.) What’s murky is whether Bush said -- or suggested -- Reagan would be ""too moderate"" and ""too reasonable for today's GOP."" We do know that Bush has since distanced himself from the suggestion that Reagan could not survive in today’s Republican Party. In this case, we think it’s fair to dock Crist points for cherry-picking one interpretation of Bush’s statement and for failing to factor in Bush’s subsequent remarks. On balance, we rate this statement . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the election. See video fact-checks here ."
5035,2,"This year President Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House under the ruse of 'not wanting to offend anyone.' BUT … on September 25, 2009 from 4 AM until 7 PM, a National Day of Prayer FOR THE MUSLIM RELIGION was HELD on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House.","January 30, 2012",islam;religion,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",new jersey,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"A chain email circulating in New Jersey that Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony in 2009 but a National Day of Prayer for Muslims was held later that year on Capitol Hill is full of inaccuracies. While it’s  that Obama did not hold a public ceremony at the White House that President George W. Bush did, it’s untrue that the ceremony would have been the 21st annual event. But wait – there’s more: the email’s author incorrectly located Capitol Hill as ""beside"" the White House and identified Muslim as a religion. Despite the numerous errors in the email, it does contain an element of  -- and that fits the -O-Meter’s definition for . To comment on this story, go to  NJ.com ."
3172,1,We're broke. We don't have any more money.,"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 and many other venues,Walker has promised not to increase taxes. That takes one tool off the table. Another tool was never there: declaring bankruptcy. We’re not broke or bankrupt in part because under federal law we can’t be. We rate Walker’s statement .
5839,2,"Tim Kaine ""made Virginia the best state for business four years in a row.","June 17, 2012",,majority pac,Majority PAC is an organization seeking to protect the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate in 2012.,virginia,0,0,1,1,0,0,a TV ad,"Majority Pac says Tim Kaine ""made Virginia the best state for business four years in a row."" The state earned the honor from Forbes Magazine for four straight years when Kaine was governor, but it’s  to say Kaine created the conditions that led to Virginia’s selection. The major attributes Forbes cited for Virginia’s rating were in place long before Kaine took office: a low corporate tax rate, AAA bond rating, infrastructure, location, an educated workforce and top universities. Kaine certainly deserves kudos for preserving Virginia’s assets. But as governor, he attributed the top honors to Virginia’s ""bipartisan tradition"" of building a strong business climate. So we rate Majority PAC’s  ."
4961,5,"Before this day is out, 18 more veterans will have taken their own lives.  That is the daily average, it is intolerable, and it has to stop.","December 14, 2011",veterans,rush holt,U.S. Rep. Rush Holt is a Democrat representing New Jersey's 12th district.,new jersey,3,1,2,0,1,0,a press release,"In announcing Congressional approval of $40 million that he sought to support suicide prevention programs for the military, Holt in a December press release said an average of 18 veterans commit suicide daily. The VA said that figure is the best estimate it has. A U.S. Court of Appeals  opinion as well as email exchanges between VA officials and a statistical analysis undertaken by a national news network all cite that statistic. We rate the  . To comment on this ruling, go to  NJ.com ."
12472,3,"First, Donald Trump said wages are too high, and both Donald Trump and Mike Pence think we ought to eliminate the federal minimum wage.","October 4, 2016",economy;income;labor;government regulation;poverty;small business;wealth;workers,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,the 2016 Vice Presidential debate,"Kaine said ""First, Donald Trump said wages are too high, and both Donald Trump and Mike Pence think we ought to eliminate the federal minimum wage."" He’s right that Trump has said that about wages, but Kaine  by saying Trump and Pence want to eliminate the minimum wage. Trump has been all over the map on wages and the federal minimum wage. He has said he wouldn’t raise the minimum wage. He later seemed open to raising the minimum wage but has said that states should make the decision. Pence’s record in Congress showed he was against raising the minimum wage and made some critical comments about the idea of a minimum wage, but we didn’t find him calling for eliminating it. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/52d80a8e-d8ca-4fa4-aca2-861eb5fbfb87"
9911,5,"GEORGIA ROADWAY FATALITIES THIS YEAR: 59
PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY","January 24, 2015",public safety,georgia department of transportation,The Georgia Department of Transportation plans and maintains state roads and bridges.,georgia,2,0,0,0,2,0,overhead sign on I-85 South,"Interstate message boards are being used to alert the motoring public to the latest data on roadway deaths. That can be quickly changing data. Last year, about three people died each day on Georgia roads. That’s a statistic worth pointing out. We rate the DOT post .  "
358,4,When we've got CEOs making more in 10 minutes than ordinary workers are making in a year ... then something is wrong.,"February 19, 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,"Houston, Texas","Now in the same Forbes report on CEO compensation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is listed as the highest-paid boss of America's 500 biggest companies at $646.6-million a year. Doing the math on Jobs' income, he makes $53,883 in 10 minutes. That's $18,280 more than the average worker's annual salary. So, while it's fair to say some CEOs ""are making more in 10 minutes than ordinary workers are making in an entire year,"" Obama would be on safer ground if he qualified his statement. We rule his statement ."
22655,1,"At the World Economic Forum, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel admitted that his company produced 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2019, before the pandemic started.","February 12, 2023",public health;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,Instagram posts,"An article and Instagram posts  Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the company produced 100,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine before the pandemic. Bancel was not referring to COVID-19 vaccine doses, but rather the company’s entire portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics including those for rare diseases and cancer.  Moderna partnered with the National Institutes of Health in January 2020 to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. We rate this  ."
17063,1,The widow and son of a deceased military veteran looked on in horror as Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of the State of the Union.,"February 5, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"A similar photo of Kelli Hake wiping her eyes was taken by the Associated Press at 10:14 p.m. (ET), the time that Trump was speaking about Hake and the roadside bomb that killed him in Baghdad in 2008. While the image is from the same event, and the speech does contain Sgt. Hake’s name, the post makes it look like it’s showing the family’s reaction to Pelosi’s action. That’s . We rate it ."
967,5,"Says the Congressional Budget Office estimates a cap-and-trade program would cost the average family the equivalent of ""a postage stamp a day.","June 20, 2009",environment;energy,edward markey,Edward Markey was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 2013 and previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives.,national,2,1,1,1,0,0,a press release,"By not including all variables, the CBO report ""grossly underestimates costs of cap-and-trade,"" said a memo from the Heritage Foundation, which has published many articles opposing the proposal. Among other things, Heritage says the study is flawed because it doesn't address economic changes resulting from restricted energy use and potential job losses. For this -O-Meter item, we are not addressing which study is best, but focusing on whether Markey correctly described the CBO's findings. He was close — off by just 4 cents — and he indicated it was an approximation because he said ""about a postage stamp a day."" So we find the statement ."
10564,3,97 percent of the work that Planned Parenthood does is about mammograms and preventative health.,"July 26, 2015",abortion;public health,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.,national,0,4,10,3,1,0,a New Hampshire interview,"O’Malley said, ""97 percent of the work that Planned Parenthood does is about mammograms and preventative health."" According to Planned Parenthood, about 97 percent of the services the group provides in a given year are services other than abortion. That includes preventive and primary care. Preventive care accounts for about 85 to 90 percent of the services Planned Parenthood provides. While mammograms are considered a form of preventive care, Planned Parenthood doesn’t do their own mammograms. Clinics perform breast exams and refer patients to outside clinics for an actual mammogram. The  wasn’t pulled out of thin air, but it’s missing some important information, so we rate O’Malley’s  ."
10395,5,"The Confederate battle flag at the South Carolina statehouse ""must fly at a height of 30 feet. Any changes -- taken down, or even at half-staff, if that can be done -- must be passed by a supermajority of the General Assembly.","June 21, 2015",history;race and ethnicity;states;punditfact,jean casarez,Jean Casarez is a CNN correspondent.,,1,0,0,0,0,0,comments on CNN,"A CNN reporter said, ""By law, (the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Capitol) must fly at a height of 30 feet. Any changes -- taken down, or even at half-staff, if that can be done -- must be passed by a supermajority of the general assembly."" In 2000, South Carolina passed legislation that mandated the flag’s location, a height of 30 feet, and a supermajority vote to make any changes. The Confederate flag has never been removed or, to our knowledge, lowered since it was raised on the Confederate Soldiers’ Monument on the capitol grounds. We rate this  ."
8144,5,"At present spending levels, only citizens of New York have a greater local debt burden than Texans.","December 13, 2013",city government;county government;debt,debra medina,"Debra Medina, a Wharton businesswoman, sought the 2010 GOP nomination for governor.",texas,1,1,3,0,1,0,a press release,"Medina said, ""At present spending levels, only citizens of New York have a greater local debt burden than Texans,"" but without mentioning that her comparison was based on the 10 most-populated states. Texas is second among the big states and third among all 50 in recent estimates. We rate her statement as .  – 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."
14174,1,Oprah tells Fox News host 'all white people have to die.',"October 12, 2014",fake news;race and ethnicity;punditfact,americannews.com,AmericanNews.com is a website of undetermined origin. ,,0,0,0,0,2,2,a headline,"A headline on American News said that ""Oprah tells Fox News host ‘all white people have to die.’"" We found multiple versions of this story circulating with similar headlines. The headline gets key details  and twists Winfrey’s words. She did not say that all white people have to die. What Winfrey actually told a BBC interviewer in 2013 was that some older people grew up surrounded by racism. When she said ""they just have to die,"" she seemed to be suggesting that a certain type of racism will have to die out when this generation dies. We rate this  . '"
14333,4,Says 97 percent of gun owners support universal background checks.,"February 22, 2018",government regulation;polls and public opinion;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,an interview,"For example, support was 94 percent among gun households in Quinnipiac’s December 2017 and November 2017 polls, the most recent ones done before the February 2018 poll. Our rating Baldwin says ""97 percent"" of gun owners support universal background checks. The figure is correct for the latest national poll, completed days before her , that asked about requiring background checks for all gun purchases. The only clarification is that the respondents weren’t all necessarily gun owners, but rather lived in a household where they or someone else own a gun. We rate Baldwin’s statement ."
5846,2,"In 1950, corporations paid $3 in taxes for every $1 by a worker. Today, they pay 22 cents for every $1 by a worker.","July 2, 2012",corporations;income;occupy wall street;taxes,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on the Internet,"The one thing the Facebook  gets right is that corporations are carrying less of the burden for taxation now compared to 1950. But the difference is not nearly as dramatic as the Facebook post indicates, and its numbers are wide of the mark. On balance, we rate the  ."
4429,2,I don't think I've ever hired an illegal in my life.,"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,a Republican presidential primary debate,"In this case, his wording is slightly different, that he had not ""ever hired an illegal in my life."" It's clear from the Globe's reporting that he hired a landscaping company and that employed illegal immigrants. He has made the argument he hired the company, not the specific workers. Still, they were doing hired work on his property. We find his  ."
22046,1,CDC says 60% of Americans have parasites.,"September 26, 2022",public health;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,"It’s one of the most common parasites in the world, according to the Mayo Clinic , and is often found in cat feces and can infect humans. The news release does not mention the percentage of people in the U.S. who are infected with parasites.   We did not find any information in news releases or other information from the CDC that says 60% of Americans have parasites. The CDC did not respond to a request for comment. We rate the  .   "
20119,1,A slain Chicago police officer left behind a two-month-old baby.,"August 8, 2021",crime;public safety;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",illinois,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Brown also said this during an Aug. 8 news conference. A reporter asked about rumors that French had just returned from maternity leave and had a child.   ""That’s not accurate,"" Brown said. You can watch the exchange about 17 minutes into a recording of the conference .   We rate these posts ."
11122,5,Our businesses have created jobs every single month since (Obamacare) became law.,"January 12, 2016",economy;health care;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,his State of the Union speech,"Obama said, ""Our businesses have created jobs every single month since (Obamacare) became law."" The private sector has seen job growth every single month since Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in March 2010. There’s room for argument over what the growth would have looked like absent the health care law, but Obama’s statistic is on target. We rate this  ."
17340,2,"I've passed more bills than Sen. Larson has, because ... he hasn't passed any.","March 11, 2020",,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 debate,"Crowley claimed he has ""passed more bills than Sen. Larson has, because ... he hasn’t passed any."" Crowley’ staff leaned on a narrow definition of authorship — only the first author in the chamber where the bill originated. If we consider authorship as being the person primarily responsible for a bill, Crowley has a point. But his  didn’t specify such a strict definition, and he’s referring to a subject where the state already has an official definition. Under the state standard, both Crowley and Larson have passed three bills. We define  as having an element of  but ignoring critical facts that would give a different impression. And that’s how we rate Crowley’s ."
13964,4,"IDC members also get tons of campaign money from real estate, charter school, and health care lobbyists, some of whom are Republicans with connections to Trump","October 24, 2017",campaign finance;elections;ethics,the creative resistance,The Creative Resistance is a media-focused progressive advocacy group.,new york,0,1,0,0,0,0,a video,"The Creative Resistance said in a video ""IDC members also get tons of campaign money from real estate, charter school, and health care lobbyists, some of whom are Republicans with connections to Trump."" The IDC and its members do get money from donors in the lobbyists. But so do mainline Democrats, even if it’s less than their IDC colleagues. It's not  the IDC members benefit while Democrats do not.  The statement is accurate but needs clarification and additional information. We rate it ."
19818,5,"Since 1978, CEO compensation rose over 1,000% and only 11.9% for average workers.","May 23, 2021",corporations;economy;workers;wisconsin,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.
 
 ",national,3,2,1,2,1,0,Twitter,"But it is wider than it was a few decades ago, when those wages were about 58 times that of the typical worker.   CEO pay has escalated like this because the top-ranking executives have the power to set pay, the study’s authors argue, contributing to rising wealth inequality.   Our rating  Barnes said CEO compensation has risen more than 1,000% since 1978, while wages for the average worker have only increased 11.9%.   That’s in line with findings from the Economic Policy Institute report.   We rate his  .   "
21034,4,Millions of hardworking Americans will no longer have to worry about unexpected medical bills.,"February 10, 2022",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,a speech,"Biden declared that because of the No Surprises Act, which took effect in January, millions of Americans will no longer have to worry about unexpected medical bills. It’s estimated the NSA will protect against 10 million surprise bills a year.  Although it’s  that consumers are now shielded from many out-of-network bills, which are often termed ""surprise bills"" by lawmakers, patients still could end up with other types of large and unexpected medical bills. Biden’s statement is a bit too general and sweeping and needs clarification and additional context. We rate this  ."
7185,1,"Says it's ""an old wives' story"" that Margaret Thatcher told George H.W. Bush not to go wobbly.","April 8, 2013",history;iraq;foreign policy,dick cheney,Dick Cheney served as Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush.,national,3,2,2,5,4,1,an interview on Fox News,"Cheney called ""that famous quote"" nothing but ""an old wives' story."" But Bush and Thatcher themselves recount a phone call near the end of August 1990 in which Thatcher admonishes ""this is no time to go wobbly."" Popular accounts of the ""wobbly"" quote shift the statement to the beginning of August, giving it an early starring role that several insiders dispute. Instead, Bush and Thatcher describe a later, narrower discussion about when and how to enforce U.N. sanctions. Still, they agree she made the comment, and Bush says it became a common expression around the White House. We rate Cheney’s  ."
4434,1,"Nearly 14,000 Wisconsinites have lost their job since Governor Walker and the Republicans took over in January.","September 28, 2011",jobs,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 news release,"But those who gather the numbers say they can’t be used in the manner Miller is using them. (It’s similar to an earlier fact-check, where Republicans were comparing the state job-growth numbers to the national ones.) Miller has the right number for the increase of unemployed people. But it’s impossible to know how many lost their jobs this year vs. those who lost their jobs earlier and are now starting to look again. We rate the statement ."
1368,3,"Among the money spent on health care in the United States, ""46 cents on every dollar spent is through Medicare and Medicaid.","February 14, 2010",federal budget;health care;medicare,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 on NBC's 'Meet the Press',"As a sidelight, Brookings Institution health care scholar Henry Aaron points out that even the 54 percent of health care dollars that are privately financed are indirectly supported by the federal government, through such policies as tax exclusions for employer-provided health care. The value of these supports is estimated to run into the billions of dollars.    But that isn't what Biden was talking about. Essentially, the vice president cited an accurate number, but he failed to describe correctly what it meant, and he ended up making the share of federal Medicare and Medicaid spending seem half again as big as it actually is. We rate his statement ."
6758,5,"Says the Portland Children's Levy holds its ""administrative expenses to less than 5 percent.","November 11, 2012",children;city government,dan saltzman,Dan Saltzman is a Portland City Commissioner.,oregon,1,0,0,0,0,0,a television news interview,"An outfit like the Portland Children’s Levy needs little to no resources to collect revenue -- it comes out of property taxes -- while the new arts tax will require bodies to collect what is basically a head tax of $35 per adult worker. Lannom explained that voters authorized his office to spend up to 5 percent of revenue to collect the money. The Regional Arts and Culture Council has a separate 3 percent cap on coordination costs . PolitiFact Oregon can’t judge what is the proper amount for administrative costs, but we can say that Saltzman is accurate when he says the Portland Children’s Levy holds its ""administrative expenses to less than 5 percent."" The statement is ."
11397,4,"In 2006, Bernie Sanders ""voted in the House with hard-line Republicans for indefinite detention for undocumented immigrants, and then he sided with those Republicans to stand with vigilantes known as Minutemen who were taking up outposts along the border to hunt down immigrants.","March 9, 2016",immigration,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,Miami,"Clinton said that in 2006, Bernie Sanders ""voted in the House with hard-line Republicans for indefinite detention for undocumented immigrants, and then he sided with those Republicans to stand with vigilantes known as Minutemen who were taking up outposts along the border to hunt down immigrants."" Clinton may have boiled down the substance of the measures a bit too much, but her accounting is largely accurate -- importantly, in her  that Sanders voted for both measures. That said, Clinton glosses over the degree to which Democrats -- and not just Republicans -- supported both measures. We rate the  ."
16991,0,Video shows Gianna Bryant in the hospital after helicopter crash.,"January 28, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube video,"The Pacific Attorney Group reported that Cervantes was one of two people killed by a traffic collision on Aug. 28, 2019, in Downey, Calif. She died two days later in the hospital. The video description says that Cervantes was an organ donor who received an honor walk, a ritual described by the New York Times as a way to show respect to dying patients planning to donate their organs. The full version of this video was uploaded more than four months before Gianna Bryant’s death. We rate this  ."
16619,1,"Says Donald Trump said, ""Make no mistake: They're not after me. They are after you; your guns, your Christian values, your freedom. I'm just in their way.","October 17, 2019",religion;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,"They are trying to silence and punish the speech of Christians and religious believers of all faiths."" And:  ""The grave danger posed to historic Christian communities is incredible. ""  What he didn’t say is what appears in the Facebook post.   If  surfaces that Trump did make this statement, we’ll reconsider our rating. Until then, we rate it . "
4580,4,"The governor won this state with 49 percent. We had some of the closest races in the House in history. So you're not dealing with this 70-30, like they want to make it.","November 3, 2011",elections;redistricting,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,an interview with Ohio Capital Blog’s Marc Kovac,"For one, there’s no bulletproof way of suggesting the state is 50/50 -- a  Hagan did not make explicitly in his comments to Kovac. Hagan instead implicitly pointed to results of two elections as proof of Ohio’s political parity: Kasich’s narrow gubernatorial victory and a batch of close Ohio House races. Regarding the latter, Hagan remarked on ""some of the closest races in the House in history."" It is clear that several of those battles match that description. On the -O-Meter, we rate his  ."
2435,3,"Says David Wu has presided over ""137 months"" in which ""Oregon's unemployment rate has been above the national average.","October 12, 2010",economy,rob cornilles,Rob Cornilles is the president and founder of Game Face Inc. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University.,oregon,2,1,3,1,1,1,The Oregonian's Voter Guide,"""There are so many factors that influence the economy,'' he said. ""One congressperson's actions are a very small contributor, especially when you move down to the state level."" So while Cornilles' 137-month figure is correct, it's quite a reach to imply that Wu had much to do with it. We find his  is . Comment on this item."
4548,5,"A couple retiring today will pay about $119,000 in lifetime Medicare taxes and receive about $357,000 in lifetime Medicare benefits. ... about 3 bucks in benefits for every dollar in taxes.","November 1, 2011",deficit;federal budget;medicare,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 congressional hearing,"It asserted that anything short of a comprehensive, overall view would merely be tinkering. Its bottom line: ""Tax rates that have not kept pace with ever-rising benefit levels, increasing years of support, spiraling health costs, and fewer workers per retiree all imply that current and future generations of workers are going to have to do something to get these elderly benefit programs into order, either by paying higher taxes or receiving fewer benefits for themselves."" We make no ruling on those difficult choices. The difficult situation described by Portman is another matter. On the -O-Meter his  rates ."
22038,1,Father danced for his daughter at her grave after she was killed during recent protests in Iran.,"September 28, 2022",iran;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,"It has been circulating online for more than a year.   A reverse image search for the video showed the earliest online posting was a July 12, 2021, post on Facebook. The caption is in Turkish, and a translated version says it tells the story of a man who danced for his daughter after she died. The video does not show a father dancing for his daughter at her grave after she was killed during recent protests in Iran. We rate this  ."
6032,4,"Says U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV passed ""only one bill"" in seven years.","August 6, 2012",message machine 2012;voting record,american bridge 21st century,American Bridge 21st Century is a Democratic super PAC.,florida,1,3,0,2,1,0,a TV ad,"American Bridge is right to say Mack only passed one bill in seven years. However, they leave out that Mack cosponsored about 50 bills that were written into law and didn’t consider that some of his bills may have passed as amendments. Also, it's important to note that the number of Mack bills that became law is only one measure of his overall record -- and one that can be  when viewed in isolation. We rate the  ."
12422,2,"I did not — I did not — I do not say that. I do not say that"" climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.","September 26, 2016",environment;candidate biography;china;climate change;economy;energy;history;science,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,  ""I did not — I did not — I do not say that. I do not say that"" climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. He certainly did say it — in a tweet four years ago. While he has since described that remark as a ""joke,"" Trump has repeatedly called climate change a ""hoax"" in speeches, tweets and media appearances. And he has said as recently as Jan. 18, 2016, that action on climate change ""is done for the benefit of China."" Because he hasn’t pushed this exact theory in recent years, as far as we’ve seen, there’s a tiny grain of  to Trump’s . But it’s still . For that, we rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/04109c43-9130-4b0a-8d47-1f5166741fc7"
18205,2,Doug Collins repeatedly joined liberal Stacey Abrams to raise taxes...Kelly's never voted for a tax increase — and never will.,"August 6, 2020",infrastructure;negative campaigning,kelly loeffler,Kelly Loeffler is a former U.S. Senator from Georgia.,,0,0,0,4,2,0,a campaign ad,"The Loeffler campaign ad makes a series of claims about the transportation bills HR 206 and HB 277. These claims leave out crucial context about Collins’ voting record and Loeffler’s own position on similar tax increases.  The first part of the , ""Doug Collins repeatedly joined liberal Stacey Abrams to raise taxes"" does not strictly apply to the bill that the ad calls ""the greatest tax increase in Georgia history."" As noted above, HR 206 would not have levied a statewide tax per se. Instead, it left the ultimate decision on the tax up to Georgia voters.  The second part of the , ""Kelly’s never voted for a tax increase — and never will,"" is also . As a citizen, Loeffler publicly supported a regional transportation tax, saying it was necessary to create jobs.  We rate this  . ​"
6601,5,"Says ""the typical homeowner will pay $4 more per month"" if library district passes.","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,"While the ultimate cost would be more for the average house, we think it’s fair to call the median number, where half the houses are assessed at more and half less, ""typical."" Those figures back up the Libraries Yes! Committee’s  that the typical homeowner will pay $4 more per month"" once the new district goes into full effect. We rate this  ."
19285,2,"Said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her allies ""blocked a resolution condemning anti-Semitism — which I passed unanimously in the Senate.","January 9, 2021",corrections and updates;race and ethnicity;texas,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.",new york,8,22,21,48,47,11,a tweet,"Cruz said that Ocasio-Cortez and her allies ""blocked a resolution condemning anti-Semitism — which I passed unanimously in the Senate.""  Cruz sponsored a Senate resolution  against anti-Semitism that passed by unanimous consent. But his  that Ocasio-Cortez’ blocked a similar House resolution leaves out important context.  Ocasio-Cortez opposed the initial resolution draft as being too narrow. Once condemnations of other types of bigotry were added to the text, the resolution went forward and passed easily, including a vote in favor by Ocasio-Cortez. Both resolutions had similar language on anti-Semitism. We rate Cruz’s statement . EDITOR'S NOTE, March 24, 2021 : After we published our report, Cruz's staff responded to our inquiry, citing  we had already reviewed. The rating remains unchanged."
11766,4,"Old City in Philadelphia ""used to have more than a dozen clubs and that's what we were known for and now we're down to two.","May 11, 2016",,job itzkowitz,Old City District executive director,pennsylvania,0,1,0,0,0,0,In the Philadelphia Business Journal,"HughE Dillon, Philly celebrity watcher, said Old City used to be ""an out of control, rumble in the street kinda late night area,"" but has lately been pleased with what he regards as a safer late night scene. ""Now,"" he said, ""people just seem to rush to get in line at Big Ass Slices 218 Market Street, when the bars let out. ""      Our Ruling Old City District executive director Job Itkowitz claimed the number of Old City clubs had declined from more than a dozen to two. We found at least 10 clubby establishments that have closed in the last several years, and going by different interpretations of ""club"" Old City has somewhere between one and four clubs.     We rule the statement ."
4637,1,"The overwhelming number"" of school districts reported their staff stayed the same or grew after the 2011-'13 state budget","November 15, 2011",education;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 radio interview,"In any event, Walker’s reference to staffing levels of ""the same or greater"" makes it clear he was quantifying staffing, not discussing class size. Our conclusion Walker referred to school survey results, saying ""the overwhelming number of districts saw that staffing was the same or greater."" But he cherry-picked figures in his favor, leaving out a key factor -- retirements -- that formed the basis of the survey’s conclusions on overall staffing reductions. When they are included, the survey actually shows the opposite of what he said. We rate his statement ."
5371,3,6.4 million more Americans living in poverty under President Obama.,"April 4, 2012",economy;poverty,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,an online video,"Dewhurst’s figures draw from a reliable source on Americans in poverty in 2010 — which, of course, is not 2012 — compared with 2008, the year before Obama became president. A better understanding of the extent of U.S. poverty lies in looking at the share of Americans in dire straits. That measure also supports Dewhurst’s point — that poverty has increased during Obama’s term. Then again, the percentage of residents in poverty had begun to grow in 2007, two years before Obama’s first in office. Finally, it’s a reach to say Obama is personally to blame for the increase in poverty. On balance, we rate Dewhurst’s statement ."
15868,4,"In 30 states, average teacher pay is less than the living wage for a family of four.","March 26, 2019",education;workers,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.",california,2,16,4,7,7,0,a tweet,"Harris said, ""In 30 states, average teacher pay is less than the living wage for a family of four."" Since a living wage is in part calculated based on a person’s household and family circumstances, the comparison Harris used excludes such factors as non-salary benefits, summer income, working spouses, and smaller family sizes. Harris's premise is that teacher pay alone should support a family of four. In the context she specifies, her statement is accurate.  We rate the statement ."
15682,3,"Says ""nearly half"" of House Republicans have supported a nonpartisan redistricting bill.","February 13, 2019",elections;redistricting,chuck mcgrady,North Carolina House member Chuck McGrady is a Republican from Henderson County.,north carolina,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press conference,"But, when you consider Republican support for his new bill, he’s pretty much right that nearly half of House Republicans have supported the idea of nonpartisan redistricting at some point. 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] ."
7882,5,"There is ""a constitutional issue"" that affects ""the paychecks of members of Congress"" during a shutdown.","October 2, 2013",congress;federal budget,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,an interview on CNN,"When asked about whether he would forgo his own paycheck during the shutdown, Diaz-Balart said, ""There is a bit of a constitutional issue ... when you are dealing with the paychecks of members of Congress."" He is correct: Article I, Section 6, of the U.S. Constitution authorizes pay for members of Congress ""ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States."" Members can ask the House to withhold their pay, but that’s just a temporary symbolic move -- particularly since they aren’t scheduled to get a paycheck until the end of the month. We rate this  ."
18586,1,Image shows Nancy Pelosi drunk and being kissed by President Barack Obama.,"October 10, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"News stories from that day included coverage of Clinton’s and Obama’s remarks at the Nobel peace laureate’s funeral. Pelosi’s office that day released a statement recognizing Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which would soon begin. What we do not find in legitimate news archives is any coverage that suggests Pelosi, who does not drink alcohol , was drunk upon her return. But we have seen similar claims suggesting she was publicly inebriated many , many , many times before. We rate this ."
19442,0,Video shows Joe Biden faked an interview in front of a green screen.,"March 17, 2021",corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube post,"This Washington Post video shows the interview from a different angle than the Hill video.   And this clip , shared by FiveThirtyEight reporter Kaleigh Rogers, shows the different videos side by side.   While the clip that’s being shared on social media may look odd, it’s not a hoax. It’s an optical illusion.   We rate the  that Biden faked this interview with reporters in front of a green screen ! "
18555,1,"Says Kamala Harris said there will be ""a federal tax on your home for reparations.","September 25, 2020",civil rights;taxes;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,A Facebook post claims Harris proposed a federal tax on homes to pay for slavery reparations. There’s no  to support that . We rate the statement .
4314,1,"If we had been on 'Obamacare' and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan, that would have delayed my treatment.","September 22, 2011",health care,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.",national,0,3,5,4,11,3,Orlando,"We don't know the personal details of Cain's health status or how he is insured. But it's impossible for us to see how a government bureaucrat could have delayed Cain's care. Cain said at the debate that, ""If we had been on 'Obamacare' and a bureaucrat was trying to tell me when I could get that CAT scan, that would have delayed my treatment."" But there is no part of the health care law that allows a government bureaucrat to weigh in on an individual's course of treatment -- not Cain's nor anyone else's. We rate his statement . "
4235,2,"Since the beginning of the year we've created a net increase of 45,000 jobs.","September 25, 2011",economy;jobs,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 interview,"There hasn’t been enough time for them to kick in, they say. Standard & Poors cited Ohio’s balanced budget as having a positive impact, but that didn’t happen until the end of June. Ohio has registered job growth since early last year, well before Kasich was elected. And while his efforts have received some positive reviews, there are many factors beyond the governor’s office that impact job growth. On the -O-Meter, we rate Kasich’s  ."
4431,2,"(Sen. Robert) Gordon cost us money, exempting the Newark sports arena from paying property taxes and sticking us with the bill.","October 6, 2011",message machine 2012;taxes,john driscoll,"John Driscoll Jr. is a Bergen County freeholder. A Republican, he lost his 2011 bid for a New Jersey State Senate seat in the 38th Legislative District.",new jersey,0,0,0,1,0,0,a television ad posted on YouTube,"In a TV ad, Driscoll claims Gordon cost taxpayers money by ""exempting the Newark sports arena from paying property taxes and sticking us with the bill."" Gordon did support that exemption, and news articles show that Newark has needed additional state aid dollars over the years. But the ad ties the ""bill"" to the property tax exemption, and the only entities directly affected are the city, the school district and the county -- not those voters in Bergen and Passaic counties. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
5773,5,A million people a year come into the U.S. legally. No other country even comes close to that figure.,"June 18, 2012",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 on Fox News,"Rubio is right that ""a million people a year come into the U.S. legally"" and that ""no other country even comes close to that figure."" We rate his statement ."
5051,1,Here's something that people never talk about with coach Schiano: Rutgers had the best graduation rate of any Division I football program in America.,"January 31, 2012",education;sports,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 radio interview on New Jersey 101.5's ""Ask the Governor""","Christie claimed that ""Rutgers had the best graduation rate of any Division I football program in America."" The Scarlet Knights ranked at the top of their conference, but not the top of their division for graduation rates in the most recent data. During Schiano’s tenure, the team never had the best graduation rate in the division. By another measure of academic performance, Rutgers football topped its division, but, according to a NCAA spokeswoman, graduation is not included in that calculation. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
14035,2,"Says Josh Hawley ""broke his promise to create a Public Corruption Unit to crack down on the pay-to-play culture of Jefferson City.","October 10, 2017",corrections and updates;legal issues,claire mccaskill,Claire McCaskill is a Democrat and a U.S. Senator from Missouri.,missouri,5,1,3,5,5,0,a campaign statement,"McCaskill’s campaign manager said Hawley ""broke his promise to create a Public Corruption Unit to crack down on the pay-to-play culture of Jefferson City."" Although Democrats contest when it was born and say he hasn’t used the team to crack down on ""pay-to-play"" in Jefferson City, the bottom lineis Hawley has prioritized prosecuting public corruption and created a team to make it happen. Regardless of whether the group is a team or unit, Hawley’s office still has a working group of lawyers who have already prosecuted four officials for public corruption. We rate this statement ."
9473,2,"Says President Barack Obama ""ordered our military to enlist illegal aliens.","September 26, 2014",immigration;military,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 Facebook post,"West said that Obama ""ordered our military to enlist illegal aliens."" He’s right that Obama’s decision to allow certain illegal immigrants to apply for temporary status under DACA then enabled the military to announce that those people could apply for the MAVNI program. However, West’s analysis  what’s going on. The program in question was initiated by Bush in 2008, before Obama was president. In addition, contrary to West’s sweeping suggestion, experts say it’s doubtful that many undocumented immigrants would be brought into the military. And Obama didn't order the military to take illegal aliens but rather made it an option. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
11064,2,We're practically not allowed to use coal any more. What do we do with our coal? We ship it to China and they spew it in the air.,"November 30, 2015",environment;energy,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 MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","Trump said, ""We're practically not allowed to use coal any more. What do we do with our coal? We ship it to China and they spew it in the air."" He has a point that the Obama administration has worked to reduce the amount of carbon emissions from U.S. sources, including placing additional burdens on power plants that burn coal. But Trump’s language vastly overstates his case. Despite recent declines in coal usage, electric companies in the United States still burned more than 850 million tons of coal in 2014, making it easily the most common energy source for electricity generation. Trump’s point about the U.S. shipping coal to China is even less accurate. U.S. coal exports to China comprise only a tiny fraction of all U.S. coal exports, and U.S. coal accounts for just a tiny fraction of all of the coal that China imports. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
11587,4,"Ten times, no Republican candidate for president had enough delegates to claim the nomination before the party's convention, and seven of those times ""somebody who was not the leader of delegates was selected as the nominee of the party.","March 29, 2016",elections;history;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,"But Northeastern University political science professor Willam Mayer , who has written books on presidential nominations, told us that Kasich’s definition of a contested convention is defensible.) Our rating Kasich said that 10 times, no Republican candidate for president had enough delegates to  the nomination before the party’s convention, and seven of those times ""somebody who was not the leader of delegates was selected as the nominee of the party."" He’s correct on the numbers. But his implication that history is on his side is  in that it’s been more than 60 years since the GOP chose a nominee who wasn’t the delegate leader going into the convention; moreover, the process of choosing a nominee has changed considerably in the intervening years. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is ."
6110,0,"Sheldon Whitehouse voted for a ""$525-billion tax increase on the middle class.","October 24, 2012",economy;health care;message machine 2012;voting record;taxes,barry hinckley,"Barry Hinckley ran an unsuccessful race, as a Republican running, for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island in 2012. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, he is the founder and former president of Bullhorn Software in Boston. He is also an aviator and has raced sailboats professionally.",rhode island,2,2,1,0,4,2,a television commercial,"Barry Hinckley said Sheldon Whitehouse voted for a ""$525 billion tax increase on the middle class."" The ad doesn't say that it's really talking about Obamacare, and that the money is designed to help pay for health coverage for the uninsured, many of whom are in the middle class. It also doesn't point out that the $525 billion is spread out over 10 years, through 2019. Most of it doesn't come from the middle class.   And of the $4 billion the government expects to collect each year from people who choose not to purchase health insurance, less than half will come from the middle class. The  in the Hinckley ad is so  off base, 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.)"
8896,2,"Says Hillary Clinton ""laid the groundwork"" for getting chemical weapons out of Syria.","June 1, 2014",foreign policy;military,claire mccaskill,Claire McCaskill is a Democrat and a U.S. Senator from Missouri.,national,5,1,3,5,5,0,"an appearance on ""Fox News Sunday""","McCaskill said Clinton ""laid the groundwork"" to remove Syria’s chemical weapons. The connection to the eventual deal seems to be Clinton’s ongoing discussions with Russia, who eventually helped broker the agreement, and the administration’s red line on chemical weapons, which eventually led to the threat of military action that forced Assad’s hand. Experts we spoke with said that was a pretty flimsy case. Obama’s red line changed meaning from Clinton to Kerry. At first it was a rather ambiguous threat. Later, crossing it meant helping rebels obtain weapons and finally the announcement of military action. Further, the eventual agreement itself came quickly and almost unintentionally after Kerry made a rhetorical offer that Russia and Assad accepted. Clinton had been out of the Secretary of State job for seven months at that point. Prior to Kerry’s offer, an agreement seemed out of reach. Given all of that, we rate McCaskill’s statement ."
14538,0,Denzel Washington: With Trump we avoided war with Russia and Orwellian Police State,"February 24, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"About a month later, when speaking before a screening of his new film Fences in Washington, D.C., in December 2016, Washington was asked whom he supported in the election. He quipped "" Fences "" but later said, ""none of your business."" A headline said that Denzel Washington said, ""With Trump we avoided war with Russia and Orwellian police state."" There is no  that the actor made that statement. We rate this headline ."
17496,1,Says Michigan COVID-19 order bans gardening and the sale of vegetable seeds and fruit.,"April 12, 2020",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 headline shared on social media inaccurately describes an order that Whitmer issued in response to the coronavirus.  The order does not prohibit gardening or the sale of any particular product in Michigan. Stores in Michigan larger than 50,000 square feet must close areas for garden centers and plant nurseries, as well as those that sell carpet or flooring, furniture and paint. We rate the statement ."
20123,0,"Says the surge in COVID-19 cases is caused by ""antibody mediated viral enhancement"" from the COVID-19 vaccines.","August 9, 2021",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,dan stock,Dr. Dan Stock is a family physician in Indiana. Remarks he made in August 2021 criticizing public health authorities about COVID-19 and making claims about COVID-19 vaccines went viral.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a viral image,"A doctor in a viral video says the surge in COVID-19 cases is caused by ""antibody mediated viral enhancement"" from the COVID-19 vaccines. There is no  that the rare phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement, is causing a surge. In fact,  shows the opposite: that the vast majority of COVID-19 cases are occurring among people who are not vaccinated. The post is  and . We rate it !"
20432,0,"Says Halyna Hutchins tweeted, ""I have information that will lead to Hillary Clinton's arrest.","October 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,an Instagram post,"When someone deletes a tweet, it will still show up in Google search results even though the link itself is dead. We didn’t find any such trace that Hutchins tweeted this about Hillary Clinton.   We rate this post . RELATED:    No, Halyna Hutchins wasn’t working on a Hollywood pedophile rings doc"
1956,3,I think it is unacceptable for the Chinese today to be larger in wind power and in solar panels and photovoltaic manufacturing than all of Europe put together -- forget the United States.,"July 1, 2010",energy,maurice ferre,"Maurice Ferre served as mayor of Miami from 1973 to 1985. He campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 2010 and was defeated in the Democratic primary on Aug. 24, 2010.",florida,1,0,1,1,0,0,an editorial board meeting,"China added more renewable-power capacity than any other country in the world in 2009, according to the Worldwatch Institute. But Ferre's point was manufacturing when he met with the Sun-Sentinel editorial board. His statement that China is larger than Europe and the United States in the manufacturing of wind and solar power equipment is correct for photovoltaics, but not for wind. The Worldwatch Insitute report points out that, among the world’s top 15 wind turbine manufacturers, Europe came out ahead of China in 2009. That gives Ferre's statement a rating of ."
15764,5,We maintain this (Missouri highway) system with one of the lowest levels of funding in the country.,"January 16, 2019",state budget;transportation,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,his state of the state speech,"Parson said, Missouri has one of the lowest levels of highway funding in the country. Missouri ranks 48th in highway revenue per mile. Though Missouri ranks 26th in total highway funding revenue, this measure does not take into consideration the amount of road a state must maintain. Revenue per mile is the best measure to evaluate highway funding, taking into account the amount of roads in a state in addition to the number of dollars spent. With this evaluation, Missouri does have one of the lowest levels of highway funding. We rank this statement ."
10994,4,"Since he took office as Milwaukee County executive, ""we have never raised"" bus fares and ""this year there'll be a million route-miles more than there were five years ago.","October 29, 2015",transportation,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 TV interview,"Our rating Abele said since he has been Milwaukee County executive, ""we have never raised"" bus fares and ""this year there’ll be a million route-miles more than there were five years ago."" He backed up the  with transit system budget reports that showed constant fare prices and a million mile increase in route miles. But in stating the , he gives himself too much credit for the new routes that largely generated the extra miles. Those were the result of a lawsuit against the state. We rate Abele’s  ."
19881,2,Dandelion root is able to kill 98% of cancer cells within 48 hours.,"June 12, 2021",public health;health check,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 dandelion root extract was found to kill 98% of cancer cells in 48 hours.  A University of Windsor study found that the extract killed over 95% of colon cancer cells in 48 hours, but this study was done on cells in a petri dish, not in the human body.  In 2019, a separate study found that both dandelion root and lemongrass extract can boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments in killing prostate cancer cells in mice, but the study didn’t look at whether they were effective in stopping the recurrence of tumors. Human clinical trials of dandelion root extract as a cancer treatment have been approved, but they haven’t been able to recruit enough patients.  The  contains an element of , but leaves out important context that could give a different impression. We rate this post ."
17578,0,We've tested more than every country combined.,"April 27, 2020",health check;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,comments made during a White House briefing,"Trump claimed that the United States has ""tested more than every country combined."" There is no reasonable way to conclude that the American system has run more diagnostics than ""all other major countries combined."" Just by adding up a few other nations’ totals, you can quickly see Trump’s  fall apart. Plus, focusing on the 5 million figure distracts from the real issue — by any meaningful metric of diagnosing and tracking, the United States is still well behind countries like Germany and Canada. The president’s  is not only  but also . We rate it !"
14147,1,"Breaking: FBI just raided the White House, 6 people thrown out.","December 30, 2017",fake news;punditfact,new century times,New Century Times is a website and news aggregator.,,0,0,0,0,2,0,a headline,"The website New Century Times said in a December headline that ""Breaking: FBI just raided the White House, 6 people thrown out."" Yes, six White House staffers were removed from their jobs due to problems associated with their in depth background checks, Politico  reported. But their removals occurred in February -- this isn’t ""breaking"" news in December. And it seems a stretch to describe the removals as an FBI ""raid."" We rate this  ."
17362,1,Putin has stated: Russian citizens (have) 2 options: Stay home for 15 days or in jail for 5 years.,"March 23, 2020",foreign policy;public health;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,"Social media posts have said ""Putin has stated: Russian citizens (have) 2 options: Stay home for 15 days or in jail for 5 years."" Credible news accounts and experts on the region see no  of such a draconian choice in Russia. The  appears to stem from a post by an Indian comedian, who later clarified that this was intended as a ""joke."" We rate the statement ."
19862,1,Jamaica becomes the first country to make K-pop illegal.,"June 6, 2021",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,"A disclaimer at the bottom of the page says it is ""a satire news and humor website"" and that ""all its content is fiction (except those posts under the ‘serious’ category) and shouldn’t be taken as real. ""  That caveat is missing as the headline is being shared online out of context.   BuzzFeed News reported in 2018 that a spokesperson for Jamaica’s prime minister, who was mentioned in the post, responded to a tweet about Jamaica banning K-pop and said ""This is NOT !!!!!"" (The Twitter account for that spokesperson no longer exists .)   We rate this  ."
5574,4,Marcy Kaptur voted against a ban which would have prevented the aborting of a baby girl for the sole reason that she's a girl.,"June 4, 2012",abortion;message machine 2012;voting record,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 campaign video,"Kaptur's record on abortion has been consistent. In a story about this vote, Roll Call, a Washington publication, described her as a  Democrat who opposes abortion. But in this case, her staff said, concerns about other effects and consequences of the legislation played a role in her vote. And, the bill’s leading sponsor acknowledged that political strategy drove the process under which it was considered. On the -O-Meter, Wurzelbacher's  rates ."
2710,2,Letting the Bush tax cuts expire would raise taxes on small businesses.,"November 3, 2010",economy;small business;taxes,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,"About 272,000 Americans in the highest income tax bracket report more than half of their earnings come from business profits. Their average business income is $718,827, according to the Tax Policy Center, whose figures Cantor sometimes uses. That hardly sounds like a corner shop owner, whose image Cantor seems to invoke when he says Democrats are trying to raise taxes on small businesses. We rate the  . (Cantor’s wife, Diana F. Cantor, is a member of the board of directors of Media General Inc., parent company of the Richmond Times-Dispatch). "
10898,4,"If you look at the three people on the (debate) stage from the United States Senate, all three of them have a combined two bills that became law that they've sponsored.","November 1, 2015",candidate biography;congress;corrections and updates,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 ""Meet the Press""","Bush said that the three Republican senators running for president ""have a combined two bills that became law that they've sponsored."" Bush has his numbers right: Of all the bills Cruz, Rubio and Paul have sponsored combined, only two bills have been signed into law. But experts told us that this isn’t a great measurement of a legislator’s effectiveness, and there are other ways to show impact in Congress. All three senators have their fingerprints on numerous laws as cosponsors or amendment authors.   We rate Bush’s  . Editor's note: This post has been updated to include a response from the Cruz campaign that we received after publishing the article and to clarify the senators identified by Bush in his ."
10618,1,"On unemployment rates: ""We have counties in Southwest Virginia that are well into double digits and some that are pushing 20 percent.","August 10, 2015",environment;energy;jobs;government regulation,israel o'quinn,Israel O'Quinn was elected to the House of Delegates in 2011. He represents the 5th district in Southwest Virginia and is the deputy majority whip in the House.,virginia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech,"O’Quinn said, ""We have counties in Southwest Virginia that are well into double digits and some that are pushing 20 percent unemployment."" He offered the statistics at a rally where speakers were trying to muster opposition to new EPA carbon restrictions by arguing, in part, the rules will accelerate the decline in coal mining jobs. There is no county in the region that comes close to a 20 percent unemployment rate and it’s debatable whether any are ""well into double digits."" The highest June unemployment rates were in Virginia’s three biggest coal counties: Buchanan, 11.1 percent; Dickenson, 10.2 percent; and Wise, 9.2 percent. Those are big numbers. But McQuinn, who acknowledges he misspoke, exaggerated them. We rate his statement . "
2467,5,"Ken Buck wants to ""outlaw abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.","October 15, 2010",abortion;message machine 2010,michael bennet,"Michael Bennet is a senator from Colorado, appointed in January 2009 by former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter to fill a vacated Senate seat. Bennet successfully ran for his first full term in 2010 and was re-elected in 2016. He received a degree in history from Wesleyan University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. In 2019, he announced he is running for the Democratic nomination for president.",national,3,1,1,0,0,0,a campaign ad,"Ken would not support either. This ad is another example of how Michael Bennet wants to talk about anything but the issues that Coloradans care about -- creating jobs, controlling spending and getting our economy back on track."" In reviewing the record, Buck has said he opposes abortion, even in the cases of rape or incest. We did not find any  of him changing position on that issue over the course of the campaign. So we rate Bennet's statement ."
13175,1,Somebody observed this week that you have to go back to the very founding of the government to the first administration of George Washington to find a time when it's taken longer to put a Cabinet in place.,"February 8, 2017",history,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 speech,"Blunt said the only Cabinet that took longer to be put in place was that of Washington's, who had the very first in U.S. history. Blunt made the  on Feb. 8, 19 days into Trump’s presidential term. At PolitiFact, we rate statements based on the information available at the time they were made. And in that context, Blunt is clearly . We rate this  ."
3787,1,"Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers? … Fox viewers, consistently, every poll.","June 19, 2011",polls and public opinion;pundits,jon stewart,Jon Stewart is a comedian and host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.,national,2,1,1,0,2,1,an interview on Fox News Sunday,"The 2003 survey strikes us as pretty solid, but the 2010 survey has been critiqued for its methodology. The way Stewart phrased the comment, it’s not enough to show a sliver of  that Fox News’ audience is ill-informed. The  needs to support the view that the data shows they are ""consistently"" misinformed -- a term he used not once but three times. It’s simply not  that ""every poll"" shows that result. So we rate his  ."
831,2,The (economic stimulus) legislation could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).,"January 26, 2009",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,a news release,"So could lots of other nonprofits. They'd have to compete, though. And they'd have to use the money to buy up abandoned or foreclosed homes, fix them up and resell or rent them. Boehner's comments imply money is earmarked for ACORN (it's not) or that money would be funneled to suspect voter registration programs (it wouldn't). And so we rate his comment ."
1755,5,"Georgia has ""a dropout rate that's higher"" than Alabama's.","June 4, 2010",education;message machine 2010,john oxendine,Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is running for governor in 2010.,georgia,1,0,2,0,0,0,a campaign video on his website,"Figures from Editorial Projects in Education also show that Georgia lags behind Alabama. Its 2009 report states that the rate of Georgia students finishing high school with a regular diploma is 55.9 percent. Alabama's is at 61.4 percent. Indeed, Alabama beats Georgia. We rate Oxendine's statement as ."
3143,1,"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's estimate of a $3.6 billion state budget deficit is ""manufactured"" and a ""bogus figure.","February 16, 2011",labor;state budget,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 posting,"Pocan says the deficit problem is about half what Walker claims. Walker will surely knock down the spending increases requested by state agencies, to bring costs in line with revenue. But Walker is following the rules and traditions of the shortfall-prediction game, and outside experts say his figure is realistic as a measure of the challenge he faces. And Pocan hurts his cause by not having read the latest shortfall estimate report by Walker’s top aides. We rate Pocan’s statement ."
22525,1,A video shows a real angel in the sky in Palestine.,"January 15, 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,"""  Another posted in January appears to show the people pointing at horses in the sky.   There are more scenarios featuring the same people pointing with different images in the clouds, among other scenes of fantastic apparitions in different places. Some of the videos reuse the same audio and the same images of people, animals and buildings materializing amid the clouds.   It’s creative, but isn’t real. We rate claims that this video shows people reacting to the real appearance of a supposed angel in the sky in Palestine ."
15808,3,"Says the University of Missouri ""has been cleared of involvement"" in academic fraud involving student athletes.","February 1, 2019",education;sports,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 claim on Facebook and Twitter,"Hartzler said MU was cleared of involvement in the NCAA case. The NCAA did not specifically say MU administrators were involved in the case, as Swick noted. However, experts pointed out that due to the sanctions MU faces, the university was still not given the ultimate all-clear as Hartzler said in her original statement. The NCAA still believed MU held the responsibility to monitor its staff, resulting in the sanctions. Because of the missing context, we rate Hartzler’s statement ."
9091,4,"Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich ""vote as much as 80 percent of the time together.","July 14, 2014",bipartisanship;voting record,mark begich,U.S. Sen. Mark Begich is a Democrat from Alaska. He was elected in November 2008.,national,0,2,0,0,0,1,a radio ad,"A Begich campaign radio ad said, ""Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich vote as much as 80 percent of the time together."" We found they had voted together 80 percent of the time. However, this statistic is based on the last six months, and Begich has served with Murkowski since 2009. The pair does, though, have a history of voting together more often than not -- about 60 percent of all votes since 2009 -- and the ad said ""as much as 80 percent."" We rate this  ."
1751,3,The 2000 Census cost $4.5 billion. The 2010 Census is set to cost up to $14.5 billion.,"June 7, 2010",census;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,his Fox News program,"But when you balance the cost to account for inflation and the fact that there were more homes to count, the increased cost was just under 60 percent. The Census Bureau also works differently than it did in past decades. For one, it now does an annual American Community Survey. Those kinds of details are important for an apples-to-apples comparison. And so we rate Beck's statement ."
9472,4,"Says Sen. Kay Hagan ""has missed half of the (Senate Armed Services) Committee's hearings in 2014.","September 30, 2014",congress;corrections and updates;message machine 2014;voting record,thom tillis,Thom Tillis is a Republican who serves as U.S. Senator from North Carolina.,national,0,2,7,3,2,0,a campaign ad,"Tillis said that Hagan ""has missed half of the (Senate Armed Services) Committee's hearings in 2014."" We don’t know the number of closed meetings she attended, so it’s more accurate to say that Hagan missed half of the committee’s public hearings. Still, Tillis has a point — in 2014, Hagan attended nine of the 22 open hearings, which is not only below half but which also ranked near the bottom among committee members. The comment is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it . Update , Oct. 3, 2014, 11:00 a.m.: This version of the story reflects additional information about why Hagan was unable to attend the Feb. 11 Senate Armed Services Committee meeting and about her schedule on Feb. 27. The additional information does not affect the ruling, which remains ."
2336,2,"Says Joe Sestak ""voted to gut Medicare ... reducing benefits for 854,489 seniors"" and jeopardizing ""access to care for millions.","September 20, 2010",health care;medicare;message machine 2010,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 campaign commercial,"So let's recap. The ad is on fairly safe ground in suggesting that Pennsylvania's 854,489 seniors on Medicare Advantage will see a decline in benefits, but it ignores the fact that no basic benefits will be cut. Meanwhile, the ad uses what we consider overheated language. The changes set in motion by the new law don't strike us, or several experts we spoke to, as ones that will ""gut"" the program or ""jeopardize access to care for millions."" So we rate the ad ."
659,3,"Barack Obama supports plans to raise ""income taxes ... payroll taxes.","September 3, 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. Paul, Minn","So for higher incomes, Obama would raise payroll taxes. Palin is painting Obama's proposals with a broad brush and not including crucial context. Obama does intend to increase taxes. But most people have incomes of less than $200,000, and these people would not see income tax increases or payroll tax increases under Obama's plan. We rate Palin's statement ."
3199,3,"Georgia legislation on immigration is a ""copycat"" of an Arizona immigration bill.","March 2, 2011",immigration,georgia association of latino elected officials,Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials is based in Atlanta. They aim to increase the presence of Latinos in politics and address the needs of the community. ,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,an email newsletter,"But Georgia’s bill won’t avoid Arizona’s troubles entirely. Important issues remain unresolved, and critics are watching closely. If the bill passes as is, Georgia’s in for a fight.    GALEO’s statement is accurate but does not acknowledge important details about efforts to make HB 87 constitutional. We therefore rule GALEO’s statement ."
898,1,President Obama has never received a paycheck from a profitmaking business in his entire life.,"April 7, 2009",candidate biography;pundits,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 discussion on MSNBC,"We understand the point that the most well-known part of Obama's work history is in positions outside the private sector, but Scarborough was absolute in his declaration. ""Not one check,"" from a for-profit enterprise, he said. We like Joe. He's hosted segments on PolitiFact. But this  is ."
9517,3,"Every year the average woman loses around $11,000 to the wage gap,"" which amounts to ""a $500,000 vagina tax"" over her working career.","October 8, 2014",income;women;punditfact,sarah silverman,"Sarah Silverman is a comedian, writer, actress and activist for liberal causes. ",,1,0,1,0,0,0,a video for the National Women's Law Center,"Silverman said, ""Every year the average woman loses around $11,000 to the wage gap,"" which amounts to ""a $500,000 vagina tax"" over her working career. A bulletproof number to illustrate the gender gap remains elusive, and Silverman’s ""vagina tax"" is a lifetime estimate based on a one-year average. The economists we spoke to were leery of the $11,000 figure, to a point, and similarly leery of the math to reach $500,000. There are just too many variables to describe the lifetime income-earning potential of ""the average woman."" That said, most experts say a pay gap does exist, though it’s smaller when you compare workers with similar experience and education. It’s just that pinpointing specific numbers is problematic. Silverman’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it .  "
15743,4,A black woman in New York City is 12 times more likely to die in childbirth than a white woman.,"February 7, 2019",health care;public health,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 tweet,"Gillibrand said that in New York City, a black woman is 12 times as likely to die in childbirth than a white woman. Data analysis from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show that black women are 12 times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy. Because the researchers use a broader timeframe for analyzing pregnancy-related deaths than just during ""childbirth,"" Gillibrand’s characterization needs more context. We rate Gililbrand’s statement ."
14935,4,There is a big correlation between third grade reading level and whether you go to college or whether you go to prison. And in Florida right now only 56 percent of kids are coming out of third grade at third grade reading level.,"July 29, 2018",education;crime,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 TV interview,"Greene said, ""There is a big correlation between third grade reading level and whether you go to college or whether you go to prison. And in Florida right now only 56 percent of kids are coming out of third grade at third grade reading level."" Studies have shown that there are correlations between elementary school reading proficiency, high school graduation, and college attendance. There are also studies which show a correlation between high school dropout rates and incarceration. However, experts say that you can’t assume a direct correlation between reading scores and prison rates based on this data alone. Greene claimed that ""there is a big correlation between third grade reading level … and whether you go to prison."" This might be , but we cannot know for sure. In addition, the results from the 2018 administration of the Florida Standards Assessments show that only 57 percent of third graders pass the reading test at or above grade level. So Greene is correct on that point. We rate this  ."
12,1,"I'll tell you what I can tell this country: If they want a president who doesn't believe in God, there's probably plenty of choices.","June 5, 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,"Manchester, N.H","But the major candidates have all professed a belief in God and in fact most of them have made their faith in God an apparent element of their campaigns. John Edwards said during a CNN candidates' forum that he has ""a deep and abiding love for my Lord, Jesus Christ,"" while Hillary Clinton said prayer helped her weather her husband's infidelity. Barack Obama is a prominent member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Among Republicans, Mitt Romney, a Mormon, said during the Republican debate, ""I believe in God, believe in the Bible, believe Jesus Christ is my savior."" John McCain's campaign created a commercial where McCain speaks into the camera about his faith in God."
985,5,"Now, there was a time when someone like Scalia and Ginsburg got 95-plus votes.","July 13, 2009",sotomayor nomination;supreme court,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,a Senate hearing,"Reagan appointee Robert Bork, for example, lost a 42-58 Senate confirmation vote amid much partisan rancor in 1987. Obama was then a community organizer in Chicago. Here, though, we're checking if Graham was right that Scalia and Ginsburg were confirmed by such large margins. They were. We rate Graham's statement ."
7265,3,Do you know those former Soviet Bloc countries have all moved to flat taxes?,"April 16, 2013",taxes,rob woodall,"Rod Woodall, a Republican, is the U.S. Representative for Georgia's 7th Congressional District.",georgia,1,0,2,0,0,0,a speech,"Woodall’s Fair Tax would tax sales, which is a different conversation. So Woodall was mistaken when he said all ""Soviet Bloc"" countries have embraced the flat tax. Many former communist countries, however, have adopted flat taxes, which was his larger point. We rate the congressman’s  .    Staff writer Karishma Mehrotra contributed to this article."
15875,1,"Quotes Bernie Sanders as saying, ""Christianity is an insult to Muslims.","March 31, 2019",religion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"( Which he did , but with a tally of 49-49, Vice President Mike Pence’s tie-breaking vote pushed Vought through.) Various media outlets reported on the exchange, and some condemned Sanders' comments as a religious test for public office, which is barred in the U.S. Constitution ( Article VI ). But, eventually, Sanders' words became twisted to suggest he was referencing Christianity as a whole, when he was specifically speaking about Vought’s statement. Though some may interpret Sanders words as an attack on the entire religion, he did not say, ""Christianity is an insult to Muslims."" We rate this statement ."
18612,1,"Says Doug Jones ""has voted to spend our tax dollars on late-term abortions"" and ""supports abortion up until birth.","October 8, 2020",abortion;federal budget;health care,tommy tuberville,"Former college football coach Tommy Tuberville, in his first run for public office, became the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama in the 2020 election. He was elected to the U.S. Senate later that year.",,0,0,0,1,2,0,an ad,"Tuberville said Jones ""has voted to spend our tax dollars on late-term abortions"" and ""supports abortion up until birth."" Neither part of the  is accurate.  Jones voted against advancing a bill that would tighten existing limits on federal funding for abortion and add new restrictions, but he supports the Hyde Amendment — which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or if the pregnancy is determined to endanger the woman’s life — as it stands.  He says he opposes ""late-term"" abortions, except for instances of rape, or incest or to save the mother’s life — the same exceptions as in the Hyde Amendment. We rate the  . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
18460,5,(Republicans) have the power to overturn the (state of emergency) order by joint resolution and they refuse to do it.,"September 23, 2020",public health;coronavirus,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 tweet,"Larson said in a tweet that the Republicans who control the Legislature ""have the power to overturn the order by joint resolution and they refuse to do it."" That’s correct. Republicans have the majority in both houses and the power under state statute. Whatever the reason, they have not acted to end the governor’s state of emergency and accompanying mask mandate. We rate this  ."
14491,2,"Says ""Eric Holder and his group came in and made"" the Wisconsin Supreme Court race ""highly partisan.","April 9, 2018",campaign finance;elections;negative campaigning,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,"And a group he leads said it and its affiliates spent more than $500,000 backing Dallet. That added a national partisan dimension to the campaign. But you can’t get any more partisan than a political party, and county Republican Party groups started backing Screnock months earlier, in November 2017. Ultimately, Republican Party groups, led by the state party, backed Screnock to the tune of some $400,000. For a statement that contains only some , we give Walker a ."
2602,3,"Says that under Gov. Rick Perry, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have had ""standing orders"" not to inquire into the immigration status of people unless they're under arrest.","October 15, 2010",immigration;public safety,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,"To recap, White didn't show us  of so-called standing orders forbidding officers to ask into anyone's immigration status unless they're under arrest. And DPS didn't cough up a document spelling out a different policy.    However, the agency does say its officers do not ask into the legality of anyone's presence here. That seems to hint at standing orders. Without those orders in hand, though, we rate White's statement ."
2222,3,There have been more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by ... Muslims in Obama's first 18 months in office than in the six years under Bush after he invaded Iraq.,"September 8, 2010",homeland security;foreign policy;military;pundits;terrorism,ann coulter,Ann Coulter is a conservative columnist and author.,national,1,1,3,2,3,6,a column,"It's based on carefully constructed parameters that could have produced a different comparison if those parameters had been tweaked. It suggests that terrorist plots can be blamed on a specific presidency, even though plots can take years to come together. And it suggests that the only way to measure success in combating terrorism is by comparing deadly attacks on U.S. soil, even though ""it's immensely relevant whether someone has become motivated to attack U.S. persons or interests anywhere in the world, including Afghanistan and Iraq,"" said Robert Chesney, a law professor and terrorism specialist at the University of Texas. Ultimately, we think the statement is accurate but doesn't provide needed context. We rate it ."
14415,0,Obama just broke federal law in attempt to take over presidency from Trump.,"March 18, 2018",fake news;punditfact,universal news portal,Universal News Portal is a website that posts fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,a fake news blog post,"Since Obama is now out of office, doing so would be considered illegal under the Logan Act, which bars private citizens from interfering with diplomatic relations between the United States or foreign governments. While Obama has met with some world leaders , such as President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, it was part of a longstanding tradition of former presidents traveling overseas after leaving office to try and attract donations and support for their foundations, libraries and presidential centers. Obama has also leisurely traveled and made speeches abroad since he has left his presidency. We found no  of any illegal action taken by Obama since he has been out of office or any attempts to illegitimately take over the presidency. We rate this post ."
19904,1,A 9-0 Supreme Court ruling is very rare.,"June 21, 2021",supreme court,trey wingo,Trey Wingo was a long-time host and sportscaster for ESPN. He now has an interview show on YouTube.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"In , 9-0 rulings aren’t rare at all. In the past decade, they accounted for a plurality of rulings and never fell below 36% of all rulings. They are more common than 5-4 rulings. Experts said it’s easy to understand why this misperception is so common, since many of the 9-0 rulings are on technical cases that don’t receive as much attention as the more dramatic 5-4 splits. We rate the statement ."
4664,2,"Says signers of recall petitions against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are at risk because of newly ""discovered"" provisions in state law.","November 17, 2011",elections;transparency,media trackers,"Media Trackers is a suburban Milwaukee nonprofit that describes itself as a conservative “watchdog dedicated to promoting accountability in the media and government across Wisconsin.” The group is funded by American Majority, a Virginia-based organization founded by a tea party leader.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,0,0,an article,"There never have been. Our conclusion Media Trackers said recall petition signers are vulnerable to crime or harassment because of two newly discovered provisions in Wisconsin’s recall process. Neither provision is new, so it’s  to call them newly discovered. As for the risk to petition signers, Media Trackers provided no  that they have been victims of crime, although some have received phone calls from out-of-state telemarketers in the past. We rate Media Trackers’ statement . "
6860,4,"Says Ohio's economic recovery ""started in February 2010.","January 8, 2013",economy,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,"It was Kasich, after all, who repeatedly dinged Strickland for hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. The issue is likely to remain a key talking point in the 2014 gubernatorial race. So if Strickland and his Democratic allies must resort to the 2010 recovery to defend themselves, they would better serve the  by not singling out a month. As is, Strickland’s  requires clarification. On the -O-Meter, that makes it ."
8332,1,"U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., does not want to audit the Federal Reserve.","January 10, 2014",financial regulation,rick allen,Rick W. Allen is running as a Republican for the U.S. House seat currently held by Democrat John Barrow. He unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2012. Allen owns an Augusta-based construction business.,georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"In short, McLagan said, Barrow is not truly committed to auditing the Fed. ""He’s on both sides of every issue,"" McLagan said repeatedly of Barrow. To sum up, Allen’s Twitter page posted a  that Barrow does not want to audit the Federal Reserve. Barrow, though, has co-sponsored and voted for legislation in favor of an audit. We rate Allen’s  ."
7254,4,Says businesses pay roughly 60 percent of taxes in Texas.,"April 15, 2013",state budget;taxes,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,"a press conference with Gov. Rick Perry, April 15, 2013","Hammond said businesses pay roughly 60 percent of the state’s tax bill. By our calculations using state projections that do not take into account all taxes, businesses will pay 52 percent of taxes in the state in 2015. In contrast, Hammond’s source, a national group representing corporations, calculates that businesses paid 61 percent of all taxes in Texas in fiscal 2011. So, estimates vary because different taxes are considered. Keeping in mind, too, that businesses offload many expenses including taxes, we rate Hammond’s  as .   From 2013 comptroller report : Predicted 2015 ""tax burden"" Businesses Consumers Sales tax (state) $11.7 billion $16.5 billion Franchise tax (state) $4.8 billion $0 Gasoline tax (state) $4.3 billion $2 billion Motor vehicle sales tax (state) $1.5 billion $2.3 billion School property taxes (local) $13.6 billion $12.7 billion Cigarette tax (state) $0 $1.3 billion Oil production tax (state) $2.3 billion $0 Natural gas tax (state) $1.3 billion $0 Insurance premium tax (state) $1.6 billion $0  "
3233,1,"Says students who receive free or reduced lunch are ""performing just as well"" as students who do not.","March 10, 2011",education,thad altman,Thad Altman was elected to the state Senate in 2008 from Senate District 24. Previously he served in the state House.,florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,comments while discussing merit pay for teachers,"Altman wanted to insert language in an education bill that would have given school districts more leeway to offer raises to teachers who instruct children receiving free or reduced lunch, saying it was important to acknowledge the ""extra challenges"" those teachers face. When pressed by Siplin if he was suggesting poor students aren't as smart as others, he said no -- that students receiving free or reduced lunch are performing as well as everyone else. To be clear, we're only talking about test scores here, not capabilities or smarts. Though in a roundabout way it may actually help his point, Altman made a general  about student performance that contradicts the facts.   We rate it . "
4675,2,Oregon has the sixth highest combined death tax rate in the country.,"November 15, 2011",federal budget;state budget;states;taxes,oregon transformation project,The Oregon Transformation Project was started by Republicans in 2010 to transform the way Oregon talks about budget and spending.,oregon,0,0,0,1,0,0,online post,"For tax year 2009, only some 15 estates out of 1,000 had the 16 percent rate assessed on any portion of their estate, according to Mazen Malik of Oregon’s Legislative Revenue Office. Because chunks of estates are taxed at different rates, a person’s taxable estate needs to be more than $500 million for 16 percent of the estate to be due. We think those are all critical facts that would give a different impression about how our estate tax measures up to other states. Since the statement contains an element of  we rate it . Return to OregonLive to comment ."
14740,1,"The Trump administration's policy of separating families is ""the same way Barack Obama did it.","June 15, 2018",immigration;punditfact,matt schlapp,Matt Schlapp is chairman of the American Conservative Union.,,0,0,0,0,1,1,an interview,"Schlapp said the Trump administration’s policy of separating families is ""the same way Barack Obama did it."" Obama’s immigration policy specifically sought to avoid breaking up families. While some children were separated from their parents under Obama, this was relatively rare, and occurred at a far lower rate than under Trump, where the practice flows from a zero tolerance approach to illegal border-crossings. We rate this ."
17691,2,"All Missouri businesses can open Monday, May 4, under our new Order as long as new guidelines are followed.","April 27, 2020",coronavirus,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 tweet,"In a tweet April 27, Parson said, ""All Missouri businesses can open Monday, May 4, under our new Order as long as new guidelines are followed."" Were all Missouri businesses open? The short and long answer is no. Localities had extended restrictions on businesses before Parson’s tweet. Although most businesses were allowed to open, some weren’t. We rate Parson’s statement ."
9383,2,"Greg Abbott did ""nothing"" to pursue reports of the sexual abuse of boys at a West Texas state-run school.","September 15, 2014",children;criminal justice;crime,wendy davis,"Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth attorney, was initially elected to the Texas Senate in 2008. She was the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, giving up a shot at winning re-election to the Senate.",texas,0,12,8,5,1,1,a TV ad,"In her ad, Davis said Greg Abbott did nothing to pursue reports of the sexual abuse of boys at a state-run school. In 2006, Abbott’s office reacted to a Ranger’s report detailing such allegations by saying a local prosecutor needed to seek state assistance--and a state lawyer reportedly did nothing more. But this charge ignores a pivotal development. In 2007, after the local prosecutor requested help, state attorneys overseen by Abbott steered a grand-jury presentation leading to indictments. 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."
9794,0,"Says President Barack Obama has said ""that everybody should hate the police.","December 21, 2014",civil rights;criminal justice;crime;punditfact,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,an interview on Fox News,"Giuliani said Obama has said ""that everybody should hate the police."" Throughout all of his comments since August, when the latest unrest over racial disparities in the criminal justice system began, Obama has continuously encouraged working with police to find solutions and make change. He has also repeatedly emphasized the importance of law enforcement in communities of color and the fact that police officers have a dangerous job. Giuliani’s  is an outlandish distortion of what Obama actually said. We rate this . Help fund PolitiFact's Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response."
1281,3,Says Gov. Rick Perry was for Wall Street bailout before he was against it.,"January 14, 2010",economy;federal budget,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,the Jan. 14 GOP gubernatorial debate,"All in all, it's easy to see Hutchison’s rationale for charging Perry with being for the legislation before he was against it. The Manchin-Perry letter did urge action on the day the Senate was poised to take up the bailout package. But Perry is correct that the joint letter didn’t explicitly advocate the Senate plan. And his second Oct. 1, 2008, statement could be taken as a timely signal he didn’t want Congress to rescue Wall Street the way it did Of course, Perry could have held his tongue entirely and spared himself the resulting questions and explanations. In the end, we rate Hutchison’s  ."
5061,0,The U.S. Census believes that by 2030 the majority of Americans will use Spanish as their first language.,"February 7, 2012",immigration;census;pop culture,glee,Glee is a TV show about a fictional high school Glee Club in Ohio.,florida,0,0,0,0,0,1,an episode on TV,"Ricky Martin’s character said on Glee , ""The U.S. Census believes that by 2030 the majority of Americans will use Spanish as their first language."" The Census Bureau predicts that in 2030 about 23 percent of the U.S. population will be Hispanic -- but all of those Hispanics in the future won’t speak Spanish as their first language. Two census researchers projected that somewhere between 13 and 15.3 percent of people in the U.S. will speak Spanish in 2020 -- a far cry from the majority of Americans, and we don’t know how many of those will speak it as their first language. They said the numbers from 2030 would still be nowhere close to the 50-percent mark. Ricky Martin may have looked good singing in his tight pants, but we’re going to light the show’s  anyway. ! And though they don’t say it like this in Spanish:  Pantalones en Fuego !"
9264,2,"While ""Arkansas seniors depend on Social Security and Medicare,"" Sen. Mark Pryor supports an overhaul so they ""couldn't get Social Security until they turn 68 or 69.","August 19, 2014",medicare;message machine 2014;retirement;social security,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 campaign ad,"The Crossroads GPS ad said that while ""Arkansas seniors depend on Social Security and Medicare,"" Pryor supports an overhaul by which they ""couldn’t get Social Security until they turn 68 or 69."" The ad has a point that ""Pryor suggested raising the retirement age"" in the KTSS interview. However, the ad is explicitly directed toward ""Arkansas seniors,"" and through selective editing of the KTSS interview, Crossroads GPS omits a clear and important qualifier Pryor had made, that any future hike in the retirement age would be for his ""kids’ generation -- teenagers today."" The  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
19324,1,"Says President Joe Biden canceled Trump's ""child sex ring operation, which saw thousands of arrests last year.","February 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 says Biden canceled a child sex ring operation that started under Trump and saw ""thousands of arrests last year.""  This isn’t accurate. Operation Talon was not focused on child sex offenders; it was created to target immigrants in the country illegally who were convicted of sex crimes. It was put on pause by ICE officials as the agency awaits new operating guidelines from the Biden new administration.  The agency still investigates sex offenses through its Sex Offender Alien Removal initiative, or SOAR,"" and through its Homeland Security Investigations division. There’s no  that the program, which was said to have started weeks before Trump left office, was already in operation or responsible for thousands of arrests.  We rate this ."
1450,4,We are the only industrialized nation that relies heavily on a for-profit medical insurance industry to provide basic health care.,"March 8, 2010",health care,dianne feinstein,Dianne Feinstein is a Democratic U.S. Senator from California.,national,0,4,1,1,2,0,a New York Times article,"But the profit these companies make -- or at least the vast majority of it -- is made from lines of business other than basic health care. Because there is no official definition of ""basic health care"" in the U.S. system, it is hard to calculate exactly how much profit American insurers are making off basic services. But whatever it is, most experts expect that it is higher than the margins being made on basic health care by for-profit insurers in other countries. We believe that Feinstein is right that the U.S. for-profit insurance industry's role in basic health care is fundamentally different than what goes on in other countries, and that this outweighs her technical error in saying that no other country relies heavily on a for-profit medical insurance industry to provide basic health care. So we rate Feinstein's statement ."
8897,5,Marijuana is less addictive than both alcohol and tobacco.,"May 15, 2014",drugs;marijuana,earl blumenauer,"Earl Blumenauer is the Democratic representative for Oregon's 3rd Congressional District. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1996. He started in politics in the Oregon Legislature in 1972, where he served three terms. In 1978, he was elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, where he served for eight years before being elected to the Portland City Council in 1986. He was a city commissioner for 10 years.",oregon,3,1,1,0,1,0,a website statement,"Though Blumenauer’s office provided no sourcing for the , the congressman’s website provides links to a number of studies. A Harvard Medical School psychiatrist agreed that of the three, alcohol is the most addictive in terms of withdrawal. He and other experts we contacted also agreed that alcohol and tobacco are more difficult to give up than marijuana, and said it’s easier to become dependent on alcohol and tobacco in the first place. We rate the  . Return to OregonLive.com/politics to comment on this article."
11947,1,The steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was. It's just (that) it needs one-tenth of the workers that it used to.,"June 29, 2016",economy;jobs;trade,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,"Ottawa, Canada","Obama said that ""the steel industry is producing as much steel in the United States as it ever was. It’s just it needs one-tenth of the workers that it used to."" In reality, production is down by more than one-third from its historical peak in 1973, and the employment picture -- while still severely shrunken -- is down to about one-fifth of its 1950s level, rather than one-tenth. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2a7d3cfd-4d6c-40a7-80b3-df2e6c563bb8"
20837,1,It begins. Wisconsin Assembly votes to remove electoral votes from Biden.,"January 26, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post says that Wisconsin state legislators voted to remove electoral votes from President Joe Biden. That didn’t happen. A state lawmaker who disputes Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin introduced a privileged resolution seeking to recall electoral votes from Biden. By Assembly rules, privileged resolutions must either be taken up immediately or referred to a committee. It was referred to the Rules Committee. There was no vote. The chair of the committee called the resolution ""illegal"" and unconstitutional and said he has no plans to move it forward. We rate this  . Staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
14062,3,"Says ""$3 trillion in offshore money... is coming back into the economy"" because of the GOP tax bills.","December 3, 2017",economy;taxes;punditfact,chris ruddy,"Chris Ruddy is the CEO of Newsmax, a conservative news website.",,0,0,1,0,0,0,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week with George Stephanopoulos""","Ruddy said that $3 trillion in offshore money could come into the American economy under the Republican tax bills. That assumes that all of that money is overseas and readily available. Neither assumption is accurate. A 2011 Senate study found that a bit under half of offshore profits are already in the United States in the form of bank accounts or investments in bonds or stocks. Investment firms and independent researchers generally agree that the fraction hovers around 40 to 45 percent of all overseas profits. The consensus is that a change in tax law would not inject a flood of new money into the economy because it is already here. A large portion of the other half is tied up in actual projects in businesses overseas. Ruddy’s notion that $3 trillion is sitting there available for use falls wide of the facts. Some portion would be freed up, but not more than that. We rate this  ."
1197,5,Barack Obama won't even use the term 'war on terrorism.',"November 9, 2009",iraq;military;pundits,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,his Fox News program,"Rather, we just wanted to see if Hannity was right that Obama won't use the term ""war on terrorism."" And except in a couple of instances where he used the phrase ""war on terror,"" Obama has generally employed different words. And it's deliberate, as he has explained on several occasions. Obama provides nuanced explanations for his word choices, and you may agree or disagree with them, but the bottom line is that Obama has chosen not to use the phrase ""war on terrorism."" And so we rate Hannity's statement ."
20423,1,"A news report quoted Alec Baldwin saying, ""How about I just f----- shoot the both of ya?","October 22, 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,"""  ""We didn’t report it or write it and we have no reason to believe it is remotely ,"" Maddaus said.   We reviewed archived snapshots of the story — 36 had been taken using the Wayback Machine as of about 5 p.m. on Oct. 22 — and none included the quote in the Instagram post. We also couldn’t find any credible source elsewhere online quoting Baldwin as saying this, though it did appear on the website 4chan, where disinformation is often shared .   Baldwin tweeted a statement on Oct. 22 saying he had ""no words"" to convey his shock and sadness about ""the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. ""  We rate this post ."
2492,4,"Carly Fiorina, she's against banning assault weapons.","October 15, 2010",message machine 2010;guns,barbara boxer,Barbara Boxer is California's junior senator.,national,0,4,3,2,0,1,a campaign ad,"The NRA said it endorses her because she ""opposes re-enacting the Clinton gun and magazine ban."" In ruling on the statement ""Carly Fiorina, she's against banning assault weapons,"" we find it compelling that she opposed the 1994 ban and that the NRA said she told them she would oppose re-enacting it. Is it possible some sort of new compromise bill might win Fiorina's support? It's possible, but there's little to indicate that's likely. Based on her previous opposition and the NRA endorsement, we rate Boxer's statement ."
456,0,Clinton's former pastor convicted of child molestation.,"April 25, 2008",religion,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a posting on the Obama campaign blog.,"Indeed, it doesn't take much Internet searching to find that there's no connection with the political Clinton, a fact that the Obama campaign was quick to acknowledge. Mike Kilian, managing editor of the Observer-Dispatch, said he was amazed that so many people could have such a big misunderstanding with so few facts. He said, ""Any fourth grader could read those stories and know there is nothing to do with Bill or Hillary."" As for the  by the bloggers and the chain e-mails, we find it isn't just . It's  ."
344,3,The DNC says McCain flip-flopped on whether the Iraq War would be easy.,"February 14, 2008",iraq,democratic national committee,The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats.,national,7,8,12,9,2,0,a Web video,"(see Politifact ""McCain Trying to Have it Both Ways on Iraq"" and ""One man sacrificed for his country…"") Yes, McCain predicted it would be an easy war and that Americans would be greeted by the Iraqis as liberators. And yes, neither has proven  over the long run. But Hussein's regime was toppled relatively quickly and McCain advocated early on that the U.S. needed more troops and resources to prevent just such an entrenched insurgency as has come to pass. And so, in that context, we rate the DNC's comment just ."
763,3,"I wrote to Secretary Paulson, I wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke [in March 2007], and told them this is something we have to deal with, and nobody did anything about it.","October 7, 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,"Nashville, Tenn","So Obama is right that he wrote the letter. Saying Bernanke and Paulson didn't do anything about it sounds harsh, but it is a rough approximation of what happened. But Obama's letter was largely confined to the problems of low-income homeowners who were losing their homes. It was not an early warning on the economic collapse of '08. We rate his statement ."
18501,1,"Says Joe Biden ""had 308,000 military people dying because you couldn't provide them proper healthcare in the military.","September 29, 2020",veterans,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 first 2020 presidential debate,"Trump said that 308,000 military people died on Biden’s watch because he ""couldn’t provide them proper health care in the military."" Trump’s number is . The report behind the figure includes people long dead who might never have applied for VA benefits and who might not have been in the military at all. We rate this  ."
5506,3,"When housing and transportation costs are combined, Atlanta's cost of living -- typically perceived as relatively low -- ranks as 7th worst out of 51 metros nationally.","April 16, 2012",transportation,citizens for transportation mobility,Citizens for Transportation Mobility is an advocacy group that supports a 1 percent sales tax to pay for transportation projects in Georgia.,georgia,0,1,2,1,0,0,an ad,"Metro Atlanta is the 16th-most-expensive, according to H+T index data.    Sixteen out of 51 isn’t great. And it reinforces the group’s overall point that transportation costs significantly add to the cost of living in metro Atlanta. But it’s not as bad as Citizens for Transportation Mobility said. It earns a ."
8673,5,"In 2006, Charlie Crist opposed in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.","April 10, 2014",immigration;education,republican party of florida,The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.,florida,2,6,6,12,10,4,an email,"The Republican Party of Florida said in an email, ""In 2006, Charlie Crist opposed in-state tuition for illegal immigrants."" The attack doesn’t mention the fact that Crist now supports in-state tuition for immigrants here illegally. But the statement about 2006 is correct: We found two newspaper articles that stated Crist, who was running as a Republican for governor, opposed in-state tuition for Dreamers. We rate the statement ."
1399,4,"The CBO found that the House Republican health care plan would lower premiums by ""up to about 10 percent"" and, for purchasers in the individual market, ""those cost savings could even be higher.","February 25, 2010",health care,charles boustany,Dr. Charles Boustany is a heart surgeon and a Republican congressman from Louisiana.,national,0,1,0,1,0,0,a comment at the president's health care reform summit,"When we contacted Boustany's office, a spokesman argued that this caveat makes the statement , given the congressman's use of the word ""could."" “Rep. Boustany highlighted CBO’s analysis that the House Republican plan would likely lower premiums by 10 percent, and could be even more ,"" wrote press secretary Rick Curtsinger in an e-mail. We take his point, but we still think this part of Boustany's comment is somewhat . CBO acknowledges that savings above 10 percent could happen for those in the individual market, but the agency's best estimate is that the reductions will be generally smaller than 8 percent, much less 10 percent. We find this ."
4739,3,"If Congress does not pass the renewal of the payroll tax cut before the end of the year, nearly 160 million working families will see their taxes go up by roughly $1,000.","December 13, 2011",jobs;taxes,charlie gonzalez,"Charlie Gonzalez, who represented a San Antonio U.S. House district through 2012, was a lawyer in private practice from 1972 to 1982, a Municipal Court judge, and a county court at law judge from 1983 until 1987.  He was a district judge from 1989 to 1997.",texas,0,0,1,0,1,0,a press release,"Gonzalez’s  overstates the households that would benefit from extending the tax cut -- by about 40 million. Also, his warned-of $1,000 tax increase is based on an average; actual results for each working family would vary widely. We rate his statement . UPDATE, Feb. 16, 2012: This article has been updated to clarify that the projection cited by the Center for American Progress applied to President Obama's unsuccessful proposal to reduce the payroll tax by 3.1 percent."
21232,1,"Over the course of two months, Tony Evers refused to remove (Curtis Schmitt Jr.) from the (state's veterans) Board despite having the authority to do (so).","March 28, 2022",legal issues;crime;veterans,kevin nicholson,"Republican Kevin Nicholson, a former Marine, announced in July 2017 that he would run in 2018 for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. He is a business consultant who lives in Delafield, Wis.",wisconsin,1,1,1,2,3,0,Fundraising email,"Our ruling  Nicholson claimed ""Over the course of two months, Tony Evers refused to remove (Schmitt) from the Board despite having the authority to do (so). ""   But the Evers administration says they made several unsuccessful attempts to get Schmitt to leave voluntarily — their only option without a taxpayer complaint and a hearing. Nicholsons letter itself, two months after news broke, was what would have been enough to trigger a formal removal process. We rate this  .   "
22323,4,"If Arizona were a country, it'd be the eighth largest incarcerator in the world.","September 15, 2022",criminal justice,julie gunnigle,Julie Gunnigle is a 2022 candidate for Maricopa County attorney.,arizona,0,1,0,0,0,0,a debate,"Gunnigle said, ""If Arizona was a country it’d be the eighth largest incarcerator in the world."" The numbers back her up. Arizona incarcerated 868 people per 100,000 residents in state prisons, local jails, federal prisons and other systems of confinement, making it eighth of all U.S. states and the world. Although Arizona is eighth in the world by Prison Policy Initiative, other agencies measure incarcerations rates across different times and with different methodologies. Therefore, finding any one definitive number is difficult. We rate this  ."
12153,5,"Illinois suffered 1,652 overdose deaths in 2014 ... of which 40 percent were associated with heroin. Illinois is ranked number one in the nation for a decline in treatment capacity between 2007 and 2012, and is now ranked the third worst in the country for state-funded treatment capacity.","July 20, 2016",drugs,richard durbin,Dick Durbin in the senior U.S. senator from Illinois and the Democratic majority whip.,illinois,3,4,4,0,4,1,a press release,"Durbin said, ""Illinois suffered 1,652 overdose deaths in 2014 ... of which 40 percent were associated with heroin. Illinois is ranked number one in the nation for a decline in treatment capacity between 2007 and 2012, and is now ranked the third worst in the country for state-funded treatment capacity."" The drug overdose figure Durbin uses came from provisional data provided to the senator by the CDC. In 2014, drug overdose deaths totaled 1,705, or 1,700 if using statistics from IDPH, which tend to be more accurate. As for the other figures, the percent increase from 2010 is slightly more than 32 percent, and drug overdose deaths in 2014 that were associated with heroin is about 42 percent. But as IDPH notes, tracking overdose deaths involving heroin cannot be reliably determined as counties’ coroners did not specifically test for heroin prior to 2013. We don’t see these discrepancies as an attempt to mislead in making his case for heroin and prescription opioid addiction treatment legislation he is advocating. If anything, it underscores the growing epidemic that’s not only gripping Illinois, but the rest of the country. We rate Durbin’s  ."
14290,5,"Says that as a judge, she has ""presided over more than 10,000 cases.","January 19, 2018",candidate biography;criminal justice;legal issues,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,an interview,"For a statement that is accurate, without any significant information missing, our rating is .    Screnock says Tim Burns and Rebecca Dallet ""have openly criticized laws signed by Governor Walker that they disagree with and are campaigning as activists who will implement their policies from the bench."" Our rating:  . Burns says he is ""one of America's leading consumer lawyers."" Our rating:  ."
23305,1,"Photos show Target is pushing ""evil agenda"" on kids.","June 12, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The New York Times used one Pumpkin Empress image and identified the artist as Holly Alvarez in an interactive story about how to spot AI-generated images. In fall, as Halloween approaches, you may see some spooky displays or themed clothing for sale at your local Target. But the retailer is not filling the aisles with satanic-themed clothing and displays to target children, as a TikTok video claims. Those images were generated by an artist using AI. The  is ."
12842,1,Putin Interference Could Give Courts Legal Right to Make Hillary President.,"December 11, 2016",elections;fake news;legal issues;punditfact,usa snich,USA Snich is a website and aggregator.,,0,0,0,0,1,1,a web post,"USA Snich posted an item headlined, ""Putin Interference Could Give Courts Legal Right to Make Hillary President."" This urgent headline is based on a novel legal theory that a constitutional scholar casts doubt upon, and that its own creator acknowledges is extremely unlikely to win the support of the jusicial system. Meanwhile, the text of the USA Snich article doesn’t even address the substance of the legal argument outlined in the headline, and in so doing, it leaves out any sense that the author offered his own series of caveats about the legal theory’s applicability. We rate the USA Snich headline . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9632f68e-3085-4aa4-a587-bd626c917e73"
13967,3,Eight in 10 people this year can find plans for $75 a month or less.,"November 1, 2017",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 video,"Obama said, ""Eight in 10 people this year can find plans for $75 a month or less."" The video was only talking about an average of 80 percent of less than 3.7 percent of the American population, or the people currently enrolled on HealthCare.gov. This is already a highly self-selected group, as participation in the exchanges declines dramatically as subsidy eligibility decreases. It ignores a majority of the American population because they are enrolled elsewhere, and a large portion of those who could but choose not to use the site because they don’t qualify for subsidies. While enrollees' eligibility for plans under $75 has increased by 9 percentage points from last year, the people who qualify for subsidies hasn’t changed. We rate this statement ."
16959,4,The Machinists Union does not (support the USMCA trade deal). And every environmental organization in this country (also) opposes it.,"January 14, 2020",environment;labor;trade,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.",iowa,21,62,48,26,18,0,comments at a presidential debate,"Sanders is correct in saying the Machinists Union does not support the USMCA trade deal, although some major unions support it.   Not every single environmental group in the country opposed USMCA — some had no position. But most of the major groups were opposed, including 10 organizations with 12 million combined members who urged Congress not to support the USMCA. We were unable to find any major environmental group that endorsed the deal.   We rate Sanders’ statement . "
7799,3,Unemployment in Texas has risen over two percentage points with Rick Perry as governor.,"September 9, 2013",economy;jobs,john currie,"John Currie, longtime chairman of the Passaic County Democratic Party, became chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee in June 2013. 
John Currie was elected to the Paterson Branch NAACP Board from 1996 to 2004. During his tenure, he served as first Vice-President from 1998 thru 2001. He has served on the United Way of Passaic and Bergen County for many years. According to a biographical entry on the committee's website, Currie has been employed by Hawthorne Chevrolet for more than 30 years; he serves as its Corvette manager.",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a guest blog post,"Currie said unemployment has risen more than two percentage points during Perry’s governorship. This is supported by cherry-picking the latest available Texas jobless rate, 6.5 percent for July 2013, and comparing it to the 4.2 percent rate in January 2001, Perry’s first full month as governor. But this delivers an incomplete picture given that the state’s jobless rate bounced around through the 12-plus years. One can also note, for instance, that the 2013 monthly rates have been lower than the Perry-era high of 8.3 percent in early 2010. Also, the Texas rate has trailed the national rate for more than six years. Finally, it’s not reasonable to blame (or credit) a governor for a state’s unemployment rate. How an economy fares is not determined by the state’s chief elected official. We rate this  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."
7991,0,"If I have affordable coverage in my workplace, I'm not eligible to go into the marketplace. ... It's illegal.","October 30, 2013",health care,kathleen sebelius,"Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, was the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary from April 2009 through June 2014. She served as Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009.",national,1,4,1,1,0,1,testimony before Congress,"It’s pretty clear Sebelius was  when she said ""it’s illegal"" for her to buy insurance on the exchange because she already has affordable insurance through her employer. Those inclined to do so certainly can, though the financial incentives to stay with the employer-based plan are quite convincing. We rate her statement ."
1714,3,"After the oil spill, Congressman Adam Putnam ""doubled down saying all energy sources, including oil drilling in the Gulf, should be considered just days after the oil spill started.","May 25, 2010",oil spill,scott maddox,"Scott Maddox, a former Florida Democratic Party chairman and former Tallahassee mayor, campaigned to be Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and was defeated on Nov. 2, 2010.",florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,email to supporters,"To recap: It's clear that Putnam had long supported an expansion of oil drilling before the spill. And he held the same position on April 24 when he was quoted by the Panama City newspaper. But the magnitude of the spill wasn't clear until a day or two later. Maddox is right about Putnam's comments, but he's playing fast and loose with the timing and his statement is . We find it ."
6580,4,"Says Connie Mack's Penny Plan would cut ""over $200 billion out of Medicare, over $1 trillion out of Social Security. ... $3 trillion out of defense.","October 17, 2012",debates;federal budget;medicare;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,a debate,"Nelson said during the debate that Connie Mack’s Penny Plan would cut more than $200 billion in Medicare, $1 trillion in Social Security and $3 trillion in defense. Nelson relied on a study from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. It found that Mack’s plan, if implemented across all programs, would cut $211 billion in Medicare, $1.124 trillion in Social Security and $2.89 trillion in defense. During the debate Nelson didn’t mention the timeframe for those cuts: 2013-2022, as mentioned in the study. The study makes some assumptions and is based on current economic projections. The reductions to Medicare, Social Security and defense might not ultimately occur if Congress and the president could agree to other specific cuts. But we will repeat what our expert from the conservative organization said: ""Any method of meeting the bill’s spending caps would require gigantic reductions in federal spending, relative to the baseline. There is no prospect that cuts of this magnitude could ever be adopted."" Nelson’s  requires some explanation about the plan and its timeline, but his numbers are correct. We rate this  ."
18891,0,"Milwaukee Elections Chief Lost Elections Flash Drive in Morning Hours of November 4th When Democrats Miraculously Found 120,000 Votes for Joe Biden.","November 13, 2020",elections;states,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A website claims a lost flash drive in Milwaukee is connected to ""When Democrats Miraculously Found 120,000 Votes for Joe Biden."" The word ""flash drive"" is about the only  in this . It’s a stretch to call it lost since it was under the supervision of election officials when it was unintentionally left behind. And it’s  to connect this flash drive to a jump in Biden votes. Those votes were from absentee ballots that were long expected to strongly favor Biden. We know the drive in question wasn’t altered since the timestamp on the data copied to it matched the original transfer, and the vote totals on it matched those recorded by the machine. We rate this  !"
5961,1,"Obamacare"" is the ""biggest tax increase in American history.","July 10, 2012",corrections and updates;federal budget;health care;taxes,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,an interview,"Our rating Neumann said ""Obamacare"" is the biggest tax increase in American history."" But even the article he uses as  states flatly that the health care reform law is not the biggest, and that to cite raw dollars, as Neumann does, is . More reliable measures put the law among the largest tax hikes, but not at the top. We rate Neumann’s statement . Editor's note (July 25, 2012) : The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the health reform law (rather than the repeal of it) would add an estimated $109 billion to the deficit."
10505,3,"The Iran deal ""violates promises the president made to the American people."" ... ""It is not an anytime, anywhere inspection process.","July 19, 2015",foreign policy;nuclear,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,"comments on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Rubio said that the Iran nuclear deal ""violates promises the president made to the American people"" because it ""is not an anytime, anywhere inspection process."" Rubio has a point that a senior administration national-security official did, in at least one case and possibly two cases, say on television that the deal would include ""anytime, anywhere"" inspection provisions. However, focusing on these two comments is a bit of cherry-picking, since most of the White House’s statements on this issue have avoided that term in favor of ones that can be more plausibly used to describe the provisions of the agreement that were ultimately reached. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
12138,1,"A few weeks ago, (the) education committee in Congress is deciding what's going to be in your local salad bar.","June 29, 2016",congress;education;food safety;regulation,dave brat,"Dave Brat represents Virginia's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to the seat in 2014 after pulling of a stunning upset of Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican Primary. He is active in the Freedom Caucus, a conservative wing of Republican congressmen.
Prior to Congress, Brat was chairman of the business and economics department at Randolph-Macon College. 
Brat, a midwestern native, has obtained a Masters in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in economics from American University. He began teaching at Randolph-Macon in 1996.
Brat served two Governors on the Joint Advisory Board of Economists. He was president of the Virginia Association of Economists.",virginia,2,2,0,2,7,1,a podcast,"   Brat said, ""A few weeks ago, (the) education committee in Congress is deciding what’s going to be in your local salad bar."" The congressman misspoke. The committee never has considered what should be in the salad bars of, say, restaurants or grocery stores. Brat’s office said the congressman was referring to school salad bars. Brat points to the committee’s May passage of a bill providing free breakfasts and lunches for students from low-income homes. The measure does not specify what vegetables should be served, and the panel spent no time haggling over amounts of lettuce, carrots and tomatoes. Setting nutritional standards would be left to the USDA. The bill largely would reauthorize free-meals legislation passed in 2010 that prioritized serving healthy food to students. In the aftermath, the USDA established copious regulations that include minimum weekly servings of green and red-orange vegetables and legumes. Many schools have salad bars, and it can be argued that Congress has allowed the USDA to regulate their contents. But it’s hard to imagine any salad bar worth its salt not offering a mixture of vegetables.  So Brat’s statement that the education committee is deciding salad bar contents - in schools or, perhaps, anywhere - is a stretch, and we rate it ."
14060,0,Tennessee GOP twitter taken down after tweet exposing Pelosi involved in pedophilia.,"November 26, 2017",fake news;punditfact,puppetstringnews.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,2,1,4,a headline,"The headline on Puppet String News states, ""Tennessee GOP twitter taken down after tweet exposing Pelosi involved in pedophilia."" Actually, Twitter took down the  Russian news account in August, and we found no  that Pelosi was involved in a payout related to pedophilia. The Puppet String News’ website states that it was created by a U.S. Navy veteran who ""decided to get into alternative news to tell the  to best of ability."" We attempted to contact the website via a Facebook message and did not get a reply. We rate this headline ."
11792,0,"I wanted to keep it private, because I don't think it's anybody's business if I want to send money to the vets.","May 31, 2016",candidate biography;veterans,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,New York,"Trump said. ""I wanted to keep it private, because I don't think it's anybody's business if I want to send money to the vets."" Trump certainly didn’t keep quiet about his intention to raise money for veterans causes when he was setting up his event in Iowa in January. To the contrary, he talked about it in media availabilities and tweeted about it on more than one occasion. His statement is , so we rate it ."
8764,3,"Says ""Scott Brown's carrying some big oil baggage"" because he ""collected over $400,000 in campaign contributions.","April 27, 2014",campaign finance;energy,senate majority pac,Senate Majority PAC is a super PAC that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,new hampshire,0,3,8,5,4,0,a TV ad,"The Senate Majority PAC ad said that ""Scott Brown’s carrying some big oil baggage"" because he ""collected over $400,000 in campaign contributions."" Independently collected data shows that Brown received at least $455,760 in donations from donors associated with the oil and gas industry. However, the ad’s wording is somewhat , since just 11.5 percent of that total came from PACs and individuals affiliated with the biggest multinational companies -- what viewers would reasonably consider ""big oil."" On balance, we rate this  ."
3178,4,"Says Rep. Paul Ryan's budget ""roadmap … doesn't balance the budget until the 2060s and … adds an unthinkable $62 trillion to the national debt between now and then.","February 24, 2011",deficit;federal budget,matt miller,a former Clinton White House staffer who now works as a management consultant,national,1,1,0,0,0,0,the Washington Post,"So where does this leave us? On the one hand, Miller’s statement fails to mention the fact that Ryan’s plan does eventually eliminate the debt, according to CBO -- a sizable achievement when one realizes that under status quo policies, the debt would be more than seven times the size of the nation’s economy. Still, an outcome 70 years from now is subject to a lot of uncertainty, and Miller’s actual statement was phrased carefully. It’s , as he says, that Ryan’s plan ""doesn't balance the budget until the 2060s,"" and before it gets there, it will probably add trillions of dollars in debt. It’s a close call, but we rate his statement ."
14978,0,"Cops take a knee then walk out on Redskins, leaving them stranded in their locker room overnight.","August 5, 2018",sports;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Universaleinfo posted an article that claimed, ""cops take a knee then walk out on Redskins, leaving them stranded in their locker room overnight."" None of the dates or information in the article match up to reality. This article is copied directly from a satire site and presented as though it was . We rate this  !"
19956,3,Four pharmaceutical companies have questionable track records that suggest their COVID-19 vaccines aren't safe.,"June 30, 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,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post makes statements about the records of four pharmaceutical companies to imply that the COVID-19 vaccines they make are unsafe. The individual statements accurately reflect the companies’ track records, though in some cases, they don’t relate to the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines.  In presenting these statements as a basis for judging the safety of their COVID-19 vaccines, the post leaves out important context about the companies' broader safety record and research studies and real-world experience that have shown the vaccines to be safe and effective. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. Our rating is ."
18423,1,"Says John F. Kennedy said, ""If a Supreme Court Justice died one day before the election, it would be more Constitutional to indefinitely postpone the election than postpone the confirmation a single day.","September 20, 2020",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,"Searching for the quote online, we didn’t find any results . There were no matches for the statement in the Nexis news archive, either.   There are no quotes about the Supreme Court in a selected list of quotations curated by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.   An archivist at the library told us that they’re not familiar with the quote that appears in the Instagram post, and couldn’t find anything to corroborate the statement after checking several sources, including the library’s digitized archival holdings related to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary; the American Presidency Project, which is a database of transcriptions of every public presidential statement; historical newspaper databases; and scholarly secondary sources. We rate this Instagram post ."
6353,1,Says Barack Obama has added $16 trillion to the national debt.,"September 21, 2012",corrections and updates;debt,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,"Our rating     We read Perry’s two-handed tweet as saying Obama has added $16 trillion to the national debt. But nearly two thirds of that unprecedented total accumulated before Obama became president. To be fair, too, changes in the debt cannot be laid on any president alone. Actions by members of both parties, over years, helped build the debt. We rate Perry’s statement as ."
245,5,Sen. Obama's chair in New Hampshire is a lobbyist. He lobbies for the drug companies.,"January 5, 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,"Manchester, N.H","(Claims we previously found  .) Despite the Obama campaign's contention that there is a difference between lobbyists at the federal level and lobbyists at the state level, Clinton's charge was unspecific. It simply says Obama's chair in New Hampshire is a lobbyist. He is. We find Clinton's  to be ."
18336,1,"This video shows Trump looking ""lost and disoriented.","September 7, 2020",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,", Dayton shootings The unedited version of the video provides more context, starting around the 11:40-mark, and shows the president walking away from reporters to wait for first lady Melania Trump. Trump stands by the puddle and points at it for a moment, apparently to warn Melania not to step in the water. The couple then walk together to board the helicopter. The clip was labeled as manipulated media on Twitter shortly after it surfaced. We rate it ."
8029,3,"Says Chris Christie fired 6,000 teachers.","November 5, 2013",education;punditfact,ed schultz,Ed Schultz is the host of the Ed Show on MSNBC.,,0,1,4,3,1,2,"a broadcast of the ""Ed Schultz Show""","Schultz said Christie firied 6,000 teachers. There are two problems with Schultz’s . First, the number is closer to 4,500, and even the teachers’ union would not say that all the people that held those jobs were fired. Some of them retired and were not replaced. The number of teachers declined but not necessarily through being fired or laid-off. Second, while Christie pushed hard for steep cuts to school funding, he also got help from local voters. Because of those caveats, we rate Schultz's  ."
18590,2,"Video from 2019 shows Kamala Harris ""caught in a major lie"" about fracking during the 2020 vice presidential debate.","October 7, 2020",environment;energy;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"PolitiFact has fact-checked several statements — including  claims from President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign — about Biden and fracking. Biden says that he won’t shut down existing fracking operations on public land, and that he’ll allow fracking to continue on private lands, where most of it takes place. Regardless, Harris was speaking for her own candidacy in 2019 when she said she was in favor of banning fracking. She wasn’t ""caught in a major lie"" during the vice presidential debate. We rate this Facebook post ."
12157,3,"Thanks to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, ""Vietnam is drafting and presenting unprecedented labor reforms, changing their Constitution to recognize worker organizations in Vietnam for the first time.","August 2, 2016",global news service;labor;trade,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.",,124,165,163,71,71,9,a press conference at the White House,"Obama said ""Vietnam is drafting and presenting unprecedented labor reforms"" and is ""changing their constitution to recognize worker organizations in Vietnam for the first time."" There are some problems with the . Experts said actual changes to the law have not happened yet but acknowledged the drafting process might be underway. They did agree, however, that the changes proposed would qualify as ""unprecedented."" More critically, they said it’s hard to enforce the changes being described and the United States has a particularly poor track record of doing so. On balance, we rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/0b4621f6-693f-412e-9d5f-d66f11d089be ( Update Aug. 5 : This fact-check was updated to include Cimino-Isaacs' comments.)"
10709,1,Says the case of a Texas judge who refused to perform heterosexual weddings exposes a double standard in the case against Kentucky clerk Kim Davis.,"September 7, 2015",legal issues;lgbtq;religion;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,a Facebook post,"A conservative group on Facebook said the case of a Texas judge who refused to perform heterosexual weddings exposes a double standard in the case against Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. The comparison fails because a judge in Texas and a clerk in Kentucky play different official roles in the marriage process. Texas law authorizes many people, including judges, to perform marriages. Doing so is optional. In Kentucky, couples must have a marriage license issued by a clerk to get married. Davis’ refusal shut the door on marriage for same-sex couples, at least in her county. We rate this  ."
454,4,"Eliminating earmarks ""would make barely a drop in the bucket with regard to the national debt, the deficit.","May 12, 2008",federal budget,bob barr,"Former Congressman Bob Barr was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee for 2008. Barr served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. Currently he runs Liberty Strategies LLC, a consulting firm with offices in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.",national,1,1,0,0,0,0,"Washington, D.C","According to an Office of Management and Budget tally, earmarks totaled $17-billion in fiscal 2007, only about 10 percent of the deficit that year. Admittedly, that's after earmarking dropped considerably following the congressional lobbying scandals of 2005 and 2006. But even at their peak in 2005, when earmarks hit $52-billion, according to the Congressional Research Service and the OMB, that was only 16 percent of that year's deficit of $318-billion. Whether Barr's statement is  or not, then, depends on how you define ""drop in the bucket."" We'd say that Barr's pretty much correct, so we grade his statement ."
21023,2,NATO (under direction from the United States) is violating previous agreements and expanding eastward.,"February 22, 2022",history;foreign policy;pundits;punditfact;ukraine;russia,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 tweet,"Owens said, ""NATO (under direction from the United States) is violating previous agreements and expanding eastward."" There is an ongoing historical debate over comments that Western leaders, including Baker, made during post-Cold War negotiations, and whether what they said amounted to assurances that NATO would refrain from welcoming in countries closer to modern-day Russia.  But NATO as an organization made no such pledge, and the formal agreement signed at the end of those negotiations said nothing about the alliance not expanding eastward. We rate this  ."
5079,4,"Says in his years as a Texas legislator, ""we passed three pay increases for teachers and provided them with health insurance.","January 27, 2012",education,paul sadler,"Paul Sadler, a lawyer who previously worked with the Wind Coalition energy advocacy group, served in the Texas House from 1991 through 2003, an East Texas district around Henderson. He was his party's 2012 U.S. Senate nominee.",texas,2,2,1,1,0,1,a post on his campaign's Facebook page,"Sadler played a pivotal role in ensuring several teacher pay raises and also was key to lawmakers giving school workers including teachers access to insurance benefits equal to those accorded state employees. However, contrary to Sadler’s Facebook wording, the latter development did not provide teachers with insurance. Nearly every Texas teacher had access to some kind of coverage before the 2001 action. Still, the Sadler-authored change gave every school employee access to insurance equivalent to state workers’ coverage. We rate Sadler’s  ."
22563,1,The World Health Organization has been working since 1974 on vaccines to create permanent sterility.,"January 9, 2023",health care;science;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,"An Instagram video claimed, ""the World Health Organization has been working since 1974 on vaccines to create permanent sterility."" PolitiFact found no  to support this . A WHO task force researched contraceptive vaccines and helped create an anti-HCG vaccine designed to temporarily prevent the production of a hormone that supports a pregnancy. But that’s not the same as sterilization.  Sterilization is permanent and irreversible; the anti-HCG vaccine’s effect was temporary. We rate this  . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. RELATED: No, the COVID-19 vaccines are not weapons of mass destruction"
16881,2,A photo of a horse being pulled through a scorched ranch is from the Australia wildfires.,"January 4, 2020",animals;fake news;fires;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 tracked down the image through a reverse-image search and found that it is a real photograph, but it shows a scene from California in late 2019.   The picture was taken by photographer Étienne Laurent on Oct. 30, 2019, in Simi Valley, Calif. In the photo’s original caption, Laurent says that horses were being evacuated from a burning ranch as the Easy Fire spread near Simi Valley, which sits north of Los Angeles. The image does not have a caption that says its from Australia, but it’s included in a gallery post that does. For that reason, we rate it ."
13665,3,Eighty percent of the school tax bills in the state of Pennsylvania went up over last year.,"August 2, 2017",education;taxes,scott wagner,PA State senator and gubernatorial candidate,pennsylvania,0,0,1,1,2,0,a campaign video,"In what he described as an ""educational video"" posted to his campaign website, state Sen. Scott Wagner, running for governor in 2018, said ""80 percent of the school tax bills in the state of Pennsylvania went up over last year."" Of the state’s 500 school districts, 332 responded to a survey and, of those, 70 percent indicated they anticipated raising property taxes in the 2017-18 school year. But there’s been no comprehensive data officially released by the state showing the number of districts that actually approved property tax hikes this year. Wagner’s team indicated the gubernatorial candidate was acting on a ""guess"" when he threw out the 80 percent number in his campaign video. Lucky for him, that guess will likely end up being close. We rate the  ."
11400,3,"Says Donald Trump ""has said he wants to be neutral on Israel and the Palestinians","March 10, 2016",israel,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.",florida,8,22,21,48,47,11,Miami,"Cruz said Trump ""has said he wants to be neutral on Israel and the Palestinians"" Trump did make that statement during an MSNBC town hall in February. He has repeatedly said that in order to be an effective negotiator he believes he must approach the two sides with neutrality. But Cruz is omitting Trump’s comments and actions that have shown support for Israel, including that he endorsed Netanyahu. We rate this statement ."
15804,0,"Says Prince invested in Nike in 1971, recruited Michael Jordan to the company in 1983 and designed the first Air Jordans.","March 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,"""In a world of creative performers, Prince was a genius. His impact not just on music, but on culture, truly can’t be measured. His songs inspired me throughout my career and remind me of so many moments from my life."" But that comment does not mean Prince had anything to do with Jordan’s success with Nike. This  is full-on !"
2354,2,"PolitiFact Texas says ""Congressman Edwards' attacks on Bill Flores are false.","September 28, 2010",ethics;message machine 2010,bill flores,Bill Flores of Bryan was initially elected to the U.S. House in 2010. ,texas,0,0,0,2,0,0,a TV ad,"At the time that a narrator is evoking ""the Austin newspaper,"" the screen shows the ""Austin American-Statesman"" nameplate, the PolitiFact url and a date: ""September 26, 2010."" Oops: Our review of Edwards' statement appeared in print and online Sept. 15. We informed Mackowiak of the date conflict. He later told us that the campaign had fixed the date and sent new copies of the ad to the outlets running the ads. While the Flores campaign is changing the ad, we'd suggest a new line for the narrator: ""The Austin newspaper also finds this message to be only ."""
467,3,"A gas tax holiday is a gimmick that ""every economist says will just go into the pockets of the oil companies.","May 13, 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,"Cape Girardeau, Mo","In an interview, Perloff said they had studied a 20-year time frame, and cautioned that his findings might not provide an accurate picture of what would happen during a temporary, three-month gas holiday. William Polley, an assistant professor of economics at Western Illinois University who reviewed much of the relevant economic scholarship on his blog , wrote that ""it is safe to say that we (economists) stand firm in agreement that this (gas tax holiday) is a bad, bad idea."" But he also said: ""The benefit to the consumer would probably not be literally zero."" While Obama's statement accurately expresses the dominant view of the low worth of this gas tax proposal, he rhetorically overstates his point. For that, we rule ."
21861,1,US Army in Ukraine.,"August 17, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"There were 160 Florida National Guard troops training Ukraine’s military when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin temporarily relocated them to Europe in February. And 3,000 more American troops from the 82nd Airborne were also deployed to Europe from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.   The National Guard has continued to support Ukrainian soldiers remotely, according to the Army. For example, a June article on the Army’s website shares how a Ukrainian soldier called a member of the Washington Army National Guard for help with a failed anti-tank missile.   But we rate claims that U.S. Army forces are stationed in Ukraine ."
10823,5,Sen. Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill.,"October 13, 2015",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,the first Democratic debate,"Clinton said, ""Sen. Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill."" Sanders voted against the Brady bill five times from 1991 to 1993. Sanders’ campaign manager told us in July that he did so because he was against a national waiting period and had to answer to the people of Vermont, a rural state with high gun ownership. Overall, Sanders has a mixed record when it comes to guns. But he did indeed register five nays on the Brady bill. We rate Clinton’s  ."
8773,2,Wendy Davis has already taken more $ from teacher unions than the past 3 Democrat gubernatorial candidates combined.,"April 11, 2014",campaign finance;education,republican party of texas,The Republican Party of Texas says it promotes a conservative government philosophy in the Lone Star state.,texas,1,4,1,3,1,1,a tweet and chart,"The Texas party said Davis has already taken more money from ""teacher unions,"" meaning three teacher groups, than the previous three Democratic gubernatorial candidates combined and presented a chart purporting to show that. The tweet and chart turned out to mislead. Most of the cited teacher groups’ giving to Davis came during her campaigns for state Senate, not during her run for governor. Running for governor, Davis has attracted about $36,000 from two of the groups and nothing from the third. That total trails the $65,000 combined raised by two of the previous nominees in their respective gubernatorial bids. Regardless, the  has an element of . With career fund-raising factored in, Davis has topped the three previous Democratic gubernatorial nominees in support from the groups. Moreover, the party didn't mention a 2014 donation of $125,000 to Davis's campaign from a major teacher group. We rate this  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."
15005,1,It appears that the (Jacksonville) shooter was part of the Trump 'Resistance'.,"August 27, 2018",corrections and updates;punditfact;guns,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 blog post,"Limbaugh said, ""It appears that the (Jacksonville) shooter was part of the Trump 'Resistance'."" Limbaugh’s comments were based on an article by the Gateway Pundit, which has since retracted its  about the shooter’s anti-Trump political leanings. We searched through articles about the perpetrator and found no  the shooting was politically motivated. We rate this  . Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that per NBC News, the shooter used the handle ""Ravens2012champs"" as a video game username, not a Reddit username."
18513,3,"Says Joe Biden ""passed a tax bill that gave us all these privileges for depreciation and for tax credits. We built a building, and we get tax credits like the hotel on Pennsylvania Ave.","September 29, 2020",debates;economy;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 first 2020 presidential debate,"Trump said Biden ""passed a tax bill that gave us all these privileges for depreciation and for tax credits. We built a building, and we get tax credits like the hotel on Pennsylvania Ave."" A 2009 provision enacted under Obama allowed losses to be used to reduce tax liability for up to five previous years. The Times reported that Trump used this provision to  a major tax refund. At the time, Biden was vice president. Other depreciation deductions and tax credits that Trump may have applied — including the decades-old tax credit for his hotel in Washington — are not clearly linked to Biden or to the 2009 provision that let Trump  his refund.  Overall, Trump’s  is partially accurate. We rate it ."
18913,2,David Perdue says he'll do everything in his power to make sure Joe Biden fails.,"November 17, 2020",negative campaigning,jon ossoff,"Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, is a U.S. Senator from Georgia. Ossoff is a former aide to Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga.",georgia,0,3,2,1,0,0,an ad,"Ossoff claimed that Perdue ""says he'll do everything in his power to make sure Joe Biden fails."" We found no record of Perdue making such remarks about Biden. Perdue is campaigning as a final block against the Democrats’ agenda, but Perdue has focused on others in the Democratic Party such as Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez. We rate Ossoff’s  . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
22241,1,"David DePape ""stripped down to his underwear, grabbed a hammer, and jogged all the way to Nancy Pelosi's house.","October 31, 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.",california,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"Paul Pelosi was wearing ""a loose-fitting pajama shirt and boxer shorts,"" San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said during an Oct. 31 press conference . When DePape broke into the Pelosis’ residence, the complaint says, DePape had ""zip ties, tape, rope, and at least one hammer with him."" We found no  that DePape ""jogged"" to the Pelosis, as the post claims. The complaint says DePape lived in the garage of a residence in Richmond, California, which is at least a 16-mile journey by foot , including a ferry ride, to the Pacific Heights neighborhood where the Pelosis live . We rate claims that DePape stripped to his underwear and jogged to the Pelosis with a hammer . "
18579,0,"Twitter removed this tweet from Donald Trump: ""My blood IS the vaccine!!!!!","October 8, 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,"We also searched an archive of Trump’s deleted tweets for the word ""vaccine"" on Facba.se but found none .   Searching more broadly online, we also found no news coverage about Trump claiming his blood was a vaccine, or articles about Twitter removing such a tweet. It’s unbelievable that Twitter deleting the tweet that appears in the Facebook post wouldn’t draw wide media attention. News outlets around the world have reported on past instances of the social media platform hiding tweets by the president.   We rate this Facebook post ."
13287,0,The Wawa Welcome America festival (features) . . . America's largest free concert.,"April 13, 2017",recreation,wawa welcome america,Philadelphia's Fourth of July celebration organizer,pennsylvania,0,0,0,0,0,1,a press release,"The original  in Wawa and Welcome America’s press release stated Wawa Welcome America features America’s largest free concert. Welcome America Spokesperson later reiterated in an email that the organization measures a variety of factors including length of the concert, whether it’s live and whether there is an unobstructed view of the stage throughout the crowd. She also revised the initial  and instead referred to the concert as the largest one in the US on Independence Day (which is still not totally accurate). Regardless, what we’re fact checking is the original statement from the press release. Philadelphia can certainly  it has a pretty huge Independence Day celebration, but Wawa Welcome America is definitely not the largest free concert in the United States. We rate this  as .  "
4147,4,"Says enrolling a student in a subsidized lunch program triggers an ""at risk"" designation, resulting in an extra $6,000 to $7,000 of state school aid per student.","August 22, 2011",education;state budget,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,a letter to the state’s acting education commissioner,"The ruling Doherty said school districts receive an additional $6,000 to $7,000 in state aid for every student enrolled in a free or reduced-price lunch program. Doherty was right that more education funding is allocated for students who receive a subsidized lunch. Though the amount of that funding varies by district, we think Doherty’s statement is on point. We rate his  . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
1374,1,"As Houston's mayor, I helped our area lead the nation in job growth.","February 2, 2010",economy,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 questionnaire,"It added more nonfarm jobs than any other state during that time — but still, fewer jobs than Dallas. By percentage, Houston boasted the second highest rate of nonfarm job growth (San Antonio was first) among the 10 biggest cities in the country. Houston was among the national leaders. But it wasn't No. 1. We rate White's statement as . "
22619,1,"Mark Zuckerberg launched a platform last month ""that allows each user to earn from $500 a day without even leaving home.","February 5, 2023",technology;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"And in 2022, the Diem Association, a group Facebook organized to launch the digital currency, announced it would be ""winding down,"" dissolving and selling off its intellectual property and other assets connected with the project. The blog post has a logo that resembles CNN’s website for business news, but it’s not affiliated with the news network. Further undermining these moneymaking claims: This post was published on a Facebook page that was created Dec. 15. And it’s not affiliated with the now-defunct Libra or Facebook.   We rate this post ."
21612,1,"No one ""with a concealed carry permit ever committed a mass shooting.","June 23, 2022",crime;pundits;punditfact;guns,greg gutfeld,Greg Gufeld is a co-host on the Fox News program The Five.,,0,0,0,1,3,1,a TV segment,"Gutfeld said, ""I don't believe anybody with a concealed carry permit ever committed a mass shooting."" That’s ; there have been several such cases, including the 2018 mass shooting that left 11 dead at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Citing media reports, the nonprofit Violence Policy Center has counted 37 mass shootings that were committed by concealed carry permit holders since 2007. We rate this  ."
21203,1,"The House voted to cap insulin prices to $35/month, just $420 each year! Richard Hudson voted NO.","April 1, 2022",health care,ben clark,North Carolina State Sen. Ben Clark (D-Hoke) is running for U.S. House in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District in 2022.,north carolina,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign newsletter,"Clark said: ""Yesterday, the House voted to cap insulin prices to $35/month, just $420 each year! Richard Hudson voted NO."" The congressional record and multiple media reports show Hudson voted yes. We rate Clark’s  ."
9564,2,This (Ebola) is not as bad as SARS was in 2003.,"October 19, 2014",ebola;health care;public health;punditfact,tavis smiley,Tavis Smiley is the host of the late-night television talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS and The Tavis Smiley Show from Public Radio International (PRI).,,0,0,1,1,0,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Smiley said Ebola ""is not as bad as SARS was in 2003."" Both diseases are serious and have harmed communities. SARS spread to more countries and is easier to transmit than Ebola. But Ebola has had more cases and higher death toll, and those numbers continue to rise. SARS may have had more of a presence in the United States, but Ebola is poised to be a larger humanitarian crisis globally. We rate Smiley’s  ."
15688,1,"A provision in the first bill passed by House Democrats would ""allow the billions of dollars of aid we send to other countries to be used for abortions.","January 15, 2019",abortion;federal budget,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,a statement,"Our rating Grothman claimed a provision in a bill backed by House Democrats would ""allow the billions of dollars of aid we send to other countries to be used for abortions."" Part of the language in the bill would have extended a long-running back-and-forth on the Mexico City policy. But the so-called Helms Amendment would have remained in place. Therefore, U.S. tax dollars could not be used to fund abortions abroad. We rate Grothman’s  ."
14219,1,We enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.,"January 30, 2018",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,his State of the Union address,"Trump said, ""we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history."" In inflation-adjusted dollars, the recent tax bill is the fourth-largest since 1940. And as a percentage of GDP, it ranks seventh. We rate the statement ."
2352,2,"As Milwaukee County executive, Scott Walker ""eliminated the waiting list for long-term care for older adults through the Family Care program.","September 27, 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 statement on campaign web site,"But the central part of the  is that as county executive he eliminated the waiting list. That list ended less than two months after he took office and mainly through the efforts of county officials who preceded him. Walker has supported the program as county executive, but nearly all of the heavy lifting on the waiting list was done before he arrived on the scene. And preventing a waiting list from reappearing is different than taking credit for ending it. We rate Walker’s statement ."
14070,4,"The Jerusalem Embassy Act ""passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.","December 6, 2017",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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,remarks at the White House,"Trump said that the Jerusalem Embassy Act ""passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago."" He’s right about both pieces of legislation and the margins by which they passed. However, it’s worth noting that the 2017 Senate resolution also reaffirmed that ""the permanent status of Jerusalem remains a matter to be decided between the parties through final status negotiations towards a two-state solution"" -- a position that Trump rhetorically backed in his speech, but that some believe could be endangered by his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy. We rate the statement ."
1672,4,"I got a letter from 20 people who said they wanted their money back, 14 never gave me a penny.","May 13, 2010",campaign finance,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 meeting with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board,"She gave $2,400 this year to Rubio. Crist, in his statement to the St. Petersburg Times editorial board, is off a little bit by saying 14 of the 20 have asked for a refund. Actually, 11 never gave Crist ""a penny"" for his 2010 Senate campaign. And a 12th person had his money back before sending the letter to Crist. That's close enough, however, to rate Crist's  ."
19468,2,"There was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber.","March 20, 2021",congress;criminal justice;crime;jan. 6,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,"Johnson said at a West Allis presentation he didn’t feel threatened Jan. 6 because ""there was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber."" The highest-profile violent acts indeed occurred around the House chamber. But this is an  description for any element of an event where hundreds of rioters forced their way past police and into the U.S. Capitol, forcing lawmakers to scurry to safety and leaving more than 100 injured officers in their wake. The fact no one was killed or injured in the chamber does little to lessen the violence inherent to the presence of rioters who acted violently to get in the building. Senators like Johnson had the luxury of being potentially less fearful only because of officers like Goodman and whatever happenstance led more rioters initially to the House chamber, allowing senators to escape before rioters forced their way into the chamber. We rate this  ."
20481,1,National Guard to fill in for cops who refuse to get vaccinated.,"October 22, 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,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post shared the headline of a supposed news article that claims National Guard troops will replace law enforcement officers who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The headline itself is vague and the post did not offer any additional details. The author of the article appears to have never written the piece and an internet search of the headline only offers up social media posts similar to the one on Instagram. To date, no state has actually sent in its National Guard troops to replace unvaccinated law enforcement officers. We rate this  ."
2849,5,We are one of only two states to have eight consecutive months of declining unemployment. Twenty-one states had increased unemployment last month. Ours went down.,"December 20, 2010",economy;jobs,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,an interview with The Plain Dealer,"""Its not an accident,"" he told The Plain Dealer. ""It is because I and my administration have managed the affairs of this state carefully and conservatively."" Only time will tell whether the trend continues. If it does, will Strickland get the credit for laying the foundation, as he says, or will Kasich get the political clout from an improving jobs picture in Ohio?    Either way, we rate Strickland’s statement ."
13495,0,"Says Kellyanne Conway said liberal women hate her because of her ""striking beauty and intellect.","June 1, 2017",fake news;punditfact,londonwebnews.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,an Internet post,"There was no byline listed with the story. We did reach a White House spokesman, who didn’t want to give an official comment about the post. But there’s no proof Conway made this comment, either way. It looks as if the website (or its original source) made the story up entirely. We rate this statement !"
18118,2,"Under an executive order, ""expensive insulin went from big dollars to virtual pennies … especially (for) our seniors.","July 25, 2020",drugs;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,"Trump said that his executive order had produced a steep drop in the price of insulin, and urged seniors to take note. No one can predict what the future will bring, but setting that aside, Trump’s move focused on a limited slice of the insulin market. His executive order touched less than 20% of the clinics that might provide insulin through a key government drug discount program. That drug program itself represents perhaps 10% of the total prescription drug market. The latest market analysis shows that between 2017 and 2018, insulin copays for seniors rose by about 10%. Trump’s efforts to make insulin more affordable for seniors may have helped some, but have yet to prove themselves. We rate this  ."
16892,0,"Nancy Pelosi assured Iran that Trump will ""pay for his crimes.","January 6, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story,"This concocted account was copied and pasted word-for-word from a post by a satire blog called ""Taters Gonna Tate."" That site contains a disclaimer that says, ""Everything on this website is fiction."" The Massachusetts Daily website , on the other hand, contains no such disclaimer. Its home page contains a number of stories that are simply made-up like this one. We rate this story !"
12487,2,"Mike Madigan made a fortune on tax appeals… Saving his friends millions... It's an inside game played by people like Merry Marwig, Madigan's hand-picked candidate. When Marwig thought her property taxes were too high she got them lowered at your expense. Saved so much she did it again. Marwig and Madigan: Profiting from the same corrupt system.","September 14, 2016",taxes,citizens for michael mcauliffe and house republican organization,The House Republican Organization supports Republican candidates for the House of Representatives of the Illinois General Assembly.,illinois,0,0,0,1,0,0,a video attack advertisement,"In their advertisement, Citizens for Michael McAuliffe and the House Republican Organization say, ""Mike Madigan made a fortune on tax appeals. Representing the powerful and politically connected.… When (Merry) Marwig thought her property taxes were too high she got them lowered at your expense... Marwig and Madigan: Profiting from the same corrupt system."" Merry Marwig did, in fact, get her property taxes lowered twice and it did raise other people’s taxes. But the ad’s tone and inferences are  to viewers. It makes it seem like Madigan’s firm was connected to Marwig’s property value reassessment. Madigan’s firm never represented Marwig. In fact, Marwig never used an attorney during her property tax appeals. The ad also calls the practice of appealing one’s property taxes corrupt. While there is  Madigan has been a highly successful property tax appeal lawyer whose clients win breaks more than many others, any citizen within the geographic boundary can file an appeal to the Cook County Assessor's Office or Cook County Board of Review. The process becomes public record. While some people may think Madigan succeeds more than average citizens, there’s no  the system as a whole is corrupt. We rate this  as . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/fa7dab3e-6788-47a1-a2d6-b1a64c11ecc8"
2212,4,"When these same Republicans –- including Mr. Boehner –- were in charge, the number of earmarks and pet projects went up, not down.","September 8, 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,"Cleveland, Ohio","And in 2006, the year Boehner was majority leader, earmarks declined from the 2005 high, they said. Getting back to our rating, Obama said that ""When these same Republicans – including Mr. Boehner – were in charge, the number of earmarks and pet projects went up, not down."" Earmarks increased dramatically between 1995 and 2006, so we find Obama's statement that earmarks went up, not down, to be correct. But he also singles out Boehner by name, when Boehner didn't take any earmarks and wasn't in leadership for most of those years. So we rate Obama's statement ."
5536,3,Crime rises in communities with casinos.,"April 19, 2012",gambling;crime,georgia family council,The Georgia Family Council is a non-profit organization that has advocated alternative approaches to educate children and promoted efforts to keep families together.,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a presentation,"To say the least, the  is mixed. Crime has gone down in some areas with casinos. It has increased in others. But there does appear to be some  to the council’s , though it needs a lot of context to move the needle higher on the -O-Meter. We rate the council’s  as ."
16326,5,"Says of El Paso that some years, ""in a city of almost 700,000, we had five murders the entire year. Our average over the last 10 years is 18 (murders per year). We exceeded that average just on one day"" after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in the city.","August 3, 2019",public safety;guns,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,a press conference,"O’Rourke said some years in El Paso, ""in a city of almost 700,000, we had five murders the entire year. Our average over the last 10 years is 18 (murders per year). We exceeded that average just on one day"" after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in the city. Let’s take this statement piece by piece.  El Paso’s population was approximately 682,669 in 2018, according to U.S. Census estimates . In 1964 and 2010, five murders were recorded over the year in the city. The average number of murders per year in the city was 18.1 over the past 10 years.  On Saturday, 20 people were killed and more than two dozen were injured after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso. Two people died later at the hospital. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing."
6577,2,"Says Chris Christie was ""behind"" in the polls against Jon Corzine during the 2009 governor's race.","October 15, 2012",polls and public opinion,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 interview on NJToday,"At a recent campaign stop, Kyrillos compared his polling against Menendez to how Christie was behind Corzine in polls during the 2009 governor’s race. But while Kyrillos has been trailing Menendez by double digits, most of the polls leading up to the 2009 election suggested a close race between Christie and Corzine. When Corzine held an advantage over Christie, his leads typically fell within the polls’ margins of error. Since Christie was behind in some polls, we rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
20376,5,"The annual Pentagon budget hovers over $750 billion annually, twice that of the much debated Build Back Better Act that costs about $350 billion annually as currently proposed.","October 3, 2021",congress;federal budget;military;wisconsin,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. ",national,9,12,5,4,5,1,Twitter,"In a tweet, Pocan claimed the Pentagon’s annual budget is twice that of the spending that would be authorized under the Build Back Better Act being hammered out in Congress. Over the last several years, the Pentagon’s budget has hovered around $750 billion a year, while the piece of spending Pocan referred to -- the so-called ""human infrastructure"" bill was estimated at about $3.5 trillion at the time of his tweet. That spending, though, is for a 10-year period. To be sure, we don’t know how that spending would be broken down, year to year. But, when averaged out, it falls to the figure Pocan used.  We rate the  .    "
11251,2,"We're spending tremendous amounts of money to educate our kids. In the world, we're No. 1 per pupil by a factor of four.","January 26, 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.",iowa,36,85,120,194,360,179,comments at the University of Iowa,"There is good  to support his overall idea, that the United States gets less bang for its education buck than other developed countries. But Trump overstated U.S. spending by 500 percent. We’re not No. 1 in spending, by several different ways of measuring. His comments suggest the country won the gold medal in spending when it’s actually just shy of a bronze. We rate his statement ."
3075,1,"Across the board, violent crime in jurisdictions that recognize the Right to Carry is lower than in areas that prevent it.","February 10, 2011",crime;guns,national rifle association,An advocacy group that fights restrictions on the right to bear arms.,national,1,6,1,5,6,4,a speech by Wayne LaPierre at the Conservative Political Action Conference,"Some academics have said trends over time show that ""right to carry"" laws lower crime rates, but that argument is contested. There's certainly not straight-line correlation between states with ""right to carry"" laws and crime rates. LaPierre made it sound like the data clearly supported his view. They don't. We rate his statement ."
19262,1,"Says Joe Biden ""is trying to shut FL's border.","February 11, 2021",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 fundraising email,Desantis said Biden is trying to close Florida’s border. A story in the Miami Herald quoted an anonymous source saying that the Biden administration was considering new domestic travel restrictions in response to COVID-19 spread. But there is no indication that banning travel to or from Florida is on the table.  This  is . ​ Jill Terreri Ramos contributed to this fact-check.
7059,4,"A proposed ban on hollow-point bullets and bullets that expand upon impact ""essentially bans deer hunting.","February 18, 2013",recreation;guns,vicki mckenna,"Vicki McKenna is a conservative talk show host heard on radio stations in Milwaukee, Madison and LaCrosse, Wisconsin.",wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,a radio talk show broadcast,"Kessler admitted hunting never crossed his mind when the bill was drafted in an effort to protect mass shooting victims. The city slickers came up with a bill with a problem that stood out like a white tail between the cross hairs. As it stood, the law would have banned the bullets. But it didn’t ban hunting. We rate McKenna’s statement ."
23009,1,Video shows Fox News host Sean Hannity saying an impostor is pretending to be President Joe Biden.,"May 6, 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,"We now have foreign news agencies doing what your media will not do. They are raising questions about Joe Biden's cognitive issues. ""  Hannity made similar remarks in subsequent episodes, such as in January 2022, when he said , ""I'm not a medical professional but it appears to me to be very transparent, very obvious, very clear and so many others that Joe Biden is in a steep cognitive decline. It seems to be accelerating to me."" We rate claims that Hannity was talking about a Biden impostor ."
12000,3,Do you know what the second sport with the most concussions is? Women's soccer… And the third most dangerous sport? Cheerleading.,"June 12, 2016",health care;sports;women,drew brees,"Drew Brees is the 2009 Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. An Austin native, Brees was a star for Westlake High School. Brees and his wife, Brittany, established the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,an interview with Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman,"Brees said: ""Do you know what the second sport with the most concussions is? Women’s soccer… And the third most dangerous sport? Cheerleading."" Football by far poses the greatest concussion risks, studies show, with women’s/girls soccer often placing a distant second. Cheerleading poses risks too, more so in practices, yet concussion chances are relatively slight compared to numerous sports. 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."
10336,5,"Since 2010, eight children in Georgia have died due to vehicular heatstroke.","June 3, 2015",children,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,press conference,"Gov. Nathan Deal held a press conference Wednesday to raise public awareness of the potential dangers of leaving a child alone in a car. He and other state officials have been doing similar events since 2012, following the tragic death of a 2-year-old girl. The governor cited statistics showing that since 2010, eight children in Georgia have died due to vehicular heatstroke. The death count is accurate and makes the case that without vigilance on the part of parents and caregivers, there’s the potential for tragedy. We rate the governor’s statement ."
6643,3,Obama's Environmental Protection Agency sent emails for Hispanic Heritage Month with a photo of Che Guevara.,"October 30, 2012",message machine 2012,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,a Spanish-language TV commercial,"Romney’s ad said, ""Obama's Environmental Protection Agency sent emails for Hispanic Heritage Month with a photo of Che Guevara."" The  is partially accurate. Yes, an email from the EPA under Obama’s tenure marked the start of Hispanic Heritage Month with a picture of Che Guevara. But the message did not go through official clearance, and it was quickly retracted. That makes the assertion that ""Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency"" is responsible a little dubious. We rate it ."
22201,1,"Connecticut ballot initiative on early voting would ""remove the requirement of a certified seal from certain ballots.","October 18, 2022",elections;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 a Connecticut ballot initiative asking voters to bless early voting would eliminate the need for certain ballots to have security seals.  If voters approve to enact early voting in the state, it will change outdated wording in the state's constitution that required a physical, wax seal to be stamped on certain copies of election results. The seal has nothing to do with paper ballots or voting machines. We rate this  . RELATED: All of our fact-checks about elections"
10769,2,"When I left Washington, we had a $5 trillion surplus.","September 27, 2015",deficit;federal 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.",national,16,18,10,9,8,3,"an interview on CBS' ""Face the Nation""","Kasich said, ""When I left Washington, we had a $5 trillion surplus."" His rationale for the $5 trillion figure is reasonably sound, but he was  in how he referred to it. It was a 10-year cumulative projection for future surpluses, rather than a one-year actual surplus, and the savings turned out to be ephemeral due to unforeseen events. We rate the  ."
18616,1,"Says Democratic senators were missing ""masks"" as they huddled close together at the Judiciary Committee hearing for Amy Coney Barrett.","October 14, 2020",supreme court;coronavirus,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,"A reverse-image search shows that the photo is authentic, but it was taken in September 2018 by Getty photographer Mark Wilson during Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. The image caption in the Getty archive reads: ""Democratic senators Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) huddle as Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 4, 2018 in Washington, DC."" The original tweet was sent by Mary Ann Mendoza, a conservative activist who was abruptly pulled from speaking at the Republican National Convention after it was reported that she had shared an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on social media. Cornyn deleted his tweet shortly after a journalist pointed out that the photo was not current. We rate it ."
3929,1,"POTUS' economists: 'Stimulus' Has Cost $278,000 per job.","July 5, 2011",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.",ohio,17,4,11,13,22,2,a tweet on Twitter,"He says he never said that $278,000 per job went to salaries, but ""rather that each job has cost taxpayers $278,000.""    Yet, his original item did say taxpayers would have come out $427 billion ahead if the government had simply ""cut a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was allegedly made possible by the ‘stimulus?"" So where does that leave Boehner’s tweet that said  ""POTUS’ economists: ‘Stimulus’ Has Cost $278,000 per job.""      On the -O-Meter, we rate Boehner’s tweet (and the subsequent variations of his ) as . Comment on this item ."
14507,1,Fox News accidentally puts up a poll graphic that shows how they are the least trusted network.,"April 9, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Bloggers said, ""Fox News accidentally puts up a poll graphic that shows how they are the least trusted network."" The graphic was based on a Monmouth University poll that asked people who they trusted more CNN or Trump, MSNBC or Trump, Fox News or Trump. It wasn’t a graphic for a direct question comparing the three networks. The Fox News graphic showed that 48 percent of people said they trusted CNN more, compared to 35 percent who trusted Trump more; 45 percent said they trusted MSNBC more, compared to 32 percent who trusted Trump more; 30 percent trusted Fox News more, compared to 20 percent who trusted Trump more. We rate the  ."
18273,3,Police training in Wisconsin is 21 weeks. A cosmetology license takes 40 weeks.,"August 24, 2020",education;legal issues,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook post,"A widely-shared Facebook post in the aftermath of Blake’s shooting by Kenosha police said: ""Police training in Wisconsin is 21 weeks. A cosmetology license takes 40 weeks."" When you look only at training, cosmetologists are required to put in more time than police officers. The numbers in the Facebook post are slightly off and actually understate the gap, but the underlying point still stands.  That said, the post doesn’t account for the additional education requirements needed to become a police officer, nor the assessments they must undergo before they even begin training. That leaves us with a statement that’s partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate this ."
7356,2,"The IRS will have the ability potentially"" to deny or delay health care.","May 15, 2013",health care;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 Fox News' ""On the Record"" with Greta Van Susteren","Bachmann said ""the IRS will have the ability potentially"" to deny or delay health care. She makes it sound like the IRS would purposefully deny or delay people from getting health coverage, perhaps based on an applicant’s political beliefs. Experts told us that was extremely far-fetched. But if complicated logistical challenges are not met, there is a chance that IRS could inadvertently end up delaying some of the millions of uninsured Americans seeking subsidies from purchasing insurance on the exchanges. We rate Bachmann’s  ."
20169,2,Joe Biden is on a two-week vacation. Kamala Harris has been nonexistent since Inauguration Day. Jen Psaki is taking a break from her duties as press secretary for one week.,"August 16, 2021",afghanistan;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,"On Aug. 16, the day the Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over, an Instagram post claimed: ""Joe Biden is on a two-week vacation. Kamala Harris has been nonexistent since Inauguration Day. Jen Psaki is taking a break from her duties as press secretary for one week."" Biden had planned to take a two-week vacation starting sometime during the week of Aug. 9, but he interrupted the vacation to return twice to Washington, and then cut it short. Harris has been active, including with the Afghanistan crisis, and Psaki reported to work on Aug. 16, the first weekday that she was to have been on a one-week vacation. We rate the post ."
14262,3,Violent crime in Puerto Rico is on the rise as nearly one-third of the island remains without power.,"February 2, 2018",crime,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 tweet,"Nelson said that ""violent crime in Puerto Rico is on the rise as nearly one-third of the island remains without power."" Nelson is accurately citing the percentage of Puerto Rico power customers still without power, but his  about violent crime requires some context. Nelson is referring to a recent uptick in killings in January of this year, not overall violent crime.   The most recent estimate we could find shows that violent crime has actually dropped 12 percent in January compared with same point last year. Still, that doesn’t mean Nelson is . Experts said the uptick in killings is significant, and that the crisis in Puerto Rico has more than likely reduced crime reporting by victims and perhaps also the recording of crime reports by the police, so the official statistics might be undercounting the number of violent crime incidents. With everything considered, we rate this  ."
5115,5,Over 40 percent of children born in America are born out of wedlock.,"February 22, 2012",marriage;sexuality;women,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,"Mesa, Ariz","Federal data backs up Santorum’s contention that ""over 40 percent of children born in America are born out of wedlock."" In fact, the number for 2009, the most recent available, is a record high, based on the data included in the federal report. So we rate the statement ."
8161,4,60 percent of people on food assistance are working.,"December 4, 2013",economy;welfare,barbara lee,"First elected to congress in 1998, Rep. Lee sits on the House Appropriations and Budget committees. She is the senior Democratic whip, whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, chair of the Social Work Caucus, and co-chair of the congressional HIV/AIDS, Out-of-Poverty, Health Care, and other caucuses.",national,0,2,0,0,0,0,"an episode of CNN's ""Crossfire""","Lee said 60 percent of people receiving food stamps are working. She should’ve specified that she meant 60 percent of the pool of recipients expected to work. Her figure’s a little high, but anywhere from about 42 to 58 percent is a reasonable summary of the report’s findings and more recent data available. We rate her statement ."
12088,3,The approval of the United States was 20 points higher when (Hillary Clinton) left the secretary of state's office than when she took it.,"July 26, 2016",foreign policy;polls and public opinion,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,Philadelphia,"Bill Clinton said, ""The approval of the United States was 20 points higher when (Hillary Clinton) left the secretary of state's office than when she took it."" The approval ratings for the United States did go up on Hillary Clinton’s watch, and the Pew poll found that in some countries they did go up by 19 points or more. Still, the median increase in the Pew polling was a more modest 10 points, and the increases in the BBC and Gallup polls were in the same ballpark -- 10 to 12 points. On balance, we rate Clinton’s  ."
6384,4,Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years.,"September 23, 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,"an interview on CBS' ""60 Minutes""","Obama said, ""Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years."" On the numbers, his statistic isn't exact, but it's pretty close -- average tax rates are in fact lower than most years in the past five decades, at least for the three income groups we looked at. However, the decline in average tax rates was already under way under Bush and the recession helped keep them low. We rate the  ."
16310,0,"Says the names of CNN anchors Chris Cuomo, Brian Stelter and Jake Tapper were on the flight logs of Jeffrey Epstein's private plane.","July 26, 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,"CNN spokesperson Barbara Levin told PolitiFact that there is ""ZERO "" to this rumor. The flight logs , which became public through civil lawsuits by women who said they were sexually abused by Epstein, span from 1997 to 2005 and were handwritten by pilot David Rodgers. The logs can be found online in a few places , and while there are certainly some noteworthy names, such as President Bill Clinton (who issued a statement about the plane rides shortly after Epstein’s arrest), the CNN anchors’ names are not on there.   Other  lists of alleged Lolita Express passengers can be found online and have included President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and even Pope Francis, to name a few.   We rate this  !"
1010,5,All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.,"July 28, 2009",health care;regulation,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,"We spotted an earlier reference on page 15, Section 101. That doesn't change the fact that the assertion is correct. We've ruled that many of the e-mail's other claims are , but not this one. The e-mail said, ""All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange."" We rule that ."
12611,4,Because as a Senator Toomey stood up for Wall Street. He wanted to privatize Social Security and invest it in the stock market. Wall Street would make billions in fees even if the stock market crashed.,"October 12, 2016",social security, afscme,"AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is the largest public employee and health care workers union in the United States.",pennsylvania,0,4,2,4,2,0,In a political ad,"A recent AFSCME ad claimed Pat Toomey supported Social Security privatization during his time as Senator:  ""Because as a senator Toomey stood up for Wall Street. He wanted to privatize Social Security and invest it in the stock market. Wall Street would make billions in fees even if the stock market crashed."" In the past, PolitiFact has tried to emphasize the difference between privatization and partial privatization because Democratic and Republican politicians have tried to distort it. Toomey has not supported full privatization, which would mean completely overhauling the system so everyone’s proceeds of the payroll tax would go to personal accounts that could be privately invested. This ad doesn’t give the full picture. It doesn’t say he was for full privatization but also doesn’t make clear the difference between full and partial privatization. Toomey has supported partial privatization of Social Security. In the plan he wrote about -- and plans favored by past politicians -- young workers were expected to invest in stocks and mutual funds that are synonymous with Wall Street. The companies with whom people did their investing would earn sizable fees.    We rate the  .   https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ea4ae91e-977f-4f04-8e7c-00f22441a842"
10229,3,"The United States is ""about to have the smallest Army since before WWII, the smallest Navy since WWI and the smallest Air Force ever.","April 27, 2015",federal budget;military,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,his debut Senate floor speech,"In his first Senate floor speech, he cited a shrinking military that the numbers do not fully bear out. Perdue does have a valid point to make, about a historical success in paying for a military whose strength and size make it more likely to be a deterrent than a singular battle force. But he complicates his point by relying on dated information and the  comparisons. His argument can be supported, but not with the numbers he provides. We rate his  ."
6864,5,"The tax penalty that the government imposes if you don't buy health insurance ""is lower than it would have cost to buy insurance.","January 21, 2013",health care,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 on Fox News,"DeSantis said that the tax penalty in the health reform law ""is lower than it would have cost to buy insurance."" Desantis is correct that health insurance premiums far exceed the penalties Obamacare imposes for not carrying insurance, even on high incomes. We think it’s valid to note that several provisions in the health law bring the dollar amounts closer together to give people an incentive to buy coverage. That’s also the purpose of the tax penalty -- to urge people to get insurance. But DeSantis is right in the straightforward cost comparison. We rate his statement ."
916,3,"Obama's ""first call (as president) to any head of state was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory.","May 2, 2009",foreign policy,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,"Assuming Obama did call Abbas first — and again, we can't confirm that — we do know that one of his very next calls was to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The e-mail conveniently leaves that detail out. Here at PolitiFact, we define a  statement as one that is accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We think this  fits the bill. ."
12831,4,"If you're a single mom, and you've two kids in the city of Richmond, you can almost make $50,000 a year on the public dole.","December 4, 2016",medicaid;poverty;welfare,bryce reeves,"Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania County, was elected to the Virginia Senate in 2011, defeating 28-year inclumbent Democrat Ed Houck. Reeves has announced his intention to run for lieutenant govenor in 2017.
 ",virginia,0,1,0,0,1,0,a radio interview,"Reeves said, ""If you’re a single mom, and you’ve two kids in the city of Richmond, you can almost make $50,000 a year on the public dole."" Although Reeves acknowledges he misspoke, he wasn’t far off. That mother, if she was working full time at minimum wage, could receive about $40,000 a year in public assistance. So we rate Reeves’ statement ."
4725,5,"Richard Cordray's nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau marks the first time in Senate history ""that a political party has blocked a nomination of someone because they didn't like the construction of the agency.","December 7, 2011",consumer safety;financial regulation;government regulation,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 Senate banking subcommittee hearing,"Lacking a majority, they failed to win those changes in the Dodd-Frank legislation, but they have sufficient numbers under procedural rules to halt confirmations. This isn’t a question of which side is morally or politically correct. But based on the record, including its nuance, we take the Senate historian’s word: Brown was correct when he said this was the first time that a political party has blocked a nomination unless changes were made to an agency. To repeat Ritchie’s words:  ""We searched through past cases and could not find anything that fit the current circumstance."" We rate Brown’s  ."
22041,1,"America now has a government that forbids border agents from using deadly force, but is training IRS agents to use SWAT-team tactics on law-abiding citizens.","August 21, 2022",immigration;homeland security;taxes,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 ""America now has a government that forbids Border agents from using deadly force … but is training IRS agents to use SWAT Team tactics on law abiding citizens."" Border Patrol agents are permitted to use deadly force if they believe they or another person are at risk of death or injury. A small group of IRS agents — special agents in the Criminal Investigation division — can also use deadly force. But such force is not randomly employed on typical taxpayers, as the post claimed. Americans facing routine audits do not encounter these agents.  IRS special agents train with tactical gear and breaching equipment. However, IRS policy is  to assess risk before entering a home or business in a criminal investigation, and if the situation is deemed high-risk, a specially trained team will secure the location instead. We rate this  ."
8595,2,There are over 100 pipelines between the United States and Canada right now.,"March 21, 2014",environment;climate change;energy,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,public remarks,"Bush said, ""There are over 100 pipelines between the United States and Canada right now."" Bush has a point that there are a number of major oil and gas pipelines that already cross the U.S.-Canada border. But his number is significantly off. A 2013 Congressional Research Service report referred to 100 pipelines, but that included operating or proposed oil, natural gas, and electric transmission lines, and it counted pipelines crossing both the U.S.-Mexico border and the U.S.-Canada border. If we only count operating pipelines that cross the Canadian border, we count 29 natural gas pipelines and 17 oil pipelines, for a total of 46. We rate this  ."
11658,4,Kelly Ayotte has voted four times against the federal Paycheck Fairness Act.,"April 12, 2016",congress;labor;voting record;women,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 press release,"Hassan said that ""Kelly Ayotte has voted four times against the federal Paycheck Fairness Act."" Hassan glosses over some nuances -- most of the votes were procedural rather than substantive, and she leaves out a vote in which Ayotte cast a procedural vote in favor of advancing the bill. And it’s worth noting that Ayotte’s opposition to the bill doesn’t mean she’s an opponent of equal pay for women; rather, she and most Republicans have a substantive disagreement over the means to that end. Still, Hassan made her assertion specific -- Ayotte’s record on this particular piece of legislation -- and it’s clear that Ayotte has a longstanding record of opposing this bill. We rate the  ."
12986,2,"Says Republicans are ""organizing to take people's health care away.","January 6, 2017",health care,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,"Still, Baldwin’s  is not supported by what congressional Republicans have said and done thus far. Our rating Baldwin said that Republicans are ""organizing to take people's health care away."" While the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that repeal of the Affordable Care Act could result in millions of people losing their health insurance, that finding did not examine the effect of any replacement legislation. Prominent congressional Republicans — and Trump — have repeatedly said they intend to propose alternative legislation that would aim to give all people access to health care. For a statement that contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate Baldwin’s statement ."
21759,2,"The Democrats' Women's Health Protection Act of 2022 ""would permit abortion up until delivery.","July 17, 2022",abortion,mariannette miller-meeks,"Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, was elected in 2020 to represent Iowa's 2nd Congressional District.",iowa,0,0,0,1,1,0,a newsletter,"Mariannette Miller-Meeks said the Democrats’ Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 ""would permit abortion up until delivery.""  The bill, which passed the U.S. House but is considered unlikely to win approval in the Senate, would permit abortion up to delivery, but only in limited cases — when medical professionals determine that an abortion is necessary to save the life or the health of the mother. Such situations account for a tiny fraction of all abortions, federal data shows. Ignoring this qualifier is .  The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
7675,0,"A United Nations working group has ""adopted a proposed agenda"" to enable member nations to ""disarm civilians within their borders.","August 12, 2013",guns,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,a document shared via email and social media,"A document found on the Internet and circulating via email and social media says that a United Nations working group has ""adopted a proposed agenda"" to enable member nations to ""disarm civilians within their borders."" If the document were real, it would confirm the worst fears of those who fear a mass confiscation of handguns, hunting rifles and ammunition in the U.S. -- but a United Nations spokesman cited several reasons for concluding that the document is a , including the fact that the study group referenced in the document does not exist. We rate the document ."
8227,4,"Because of the health care law, ""by 2017, we will be funneling over $100 billion annually to private insurance companies.","January 1, 2014",health care;punditfact,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.",,2,6,1,4,5,0,"a ""New York Times"" op-ed","Moore said that in 2017, Obamacare will funnel over $100 billion to insurance companies. The analysts we contacted told us $95 billion would be a more accurate figure, so Moore overshoots a bit. He characterized Obamacare as a pro-insurance industry program, which might lead some people to think that insurers would pocket all of the money. That clearly won’t happen because the companies will pay for care, and also because insurers might need to absorb a portion of about $11.4 billion in new taxes. What happens to the bottom line of insurance companies is somewhat uncertain. Some firms speak optimistically about turning a profit. Some analysts predict it will be a wash, with revenues and expenses cancelling each other out. All such assertions are based on predictions that could be on target or not. Here, we're focusing only on the specifics of Moore’s  -- which is largely accurate. We rate it ."
76,3,"Mayor Giuliani made New York City what's known as a 'sanctuary city,' where illegal aliens were allowed to come. And he instructed the leaders of the city not to enforce the law, not to enforce immigration law.","August 14, 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 campaign event carried on CNN,"Federal authorities could always enforce the law in New York. And Romney's  that Giuliani ""instructed the leaders of the city not to enforce the law, not to enforce immigration law"" is also . City workers had no role in enforcing federal law. That's the feds' job. So we rate Romney's attack on Giuliani as  because it  the real effect of New York City's policies and makes it seem like more of a ""sanctuary"" than it really was."
14757,2,$1 billion—that's how much Bruce Rauner has wasted with his budget crisis.,"June 7, 2018",state budget,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 campaign ad,"A recent Pritzker campaign ad says Rauner ""wasted"" $1 billion ""with his budget crisis."" Pritzker’s ad seeks to blame Rauner for the entirety of a huge tab the state ran up last year on interest penalties for late payment of bills. The problem was significantly aggravated by a two-year budget standoff in Springfield that left many state services running on autopilot but with insufficient revenues to cover the costs. Rauner clearly played a key role in that logjam and it may be smart politics on Pritzker’s part to try to blame the mess entirely on the incumbent. But Rauner hardly acted alone. What’s more, running up an expensive late payment tab isn’t unique to the Rauner era. Chronic fiscal mismanagement over many administrations has made it harder for the state to pay bills in a timely fashion—even when the income tax rate was higher and more revenue was flowing in. Pritzker’s ad has its number straight, but uses it to blame Rauner alone for an unfortunate legacy that is shared by many. We rate it ."
8710,2,Women are paid 77 cents for every $1 men get for the same work.,"April 8, 2014",economy;women,jason carter,"Jason Carter was elected to the Georgia Senate in May 2010, representing portions of DeKalb County. He is an attorney at the business litigation firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP. Carter is the grandson of former U.S. president and Georgia governor Jimmy Carter.",georgia,3,1,2,1,0,0,social media posts,"To sum up, Jason Carter said women were being paid 77 cents for every $1 men received for the same work. The widely cited U.S. Census Bureau study, though, did not attempt to look at equal pay for the same work or the same number of hours worked. Other federal data show smaller gaps when considering the specific occupation, time on the job and educational levels. Carter’s statements omit many of these factors. We rate it ."
19934,0,Muslim BTS fan accidentally plays the song 'Dynamite' instead of Azaan on loudspeakers at 4am; gets arrested.,"June 29, 2021",pop culture;religion;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,"Other accounts that shared the post on Instagram and Facebook did not make it clear that the story was satire. Versions of it got more than 400,000 interactions on Instagram and over 7,000 interactions on Facebook, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool.   Fact-checkers in the U.S. and India also concluded that the story told in the post was made-up. In fact, the mosque shown in the post does not actually resemble the mosque in Jaunpur where the image claims the incident took place, India’s The Quint reported . We rate the Instagram post !"
20318,2,"The audit of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Ariz., ""cost the taxpayers $6 million.","September 28, 2021",county government;elections;facebook fact-checks,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",arizona,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post said Arizona’s ballot review cost taxpayers $6 million. Trump supporters, not taxpayers, paid the bulk of the nearly $6 million it cost to review ballots in Maricopa County.  Taxpayers contributed $150,000 toward the review, plus $3 million for new vote-counting machines to replace machines that the county decided had been compromised during the review. We rate the post ."
13532,2,"When he was Milwaukee County executive, ""eight years in a row we pushed through budgets that did not increase the tax levy from the previous year.","June 5, 2017",county budget;county government;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,"It was actually nine straight years that Walker proposed budgets that did not increase the levy -- the total amount of property taxes collected. But, to say he ""pushed through budgets"" that did not increase the levy is . In eight of the nine years, the budgets adopted by the County Board -- over Walker’s vetoes -- raised the levy. And each year, Walker would use that increased levy as his proposal for the next year’s budget. For a statement that contains only an element of , we rate Walker’s  ."
599,4,Says Obama replaced the American flag on the tail of his plane with his campaign logo.,"August 12, 2008",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 widely circulated chain e-mail,"(But there is a wavy flag on the side of the McCain plane beside the motto ""Reform/Prosperity/Peace."") If flag size on charter planes is important to you as a voter, it's worth noting that the Obama and McCain flags are dwarfed by the stars and stripes on Bob Dole's '96 campaign plane ( big flag on tail), Bush-Cheney '00 ( bigger flag on tail) and Kerry-Edwards '04 ( wavy flag on fuselage). But, back to the matter at hand. Yes, the e-mail is right that the Obama campaign replaced the American flag with its own logo, but the flag it covered was a corporate logo, not a stand-alone flag. So we'll take this down a notch to ."
4553,5,The problem with invasive species today in the Great Lakes isn't ballast water.,"November 4, 2011",environment;jobs;transportation,steve latourette,"Steve LaTourette, a Republican, is a former member of the House of Representatives from Ohio's 14th Congressional District. He served from 1995 to 2013.",ohio,1,1,3,0,0,0,the House of Representatives,"For the past several months, GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette has been weighted down in a congressional dispute over ballast water on the Great Lakes."
22808,1,Video shows zombie virus outbreak in China.,"March 28, 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,a video,"The event was designed to lure young commuters to the city’s public transit, the article said. The ""Train to Apocalypse"" event was widely covered by the news media when it happened in August and September 2022. The event’s organizer, Pandora Box, posted advertisements and several videos on its Instagram page . A spokesperson for LRT Jakarta confirmed to Reuters and The Associated Press that the video in the social media post is from that event. The  that a video shows a zombie virus outbreak on a passenger train in China is ."
15816,1,Now there is a new threat that we're seeing up close: the risk of exposure to powerful drugs that can kill in even tiny amounts.,"March 16, 2019",drugs,matthew birmingham,Col. Matthew Birmingham is the director of the Vermont State Police. ,vermont,0,0,0,0,1,0,a press release,"Our Ruling Col. Matthew T. Birmingham said: ""Now there is a new threat that we’re seeing up close: the risk of exposure to powerful drugs that can kill in even tiny amounts."" It’s not clear what happened to Flansburg, the state trooper. But Birmingham went beyond the specific incident to make a broader statement about the mortal risk to law enforcement officers from exposure to tiny amounts of powerful opioids. Even without protective gear, the scientific and medical communities are clear: incidental contact with small amounts of fentanyl will not cause an overdose. We rate Birmingham’s  .  "
10682,1,Jesus was an undocumented immigrant.,"August 31, 2015",immigration;punditfact,ryan eller,"The Rev. Ryan Eller is executive director of Define American, which describes itself as ""a media and culture organization, and our mission is to use the power of stories to transcend politics and shift the conversation around immigrants, identity and citizenship in a changing America.""",,0,0,0,0,1,0,a CNN interview,"Eller said, ""Jesus was an undocumented immigrant."" He was making the point that Jesus and his family had to escape to a new land to avoid danger, as immigrant families sometimes do. In a historical context, however, Herod’s kingdom and the province of Egypt were ultimately governed by the Roman Empire, and weren’t separate nations as we know them now. Experts said there were likely very few, if any, restrictions on movement between the two, making the situation more akin to fleeing a state than another country. We rate Eller’s statement ."
9888,0,"On assault weapon violence: ""Ducks have more protection than people in Virginia.","January 19, 2015",guns,alfonso lopez,"Alfonso Lopez, a Democrat, as served in the House of delegates since 2012, representing portions of Arlington and Fairfax Counties.
He received a B.A. degree from Vassar College in 1992 and a J.D. from the Tulane University School of Law in 1995.
Lopez served as Gov. Tim Kaine's director of the Virginia Liaison Office in Washington, where he directed  congressional and federal relations for Virginia. He also served as Kaine's representative to the National Governors Association, the Democratic Governors Association and the Southern Governors Association. 
 ",virginia,0,0,1,0,0,1,a floor speech,"In a speech on the House floor, Lopez said that under Virginia law ""ducks have more protection that people"" from assault gun violence. To drive the point home, he repeated it. There’s simply no basis to this jarring . Virginia sanctions duck hunting; it’s a misdemeanor with no jail time if you shoot one with a gun that can hold more than three bullets. It’s a felony to purposefully shoot a person, sometimes punishable by death, and the capacity of firearms doesn’t alter this simple fact. We rate Lopez’s statement ."
14395,2,Mark Harris worked to stop Trump from being president.,"February 19, 2018",elections,robert pittenger,Robert Pittenger is a Republican who has represented North Carolina's 9th congressional district since 2013.,north carolina,0,0,1,2,0,0,an attack ad,"Pittenger said, ""Mark Harris worked to stop Trump from being president."" He has a point that Harris supported Ted Cruz for president until Trump became the nominee. But he left out the important context that Pittenger also supported another candidate. It’s disingenuous to cast Harris as someone who tried to sabotage Trump without providing context that Harris not only supported Trump after he became the nominee, but was reported to be among his spiritual advisors. We rate this  ."
11165,4,Texas has the sixth-highest property taxes in the nation.,"December 15, 2015",taxes,jeff judson,"Jeff Judson is a 7th generation Texan who has been a consistent leader and activist for smaller, more effective government, serving as a congressional staffer, think tank president, local elected official, and public policy consultant. An effective leader, Jeff was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in San Antonio” by the San Antonio Express News because of his leadership in twice defeating wasteful light rail projects in San Antonio in 2000 and 2015.
Jeff is an associate with Kaeppel Consulting, LLC, which helps private companies and government agencies cut down on wasteful bureaucracy, increase productivity by offering solutions to improve workplace morale and create a culture of constant improvement– the same changes he wants to make in state government.
As a public policy consultant, he has represented a number of Fortune 500 firms seeking freedom from government regulatory burdens by working with grassroots organizations, academics, and think tanks to change the national debate. Jeff works exclusively on free market, limited government issues in his consultancy by recruiting and managing the work of a national network of conservative academics, think tanks, and grassroots organization to inform the public debate on issues of interest to free-market-oriented clients.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,Action blog post,"While it may be  that on average, Texas property taxes are the sixth-highest in the nation, the actual taxpayer burden on state residents varies hugely from county by county, making the average less representative. We rate this  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  "
12120,4,"Says Donald Trump ""claimed our armed forces are 'a disaster.'","July 28, 2016",foreign policy;military,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 at the Democratic convention,"Clinton said Donald Trump ""claimed our armed forces are 'a disaster,’"" a comment that suggests mismanagement and incompetence. Trump did, in fact, use that characterization once during a debate in January. More recently, he has called it ""depleted"" and focused more on what he suggests is a lack of resources. His comments have been slightly unclear, but recent ones have not been as broadly critical as his comment in the CNBC debate. So we rate Clinton’s  ."
2015,1,"There's nothing in the voting instructions that we've been getting in the last several elections that lets you know"" about the limitations of the master lever.","July 27, 2010",elections,catherine taylor,"Catherine Taylor is a Republican who made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in Rhode Island in 2014. Taylor, who also ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state in 2010, is a former speechwriter for Sens. John and Lincoln Chafee, and served as director of the Rhode Island Division of Elderly Affairs.
 ",rhode island,1,0,0,0,1,0,an appearance on the Helen Glover Show,"That's dead . In fact they can vote and their votes  always count, with only one exception -- when a voter goes outside the party in contests where you can make more than one choice, they have to take extra care to mark the party members they want for that particular office.     Taylor makes a good point when she says the master-lever issues should be addressed on each ballot or in polling places. But her contention that the issues have not been addressed in the voting instructions of the last several elections turns out to be dead  as well. A candidate running for secretary of state should know that, so we give her a ."
16330,0,Less mass shootings under Trump!,"August 4, 2019",guns,ron tusler,"Wisconsin state Rep. Ron Tussler, a Republican from Harrison, was elected to the state Assembly in 2016. He is an attorney and former teacher.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,1,a Facebook post,"In the wake of two mass shootings that left 31 dead in the span of 13 hours, Tusler claimed there have been fewer such shootings under Trump than Obama. That’s nonsense. The chart Tusler based his  on is both incomplete and outdated — including only half of Trump’s time in office. And it’s  to use a raw tally of shootings to compare just over two years under Trump to eight years under Obama. Using more comprehensive data and a reasonable criterion like shootings per year, we see that mass shootings have risen steadily in recent decades regardless of who is in the White House.  So shootings are up — not down — under Trump. We rate Tusler’s  ."
13819,0,Fox Sports cancels all NFL broadcasts 'until players respect the flag.',"September 24, 2017",fake news;punditfact,thelastlineofdefense.org,"A web site associated with fake news. It is run by a man named Christopher Blair, a self-described ""liberal troll"" who wants to fool conservative readers with outlandish stories.",,0,0,0,0,0,7,a headline,"TheLastLineOfDefense.org was created by a man named Christopher Blair, who has told PolitiFact he writes  claims to fool conservative readers into believing wild stories . It’s not clear who wrote the story about Fox Sports. The author, who is only identified as "" Freedom "" on the site, replied to an email we sent, but would not provide their real name. In any event, it’s clear that Fox did not shun the NFL as part of a punitive campaign against players protesting the national anthem. We rate this bogus  !"
11629,4,"Before taking executive action on immigration, President Obama stated 22 times that he does not have the authority to change immigration laws on his own.","April 18, 2016",immigration,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 website post,"Goodlatte said, ""Before taking executive action on immigration, President Obama stated 22 times that he does not have the authority to change immigration laws on his own."" Records offered by Goodlatte and other Republicans show Obama repeatedly has made such statements. But the congressman goes a little off course in trying to quantify the times the president has said so. In a handful of the instances, the president was talking in general terms about executive authority that he did not relate to immigration. So in the interest of precision, we rate Goodlatte’s  ."
21503,3,"Zack Nunn saved over 2,000 Americans abandoned in Afghanistan by leading private rescue missions.","May 9, 2022",afghanistan;candidate biography;foreign policy;military,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 campaign ad,"A political ad for Nunn’s 3rd Congressional District primary race in Iowa says Nunn ""saved over 2,000 Americans abandoned in Afghanistan by leading private rescue missions."" Nunn, Argo Task Force co-founder Jesse Jensen and others are key members of several American groups working privately but in collaboration with the U.S. government to bring Americans and endangered people out of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan since U.S. troops left that country.  But saying the count is more than 2,000 Americans when most of those coming out are not American gives a different impression of what Nunn is doing than exists. In a May 18  interview  on Shenandoah, Iowa’s KMA radio, Nunn, himself, qualified the : ""We flew multiple flights over and carried out over 2,500 Americans and allies after the U.S. flag fell in Kabul."" Nunn is doing humanitarian work but the number in the ad is an exaggeration and ignores important details. We rate the statement to be ."
22348,2,"Raphael Warnock ""believes in no cash bail"" and ""letting people out of prison that are going to make us prisoners in our own home.","November 11, 2022",criminal justice,herschel walker,Herschel Walker is a GOP candidate for the 2022 Senate race in Georgia. He is a former NFL player.,georgia,0,0,2,2,2,0,an interview,"Walker claimed that Warnock ""believes in no-cash bail"" and ""letting people out of prison that are going to make us prisoners in our own home."" Warnock supports eliminating cash bail in limited cases — only for nonviolent offenders. Warnock does not support widespread releases of prison inmates, but supported a law that reduces certain sentences, including for inmates who earn credits for good behavior. Walker’s  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . RELATED: Fact-checking Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker in Georgia's Senate race RELATED: Herschel Walker’s record on the -O-Meter RELATED: Raphael Warnock’s record on the -O-Meter"
14418,0,"March For Our Lives is backed by radicals with a history of violent threats, language and actions.","March 21, 2018",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 segment on NRATV,"The NRA said that the March For Our Lives is ""backed by radicals with a history of violent threats, language and actions."" That allegation rested on the idea that the Women’s March played a major role in the march, and the NRA host mentioned two co-chairs by name. We found no  that either the organization or those people are directly involved in the march. The Women’s March website doesn’t even list the gun control march as an upcoming event. The only significant tie between the marches is a producer who leads the Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s March. But the chapter said it is not involved, and the producer has acted on her own to apply for permits and establish the March For Our Lives’ nonprofit support fund. Major organizational muscle behind the march, both in Washington and in cities nationwide, comes from two well-known gun control advocacy groups, neither of which has a history of violent behavior. A number of related organizations have lent their support, including the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, and celebrity donors have given millions of dollars. The NRA  is without merit. We rate it . Correction: After we published, a reader noted that the Youth Empowerment FAQ page on National School Walkout included a reference to the March For Our Lives. The fact-check has been corrected to reflect that reference. We also updated the story to reflect Madonna's full quote from the 2017 Women's March."
5831,1,"President Obama's health care law is ""a government takeover of healthcare.","June 16, 2012",health care;regulation,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 speech,"Allen says that the health care reform law is a ""government takeover of health care."" Yes, the law increases regulation. But it greatly relies on the private sector to provide health care. Hospitals will not be taken over by the government, doctors will not become federal employees. The act relies on private insurers to compete and provide health care coverage to an expanded customer base. Employer-based coverage through private companies continues. The ""government takeover of health care"" is a potent political charge that does not hold up under examination. We rate Allen’s  ."
21465,5,"In a recent year, the Milwaukee Police Department ""collected more guns per capita off the streets than in New York.","April 9, 2022",criminal justice;crime;guns,cavalier johnson,"In 2016, Johnson ran for 2nd District Alderman on the Milwaukee Common Council, winning a five-way primary with 38 percent of the vote and winning the general election with 4,307 votes (52 percent). 
Johnson was re-elected without opposition in 2020 and was also elected by his peers in a 8–7 vote to serve as the Milwaukee Common Council president.  
Johnson became acting mayor of Milwaukee upon the resignation of  Tom Barrett to assume the ambassadorship of Luxembourg, on December 22, 2021. He is acting mayor until the 2022 Milwaukee mayoral special election. The Milwaukee mayor's office is non-partisan. Johnson is a candidate in the special election. The day before assuming the role, Johnson announced his top priority would be combating reckless driving to create safe streets. ",wisconsin,1,0,3,0,0,0,TV interview,"Johnson claimed that in a recent year, the Milwaukee Police Department ""collected more guns per capita off the streets than in New York."" Although the time frame Johnson referred to was vague, the  was on point, as Milwaukee’s gun recoveries per capita numbers in 2016 were more than 10 times higher than what New York City reported for that year. We rate the  ."
18662,2,"We saved 2 million people"" from dying of COVID-19.","October 15, 2020",public health;health check;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 town hall on NBC News,"President Trump is claiming that if not for his efforts, there would have been 2 million more deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19. But that 2 million number is taken from a model that shows what would happen without any mitigation measures — that is, if citizens had continued their daily lives as usual, and governments did nothing. Experts said that wouldn’t have happened in real life. And while lockdowns and social distancing have indeed been proven to prevent COVID-19 illness and deaths, credit for that doesn’t go solely to Trump. The White House issued federal recommendations asking Americans to stay home, but much stronger social distancing measures were enforced by states. Travel restrictions implemented by Trump perhaps helped hold down transmission in the context of broader efforts, but on their own, they don’t seem to have significantly reduced the transmission rate of the coronavirus. We rate this  ."
18260,1,"Says Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would raise the federal income tax rate for a person with a bi-weekly gross salary of $3,000 to 39.6%, costing ""nearly half your paycheck.","August 23, 2020",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 Biden and Harris would raise the federal income tax rate for a person with a bi-weekly gross salary of $3,000 to 39.6%, costing ""nearly half your paycheck."" That’s . The 39.6% rate is what Biden proposed for earners in the top income tax bracket, which the IRS says includes individual single taxpayers making more than $518,400 per year.  We rate this Facebook post ."
7739,3,"Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa already have 70 mph"" speed limits on rural interstates, and ""we see that they've been able to do it safely.","August 22, 2013",transportation,robin vos,"Wisconsin state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has represented western Racine County in the state Assembly since 2004. In November 2012, he was elected Assembly speaker. Vos previously served on the Racine County Board of Supervisors, from 1994 to 2004.",wisconsin,2,8,4,5,5,1,an interview,"Vos goes too far with the blanket statement. We found numbers suggesting otherwise in two states, and a key Iowa official attributes some negative safety impact to the change. But the Michigan experience fits his description, and researchers in Iowa cast doubt on the significance of the speed-limit change in the uptick in fatalities there. So there’s some gas in his ’s tank. ."
21027,1,Video shows a Ukrainian fighter pilot shooting down a Russian plane.,"February 25, 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,"The clip shows a video game simulation, not the fighting in Ukraine. We rate the video . RELATED : Don’t fall for these hoaxes about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine RELATED : These video clips do not show Russia’s attack on Ukraine. They’re simulations from video games"
8855,4,"Milwaukee has seen ""an uptick in violence"" since 2010, and ""the only period of calm we get is when winter sets in.","May 19, 2014",criminal justice;crime,david a. clarke jr.,David A. Clarke Jr. served as Milwaukee County sheriff from 2002 to 2017.,wisconsin,0,1,2,3,6,2,a news release,"Violent crime rates have roller-coastered in recent years, but Clarke’s observations about the trend since 2010 is on target. His observation about a winter ""calm"" period is a bit of a stretch, but it’s certainly calmer than the hot days of summer. We rate his  . Update: an earlier version of this item incorrectly stated that Sheriff Clarke faces re-election in November 2014. He would first have to clear an expected August 12 primary challenge to reach the November 4 general election."
10706,5,I'm the only governor in America ... who signed a law that says there needs to be an independent investigation any time there's a death of someone in police custody.,"September 13, 2015",criminal justice,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.",national,26,45,39,40,44,11,"an interview on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Walker said he was the only governor to sign a bill that required an independent investigation into police-related killings. Walker signed that bill in April 2014. According to experts we reached or whose work we read, and our scan of legislation, no other state has such a law. We rate this  ."
8224,4,(The farm bill) has a provision that would in many ways reduce the deficit.,"December 29, 2013",agriculture;deficit;punditfact,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.,,1,7,4,0,1,0,"a discussion on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Brazile said the farm bill ""has a provision that would in many ways reduce the deficit."" Her comment is based on estimates of the House and Senate bills by the Congressional Budget Office, which found both bills to be deficit-reducers in the long term. Over 10 years, the proposal would shrink the deficit by around $20 billion or so -- a paltry sum in the universe of federal spending. But yes, technically a deficit reducer. Brazile is right but her comments might lead someone to more sweeping conclusions. As such, we rate this  ."
556,2,"Obama ""voted against critical resources: no to individual body armor, no to helicopters, no to ammunition, no to aircraft.","July 23, 2008",military,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,a radio ad,"In 2006, Obama voted for a war supplemental that passed 77-21. McCain opposed that bill, joining a group of Republicans who felt the legislation contained extraneous and unnecessary spending. In a news report, the Los Angles Times noted the Republicans ""risked being labeled as voting against the troops to take a stand against what they considered excessive spending."" Although the ad bases its claims on a kernel of  — Obama did vote against the 2007 bill — the RNC gives the impression that Obama opposes body armor, helicopters, ammunition and aircraft generally. The RNC ad is  enough to merit a label of ."
6953,1,"Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts"" to create a legal framework on counterterrorism.","February 12, 2013",legal issues;terrorism,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,"The White House has certainly provided some information to Congress and the public about the process of targeting suspected terrorists, and the adversarial relationship between the executive branch almost ensures that not every one of the 535 members of Congress will be satisfied with what the executive branch discloses. Still, we think the magnitude of the complaints, and the fact that they’re bipartisan, suggest that this goes well beyond a small fringe of lawmakers. We particularly find problems with the president’s  that he’s been transparent ""throughout"" his term and has kept Congress ""fully informed."" The requests for additional information have been pending for much of the president’s tenure in office, a far cry from being transparent ""throughout"" his term. And a recurring theme of these requests is not that the administration is providing no information, but that it is holding back on a portion of the information being sought, which is the opposite of keeping Congress ""fully informed."" We rate Obama’s  ."
1115,0,"For the first time in history, the Democratic Congress will not allow an increase in the social security COLA (cost of living adjustment).","September 28, 2009",social security,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,"It would provide a COLA for 2010 equal to the average of the COLA over the past 10 years — roughly 3 percent. Obviously, these bills are coming from both sides of the aisle. If this e-mail had merely gotten some facts , we'd be comfortable rating it . But given that it targets senior citizens on an important pocketbook issue with an  allegation that has no basis in fact, we have to go one more notch and set the meter ablaze. ."
2027,1,Kendrick Meek was named one of the two most corrupt Democrats in Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.,"July 31, 2010",candidate biography;ethics;message machine 2010,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 campaign mail piece,"In a new mailer, billionaire Jeff Greene says that ""Kendrick Meek was named one of the two most corrupt Democrats in Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."" But the group never labeled Meek one of the two most corrupt Democrats in Congress. It did include Meek on a list of so-called ""crooked candidates,"" along with one other Democrat -- who isn't in Congress. And later, the group added Greene himself to the same list. The series of amateur follies would be amusing if it wasn't in the middle of an important primary election. We rate the statement ."
4292,2,Says credit rating agencies realize that our instability stems in large part from Oregon's kicker system.,"August 13, 2011",state budget,brent barton,Brent Barton is an attorney and former state representative.,oregon,0,0,0,1,0,0,a guest column,"The simplest way to counter that may be to divert the kicker. But a bigger difference, the reports suggest, would be made by adding other taxes -- hello, sales? -- to diversify Oregon’s revenue base. (Sorry, we had to say it.) We rate the  ."
14495,0,"Says that unless the recipient called back about ""your tax filings,"" you ""will be taken into custody by the local cops as there are more serious allegations pressed on your name.","April 10, 2018",crime;taxes,anonymous caller,An unidentified person responsible for making a hoax phone call.,texas,0,0,0,0,0,2,an anonymous phone message,"An automated phone message fielded in Austin said that unless the recipient called back about ""your tax filings,"" you ""will be taken into custody by the local cops as there are more serious allegations pressed on your name."" Relevant federal, state and local agencies say there’s no legitimacy to such calls, which should be reported to authorities. We rate this  !  – The statement is not accurate and makes a  . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
18712,1,More suicide deaths than coronavirus death past two months.,"October 27, 2020",coronavirus,tom brady,Tom Brady is the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,an Instagram post,"Brady said that in the past two months, there have been more deaths from suicide than COVID-19. There are no national numbers that back this up. COVID-19 has been killing people at a rate that is at least three times greater than suicide historically. A leading researcher we reached said even in the absence of firm data, it is impossible for the suicide rate to have increased to surpass the COVID-19 death rate. We rate this  ."
6924,4,"Says each year approximately 30,000 people in the United States die as a result of gunfire, and about 80,000 people are wounded.","January 14, 2013",guns,joyce beatty,"Democrat Joyce Beatty was elected in 2012 to Ohio's 3rd District, a new congressional district in the Columbus area. She formerly was a state lawmaker.",ohio,0,1,0,1,0,0,the House of Representatives,"If the number of non fatal injuries from BB or pellet guns were added into the mix, the number of injuries from 2011 would exceed Harvard’s estimate of 80,000 yearly wounds from gunfire. According to CDC, 16,451 people in the United States were hurt by pellet guns - about 5.3 incidents per 100,000 people. Beatty accurately represented the statistics printed in Harvard Health Policy Review, even though its tally was more than a decade old. More recent data indicates those numbers haven’t changed much over the years. We rate her statement ."
10445,3,Less than 1 percent of all the education dollars that we spend are spent on private (school) voucher programs.,"June 12, 2015",education,ted kanavas,"Ted Kanavas is a former Republican state senator representing the city of Brookfield, in Waukesha County. Since leaving the Legislature, he has headed the lobbying arm for the Milwaukee-based lawfirm Michael, Best & Friedrich. He also is a pundit on the WisPolitics.come web show, The Insiders.",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,a political talk show,"Another memo, sent to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, says that during the next decade, public schools would receive more than $94 billion of state and local funds. In this scenario, less than 1 percent would be spent on school voucher programs. But in his statement, Kanavas spoke in the present tense, and made no mention of spending over a future decade. What’s more, none of those budgets have been approved and other factors could increase or reduce the figure. Our rating remains ."
11618,0,"Says it's ""absurd"" to say there's enough data to establish a link between playing football and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.","March 22, 2016",health care;science;sports,jerry jones,Jerry Jones has been the owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team since 1989.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,1,remarks to reporters at NFL annual meeting,"Jones said it’s """" to say there’s enough data to establish a link between playing football and CTE. In fact, scientists have reached consensus establishing this link, though research remains to be done on the degree to which football players and others involved in high-contact activities risk CTE. We find Jones’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. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a39f3e05-4c74-4bf8-b78f-18dec3a47e56"
20200,1,Says President Joe Biden fell asleep during a meeting with Israel's prime minister.,"August 28, 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,"Starting around the 7:25 mark, Biden can be seen clasping his hands and listening to Bennett. A few seconds later, his chin tilts downward and he appears as he does in the image that’s spreading online. But his fingers are moving, and it’s obvious that he’s awake. And as soon as Bennett finishes talking, Biden begins to speak.   We rate claims that he was sleeping ."
21244,1,The proposed (Virginia) House budget cuts hundreds of millions in funding for public education…,"April 4, 2022",education;state budget,democratic party of virginia,The state Democratic Party.,virginia,0,3,1,2,2,0,a news release,"Instead, it compared the $17.2 billion that former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam recommended spending on education over the next two years to the $16.95 billion the House has approved. The House sliced $250 million from Northam’s proposal. If Democrats had said that, they’d have been correct. But it is  to suggest that the House budget would cut Virginia’s actual spending on education. We rate the Democratic Party’s statement .  "
17288,1,Says you can monitor yourself for COVID-19 with a breath test.,"March 10, 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 only way to test for COVID-19 right now is via laboratory testing."" Loren Rauch, an ER doctor in Los Angeles, told Mother Jones that a breath test can check ""if you are anxious or have respiratory compromise,"" but not COVID-19. Robert Legar Atmar, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine, told the Associated Press that such a breath test could be helpful in identifying whether someone has a ""more serious lung disease."" But, he said, it won’t identify people who are infected and have mild to no symptoms.   We rate this Facebook post . "
7313,3,"Says ""The idea of one casino per tribe is a false one.","April 24, 2013",gambling,ken tanner,Ken Tanner is Tribal Chief of the Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon.,oregon,0,0,1,0,0,0,a radio news interview,"In the eyes of Coquille leaders, the policy does not apply because they did not agree to it. But a policy does exist, in the governor’s stated words and in the compacts of other tribes in Oregon. The Warm Springs closed one casino in order to open another. The Cow Creek believe it to be an agreement made by the tribes. The statement is  -- partially accurate but missing important details."
16573,0,Says George Soros's son is married to Adam Schiff's sister.,"October 7, 2019",families;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,"Adam Schiff was born to Edward and Sherrill Schiff in Framingham, Mass., according to this 2017 U.S. News & World report article . The Jewish Journal reported that year that Schiff was the youngest of two sons born to the couple. Claims about Schiff’s connection to Soros have been swirling since at least early last year. Back then, the congressman told FactCheck.org that he has just one sibling — his brother — and has no known family relationship to Melissa Schiff.   We rate this Facebook post ."
14020,4,FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2016 shows more than four times as many people were stabbed to death than were killed with rifles of any kind.,"October 17, 2017",crime;guns,nick schroer,Nick Schroer is a Republican state representative in Missouri.,missouri,0,1,0,0,0,1,a tweet,"Schroer said that more than four times as many people were stabbed to death than were shot and killed by rifles in 2016. Schroer is cherry-picking data by comparing all people who were stabbed to death versus a small percentage of those that were shot to death. In 2016, 73 percent of U.S. murders were committed with firearms, but while 10.6 percent were committed with some type of knife or cutting instrument, just 2.5 percent were committed using rifles. Because the statement is correct according to the data but key context to the entirety of firearm usage is missing, we rate this  ."
18357,0,There was tremendous cheating in New York,"September 1, 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.",new york,36,85,120,194,360,179,a television interview,"There were documented problems with eligible voters being improperly purged from the New York City Board of Elections’ voting lists during the 2016 primary.  But in the interview, Trump talked about how he won the popular vote ""in a  sense,"" and made claims about ""tremendous cheating"" in New York and California. The popular vote he is talking about refers to the general election, not the primary. There is no  of cheating in the 2016 general election.  Trump made a  .  We rate his statement . "
13341,2,"Says the Republican plan to replace Obamacare, ""absolutely does not eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions.","May 2, 2017",families;health care;public health;regulation;states,robert pittenger,Robert Pittenger is a Republican who has represented North Carolina's 9th congressional district since 2013.,north carolina,0,0,1,2,0,0,a written statement,"Pittenger said that the Republican AHCA health care plan ""does not eliminate protections for pre-existing conditions."" While insurers technically would still be required to offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, the AHCA would weaken protections for those people. Insurers would be able to charge people significantly more if they had a pre-existing condition like heart disease, cancer, diabetes or arthritis – possibly requiring people to pay thousands of dollars extra every year to remain insured. We rate this  ."
11185,1,"Neighbors of the San Bernardino shooters ""knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it.","January 28, 2016",terrorism,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. ",national,21,20,27,11,17,8,"Des Moines, Iowa","Christie said that neighbors of the San Bernardino shooters knew that they were talking about attacking the country. The most that was reported is that a neighbor of a neighbor of one of the shooter’s mother said there was suspicious activity. There was no mention that a neighbor of the shooters themselves was suspicious, much less that a neighbor thought an attack was being planned. Christie jumbled the details in the news. We rate this statement ."
22720,2,"The youth suicide rate has increased exponentially alongside trans affirmation. Trans affirmation causes the suicide rate, not the other way around.","February 8, 2023",corrections and updates;lgbtq;public health,matt walsh,"Matt Walsh is a conservative columnist for The Daily Wire and host of the podcast ""The Matt Walsh Show.""",tennessee,0,0,0,1,1,0,a Tennessee State House Committee Hearing,"Walsh told Tennessee lawmakers, ""The youth suicide rate has increased exponentially alongside trans affirmation. Trans affirmation causes the suicide rate, not the other way around."" The statement contains an element of  because suicide rates have risen among all U.S. youth. But the statement also ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, because experts say there is no  that increases in suicide and gender-affirming care are related. Experts have been unable to isolate the cause of rising suicide rates, but say the reasons are likely a confluence of factors, not one issue affecting a tiny percentage of the population. Numerous studies show that gender-affirming care and generally supportive environments improve mental health outcomes among transgender youth.  We rate Walsh’s  .  Correction, March 9, 2023:  Jenifer McGuire is a professor at the University of Minnesota. An earlier version of this fact-check misstated her title.  "
13048,1,"Says Michelle Obama ""said she was never proud of her country til they elected her husband POTUS.","February 17, 2017",elections;patriotism,david a. clarke jr.,David A. Clarke Jr. served as Milwaukee County sheriff from 2002 to 2017.,wisconsin,0,1,2,3,6,2,a tweet,"The sheriff’s office spokeswoman told us the sheriff said: ""Go suck an egg"" and that when he does provide us  of his claims, PolitiFact Wisconsin ""still finds a way to contort a way to say ."" Our rating Clarke says Obama ""said she was never proud of her country til they elected her husband POTUS."" He provided us and we could find no  of such a statement. What Obama said -- nine months before her husband was elected president -- was that for the first time in her adult life, she was proud of her country not just because Barack Obama had done well in pursuing the presidential nomination, but also ""because I think people are hungry for change."" We rate Clarke’s statement ."
18025,2,Joe Biden wants to end school choice.,"July 14, 2020",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,the Rose Garden,Trump said that Biden wants to end school choice. Biden wants to end voucher programs that use public money to pay for private school tuition. He also opposes for-profit and low-performing charter schools. But he supports good charter schools and allowing students to pick among public schools. Those also qualify as school choice options. Trump’s sweeping accusation goes too far. We rate this .
5855,1,"Says Clackamas County Measure 3-401 ""will hurt our county, cripple economic growth, and increase our taxes with excessive special elections.","June 22, 2012",county budget;county government;elections;taxes,clackamas county democrats,Clackamas County Democrats.,oregon,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign press release,"So much for precision in language, or even giving voters accurate information. Approving Measure 3-401 will not increase taxes. Elections cost taxpayer money, but the election may have been held anyway. Taxes in Clackamas County will go up, but for reasons outside the frequency of elections. We rule the statement ."
1121,2,Gas will reach $4 a gallon under a cap-and-trade plan.,"September 30, 2009",environment;cap and trade;climate change;energy,energycitizens.org,"EnergyCitizens.org is a coalition of business organizations, anti-tax groups and transportation companies that oppose a cap-and-trade plan.",national,0,0,0,2,0,0,the Washington Post,"It fails to mention that $4-a-gallon gasoline wouldn't be the norm until 2035 — if it ever is. The group also leaves out other important studies that predict smaller increases. For a serious case of cherry-picking, we rate the ad .    Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
23327,1,"Video shows that ""George Soros is going bankrupt.","July 18, 2023",bankruptcy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Soros has already given $32 billion to the foundations and has indicated to The New York Times that his fortune will go to his family’s philanthropic efforts. Such a gesture hasn’t been highly regarded by Twitter owner Elon Musk, who recently tweeted that Soros ""wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. ""   But we found no credible sources suggesting that Musk revealed the philanthropist is going bankrupt.   We rate that  .  "
10089,0,"Recent solar energy policies in Georgia ""have resulted in rate hikes and did not result in solar becoming any more economically viable.","March 10, 2015",energy,americans for prosperity: florida,"Americans for Prosperity Florida is the Florida affiliate of a free-market group that fights ""big government.""",florida,0,0,0,2,0,1,a news release,"Americans for Prosperity Florida said recent solar energy policies in Georgia ""have resulted in rate hikes and did not result in solar becoming any more economically viable."" The group admitted it meant to say Louisiana, which is having its own debate on the issue. But the program in Georgia is thriving. Part of Georgia's implementation plan was that using solar power wouldn’t affect rates, and it hasn’t, Georgia’s largest utility said. Louisiana did see a rate increase, but it doesn't seem to be specifically related to a solar initiative. The statement is completely . We rate it ."
18087,1,Hurricane 'Hanna' hitting Texas has blown over part of a border wall.,"July 27, 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.",texas,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .)   U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said it’s not aware of any part of the border barriers falling over in the hurricane, according to a statement posted on its website.   Rather, the agency said, the video shows high winds that knocked over ""several border wall panels that were pending additional anchoring"" at a construction site near Deming, New Mexico, in June.   A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the construction, told the Associated Press that the incident happened on June 5 when a ""unexpected high wind gust"" knocked over barrier panels.   We rate this post ."
7602,2,"Patrick Murphy voted for Obamacare in 2010, ""yet he reversed himself and voted to delay"" the employer mandate and the individual mandate.","July 23, 2013",health care;voting record,americans for prosperity,"Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group advocates for limited government, free markets and fiscal and regulatory restraint.",florida,0,1,2,6,8,2,a press release,"Americans For Prosperity said in a press release: ""Rep. Murphy voted for the law back in 2010, yet he reversed himself and voted to delay both the employer mandate (in keeping with President Obama’s decision) and the individual mandate."" The group quickly admitted that Murphy of Florida wasn’t in Congress in 2010, so that part of the  is . While campaigning in 2012, Murphy said he was generally supportive of the law although he called for some changes. The group is also correct that Murphy voted to delay the employer and individual mandates, but their  leaves readers with a  impression that his voting record reflects flip flops. We rate this  ."
22672,1,"The U.S. State Department has started a special immigrants visa ""evacuation operation.","February 20, 2023",immigration;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"But there are other clues, too. The page is described as a ""travel agency,"" for example, and scrolling through previous posts, urges people to contact them on their ""Legit Whatsapp number. ""  We sought formal confirmation about this post’s legitimacy from the federal agency that handles visa applications: the actual U.S. State Department. ""This is not legit,"" a spokesperson there told us.   We rate this post ."
4734,2,The American Conservative Union gives [Rep. Tim] Ryan a dismal 0.0 percent rating for the billions he has contributed to our national debt.,"October 30, 2011",deficit;federal budget,marisha agana,"Marisha Agana is a Republican candidate for Congress from Ohio's newly drawn 13th Congressional District. She is a pediatrician from suburban Warren, Ohio.",ohio,0,0,0,1,0,0,a news release announcing her candidacy,"But for PolitiFact Ohio, simplicity should not come at the expense of accuracy. Agana’s statement is an exaggeration. Her words exclusively tagged Ryan, one of 435 congressional representatives, with adding billions of dollars to the debt. While there is some  at the core of her argument, Agana played too fast and loose with the facts. On the -O-Meter, her  merits a rating of ."
4046,4,I cut more as a percentage out of government than any state in the country this past decade. And where is Michigan in terms of its economic growth? Cutting did not result in economic growth.,"July 31, 2011",deficit;economy;states,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.",national,1,2,4,2,0,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","There’s strong  supporting two of Granholm’s statistical claims -- that government spending has fallen faster in Michigan than in any other state, and that the state’s economic performance has been especially poor compared to other states. However, in the Meet the Press interview, Granholm was trying to use her experience as a governor to make a larger point about how cutting government ""did not result in economic growth."" She's probably correct that government cuts hampered her state's recovery, at least in the short term, but Michigan’s experience over the last decade suggests that the reverse is an even bigger factor -- that is, poor economic growth hurts tax revenues and, in turn, forces government cuts. This doesn’t mean that Granholm’s point is , but in trying to apply a state lesson to a federal problem, she’s ignored a key factor in how state fiscal policy works. On balance, we rate her statement ."
17324,1,"Says ""Joe Biden wants to ban 9mm pistols.","November 25, 2019",guns,national rifle association,An advocacy group that fights restrictions on the right to bear arms.,,1,6,1,5,6,4,a story,"Among other measures, his gun control policies include: Banning the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and initiating a buyback of these weapons; closing loopholes in the background check system and requiring checks on all gun sales; and ending the online sale of firearms and ammunitions. Biden has voted on amendments to ban certain rifles, guns considered assault weapons and semi-automatic weapons . But he has no record of supporting measures that would ban traditional pistols. We reached out to the NRA but did not receive a response. We rate this ."
9349,1,"Says U.S. House candidate Carlos Curbelo ""supported ending the Medicare guarantee.","September 5, 2014",medicare,joe garcia,"Joe Garcia, D-Miami, won the Congressional District 26 seat in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties in 2012 and lost re-election to Carlos Curbelo in 2014. He is running for the seat in 2016.",florida,0,0,0,0,2,0,a Web ad,"Garcia said ""Curbelo supported ending the Medicare guarantee."" The Democrats are hanging this  on a very weak thread: when asked about Ryan’s budget proposal which includes a Medicare overhaul Curbelo said, ""While I have not fully reviewed this budget I'm inclined to support it."" That statement sheds no light on Curbelo’s views on changing Medicare. Ryan’s plan would change Medicare but it wouldn’t end the guarantee that seniors get it when they hit a certain age. And Curbelo says he wants to reform Medicare in other ways that don’t involve Ryan’s premium-support plan. We rate this  ."
2409,0,"Say Matt Wand cut Troutdale police, created a slush fund for himself.","October 9, 2010",ethics;crime;public safety,future pac (oregon house democrats),Future PAC is the campaign committee for Oregon House Democrats.,oregon,0,0,0,3,0,1,a campaign mailer,"This attack on Wand’s character -- remember, he is pictured next to a slogan that reads ""to protect and serve ... himself"" -- shows a reckless disregard for the . Even in political advertising. This mailer is not only , it’s . We rate this .    Comment on this item."
16060,0,"Says a ""Local Hero"" was ""arrested after killing 30 pedophiles in murder spree","May 8, 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,"The  article does not cite a single source, besides simply ""police say."" And we searched the internet and news archives but didn’t find any credible reports of a man in Nebraska admitting to killing 30 pedophiles or registered sex offenders. As well, the picture of the man in the cruiser used to illustrate the story was actually taken years earlier and far away from Nebraska. The photo was uploaded by Chris Yarzab to Flickr in September 2008 with Glendale, California, as the tagged location. This  story is full-on !"
2892,4,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 ."
18970,2,No state in the country verifies United States citizenship as a condition for voting in federal elections.,"December 2, 2020",immigration;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 speech,"Trump said, ""No state in the country verifies United States citizenship as a condition for voting in federal elections."" The kernel of  here is that the federal form to register to vote doesn’t require documentation to prove citizenship. But applicants who use that federal form, or register using state forms, must attest to being citizens. Voter registration forms warn applicants that signing the form with  information is a crime. There have been scattered cases of non-citizens who cast ballots, but among millions of votes cast they are statistically rare. Some states told us that they access federal or state databases to verify citizenship of voters. Such methods have sometimes erroneously flagged citizen voters. While they are not foolproof, they do contradict Trump’s  that no states verify U.S. citizenship for federal elections. We rate this statement ."
6518,3,"Says President Obama waited two weeks to call the attack in Libya ""terror.","October 16, 2012",corrections and updates;debates;foreign policy;terrorism,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,the second presidential debate,"Romney said it took the president 14 days before he called the Libya attack terror. In fact, Obama described it in those terms the day after the attack. But in the days that followed, neither he nor all the members of his administration spoke consistently on the subject. There were many suggestions that the attack was part of demonstrations over an American-made video that disparaged Islam. We rate the statement . Update:   After we published this item, we heard from readers that the president called the attack ""an act of terror"" two more times -- on Sept. 13 in Colorado and Sept. 14 in Nevada . ""As for the ones we lost last night: I want to assure you, we will bring their killers to justice,"" Obama said at a campaign event in Nevada. ""And we want to send a message all around the world -- anybody who would do us harm: No act of terror will dim the light of the values that we proudly shine on the rest of the world, and no act of violence will shake the resolve of the United States of America."" So as we noted in our original item, Romney is off the mark as it relates to the word ""terror."" But Obama contributed to the administration's mixed message when he spoke at the Univision Town Hall event on Sept. 20. A questioner asked:  ""We have reports that the White House said today that the attacks in Libya were a terrorist attack. Do you have information indicating that it was Iran, or al Qaeda was behind organizing the protests?"" Here is Obama’s reply: ""Well, we’re still doing an investigation, and there are going to be different circumstances in different countries. And so I don’t want to speak to something until we have all the information. What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests."" So although Obama acknowledged the uncertainty, he emphasized the inflammatory video and the protest as contributing factors in the attack. By mentioning the video, Obama drew attention away from the possibility that the attack had been a planned assault. This lies at the heart of the dispute over what Obama and his administration were saying in the days after the attack. The president had the chance to be more complete and direct in Florida, but the administration was continuing to focus on the response to the video. Just four days earlier, Ambassador Rice downplayed the possibility that the attack was premeditated. The president’s words did not correct that impression. So while Obama did use the word ""terror,"" there is also some  to Romney's point that it took many days for the administration to fully characterize the attack as the work of a terrorist group. So we're still rating this ."
22399,2,The 2021 infrastructure bill requires all new vehicles to have kill switches that will stop vehicle operation and alert law enforcement when drivers are impaired.,"November 28, 2022",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,"The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 mandated that within three years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration must create technology to hinder people who are under the influence from driving a vehicle. The technology, which will be required as standard equipment in all vehicles, is expected to monitor drivers’ alcohol levels using sensors and infrared lights in vehicles, and if the system detects a blood alcohol level above 0.08, the vehicle will not move. But third parties, including law enforcement, will not have access to the in-vehicle systems or be able to see drivers’ results. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . "
776,1,"In 1992, Barack Obama directed ""Project Vote - an arm of ACORN that also encouraged voter registration.","October 10, 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 memo on campaign Web site,"""  Is it possible that ACORN and Project Vote were going about the same business in Illinois in 1992? Sure. Both groups have the stated goal of getting people to register to vote, especially low-income, minority and young voters. But we find no  that Obama's 1992 work was for ACORN. We rate McCain's  ."
11784,4,"Right now, in every major poll, national poll and statewide poll done in the last month, six weeks, we are defeating Trump, often by big numbers and always at a larger margin than Secretary Clinton is.","May 29, 2016",elections;polls and public opinion,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, ""Right now, in every major poll, national poll and statewide poll done in the last month, six weeks, we are defeating Trump often by big numbers, and always at a larger margin than Secretary Clinton is."" On the numbers, Sanders is correct: In the past six weeks’ worth of polls, Sanders fares 6 points better against Trump than Clinton does, and he beats Trump by double digits on average. Still, polling experts caution that polls this far away from Election Day are not entirely reliable, and they add that Sanders hasn’t been exposed to the same degree of negative attacks as Clinton has. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cd7c011b-445f-4c81-9ca1-c35f63cefcf9"
11620,4,"Pennsylvania has lost 35 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2001"" and ""Harrisburg has lost 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2001.","April 21, 2016",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.",pennsylvania,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign rally speech,"In an attempt to show Pennsylvanians he would work to bring back jobs, Trump said ""Pennsylvania has lost 35 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2001"" and ""Harrisburg has lost 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2001."" The figure about the statewide manufacturing job loss checks out, but his  about Harrisburg losing 40 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2001 is off by about 10 percent. We rate the  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/839cc7a1-e2d7-42ab-99bd-6922ca16af39"
4191,5,Says Ron Paul insisted FEMA should be shut down.,"August 30, 2011",federal budget;public safety;weather,maureen dowd,Maureen Dowd is an opinion columnist for the New York Times.,texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,an oped column,"Federal bureaucracies as a whole don’t do a very good job, but FEMA has the worst reputation of almost any of them."" He also said that the government should ""look at how things were handled before we had FEMA."" Later in the interview, Paul said the federal government should be available for disaster-related rescues. Paul’s campaign didn’t respond to our inquiry. We rate Dowd’s statement ."
6942,3,State support for local schools per pupil has decreased by at least 25 percent over the past decade.,"January 7, 2013",education;state budget,empowered georgia,"EmpowerED Georgia is an organization of an estimated 3,500 parents, students and teachers that aims to improve Georgia's public education system.",georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a chart,"Georgia’s math is supported by the Georgia State study. Still, there are some factors that deserve consideration when examining this , such as the recession’s impact on state spending and larger class sizes. The group’s statement contains an element of  but needs a lot of context to be fully understood. Under the definitions of our rating scale, this rates as . Staff writer Karishma Mehrotra contributed to this article."
13803,1,"North Carolina is home to ""two rivers of the top five most polluted rivers"" in the U.S.","August 31, 2017",environment,billy richardson,State Rep. Billy Richardson is a Democrat from Fayetteville.,north carolina,0,0,0,0,1,0,on the House floor,"Richardson said that N.C. is home to two of the ""top five"" most-polluted rivers in the state. His assistant acknowledged that he might've misquoted the American Rivers ""most endangered"" list – but PolitiFact looked around to see if other data might support his . There’s  that the Neuse River and Cape Fear River, in particular, are threatened not only by waste from local farms but by a chemical that state regulators want to investigate. However, PolitiFact found no basis for Richardson’s  that North Carolina rivers rank among the top five most polluted in the United States. We rate this  .  "
4181,5,The ratio of corporate profits to wages is now higher than at any time since just before the Great Depression.,"August 29, 2011",corporations;economy;jobs;labor;workers,robert reich,Robert Reich is an economist at the University of California (Berkeley) who served as Labor Secretary under President Bill Clinton. He is a frequent political commentator on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos and MSNBC's Hardball.,national,1,2,0,0,1,0,an opinion column,"On the numbers, Reich’s  is essentially correct. And in his analysis, Reich doesn’t over-promise on what the data indicate. Amid  that these numbers could turn out to be a temporary spike, he resists the temptation to label it the culmination of a long-term trend. We find Reich’s formulation both factually supportable and appropriately cautious in its interpretation. We give it a rating of ."
19,3,"Barack Obama supported keeping troops in Iraq, but now he wants a ""precipitous withdrawal"" regardless of ""conditions on the ground"" or ""consequences of a defeat for the United States,"" an RNC radio ad.","July 22, 2007",iraq,republican national committee,The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party.,national,4,5,12,9,8,2,a radio ad,"Obama has been a consistent critic of the rationale for the war in Iraq. His support for withdrawal includes exceptions for national interest and for the Iraqi government to meet benchmarks for progress. The pull-out legislation he proposed in 2007, which set a deadline to have all troops out by March 31, 2008, included provisions to stop the withdrawal if national interests would be jeopardized by continuing"
5916,1,"Mitt Romney ""says the Arizona immigration law should be a model for the nation.","July 17, 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.",texas,124,165,163,71,71,9,San Antonio,"Obama could legitimately have targeted Romney’s vow to immediately drop the federal challenge to Arizona’s immigration-enforcement law as president. Instead, the Democrat’s statement mischaracterizes Romney’s salute to Arizona’s 2007 mandate that employers electronically verify the legal status of employees. That E-Verify requirement was not in the 2010 Arizona law. We rate Obama’s  as ."
16855,0,Says Lee Majors died and left $6 million to Donald Trump.,"December 25, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"Facebook users and pages have also shared the latter with the assumption that it’s real. Majors has been cast in an upcoming movie called ""Narco Sub,"" which is in pre-production for release in 2020. No news outlets have reported that he’s dead. The article is  and makes a  . We rate it !"
4931,1,"When I was speaker, we had four consecutive balanced budgets.","January 23, 2012",federal budget;history,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,Tampa,"Gingrich was off-base with this  -- again. The budget was indeed balanced for four years, but it’s a stretch for him to take credit for anything more than two of those years. We rate Gingrich’s  .  https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/638b4582-eb6f-4e7e-b410-2bfdee9e7dd5"
2994,1,Wisconsin employers have repeatedly said in surveys that our anti-business litigation climate is one of the most important factors affecting their expansion decisions.,"January 27, 2011",jobs;legal issues;small business,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,comments at a bill signing ceremony,"In trying to tie the lawsuit reforms to job creation, Walker asserted the issue is ""one of the most important factors"" when businesses are deciding to expand or invest in Wisconsin. That’s a major overreach. He cited a series of national surveys, which show it’s a concern but lack Wisconsin data and don’t weigh how the concern stacks up against other issues. In the surveys of state businesses we found, lawsuit reform is on the radar screen -- but a blip behind taxes, regulation and other issues. We rate Walker’s  ."
15554,1,"Says there's ""never (been) so many apprehensions ever in our history.","January 10, 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,"McAllen, Texas","In November of fiscal year 2000, Border Patrol logged 76,196 apprehensions . The Rio Grande Valley Sector recorded more apprehensions in November of fiscal year 2017 than it did in November of fiscal year 2019 . By multiple metrics, Trump’s  doesn’t add up. Trump’s statement is . We rate it ."
7026,4,Says a majority of Americans -- and Republicans -- support his approach for deficit reduction.,"March 1, 2013",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 briefing at the White House,"Obama said of a balanced approach to deficit reduction that ""the majority of the American people agree with me and this approach, including, by the way, a majority of Republicans."" We found two polls that supported his statement in its entirety, several polls that supported at least the first half, and polls from Rasmussen and Republican pollster Winston Group presented more of a mixed picture. The majority of the polls we found support the president. We rate the president’s statement ."
19577,1,"Says the ""1986 Vaccine protection act"" resulted in ""the biggest jump in shots"" for children because it gave drug manufacturers ""exemption for responsibility of killing people.","April 6, 2021",health care;public health,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook image post,"A Facebook post shows an image of the CDC's recommended vaccination schedule for children and suggests that the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act led to a ""jump"" in the number of recommended vaccines because it gave drug makers ""exemption for responsibility of killing people."" That’s  and gives a  characterization of the effect of the law on vaccines. The law established an office to oversee the nation’s vaccination efforts, a database to report adverse events after a vaccine is administered and led to the creation of a fund to compensate those who claimed to be injured by a vaccine. What’s more, it was eight years after the law’s adoption before a new vaccine was added to the CDC’s list of recommended childhood vaccines. The CDC’s vaccination schedule, which today includes 12 vaccines providing protection against 16 diseases, is updated on an annual basis in response to health issues impacting the U.S. and as new vaccines become available. We rate this  ."
3096,2,Says John Kitzhaber's proposed budget for upcoming biennium represents 8 percent increase over last,"February 9, 2011",education;state budget,shawn lindsay,"Shawn Lindsay is a Republican who represents House District 30, which covers Hillsboro.",oregon,0,0,0,1,1,0,an e-mail,"Well, without the bonus the following year, that extra $5,000 in wages wouldn’t feel much like a raise, would it? Not as far as we’re concerned. And yet that’s what Lindsay and his fellow Republicans seem to be arguing here. Sorry, we just don’t see it. We rate this  .   Comment on this item."
14669,5,Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obama's term showing children from the Border in steel cages.,"May 29, 2018",immigration;children,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 ""Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obama’s term showing children from the Border in steel cages."" Several Democrats did tweet a photo of a facility where child migrants are detained. While they initially stated the image was something happening right now, the photo was actually from 2014. Trump’s attack on ""Democrats"" is broad here, it is nonetheless accurate. We rate this  . '"
14938,3,"Says Mahlon Mitchell ""received a massive raise on the backs of hard-working firefighters and turned the union into his own personal political slush fund.","August 1, 2018",elections;income;unions,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 news release,"Meanwhile, the union’s political contributions have shifted to Democrats, including more than $40,000 to Mitchell’s current campaign. But the GOP provided no  Mitchell solely decides where the political contributions go. Indeed, the union says he recuses himself from any discussions. Even with an allowance for the hyperbole of campaign season, the ""slush fund"" characterization goes too far. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context our rating is ."
4308,0,"Says ""our taxes have doubled"" with Rick Perry in office.","September 12, 2011",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,"Tampa, Florida","The most that Texas taxes might have increased while Perry was governor is 44 percent, which is 17 percent when inflation is weighed. Maybe Paul’s personal taxes doubled and he can show that’s also Perry’s fault. Paul provided no such . Generalized, his  about taxes under Perry is so far off, it’s smokin’. !"
14083,1,Black homeownership just hit the highest level it has ever been in the history of our country.,"December 8, 2017",housing;race and ethnicity,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,"Pensacola, Fla","Trump said, ""Black homeownership just hit the highest level it has ever been in the history of our country."" In reality, the black homeownership rate peaked in 2004 and has fallen almost every year since, due in large part to the Great Recession and its aftermath. We rate the statement ."
21540,1,"Gun manufacturers are ""the only industry in the country"" that have immunity from lawsuits.","June 2, 2022",legal issues;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 that gun manufacturers represent the only industry in America that is exempt from being sued.  This isn’t accurate. The gun industry is not entirely exempt from being sued and is susceptible to some lawsuits. Further, there are federal laws that restrict liability for a variety of other business sectors.  We rate it . "
472,5,"Ten years ago, John McCain offered a bill that said he would ban a candidate from paying registered lobbyists.","May 21, 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,"Tampa, Fla","The McCain-Feingold bill didn't succeed that year, but in 2002 it did pass and was signed into law by President Bush as the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act. Though considered landmark legislation, it did not address lobbyists working for campaigns. Obama's description of McCain's legislation from a decade ago is accurate. We rule his statement . For more on the other aspects of Obama's attack, see our story here.  "
7191,5,"Within the three miles surrounding the University Circle area, infant mortality exceeds some Third World countries.","April 4, 2013",health care;public health,michele walsh,Dr. Michele Walsh is division chief of neonatology at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland.,ohio,1,0,0,0,0,0,a radio discussion,"He said its most recent three-year average -- a preferable statistic for the neighborhood because it better accounts for fluctuations -- is 18.6 deaths, a figure he noted is still unacceptable and almost double the countywide rate. The average rate worldwide, according to the ""World Factbook,"" is 39.4 per 1,000. The book estimates infant mortality in the United States in 2012 as 6 deaths per 1,000 births -- worse than the average for nations of the European Union and worse than countries including Australia, South Korea and Cuba. Its figures show that some Third World nations have infant mortality rates that are exceeded by those for some neighborhoods within three miles of University Circle. Walsh’s statement rates as ."
17936,1,"An image from the St. Louis protest is ""what MSM (mainstream media) won't show you. Peaceful demonstrator pointing weapon at homeowner.","June 30, 2020",race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"A post with an image from St. Louis says, ""This is what MSM (mainstream media) won’t show you. Peaceful demonstrator pointing weapon at homeowner."" The person who took the photo said the peaceful demonstrator was holding a video camera and microphone, not a gun. We rate this  ."
7719,2,"Miami-Dade County is the ""No. 1 donor county in the state.","August 20, 2013",state budget;taxes,rene garcia,"Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, is a former city council man and state representative. He was elected to the Florida Senate in 2010.",florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a Florida Cabinet meeting,"Garcia said that Miami-Dade County is the ""No. 1 donor county in the state."" Garcia points to Miami-Dade contributing the most in sales taxes to the state. This isn’t surprising, though, since it is the largest county and a big tourism market. But budget experts warned us that it is difficult to create a ledger with spending and revenues and assign all those dollars to particular counties. Also, some money received by the county is based on a population formula and some revenues sent to the state are from tourists, not resident taxpayers. So far, we have seen no proof that Miami-Dade earns that top donor label spot, nor can we name any other county. At PolitiFact we believe the burden of proof is on the person making the statement and Garcia hasn’t done that here. We rate this  ."
2205,2,"John Boehner said the jobs of ""teachers and nurses and police officers and firefighters"" are ""'government jobs' that weren't worth saving.","September 5, 2010",economy;education;states,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 on Labor Day,"This time Obama said that Boehner ""dismissed these jobs – teaching our kids, patrolling our streets, rushing into burning buildings – as quote 'government jobs – jobs that I guess he thought just weren't worth saving."") Obama's Labor Day statement was accurate in that Boehner did refer did refer to teachers' jobs as government jobs. But the Republican leader did not say government jobs weren't worth saving. He merely said the stimulus was misguided because it put too much emphasis on government spending. So we rate Obama's statement ."
17372,1,"Says a military Humvee labeled ""COVID-19 quarantine team"" was on Interstate 696 in Michigan.","March 16, 2020",military;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,"Searching for ""COVID-19 quarantine team"" online turned up only links to fact-checks, unsubstantiated social media posts and forums like 4Chan, the source of several high-profile conspiracy theories.   A YouTube video from March 16 shows the same image that’s in the Facebook posts, only this time the vehicle is allegedly in Ohio.   A March 19 tweet claims the photograph was taken on the M25 in London. BuzzFeed found that and other claims about the British Army’s role in restrictions in response to the coronavirus to be  . Uncorroborated claims about a ""COVID-19 quarantine team"" in Michigan merit the same rating: ."
6272,4,"Says he and Mitt Romney ""always said that we agree with the 2014 deadline"" for leaving Afghanistan.","September 9, 2012",afghanistan;foreign policy,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 appearance on 'This Week.',"Ryan claimed that he and Romney have ""always agreed"" with the 2014 timetable for withdrawing from Afghanistan. We found numerous instances where Romney expressed support for that deadline. His criticism was not of the date itself but the announcement of it, which he said emboldened the Taliban and endangered troops. But Romney also has said a troop withdrawal would be conditional on what the situation on the ground is -- an important caveat that could leave him room to ignore the deadline. Ryan’s statement was accurate but for that one detail. We rate it ."
23262,0,"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in his yearbook that his ""Mount Rushmore is Jesus, Sir-Mixes-a-Lot, and Nintendo 64.","July 10, 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,"Instagram posts sharing the image were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Sean Clark, a spokesperson for Pinellas County Schools, the district that includes Dunedin High School, told PolitiFact in an email that although the image of DeSantis is authentic and from the Dunedin High School yearbook, ""there is no quote within the yearbook photo beneath Gov. Desantis’s photo nor any other student within the yearbook."" Another version of this yearbook photo, posted on Reddit in April by someone claiming to have attended high school with DeSantis, does not include the quote.   We rate claims that this is an authentic quote ."
22172,2,"More than half of the $739 billion tax increase (in the Inflation Reduction Act) will go to wasteful Green New Deal programs like tree equity, 'clean' garbage trucks, and studying cow farts.","August 31, 2022",environment;animals;federal budget;taxes,citizens against government waste,"Citizens Against Government Waste works to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.",west virginia,0,0,0,1,0,0,a Facebook ad,"The Citizens Against Government Waste ad said, ""More than half of the $739 billion tax increase (in the Inflation Reduction Act) will go to wasteful Green New Deal programs like tree equity, 'clean' garbage trucks, and studying cow farts."" First, calling the $739 billion a tax increase is exaggerated. Not counting federal health care savings that are counted as revenue, the tax increase’s scale is about $457 billion. The bill’s environmental provisions do add up to $391 billion, or more than half of $739 billion. However, the amount spent on trees, clean trucks and cattle emissions account for a tiny fraction of that, somewhere between one-half of 1% and 1.4%. We rate the statement ."
16961,1,"Says Aaron Hernandez' daughter is, by Massachusetts law, entitled to the remainder of his $15 million NFL contract because he committed suicide during his appeal, making his conviction ""null and void.","January 16, 2020",legal issues;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"But it’s a moot point now. The prosecution appealed to have the conviction reinstated, and on March 13, 2019, it was.   The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated Hernandez’s murder conviction in a unanimous decision to do away with the legal principle. The court called the rule ""outdated and no longer consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life,"" and ordered Hernandez’ conviction to be restored and that the practice be abolished for future cases. We rate this  is ."
17086,1,Says Kate Spade worked with the Clintons and suggests they were involved in her death.,"July 21, 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,"We couldn’t find the ""multiple strange photos"" that the post says her husband, Andy Spade, allegedly took of her before her death. We were also unable to find any mention of the photos in the thoroughly covered news of her death. The New York City Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that Spade’s death was a suicide. It’s a far reach to suggest that her brand’s participation in events a decade after she sold the company is  that the Clintons were involved in her suicide years later.   We rate this ."
10316,5,We spend more money on lobbying than we do on campaigns.,"May 31, 2015",campaign finance;ethics;punditfact,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,,10,5,3,7,7,1,"a broadcast of ""Fox News Sunday""","Will said that more money is spent on lobbying than on campaigns. In terms of the expenditures reported at the federal level, that is correct. In every election cycle since 2008, more money has gone toward lobbying than elections. The experts we reached said the official lobbying numbers fail to capture a lot of activity. Will’s statement is accurate. We rate it ."
15021,2,"Says Bruce Rauner is ""misquoting newspapers to lie about J.B. Pritzker.","August 24, 2018",taxes,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 ad,"Pritzker’s ad says Rauner ""is misquoting newspapers"" to lie about him. Rauner’s ad selectively quotes from newspapers —  editorials — to reinforce a disputed narrative that Pritzker is out to broadly hike taxes on Illinoisans. In doing so, Rauner leaves out a key point acknowledged in the articles that his ad cites: Pritzker says he only wants to raise taxes on wealthier individuals. The Democrat’s campaign argues this means Rauner’s ad is ""misquoting"" those articles by taking them out of context. But most of the ad’s driving excerpts come from editorials or opinion columns that share Rauner’s dim view of Pritzker’s tax policies. The position advanced by Rauner’s ad clearly matches the harsher editorials that frame it. While Pritzker’s statement contains an element of , it ignores this critical fact. We rate it ."
20526,1,"President Joe Biden threatened to ""swoop down with Special Forces folks and gather up every gun in America.","October 26, 2021",facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post claims that President Joe Biden threatened to ""swoop down with Special Forces folks and gather up every gun in America."" The  shows a seconds-long clip from a much longer speech that Biden delivered, when he described and debunked claims about proposed gun control legislation. His remark about the government gathering guns was intended to show what kind of misinformation was being spread. The entirety of his speech includes the context that makes that clear. We rate this  .   "
21996,2,"Three court rulings since May 2022 ""have made it clear that it is unconstitutional to ban someone between the ages of 18 and 20 from being able to buy an AR.","August 31, 2022",legal issues;guns,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 event,"Abbott claimed that three court rulings since May 2022 ""have made it clear that it is unconstitutional to ban someone between the ages of 18 and 20 from being able to buy an AR."" Only one of the cases Abbott cited directly addressed limiting purchases of semi-automatic rifles. A California judge ruled the age restriction was constitutional and an appeals court disagreed, before vacating the ruling after Abbott’s statement. But Abbott also didn’t mention a case in Florida that is being appealed, in which a judge found the age limit did pass constitutional muster. Furthermore, the Supreme Court hasn’t weighed in on an age limit. We rate Abbott’s  ."
12516,5,Right now we are at 90 percent health insurance covered. That's the highest we've ever been in our country.,"October 9, 2016",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,the second 2016 presidential debate,"Clinton said, ""Right now we are at 90 percent health insurance covered. That's the highest we've ever been in our country."" According to Census Bureau data, that’s correct; it was just shy of 91 percent in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. We rate the statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/491fb1b8-ab7c-4372-bd27-f484b5729ea7"
3907,2,"Because of Democratic tax hikes, New Jersey ended a decade with fewer private sector jobs for the first time in recorded history.","June 29, 2011",jobs;taxes,steve oroho,Steve Oroho is a Republican state senator representing Sussex County and parts of Morris and Warren counties.,new jersey,0,1,0,1,0,0,a press release from Sen. Steve Oroho (R-Sussex),"Let’s review: Pointing to Democratic tax hikes, Oroho said the last decade marked the first time since 1939 that New Jersey ended a decade with fewer private-sector jobs than it started with. He’s right, based on research by Rutgers professors and our own analysis of federal data. But given the impact of the recession on job losses -- and as the senator acknowledges himself -- tax hikes are not the only factors involved. We rate his statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
16716,1,There's actually been more subpoenas issued by the (U.S. House) majority than bills passed.,"November 11, 2019",congress;impeachment,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,,"Wittman said, ""There’s actually been more subpoenas issued by the majority than bills passed."" That’s , and Wittman’s spokesperson told us the congressman misspoke. But the  the  Wittman’s spokesperson says the congressman was trying to make - that House Democrats are responsible for more subpoenas than bills passed into law - is also , since it compares two very different processes. We rate this statement .  "
8908,0,"U.S. Reps. Eric Cantor and Luis Gutierrez were ""touring the country last year … joined at the hip, working together in a bipartisan fashion indeed for the goal of immigration reform.","June 3, 2014",immigration,laura ingraham,"Laura Ingraham is a conservative broadcaster and commentator. On April 13, 2014, she was named an ABC News contributor.",virginia,0,0,1,3,8,1,a speech,"Ingraham said Cantor and Gutierrez were ""touring the country last year … joined at the hip, working together in a bipartisan fashion indeed for the goal of immigration reform."" Cantor and Gutierrez were among 100 leaders who attended a pilgrimage to the New York City area last July that focused on immigration issues. Aides say that’s the only immigration event Cantor and Gutierrez both happened to attend and that the two lawmakers have never met to discuss immigration. One event in New York does not make a national tour. Ingraham can’t point to another immigration gig Cantor and Gutierrez both attended. Her likening the two politicians to Simon and Garfunkel ""joined at the hip"" on a tour to promote immigration reform is not only , it’s . We rate Ingraham’s statement ."
14221,1,"The immigration visa lottery ""randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of American people.","January 30, 2018",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 visa lottery program ""randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of our people."" While lottery applicants are randomly selected, they must meet education and work experience requirements. They must also be vetted by the United States government before being allowed to come to the United States. We rate Trump’s  ."
11037,4,There is a federal criminal law that says it's a crime to transport dentures across state lines.,"November 24, 2015",public health,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 radio interview,"Goodlatte said it’s a federal crime ""to transport dentures across state lines."" He made the statement while promoting a bill that would repeal what he considers to be unnecessary laws. A 73-year-old federal law does make it a crime for non-dentists who make  teeth to ship their wares out of state. But it doesn’t restrict citizens from wearing their dentures wherever they go. The congressman didn’t mention that. So Goodlatte’s  is accurate but needs a clarification. We rate it ."
21628,2,"Planned Parenthood clinics are ""closing down all over the country"" because Roe v. Wade was overturned.","June 27, 2022",abortion;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Facebook post said that Planned Parenthood clinics are ""closing down all over the country"" because Roe v. Wade was overturned. Planned Parenthood says it has more than 600 health centers. We found some examples of Planned Parenthood clinics shuttering before the ruling. In some cases, news reports noted that the closures were in anticipation of the ruling and that Planned Parenthood was shifting resources to prepare for a post-Roe reality — merging some clinics and opening at least one near the border of a state where abortion will be illegal. But the suggestion that there’s a widespread closure of Planned Parenthood clinics across the country because they can no longer perform abortions in some states is . And none have closed since the Supreme Court’s ruling. We rate this  . "
6542,5,Says fewer than 30 percent of Texas college students graduate in four years and only 58 percent graduate within six years.,"October 1, 2012",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,a press conference,Perry said fewer than 30 percent of Texas college students graduate in four years and only 58 percent graduate within six years. That information is drawn from the state’s higher education oversight agency. We rate the  as .
9328,0,"Says Dan Sullivan approved a ""light sentence"" for a sex offender who got out of prison and is now charged with a gruesome murder and sexual assault.","August 29, 2014",criminal justice;crime;message machine 2014,mark begich,U.S. Sen. Mark Begich is a Democrat from Alaska. He was elected in November 2008.,national,0,2,0,0,0,1,a campaign ad,"Begich said Sullivan approved a ""light sentence"" to a sex offender who is now charged with ""murdering a senior couple and sexually assaulting their two-year-old granddaughter."" Active, who is awaiting trial, received a shorter sentence than he was supposed to, but the  that led to this sentence happened before Sullivan became attorney general. So to pin the error on Sullivan is , and to suggest that he actively approved the sentence is a fabrication.  The ad is not only , it makes an inflammatory accusation. We rate this  ."
17831,1,"Nancy Pelosi ordered a 220-seat Boeing 757 to fly to her home state, costing taxpayers nearly $5.8 million annually.","March 25, 2020",congress;corrections and updates;federal budget;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on social media,"We rate this statement .  Correction (July 1, 2020): Pelosi had access to a 12-seat Gulfstream V aircraft during her first term as speaker. An earlier version of this story incorrectly suggested she had access to and occassionally flew on a larger plane. This story has been updated to reflect that change. The ruling stands."
20954,1,"The New York City Police Department arrested a 9-year-old ""because she didn't have a vaccine card in the museum.","January 22, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",new york,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"An Instagram post said the New York City Police Department arrested a 9-year-old ""because she didn’t have a vaccine card in the museum."" The child was not arrested. She was escorted to the police station and cared for by officers until a group of adults who had been arrested — including her mother — was released. The adults were arrested for trespassing because they refused to leave the museum after it closed, not because they failed to show proof of vaccination. We rate this  .   "
20532,1,"Live Nation scheduled the 50,000-person Astroworld music festival at a venue that has a capacity of 20,000.","November 8, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"Live Nation, which reported $2.7 billion in revenue for its third quarter, is the world's largest live-event company. A viral Facebook post said event organizer Live Nation scheduled the 50,000-person Astroworld festival at a venue that has a capacity of 20,000. The venue has a capacity of 200,000, based on fire codes, and attendance was capped at 50,000.   The  also said that the event lacked sufficient water stations and medical personnel, but those reports are anecdotal and have not been substantiated by city officials. We rate this  .   "
4635,3,"In Rhode Island, ""only 5 percent of ozone pollution is from local or in-state sources. . . Ninety-five percent comes from outside of our borders, particularly the Midwest.","November 10, 2011",environment;energy;public health;states,jack reed,"Jack Reed, a former attorney and army officer, is Rhode Island's senior. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 until 1996, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.",rhode island,3,1,2,1,0,0,a speech on the Senate floor,"Jack Reed said 95 percent of Rhode Island's ozone pollution comes from outside the state, and most of it is imported from the Midwest. The percentages come from a 13-year-old EPA report -- the most recent available -- that looks at, not ozone directly, but the pollutants that generate ozone under the right conditions. But the pollution sent into the air by smokestacks in the Midwest makes up only a small fraction of the pollution coming into Rhode Island, an amount overwhelmed by the dirty air coming from New York and New Jersey. Because the first part of Reed’s statement is accurate and the second part is not, we’ll split the difference and rate his   . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
7320,4,The economy added more jobs during four years under Obama than it did in the entire eight years under George W. Bush.,"May 8, 2013",economy;jobs,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 the economy gained more jobs in Obama’s first term than it did through Bush’s two terms. This statement depends on cherry-picking information for particular months--obscuring the fact that at one point during Bush’s presidency, the economy had gained more jobs than the country picked up in Obama’s first term. It’s also a stretch to pin, or associate, job gains or losses on any president. The economy is influenced by many additional factors. These clarifications aside, the nation had net job gains during Obama’s first term outpacing net job gains through Bush’s two terms, which ended with a downturn that was the worst since the Great Depression. We rate this  as ."
16160,2,There are parts of I-80 near Joliet that school buses are not allowed to cross because of the fragile nature of a bridge.,"June 3, 2019",infrastructure;public safety;taxes,jim durkin,Jim Durkin is the Illinois State Representative for the 82nd District and the House Republican Leader.,illinois,0,0,0,1,0,0,a radio interview,"Durkin said, ""There are parts of I-80 near Joliet that school buses are not allowed to cross because of the fragile nature of a bridge."" Neither state transportation officials nor any of the Joliet-area school district officials we spoke with could identify such a policy and Durkin’s office couldn’t point us to one. Some districts do try to avoid taking the interstate whenever possible, though, not just because of the bridges but also because of traffic congestion through Joliet and heavy trucks often barrelling at high speeds away from town. So Durkin’s on firm ground when it comes to his broader point about the critical need for infrastructure investment in the area following years of neglect. However, he underscored that argument with a sloppy example that does not match up with the facts. 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."
2237,1,"John Boehner has called for ""repealing the rest of the stimulus, which would raise taxes on 110 million middle class people.","September 12, 2010",stimulus;this week - abc news;taxes,austan goolsbee,Austan Goolsbee is the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. He also serves as chief economist of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Goolsbee is the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He was an economic adviser to Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.,national,0,3,0,0,1,0,"ABC's ""This Week""","And Democrats want to remind that it does. But in this case, we think Goolsbee is overreaching to make his point. Yes, Boehner and other Republicans have talked about putting a halt to all unspent stimulus -- and without being more specific, one might wonder if that includes money not yet spent on tax credits. But when you dig into the nitty-gritty of the Republicans' plan, it specifically notes that it does not include repeal of Making Work Pay. And so we rule Goolsbee's  ."
17033,3,"Under my administration, 7 million Americans have come off of food stamps, and 10 million people have been lifted off of welfare.","February 4, 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,the State of the Union,"Trump said, ""Under my administration, 7 million Americans have come off of food stamps, and 10 million people have been lifted off of welfare."" Trump’s  that 7 million Americans have come off food stamps since he took office isn’t too far off, although some discrepancies in reporting show slightly skewed data. The decline is also likely due to both the growing economy and the administration’s policy changes that have affected eligibility for some groups.  But his broad welfare  overshoots actual caseloads and appears to include programs that provide benefits to children and seniors as well as working adults.  We rate this . "
9279,4,"Says he ""invested over $100 million in worker training.","August 13, 2014",education;jobs;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 ad,"For example, $12 million is allocated for ""WorkKeys,"" a job skills assessment that is intended ""to help high school pupils identify necessary coursework and provide another indicator for career readiness."" Our rating Walker said he has ""invested over $100 million into worker training."" The governor has directed more than $100 million into a variety of new worker training programs. But his statement needs clarification in that he also cut general aid to technical colleges, some of which is used for worker training.    Our rating is ."
468,5,"Sen. Obama has declared, and repeatedly reaffirmed his intention to meet the president of Iran without any preconditions.","May 19, 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,Chicago,"Host Tim Russert asked if Obama was afraid of being used in a propaganda way. ""I've got to say I'm not afraid of losing a propaganda war to somebody like Ahmadinejad,"" Obama said. ""You know, strong countries and strong presidents speak with their adversaries."" In those contexts, Obama clearly counts Ahmadinejad among those with whom he would meet. We rate McCain's statement ."
15216,3,"Says congressional candidate Dino Rossi once suggested ""the state build homes for unwed mothers.","October 9, 2018",abortion,washington state democratic party,Washington State Democratic Party logo for thumbnail,national,0,0,1,0,0,0,a tweet,"The Washington State Democratic Party said in a tweet that Rossi suggested the state build ""homes for unwed mothers, which sounds right out of ""The Handmaid’s Tale."" It is  that Rossi wants to ban abortion except in cases of incest or rape or where the mother's life is at risk. But he did not actually suggest the state build homes for unwed mothers. He sympathetically spoke of them as an example of options from years ago, and said, ""I see that as the Right to Life movement moving towards that direction, which I think is healthy."" While Rossi’s critics speculate he means the direction of ""The Handmaid’s Tale,"" his campaign says they have taken his comment out of context. The tweet had an element of  but, just like Rossi’s statement, requires a lot of context to understand. Those are the very conditions under which we rule a  ."
7219,3,Women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.,"April 8, 2013",economy;income;poverty;wealth;women;workers,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 tweet promoting Equal Pay Day,"Gina Raimondo said, ""Women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men."" That's only  for one oft-cited statistic that does not, for example, look at part-time jobs where women tend to make more per week and does not address the crucial underlying question of whether women are getting equal pay for equal work. The gap shrinks -- sometimes considerably -- when complicating factors such as pay per hour or the decisions of women to leave the work force to raise children are considered. The 77-cent statistic has been widely cited by PolitiFact and other fact-checkers as oversimplified and , yet it is still being used without qualification. On the other hand, other reliable measures of pay by gender also show that a significant gap persists, although not in all professions. Because Raimondo's statement leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate it  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
13142,2,"Says Republican legislators in North Carolina raised the average teacher's pay ""by more than 15 percent in just three years.","March 13, 2017",corrections and updates;education;state budget,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,a the GOP response to Roy Cooper's State of the State speech,"Berger said Republicans in North Carolina promised to raise teacher pay ""by more than 15 percent in just three years,"" and ""that is exactly what House and Senate Republicans have accomplished in our state."" The average teacher's salary in the last three years has risen 10.8 percent. And over the entire time Republicans have been in charge of the state budget, the total raise has been even smaller than that, since teacher pay fell during the first three years of GOP control. Berger’s office pointed to numbers for just the state’s portion of teachers’ salaries. But there are some issues with the accounting there, and that’s also not what Berger actually talking about. Pay has been rising for North Carolina teachers recently, but not by nearly as much as Berger claims. We rate this  . Correction:  Teachers have received a 10.8 percent raise over the last three years, not over the last four years as a previous version of this article said. There also has been a 4.2 percent increase in the last two years.  This does not change our ruling."
15221,1,"After Hurricane Hermine in 2016, Tallahassee ""didn't have power for weeks because (Mayor Andrew Gillum) stood in the way of crews being able to come in and restore power, because they weren't members of the right union or something.","October 15, 2018",city government;natural disasters ,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,West Miami of Ron DeSantis supporters,"Rubio said after Hurricane Hermine in 2016, Tallahassee ""didn’t have power for weeks because (Gillum) stood in the way of crews being able to come in and restore power, because they weren’t members of the right union or something."" The vast majority of Tallahassee customers had power within a week, according to a county report, a state office and media reports at the time. There is no  that Gillum rejected an offer of help to restore power based on union or political concerns. The decision about whether to accept help from various utilities was in the hands of the city’s general manager of utilities. Rubio’s storm of concern does not have the facts to back it up. We rate this statement ."
7180,4,"Says Obama called Medicaid ""broken"" four years ago.","March 14, 2013",health care;medicaid,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 at the Conservative Political Action Conference,"Perry said that Obama called Medicaid ""broken."" In context, it’s clear the president was including Medicaid as a significant part of the entire health care system and that his larger point was that health care costs need to be reined in. Still, Obama described expanding the Medicare and Medicaid rolls as putting ""more people in a broken system."" We rate the governor’s statement as ."
17015,3,The president has exploded the debt by more than $3 trillion — all to give billion-dollar tax cuts to the wealthiest few.,"February 4, 2020",debt;taxes,veronica escobar,"Veronica Escobar took office in 2019 as the U.S. Representative for Texas’ 16th Congressional District in El Paso. She was previously a County Commissioner and a County Judge.
 ",texas,1,2,3,0,0,0,a speech,"Escobar said, ""The president has exploded the debt by more than $3 trillion — all to give billion-dollar tax cuts to the wealthiest few."" She is in the ballpark on the scale of the increase. However, while an independent analysis found that that tax law has added to the debt, it also found that a similar amount was added to the debt by two spending bills that Democrats largely supported prior to Trump’s signature. And while the tax cut does provide tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, it cuts taxes for lots of other people, too. We rate the statement ."
20470,1,Atlanta just lost 75% of its police force,"October 20, 2021",public safety;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",georgia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims two-thirds of Atlanta’s police officers resigned en masse, and pointed to a tweet made by a police chief announcing the resignations as proof. Although the tweet is real, it was made by the resigning chief of police in Nahunta, Ga., a small town nearly 250 miles away from Atlanta. Atlanta has seen more than 300 employee departures since 2020 but they weren’t ""en masse"" resignations and, even if calculated at its most liberal interpretation, does not equate to anywhere near 75% of the department. We rate this  . RELATED VIDEO"
13694,0,"There are communities under Sharia law right now in our country. Up in Illinois. ... There's Sharia law, as I understand it, in Illinois, Indiana -- up there. I don't know.","August 14, 2017",islam;race and ethnicity;religion,roy moore,"Roy Moore is a lawyer, judge, activist and Republican politician from Alabama. Moore ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2017. He served as judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Court of Alabama from 1992 until he was elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000. He was removed from his position in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument he installed in the Alabama Judicial Building. He then served as president of the Foundation for Moral Law, a Christian activist group, until 2012 when he was once again elected Chief Justice.",national,0,0,2,0,1,1,an interview with Vox.com,"Moore said, ""There are communities under Sharia law right now in our country. Up in Illinois. ... There’s Sharia law, as I understand it, in Illinois, Indiana — up there. I don't know."" After checking with multiple experts, we found no  of such a community. What we did find was a satirical Daily Beast article headlined, ""Next, We Muslims Bring Sharia to Indiana."" We rate Moore’s statement ."
19849,0,Biden gets brutal impeachment.,"June 7, 2021",impeachment;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"But they’re not real.   Article II of the Constitution gives the U.S. House of Representatives the sole power to impeach an official .   Republicans controlled the House when they initiated the impeachment process against Clinton, and Democrats controlled the House when they initiated the impeachment process against Trump in 2020 over his Ukraine call and again in 2021 after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.   Democrats, who still control the House, would break from that precedent if they initiated the impeachment process against a president like Biden from their own party.    We rate this post !"
10315,4,"Says Gov. Scott Walker's proposed state budget contained 110 pages of errors -- an unusually high number -- ""and millions of dollars' worth of mistakes"" that were corrected with a follow-up document.","April 15, 2015",state budget,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 press release,"The memo also created a new policy, and proposed capping UW System undergraduate tuition increases at no more than the annual increase in the consumer price index. Our rating Taylor said that Walker’s proposed budget ""contained 110 pages and millions of dollars’ worth of mistakes"" that were corrected with a follow-up document. Taylor is right on the number of the tweaks made in the budget and that they affected millions of dollars in the state budget. But such clean-up memos are a routine part of the budget process -- though there were a bit more this time than in the three previous state budgets. We rate Taylor’s  ."
2413,1,"Steve Southerland did not pay his taxes in '05, '06, '07, '08 or '09.","September 27, 2010",message machine 2010;taxes,allen boyd,"Allen Boyd is a former congressman from Monticello representing Florida's 2nd Congressional District in North Florida. He was defeated in a re-election campaign on Nov. 2, 2010.",florida,0,1,0,0,1,0,a TV ad,"In every case, Southerland eventually fully satisfied his tax obligation. The ad makes it seem like Southerland thumbed his nose at the tax collector and then squared up on five years' worth of taxes only after he'd decided to run for Congress, and that simply is not the case. Make what you will of Southerland paying late on some business property taxes. But paying late is not the same as not paying at all. We rate the ad's  ."
11777,1,"Says Donald Trump ""has the second-highest disapproval ratings of anyone running for president.","April 21, 2016",polls and public opinion,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,an online campaign ad,"Before bowing out for president, Cruz said Trump had the second-highest disapproval ratings of anyone bidding for president. Not quite. A February 2016 poll showed Clinton with slightly worse ratings than Trump, who had the second-worst rating overall. But the unfavorability gap between Clinton and Trump also fell within the poll’s margin of error--and more than 20 other polls taken from February into April 2016 each showed Trump at No. 1 in disapproval. 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/b4d0da45-3dc9-4b36-b329-65d85ab8b115"
19037,2,"Says COVID-19 relief bill ""provides more funding to foreign governments and to American arts centers, than to the American people.","December 21, 2020",federal budget;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The overall spending bill included funding for American arts centers and foreign aid, but that funding was not included in the COVID-19 relief bill. It was part of the $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill. The Facebook post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.   We rate it . PolitiFact staff writer Bill McCarthy contributed to this report."
4998,3,"Says Pennsylvania charges a top income tax rate of 3 percent and Delaware ""has no state income tax at all.","January 30, 2012",taxes,joe pennacchio,"Joe Pennacchio is a Republican state senator representing parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties.",new jersey,0,0,1,0,0,0,a news release,"At a Senate committee hearing and then in a news release afterwards, Pennacchio claimed that Pennsylvania imposes an income tax rate of 3 percent and Delaware doesn’t collect any state income taxes. The senator’s on target when it comes to Pennsylvania, where taxpayers face a flat rate of 3.07 percent. But he’s  about Delaware, since that state imposes income tax rates ranging from 2.2 percent to more than 6 percent. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
8592,0,"Says Marco Rubio believes the earth is 9,000 years old and that humans hunted dinosaurs to extinction; says  Rand Paul believes the earth is 10,000 years old and God removed dinosaurs ""to make space for humans.","March 10, 2014",religion;science,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post from Being Liberal,"Being Liberal’s Facebook post claimed Rubio and Paul believe the Earth is 9,000 and 10,000 years old, respectively. While both men have made vague statements concerning their beliefs about the age of the Earth, neither has publicly cited the figures claimed in the post, and Rubio has even given the widely held scientific answer to the question. As for the senators’ views on the fate of the dinosaurs, we’ll take a page from Rubio’s playbook and call it one of the world’s great mysteries, because it doesn’t appear either has said anything in public regarding the issue. So there are no public statements to back up the Facebook post’s , and Rubio has even said the direct opposite. We rate this  ."
4304,0,"Says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ""is denying Democrats the right to vote.","September 14, 2011",elections,democratic governors association,The Democratic Governors Association is an independent organization that supports Democratic governors and candidates.,wisconsin,1,0,1,1,0,2,an online ad,It’s certainly  that most Wisconsin residents who don’t have a photo ID will have to get one in order to vote. But words matter. The association goes too far in saying Walker is denying Democrats the right to vote. That is simply not the case. We rate the  as .
16845,0,"Says Nancy Pelosi said, if impeachment ""doesn't go through, I'll resign.","December 25, 2019",fake news;impeachment;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a fake news post,The word itself means a lie in French . A search of the Nexis news database brought up nothing to back up the site’s . This is another example of a material moving from a so-called satire site to a website with no satire disclaimer. The original bunk was dated Dec. 9. This  is !
15195,4,Only Duterte's Philippines and Trump's United States of America have money bail.,"October 8, 2018",legal issues;crime,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 gubernatorial debate,"Newsom said, ""Only Duterte’s Philippines and and Trump’s United States of America have money bail."" These two countries are international outliers on bail policy, but Newsom would have been more accurate if he’d specified the role of commercial bail providers, rather than ""money bail"" more generally. In addition, his references to Trump and Duterte are gratuitous, since the policies were well-established for decades before they took office. We rate the statement ."
18026,3,Cal Cunningham criticized (the Paycheck Protection Program) while his company benefitted.,"July 7, 2020",stimulus;coronavirus,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 tweet,"Tillis said ""Cal Cunningham criticized (the Paycheck Protection Program) while his company benefitted."" Cunningham criticized the PPP to the extent that it wasn’t reaching enough companies and lacked adequate oversight -- and he’s not alone. Republican senators, including Tillis, have expressed similar concerns. As for WasteZero being ""his"" company, Cunningham currently works for the company on a contract basis. Cunningham was not a founder. And PolitiFact is not aware of any ownership stake he has in the company. Furthermore, the CEO says  Cunningham wasn’t involved in the PPP application, or the decision to pursue PPP funds. The tweet is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate this  ."
22796,1,Trump just shared a bombshell letter from Stormy Daniels debunking DA Bragg's case.,"March 23, 2023",campaign finance;legal issues;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"RELATED: Q&A: Can Trump run for president if indicted in Stormy Daniels case? What happens if he's arrested? RELATED: Fact-checking Trump’s  and  claims in Waco, Texas, rally RELATED: Fact-checking Trump on the Stormy Daniels case: The statute of limitations and the FEC's role"
20409,0,"COVID-19 vaccines contain ""RNA-modifying transhumanism nanotechnology.","October 13, 2021",public health;technology;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,carrie madej,"Dr. Carrie Madej describes herself as an osteopathic internal medicine physician who “dedicates her time educating others on vaccines, nanotechnology and human rights.”
 ",georgia,0,0,0,0,0,1,a Facebook post,"Madej said the COVID-19 vaccines contain ""RNA-modifying transhumanism nanotechnology."" There is no  that the three vaccines used in the U.S. contain any such thing. Two of the vaccines use mRNA technology that does not change the body’s DNA or RNA or alter humans permanently. The  is  and  — !"
18369,0,"Says Donald Trump said, 'Africans Are Lazy, Good At Sex, Theft.'","September 11, 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,"An Instagram post shows an image of a newspaper story that claims Trump said ""Africans Are Lazy, Good At Sex, Theft."" There is no  Trump said this. We rate this  !"
8645,4,"By a two-to-one margin, Rhode Islanders want to ban assault weapons and we have a very small percentage of gun owners in this state, less than 13 percent.","March 18, 2014",legal issues;government regulation;public health;public safety;recreation;regulation;states;guns,linda finn,"Linda D. Finn, a Democrat, was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 2012. A landscape designer, she represents District 72, which includes parts of Middletown and Portsmouth.",rhode island,0,2,1,0,0,0,a speech during a rally at the Rhode Island state house,"Rep. Linda Finn said, ""By a two-to-one margin, Rhode Islanders want to ban assault weapons and we have a very small percentage of gun owners in this state, less than 13 percent."" Finn's statement about how Rhode Islanders feel about the issue comes from a recent robocall poll that has not been confirmed by any other Rhode Island polls. Her statement on the rate of gun ownership in Rhode Island is based on very outdated studies. But we have not been able to find any more recent data to suggest the number has changed. Because Finn's 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.)"
5339,1,"If the Supreme Court throws out the federal health care law, it ""would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.","April 2, 2012",health care;legal issues;supreme court,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 Rose Garden press conference,"That was a lot of Supreme Court history. First, let’s review Obama’s statement: ""Ultimately, I am confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."" There’s simply no support for the assertion that the law was passed by a ""strong majority."" It was passed along party lines in a sharply partisan climate, and the 60 votes in the Senate were the minimum needed to keep Republicans from bottling it up in a filibuster. But the ""unprecedented"" idea is more nuanced. It’s without question that the Supreme Court overturning a law passed by Congress -- by any margin -- is a common and routine occurrence, and by no means without precedent. Volokh gave us a close analogy with the case of Boerne vs. Flores , a religious freedom law that glided through Congress but was held unconstitutional by a majority of the court, including two of its liberal justices. However, Obama’s elaboration a day later at least gives us more to think about. He argued that invalidation of the health care law would represent a court action unseen since the Great Depression on an issue that affects every American. Ornstein echoed that interpretation, saying that a ruling by the court which overturns a major social policy and challenges prior court rulings would be unprecedented. But we’re taking Obama literally, and that historical perspective was not reflected in his original statement, which is what we're ruling on. He simply said the law passed with a strong majority and overturning it would be unprecedented.  and . We rate the statement ."
18494,1,You said you went to Delaware State but you forgot the name of your college.,"September 29, 2020",debates,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,First presidential debate,"The university itself pushed back on conservative media outlets reporting that Biden falsely claimed to have attended the school.   For the record, Biden attended the University of Delaware.   We rate this  .   This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
3733,5,We already have $23 billion worth of debt.,"June 2, 2011",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,ABC News 27 interview,"Scott said he thought about the state's $23 billion debt as he weighed whether to veto certain programs. We verified that figure with the Division of Bond Finance's most recent estimate, and experts consider the figure a street convention to describe the debt. We rate his  ."
11790,1,"It was allowed,"" referring to her email practices.","May 26, 2016",homeland security;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 ABC,"Regarding her decision to use a private email server, Clinton said, ""It was allowed."" No one ever stopped Clinton from conducting work over her private email server exclusively. But that’s not the same thing as it being allowed. Offices within the State Department told an independent inspector general that if she had asked, they would not have allowed it. The report from the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General shatters one of Clinton’s go-to phrases about her email practice. We rate her  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4b4db57e-35dc-448b-90e4-fb3a1cbbb333"
5738,1,"Says Barack Obama ""supported Ted Kennedy's ammo ban to outlaw all deer-hunting ammunition.","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,"In its best light, the NRA  is cherry-picking an extreme, worst-case interpretation of an amendment proposed by Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. But even if you accept the NRA’s rationale -- which we do not -- the group fails to prove that Obama supports a ban on ""all deer-hunting ammunition."" It’s entirely possible Obama voted for Kennedy’s amendment and still would have opposed a ban on deer-hunting ammunition. (For the record, there’s no  of Obama acting on a deer-hunting ammunition ban during his first term as president.) Moreover, it’s worth noting that the use and possession of armor-piercing ammunition for handguns is not a federal crime. That would not have changed if Kennedy’s amendment passed. The NRA says Barack Obama ""supported Ted Kennedy’s ammo ban to outlaw all deer-hunting ammunition."" We rate that  ."
12860,4,General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border.,"January 3, 2017",economy;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 tweet,"Trump tweeted, ""General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border."" That’s accurate for 4,500 Chevy Cruze hatchbacks made in Mexico and sold in the United States in 2016. That was about 15 percent of all Cruze hatchbacks produced in Mexico last year for global markets.  NAFTA provisions allow the tax-free imports of autos from Mexico. It’s worth pointing out extra context that Chevy Cruze sedans sold in the United States are built in GM’s assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The sedan is more than 40 times as popular among American buyers as the hatchback. Trump’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it . After the Fact After publishing this check, readers reached out telling us some Chevy Cruze sedans have also been imported from Mexico to sell in the United States. We asked General Motors about it, since their statement in response to Trump's tweet said all Cruze sedans sold in the United States are built in General Motors' assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. In a follow-up email, a General Motors spokesperson said, ""In the fourth quarter of 2016 we built some sedans in Mexico (and shipped to the U.S) to help support the launch of the Lordstown plant with the new Cruze (that was announced and reported on last summer) – about 8,000 total. So some of those are still in inventory in the U.S., but the only Chevrolet Cruze models being built in Mexico now for the U.S. market are the hatchbacks."" The approximate 8,000 sedans were sold to dealers in 2016 ""and most were probably sold to consumers,"" General Motors spokesperson Patrick Morrissey said."
8865,3,"41,200 veterans in Florida ""don't have health care because Scott didn't expand Medicaid.","May 23, 2014",health care;medicaid;veterans,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 tweet,"Crist said in a tweet that 41,200 veterans in Florida ""don’t have health care because Scott didn’t expand Medicaid."" Crist’s tweet linked to a map that cited the Urban Institute study showing the number of uninsured veterans in each state that might qualify for the Medicaid expansion. Crist’s tweet omits two major points: Some of those 41,200 veterans could get health care other ways. It’s possible some are eligible for services through the VA but for a variety of reasons haven’t sought those benefits. Also, Scott’s not solely responsible for Florida failing to expand Medicaid. After Scott opposed the expansion, he came out in support of it in February 2013. But Scott didn’t lobby for it, and the Legislature rejected it last year. We rate this  ."
15616,0,"Says Nancy Pelosi spent ""$497 Million on office renovations"" during the government shutdown.","January 27, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a story,A story claims that Pelosi spent almost $500 million on office renovations during the shutdown is making the rounds on social media. We traced the article’s original source to a satire website that is known for publishing  stories and there are no credible sources to back up this . We rate it !
23269,1,"Video shows a Senate committee hearing witness who ""cries to Josh Hawley for 'no jailtime.'","July 9, 2023",after the fact,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The footage in the post is from an Oct. 21, 2021, Senate Homeland Security Governmental Affairs Committee hearing . The gathering lasted for more than two hours, but this particular clip — nearly 12 minutes long — shows Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questioning Allison Lerner , chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency , an independent body within the executive branch. The hearing focused on the independence of federal inspectors general , whose goals are to combat waste, fraud and abuse within their agencies. Hawley asked Lerner about allegations of misconduct by Department of Homeland Security employees, but he never said ""the IG is corrupt,"" nor did Lerner raise the prospect of jail. We rate claims that she cried to Hawley for no jail time . "
11628,3,We know that Saudi Arabia started al-Qaida.,"April 24, 2016",terrorism,bob graham,Bob Graham is a former Democratic governor and U.S. Senator from Florida.,national,0,1,1,1,0,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Graham said, ""We know that Saudi Arabia started al-Qaida."" Al-Qaida was started in an effort, largely backed by Saudi Arabia, to force the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. The government did not, strictly speaking, create the organization. It was the product of jihadists wanting to continue the fight after the Soviets left, using the funds of Saudi backers to do it. It prospered because of donations from Saudi interests, including groups tied to the government. The Saudis deserve significant responsibility for its existence. But Graham's phrasing could leave people believing the Saudi government itself created the terrorist organization. The  is fuzzier, and the caveats are important. So we rate the statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c651dc1e-3467-4404-96a7-78286af7f362"
16473,1,"Says the Obama administration ""didn't lock people up in cages.","September 12, 2019",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. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,a Democratic debate,"Biden said the Obama administration ""didn't lock people up in cages."" Immigration policies of Obama and Trump are very different. Trump’s administration implemented a policy that led to the separation of thousands of children from their parents. Obama did not have that policy. But for Biden to say that Obama’s administration did not put people in cages is . Obama and Biden in 2014 saw an influx of children arriving at the border without a parent or guardian, and reporting from 2014 by the Arizona Republic referred to a chain-link enclosure holding children as ""cages."" A former Homeland Security secretary under the Obama administration in interviews has acknowledged that some have described as ""cages"" the enclosures used during Obama’s tenure. There’s a debate on whether a chain-link enclosure is a ""cage"" and whether applying that term to those structures is subjective. But the term certainly was used in 2014 to describe enclosures used by Obama’ administration. We rate Biden’s  ."
14191,3,"Says border fencing finished near El Paso in 2010 dramatically curtailed illegal crossings, local crime and drug smuggling.","January 13, 2018",immigration;homeland security,paul sperry,"Paul Sperry, former Washington bureau chief for Investor's Business Daily, writes commentaries for the New York Post.",texas,0,0,2,0,0,0,a commentary,"Sperry wrote that the fencing finished near El Paso in 2010 dramatically curtailed illegal crossings, local crime and drug smuggling. Such crossings evidently plunged after the fencing was built (though they later rebounded a bit) and it could be that drug smuggling fell off as well. Yet this  fails to account for El Paso's violent crime rate trending down long before the fencing went up nor does it acknowledge other factors affecting security including a pre-1995 shift in enforcement strategy and stepped-up Border Patrol staffing. We give the fencing some, not all, credit and rate this 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."
12421,4,"Says Donald Trump once suggested that he ""would try to negotiate down the national debt.","September 26, 2016",candidate biography;debt;deficit;economy;federal budget,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 Presidential debate,"Clinton said Trump one time suggested that he ""would try to negotiate down the national debt."" In two separate interviews in May, Trump suggested that he could do something to negotiate federal debt through ""discounting"" and that he would ""refinance debt"" and ""buy back debt on — at a discount."" He backtracked after criticism, saying his words had been misinterpreted. We rate this  ."
6576,1,"Says Jim Renacci ""opposed increasing combat bonuses for our troops.","October 24, 2012",federal budget;message machine 2012;military,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 television ad,"The  is based on Renacci’s vote on a ""motion to recommit"" that preceded a final vote on military pay. Such motions are routinely denied by the majority party as procedural moves. That gives the minority party the chance to structure them for partisan advantage. That’s what is playing out in the ad now. On the -O-Meter, the  rates ."
11112,4,Marco Rubio voted against authorizing President Obama to strike Syria after Assad used chemical weapons on his own people.,"January 4, 2016",candidate biography;congress;history;foreign policy;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,a posting on the Clinton website,"Clinton said, ""Marco Rubio voted against authorizing President Obama to strike Syria after Assad used chemical weapons on his own people."" Rubio did vote against the specific resolution for an airstrike campaign, explaining he was ""unconvinced it will work."" But he supported a subsequent plan for the United States to help moderate Syrian rebels lead the fight, an idea he had been promoting for a while. The Clinton statement suggests a reluctance by Rubio to intervene in Syria when, in fact, it's the type of involvement that's at issue. The statement is accurate, but needs additional information. We rate it ."
21723,0,"George Floyd and COVID-19 ""never existed.","July 21, 2022",race and ethnicity;public health;public safety;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 was killed by Derek Chauvin, then a Minneapolis police officer, after Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020. Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death.   COVID-19, meanwhile, has infected more than 565 million people around the world as of July 22, according to the World Health Organization , and caused the deaths of more than 6 million people.   Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China, in 2019, we’ve fact-checked dozens and dozens of  or flat-out  claims about the coronavirus, including that it or its variants are  .   We rate this post ."
9985,5,"Last year, ""we saw the first reduction in the federal prison population in 32 years.","February 17, 2015",corrections and updates;criminal justice;crime,eric holder,Eric H. Holder Jr. was the Attorney General of the United States 2009-2015.,national,2,1,0,0,0,0,remarks at the National Press Club,"Holder said that last year, ""we saw the first reduction in the federal prison population in 32 years."" The statistics show that Holder is correct. While it’s worth noting that the state prison population wiped out that decline, Holder worded his  carefully, and federal prisons are the only ones in his portfolio. So we rate it . Correction, Feb. 24, 2015, 10:30 a.m.: An earlier version of this article said that a policy change that retroactively reduced sentences for certain prisoners convicted on drug charges played a role in the decline of the federal prison population in 2013. However, that policy change came in 2014 and is only going to affect populations in future years. The article has been updated to reflect this discrepancy. The change does not affect the ruling."
12671,3,"Donald Trump's strategy is pretty simple. They have even said in his campaign it's to get women to stay home, get young people to stay home, get people of color to stay home, and get a lot smart, intelligent men to stay home, too.","October 29, 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.",florida,72,76,70,43,31,9,"Daytona Beach, Fla","Clinton said, ""Donald Trump's strategy is pretty simple. They have even said in his campaign it's to get women to stay home, get young people to stay home, get people of color to stay home, and get a lot get a lot of smart, intelligent men to stay home, too."" That’s leaving a lot of details out. Trump never literally told women, young people, people of color and ""intelligent men,"" to stay home on Nov. 8. Clinton’s remark refers to news articles that quote anonymous sources from the campaign saying the strategy is to reduce turnout for Clinton by targeting specific groups of people, including young people, women and people of color. Yet Trump himself has tried to woo women and African-Americans on the campaign trail and said anonymous-sourced stories from his campaign should not be trusted. Lastly, experts say what Clinton is describing is a fairly typical type of negative campaigning. Clinton’s statement is partially accurate. We rate it ."
4328,4,President Obama has declared disasters in 48 of 50 states this year.,"September 26, 2011",homeland security,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 speech on the Senate floor,"Reid said, ""President Obama has declared disasters in 48 of 50 states this year."" He's right that a large majority of states have had those declarations, but he overstates the number. We counted 42 states with presidential federal disaster declarations, plus one with the lesser emergency declaration and four that received only help for fires. But the fire aid isn’t a presidential declaration and Delaware was an emergency, not a disaster, so they shouldn’t count in Reid's tally. That means the number is 42 -- not 48 as Reid said. We rate his  ."
19822,2,"Two members of the Senate,"" Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, ""voted more with my Republican friends"" than with the president from their own party.","June 1, 2021",congress;arizona,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. ",west virginia,25,64,65,52,55,7,"Tulsa, Okla","Biden said that two senators — Manchin and Sinema — ""voted more with my Republican friends"" than with the president from their own party. Manchin and Sinema support continued use of the filibuster, a position that imperils key elements of Biden’s agenda. Manchin also defied Biden on one cabinet nomination and on aspects of the president’s coronavirus relief bill. But on actual votes taken in the Senate, both Manchin and Sinema supported Biden’s position 100% of the time. We rate the statement ."
16833,1,"Says the California congressional district he represents ""has a higher GDP than Russia.","December 20, 2019",economy;foreign policy,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.",california,0,1,1,1,2,0,an interview with MSNBC,"Khanna said the California congressional district he represents ""has a higher GDP than Russia."" That’s , as Khanna acknowledged. Russia’s GDP is about 16 times larger than that of California’s 17th congressional district. When a speaker we’re checking acknowledges their error before publication, we note their comments but do not change our ruling, since many more people would have seen the interview with the  information. So we rate the statement ."
11650,4,"Says an array of statistics show that conditions in some parts of Baltimore rival that of ""the West Bank in Palestine,"" ""North Korea,"" and ""distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa.","April 24, 2016",global news service;poverty;public health,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,a speech,"Sanders presented a series of comparisons showing that conditions in some parts of Baltimore rivaled that of ""the West Bank in Palestine,"" ""North Korea,"" and ""distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China and South Africa. Some of Sanders’ figures need to be updated, but the gist of his specific comparisons are accurate: 12 Baltimore neighborhoods have a lower life expectancy than North Korea; 11 have a higher infant mortality rate than the West Bank; and research shows health conditions are worse for poor teens than in Baltimore than in Ibadan, New Delhi and Shanghai. We rate his  ."
16204,0,Says a photo shows thousands of Donald Trump supporters outside his Orlando rally.,"June 19, 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,"Trump himself said on June 26 that there were ""literally tens of thousands of people"" who couldn’t get into his reelection campaign launch rally at the Amway Center in Orlando. However, the Orlando Sentinel reported that the arena, which has a capacity of about 20,000, was ""nearly filled to capacity."" ""Whether it was the weather — hot earlier in the day, rainy in the afternoon — or people just wanting invitations to the historic event for keepsakes, it did appear there were fewer people than were planned,"" the newspaper wrote on June 18. ""The planned overflow area across from the arena was virtually empty as the rally began inside the arena."" We rate this Facebook post !"
11666,5,"After my first year as governor, I was one of the most unpopular governors, maybe the most unpopular governor in the country. ... It changed.","April 24, 2016",elections;polls and public opinion,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,"comments on ""Face the Nation""","Kasich said, ""After my first year as governor, I was one of the most unpopular governors, maybe the most unpopular governor in the country."" At its lowest, in March 2011, his favorability among the Ohioans who had just elected him was an abysmal 30 percent. That was bad enough to crown Kasich as the least-popular governor in America for a brief period.  We rate this  ."
18304,1,"Says Kamala Harris and other Democratic senators ""voted to let babies scream until they die if born alive.","August 18, 2020",abortion;congress;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 says that 41 senators voted ""to let babies scream until they die if born alive,"" paying special emphasis to Harris.  The image mischaracterizes the votes that have been conducted on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protections Act and the effect of the legislation on protections for infants born following abortion attempts.  In voting against cloture, Democratic senators didn’t vote to roll back protections for live-born infants but rather to keep them as they are. So the Facebook post’s  that their vote allowed parents and doctors to let infants ""scream until they die""  the effect of their vote.  We rate this post . ​"
12697,3,"Says Chris Koster ""opposes right-to-work efforts because he has taken $8 million from 'union bosses.'","September 30, 2016",campaign finance;workers,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 press release,"Greitens said Koster received $8 million from unions and opposes right-to-work legislation. There is no doubt Koster opposes right-to-work laws. And Greitens actually understates the total amount of Koster’s labor donations. He has received more than $12 million from unions, according to the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. But there is no  his position against right-to-work is influenced by these donations. Greitens is taking two accurate talking points and putting them together in a  way.   We rate this  to be ."
16444,1,"Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, ""I see people are rushing out to fill up their cars for this hurricane at the gas station. This wouldn't be an issue if they had electric cars. If the power is out for a week how are they going to get gas? We need to start planning ahead and moving forward.","September 4, 2019",environment;climate change;natural disasters ;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 has been around at least since Aug. 31, when Sebastian Gorka, a former official in President Donald Trump’s administration, asked on Twitter if Ocasio-Cortez really tweeted that.   ""Nope,"" Ocasio-Cortez replied.   Searching through her recent tweets , we saw nothing like the image in the Facebook post. We also didn’t see it on Politwoops , which tracks deleted tweets by public officials.   We rate this Facebook post ."
15556,2,"Every city that has a commuter tax — look at Detroit, Philadelphia — they are actually stagnating in terms of their economy. It's been a job-killer.","January 6, 2019",taxes,susana mendoza,"Susana Mendoza is the Illinois comptroller. Mendoza served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2001-2010, before becoming the first woman to be elected city clerk of Chicago in February 2011. ",illinois,0,1,0,2,2,0,a radio interview,"Mendoza said every city with a commuter tax is stagnating economically under a tax that’s been a job-killer. Mendoza isn’t  to point out that commuter taxes carry the risk of discouraging business and employment in a city, and have been proven to do so in select cases like that of Philadelphia. But she didn’t stop there. Instead, she contended that because some cities with commuter taxes are underperforming economically, all cities with such taxes must be doing badly as well. That is simply not the case. 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."
6957,4,I still live in the same working-class neighborhood I grew up in.,"February 12, 2013",housing,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,GOP response to Obama's State of the Union,"And while Rubio’s home is going for $675,000, the median home value of an owner-occupied home is significantly lower at $311,475, according to 2010 Census data. Zillow.com put the median home list value in West Miami at $202,600. Rubio said he still lives in the ""same working-class neighborhood"" he grew up in. Yes, but he is looking to leave. We rate his  ."
12242,4,Neither Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump has a plan to address the civil war in Syria.,"August 21, 2016",corrections and updates;foreign policy;military;punditfact,julie pace,"Julie Pace is the White House correspondent for the Associated Press and a frequent panelist on ""Fox News Sunday.""",,0,2,0,0,0,0,"a panel on ""Fox News Sunday""","Pace said, ""Neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump have a plan for addressing the civil war in Syria."" This is largely accurate. Clinton has called for a no-fly zone and safe zones in Syria to give civilians reprieve from war and continues to advocate for the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Her plans for Syria are considerably less detailed than her proposals for many other issues on her website. Trump says he wants to build safe zones and to work with the Russians, who are backing Assad. These proposals are ideas and not comprehensive plans for ending the civil war.  We rate Pace's  . Editor's note: The original version of this fact-check contained an  reference about Russia and the Assad regime. The article has been corrected to reflect Russia's support of Assad.​ This fact-check has also been updated with an additional proposal on Syria from Trump.  https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3d104f9e-2dd7-41d8-8af2-1ab86d7d0a8d"
10841,0,"Says Bernie Sanders once said, ""Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed, modern society gives them antidepressant drugs.","October 15, 2015",health care,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 graphic circulating on the Internet,"The Internet graphic says Sanders said, ""Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed, modern society gives them antidepressant drugs."" He didn’t -- Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, wrote that in his 1995 manifesto. !"
16796,5,"A ""study showed as many as one in four people have had a package stolen from their residence.","December 4, 2019",consumer safety;criminal justice;legal issues;crime,rob hutton,Waukesha County supervisor 2005-12. Elected to state Assembly 2012.,wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,0,a radio interview,"In the GOP radio address, Hutton said a ""study showed as many as one in four people have had a package stolen from their residence.""  A trio of surveys of online shoppers supports that number, though statistics from law enforcement are hard to come by. We rate the  .                                                                 How to avoid porch piracy  Milwaukee Police Officer Jennifer Feather in a ""Cyber Monday"" message posted Dec. 2, 201,9 on the Nextdoor social network for neighborhoods, said porch piracy is preventable.  ""The Milwaukee Police Department wants to remind residents to be vigilant this holiday season as packages begin to arrive on our doorsteps.""  Feather also offered tips to neighbors to help thwart package thefts: 1. Keep each other updated about recent package theft activity 2. Share surveillance footage of a package theft in action 3. Ask a neighbor to pick up a package if your plans have you away from home 4. Offer to pick up a neighbor’s packages 5. Request for packages to be sent to your post office or participating location"
2963,3,"Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25 percent for domestic government agencies, an 84 percent increase when you include the failed stimulus.","January 25, 2011",federal budget;stimulus,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,the GOP response to the State of the Union address,"And though he adds context with the stimulus disclaimer, the 84 percent is ultimately dubious. It exists only because of the accounting trick used to produce it. Ryan argues he is trying to capture the effect of stimulus funding. A worthy goal, but his method overstates the effect. We rate this statement, a mix of  and exaggeration, as ."
22843,1,President Trump is officially a political prisoner.,"April 4, 2023",human rights;legal issues,tom fitton,"Fitton is the president of Judicial Watch, a conservative group that litigates on public corruption and other issues.",,0,0,0,0,1,0,a segment on Fox Business,"Fitton said ""President Trump is officially a political prisoner."" People are free to take issue with the merits of the case against Trump, but experts were clear that the former president does not meet common definitions of a political prisoner. Trump was not detained. He delivered remarks in Florida just hours after he was arraigned April 4 in New York. He is being given due process. Although there’s not one universally accepted definition of ""political prisoner,"" human rights and international law experts told PolitiFact that they would not classify Trump a political prisoner. The statement is not accurate. We rate it . RELATED: Trump’s indictment, explained: Falsifying business records, prosecutors’ challenges, and what’s next RELATED: Read the 34 felony charges in the Donald Trump indictment over the Stormy Daniels payoff"
12327,4,"Says Donald Trump is ""on record extensively supporting (the) intervention in Libya.","September 7, 2016",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 NBC Commander-In-Chief Forum,"Clinton said Trump is on record ""extensively"" supporting the attacks that unseated Libya’s Gadhafi. We actually didn’t find that many comments from Trump about Libya. But when he did speak, he was emphatic. In 2011, before the first bombing runs, Trump said, ""We should go in, we should stop this guy."" Even when he voiced concern over who would run Libya post-Gadhafi, he supported the intervention. We rate Clinton’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/06e4eaf5-2b03-451c-9282-da80ca345d38"
20774,1,Video shows Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer laughing at Novak Djokovic after he was stuck in an Australian airport.,"January 5, 2022",sports;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 tweet,"Some people seem to believe that their comments are real, but the clip is a joke that apparently originated as a satirical story on a German site .   The video itself is authentic and shows Federer and Nadal more than a decade ago. Credit Suisse posted it to YouTube in September 2010 , writing that ""they had loads of fun"" shooting a video promoting a tennis match that would raise money for charity.    Unlike in the spoof now being posted to social media, the men can be heard speaking in English and cracking up over their lines for the promo.   We rate claims that the video shows them laughing about Djokovic ."
15822,1,Farmer suicide rates are as high as they have been since the Great Depression.,"March 18, 2019",agriculture;public health,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.",national,10,11,4,2,6,0,an interview on MSNBC,"Booker said that ""farmer suicide rates are as high as they have been since the Great Depression."" Broadly stated, the data on farmer suicide is not comprehensive, but what there is does not support that statement. Limited data from the 1930s suggests the suicide rate in general was a bit lower at the time, but we didn’t find any specific numbers to farmers. The latest government report on farmer suicides offers a narrow comparison between 2012 and 2015. The rate was higher in 2012, but the number of suicides in both years are too small to draw firm conclusions. In a group of upper-Midwest states, the rate was markedly higher in 1982 than rates reported today. We rate this  ."
22747,1,"The Simpsons"" predicted money missing from Bank of America customers' accounts in January.","January 23, 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,"""  A Facebook post sharing the clip 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.) This clip is largely authentic from a 1995 Simpsons episode with one glaring exception: the building didn’t say ""Bank of America"" in the original. Rather, it was labeled ""First Bank of Springfield"" in which Bart causes a bank run.   We rate claims that ""The Simpsons"" predicted a recent account problem at Bank of America ."
18454,2,"Says ""John James supported Betsy DeVos' agenda to cut public school funding and put it into wealthy private schools instead.","September 4, 2020",education,senate majority pac,Senate Majority PAC is a super PAC that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,michigan,0,3,8,5,4,0,a Facebook ad,"The Senate Majority PAC claimed in a Facebook ad that James ""supported Betsy DeVos’ agenda to cut public school funding and put it into wealthy private schools instead."" During her tenure as education secretary, DeVos has sought funding cuts to public schools while increasing federal funding to help more children enroll in private schools. James has made comments supportive of DeVos’ school choice efforts broadly, but his campaign declined to offer details on his education policy proposals, and he has no legislative voting record to indicate where he stands. It may seem like James is benefiting from the lack of information he and his campaign have provided on his education platform. Nonetheless, the PAC did not provide conclusive  for its  that he favors directing federal funding away from public schools to supporting private schools. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this  .  This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here  for more."
19011,0,NASA confirms earth will go dark for 6 days in December 2020.,"December 15, 2020",science;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"We reached out to NASA but did not immediately receive a reply. However, this  has been circulating online for nearly a decade . The latest blog post refers to ""NASA Director Charles Bolden,"" but Bolden resigned as the agency’s administrator in 2017 . A NASA spokesperson recently told Check Your Fact that it ""has not issued any statement with that  . ""  This blog post gets a similar rating: ."
7401,3,"Since Gina Raimondo took office, investment fees on the state's pension portfolio ""have gone up from about $12 million annually to about $50 million.","May 19, 2013",candidate biography;economy;pensions;retirement;wealth;workers,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,"an appearance on ""10 News Conference""","Frank Caprio said that since Gina Raimondo took office, investment fees on the state's pension portfolio ""have gone up from about $12 million annually to about $50 million."" State records show that, at first blush, the numbers were $13.1 million in 2010 and $46.0 million now. He's not on the money, but close. But it's not clear if Caprio has given a complete accounting of his expenses for fiscal 2010. Both Caprio and Raimondo say some data is unavailable for that year, so that element of  remains unresolved.   Because Caprio's comparison is partially accurate but lacks important details and elements of context, 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.)"
7275,4,"Long-term federal investment in U.S. airports is urgent because ""there was a recent survey of the top airports … in the world, and there was not a single U.S. airport that came in the top 25.","April 30, 2013",federal budget;transportation,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,"Obama said the United States needs to invest more in its airports over the long term in part because ""there was a recent survey of the top airports … in the world, and there was not a single U.S. airport that came in the top 25."" He is spot-on about the rankings, but the survey in question offers only imperfect support for the argument that the federal government should invest more in its airports, since the survey measures not just major infrastructure aspects of airports (which the federal government would help fund) but also passenger amenities (something the government would not get directly involved in). We rate the  ."
11018,2,"Jeb Bush's plan for Social Security is ""disastrous for seniors and raises the retirement age to 70.","November 24, 2015",social security,annette taddeo,"Annette Taddeo announced in October 2021 that she is running in the Democratic primary for Florida governor. Taddeo was elected in September 2017 as a state senator in Miami-Dade County. She is a former chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Democratic party. She lost a Democratic primary for Congressional District 26 against Joe Garcia in 2016. She ran for lieutenant governor on a ticket with former Gov. Charlie Crist in 2014 and lost.  
 ",florida,0,0,1,1,0,0,a fundraising email,"Taddeo said Bush’s plan for Social Security is ""disastrous for seniors and raises the retirement age to 70."" Taddeo has a point that Bush said he is open to the idea of raising retirement ages, but her email mischaracterizes his plan. Her email attempts to convince seniors nearing retirement that benefit changes are imminent if Bush is elected.  Bush has repeatedly said he does not intend to alter Social Security for current retirees or those who would be joining the program soon. And while 70 is one of several ages Bush threw out in an interview, his official plan doesn't establish specifics beyond stating age reforms are needed.  Taddeo’s statement contains an element of  about Bush’s plan for Social Security but  that point to scare seniors. We rate the statement ."
321,5,"In the Illinois Legislature, Barack Obama ""voted 'present,' instead of yes or no"" on seven votes involving abortion rights.","December 20, 2007",abortion,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,Iowa,"Two other large groups, NARAL Prochoice America and Planned Parenthood, are not endorsing. Planned Parenthood, however, has given both candidates 100 percent ratings for their records on abortion. We stipulate that there are clearly different interpretations of the significance of Obama's ""present"" votes. But there's no doubt he made them. So we find Clinton's statement to be .  "
4091,2,"Says Democratic state Sen. Jim Holperin ""voted against a property tax freeze"" in 2009 and then voted for a ""$1.5 billion property tax hike.","July 21, 2011",state budget;taxes,kim simac,"Kim Simac, a Republican, is a leader of the tea party movement in Wisconsin and is founder of Northwoods Patriots, a group based in Eagle River, Wis., that says it is dedicated to protecting Christian values. She ran unsuccessfully in a 2011 recall election against Democratic Wisconsin state Sen. Jim Holperin.",wisconsin,1,0,0,1,0,0,a letter and news release,"She uses math that an average taxpayer probably would not, but officials say it’s one way to tally up the impact. We think it’s somewhat , but not totally out of bounds, to say Holperin ""voted"" for a property tax increase. After all, state actions have a big factor in local tax levies and lawmakers know the estimated impact on local levies when they approve a budget. And Holperin voted for the 2009-11 budget, the one in question. We rate Simac’s  ."
22002,4,"Every time a Republican has been elected president over the last few decades, House Democrats have objected to the result","September 6, 2022",elections;jan. 6,lee zeldin,Lee Zeldin is a Republican representing New York's 1st Congressional District.,new york,1,2,0,0,0,0,a news conference,"After the 2020 election, Trump was trying to overturn the election, and he had met with some House Republicans to further that goal. In the previous years, not even the losing candidates were seeking to overturn the results. The objections were more symbolic than the 2021 effort to block the election results. In 2021, the objections could have overturned the presidential election. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rate this ."
9762,2,"A single parent with a couple kids can easily get $35,000 a year"" in public assistance in Wisconsin.","November 30, 2014",children;education;health care;housing;public health;welfare,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,an interview,"Our rating Grothman said: ""A single parent with a couple kids can easily get $35,000 a year"" in public assistance in Wisconsin. On one level, Grothman is using a common example in terms of a single parent with two children, but his use of the word ""easily"" goes too far. The very analysis he cites as  concludes that only a small  percentage of Wisconsin residents would qualify for all of the various child care subsidies, housing aid, food stamps and tax benefits that Grothman cites. Our rating is . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website . "
2938,5,"George Allen voted for budgets that increased the national debt by $16,400 for every second he served in the U.S. Senate.","January 17, 2011",federal budget,jamie radtke,"Jamie Radtke, a Republican, was a candidate for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in 2012 and was president of the Richmond Tea Party and co-founder of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation.
Radtke graduated from Liberty University, Lynchburg, in 1995 and earned a master's degree in public policy from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, in 1998.",virginia,3,2,1,1,1,0,a news release,"Only problem is it gets 14 miles a gallon, so it will cost us down the road. Let’s review Radtke said the Allen voted for budgets that increased the debt by $16,400 every second he was in the Senate. Her formula was a bit flawed; the actual figure is $16,896.68 a second. We find it hard to penalize Radtke for a slight  she made in her opponent’s favor. So we rate her statement ."
16872,0,"Says the Democratic leadership and presidential candidates ""are mourning the loss of (Qassem) Soleimani","January 6, 2020",foreign policy;terrorism,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,an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity,"Haley said the Democratic leadership and presidential candidates ""are mourning the loss of Soleimani."" That’s a complete fabrication. Most of the top congressional Democrats and the leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination have gone out of their way to say that Soleimani was a bad actor who is responsible for many deaths, including deaths of Americans. The few top Democrats who didn’t go out of their way to say something along those lines simply ignored him in their statements. Haley’s statement is . !"
8107,3,"American voters remain steadfast in their support for immigration reform with a path to citizenship, with more than 70 percent who want to see reform passed this year.","November 14, 2013",immigration,causa oregon,"Causa Oregon, based in Salem, is the Northwest's largest Latino civil and human rights organization. Its mission is to ""foster a society that recognizes the contributions of immigrants and upholds the values of democracy, equality, and respect.""",oregon,0,0,1,0,0,0,a website statement,"The combined results of those polls, not unlike the controversy surrounding proposed immigration reform, were all over the map. So do seven in 10 Americans support letting illegal immigrants remain in the U.S. with an added bonus of a pathway to citizenship? Apparently so, according to several polls -- but only if you don’t remind respondents that someone ""broke the rules"" coming here in the first place. Adding that phrase, according to other polls, yielded a far different answer. We rate Causa Oregon’s  ."
19366,3,"Voting-rights legislation proposed by Democrats in Congress called H.R. 1 ""would force states to restore the voting rights of convicted felons—including violent felons convicted of murder or rape.","March 2, 2021",criminal justice;elections;crime;voter id laws,doug lamalfa,Doug LaMalfa is a Republican serving in the U.S. House of Representative for California's 1st congressional district north of Sacramento. ,california,0,0,1,0,0,0,a constituent email,"The proposed legislation would restore voting rights for all people convicted of a crime but only once they’ve completed their sentence and been released from incarceration.   LaMalfa also ignores the fact that the vast majority of states including California already restore voting rights for people convicted of a crime, either automatically upon their release or after a period of time.   Given these key omissions, we rated LaMalfa’s  .    – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context."
6468,3,"Since President Obama took office, there are over 450,000 more unemployed women.","October 6, 2012",economy;jobs;message machine 2012;women,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 campaign ad,"The Romney campaign claimed that ""since President Obama took office, there are over 450,000 more unemployed women."" That’s literally , but the statistic is cherry-picked. Starting the count at the beginning of the recovery, rather than the beginning of Obama’s term, produces a starkly different result -- a decrease of 548,000 unemployed women. And the rise in women’s unemployment under Obama pales compared to the rise experienced under George W. Bush. These important pieces of context are left out of the ad. On balance, we rate the  .  "
20373,1,Europe COMPLETELY BANS the Moderna vaccine for young people.,"October 8, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Norwegian officials also said they recommended men under the age of 30 get the Pfizer vaccine, not Moderna. And on Oct. 8, Icelandic officials said they were temporarily suspended use of the Moderna vaccine before reversing the position slightly on Oct. 12, saying that it would only be used for booster shots for people 60 and older. Five of 44 European countries have recently limited the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. To  that the continent has completely banned the vaccine among young people is .   We rate this post ."
19304,1,Jill Biden was a teenage babysitter for Joe Biden's family.,"February 21, 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,"However, Jill Biden has denied Stevenson’s , saying she ""separated from her first husband irreconcilably in the fall of 1974 and moved out of their marital home"" before her first date with Joe Biden in March 1975. Joe Biden’s first wife, Neilia, and their daughter, Naomi, died in a car accident in 1972. In his memoir , ""Promises to Keep,"" Joe Biden said that he didn’t want to introduce Jill Biden to his surviving sons right away but that they ultimately encouraged their dad to marry her. They wed in 1977. We rate this post ."
19509,3,"Judge Jeff Davis ""spent years defending a convicted cop killer"" and ""tried to get him off the hook.","March 29, 2021",criminal justice;elections,shelley grogan,"Shelley Grogan, a municipal court judge in Muskego, is running for a seat on the District II Court of Appeals in the April 2021 election.",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,a radio ad,"In an attack ad, Grogan said Davis ""spent years defending a convicted cop killer"" and ""tried to get him off the hook."" Davis did indeed spend 21 years working on the Van Poyck case, seeking to have his sentence reduced from the death penalty to life in prison. But the ad  on key points. ""Cop killer"" isn’t quite an accurate description of a man convicted of killing a prison guard. And the ""off the hook"" phrasing overstates the situation since the appeals weren’t seeking to overturn the conviction, just the death penalty. Most notably, the overall tone of the ad implies something nefarious about the representation when Davis was filling a role mandated by the judicial system — and doing it for free. We define  as a statement that ""is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context."" That fits here."
1350,1,Barack Obama had 150 days in the U.S. Senate where he was able to vote quite often 'present.',"February 6, 2010",candidate biography,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 FoxNews.com,"Palin's statement is  in two ways. She initially appears to suggest that Obama had only 150 days of experience in the U.S. Senate, which is . She then says he voted present many times, which also is not correct. He never voted present in the U.S. Senate. So we find her statement ."
5762,3,"When Mitt Romney was governor, Massachusetts ... (had) more debt per person than any other state in the country.","June 12, 2012",deficit;history;states,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 has accurately noted that Massachusetts had more debt per capita, by two different measurements, than any state in the country. However, this  leaves out important context. Massachusetts ranked high long before Romney took office, in part because some of its debt supported projects that in other states would have been paid for by localities. Meanwhile, any suggestion that Romney’s stewardship on debt was harmful to the state is weakened by the state’s consistently high creditworthiness rating and the fact that Romney, by law, balanced the operating budget every year. Finally, much of the debt was actually initiated under the policies of prior governors and legislatures, and experts say that there was not much Romney could have done unilaterally to dramatically change the debt trajectory, particularly given a strong Democratic majority in the Legislature that regularly overrode his vetoes. The  leaves out important details or takes things out of context, our definition of ."
15793,3,Job growth and stock growth for the first two years of Trump are down from where they were (during the) last two years of Obama.,"March 8, 2019",economy;jobs;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 tweet,"Dowd tweeted, ""Job growth and stock growth for the first two years of Trump are down from where they were (during the) last two years of Obama."" Dowd is right about job growth under the two presidents, though the difference between them is quite small. But he’s  about the stock market, which increased by a larger percentage during Trump’s first two years than in Obama’s final two. We rate the statement ."
4550,3,"The United States sends ""$300 billion -- half our trade deficit -- overseas for oil to unstable and unfriendly regimes.","November 1, 2011",energy;new hampshire 2012,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,a speech on energy policy at University of New Hampshire,"Huntsman was a little more nuanced than some of his ""drill, baby, drill"" Republican colleagues, and correct in identifying, as others have before him, the high cost of American dependence on foreign oil. But much of the oil the U.S. imports is from friendly nations, including Canada and Mexico, rather than ""unstable and unfriendly regimes."" We rate his statement ."
4117,1,"Virginia has made ""no progress on jobs"" since Bob McDonnell took office.","August 5, 2011",jobs;message machine 2012,democratic party of virginia,The state Democratic Party.,virginia,0,3,1,2,2,0,a web video,"To sum up: The state Democratic party said there has been ""no progress"" on creating jobs since McDonnell took office. While the Dems are correct that the percentage of the state’s working age population with a job was the same in June 2011 as it was when McDonnell took office, there is no getting around the fact that the state added 48,200 jobs. Or that the unemployment rate has dropped during his term. That it contradicts the Democrats’ blanket assertion that there has been no progress. We rate the  ."
8363,4,Says Peyton Manning struggles in cold weather games.,"January 28, 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,comments from sports pundits and fans on Twitter,"For the purpose of this analysis, we’re fact-checking some of the many tweets we saw this week about Manning and his struggles in the cold weather. So is Peyton Manning worse in the cold? Overall trends say yes, though the sample size is small. Manning’s numbers go down the colder it gets. But we also found that’s typical throughout the league. And since joining the Denver Broncos, Manning has been quite fantastic in conditions close to what we’ll see in the Super Bowl. And even at his worst, he’s still Peyton Manning. Claims that Manning struggles in cold weather are accurate, but require additional explanation. As such, we rate this  ."
22718,1,"The five people that died in that plane crash … were supposed to go to Ohio to test the water, the soil and the air quality in East Palestine.","February 27, 2023",environment;ohio;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"CTEH spokesperson Denver Peacock told PolitiFact that the team was ""responding to an incident at the Schumann and Company metals plant in Bedford, Ohio."" The Feb. 20 incident was a fatal explosion that killed one worker and injured 13 others.   The team members were identified as Gunter Beaty, 23, production safety data manager; Kyle Bennett, 36, staffing manager, logistics; Micah Kendrick, 41, safety supervisor; Glenmarkus Walker, 32, rapid responder; and Sean Sweeney, 64, the pilot. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash .   We rate the  that ""the five people that died in that plane crash…were supposed to go to Ohio to test the water, the soil and the air quality in East Palestine"" . "
4169,5,"We've had 11,000 attempts to amend the Constitution since 1789.","July 29, 2011",legal issues,xavier becerra,"Xavier Becerra is California's attorney general and a Democrat. Previously, he was member of the U.S. House of Representatives.",national,1,2,1,0,1,0,a press conference,"None of the amendments passed. Back to Becerra. He was correct that only a tiny percentage of amendments ultimately pass and are ratified. He said 11,000; the official count puts the number at approximately 11,372. That's close enough to earn a ."
11269,4,On average it takes 300 Americans working for a solid year to make as much money as one top CEO.,"January 21, 2016",income;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.",nevada,72,76,70,43,31,9,a Hillary for America campaign ad,"Clinton’s ad states that ""it takes 300 Americans working for a solid year to make as much money as one top CEO."" There’s no standard metric used to measure income disparity, but Clinton’s ad seems to land on the safe side of many recent studies. Clinton hedges by sticking to a smaller number, but there are still imperfections in the methodology. We rate her statement ."
21798,4,Abigail Spanberger still votes with and shares Joe Biden's positions 100% of the time.,"July 11, 2022",voting record,yesli vega,"Yesli Vega, a Prince William County supervisor, is the 2022 Republican nominee for Virginia's 7th Congressional District Seat. She is running against incumbent Democrat Abigail Spanburger.
Vega was born in Houston to Salvadoran immigrants and reared in Northern Virginia. She is a graduate of American Military University and worked stints as a law enforcement officer in Virginia with the Alexandia and Manassas Park police departments. She's currently a supervisor and auxillary sheriff in the Prince William County Sheriff's Office.
Vega was elected to Prince William County's Board of Supervisors in 2018.  ",virginia,0,1,1,0,0,0,Facebook post,"Vega correctly cites data from a nonpartisan website that measures the percentage of times a congress member votes in support of the president when the White House has taken a clear position on legislation. Spanberger’s record is not unique — 198 other Democratic House members also have 100% voting records with Biden since he became president.   Vega oversteps, however, in saying Spanberger shares Biden’s position all the time. She has, for example, disagreed with portions of Biden’s U.S.-Mexico border policies that have not been subject to votes. All told, we rate Vega’s statement ."
8268,3,"Sens. Isakson's, Chambliss' Votes Against Unemployment Insurance Were Votes to Kill Nearly 6,000 Georgia Jobs.","January 14, 2014",federal budget;jobs,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.""",georgia,0,1,4,1,4,0,a press release,"The  was based on a federal report. Other nationwide estimates suggest the jobs number in the report is on target. But it is still an estimate that’s based on economic projections. And the overreaching point by American United for Change neglects the fact that Isakson and Chambliss back a GOP plan that would also extend jobless benefits. With those caveats, we rate this  ."
11404,3,"Republican Bob Donovan"" has ""run as a Republican time and again.","March 7, 2016",candidate biography;city government;elections,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 radio ad,"Schumacher said Donovan ""wouldn’t shy away from ‘conservative,’"" as a label, but he is independent and not beholden to either party. Our rating Barrett says ""Republican Bob Donovan"" has ""run as a Republican time and again."" Donovan identifies as a conservative, but there’s no  he is currently a Republican, or a member of any party. The ""time and again"" is accurate if perhaps , in that Donovan twice ran as a Republican for the state Assembly in the 1980s. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is ."
16516,1,"Says Marcus Aurelius said, ""Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.","September 23, 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,"Because the universe is constantly changing and each person plays a relatively small part in the world and then dies, Baltzly said, ""everyone has a limited perspective on it."" But that doesn’t mean that people don’t know anything or that there are no objective facts and only perspectives. ""The emperor was a stoic — not a skeptic,"" Baltzly said. ""So I’d call BS on that quote."" We rate this post Fase."
19998,1,"Newly obtained emails show UCSF harvesting the clitorises, testicles and penises of murdered babies.","July 6, 2021",abortion;public health;science;women;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"UCSF officials said there has never been a live birth during an abortion procedure at any of their clinics. UCSF’s biomedical research and acquisition of fetal tissue is legal and adheres to ethical guidelines. It is clear that Live Action’s posts take the university’s emails out of context and disregard the facts. Therefore, we rate this post .  – The statement is not accurate."
12755,3,"Texas A&M University - Commerce ""offers counseling, safe spaces for students who are afraid of President-elect Trump.","November 10, 2016",education;elections,sid miller,"Sid Miller, a former Texas House member, won election as state agriculture commissioner in November 2014.",texas,1,1,3,1,3,2,a Facebook post,"Miller posted an article saying Texas A&M University - Commerce was offering counseling and ""safe spaces for students who are afraid of President-elect Trump."" After the election, the university sent a letter to students describing its counseling center as a ""safe space."" Yet that letter didn’t specifically mention Trump while offering services for students experiencing varied reactions. We rate Miller’s 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.  https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/bf5c5e0b-fe97-4ac8-819e-052cf348726b"
1664,0,Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu received almost $1.8 million from BP over the last decade.,"May 5, 2010",campaign finance;energy;oil spill;pundits,ed schultz,Ed Schultz is the host of the Ed Show on MSNBC.,national,0,1,4,3,1,2,a broadcast of the Ed Show,"We found that she's only made $25,200 from them in that period of time. That's a huge difference. Schultz eventually issued a correction, saying that Landrieu's only gotten $752,000. But Landrieu has received about that much during her entire career from the entire oil and gas industry, not just BP's political action committee and employees. !"
4129,5,Hair stylists are required to undergo more government scrutiny than foreclosure consultants.,"August 17, 2011",consumer safety;housing,gary schaer,Gary Schaer is a Democratic state Assemblyman representing parts of Bergen and Passaic counties.,new jersey,1,0,0,0,0,0,a press release,"The ruling Schaer claimed hair stylists must ""undergo more government scrutiny than foreclosure consultants."" He’s right, because there are no existing state regulations governing foreclosure consultants. That term and the regulations would come from Schaer’s bill. Foreclosure consulting done by ""debt adjusters"" requires a state license, but since Schaer’s statement was in reference to ""foreclosure consultants,"" we rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
20940,0,"Arizona House bill to ""decertify"" 2020 results ""could effectively recall the Biden electors.","February 8, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,arizona,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post and article,"An article shared on Facebook says an Arizona House resolution proposing to ""decertify"" the 2020 results in three counties ""could effectively recall the Biden electors."" The post refers to a resolution by Finchem, a state legislator who has called for decertifying the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pima, Maricopa and Yuma counties.  The resolution won’t change anything about the 2020 election. Arizona certified the results in November 2020, the electors cast their ballots in December and those results were accepted by Congress in January 2021.  The Constitution lays out the process for certifying the election, and that process is over. We rate this statement . RELATED : What you need to know about the  Trump electors RELATED : The distorted  that 86,391 voters in Maricopa ‘don’t appear to exist’"
21914,3,"The child tax credit passed under President Joe Biden ""has helped 97% of the families with children who are living in poverty.","August 29, 2022",children;families;poverty;taxes,raphael warnock,"The Rev. Raphael Warnock is a U.S. Senator from Georgia elected in a special runoff election in January 2021 and running for re-election in 2022. Warnock, a Democrat, served as the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, located in Atlanta. The church's former pastors include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.",,1,3,4,0,1,0,"Albany, Ga","Warnock said the child tax credit passed as part of the American Rescue Plan ""has helped 97% of the families with children who are living in poverty."" Warnock was citing pre-implementation estimates of how many families would benefit, but he framed the 97% success rate as something that had already been accomplished.  Post-implementation analyses suggest that the success rate could be closer to 75% or 80%. That would have helped a lot of eligible families, but it’s short of the figure Warnock cited. We rate the statement ."
20413,1,"There will be a ""clown purge"" on Oct. 30.","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,"In Australia in 2017, a man in a clown costume was sentenced for chasing a group of girls near a shopping center . Social media accounts such as ""Australian Clown Purge"" fueled some anxieties , but the user wrote that clowns ""don’t mean to harm anyone,"" and subsequent clown sightings appeared to be isolated . They certainly didn’t resemble the killing sprees in the ""Purge"" movies . And searching for any credible  of a clown purge planned for this year, we found none.   We rate this  ."
18226,4,"When I ran for Congress, I promised to refuse money from corporate PACs. I've kept that promise.","August 4, 2020",campaign finance,abigail spanberger,"Abigail Spanberger is the 2018 Democratic nominee for the 7th Congressional seat in Virginia. A former CIA agent, she is challenging incumbent Republican Dave Brat",virginia,1,2,1,0,1,0,a TV ad,"Both claims were rated . Our Ruling  Spanberger says she’s kept her promise to refuse corporate PAC donations.   She’s raised $4.2 million - none directly from corporations, although an estimated $111,000 of corporate money has come in indirectly through other PAC contributions. That’s less than 2.6% of her campaign’s take, but it counts. Realizing that it may be impossible to block all traces of corporate money from a successful congressional campaign, we rate Spanberger’s statement .  "
257,2,"We haven't built a refinery, I think, in 30 years.","January 5, 2008",energy,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,"Manchester, N.H","So Giuliani has the date right, but tells only part of the story. No significant refineries have been built in more than 30 years, but refining capacity in the United States has expanded substantially and smaller plants have been built. We rule his statement . UPDATE: The last new refinery of significant size built in the United States was a Marathon Oil refinery in Garyville, La. Previously, we reported an  name for the facility."
504,4,"Obama ""wants a windfall profits tax on oil to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas.","June 17, 2008",energy,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,Houston,"Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the campaign, said Obama was referring to his proposal for a cap-and-trade system for global warming. Still, it's clear from the context that the coal and natural gas comment was more an aside than an announcement of a major new tax proposal. But regardless, Obama said what he said: ""What we ought to tax is dirty energy, like coal and, to a lesser extent, natural gas."" He may not have a detailed position paper on it, but it seems to be an overall statement of his beliefs and the Obama campaign did not dispute that he said it. So we find McCain's  to be ."
6235,3,"The stimulus program ""cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people.","September 5, 2012",corrections and updates;stimulus;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,his Democratic National Convention speech,"Those tax cuts -- worth about 2 percent a week -- expire in 2013. However, Clinton left out an important qualifier: It’s a tax cut for 95 percent of working families. Not everyone works -- think seniors or the unemployed, for example -- and when you account for those people, the percentage of people who get a tax cut drops to approximately 75 percent . That’s still tax cuts for many Americans, but not close to the 95-percent range. We rate Clinton’s statement ."
19407,1,"Nevada AG admits to changing signature verifications manually for over 200,000 votes.","March 10, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A blog called Fellow American Daily published a post about Laxalt’s Fox News appearance with a  headline: ""Nevada AG admits that they changed signature verification manually for over 200,000 votes."" We previously reported on the Trump campaign’s claims about the machine that was used to verify signatures in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. We rated  Trump’s  that Nevada wanted to do away with signature verification.   Also : this Facebook post’s  that Nevada’s attorney general admitted to changing signature verifications manually for over 200,000 votes. We rate it ."
13591,0,Shepard Smith was fired from Fox News.,"July 16, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"Second, and most importantly, America’s Last Line of Defense admits it’s a satirical site with a stated mission is to draw readers, especially conservatives, into mistaking its extraordinary conspiracies for . ""While everything on this site is a satirical work of fiction, we are proud to present it to those who will have called it real anyway,"" reads the disclaimer. At least one website, American News -- which does not explicitly state its satirical intent (if it has one) -- appears to have taken the bait. As the previous work of our friends at Snopes makes clear, this is not the first time Smith has been the center of a hoax claiming he was fired from Fox News for being too controversial. We rate this ."
14535,3,"Says the 2015 vote on the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act ""was not a vote to deny access to the U.S.","April 18, 2018",immigration,gwen graham,Gwen Graham lost the Democratic primary for governor in Florida in 2018. She won Florida's second district seat in the U.S. House in 2014 and served for one term. She is the daughter of former Florida Gov. Bob Graham.,florida,2,1,3,2,0,0,a debate,"Graham said her 2015 vote for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act was ""not a vote to deny access to the U.S."" Graham’s take on the legislation requires some context. While it would not have prevented Syrian entry outright, it would have installed a significant new layer of bureaucracy that would have at least delayed their entry. The bill would have required the signature of three agency heads for each case, an extraordinary hurdle on top of previous requirements. We rate this  ."
2461,3,Roy Barnes proclaimed Mexican workers good for Georgia.,"October 12, 2010",immigration;economy,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,a television ad,"We believe the Deal ad does accurately convey the quotes from Barnes in the 2001 AJC article. However, it's unclear that Barnes was talking specifically about illegal immigrants and, moreover, Barnes uttered the quotes nine years ago in a different political and economic climate. It doesn't necessarily follow that Barnes supports Mexican labor in Georgia today. So the ad lacks context that might give viewers a different impression. So by the definition of our -o-Meter, the statement rates as ."
918,2,"The economic stimulus bill created a council that's ""modeled after the national board that controls Britain's health system.","April 27, 2009",health care;stimulus,conservatives for patients' rights,"Conservatives for Patients' Rights in an advocacy organization that favors ""choice, competition, accountability and responsibility"" for the health care system and opposes ""a top-down, big government perspective.""",national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a television ad,"Getting back to the ad: It is right that the economic stimulus bill created the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. But the ad is  that it is ""modeled after the national board that controls Britain’s health system."" We see no  for that. In fact, the president has specifically rejected the British model, while praising comparative effectiveness research as an acceptable way to rein in spending. Because the ad significantly distorts the reason for the board's existence, we rate its  ."
3519,4,The federal government borrows $4 billion every day.,"April 28, 2011",deficit;federal budget,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,rhode island,4,5,9,20,14,9,an automated political phone call,"""The periodic auction of bonds, that’s when the money is raised."" Still, PolitiFact Florida found the $4-billion figure reasonable and also went with a  ruling. Makes sense to us. That’s why we’re going to do some borrowing ourselves, and go with our PolitiFact colleagues. We rate this one  too."
18834,4,"West Virginia is near last in the U.S."" rankings of education, clean drinking water, and child mortality.","September 10, 2020",environment;children;education,paula jean swearengin,"Paula Jean Swearengin ran unsuccessfully to oust U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., as a Democrat in 2020.",west virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Swearengin said, ""West Virginia is near last in the U.S."" rankings of education, clean drinking water and child mortality. In standard federal government rankings of drinking water and child mortality, West Virginia does rank in the bottom five states. It also ranked no higher than ninth from the bottom in several common math and reading tests for the National Assessment of Educational Progress.  But by one measure, the state’s high-school graduation rate is among the nation’s best. On balance, we rate the statement ."
5517,4,We will not ask for a tax increase to run city government.,"April 16, 2012",education;taxes,a c wharton,"The former public defender for Shelby County has won landslide victories since first running for mayor of Shelby County in 2002, taking two county mayoral elections before winning a special election in 2009 to become Memphis's first new mayor in 18 years, succeeding Willie Herenton. Wharton won another landslide in 2011 and his first full four-year term began on Jan. 1, 2012.
Wharton received his law degree in 1971, graduating with honors from the University of Mississippi Law School, where he was one of the first African-American students to serve on the Moot Court Board and first to serve on the Judicial Council. He became the University's first African-American professor of law, where he taught for 25 years. He earned a political science degree from Tennessee State University and is a native of Lebanon, Tennessee.
The Mayor and his wife, Ruby, have raised six sons in Memphis.",tennessee,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview about his city budget proposal,"Memphis’s mayor says that a property tax increase is not in fact a tax increase to fund core government services. Rather, it’s a one-time assessment to cover the city’s final year of court-ordered funding obligations for the city’s dissolving school system. Wharton’s finance team was able to create a budget allocating the various revenues so that the amount of the property-tax rate going to fund general government services is the same for 2013 as it was in 2012. But because the budget shows overall government spending increasing by $22 million -- about 3.6 percent -- that bit of needed clarification means the  -O-Meter dial points to . ------------- *In 2011, MCS and the City Council voted to surrender the system’s charter, and voters concurred in a referendum asking to transfer control of Memphis public schools to Shelby County."
11768,1,There are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously.,"May 18, 2016",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 with the New York Times Magazine,"Trump said, ""There are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously."" Four American cities — though not Oakland or Ferguson — have some of the highest murder rates in the world. However, experts told us homicide rates alone are not enough to gauge whether a city is dangerous or not. In considering other security threats like war, terrorism, kidnappings, and other violence as well as the ability to mitigate risks, U.S. cities are nowhere near the most dangerous in the world. We rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/07b73ae4-281a-4035-a458-036d52428867"
10931,3,"Says the United States is in ""the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II.","November 10, 2015",economy,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. ",national,21,20,27,11,17,8,the fourth Republican presidential debate,"Christie said the United States is in the worst economic recovery from a recession since World War II. Christie’s campaign did not respond to our request for comment. The  is it depends on what you measure. Looking at GDP growth, he’s right. Looking at the employment picture, the 2001 recovery was worse. Christie’s  is partially accurate. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/600cb3a9-686a-4390-8d06-4de6d4b7bec4"
826,1,"For every dollar (in the stimulus package) that is spent to help small businesses, $4 is being spent to help upkeep the grass on the lawns of Washington.","January 23, 2009",economy;stimulus,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.
 
 
 ",national,7,4,4,9,6,4,an interview on the Fox News Channel,"He says the money would help ""the lawns of Washington,"" which suggests it might go to homeowners when it is really for a sprawling public park. And both sides of Cantor's equation are flawed. The plan does not call for $200 million worth of new grass for the National Mall, and we think there's clearly more than $41 million in help to small businesses. Cantor has grossly distorted the numbers to make a point about the need for more small business benefits. We rule his statement ."
13158,4,"Wealthy foreigners can obtain visas through a special program, but only a small number ""invest in true high-unemployment areas. Almost every other EB-5 project uses gerrymandering to qualify as distressed.","March 8, 2017",immigration,patrick leahy,"U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.",national,0,1,1,0,0,0,a House Judiciary Committee hearing,"Leahy said, ""Only 3 percent of EB-5 investors now invest in rural areas … Less than 10 percent invest in  high-unemployment areas. Almost every other EB-5 project uses gerrymandering to qualify as distressed."" Leahy based his claims on a 2016 Government Accountability Office report that analyzed a sample of EB-5 petitions filed in the last quarter of fiscal year 2015. Experts say only limited data is available on EB-5 investments but that GAO’s findings are reasonable. GAO’s report reflects a snapshot and estimates of the petitions in one quarter. The program has been around for more than 20 years. We rate Leahy’s statement ."
21954,4,I don't accept a dime of corporate money.,"September 2, 2022",campaign finance,abigail spanberger,"Abigail Spanberger is the 2018 Democratic nominee for the 7th Congressional seat in Virginia. A former CIA agent, she is challenging incumbent Republican Dave Brat",virginia,1,2,1,0,1,0,a tweet,"Spanberger said, ""I don’t accept a dime of corporate money."" She’s raised $5.5 million for this fall’s campaign — none directly from corporate political action committees. A 3.4% portion of that money is from leadership PACs that do accept money from corporate PACs among other sources. In other words, Spanberger receives a small amount of corporate PAC money indirectly. Realizing that it may be impossible to block all traces of corporate money from a successful congressional campaign, we rate Spanberger’s statement .  "
5068,1,Obamacare ... will kill jobs across America.,"February 8, 2012",health care;jobs;message machine 2012,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 television ad,"The ad said that ""Obamacare … will kill jobs across America."" The chamber of Commerce has failed to prove that it will, and the best projections we’ve seen, based on how the law is actually written, do not suggest that the law will ""kill"" jobs. A close look at the studies cited by the Chamber of Commerce in support of the ad -- as well as other independent analyses of the health care law -- provide little, if any,  that the health care law will result in a significant net number of job losses. We rate the statement . "
21328,1,Elon Musk suspended Bill Gates from Twitter.,"April 25, 2022",technology;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,a tweet,"Plus, the deal with Musk is expected to officially close later in the year, according to reports. The New York Times reported that Twitter’s CEO estimated it could take three to six months. Musk has tweeted criticism of Gates in recent days, but he has not signaled his intention to suspend Gates from the platform he’s set to acquire. Musk said he hopes ""even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means."" We rate claims of Gates’ suspension ."
6528,1,Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times.,"October 17, 2012",debates;taxes,connie mack,"Connie Mack was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2004. Mack, of Fort Myers, lost a U.S. Senate race to Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2003.",florida,3,3,1,3,3,1,"Davie, Fla","Mack said, ""Bill Nelson voted for higher taxes 150 times."" Mack arrives at that figure through some tricks: He counts non-binding resolutions and duplicative votes on the same bill. He counts a vote against a tax cut as a vote for a tax increase, even though it’s not the same thing. And Mack failed to tell debate viewers that Nelson has also voted in favor of tax cuts or extending tax cuts. In the list of votes that Mack supplied to PolitiFact after the debate, he included a note that explained it included non-binding votes and other caveats. But during the debate, Mack didn’t explain any of that -- he just repeated the  without further explanation. We rate this  ."
2767,3,"The U.S. ""had the opportunity with Israel coming and talking to us about improving our security screening procedures, and we turned them down.","November 21, 2010",israel;terrorism;transportation,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,TV interview,"On that front, he would clearly get a  rating since TSA officials met with Israelis and members of Congress met with El Al. At PolitiFact Florida, we evaluate politicians' actual words. In this case West's words weren't clear and he initially declined to explain himself. Only after we sent West our findings showing that the U.S. did meet with the Israelis did he offer an alternative explanation -- that the U.S. met with Israeli officials but rejected their model for improving our airport security screening -- and we find some  in that. So we rate this  ."
11667,3,"Missouri ""is the state with the lowest paid workers.","April 4, 2016",economy;jobs;poverty;workers,kiki curls,S. Kiki Curls is a Democrat who serves in the Missouri state Senate.,missouri,0,1,1,0,0,0,following a Missouri Senate Budget Committee hearing,"We don't know if she meant all workers, workers in the private sector or state government workers. For any analysis that includes private sector employees, Missouri ranks closer to the bottom than the top, but it does not rank last. Missouri does hold the distinction of having the lowest paid state workers, based on their average weekly wages. That's enough to make her statement partially accurate. We rate this  ."
17394,0,"We inherited a broken test"" for COVID-19.","March 30, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on ""Fox and Friends""",Trump said that his administration inherited a broken test. That flies in the face of logic. There could be no test until the virus emerged. We rate this  .
6414,0,Says Eric Cantor voted to assure Congress would be paid if the government shut down and against guaranteeing troops would be paid.,"October 1, 2012",federal budget;military,wayne powell,"Wayne Powell was the 2012 Democratic nominee for Virginia's 7th Congressional District seat held by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican. 
Powell served in the U.S. Army for 30 years, 5 years of active duty and 25 years in the Active Reserves. He was called back into active duty after September 11, 2001, to command a specialized Army intelligence unit. He was awarded the Legion of Merit when he retired as a colonel in 2002.
Powell graduated from the University of Richmond in 1972, and received a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1973 and a law degree from T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond in 1980.
Powell served as staff clerk to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, worked as an assistant state attorney general and served as deputy commissioner of the Virginia Worker’s Compensation Commission for six years. He entered private practice in 1991, and founded his present firm of Powell & Parrish in 1999.",virginia,0,0,0,1,1,1,a debate,"Powell said that Cantor, during the threat of a government shutdown last year, voted to ensure Congress would continue to be paid and against offering the same protection to members of the military. But Powell got it backwards. Cantor, during a period of high political gamesmanship, supported Republican legislation that, in the event of shutdown, would have continued military pay and withheld paychecks for Congress members. He simply opposed two procedural efforts by Democrats that would have given them some bragging rights. Powell’s charge was not off-the-cuff. It came during a portion of a debate when he got to ask Cantor a direct question. Powell, in comments leading up to his query, said he’d given plenty of thought to what he’d ask. That suggests he had time to check all the facts.   Powell should take heat for  distorting Cantor’s votes. So we give his statement our lowest rating -- ."
7304,1,Says only about 250 Texans have been killed in action since 9/11.,"May 1, 2013",afghanistan;iraq;military;terrorism,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,remarks on the floor of the Texas Senate,"Van de Putte said about 250 Texans have been killed in action since 9/11. That’s off by more than half; 588 Texans perished in action from January 2002 through the most recent Texan's death on Dec. 24, 2012, according to the federal government. The senator likely drew her number from the  column on a table. Regardless, what she said rates as ."
8727,1,"More than 1,000 American soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the last 27 months. This is more than the combined total of the nine years before.","April 24, 2014",afghanistan;military,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 says that ""more than 1,000 American soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the last 27 months. This is more than the combined total of the nine years before."" This may have been accurate in mid 2012, but the statistics are now so out of date that the trend has actually reversed itself. U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan have been declining for the past four years. This matters because it contradicts the email’s dominant message -- that surging deaths in Afghanistan are a reason to vote against Obama’s Democratic allies in the 2014 midterm election. We rate the  ."
19957,1,"The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is ""99% graphene oxide,"" which is ""toxic to the human body and causes a number of problems.","July 7, 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,"An Instagram post claimed that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is ""99% graphene oxide,"" which is ""toxic to the human body and causes a number of problems.""  Pfizer said it does not use the material, and it is not shown in a federal list of ingredients in the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. We rate the post ."
15470,0,"Says the White House nativity scene was removed by the Obamas and ""is back in the White House thanks to First Lady Melania Trump.","November 23, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"Social media posts say the Obamas banned the display of the White House’s famous nativity scene throughout the years and credit First Lady Melania Trump for bringing it back. This is a long-standing hoax that tends to resurface during the holidays. There was no break for the White House nativity. The Obamas continued the tradition of showcasing the nativity scene in the East Room, according to previous news releases, archives, fact-checks and photo . A Trump administration release also notes that the scene has been on display for over 50 years, since it was donated in 1967. We rate this  ."
20449,1,"President Joe Biden withdrew troops from Afghanistan ""simply because of Trump Derangement Syndrome and they wanted to reverse any policy that Trump had implemented.","October 27, 2021",afghanistan;military,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,social media posts,"The posts said ""the reason why Biden wanted to withdraw troops so quickly from Afghanistan ... was simply because of Trump Derangement Syndrome and they wanted to reverse any policy that Trump had implemented."" In reality, Trump set the U.S. troop removal in motion and Biden continued on that path. Biden could have reversed the Trump policy by declaring an open-ended U.S. commitment to stay in Afghanistan, but he didn’t. We rate the statement ."
13114,1,"Carbon dioxide is not ""a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.","March 9, 2017",climate change;energy,scott pruitt,"Scott Pruitt is administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, since February 2017. Before that, he was the state attorney general for Oklahoma.",national,0,0,0,1,1,0,an interview on CNBC,"Pruitt said carbon dioxide is not ""a primary contributor to the global warming that we see."" The prevailing scientific consensus is that human production of carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution is a leading cause of climate change. Some scientists may quibble over how much of the change can be attributed specifically to carbon dioxide, but there is no doubt that it plays an important role. We rate Pruitt’s  ."
22278,5,"Nancy Pelosi gave ""$30,000 … to boost @LizMathis1's campaign","October 18, 2022",campaign finance,ashley hinson,U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is a Republican who represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.,iowa,1,0,2,0,1,0,a tweet,"Ashley Hinson said Nancy Pelosi has donated $30,000 to support Liz Mathis. Pelosi has donated $4,000 to Mathis’ campaign, plus another $30,000 to a separate entity with the exclusive role of electing Mathis. We rate the statement ."
13686,0,Charlottesville car attacker is anti-Trump Antifa supporter.,"August 12, 2017",fake news;punditfact,puppetstringnews.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,2,1,4,an Internet post,"PuppetStringNews.com said, ""Charlottesville Car attacker is anti-Trump Antifa supporter."" Most importantly, the car used in the incident is registered to the man currently in custody, not Vangheluwe. The site made the implication based on Vangheluwe’s social media posts, but a closer look revealed that even those posts didn’t reveal very much. We pored over the examples PuppetStringNews.com cited and looked through Vangheluwe’s public profiles. There was  Vangheluwe did not support Trump, which his lawyer confirmed, but there was nothing to suggest he was a destructive radical bent on violence. We rate this  !"
9153,4,"The United States is the leading nation in the world ""with the highest amount of doubt about the conventional wisdom of climate change.","July 22, 2014",environment;climate change;polls and public opinion;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,"The ruling Limbaugh said that the United States is ""the leading nation with the highest amount of doubt about the conventional wisdom of climate change."" While he cites an exact figure reported by Ipsos MORI, the study itself doesn’t capture the belief of general populations, only those with an Internet connection. Other polls we looked at indicate that a good proportion of developing countries have higher rates of doubt. But among peers, the United States is one of the most -- if not, the most -- skeptical when it comes to believing climate change has human factors. We rate Limbaugh’s  ."
23301,1,Video shows Sen. Ted Cruz asking the Supreme Court to file charges against an aide to Attorney General Merrick Garland.,"July 15, 2023",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 Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The video does not show Cruz asking the court to charge an aide to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Rather, it shows an April 19 Senate Judiciary Hearing at which Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco testified. On his own YouTube channel, Cruz described the moment in a video title as showing him criticizing Monaco ""over left-wing partisan bias when enforcing the law. ""  We rate claims the video shows him asking the Supreme Court to file criminal charges against her ."
22386,1,"I think President Trump came out four times and condemned"" Nick Fuentes.","November 29, 2022",race and ethnicity,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.",,0,1,5,3,14,4,remarks to reporters outside the White House,"McCarthy said, ""I think President Trump came out four times and condemned"" Nick Fuentes. Trump made at least four statements during the previous week in which he addressed his controversial dinner with Ye and Fuentes. However, his references to Fuentes were in passing, mainly to say he had not known who he was. In none of the four statements did he condemn Fuentes. We rate the statement ."
19851,2,Says Listerine mouthwash can be effectively used as a mosquito repellant.,"May 30, 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 claimed Listerine was an effective mosquito repellent. Similar claims point to the essential oils contained in Listerine as the source of its bug-fighting powers. While the CDC considers oil of lemon eucalyptus an effective repellent, it found that the concentration of the oil must be at least 10% in order to provide even limited protection. The concentrations of the oils used in Listerine are less than 1%. We can’t say the scenario described at the party never happened. But we can say that science doesn’t approve this method to keep mosquitoes away. We rate this  ."
22969,1,Walmart stores are being converted to FEMA camps to imprison Americans.,"April 28, 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,a Facebook post,"(Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The post’s video clips are speculative and provide no  that Walmarts are being converted into FEMA camps to imprison Americans. We found no news stories or other credible sources to corroborate their claims.   Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, told PolitiFact there is ""no  to what was posted. ""  We rate this post ."
12806,3,"A recent study found ""that cities where Uber operates have 3.6%-5.6% fewer drunk driving deaths than cities without access to ridesharing.","November 28, 2016",economy;transportation,uber,Uber is a ride-sharing service with providers in many cities including Austin.,new york,0,1,1,0,0,0,a press release,"Uber claims a Temple University study ""found that cities where Uber operates have 3.6%-5.6% fewer drunk driving deaths than cities without access to ridesharing."" But the study looked only at California cities. Two national studies found the service had no effect on drunken-driving deaths. We rate this  as . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/8a8eac1c-9506-4ee8-b3a1-a931bff1791e"
19808,0,Says a photo shows Michelle Obama as a man prior to marrying Barack Obama.,"May 27, 2021",,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,"Plenty of other images of Michelle Obama in her childhood, adolescence and womanhood further debunk this , including many photos that she’s posted to her own Instagram page. For example, a throwback photo of her as a student at Princeton University went viral. This isn’t the first time that this photo of the Obamas has been doctored. — On Oct. 12, 2020, Lead Stories reported that Michelle Obama’s face had been altered in another way to appear masculine.   This post is !"
14072,4,We're … getting into the pool of the 100 million people that are not working. That pool is now coming back.,"December 6, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a cabinet meeting,"Trump said that ""we’re … getting into the pool of the 100 million people that are not working. That pool is now coming back."" The statistics that shine the most direct light on working-age Americans support Trump’s point. Both the working-age employment-to-population ratio and the U-6 expanded unemployment rate have improved on Trump’s watch. It’s worth noting that they also improved during Obama’s final year, so Trump was fortunate to take office at a time when the economy was already going in the right direction. But the scale of the increase has been bigger under Trump. We rate this statement ."
10382,2,"When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Japan? It doesn't exist, folks.","June 16, 2015",economy;transportation,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 Chevrolet cars in Tokyo don’t exist. Literally, that’s not . Chevy sells cars in Japan. However, Chevy sales are more like a trickle compared to the flood of Japanese brands in the market. A journalist who covers the auto industry in Japan told us visitors would not likely see a Chevy during their stay in Japan. Trump has a point here, but he should have used different words to make it. We rate his  ."
18385,0,"Says Joe Biden played N.W.A.'s ""F--- Tha Police"" during an event in Florida.","September 16, 2020",criminal justice;pop culture,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 pair of tweets,"""F--- Tha Police"" surged on music streaming platforms following the May killing by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis, according to Rolling Stone.    The song was also controversial at the time of its release. Radio stations banned it, and the FBI wrote a letter to Priority Records, which distributed N.W.A.’s music, the Daily Beast reported . That said, Biden didn’t play it in Florida. We rate Trump’s retweets !"
5500,1,"Says the stimulus bill sent tax credits overseas, such as ""half a billion to an electric car company that created hundreds of jobs in Finland.","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,"An ad from Americans for Prosperity starts with an image of Obama and says the stimulus bill sent tax credits overseas, such as ""half a billion to an electric car company that created hundreds of jobs in Finland."" The reality: Half a billion in loans from a Bush-era program were approved for Fisker Automotive. But they weren’t tax credits, weren’t part of the stimulus bill, and didn’t go to Finland. And so far, the company has only gotten $190 million in those loans, far less than the half a billion. Instead, the U.S. company spent a third of the money on U.S. engineering of a new electric vehicle. It chose to manufacture the car in Finland, without U.S. help. Another two-thirds of the loan, which it may or may not get, will go toward retooling a shuttered GM plant in Delaware.   The ad strings together disparate statements to tell a concocted story. The result is simply ."
2207,5,Says State Rep. Kristi Thibaut was an ACORN lobbyist.,"August 31, 2010",candidate biography,republican party of texas,The Republican Party of Texas says it promotes a conservative government philosophy in the Lone Star state.,texas,1,4,1,3,1,1,a tweet,"""We've never hid from this."" In an e-mail, Murray suggested the GOP attack is a red herring: ""This is a real stretch to equate her work here in Texas, where ACORN was never, to my knowledge, implicated in any 'fraud,' with the salacious accusations leveled at the organization in other states."" There was no  of ACORN-driven voter registration fraud in Harris Country — Thibaut's home turf — according to a October 2008 Houston Chronicle article. So, Thibaut lobbied for ACORN, as the GOP tweet says and her campaign acknowledges, though the linked web video associates Thibaut with ACORN's voter-registration fraud and tax evasion issues; there's no  of Thibaut having a connection to such activities. Far as it goes, the GOP statement we reviewed is ."
533,1,"Our National Guard, as we saw in the Midwest flooding, can't function as effectively as it could. I was talking to National Guard representatives. Fifteen of their 17 helicopters in this region were overseas during the flooding.","June 25, 2008",iraq,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,Chicago,"""The exact data point on helicopters that was relayed to Senator Obama was off, but the sentiment behind his statement was correct – that the Iraq war is overstretching our national guard,"" Vietor wrote. We're not sure exactly what ""region"" Obama was referring to, but the numbers for the states affected by flooding don't match up at all. We understand Obama's larger point, and explore it in this story about the readiness of the National Guard. But he chose a terrible example in the Midwest floods to illustrate that larger point. The fact is his facts , so we say ."
21061,2,"Federal border officials are allowing undocumented immigrants who are ""known criminals who possess an arrest warrant to fly on U.S. aircraft (which) threatens our homeland security.","February 4, 2022",immigration;border security,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.",,8,18,15,28,11,4,News release,"Indeed, there is no reason to think the target of a criminal arrest warrant would be given a copy of such a warrant, much less carry it with him or herself. What’s more, under the process officials have already established an individual’s identity and determined they are not a threat or a flight risk. That said, a memo from the TSA administrator includes a document labeled ""Warrant for Arrest of Alien"" on a list of acceptable paperwork. So, there is at least an element of  to the matter. That fits our definition of ."
5013,5,The Georgia Secretary of State's Office and the Georgia State Elections Board investigate and penalize hundreds of people guilty of election fraud.,"June 24, 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,editorials and op-ed articles,"The 2010 total we calculated of people who had cases before the board was about the same as what Carrothers told us. Some 2009 board public orders were not on the state’s website. From the information we’ve seen and what Kemp’s office shared with us, it appears Kemp’s office has investigated and penalized at least 200 people each of the past three years. That does qualify as ""hundreds"" as Kemp says. Our rating: ."
12862,0,"Beginning on Jan. 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California.","December 29, 2016",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,an op-ed,"California state Assemblyman Travis Allen claimed in a recent column that ""Beginning on Jan. 1, prostitution by minors will be legal in California."" His  profoundly distorts a new state law that treats minors engaged in commercial sex acts as victims, but does nothing to legalize prostitution. Young people under age 18 who solicit sex won’t be arrested and sent to juvenile hall. Instead, officers will have the option of taking them into temporary custody if they are in immediate danger or need medical attention. It also says officers shall report the circumstances of minors engaged in prostitution to the county child welfare agency as abuse or neglect. The law does nothing to change the fact that it is illegal to have sex with minors, solicit prostitutes or arrange clients. Allen’s specific , and the column in general, is grossly . We rate Allen’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. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/0b7cdfed-8ed5-4005-8b1c-f5f4306db926"
11109,1,"The 90 percent statistic of supporting background checks, that's been debunked.","January 3, 2016",polls and public opinion;punditfact;guns,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,"on ""Fox News Sunday""","Ingraham said, ""The 90 percent statistic of supporting background checks, that's been debunked."" Numerous respected polls from 2015 show around 90 percent support for some sort of expanded background checks for gun purchases. While there are some questions as to what inferences can be made from these findings — such as whether that 90-percent support translates into support for specific legislation — there hasn’t been a definitive debunking of the statistic. We rate Ingraham’s  ."
15139,2,"Says Florida Gov. Rick Scott ""subtracted $1.3 billion from public schools.","September 7, 2018",education,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 Facebook post,"Nelson’s campaign said in a Facebook post that ""Rick Scott subtracted $1.3 billion from public schools."" Nelson is repeating a familiar attack line against Scott, but this attack has become increasingly  as we get further away from Scott’s first year in office. Scott did oversee a $1.3 billion education cut, in 2011. Over the next seven years with Scott as governor, the education budget grew each year. That's severe cherry-picking. Because the statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we rate it ."
4982,1,Siemens has been unable to fill approximately 200 skilled trade positions in metro Atlanta.,"January 10, 2012",economy;education;jobs,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,his State of the State address,"We emailed and called Siemens to ask why most of the listed positions were not for skilled trade workers, but we received no response. Deal spokeswoman Stephanie Mayfield said that regardless of the actual numbers, the state needs skilled workers, and the governor’s office is glad Siemens offered to work with Georgia to solve this problem.    Siemens may be struggling to fill some 200 jobs in metro Atlanta, but the overwhelming majority are not skilled trade positions as Deal claimed. They’re geared to candidates with bachelor’s or post-graduate degrees. We rule Deal’s statement ."
5156,5,Sixteen million jobs were created under Ronald Reagan's presidency.,"February 29, 2012",jobs,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,a speech,"Others contend the increase in employed Americans were largely a result of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates and expanding the money supply, policies used after the recent Great Recession. Gingrich’s numbers are accurate. Reagan’s policies, many of which required the support of Congress, deserve some credit for the increase. We rate Gingrich’s statement as . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/51bfa8a4-73fc-48e3-a8b5-c9361867c06e"
12940,0,"Says Barack ""Obama orders life-sized bronze statue of himself to be permanently installed in White House.","January 18, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,That’s doubly  when other sites then share the story. The addition of the composite image made from misappropriated photographs only heightens the deceit. We’ve chiseled out the details to cast our own decision. We rate this headline ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/91a0ecb0-36fd-4b9d-bcdc-02dabfffc498
1247,4,"President Obama has ""the worst ratings of any president at the end of his first year.","December 16, 2009",history,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,a 'Wall Street Journal' column,"Bush wound up his second term in the low 30s. Still, if you're making the comparison -- and political observers have been doing precisely these sorts of comparisons for years -- Rove's statement holds up fairly well. Yes, Rove spoke too loosely when he said that Obama's numbers were the worst of any president's, and he failed to mention equally bad ratings for Reagan, a conservative icon whose politics were more in tune with Rove's than Obama. But with the exception of Reagan, every other elected president had clearly higher approval ratings at this point in his tenure than Obama has. So we rate Rove's statement ."
4950,5,"Right now in Georgia, nearly one in three leaving our prisons are re-convicted within three years.","January 10, 2012",criminal justice,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,a speech,"The Pew report on recidivism is more than one-third, which helps any argument that Deal would make that his statement is correct. The most recent state data shows the recidivism rate is slightly less than one-third. The governor said in his speech that the rate was ""nearly"" one in three. We believe all of the numbers we saw support his statement. Our rating: ."
16399,1,Elected officials draw (legislative redistricting) maps. That's it.,"July 16, 2019",redistricting,adam jarchow,"Adam Jarchow is a former Republican representative from Balsam Lake, Wis. He left the state legislature in January 2019 after losing a special election for a state Senate seat and serving two terms in the Assembly. He currently works as an attorney in Polk County.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Jarchow, a Republican, said amid a redistricting discussion that ""elected officials draw maps. That’s it."" That’s simply not . State legislatures still draw the majority of maps around the country. But a growing number of states have turned to an independent or bipartisan commission of some kind to establish legislative boundaries. Eleven states currently give the Legislature no direct involvement in drawing or approving maps. We rate Jarchow’s  ."
20293,3,"Says Joe Biden said: ""If Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean, or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn't matter a whole lot in terms of our interests.","September 23, 2021",foreign policy;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,"Video clips in an Instagram post said that Biden said: ""If Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean, or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot in terms of our interests."" The clip with that quote is used twice in the post, suggesting a callousness on Biden’s part toward Haiti.  The full context of his remarks shows Biden was discussing the rationale for a potential U.S. military intervention and arguing that there were greater U.S. interests elsewhere in the world, including in Bosnia. The post takes Biden’s remarks out of context. We rate it ."
20412,1,"So now if you don't comply"" and get a COVID-19 vaccination, and you're on ""Social Security or disability, you won't be able to receive your money.","October 20, 2021",social security;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,florida,0,1,3,9,60,18,an Instagram post,"A headline widely shared on social media stated: ""So now if you don’t comply"" and get a COVID-19 vaccination, and you’re on ""Social Security or disability, you won’t be able to receive your money.""  The headline appeared over a video a snippet of remarks made by Scott. There is no vaccination requirement for receiving Social Security benefits, or any proposal for such a requirement.  We rate the post ."
19827,1,Says the Pentagon killed a man who invented a water-powered fuel cell for cars.,"May 25, 2021",energy;transportation;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 Stanley Meyer, a man who claimed to have invented a water-powered car, was killed by the Pentagon. Meyer claimed he was poisoned moments before he died in 1998, fueling speculation that his death was suspicious. But a police investigation found no  of foul play, and his death was ruled the result of a brain aneurysm brought on in part by high blood pressure. We rate this  ."
4342,4,Says David Dewhurst skipped nine candidate forums after announcing his U.S. Senate candidacy.,"September 21, 2011",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 campaign video,"This month, he said, he plans to appear at an Oct. 21 candidate forum hosted by the Spirit of Freedom Republican Women PAC in Sugar Land. Our take: Dewhurst did not appear at nine forums, eight of them after the night he announced his candidacy. But it’s a mite questionable to say he outright skipped the events. In most cases, his campaign said beforehand Dewhurst wasn’t going to appear. We rate Cruz’s statement ."
7850,1,Says Maggie Hassan is the only female governor in the country.,"September 27, 2013",states;women,nh afl-cio,"The New Hampshire AFL-CIO is an organization representing dozens of unions in the state. The New Hampshire AFL-CIO was created through the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1955. On October 27, 1957, the New Hampshire A.F. of L. and the New Hampshire C.I.O. were merged and were issued a charter by the national AFL-CIO. ",new hampshire,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"The New Hampshire AFL-CIO stated that Gov. Hassan is the only female governor in the country. While Hassan is the only Democratic governor, she’s one of five women holding governorships around the country. While that’s still far from being representative of the gender balance in the country, Hassan isn’t the only female governor. We rate this  .  "
6559,2,"Ann McLane Kuster is ""for a government takeover of health care more radical than Obamacare. And she supports a $700 billion cut to Medicare for current retirees.","September 26, 2012",health care;medicare,charles bass,Charlie Bass is a U.S. representative from New Hampshire.,new hampshire,0,0,0,3,2,0,"an ad “Dancing,” released September 26, 2012","Moreover, little has changed that makes Bass’  about the ""government takeover of healthcare"" more  today than it was a month ago. Introducing a public option might welcome the government further into the insurance game. But, it would not bring the U.S. medical system any closer to the European model of government-run hospitals and clinics. This part of the statement remains . On balance, we rate Bass’  ."
5260,1,Did you know ObamaCare will cost nearly twice as much as initially expected -- $1.8 TRILLION?,"March 19, 2012",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,a tweet,"When the CBO’s early projections are held up to new projections accurately, the gross cost increase is 8.6 percent. Cruz was a long way off. We rate his  . Editor's note: When our story first published, we hadn't heard back from Cruz's campaign. A short time later, we received an email from his spokesman and we updated the story to include his response."
2228,2,Walker says he's for lower taxes. But Milwaukee County spending has gone up by $349 million.,"August 6, 2010",message machine 2010;taxes,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 campaign TV ad,"Let’s sum it all up: In his TV ad, Barrett is mixing and matching two very different sets of numbers -- tax increases and overall spending. When it comes to property taxes, it is the County Board that has been increasing the tax levy, over Walker’s objections and vetoes. Walker does, however, build that increase into each future budget. Meanwhile, spending did rise faster than inflation, but  because the county took on new responsibilities and state money that went with them. We rate Barrett’s taxes/spending charge ."
22577,0,Black Americans are not descended from people who were taken from Africa to be enslaved.,"January 18, 2023",history;race and ethnicity;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"In 1619 , enslaved Africans from Angola arrived on the coast of Hampton , Virginia, on a ship called the White Lion, becoming the first recorded Africans to arrive in England's mainland American colonies . As recently as 2019, archaeologists recovered in Alabama the remnants of the Clotilda, believed to be the last  known slave ship to bring Africans in bondage to the U.S. It arrived on the banks of Alabama in 1860 — more than 50 years after Congress had outlawed the slave trade starting in 1808. Some other artifacts give a look into the slave trade: at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a wage book dating back to the 1700s shows detailed records of bought and sold slaves from the Cameroons in West Africa. In Providence, Rhode Island, the John Carter Brown Library has a pamphlet dating back to 1814 that depicts an etching of a slave ship."
478,0,"Obama's wife wrote a paper in college that said America was a nation founded on ""crime and hatred"" and that whites in America are ""ineradicably racist.","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,"An automated search did not find the words ""crime,"" ""hatred,"" ""hate,"" ""ineradicably,"" or ""racist"" in the document. The e-mail goes on to list some accurate quotes from the thesis, but its initial accusations are fiction. The words ""crime and hatred"" and ""ineradicably racist"" are inventions of whoever penned the e-mail, not words that appeared in Obama's thesis. Because of that fabrication and the e-mail's intention to defame the Obamas, we rate this  ! For more about this chain e-mail, read our story Digging up dirt on Michelle Obama ."
1014,1,"The Congressional Budget Office most recently came out and analyzed the current (health care) plan and said that it was not only deficit-neutral, but also that over 10 years it would create a $6 billion surplus.","July 20, 2009",health care,russ carnahan,Russ Carnahan is a Democratic congressman from Missouri.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,Missouri,"""You inflate the baseline [of a bill] to make it seem like you're spending less.""    So as for Carnahan's statement, he is definitely misstating CBO's findings. The budget office did not say there would be a $6 billion surplus, it said there would be a $239 billion deficit. Only when Carnahan added some optimistic assumptions did the math work the way he claimed. We find his  ."
21458,1,Photos of monkeypox lesions prove the current virus outbreak is a hoax.,"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 Facebook post,"Finally, there’s a photo of lesions on a man’s torso that ran in BBC stories about monkeypox in 2017 and in 2022 with a Reuters credit. We found a 2017 story about monkeypox in Nigeria on the BBC’s site but couldn’t find the image in the screenshot. Nevertheless, like the other photos in this post, its repeated use over time does not undermine the fact that there are real outbreaks of monkeypox happening across the world.   There’s nothing unusual about these photos being reused to show readers what an infection could look like .   We rate this post ."
7907,2,"Six years after unionization, 20,000 fewer children in Illinois were being served by the Child Care and Development Fund program.","September 5, 2013",children;families;labor;unions,jennifer parrish,"Jennifer B. Parrish, proprietor of Little Learners childcare, Rochester, Minn., campaigns against labor union representation of home-based childcare providers.",rhode island,0,0,0,1,0,0,a newspaper commentary,"Child-care proprietor Jennifer B. Parrish said 20,000 fewer children, were served in an Illinois child-care program subsidized by the federal government, after a labor union began representing child-care providers. That was very close to the decrease in the number of children served by all child-care programs. But we found that the decrease in the number of children in home-based care -- what Parrish was talking about -- was actually about 9,100. Parrish offered only anecdotal  that the drop was related to unionization and two Illinois advocacy groups said it was more likely caused by other factors, such as the economic downturn and tightening of state qualifications for providers and eligibility requirements for children. Because the statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, the judges rate it  ."
3908,3,"For people in the top 1 percent for income, ""your effective tax burden is in the low 20s, the lowest it's been in decades and decades and decades -- lower than somebody who might make substantially less money.","June 24, 2011",new hampshire 2012;taxes,timothy geithner,"Timothy Geithner served as U.S. Secretary of Treasury, having been appointed by President Barack Obama to that position in 2009. Prior to that, Geithner was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.",national,1,0,1,0,0,0,a speech at Dartmouth College,"Geithner was largely correct when he said the top 1 percent pay rates in the low 20s, a  tax burden that is historically low. But he's  that the wealthiest enjoy effective rates ""lower than somebody who might make substantially less money."" We rate the statement . UPDATE: This story was updated to clarify our characterization of Geithner's message about the richest 1 percent of American taxpayers. Our initial article said Geithner was  that their effective tax rate is lower than that of ""most Americans,"" including ones who earn substantially less. We have changed that to quote Geithner directly in saying that the wealthiest enjoy effective rates ""lower than somebody who might make substantially less money."""
21939,1,Photo shows Queen Elizabeth II being carried across a river by African porters.,"September 8, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""This is who y’all telling to rest in peace?"" one account sharing the photo said. ""Go to HELL Queen Elizabeth. ""  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 .)"
4002,2,"Says Democratic recall opponent Shelly Moore ""opposes any limit on taxes.","July 1, 2011",state budget;taxes,sheila harsdorf,"Republican Sheila Harsdorf has been a member of the Wisconsin state Senate since 2000, representing a northwest Wisconsin district. She previously served in the state Assembly from 1988 to 1998. Harsdorf survived an August 2011 recall election by defeating Democrat Shelly Moore.",wisconsin,0,0,0,1,0,0,a radio ad,"This is one of those cases where a candidate has some facts on her side but overplays the hand. Moore has objected to several high-profile tax restraint efforts over the years, either personally and/or in her role as a union leader. But Harsdorf does not limit her statement to those measures -- she makes a leap with language that states Moore opposes any tax limits, period. During the campaign, Moore has publicly supported limiting the income-tax liability of working families, the elderly and others. In the past, we’d have called the statement , but the -O-Meter becomes a little easier to read today as the PolitiFact network has a new title for the old definition: ."
10678,4,"Bernie Sanders opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Hillary Clinton supports it.","August 26, 2015",trade;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,a viral Internet chart,"The graphic claims Bernie Sanders opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Hillary Clinton supports it. Sanders has said on multiple occasions that he would oppose the trade deal. Clinton supported it as secretary of state, and there’s even  to suggest she was an advocate for the deal within the Obama administration. But she has taken a neutral stance on the deal during her campaign for the presidency, voicing some of Sanders’ same concerns yet refusing to explicitly criticize the proposal. Clinton spoke often in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — until that backing irritated parts of her Democratic base. We rate the post’s  ."
11360,4,"Says he ""tore down hundreds of abandoned homes that served as havens for crime and reduce(d) the value of our neighborhoods.","March 4, 2016",criminal justice;urban,tim mcginty,Tim McGinty is a Democrat running for reelection as Cuyahoga County prosecutor.,ohio,1,1,0,0,0,0,his campaign website,"Our rating McGinty says he tore down ""hundreds of abandoned homes."" It’s  that he piggybacked on the attorney general’s already-established program. But he also directed spending of $2 million from the Delinquent Tax and Assessment Collection Fund so that more demolitions could take place. The head of the land bank and a city spokesperson confirmed this with their numbers. We rate this  ."
3671,0,We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy.,"June 2, 2011",economy;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,a speech announcing his presidential campaign,"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. So, as measured by economists from both ends of the spectrum and, most importantly, from the conservative Heritage Foundation, it's   to say we are close to losing our free-market economy. We find Romney's statement ."
22950,0,"Photo shows President Joe Biden's ""body double"" signing documents with his left hand.","May 1, 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,"In the photo are two images of Biden signing something. In the first image, he appears to be signing with his right hand. In the second, he appears to be signing with his left hand.    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.)"
4879,2,Rob Cornilles has disputed for two years a news story that said he said he would cut Social Security and Medicare programs before trimming the U.S. defense budget.,"January 10, 2012",medicare;social security,rob cornilles,Rob Cornilles is the president and founder of Game Face Inc. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University.,oregon,2,1,3,1,1,1,a debate,"But she provided videos from a September 2010 debate with David Wu , in which he denies saying he would cut entitlements, and a recent interview with KATU(2) in which Cornilles said he would cut defense spending before entitlements. However, it wasn’t until last week’s debate that Cornilles directly called the article into question. There is little to suggest the reporter got her story . Cornilles has said in at least one previous debate and in a recent interview that he wouldn’t cut entitlements, but that doesn’t amount to disputing the story for two years. We rule the statement ."
3643,1,"Under Gov. Bob McDonnell, more jobs have been lost than created in Southside and Southwest Virginia.","May 23, 2011",corrections and updates;economy;jobs,ward armstrong,"Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County,  was a  a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2012, serving the final five years as minority leader. He served on the Courts of Justice, Finance, and Rules committees. In 2011, House Republicans merged Armstrong's district with that of another incumbent, Republican Charles Poindexter. Armstrong was defeated by Poindexter that fall.
,",virginia,2,0,0,0,3,1,a news release,"The only data available at the county level covers nine months of McDonnell’s 16-month term. But there are other statistics showing that under McDonnell, more people in those regions are employed and the number of job postings have increased. We rate his Armstrong’s  . Correction: An earlier version of this story said McDonnell was sworn in as governor in January 2011. He actually took office in January 2010."
6025,4,"An April study found that about 70 percent of ads in this election cycle have been negative [due to SuperPACs], up from only 9 percent through the same period in 2008.","August 16, 2012",campaign finance;corporations;elections;negative campaigning;transparency;unions,sheldon whitehouse,Sheldon Whitehouse is a Democratic U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.,rhode island,11,7,2,2,3,0,a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate,"Sheldon Whitehouse said, ""An April study found that about 70 percent of ads in this election cycle have been negative, up from only 9 percent through the same period in 2008."" He is correctly quoting the study, but the context of his comment makes it clear that he blames the SuperPACs, which were freed up by the Citizens United decision. Those special-interest groups are certainly playing a much larger role this year, in part because they have become the major source of TV ad purchases. But the data also reveal that the candidates are being far more negative earlier in the campaign than they were four years ago, and that also drove up the percentage of negative ads in the beginning of 2012. Because his statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rate the  as  . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
17137,1,"Say Bernie Sanders said, ""Italians are gangsters and Irish are drunk and Jews are greedy and black people smell.","February 19, 2020",candidate biography;religion,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A video shared on Facebook appears to show Sanders on a TV show making derogatory remarks about Italians, Irish, Jews and blacks.  The video was heavily edited to create a  impression. On the show, Sanders was discussing the impact of racial stereotypes with a group of children. We rate this Facebook post ."
17431,0,"Now, they're doing tests on airlines — very strong tests — for getting on, getting off. They're doing tests on trains — getting on, getting off.","April 1, 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,a White House briefing,"Trump said, ""Now, they’re doing tests on airlines — very strong tests — for getting on, getting off.  They’re doing tests on trains — getting on, getting off."" Passengers on planes and trains are not being tested for COVID-19. It’s possible that Trump was referring to screenings, which could include a temperature check or a questionnaire. But even screenings are not as widespread as he said; they are happening at 13 airports for certain countries. Trump's statement about ""very strong tests"" at transportation hubs rates ."
18851,2,"Officials in Fairfax, Va., gave 100,000 Trump votes to Biden.","November 4, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"Our ruling  The Facebook post claimed that Fairfax County officials in Virginia gave 100,000 votes for Trump to Biden due to a clerical error.   The county incorrectly reported Biden 100,000 more votes than existed due to an error with a spreadsheet. Officials corrected the error within 10 minutes. There were no changes to votes cast.   We rate this  ."
7891,1,"The health care marketplaces have ""no privacy protections.","October 3, 2013",health care;technology,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 MSNBC interview,"Cotton claimed that there are no privacy protections in the new online health care marketplaces. However, we found federal privacy regulations in the Affordable Care Act that keep the system’s data hub from storing user data. The cybersecurity experts we spoke with said that the security precautions in place on healthcare.gov are at least as strong as secure e-commerce websites consumers are already accustomed to using. No one we spoke with raised concerns about privacy. The most relevant complaints we saw remain that the websites are slow, not that consumer information is vulnerable. We rate Cotton’s statement ."
4057,3,Today we stand as the highest-performing urban school district in America.,"August 1, 2011",education,alberto carvalho,"Alberto Carvalho is the superintendent for Miami-Dade Public Schools, the nation's fourth-largest school district.",florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,comments to the Miami-Dade legislative delegation,"Carvalho told PolitiFact Florida that his comments come with an additional caveat -- that he was only comparing Miami-Dade to the largest urban school districts in the nation, those with more than 250,000 students. That distinction  excludes many of the districts in the NAEP test, including those that have scores comparable to Miami-Dade -- like the public schools systems in Austin, Texas, Charlotte, N.C., and the metro area around Louisville, Ky. Those districts are smaller and their students are less diverse. The NAEP results, when combined with Miami-Dade's inclusion as a finalist for Broad, speak for themselves, Carvalho said. ""So when I say that, I'm pretty confident,"" he said. We're not quite there. The fact is that while Miami-Dade has been a finalist for the coveted Broad Prize four times, it has not yet won. And Miami-Dade's standing on the NAEP tests depends on if you count districts with a student population under 250,000. In the end, we don't want to undersell Miami-Dade's successes. But we don't want to oversell them either. We rate Carvalho's  ."
7544,0,"Obamacare ""will provide insurance to all non-U.S. residents, even if they are here illegally.","July 7, 2013",immigration;health care,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",florida,6,5,9,11,44,107,a long-running chain email,"The chain email says that Obamacare provides insurance ""to all non-U.S. residents, even if they are here illegally."" It’s actually citing a 2009 proposal that didn’t pass, but that doesn’t really matter. The email’s  either way. The Affordable Care Act does nothing to provide health insurance to anyone living in the United States illegally. It does offer some assistance to legal non-U.S. citizens, which by the way is different than a non-U.S. resident as the email claims. (A non-U.S. resident could be living in Mexico, France or even Mars). We rate this  !"
4190,4,"Says that when President Obama visited El Paso, he ""pronounced that the border with Mexico and the United States was safer than it ever was in history.","August 13, 2011",immigration;new hampshire 2012,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,New Hampshire,"Perry is exaggerating. Obama did not actually ""pronounce that the border with Mexico and the United States was safer than it ever was in history."" His time references were primarily for recent years. Still, Obama's tone and his examples definitely supported the overall point that the border is safer now than it was before. We rate Perry's  ."
5104,4,"The governor is trying to take credit for recent actions taken by these companies. The problem is that for all three companies, the decision to move or stay in New Jersey happened before Chris Christie became governor.","January 18, 2012",corporations,new jersey senate democrats,The New Jersey Senate Democrats represent the majority members of the state Senate.,new jersey,0,1,0,0,0,0,a press release,"The state Senate Democrats issued a news release in January claiming that Christie, in his State of the State address, was trying to take credit for Bayer, Novo Nordisk and LG Electronics coming to New Jersey under the ""Jersey Comeback"" heading. We found that the three companies arrived in New Jersey before Christie became governor and anyone heard of a ""Jersey Comeback,"" but Bayer and Novo Nordisk announced expansion plans after Christie’s election. We rate the statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
16122,1,"Says presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said, ""Social Security must (be) expanded to illegal immigration, it's their right.","May 31, 2019",immigration;social 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 claims Sen. Gillibrand said ""Social Security must (be) expanded to illegal immigration, it’s their right,"" suggesting that immigrants should receive those benefits for free. But Gillibrand wasn’t advocating to give away the program’s benefits. She said she believes that immigrants living in the United States have a right to pay into programs like Social Security and enjoy a pathway to citizenship. We rate this ."
21477,1,"American journalist"" Jack Posobiec was ""arrested at World Economic Forum.","May 24, 2022",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,"""Posobiec was not handcuffed or arrested, and was not taken into any physical detainment in any of the footage shared online thus far,"" the story said. Posobiec changed his Twitter handle to ""WEF Detainee Poso."" We reached out to the Trump Organization seeking comment from Trump but did not receive a reply. Despite Trump's , Posobiec was neither arrested nor detained in Davos. We rate the  . "
15917,2,"The F-35 bombers, scheduled to arrive in Burlington this fall, have been designated with a nuclear mission.","April 8, 2019",military;nuclear,rachel siegel,Rachel Siegel is executive director of the Peace and Justice Center in Vermont. ,vermont,0,0,0,1,0,0,an email to supporters,"It leads readers to believe that the bombers coming to Vermont will be equipped to carry nuclear bombs. That is . However, it’s  that the Department of Defense intends to use F-35s to deliver its nuclear arsenal if needed. And there’s good reason to believe that the bombers in Burlington could someday be given a nuclear mission. We rate this  ."
13456,4,"Property taxes are lower right now than they were"" in December 2010 on a median-valued home in Wisconsin.","May 18, 2017",housing;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 radio interview,"Our rating Walker says ""property taxes are lower right now than they were"" in December 2010 on a median-valued home in Wisconsin. Estimates done regularly by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau show that the hypothetical property tax bill on a typical Wisconsin home is $2,832 for 2017-’18 -- $131 lower than the year before Walker took office. But it’s worth noting that the total amount of property taxes collected have risen in each year but one during Walker’s tenure. And that the drop in residential property taxes is due to commercial and manufacturing properties rising at a faster rate -- not due to collecting less taxes. For a statement that is accurate but needs additional information, our rating is . "
4995,3,"Since President Barack Obama took office, ""2 million more Americans are out of work.","January 25, 2012",economy,phil gingrey,"Phil Gingrey, a Republican, is a congressman from Georgia",georgia,1,1,2,2,5,1,a press statement,"But from October 2009 to December 2011, the economy gained jobs. Nonfarm payrolls actually rose by about 2.4 million. Unemployment dropped from 10 percent to 8.5 percent.    It’s easy to cherry-pick data that give opposite impressions of the nation’s economic health. With statistics, the devil’s in the details."
13199,0,New regulation requires motorcycle owners to install 75 MPH governor by January 2017,"July 31, 2016",consumer safety;fake news;government regulation;transportation,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,new hampshire,8,18,24,53,233,396,a web article,"The website Associated Media Coverage claimed the federal Department of Transportation was forcing motorcycle owners to install speed governors on their motorcycles that would limit their max speeds to 75 mph. That assertion was never  and was sourced to a made-up federal government official. Supporting statistics that the phony spokesman cited also exaggerated the number of motorcycle fatalities each year and the propensity for speeding among people killed in those crashes. The website did not identify itself as a purveyor of  news, and some motorcyclists took the bait. We rate the  !"
16812,1,"Says immigrants wanted by ICE have victimized ""tens of thousands of children"" in North Carolina.","November 25, 2019",immigration,dan forest,Dan Forest is North Carolina's Lieutenant Governor.,north carolina,2,0,0,1,4,1,a press conference,"In a speech about immigrants in the country illegally, Forest said ""we have tens of thousands of children in our state that have been victims of these violent criminals already."" There’s no available data to support his . We rate it ."
10795,4,"Planned Parenthood ""is an organization that funnels millions of dollars in political contributions to pro-abortion candidates.","September 30, 2015",abortion;campaign finance,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,"an interview on Fox News' ""Hannity""","Fiorina said Planned Parenthood ""is an organization that funnels millions of dollars in political contributions to pro-abortion candidates."" Fiorina glossed over the difference between the operational arm of Planned Parenthood, which receives federal funding and cannot take part in electoral activities, and its affiliates, which can legally spend money on politics. Still, she is right that a variety of affiliates of Planned Parenthood -- usually with ""Planned Parenthood"" in their name -- have legally spent ""millions"" on politics in recent years, both for candidates specifically and on other electoral activities. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate Fiorina’s  ."
6387,1,"The Doherty Campaign, unlike the Cicilline Campaign, is funded mostly by individual donors -- not the big PACs that Cicilline relies on.","September 26, 2012",campaign finance;negative campaigning,brendan doherty,"Brendan Doherty, former head of the Rhode Island State Police, ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2012 in Rhode Island's 1st District as a Republican.",rhode island,3,1,1,1,2,0,a news release,"Brendan Doherty said his campaign, ""unlike the Cicilline Campaign, is funded  by individual donors -- not the big PACs that Cicilline relies on."" Campaign finance data show that both campaigns are funded  by individual donors. Cicilline may have gotten more money from political action committees than Doherty has, but the scope -- 24 percent of $1.7 million raised -- doesn't even come close to supporting a statement suggesting that Cicilline is getting most of his funds from PACs. We rate Doherty's   . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
3111,4,"At protests in Wisconsin against proposed collective bargaining changes, ""phony sick notes (were) passed out to excuse striking union members.","February 19, 2011",health care;labor;state budget,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 news release,"That’s enough for our checkup. The Wisconsin Republican Party claimed that doctors passed out ""phony sick notes"" to ""excuse striking union members."" It’s clear that doctors outside the Capitol were distributing notes that public employees attending demonstrations could use in an attempt to explain their absence from work. None of the public employees, however, have gone on strike. We rate the GOP’s statement . "
4911,3,"The planned expansion of Savannah's port is a ""jobs creating project.","December 5, 2011",jobs,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,an op-ed,"The corps estimates that dredging the port will require additional workers, although it’s not clear how many.  and common sense suggest that if megaships flock to a newly deepened Savannah port, the project could keep jobs in Georgia. It may well create them. But existing research offers little clarity. Since Deal’s  leaves out the crucial fact that the jobs impacts are uncertain, we give him a ."
2573,5,Says Will Rasmussen falsely claimed he had lived in the West Linn district for about a year.,"October 27, 2010",candidate biography;ethics,promote oregon leadership pac (oregon house republicans),Promote Oregon Leadership is the political action committe of Oregon House Republicans.,oregon,1,0,1,1,1,0,a campaign mailer,"Seven months is nowhere near a year, no matter how much you stretch the word ""about."" The House Republican group said Rasmussen ""lied."" It's not possible for us to determine whether he made the misstatement deliberately, with the intent to deceive, but he definitely got the facts . So we find the group's  .    Comment on this item."
11424,4,"California ""cut about $1.3 billion in child care (during the recession). We've only reinvested about $300 million.","March 7, 2016",children,anthony rendon,Anthony Rendon is speaker of the California State Assembly. He is a Democrat from Los Angeles County. ,california,0,1,0,0,0,0,a news conference,"California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said recently that the state cut $1.3 billion in child care programs during the recession and has reinvested only $300 million since. His spokesman told us Rendon was speaking strictly about child care programs, not preschool funding. Experts agree that more than $1 billion was cut to the child care system. An analysis of budget data shows the total cut from just child care programs was closer to $1.1 billion, a bit less than Rendon’s total. A very strict look at how much has been reinvested shows California put back $303 million of that $1.1 billion just to child care programs. The state Department of Finance, however, says the total is more than $450 million because some preschool funding actually pays for child care. We believe this is an important point for those who crunch budget numbers at the Capitol. But we don’t feel it’s enough to say Rendon was intending to deceive the general public. We rate his statement  because it’s accurate but needs clarification and additional information."
5662,3,"When it comes to what little bit of job creation was happening in Massachusetts (when Mitt Romney was governor), it was happening in the public sector at six times the rate that it was happening in the private sector.","May 27, 2012",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.,national,0,4,10,3,1,0,an appearance on Meet the Press,"O’Malley said that Massachusetts’ public sector payroll grew at six times the rate of the private sector during Romney’s term as governor. That statistic is  only when counting state employees. But he said ""public sector,"" which would include local government workers such as teachers and cops. What’s more, as Burtless pointed out, even though the growth rate was greater in government jobs, private-sector jobs still accounted for more of the state’s increase. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. That meets our definition of ."
4438,2,"Obamacare is so flat-out unpopular, that even the Obama administration chose to reject part of Obamacare last Friday, when they tried to throw out the CLASS Act, which is the long-term care function.","October 18, 2011",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,Las Vegas,"Bachmann said, ""Obamacare is so flat-out unpopular, that even the Obama administration chose to reject part of Obamacare last Friday, when they tried to throw out the CLASS Act, which is the long-term care function."" She's right that the Obama administration announced the program was ending. But the Obama administration is being forced to scuttle the program because it can't meet the cost requirements the law sets out. It's not because the administration's support is folding in the face of unpopularity. Bachmann messes up so many of the details as to significantly misrepresent the situation. We rate her statement ."
7636,4,"A high school dropout makes on average $19,000 a year, a high school graduate makes $28,000 a year, a college graduate makes $51,000 a year.","July 27, 2013",education;pundits,don lemon,Don Lemon is a CNN anchor based in Atlanta and New York City.,georgia,1,1,0,1,1,0,a commentary on CNN,"Depending on what data is collected, how that data is collected and what data set you consider, Lemon’s  could be correct, or at least within a few thousand dollars for each educational level. But use other data, and his  could be off by several thousand dollars. Also of note, several factors -- including gender, occupation, age and the economy -- can influence annual and lifetime earnings for workers at all education levels. Still, his overall theme that higher educational attainment equals higher wages seems to be correct no matter which data set is considered. We rated Lemon’s  ."
22194,1,The COVID-19 vaccine caused Katy Perry's eye to close during a recent show.,"October 24, 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,"Justin Bieber was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a rare illness that caused full paralysis on one side of his face, and Hailey Bieber was hospitalized after a blood clot traveled to her brain. But experts we spoke with at the time said that there’s no  vaccines caused either condition.   Medical experts say the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing serious or fatal cases of the disease. The risk of serious side effects is small. With no  showing that the COVID-19 vaccine is connected to Perry’s eye incident, we rate this  ."
21475,1,Swedish health authorities considering introducing restrictions because of monkeypox outbreak.,"May 22, 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,"An image on Facebook claimed Swedish health authorities were ""considering introducing restrictions because of monkeypox outbreak."" While Sweden took steps to classify monkeypox as dangerous and ensure that cases would be reported for contact tracing purposes, the country’s top health official said there are currently no plans to introduce ""limits or restrictions on how we live due to monkeypox."" We rate this  . RELATED: Monkeypox outbreak: What to know about its spread, symptoms and vaccines"
11169,5,"Two million new jobs have been created,"" in California since 2011.","January 21, 2016",economy;jobs,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 State of the State address,"In his State of the State address, Gov. Jerry Brown said ""two million jobs have been created"" in California since 2011. The most reliable data used by both independent economists and the Brown Administration show California had about 14.3 million nonfarm payroll jobs when the governor returned to office in January 2011 and just over 16.3 million jobs last month. That’s a net growth of more than two million jobs. We rate the governor’s  ."
20820,1,"Dyson is canceling their contract with Walmart and selling off Dyson Supersonic"" hair dryers ""only for $1!","January 6, 2022",economy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"A Facebook post claims Dyson is ending its partnership with Walmart and the retailer is selling off its stock of Supersonic hair dryers for $1.  That’s not . Walmart offers Dyson products only through its third-party marketplace. The hair dryers are available on Walmart.com through those sellers for hundreds of dollars, not $1. The Facebook page promoting the deals is not connected with Walmart, and the company said the post was . We rate this  . "
17246,2,"Video shows Joe Biden saying ""we can only re-elect Donald Trump.","March 7, 2020",elections,robin vos,"Wisconsin state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has represented western Racine County in the state Assembly since 2004. In November 2012, he was elected Assembly speaker. Vos previously served on the Racine County Board of Supervisors, from 1994 to 2004.",wisconsin,2,8,4,5,5,1,a tweet,"Vos says the media is ignoring a video showing Biden saying, ""we can only re-elect Donald Trump."" Vos implies by his statement that the video is an accurate representation of reality — and therefore worthy of media coverage. But the clip in question was cut off-mid sentence, fundamentally changing a statement that actually said Trump would only be re-elected ""if in fact (Democrats) get engaged in this circular firing squad here."" We rate Vos’s  — like the attached video — ."
15937,5,"Like every budget passed by the Senate since I have been lieutenant governor, Senate Bill 1 is within the spending limit set by the Texas Constitution.","April 9, 2019",state budget,dan patrick,"As a Houston state senator, Dan Patrick won election as lieutenant governor of Texas in November 2014 after earlier defeating incumbent David Dewhurst for his party's nomination. Patrick also has hosted a daily talk show on AM700 in Houston.",texas,7,7,5,6,7,9,,"""That's what I do every day."" Our rating Patrick said, ""Like every budget passed by the Senate since I have been lieutenant governor, Senate Bill 1 is within the spending limit set by the Texas Constitution."" He’s right. It’s also  that lawmakers have only ever opted to exceed this limit once since it was added to the Constitution. We rate this  ."
6726,4,"Says Walmart employees represent the largest group of Medicaid and food stamp recipients in many states, costing the taxpayer $1,000 per worker.","November 24, 2012",corporations;medicaid;welfare;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.",national,7,11,4,6,5,1,a Huffington Post column,"Grayson's  about Wal-Mart employees on Medicaid and food stamps has support from several reports, although it's worth noting that some of them come from Democratic or labor-funded groups that are critical of Wal-Mart.     Comprehensive figures are not available, but we did find considerable  that echoes Grayson’s point about employee dependence on public health assistance in several states. His  about Walmart employees on food stamps is not as substantiated, but we did not find any substantial  that contradicted his point. His  about the $1,000 cost has the least support because it's based on two studies that are eight years old. Also, the presence of Wal-Mart at the top of the list is not necessarily unexpected given its size and the nature of wages for retailing. On balance, we rate the  ."
14906,2,Trump just gave a $12 billion bailout to farmers hurt by his failed tariffs. This will cost every household in the U.S. $95 … Trump is borrowing the money from China since his tax cuts blew a trillion dollar hole in the deficit.,"July 24, 2018",trade,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 Facebook post,"A recent Facebook post calls Trump’s recent announcement of an emergency aid package to farmers a ""bailout."" It also claims that the package will cost each household $95, and Trump borrowed money to finance it from China because his tax cuts left a trillion dollar hole in the deficit. The USDA did recently announce a $12 billion aid package for farmers, but some would consider the labeling of it as a ""bailout"" to be  since farmers were not responsible for the tariffs and other factors that led to the aid package being necessary. It’s also not fair to declare that the package would cost each household $95, since different households pay taxes at different rates. In addition, the government isn’t directly borrowing the money to finance the aid package from China. They’re borrowing the money from the U.S. Treasury. China buys and owns Treasury securities, but those securities have a very remote connection to the aid package. Lastly, the federal deficit hasn’t been over $1 trillion since 2012. The CBO doesn’t project it to be over $1 trillion until 2020. We rate the claims in the post ."
6695,5,"Says Delta Air Lines has ""once again broken a promise they made to me and to the people of Memphis.","October 31, 2012",government regulation;regulation,steve cohen,"Born May 24, 1949 in Memphis, Tenn.
In the House since 2006, he's a regional whip for the Democrats. In August of 2008, he was instrumental in passing H.Res.194, a House resolution apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African Americans. A fourth-generation Memphian, he got his start as a Shelby County Commissioner, and served in the Tennessee state Senate for 24 years, where he became known throughout the state as the “Father of the Tennessee Lottery.”  ",tennessee,2,0,1,0,0,1,a press release,Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen accuses Delta of breaking promises made to him and the city of Memphis about the impact of its merger with Northwest. Delta has subsequently ended the city’s direct flight to Amsterdam and has cut the number of flights nearly in half. We rule this statement .
16825,5,"Says Pete Buttigieg ran statewide in Indiana and ""lost by 20 points.","December 20, 2019",elections,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,the sixth Democratic presidential debate,"In a battle over who’s more electable, Klobuchar said Buttigieg ran for state office in Indiana and lost by 20 points. The race was in 2010, before Buttigieg was first elected mayor of South Bend. He ran for state treasurer against an incumbent and lost by nearly 25 percentage points. You can debate the relevance of that election on today’s race, but Klobuchar’s facts are solid. ."
10097,2,"Says according to recent polls, no Republican candidate ""is doing better against Hillary Clinton than myself.","March 24, 2015",elections;polls and public opinion,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 the Kelly File,"Paul said that according to recent polls, no Republican candidate ""is doing better against Hillary Clinton than myself."" The big picture shows nearly any Republican candidate getting approximately 40 percent of the vote when matched up against Clinton, so it’s hard to argue that any particular candidate is in the lead in this regard. One poll shows Paul with the highest support among Republicans against Clinton. But the size of the margin of error allows for the possibility that Paul might, in reality, be behind other Republican candidates. Additionally that is the only poll that shows Paul with a lead. Because it’s hard to say if any candidate, so far out from the 2016 election, is the clear frontrunner in a hypothetical race against Clinton, we rate Paul’s  ."
7958,1,"Milwaukee County has ""a parks capital budget that's bigger than it's been in the last 10 years.","October 1, 2013",county budget;county government;recreation,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 speech,"In addition, the 2007 budget was just a shade over Abele’s 2013 mark, though if inflation were factored in, the gap would grow. Our rating Abele told Rotarians that Milwaukee County has a ""parks capital budget that’s bigger than it’s been in the last 10 years."" By any measure, this  misses the mark. While Abele’s 2013 budget funded parks capital at a higher level than at least six other budgets in the decade, it’s not close to the leader. We rate his  ."
6382,3,"Says Lois Frankel ""took a 40 percent pay raise"" as mayor while West Palm Beach ""lost jobs.","September 28, 2012",candidate biography;message machine 2012,yg action fund,YG Action Fund is a conservative PAC.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,a television ad,"The YG Action PAC said that ""Frankel took a 40 percent pay raise as mayor."" Frankel did form a committee to explore whether she should get a pay raise and that resulted in a 40 percent boost -- an extra $35,750 -- in 2004. However the ad omits the context for that raise -- the mayor’s salary hadn’t had an increase since 1998 and after she got the raise in 2004, her salary then remained set at $125,000 a year until she left office in 2011. The ad also stated that while Frankel got a hefty pay hike, the city ""lost jobs."" The unemployment rate rose from about 5.8 percent to 10.2 percent during her tenure. But the number of employed actually increased slightly and Frankel can’t be blamed for a national recession. If we look at the big swing that occurred in the economy, ""no mayor in the world would be able to counterbalance the forces that were in play,"" Snaith said. For those omissions about context, we rate this  ."
17580,3,"Says that under the law, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ""can't open"" the city's schools.","April 11, 2020",education;states,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 briefing,"Cuomo said that under the law, de Blasio ""can’t open"" New York City’s schools. Cuomo has a point that New York state law does permit the governor of New York to seize such powers as closing schools as long as there is a declared emergency. But while Cuomo has declared an emergency due to the coronavirus, he hasn’t gone so far as to exercise the power of pre-empting local school-closing powers. This has enabled the city to continue calling the shots on whether the schools should be opened or remain closed. The statement is partially accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
519,0,"Says Obama opposes innovation, the electric car and ""clean, safe, nuclear energy.","June 25, 2008",energy,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,"It's not a blanket endorsement — Obama says it's important to protect the security of nuclear fuel and waste and determine how to store the waste — but it's still a part of his plan. So McCain is way, way off with these charges. It's not that he's just missing nuances or exaggerating; he has completely distorted Obama's positions, falsely claiming that Obama opposes research and innovation on the most significant political issue of the summer. He portrays Obama as a impediment to energy research when the Democratic candidate has been at least as assertive on the issue as McCain has — and has been touting his energy plan since last October. It's so  we have to set the meter ablaze: ."
19253,3,The committee that advises @GovEvers and his department tasked with leading during this pandemic is recommending allowing prisoners to receive the vaccine before 65 year old grandma?,"January 12, 2021",public health;science;coronavirus,mark born,"Mark Born is an American law enforcement officer and politician. Born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Born graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College. He then worked in the Dodge County, Wisconsin sheriff department. Born also served on the Beaver Dam Common Council.",wisconsin,1,0,1,0,1,0,Twitter,"Born tweeted ""The committee that advises @GovEvers and his department tasked with leading during this pandemic is recommending allowing prisoners to receive the vaccine before 65 year old grandma?""  The panel did draw its line for Phase 1B at 70 year olds and included those in ""congregate living facilities"" -- a group that includes prison inmates. But the recommendations were not sent to the full department until days later. By that time, the department had lowered the age threshold to 65, and started that group before prisons. It’s unclear if blowback to the idea of inmates-before-Grandma prompted the department to take a different approach, as Republicans argue. But it is clear the department had not taken a public position at the time.  Our definition of  is ""The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context."" That fits here.  "
3274,4,"Says ""for the equivalent cost of a single mile of freeway, we have a bike infrastructure.","February 22, 2011",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 video online,"That said, Adams is the mayor of an urban area and it makes sense that he would be thinking in terms of the cost of urban freeway construction. When you’re talking about that sort of freeway construction, $60 million falls pretty near the middle of the $20 million to $80 million estimated average cost. The mayor could have been a little more exact, but his statistic -- that Portland has spent on its bikeway infrastructure what it would spend on a mile of freeway -- seems to stand up to scrutiny. We’ll give this one a . Comment on this item."
2601,1,Says he has a track record of not raising taxes.,"October 15, 2010",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.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,an interview,"Some people wound up paying less, but some are paying more."" We never heard back from Perry on his tax track record. Upshot: Legislation, reports, news articles and expert analysis show that Perry has signed about half a dozen tax increases into law, including the three 2006 changes intended to help cover cuts in school property taxes. Texans paying more thanks to Perry's signature on tax-increase measures include companies with higher business taxes, plus cigarette smokers and purchasers of smokeless tobacco, fireworks and diesel equipment. We rate the statement ."
20360,1,"Countless Southwest Airlines employees have walked out of their jobs to oppose the vaccine mandate, causing operations to effectively shut down.","October 10, 2021",transportation;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,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,"A tweet said, ""Countless Southwest Airlines employees have walked out of their jobs to oppose the vaccine mandate, causing operations to effectively shut down."" The  — along with other variations circulating online — is unsubstantiated. Southwest and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association denied that Southwest pilots led any such walkout or sickout to protest the vaccine mandate. They attributed the flight cancellations to other factors, including bad weather and other issues on Friday that prompted a wave of cancellations. Without , we rate this  ."
17955,1,"Republicans didn't ""increase state funding for nursing homes in the last budget.","May 23, 2020",health care;states,tim carpenter,"Timothy W. Carpenter is a Democratic member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing the 3rd District since 2003. He earlier served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1985 through 2003. ",wisconsin,1,0,0,0,1,0,Twitter,"When the federal match is included, that added up to about $74 million more.   Carpenter cited declining overall state spending on nursing homes, but the reason those expenditures decreased is because fewer Medicaid recipients are residing in nursing homes. Meanwhile, rates charged for those Medicaid recipients have increased over the years.   We rate Carpenter’s  .   window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND';

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10748,1,"Daraprim is still underpriced, relative to its peers.","September 21, 2015",corrections and updates;health care;public health;punditfact,martin shkreli,Martin Shkreli is the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,comments on Bloomberg TV,"Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, said, ""Daraprim is still underpriced, relative to its peers."" By his own estimates, Daraprim is cheaper than cancer and rare disease drugs, which he considers Daraprim’s ""peers."" By others, Daraprim costs about the same, if not more. Yet experts told us cancer and rare disease drugs are not Daraprim’s peers. Daraprim’s patent expired more than six decades ago and is a niche generic drug. The same cannot be said of cancer treatments. We rate his  . Correction: An earlier version of this fact-check misspelled Martin Shkreli's name."
15415,3,"We had a waiting list in Chittenden County when I came into office of about 700. ... We opened a new treatment hub in St. Albans, and it reduced that number to zero.","October 10, 2018",drugs;health care,phil scott,Phil Scott is the 82nd governor of Vermont.,vermont,1,0,2,1,2,0,campaign debate,"In trumpeting Vermont’s success tackling the opioid epidemic, Scott said waitlists for treatment in Chittenden County had fallen from about 700 to zero. He’s right that, according to available data, there is basically no longer a waitlist for treatment at Chittenden’s regional hub at the Howard Center. But he’s completely off the mark when it comes to how long the waitlist was when he first came into office. We rate this  ."
23025,1,"We are about 1 degree Celsius above the coldest it's been in the last 10,000 years"" and ""that's why we shouldn't be panicking.","May 15, 2023",climate change;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,"Davies cited a 2020 study led by a Northern Arizona University researcher that shows the last decade was warmer than any other multicentury period in the last 125,000 years. Most of the world’s scientists agree that climate change is driven by greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from human activity. The gases , notably carbon dioxide, are produced when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned for energy. When these gases accumulate in the atmosphere, they trap heat and raise surface temperatures, leading to climate changes.   We rate the  ."
8254,5,Crime in Atlanta is down 18 percent since 2009.,"December 17, 2013",crime,atlanta police foundation,The Atlanta Police Foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises money for police programs.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,flier to supporters,"For instance, Forbes magazine ranked Atlanta as the ninth ""most dangerous city"" in the nation for 2013, down from sixth in 2012. The magazine creates the annual list by using the FBI's Crime Statistics database screened for cities with populations of 200,000 and higher. Experts generally downplay these rankings, and the FBI specifically warns against using its statistics for city-against-city rankings. But there’s no  that the foundation’s flier  was anything but accurate based on the available data. We rate the statement ."
22599,3,"Under Biden, we have seen over 4.6 million encounters at our southern border. Most have been released into the interior and will stay here indefinitely.","January 23, 2023",immigration;border security,chip roy,"U.S. Rep. Chip Roy was elected to represent Texas' 21st Congressional District in 2018. Previously he worked as vice president of strategy for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank. He also worked as a political operative for several different Texas Republicans.",texas,1,2,2,0,0,1,a tweet,"The rest were released into the country. These numbers also represent initial outcomes. Just because immigrants are released into the U.S. to seek asylum, does not mean they will stay indefinitely.   Roy’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
3681,4,Oil companies are able to sell oil that costs no more to produce today than it did one year ago.,"June 16, 2011",energy;gas prices,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 speech on the Senate floor,"Because no absolute answer can be given until new data is available, we think Merkley’s statement needs clarification. But his fundamental point -- that total production costs haven’t changed much in recent years -- is largely correct. Even Exxon CEO Tillerson says total production costs are relatively stable. We rate Merkley’s : . Comment on this item."
10026,1,"A lot of people who go into prison straight, and when they come out they're gay.","March 4, 2015",criminal justice;sexuality,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",national,0,3,3,8,12,4,an interview on CNN,"Carson said, ""A lot of people who go into prison straight, and when they come out they’re gay."" There is no research that supports this point. The one study that even begins to address the topic has too small a sample size -- and too many variables -- to shed light on Carson's . And its author finds Carson's view ""simplistic."" Further, Carson used this example to prove that sexual orientation is a personal decision. Respected scientists consider it settled that homosexuality is not a matter of choice. Additionally, experts told us the sex culture in prison is not comparable to sex culture outside of prison, making it a bad analogy. We rate Carson’s  ."
11718,1,"Says Ted Strickland admits his record on jobs and taxes is ""mixed and spotty.","May 6, 2016",voting record,fighting for ohio pac,Political action committee supporting Sen. Rob Portman for reelection,ohio,0,0,0,0,1,0,Fighting for Ohio PAC ad,"An attack ad juxtaposes employment figures and tax dollars with a video clip of Strickland saying, ""My record is mixed and spotty, and I can be criticized for that."" Strickland’s stance on gun control may have wavered, but the context in which he made the ""mixed and spotty"" statement did not. Strickland was talking about guns, not jobs or taxes. The Fighting for Ohio PAC’s ""Spotty"" ad distorts the context of his statement. We rate this ad . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/02d12e26-ad74-49e5-9fff-f0ca114a71eb"
4716,0,"Says Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, ""put into place socialized medicine.","December 10, 2011",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,Iowa,"""Socialized medicine,"" describes some health systems in place in the United States, such as those for veterans and active-duty military. But changes to Massachusetts health care under Romney don't begin to approach government-paid and government-provided care. The Massachusetts plan relies, in fact, on the same private employer-based health insurance system most Americans are familiar with. That's so different from ""socialized medicine"" — practically the other end of the public-private spectrum — that Bachmann's use of the label is, frankly, . We rate her statement ."
8370,5,Georgia has the fifth-highest number of uninsured people of any state in the union.,"January 20, 2014",medicaid;state budget,raphael warnock,"The Rev. Raphael Warnock is a U.S. Senator from Georgia elected in a special runoff election in January 2021 and running for re-election in 2022. Warnock, a Democrat, served as the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, located in Atlanta. The church's former pastors include the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.",georgia,1,3,4,0,1,0,a speech,"""You’ll produce jobs. If you provide that health care (to those additional Medicaid recipients), someone has to provide that health care."" To sum up, Warnock said Georgia has the fifth-highest number of uninsured residents. Our research showed he’s indeed in the ballpark. We rate his  .  "
20620,1,Kyle Rittenhouse files $400 million suit against CNN!,"November 28, 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 really good lawyers who are taking care of that right now,"" Rittenhouse said. ""So I’m hoping one day there will be accountability for their actions that they did. ""   But it’s not  that he’s filed a $400 million lawsuit against CNN.   We rate that  ."
17022,2,"In sanctuary cities, local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public instead of handing them over to ICE to be safely removed.","February 4, 2020",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.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,his 2020 State of the Union address,"Trump said, ""In sanctuary cities, local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public instead of handing them over to ICE to be safely removed."" Sanctuary policies don’t mean that undocumented criminals get to walk free of charges, or that local officials order police to release them as standard operating procedure.  Noncitizens facing arrest still go through the criminal justice system; sanctuary policies mean that they aren’t turned over to ICE authorities after they’ve done so. Still, many sanctuary policies include specific provisions allowing law enforcement to comply with ICE’s requests when it comes to noncitizens who have been convicted of felonies. That’s the case in both California and New York City — the two places Trump called out by name.  Media reports and ICE press releases have documented some cases in which noncitizens with serious criminal records were released by police in spite of detainer requests. But these individuals had already gone through the criminal justice system in one way or another. We rate this statement ."
1043,0,"I'm 59. In either Canada or Great Britain, if I broke my hip, I couldn't get it replaced.","August 12, 2009",health care,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.",national,5,2,4,3,3,1,an editorial board meeting with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,"But still, he was  about both countries and would be eligible for hip replacements for many years to come. Public officials have a duty not to get things , especially when it has the potential to frighten people. (You may recall we gave Vice President Joe Biden a  for saying during the swine flu scare that when you sneeze, it travels through the whole plane.) Likewise, this  could scare many senior citizens. So we have to set the meter ablaze and give Blunt a !"
8012,3,"Only 14 percent of Americans were able to keep these individual market plans for two years"" before Obamacare became law.","November 3, 2013",health care;punditfact,van jones,"Van Jones is a host of CNN's Crossfire. A former environmental and human rights activist, Jones in 2009, served as the ""green jobs"" adviser to President Barack Obama. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012).
 ",,1,2,2,0,1,0,"a panel on ABC's ""This Week""","Jones said, ""Only 14 percent of Americans were able to keep these individual market plans for two years"" before Obamacare became law. He was trying to make the point that canceled policies have been the norm in the individual insurance market long before the Affordable Care Act. His figure is 3 percentage points off of a 2004 study that found only 17 percent of individual policyholders kept their plans for more than two years. More importantly, though, a health policy expert said Jones probably went too far in indicating that insurance companies were to blame for the high turnover. Many people enter that market for the purpose of buying short-term protection. That means people in the individual market might be dropping the health insurance plan they have as much as insurance companies might be canceling the plan altogether. We rate the statement ."
22406,0,Climate activists vow to slaughter millions of dogs to 'reduce carbon pawprint.',"December 1, 2022",animals;climate change;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,"An Instagram post shared a headline that read, ""Climate activists vow to slaughter millions of dogs to ‘reduce carbon pawprint.’"" The headline originated on a site known for publishing  information. The article associated with the headline cites CNN, which did not refer to slaughtering dogs.  We rate this  ! "
19507,2,"Less than 500 people a year killed by all rifles combined"" and ""4,000 a year killed by illegals.","March 21, 2021",immigration;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A widely recirculated Facebook post claimed: ""Less than 500 people a year killed by all rifles combined"" and ""4,000 a year killed by illegals.""  The latest FBI figures show there were 364 murders committed with rifles in 2019.  No national crime statistics are kept on the number of people killed by people who are in the country illegally. One estimate based on Texas data puts the national number at under 300. In fiscal 2020, ICE arrested people on immigration violations whose criminal histories included 1,837 homicide convictions or charges sometime in the past, but its data doesn’t say when the killings or convictions occurred. The post contains only an element of . We rate it ."
11573,1,"The Katy Freeway, or Interstate 10 west of Houston, is the widest freeway in the world, with up to 26 lanes, including frontage road lanes.","March 4, 2016",transportation,sylvester turner,"Sylvester Turner, of Houston, was first elected to the Texas House in 1988.",texas,0,2,0,0,2,0,a press conference announcing new chairman of transit authority,"Turner called the Katy Freeway, a Houston portion of I-10, the widest freeway in the world, with up to 26 lanes, including its frontage roads. If frontage and managed lanes are included, I-10 is quite the behemoth. Problem is, hardly anyone includes frontage roads when measuring American freeways. Get rid of the frontage roads and the Katy drops to 13 lanes at its widest, not much different than several other freeways across the country. As for the rest of the world, we found a wider freeway in Canada, and a reported 50-lane highway in China that makes the Katy look like a country road. We rate this  .  – The statement is not accurate."
13603,5,Says President Richard Nixon held meetings with heads of state without an American interpreter.,"July 18, 2017",history;foreign policy;punditfact,ian bremmer,"Ian Bremmer is president and founder of the Eurasia Group, an international research and consulting firm, as well as a professor at New York University.",,1,1,0,0,0,0,comments on 'The Rachel Maddow Show',"""They (Trump and Putin) were out of earshot, so, I mean, unless the Russian translator has a tape — and I think there’s a reasonable likelihood that he does — then, you know, nobody else is going to have a readout of this meeting,"" Bremmer said. Bremmer said, ""Apparently, President Nixon used to do it (hold meetings with heads of state without an American interpreter) because he felt, didn't really trust the State Department, at that point, providing the translators and didn't want information getting out, leaking, that he would want to keep private."" Presidential historians, historical accounts and Nixon’s own memoir show this was the case. But it’s notable that even in the example most comparable to Trump’s meeting with Putin, when Nixon used only a Soviet translator during two meetings with Brezhnev, official records of the meeting exist. We rate Bremmer’s statement ."
215,2,"The estate tax, which came into being by Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and others ... is there for a real simple reason: In America, we've never liked the idea of massive inherited wealth.","October 10, 2007",taxes,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,"Derry, N.H","Since then, the estate tax has continued to increase as have the number and size of the exemptions. Under tax cuts passed by President Bush, it is being phased out by 2010. Clinton wants to abolish the tax cuts she said only help the wealthy and use the estate tax to fund a new retirement system. While her sentiment closely resembles FDR's, her statements don't represent the full history behind the tax. We rule her statement ."
12682,0,Tens of thousands of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse.,"September 30, 2016",elections;fake news,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,ohio,8,18,24,53,233,396,an online article,"The article claiming ""tens of thousands of fraudulent Clinton votes found in Ohio warehouse"" is . State and local elections officials have criticized the website for running a made-up story, and the accompanying photo in the piece is a doctored version of a picture taken by a publication in the United Kingdom. We rate this  ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ff712629-06fd-46d7-a16f-61cf5f8b10fe"
2561,3,"The health care bill ""cuts the deficit by over $1 trillion dollars.","October 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,"an appearance on Comedy Central's ""The Daily Show""","Bottom line, Obama is presenting a highly speculative number as a hard fact. The CBO believes the health care bill will continue to improve the deficit in second 10 years. In an Oct. 22, 2010 presentation on the economic effects of the health care bill , CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf said the legislation sets up a number of experiments in delivery and payment systems, but ""it is unclear how successful the experiments will be."" For that reason, and others, the CBO noted that the uncertainties involved are too great to create detailed projections. And so now, as then, we rate Obama's statement ."
12971,0,"Says former President Barack Obama ""will be on new $1 dollar bill.","January 26, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog posts,"The United States Mint did strike a pair of bronze medals commemorating Obama’s two terms in office . You can buy replicas of both , but they are not legal tender. You also can buy several forms of joke bills featuring Obama from private online vendors, including denominations of $44 , $2,008 and even $1 million . But Obama appearing on any real currency, like making it onto the United Federation of Britain’s $50 in the 2012 remake of Total Recall , will remain fictional for now. We rate this  !"
22171,1,"The diphtheria vaccine is a ""poison dart"" with side effects worse than the symptoms of diphtheria.","October 19, 2022",children;health care;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,"An Instagram post says the diphtheria vaccine is a ""poison dart,"" with side effects worse than the symptoms of diphtheria.  The diphtheria vaccine is safe and effective, and its widespread use has nearly eradicated the illness in the United States. Side effects from the vaccine are typically minor, and serious adverse reactions are rare.   Diphtheria was a leading cause of death among children in the U.S. in the 1920s, and complications from it can cause damage to the heart muscle, nerve damage, kidney failure and death.  We rate this  ."
11216,4,I'll be running against a career politician.,"December 17, 2015",candidate biography,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,"""While he has a breadth of experience working as an attorney, an author, a teacher, and serving our nation as a diplomat, Russ is proud to have served the people of Wisconsin,"" Tyler said. Our rating Setting the stage for his 2016 election rematch, Johnson said he would face a ""career politician"" in Feingold. Other than a short stretches, it’s clear the lion’s share of Feingold’s career has been in politics or government. He’s got the pensions to show for it, and makes no apologies for it. We rate the statement  ."
6011,3,"Under the Obama administration's bailout of General Motors, Ohio dealerships were forced to close.","August 1, 2012",economy;jobs;message machine 2012,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.",ohio,31,33,58,35,32,19,a campaign commercial,"As for the government’s involvement, including loans, GM said it did not have a lot of other options so it stepped up the pace. In U.S. bankruptcy court filings, GM said it tried to find private investors but failed because lenders were not willing to take a risk on a damaged automaker amid a financial meltdown. Without funding, the company might have been forced to liquidate, selling off all its factories and equipment. That’s information that puts the  into context. When a statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important information needed to put the  in context, it gets one rating on the -O-Meter: ."
19730,3,"Says ""75% of third-graders in this year's class are not reading at a third grade level"" and, for those who don't catch up, there's ""an 80% chance that you will not graduate.","May 4, 2021",education,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 podcast,"McCrory said ""75% of third-graders in this year’s class are not reading at a third grade level,"" adding, ""If you’re not reading at a third grade level by the time you get out of third grade, there’s probably an 80% chance that you will not graduate."" The first part of his  has factual basis but ignores that the source of his data is the beginning-of-grade test. The second part of McCrory’s , meanwhile, is way off. Research has found that 16% of children who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade do not graduate from high school on time.  The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
8894,2,"Redskins is ""used historically"" as ""a term of respect.","May 26, 2014",history;punditfact,pete hegseth,Pete Hegseth is CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and a Fox News contributor. He was a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2012. ,,0,1,0,1,0,0,"a segment on ""Outnumbered""","This fact-check isn’t about whether the Redskins owner believes his football team’s name is meant to be respectful (that’s his opinion). It’s also not about whether the Redskins name has a place in the 21st century (that’s your opinion). We’re evaluating a  by a defender of the nickname that the word itself was used as a term of respect. It’s a stretch. Its earliest use was as a racial designation before being used in derogatory portrayals of American Indians in literature, movies and newspapers, and in 19th century clashes between whites and tribal nations. That sentiment extended into 20th century culture. Hegseth’s talking point suggests ""redskins"" was used as an honorific and doesn’t tell the full story about the word’s historical usage. We rate his  ."
11481,2,We have less Americans working now than in the '70s.,"March 24, 2016",economy;jobs,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,an interview with ABC17 News,"However, Hartzler was talking about the entire decade of the ‘70s. When we look at all the years, the  doesn’t stack up. The first eight years of the decade, 1970 through 1977, have a lower employment-population ratio and a lower labor force participation rate than 2015. Hartzler’s  does contain an element of , but it ignores critical facts and statistics that would give it a different impression. We rate this statement ."
6612,4,"Bill Clinton presided over ""the biggest expansion of the American economy since World War II.","October 18, 2012",economy,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 that Clinton presided over ""the biggest expansion of the American economy since World War II."" He backs his statement by offering a 2004 ""prosperity"" rating created by Forbes magazine that put Clinton at the top of postwar presidents. Kaine also cites the gross GDP growth, adjusted for inflation, over the administration of each president since 1945 -- a measure that favors recent two-term presidents. A different picture emerges when we use a comparison measure preferred by economists that measures annual average growth in the GDP. Among postwar presidents, LBJ was tops in economic expansion, followed by Kennedy. Clinton was third. There’s no doubt Clinton presided during a strong economic expansion, but not all indicators point to it being a postwar record. We rate Kaine’s statement .  "
12441,2,Republican Mark Kirk is outsourcing his campaign to a Super PAC funded almost exclusively by a bunch of hedge fund billionaires. ... I don't have a Super PAC.,"August 31, 2016",campaign finance,tammy duckworth,Tammy Duckworth was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois' 8th Congressional District for two terms. She is an Iraq War veteran and former Assistant Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs.,illinois,1,1,0,3,1,0,an email fundraising letter,"Duckworth said her opponent is outsourcing his campaign to a Super PAC funded almost exclusively by hedge-fund billionaires. Kirk is the beneficiary of a Super PAC that so far has spent exclusively on the Illinois U.S. Senate race, but it is not accurate to say he is ""outsourcing"" his campaign. In fact, by law, ""outsourcing"" a campaign to a Super PAC would be illegal. And while Duckworth does not have a so-called single-candidate Super PAC, she does benefit from some minimal Super PAC spending as well as some other outside spending by VoteVets.org and from state and national Democratic party organizations. We rate this  ."
10373,1,"Says Scott Walker runs a state government that bans ""employees from talking about climate change.","June 2, 2015",environment,forecast the facts,"Forecast the Facts is a project of the progressive Citizen Engagement Laboratory, which describes itself as ""a home for social entrepreneurs like themselves and a launching pad for new ideas and people powered projects that seek to change the world by leveraging the power of the internet.""",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a statement on a web page,"But the group could only name one obscure agency, outside of the governor's jurisdiction, that has such a rule in place. The rule was aimed at barring its workers from doing climate-change work while on state time. And that rule is poised to be amended. Meanwhile, we found plenty of examples where state agencies were discussing climate change. We rate the  ."
14564,1,"Florida's ""unemployment is at a record low.","April 24, 2018",,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.""",florida,2,1,3,6,4,1,a TV ad,"A U.S. Chamber of Commerce ad said Florida’s unemployment is at a record low. The rate is the lowest since April 2007, but it is not a record low. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the unemployment rate was lower multiple times between 1999 and 2007. We rate this  ."
7206,1,"Says a gun bill before the Senate ""is proposing the universal registration of all firearms and their owners.","April 10, 2013",civil rights;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 email circulated to Arizona residents claims a bill before the Senate ""is proposing the universal registration of all firearms and their owners."" The bill expands background checks to most gun transfers. But federal rules forbid the government from keeping a record of successful background checks for more than a day. The ACLU argues it’s possible the bill creates a new type of record for some sales that may not be subject to the ban, but that’s not the same thing as ""universal registration of all firearms and their owners."" We rate the  ."
9819,1,"When Disney was looking to build Disney World, they came to Miami and we told Disney to take a hike.","December 19, 2014",county government;history;recreation,dennis moss,Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dennis Moss was first elected in 1993 and represents District 9 in south Dade.,florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,"an interview with the ""Miami Herald""","Moss said, ""When Disney was looking to build Disney World, they came to Miami and we told Disney to take a hike."" At PolitiFact we believe that politicians need to back up their claims, and in this case Moss said he doesn’t have a documented source. The account by Capp that former Mayor Clark told him in the 1980s that this happened decades before doesn’t provide first-hand . And it’s the only piece of  we found in favor of Moss’s point. The historians we interviewed said they had never seen  to support the  that Disney considered Miami-Dade for Disney World. If we later find  that shows Disney considered Miami-Dade for Disney World, we will revisit this fact-check, but so far Moss has failed to prove his , so we rate it ."
21220,1,Sudden death in adults and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome are caused by vaccines.,"April 3, 2022",health care;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"A Twitter post says sudden death in adults and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome are caused by vaccines. Research studies, as well as safety and scientific reviews, have not found any links between childhood vaccines and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or between vaccination and deaths in people of any age — adults or children — except in rare cases. Vaccines are tested in clinical trials prior to public use, and multiple systems are in place to monitor their safety after they are released for public use. Serious adverse reactions are rare. We rate this  .   "
7589,4,"New school testing standards ""will consume approximately twenty days of testing for elementary, middle and high school students.","July 17, 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 letter to Education Commissioner Tony Bennett,"In a letter to the state education commissioner, Gaetz and Weatherford said they were concerned that new standards would increase test-taking time for Florida’s students, describing the PARCC standards as ""consuming"" 20 days for elementary, middle and high school students. The word ""consuming"" implies that those days will be taken up completely by testing. That’s not the case for students, who will not be tested continuously for 20 days. But it’s on the mark for schools, which would have a 20-day window in which to administer tests to different students within the school. In fact, schools generally expect to focus on little else besides testing procedures for that time period. The current FCAT tests work the same way, but that testing window is shorter, at 12 days. The lawmakers could have been more clear that if PARCC standards are adopted, students will not face 20 days of continuous testing. But in context, their statement is generally accurate. We rate the statement ."
14600,4,"By 2022, just the interest payment on our debt will be greater than the defense of our country.","May 9, 2018",debt,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.,national,7,12,4,3,3,0,an interview with Hoppy Kercheval,"Manchin said, ""By 2022, just the interest payment on our debt will be greater than the defense of our country."" The closest official estimate we could find says that net interest will pass defense spending in 2023, or one year later than Manchin said. But using a different set of unofficial assumptions, it could be different. We rate his statement ."
3871,1,Only the State of New York spends more money on Medicaid than the State of New Jersey.,"June 16, 2011",health care;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 television interview on On the Line,"Yet federal data going back nearly three years has shown that New Jersey consistently ranks ninth in overall state spending on Medicaid. A Christie spokesman said New Jersey ranked second behind Alaska in payments per adult, but the least amount of Medicaid payments went towards that enrollment group. New Jersey lands in the top ten for Medicaid spending in many cases, but the governor was  in his specific assertion that New Jersey ranked second. We rate Christie’s statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
6328,4,"Says Barack Obama's comments indicate he ""believes in redistribution"" of wealth.","September 19, 2012",message machine 2012,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.",georgia,31,33,58,35,32,19,a speech,Obama was even critical of some government agencies in Chicago in the clip. Obama also spoke about ways to foster competition and innovation. Obama spoke of redistribution in a way that government can create an even playing field for everyone and encourage competition. The clip of the 1998 audio that Romney referenced to criticize Obama doesn’t tell the complete story. We rate Romney’s  as .
18505,2,"9,871,525 is the number of registered voters in AZ according to FB. AZ population is 7,270,000.","September 23, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A tally showing that figure appears above the words ""People who shared they registered to vote in the United States."" The user’s state is listed above that tally, but the number isn’t specific to that state: As of July 2019, the population of Arizona stood just over 7.2 million, with 22.5%, or about 1.6 million, being under the age of 18 and therefore not eligible to vote, according to Census data. This post gets Arizona’s population right, but the rest of the  is . We rate this post ."
21936,1,A BBC radio station resumed playing dance music after announcing Queen Elizabeth II had died.,"September 8, 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,"Radio 1 Dance was playing the song in the clip and cut away to announce Elizabeth’s death. But the station did not resume playing music, tweeted Scott Bryan , who co-host’s the ""Must Watch"" podcast on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live. ""All BBC radio programming in the United Kingdom was suspended and united under a single broadcast to announce the death of HM The Queen,"" Bryan wrote . He shared a clip of that moment on Radio 1 Dance and rather than resuming the song, the announcer went on to report more about what the palace said. We rate claims that Radio 1 Dance played music after announcing the queen's death ."
9120,2,"Obama's 2012 policy on younger immigrants ""created these children coming across"" the border.","July 21, 2014",immigration;punditfact,lou dobbs,Lou Dobbs is a television host on Fox Business Network. He was formerly the host of CNN’s ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’.,,0,2,0,1,2,1,"a broadcast of ""Lou Dobbs Tonight""","Dobbs said the Obama policy directed at younger immigrants created the the problem at the border. The initial rise in arrivals began before Obama announced the policy and if anything, plateaued or declined a bit immediately afterward. However, the administration went out of its way recently to send the message that the policy did not apply to newcomers, suggesting the policy played some role. The influx of children comes mainly from the most troubled nations in Central America. The  that Obama’s policy created the influx does not match the timeline and ignores other important factors. We rate the  ."
21397,2,"The Biden administration has been ""recklessly releasing potentially dangerous Afghans into our communities.","February 18, 2022",afghanistan;immigration;homeland security,tom tiffany,"In 2004 and 2008, Tom Tiffany ran for the 12th State Senate District, first against Senator Roger Breske, and then Jim Holperin losing both times in very close elections. In 2010, he ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly after the position was vacated by retiring incumbent, Representative Donald Friske. Tiffany won the primary, and later defeated Democrat Jay Schmelling 58.09% - 41.81%.
In 2012 Tiffany chose not to seek re-election to the State Assembly and to seek election to the State Senate after Holperin announced he would not run for reelection. He defeated Democrat Susan Sommer, 56% - 40%, in the general election on November 6, 2012. Tiffany succeeded fellow Republican Sean Duffy in Congress, winning a special election against Democrat Tricia Zunker in 2020.",wisconsin,0,1,0,6,0,1,Twitter,"Citing a specific report, Tiffany said it demonstrated the Biden administration has been ""recklessly releasing potentially dangerous Afghans into our communities""  The report did not describe the Afghans as potentially dangerous. A Washington Times headline did. The inspector general’s report identified 50 people that had ""derogatory information"" in a defense department biometric database, but what that information involves is not known and was not included in the report.  The report did find holes and inefficiencies in the vetting process that were fixed before the report’s publication and Afghans admitted into the U.S. were retroactively screened with missing data. The bottomline: Tiffany overstates these findings in making his point.  Our definition of  is a statement that ""contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here.   "
8295,5,"In Virginia, ""Medicaid has grown by 1,600 percent in the last 30 years.","January 5, 2014",medicaid;state budget,william howell,"William Howell, R-Falmouth, represents the 28th District, which is comprised of parts of Fredericksburg and Stafford County, in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was first elected as a delegate in 1987 and was named speaker of the house in 2003.
He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Richmond and a law degree from the University of Virginia. He is a former director of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and former president of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.",virginia,2,0,0,0,0,1,an op-ed,"Howell said the cost of Medicaid in Virginia ""has grown by 1,600 percent over the last 30 years."" We find no reason to quibble. The Speaker accurately cited budget figures kept by the House Appropriations Committee, a source that many around the Capitol -- including PolitiFact Virginia -- turn to for reliable data. We rate his statement ."
13618,1,"When the price for oil goes up on the markets, it goes right up, but it never goes down.","July 23, 2017",economy;energy,charles schumer,Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York and the Senate majority leader.,national,3,7,5,5,5,1,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week""","Schumer said, ""When the price for oil goes up on the markets, it goes right up, but it never goes down."" This comment takes a well-known phenomenon and  it beyond recognition. While experts agree that prices tend to go up quickly after a market shock but usually come down more slowly once the shock is resolved, this phenomenon only occurs on a short-term basis -- a couple of weeks in most cases. Long-term data show long stretches since the mid 1970s when the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline and crude oil have fallen. We rate the statement ."
9400,2,"Michelle Nunn ""spent most of her childhood"" in Perry, Ga.","September 13, 2014",elections,michelle nunn,"Michelle Nunn was the chief executive officer of the Points of Light Foundation, a charitable organization. She is the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, a Democrat from Georgia. Michelle Nunn is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat.",georgia,2,2,1,3,0,0,a fundraiser invitation,"And the facts are clear: Nunn spent 12 of those years living outside of Georgia. Even accounting for summer vacations and holidays, any  that she spent ""most"" of her childhood here is inconsistent with the facts. Nunn’s campaign admits it made a  with its statement, and there are multiple instances of her acknowledging her move from Georgia. Nunn did spend part of her childhood in Georgia, but certainly not most of it. We rate the invitation  ."
13780,3,"Says ""the latest polls show us tied neck-and-neck"" with Sen. Ted Cruz.","August 10, 2017",polls and public opinion,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,a Facebook post,"O’Rourke said ""the latest polls show us tied neck-and-neck"" with Cruz. An April 2017 poll showed a 30 percent-30 percent race though a plurality of registered voters indicated they didn’t know enough to commit either way and the poll folded in too many Democrats. O’Rourke didn’t identify any other poll of the match-up nor did we find one. 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."
367,3,I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland.,"March 5, 2008",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,"an interview on CNN's ""American Morning.""","Clinton claimed that she ""helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland."" That's the kind of thing that Mitchell, Hume or Trimble could accurately say. But based on our interviews and research, it's a stretch for Clinton to say so. Although she played a role, especially with women in Northern Ireland, her statement leaves the impression that she was more involved than she was. We find her statement to be ."
22421,1,Fluctuating Georgia U.S. Senate runoff vote count is evidence of election fraud.,"December 7, 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.",georgia,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"(Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Lauren Easton, a spokesperson for The Associated Press, told PolitiFact that ""human error caused us to provide , overstated numbers for Herschel Walker for less than a minute on Tuesday night. As soon as we saw the , we quickly returned to providing the numbers reported by the state. ""  Unofficial election results on the Georgia secretary of state’s website show Warnock won the election with 1,816,096 votes, or 51.37%. We rate claims that the fluctuating vote count on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s website is  of election fraud ."
1232,5,The Senate health care bill does not contain limits on medical malpractice lawsuits.,"December 1, 2009",health care,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,a floor speech,"The Senate bill includes nonbinding ""sense of the Senate"" language on page 1,858 that ""states should be encouraged to develop and test alternatives to the existing civil litigation system as a way of improving patient safety, reducing medical errors, encouraging the efficient resolution of disputes ... while preserving an individual's right to seek redress in court.""    The House bill establishes an incentive for states to adopt alternatives to traditional malpractice lawsuits, but those proposals cannot include provisions to limit attorney fees or impose caps on damages. So, back to McConnell's . He said that the Senate bill does not include limits on medical malpractice litigation, and he is clearly correct. We rate his  ."
2934,4,A test last month at the MAX station at 162nd Avenue and East Burnside saw crime down 41 percent compared with December 2009,"January 13, 2011",crime;transportation,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,The Oregonian,"If it actually helps reduce crime at light-rail stations, that’s great, but we’re not weighing in on that broader question. Our focus is on the recent test. In an interview with PolitiFact Oregon, Smith said he may have used the two terms -- ""crime"" and ""service calls"" -- interchangeably when talking to Cole, inaccurately conflating the two. We rate the   -- accurate but needing just a little bit of clarification. Comment on this item."
9617,4,"Figures for September 2014's job growth in Wisconsin mark the ""largest private-sector job creation we've had in the month of September in more than a decade","October 17, 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 speech,"But here we are simply rating what Walker said; the -O-Meter does not have a hypocrisy setting. Our rating Walker claims that the September report which showed an increase of 8,400 jobs was the best in the past 10 years for that month. That stacks up. And a BLS official says the approach is legitimate, with the caveat the latest year is preliminary. Thus, we rate the  ."
2095,3,"It is wrong for the average federal worker today to make more than $100,000 while the average private-sector worker makes less than $70,000.","August 12, 2010",federal budget,mike keown,Mike Keown is a Republican candidate for Georgia's 2nd Congressional District,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,his campaign Web site,"The articles do not indicate whether some factors, such as the high cost of living in the Washington, D.C. area, where many federal employees work, were considered. National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley was quoted in USA Today in March as saying any comparison between federal and private-sector employees is faulty because it ""compares apples and oranges."" The BEA notes many factors need to be considered when comparing pay and benefits of federal employees to private-sector workers. The statement on Keown's Web site does not mention those factors. Therefore, we rate Keown's statement as ."
3018,0,"The last Christians are about to leave"" Iraq.","January 20, 2011",iraq;religion,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 interview on MSNBC,"The report says that out of approximately 1.4 million Christians estimated to live in Iraq in 2003, only about 500,000 remain. So, the number of Christians in Iraq has dropped significantly since 2003, but hundreds of thousands remain in that country. Paul is a prominent congressman whose utterances are widely reported. His  that the last Christians are about to depart is not just hyperbole but . We rate his statement ."
9201,5,"Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. advised citizens to ""point that barrel center mass and pull the trigger"" because ""911 is not our best option.","August 5, 2014",criminal justice;legal issues;crime;guns,greater wisconsin committee,"The Greater Wisconsin Committee is a liberal group active in Wisconsin state politics, from legislative races to statewide offices. It receives money from a variety of sources, including labor unions. Its campaign ads are typically done through the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund.",wisconsin,2,1,4,3,3,1,a campaign TV ad,"Clarke said he suspected the ad twisted his remarks, but he couldn’t recall the specific context of his comments in the interview cited in the ad, and he offered no specific criticisms. ""My position is clear,"" Clarke said. Our rating A Greater Wisconsin Committee ad said Sheriff David Clarke advised citizens to ""point that barrel center mass and pull the trigger"" because ""911 is not our best option."" Clarke did just that in an interview, and made similar comments in an earlier radio spot and in comments to PolitiFact Wisconsin. We rate the  ."
563,1,"Obama ""shunned the opportunity to talk to soldiers to thank them for their service.","July 22, 2008",foreign policy,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,"The Army Times reported that it corresponded with Porter, who asked them to ""delete my e-mail and not forward it [because] after checking my sources some of the information that was put out in my e-mail was . This e-mail was meant only for my family."" The
New York Daily News reported a similar exchange but did not identify the e-mail author by name. But because the military directly and unequivocally contradicted the most damaging allegations at issue — that Obama shunned troops on various occasions, including on his way to a photo opportunity on the basketball court — we rule this  ."
12187,4,Bruce Rauner is of record that he will fully support the Trump candidacy. It's documented. It's available.,"August 1, 2016",elections,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,"Interview with WSIU and WBBM, published Aug. 1.","""Bruce Rauner is of record that he will fully support the Trump candidacy. It's documented. It’s available.""  Madigan is correct. In March, Rauner said he would fully support the Republican presidential nominee. When asked by a reporter if he would still support the nominee if it’s Trump, Rauner reiterated his earlier statement, saying: ""I will support the Republican Party’s nominee."" But Madigan does not reference any of Rauner’s subsequent comments, including Rauner’s refusal to formally endorse Trump. We rate this   ."
20952,1,"The CDC was ""normalizing blood clots"" by tweeting about the health condition before the Super Bowl.","February 12, 2022",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 expressing skepticism about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines claimed the CDC was ""normalizing blood clots""  by tweeting about it before the Super Bowl. Blood clots are common and can kill up to 100,000 Americans a year. The CDC has previously tweeted about the dangers of blood clots, including during the 2016 NCAA college basketball tournament. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been linked to rare cases of TTS, and the CDC said people should get the Pfizer and Moderna instead. Another vaccine from AstraZeneca, which has not been authorized for use in the U.S., has been linked to a separate, rare clotting disorder. Meanwhile, people are at risk of developing blood clots from the COVID-19 infection itself, which causes inflammation in the body.  The post is  to suggest that the CDC’s warning about blood clots is a new thing and that it’s somehow tied to COVID-19 vaccines.  We rate this  ."
4156,1,"As we near the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we should not forget that some of the hijackers used New Jersey driver's licenses to board those aircraft.","August 21, 2011",terrorism;transportation,kevin o'toole,"Kevin O'Toole is a Republican state Senator representing parts of Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic counties.",new jersey,0,0,0,0,1,0,the Times of Trenton,"To back up his point, the senator provided various sources, some of which had a conservative bias and/or were published before the 9/11 Commission completed its investigation. But the  has been refuted by research done by the FBI and the 9/11 Commission. The 9/11 hijackers obtained driver’s licenses and state identification cards from five states, but New Jersey wasn’t one of them. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
19331,4,"In the American Rescue Plan, ""just about 1% of the money is for vaccines.","February 24, 2021",economy;federal budget;coronavirus,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,a Senate floor speech,"McConnell said that in the American Rescue Plan, ""just about 1% of the money is for vaccines."" Based on Democratic figures of either $14 billion or $20 billion for vaccines, and a $1.9 trillion overall price tag, the math is about right. The American Rescue Plan spends much more on the financial damage caused by the virus than on its health aspects alone, and McConnell picked a way to minimize the health-related spending. The statistic omits a much greater amount of spending on overall efforts to contain the pandemic. That ranges from about $100 billion to $160 billion, or between 5% and 8% of the bill’s total cost. His statement is accurate, but needs additional information. That’s our definition of ."
9970,2,"ISIS is ""now the predominant Islamist group in Benghazi.","February 13, 2015",foreign policy;terrorism,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 radio interview,"Rubio said ISIS is ""now the predominant Islamist group in Benghazi."" While there are myriad militias, radical militants, armed groups and even multiple governments in Libya, Islamic State’s footprint is still relatively small. Besides some activity in pockets across the country, the group holds sway in Derna, but not so much in Benghazi, experts say. There, the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia has been most visible among radicalized factions. Some reports say the group has formed an alliance with ISIS, but researchers dispute that, though some Ansar al-Sharia members almost certainly have defected. Experts also say the situation is fluid, which provides Rubio some additional, albeit small, amount of cover. His statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
3127,3,"A federal system that verifies employees are authorized to work in the U.S. is inaccurate ""anywhere from 50 percent all the way up to in excess of 80"" percent of the time.","February 8, 2011",immigration,david raynor,David Raynor is a lobbyist for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a state legislative committee meeting,"But his suggestion the error rate ranges between 50 and 80 percent was too high. E-Verify’s worst error rate -- for illegal workers --  is high, but it’s still well below what Raynor suggested. For all workers, it shrinks to 2.3 to 5.7 percent. While Raynor’s main point was correct, he was  on important details about E-Verify’s overall accuracy. We therefore rule his statement ."
12295,0,"The number of illegal immigrants ""could be 3 million. It could be 30 million.","August 31, 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,"Phoenix, Ariz","Trump said the number of illegal immigrants ""could be 3 million. It could be 30 million."" Both figures are not within the range of possibility. Every credible estimate we found was in the 11 million range, with a margin of error of around 1 million. The figure has ""always"" been 11 million, in recent years, because of the flow of undocumented immigrants in and out of the United States. We rate Trump’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/5f092ad0-100c-401f-9889-8d20315c3522"
585,2,"Barack Obama promises higher taxes on ""the sale of your home.","August 8, 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,a radio ad,"Neither McCain nor Obama have proposed changing this exemption. Most home sales under Obama's plan would also be taxed at 0 percent, unless, as we explained, profits on the home sale are more than $250,000 for a single person or $500,000 for couples. To present this detail of Obama's plan as wholesale tax increase on home sales is deceptive. Obama promises no such thing. We rule this statement ."
1597,2,"The financial services bill will end ""too-big-to-fail.","April 25, 2010",consumer safety;economy;financial regulation;regulation;this week - abc news,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.,national,15,9,6,4,4,1,an interview on ABC's This Week,"The argument that the bill as currently written will end bailouts and ""too big to fail"" is certainly one that holds political value for Democrats, and it's fair to say that that's the intention of the legislation. Presumably, that's why Brown, Goolsbee, Reid and other Democrats have continued to make that argument. However, it's an exaggeration to say that the bill would put an ""end"" to future bailouts. Short of, say, passing a constitutional amendment ruling out bailouts, any future Congress or administration would be able to act as conditions demanded, even after passage of this bill. So we rate Brown's statement ."
6342,4,"Barack Obama ""refuses to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.","September 24, 2012",israel;foreign policy,republican jewish coalition,"The Republican Jewish Coalition is a group that seeks to serve as ""bridge between the Jewish community and Republican leaders.""",ohio,0,2,0,0,0,0,an election flier,"The RJC's brochure portrays that position as a betrayal of an ally. But it's a continuation of the position that previous presidents, both Democrat and Republican, have taken. Formally, the United States does not recognize any state as having sovereignty over Jerusalem. Both the state department and CIA note that Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, with a footnote attached, on their websites. On the -O-Meter, the  rates ."
20910,1,Crisis actor in Germany forgets he's filming on TV.,"February 7, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It was posted online on Feb. 4.   The people under the tarp aren’t crisis actors trying to fool people into thinking they’re dead. They’re protesters. An English translation of the chyron says ""Vienna: Demo against climate policy. ""  We rate this post . "
3406,1,"Says the federal government borrows ""almost $60 billion per week.","April 1, 2011",deficit;federal budget,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 speech before Congress,"Neither comes close to $60 billion. We asked Broun’s office about the discrepancy. Broun spokeswoman Meredith Griffanti said he must have misspoke. Broun meant to say that the federal government borrows nearly $60 billion every two weeks. Since Broun got his numbers , we rate his  ."
3919,1,"Florida's proposed Health Care Freedom Act ""will allow Floridians to opt out of Obama's govt. takeover of healthcare!","June 29, 2011",health care;legal issues;states,mike haridopolos,"Mike Haridopolos, a Republican, is the president of the Florida Senate.  Haridopolos represents District 26 which spans portions of Osceola, Brevard and Indian River counties. He was elected to the state senate in 2003, and previously served in the State House of Representatives.",florida,1,1,1,0,3,0,a posting on Twitter,"Bottom line: All the state constitutional amendment guarantees is standing for a lawsuit against the federal government. Floridians could only ""opt out"" of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the supremacy of the federal law. That’s a major, gigantic if. There’s at least a remote enough chance that the court would rule in favor of Florida in a lawsuit, so Haridopolos’ statement doesn’t warrant a  ruling. However, it’s clearly ."
835,5,"The stimulus bill contains ""$20 million for the removal of small to medium-sized fish passage barriers"" and ""$25 million to rehabilitate off-roading trails for ATVs.","February 3, 2009",economy;federal budget;stimulus,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,"Also, the two projects combined account for not even 1 percent of the bill — more like .005 percent. Nevertheless, $45 million for most people is serious money. When he made his remarks, Pence had his facts straight on what was in the legislation — $20 million for fish-barrier removal and $25 million for off-road trails. We rule his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/07a56563-3240-4087-a1bf-60b7abb63097"
7013,4,"Comic strip says government study shows Head Start ""has little or no impact on the children it's supposed to help.","February 9, 2013",education;federal budget,mallard fillmore,"Nationally syndicated comic strip with a conservative viewpoint drawn by Bruce Tinsley. It began in 1994 and stars the eponymous duck, ""a seasoned, rumpled ex-newspaper reporter"" who ""loves to question his colleagues' more liberal-minded views about current affairs,"" according to the strip's website, www.mallardfillmore.com.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a syndicated cartoon,"""Mallard Fillmore"" said a government study shows Head Start ""has little or no impact on the children it’s supposed to help."" That could be an accurate description of the longer-term results -- relatively few positive outcomes and some negative ones -- measured at the end of first and third grades. Still, the Head Start children had significant advantages over their peers when they exited preschool and started kindergarten. We rate the duck’s proclamation as ."
14493,0,"Hollywood actor Bruce Willis: 'Trump is the best US president ever, anyone who dislikes him should move to...","March 30, 2018",fake news;punditfact,the global headlines,This site is a blog site promoting fabricated news articles and sensationalized stories. ,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a fake news blog,"The Global Headlines article also says Willis is conservative. Willis has shown mixed political leanings. In 2007, he told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that he has just as many liberal ideas as he does conservative. When looking up the quotes credited to Willis in the article, we found no credible sources that proved them to be real. We rate this ."
21568,1,"Image shows Paul Pelosi, bruised, in a booking mugshot.","June 12, 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.",california,4,13,35,53,711,331,social media posts,"His court date has been set for Aug. 3 , at which time he would be arraigned if charges are filed, per the Napa County District Attorney’s Office. He was released the morning after his arrest.   Other viral misinformation relating to Pelosi’s arrest claimed that all charges had been dropped. PolitiFact rated this   . We rate this viral image showing a bruised Paul Pelosi ."
12443,2,"Says ""no, you're wrong,"" responding to the assertion that stop-and-frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York.","September 26, 2016",criminal justice;crime;supreme court,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,"Hempstead, N.Y","Responding to the assertion that stop-and-frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York, Trump said ""no, you’re ."" Trump has a point that a judge’s ruling in a 2013 case did not declare stop-and-frisk as a general practice unconstitutional in New York. Stop-and-frisk is still legal and still takes place in New York and across the country. But his  ignores that a judge did decide that the manner in which New York previously conducted stop-and-frisk was unconstitutional and that her ruling still stands. Trump had argued that stop-and-frisk was working effectively in New York City to reduce crime during the time period covered by the lawsuit. Trump’s statement has an element of  but leaves out critical context that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
7782,3,"Pending a federal waiver, the 2013 Legislature ""eliminated the overtesting of students in grades 3-8 by decreasing the number of tests from 17 to 8.","August 29, 2013",education,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 published commentary,"Isaac declared that lawmakers reduced state tests in grades 3-8 from 17 to 8, pending a federal waiver. Under the change in law, though, only well-performing Texas students would have faced fewer tests and even they would still have faced at least 11 exams, not 8. The approved measure left students not fulfilling performance expectations subject to 17 tests. In his commentary, Isaac waved at the need for the waiver and that students scoring well would be affected, but he mentioned these elements only after asserting that the tests were cut--period. Presenting the conditions up front would have made the  more accurate. We rate this statement, which overstates the reduced number of tests and risks the misimpression that every student would see relief, 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."
23015,1,Video shows Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion in a health care fraud settlement involving COVID-19 vaccines.,"May 9, 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,Instagram posts,"In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department said Pfizer and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. agreed to pay $2.3 billion for illegal promotion of pharmaceutical products. Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act after Pfizer promoted the sale of Bextra, an anti-inflammatory drug, for uses and dosages that the Food and Drug Administration ""specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns. ""  Pfizer pulled the drug from the market in 2005. The company agreed to pay a $1.195 billion criminal fine, and its subsidiary agreed to forfeit $105 million. We rate the  that the video shows Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion in a health care fraud settlement involving COVID-19 vaccines ."
18403,5,"Over three months after receiving CARES Act relief funds from the state, the county has still not made those dollars available to help struggling Mid-Missourians.","September 4, 2020",coronavirus,caleb rowden,Caleb Rowden is a member of the Missouri House of Representatives representing District 44.,missouri,1,2,2,1,1,0,a post on Medium,"Caleb Rowden said: ""Over three months after receiving CARES Act relief funds from the state, the county has still not made those dollars available to help struggling Mid-Missourians.""   from the Boone County Department of Health and county records back that up. We found that $2.1 million had been approved for two organizations that requested CARES Act funds. But that money had not been sent by the Boone County Commission at the time of Rowden’s post. Although it was promised, the money had not hit the bank accounts of either organization. We rate this  ."
20189,3,"There has been ""no question of our credibility from our allies around the world"" regarding how the U.S. is withdrawing from Afghanistan.","August 20, 2021",afghanistan;foreign policy;military,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,RELATED : ​​ Ask PolitiFact: What are some basic facts on the U.S. war in Afghanistan? RELATED : Joe Biden said that al-Qaida is 'gone' from Afghanistan. That’s  RELATED : Joe Biden overshoots on visas for Afghans who helped U.S. RELATED : Joe Biden’s full flop on messages about Afghanistan withdrawal
310,5,"Hillary Clinton ""actually differed with (John McCain) by arguing for exceptions for torture before changing positions.","January 30, 2008",terrorism,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,Denver,"In the days after the debate, the Republican National Committee criticized her for flip-flopping, and Obama said he would oppose torture ""without exception or equivocation,"" according to Daily News reports. Did Clinton change position because of her talks with the generals or because of the ""politics of the moment""? We can't see inside Clinton's head, so our ruling doesn't reflect on that part of the statement. But it is clear she changed her mind about the ""ticking bomb"" scenario. So we rate Obama's  ."
22612,0,"Image shows a ""Super Bowl script was leaked.","February 5, 2023",sports,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,tweets,"Eagles center Jason Kelce was asked about it this week and said it ""was a great interview."" ""Tearing my ACL in 2012 was probably the worst thing that Roger ever scripted,"" he said with a straight face, referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Jason Kelce hated the NFL script in 2012 that told him to tear his ACL pic.twitter.com/FoonOSWoUE Although NFL officiating has often come under heavy criticism in recent years — most recently in the Chiefs’ 23-20 AFC championship   game   win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Kansas City on Jan. 29 — Chiefs fans can rest easy. There’s no  the outcome of the Super Bowl has been scripted by the league. We rate the  !"
22764,1,We're just burning 300 gallons of jet fuel to de-ice this clean energy wind turbine … that needs 80 gallons of synthetic oil to operate.,"February 28, 2023",climate change;energy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"A Facebook post shows a helicopter spraying down a wind turbine with text reading, ""We’re just burning 300 gallons of jet fuel to de-ice this clean energy wind turbine … that needs 80 gallons of synthetic oil to operate."" The image originates from a Swedish helicopter company showing how it de-ices turbines at a wind farm in Uljabuouda, Sweden. A company report said it would take about 640 gallons of fuel to fly a helicopter from its base to the wind farm, de-ice all 10 turbines at the farm and fly back to its home base — not 300 gallons for a single turbine as the post claims.  The math also doesn’t work out for the post’s  that it takes 12,000 gallons of crude oil to make the 80 gallons of synthetic oil used in a turbine.  A key component of synthetic oil is distilled crude oil. A single, 42-gallon barrel of unrefined crude oil can be processed to produce about 11 to 13 gallons of distillate. Even if the oil used in a turbine was all distillate, the amount of unrefined crude needed would be far fewer than 12,000 gallons.  We rate this  as ."
5891,2,"The United States can immediately tap a domestic energy resource of ""more than 1.5 trillion barrels of oil, six times more than Saudi Arabia.","July 2, 2012",environment;climate change;energy;gas prices;foreign policy,eric hovde,"Eric Hovde, a hedge fund manager and businessman from Madison, entered politics by running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2012. He finished second in the GOP primary.",wisconsin,0,0,3,2,3,0,a news release,"Our rating Hovde suggested that we immediately tap into America’s natural resources, which he said are ""more than 1.5 trillion barrels of oil (six times more than Saudi Arabia)."" Hovde referred to a massive western United States formation of oil shale, and there’s a kernel of  in that government officials estimate that 1.5 trillion barrels are contained there. But Hovde omits a critical fact: He’s comparing that uncertain oil shale resource with Saudi oil reserves that have been discovered and defined and can be extracted economically. It’s unknown what the western formation will yield, and it certainly won’t come immediately. We rate the  ."
6299,1,"David Cicilline is ""the 5th most liberal person in the House of Representatives.","September 2, 2012",candidate biography,bernard jackvony,Bernard Jackvony is a lawyer who served as Rhode Island's lieutenant governor from 1997 to 1999.,rhode island,0,0,0,1,1,0,"an appearance on ""A Lively Experiment.""","Former Lt. Gov. Bernard Jackvony said Rep. David Cicilline ""is the 5th most liberal person in the House of Representatives."" He was citing a statistic that ranked party-line voting, not liberal votes, although among Democrats the two often go hand in hand. There is no definitive arbiter of which congressman is more liberal than the next. Different organizations judge candidate voting records differently. The rankings we found gave Cicilline a bit more moderate score and the respected National Journal didn't even include the congressman in its tally of the 25 ""most liberal"" members of the House. Cicilline is clearly liberal. But because Jackvony was so specific, and he was specifically , we rate his statement  . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
6352,2,"College tuition ""costs have risen by 25 percent under the Democrats.","September 21, 2012",education;message machine 2012,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 Spanish-language television ad,"The ad claims that ""costs have risen by 25 percent under the Democrats."" It’s  that the published costs for one type of college and one type of student have risen by 25 percent since Obama took office, but other data shows a smaller rise for tuition and fees, particularly when inflation is taken into account. Even for the college costs that have risen, the Romney campaign does not provide sufficient proof to link that rise to Obama. Governors and legislatures bear far more responsibility for rising prices at public universities, and to the extent Obama has had any effect, it has been to help slow or even decrease the cost burden through federal assistance to students. We rate the  ."
13634,3,"Foxconn is bringing 13,000 high-tech jobs to Wisconsin.","July 26, 2017",china;economy;jobs;technology,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,"Leaving aside the term high-tech, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer is a long way from even breaking ground on a plant that was only announced the same day Walker made his statement. And the company itself has been more measured, saying the planned plant initially will create 3,000 jobs, ""with the potential to grow to 13,000 new jobs."" But the 13,000 is more than talk. Foxconn is pledging a $10 billion investment and the state is offering $3 billion in incentives, with $1.5 billion aimed at the creation of 13,000 jobs. Walker’s statement is partially accurate, but needs clarification -- our definition of ."
5674,3,"Says Tom Barrett plans ""to spend $100 million on a trolley that goes barely two miles on the east side of Milwaukee.","May 31, 2012",city government;economy;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 debate,"Our rating Walker said Barrett plans ""to spend $100 million on a trolley that goes  two miles on the east side of Milwaukee,"" suggesting the plan is to spend that much in  public money. The city has committed to spending $70 million -- for a streetcar that would run from the east side to downtown. And the plan Barrett backs would require utility relocation that could push the total cost above $100 million -- but that’s not clear, nor is who would bear the cost. Barrett was ready to spend more than $100 million, but that was for a line longer than the two-mile line, and that’s not currently in the plan given that efforts to obtain extra funding have failed. Walker’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details -- our definition of ."
10283,2,The average age of planes in the Qatar Airways fleet is about four years while Delta Air Lines flies planes that are 35 years old.,"March 16, 2015",transportation,akbar al baker,CEO of Qatar Airways,georgia,0,0,0,1,0,0,an interview,"Delta has more than 1,200 aircraft. Four are due to retire this year. Each of those is about 30.5 years old, Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said. The majority of Delta’s fleet is much newer. Al Baker’s comments contain an element  but they ignore critical facts that would give the average reader a different impression We rate Al Baker’s comments ."
4345,1,"When he took office in 2009, President Barack Obama ""had the biggest Democratic majorities in Congress since Lyndon Johnson.","October 2, 2011",history,haley barbour,"Republican Governor of Mississippi, chairman of the Republican Governors Association and a former lobbyist.",national,0,0,0,1,1,0,"an interview on CBS' ""Face the Nation""",It’s  that Democratic strength in Congress at the beginning of Obama’s term was the strongest it had been in 16 years. But that’s not what Barbour said -- he said the numbers were the strongest going back to President Johnson in the late 1960s. And that was not the case. We rate his statement .
6319,3,"Under Obama, families have lost over $4,000 a year in income.","September 17, 2012",economy;income;message machine 2012,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 campaign ad,"Romney’s ad says that ""under Obama families have lost over $4,000 a year in income."" That figure comes from a new but well-respected index created by Sentier Research, which tracked a decline in the median family income from the month Obama took office through June 2012. It’s tricky to compare that data with census data because they represent different time periods. But where it is possible to compare Sentier with the census, the results are within a few dollars of each other. But the ad’s  runs into trouble by overtly blaming Obama. The economy was on a downward track before he took office, and a president has limited control over those forces. To the extent he should be held responsible, Mitchell told us, the slow recovery has all been on his watch. Romney’s ad cites trustworthy figures but oversimplifies the issue by assigning blame to Obama. We rate it ."
22237,1,I don't get involved in the hiring and firing of police chiefs.,"October 26, 2022",city government;public safety,levar stoney,"Levar Stoney is a 2016 candidate for mayor of Richmond.
Stoney was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2014 by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. He resigned the post in April 2016 to run for mayor. Prior to that, he served as executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party and worked in a number of campaigns.
Stoney was born in 1981 in New York and later moved to Yorktown, Va. He graduated from James Madison University in 2004, where he was president of the student government.
 ",virginia,2,1,1,1,2,0,a news conference,"Gerald Smith’s resignation was received by Stoney’s chief administrative officer.   But Stoney took credit for Gerald Smith’s hiring in June 2020. And he took credit for the hiring and firing of Smith’s predecessor — William Smith. Stoney said so at press conferences announcing these events and in news releases issued by his office. Based on the mayor’s own words, we rate his statement .  "
22728,0,"Crowd erupts as Chip Roy grills Kamala Harris as she lies in Congress"" in video.","March 6, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"But he wasn’t grilling Harris, and onlookers were quiet.   The committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called the hearing ""The Biden Border Crisis."" Harris wasn’t there. Among the four witnesses were two that Roy can be seen questioning in the clip: Brandon Dunn, co-founder of Forever 15 Project , a group aimed at spreading awareness about fentanyl poisoning, and Mark Dannels, sheriff of Cochise County in Arizona.   We rate this post !"
21827,2,"The IRS is adding 87,000 new agents, making the IRS ""larger than (the) Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection and the State Department combined.","August 16, 2022",congress;federal budget;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.",national,15,36,42,42,38,8,a press release,"The Inflation Reduction Act will provide funding that will allow the IRS to strengthen its workforce significantly, but just how that will play out is not set in stone. The best figures available suggest it would not be as big as Scott’s  suggests. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . Staff writer Yacob Reyes contributed to this report."
8048,0,"Says the Obama administration is handing out a pamphlet titled, ""What To Do When The Veteran In Your Classroom Attempts A Mass Shooting","November 12, 2013",corrections and updates;education;military;veterans;guns,mr. conservative,Mr. Conservative is a conservative website.,national,0,0,0,0,1,1,a Web post,"The website Mr. Conservative posted an article that claimed the Obama administration was handing out a pamphlet titled, ""What To Do When The Veteran In Your Classroom Attempts A Mass Shooting."" The story originated on a satire site and was in no way real -- a  that could have been easily discovered through a few clicks on the Internet. We rate the  . Editor's note:  A few hours after our initial publication,  Mr. Conservative appended an update to its post: ""Since the original posting of this article, we learned that the original news source that posted this story was not an actual news site but a satirical site. However, the fact that this story is believable, on its face, says something about our government and the society in which we now live."""
11462,3,"During the last five years, Iran has perpetrated terror attacks in 25 different countries on five continents.","March 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,"Trump said that ""during the last five years, Iran has perpetrated terror attacks in 25 different countries on five continents."" He has a point that Iran is widely believed to be supporting, or trying to support, armed or terrorist groups in many countries around the world, though the exact number is not known with any specificity outside Tehran. However, that’s not the same thing as actually perpetrating terrorist attacks, as Trump indicated, even though his apparent source material only referred to activity, not attacks. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
9964,3,"Ninety-six percent of failing schools are spending above $8,400, the average annual per student expenditure, and 26 percent spend considerably more than that.","February 12, 2015",education,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,an interview,"His statement doesn’t point out that the failing schools are likely spending more money because they are receiving more money as a result of having high concentrations of students from low-income families. It could be argued that the money they receive and spend isn’t working -- afterall, they are failing schools by the state’s current measure of success, the CCRPI index.   Or it could be said that they need more money or a different kind of help, or both. That’s important context in a discussion of what those closest to the ground -- the educators -- say is a very complex problem. For that reason, we rate the governor’s statement ."
515,3,"John McCain ""opposed legislation to fund levees and flood control programs, which he considers pork.","June 21, 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,remarks to U.S. Conference of Mayors,"As further proof, McCain's campaign noted that Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. — one of Obama's most fervent campaign supporters — allied herself with McCain and Feingold's effort. McCain was out front in urging the Senate to reject the water resources bill and he has been consistent in branding the government's process for funding those projects to be an exercise in pork-barrel spending. But McCain is not just a naysayer on water projects, he has been advancing an argument about how spending priorities are set for water projects. And proposing a way to change it. We find Obama's  to be oversimplifying McCain's record and his position on water project funding and we rate it .  "
20510,0,"CEO of Pfizer arrested, charged with fraud.","November 5, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"We didn’t find Bourla searching for his name among federal prison inmates , and we didn’t find him searching among inmates in custody in Westchester County , where Scarsdale is. Searching PACER, a database of federal court records , we didn’t find any criminal complaints involving Bourla . Meanwhile, Bourla tweeted as recently as Nov. 5, and appeared on CNN to talk about Pfizer’s recent announcement about a pill designed to fight COVID-19.   We rate this post ! "
19539,1,"In this photo, ""Man uses a gun to rob a Texas convenience store. Man was shot by every customer inside the store","March 29, 2021",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,"A viral image post reads, ""Man uses a gun to rob a Texas convenience store. Man was shot by every customer inside the store."" The incident captured by the security cameras happened at a pharmacy in Brazil, not a convenience store in Texas, and the individuals in the video who pulled their guns on the 17-year-old robber were plainclothes military police officers.  It is unknown how many officers shot the boy who attempted to rob the pharmacy. We rate this  ."
16002,1,The poverty rate for Wisconsin families has reached the lowest rate in 22 years.,"April 27, 2019",poverty,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,"Green Bay, Wis","Trump said Wisconsin’s poverty rate for families is at the lowest level in 22 years. Three measurements used by experts say that’s not the case. Indeed, the Census survey that goes back as far as Trump’s  shows 2017 was just the fifth-lowest rate for individuals in the last 22 years. And a Wisconsin-specific measure looking more comprehensively at poverty by factoring in government aid shows the most recent year of data — 2016 in that case — is right around the average from the last decade. We rate Trump’s  ."
4733,1,The Obama administration just issued instructions that terrorism training should not involve any reference to Islam.,"December 12, 2011",homeland security;islam;new hampshire 2012;religion,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,"Manchester, N.H., Dec. 12, 2011","More often, the December plan issued by the White House uses language like ""community resilience programming"" and the importance of ""enhancing engagement with and support to local communities that may be targeted by violent extremists,"" without explicitly saying that many of those communities are, in fact, Muslim-American. The Ruling There is no question that the Obama administration has tried to address Islam carefully and to avoid blaming a religion with an estimated 1.6 billion adherents for terrorism. But we find Gingrich has greatly exaggerated what the Obama administration has done. Although the Justice Department clearly has yanked some questionable material related to Islam, and the recent White House document refers almost obliquely to Muslim Americans, it has not banned a discussion of al-Qaida or Islam in terrorism training. We rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4a63a2e7-e660-45ca-baf0-09be0791dec4"
15902,1,Photos related to gun violence in present-day United States and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany suggest that gun control laws created or exacerbated the genocide of Jews.,"April 1, 2019",history;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,"On social media, images showing the shoes of victims of gun violence in present-day America and those of Holocaust victims suggest that gun control in Nazi Germany exacerbated the Holocaust and that the genocide could have been lessened or avoided if victims had been armed. This theory has been repeatedly debunked and refuted. German citizens as a whole were not disarmed by the Nazis, but enjoyed looser gun restrictions than in previous years. There was no lack of guns in the country, and if German citizens had wanted to use guns to revolt against the Nazis they could have, but they didn’t. As well, comparing a dictator’s regime that treated weapon possession according to racial identity to democratic procedures of gun regulations is irresponsible. This  is ."
18338,1,"NIKE has stated, 'We're a $76 billion dollar company that can afford to let go of all 'Make America Great Again' customers.","September 7, 2020",corporations;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,"""And at the end of the day, Nike — again, this is an internationally known, multibillion-dollar company. They’ve done the math. They’ve done the bottom line probably hundreds of times over. And they know the benefit that can come from this."" We rate this Facebook post ."
14928,1,California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean.,"August 5, 2018",environment;fires;water,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.",california,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"The state’s fire agency, CalFire, said it has not had problems accessing water. And fire experts said it’s the state’s hot and bone-dry conditions, not environmental laws, that are making blazes more extreme. We rated Trump’s  .    –  The statement is not accurate. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
9975,3,Georgia lawmaker pushes bill banning creation of 'glow in the dark' human-jellyfish hybrids.,"February 11, 2015",science;states,raw story,Raw Story is an American online news publication that covers current national and international political and economic news and publishes its own editorials and investigative pieces.,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,headline over an article on the Raw Story website,"If it seems we’re getting silly, it’s only because we are. The headline about glow-in-the-dark Georgians overstates the bill itself. But it captures the intent of the proposal -- to ban human embryos with non-human cells injected into them as well as any ""human-animal hybrid."" And, weirdly, it captures some of actual discussion happening under the Gold Dome. We rate the headline ."
22777,1,"Elon Musk tweeted he would ""buy Joint Commission and let nurses have drinks at their station.","March 18, 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,"A Facebook 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 and Instagram.) The tweet doesn’t appear in Musk’s feed , nor did he appear to have tweeted and deleted it — we found no news coverage or other credible sources to corroborate that he made such a statement.   Other purported Musk tweets that weren’t: him saying the world is flat; saying Democrats paid Twitter’s former CEO millions to delete people’s accounts; and saying he’s buying Snapchat.   We rate claims that this is an authentic Musk tweet ."
19670,1,Vaccine herd immunity doesn't exist because 100% of the population would have to be vaccinated for it to work.,"April 25, 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,an Instagram post,"An Instagram post claims that vaccine herd immunity doesn’t exist because 100% of the population would need to get vaccinated for that to be achieved.  The post misinterprets the meaning of herd immunity.  Herd immunity occurs when enough people are immune — either through vaccination or previous infection — to make its spread from person to person unlikely. It doesn’t mean completely eradicating the disease through vaccination, and it does not require 100% of the population to be vaccinated. We rate this . "
20781,4,"We've brought in more than $81 billion in economic investment, more than four times any previous administration.","January 12, 2022",economy,ralph northam,"Before he was inaugurated as the 73rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Ralph Northam served as an Army doctor, pediatric neurologist, business owner, state Senator and Lieutenant Governor.
A native of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Northam was educated at the Virginia Military Institute.  After graduation, Northam was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He served eight years of active duty and rose to the rank of major.
He attended Eastern Virginia Medical School and then traveled to San Antonio for a pediatric residency, where he met his wife Pamela, a pediatric occupational therapist at the same hospital.  Northam did his residencies at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and served as chief neurological resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As an Army doctor, he served in Germany, treating soldiers wounded in Operation Desert Storm.",virginia,2,2,1,0,1,0,a speech,"Northam said, ""We’ve brought in more than $81 billion in economic investment, more than four times any previous administration."" Northam accurately cites figures compiled by the state’s economic development authority. The numbers reflect the total estimated investment of businesses that each of the last seven governors announced were moving to Virginia or expanding their existing facilities in the state. While the numbers indicate strong economic development during Northam’s term, they come with caveats. Some of the projects governors announce never get off the ground, and others fail to meet expectations. So the actual investment under Northam is likely to shrink from its announced total. Also, many projects transcend gubernatorial terms. A governor who started negotiations with a company may not be the one who announces a deal. We rate Northam’s  ."
12312,2,"Under Pat McCrory, (North Carolina) has fallen to 41st in teacher pay.","August 29, 2016",candidate biography;education;state budget;states,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,posts on social media,"Cooper said North Carolina ""has fallen to 41st in teacher pay"" under Gov. McCrory. In fact, the opposite is . North Carolina has risen to 41st in teacher pay since McCrory entered office. It’s  an increase, from 43 to 41, but it’s still an increase. Since the  contains a snippet of  – that North Carolina is one of the country’s lowest-paying states for teachers – but uses that to paint a  picture, we rate this  ."
9437,1,Sen. Mark Begich cast the deciding vote in favor of President Obama's authority to issue executive amnesty to illegal aliens.,"September 19, 2014",immigration;message machine 2014;voting record,dan sullivan,Dan Sullivan is a Republican senator from Alaska.,national,0,0,2,2,2,0,an email to supporters,"Sullivan said Begich ""cast the deciding vote in favor of President Obama’s authority to issue executive amnesty to illegal aliens."" Begich never voted on this question. In reality, Begich voted ""no"" on a procedural measure, along with 49 other senators. As a result, a amendment regarding immigration policy did not come up for a vote. It’s debatable whether this amendment really addressed ""executive amnesty,"" and it had little chance of passing even if it hadn’t been blocked. Begich’s vote did not increase Obama’s authority, as Sullivan’s statement makes it seem. Rather, it maintained the status quo. We rate this  ."
11634,5,I earned more votes in the state of Wisconsin than Donald Trump did in New York.,"April 25, 2016",elections,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,"Borden, Ind","Cruz said, ""I earned more votes in the state of Wisconsin than Donald Trump did in New York."" This is certainly a glass-half-full way of looking at the results, but factually, Cruz is on target. We rate his statement ."
4038,4,[T]his breed (of pit bulls) is most often associated with aggressive behavior.,"July 20, 2011",animals,elaine boyer,"Elaine Boyer, a Republican, is a DeKalb County commissioner",georgia,0,1,1,0,0,0,an interview,"Some breeds, however, have been shown to be more aggressive in each report. However, the widely held perception is that they are dangerous, which was Boyer’s over-arching point. An Associated Press poll done in October found of the dog owners who would support breed bans, 85 percent would outlaw pit bulls. Her statement has merit, but could have used additional context about the breed, which would have put it in a slightly different light. We rate her  ."
17649,4,"New York City could pay to house its homeless population in hotel rooms currently sitting vacant, but Mayor Bill de Blasio ""has absolutely to this point refused to do that.","April 8, 2020",homeless;public health;coronavirus,coalition for the homeless,"The Coalition for the Homeless is a direct service organization helping homeless men, women, and children. It was founded in 1981 and is based in New York City.",new york,0,1,0,0,0,0,a newspaper interview,"Routhier said, ""We could open up tens of thousands of hotel rooms and offer every single person on the subway access to them. The mayor has absolutely to this point refused to do that.""  The city already does contract with hotels to house New Yorkers facing emergency homelessness, and the number of homeless individuals the city has moved into hotels has increased since the onset of the pandemic.  However, the number of rooms being used for this purpose is well short of the ""tens of thousands"" of rooms needed to house all of New York City’s homeless population. The main reason is the high cost. We rate the statement ."
21395,1,The infant formula shortage was purposely created because Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates invested in artificial breast milk.,"May 11, 2022",children;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 claims that the formula shortage was manufactured because Zuckerberg and Gates invested in a company that makes artificial breast milk.  There is no  that an investment in BIOMILQ by a fund Zuckerberg and Gates are involved in has anything to do with the current infant formula shortage.  The shortage unfolded due to a recall by a major U.S. manufacturer of baby food and existing supply chain issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. BIOMILQ says it is still three to five years away from getting a product to market.  We rate this . 
1589,1,The vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country.'',"April 21, 2010",campaign finance,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 CNBC's John Harwood,"But Obama was also skilled at raising money from large donors. His statement was, ""the vast majority of the money I got was from small donors all across the country."" That's not the case. Only 32 percent of his general election money came from people who gave $200 or less. We rate his statement ."
1228,4,"If you want to talk firsts for Bush, this was the first time in American history that a president took us into a war and cut taxes.","November 29, 2009",afghanistan;iraq;foreign policy;military;taxes,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.,national,8,4,3,0,3,0,ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos',"Krugman has not advocated a tax increase to deal with the war in Afghanistan. And we think Krugman also has some wiggle room on that second point, because he said Bush was the first president who ""took us into a war"" and cut taxes. Both wars were inherited by Obama. Again, there are many different political and economic realities now than there were when taxes generally rose during wars, but Krugman is still  right. We dock him some points, though, because the Kennedy tax cuts technically came during the Vietnam War and rate the statement ."
1992,5,There are more pain clinics in Broward County than there are McDonald's in Broward County.,"July 26, 2010",drugs,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,an editorial board interview,"The Broward Sheriff's Office puts the number at 144 as of July 28. We found the state health department database too confusing to evaluate, and no one to answer our questions. The best number we could determine for McDonald's locations was 73 -- Aronberg's campaign put it at 78 while the New Times said 71. No matter which number you pick, the number of pain clinics in Broward is dozens higher than the number of McDonald's. We rate this  ."
698,4,"Barack Obama got more campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ""than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairmen of the committee that oversees them.","September 19, 2008",ethics,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,"Green Bay, Wis","That analysis found Fannie and Freddie-related contributors gave $169,000 to John McCain and his related committees, compared with $16,000 to Obama and his related committees. Nevertheless, the center's information does reflect which candidates are getting the most money from Fannie and Freddie employees. There are other ways to parse the campaign finance numbers, but McCain is correct when he says Obama got the second-most money on a list compiled by a respected, nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog. He would have been more accurate if he would have noted that he was talking about Fannie and Freddie employees. We rate his statement ."
5201,4,"A little less than 50 percent of the people in this country depend on some form of federal payment, some form of government benefit to help provide for them.","March 6, 2012",children;families;federal budget;medicaid;medicare;social security;veterans,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,"Steubenville, Ohio","The percentage of Americans ""who depend on some form of federal payment"" is indeed ""a little less than 50 percent,"" as Santorum said -- it was 48.5 percent in 2010. If anything, the ongoing rise in usage of food stamps and other federal assistance programs may have pushed this number higher, and adding in tax refunds from the Earned Income Tax Credit or agricultural subsidies could push the number higher still. The number, however, includes every member of a household in which one member receives benefits, and in some households, it would be a stretch to say, as Santorum does, that as a result of that every member will ""depend on some form of federal payment."" Discounting for that, we rate Santorum’s statement ."
21466,1,"Stacey Abrams ""supported the MLB boycott.","May 22, 2022",baseball;elections;voter id laws,chris carr,"Christopher M. Carr was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to serve as Georgia's attorney general on Nov. 1, 2016. On Nov. 6, 2018, Carr was elected to a four-year term as attorney general.",georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Carr said that Abrams ""supported the MLB boycott."" Both before and after the league’s boycott, Abrams threw cold water on the idea, saying in a Twitter video, ""To our friends across the country please do not boycott us."" She echoed those comments to the leading newspaper in Atlanta and in an op-ed in USA Today. She also personally lobbied Major League Baseball not to take that step before the boycott was announced. We rate the statement ."
324,5,I'm the only Republican who has gotten endorsements in this presidential race from major labor unions...,"February 6, 2008",elections,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,an interview on MSNBC,"We searched for major union endorsements of any other Republican candidates and were unable to find one. A spokesperson with the AFL-CIO said the Huckabee endorsements were the only ones they knew of. There are a lot of unusual things about Huckabee, a bass guitar-playing, Chuck Norris-approved preacher. Add Republican and union-endorsed to that list. We find his statement ."
1039,5,Preventive care does not save the government money.,"August 14, 2009",health care;pundits,david brooks,David Brooks is a columnist for the New York Times.,national,3,0,2,0,0,0,an interview on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,"""Sweeping statements about the cost-saving potential of prevention ... are overreaching,"" according to the paper. ""Studies have concluded that preventing illness can in some cases save money but in other cases can add to health care costs."" And a study conducted by researchers from the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society concluded that, while interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease would prevent many strokes and deaths, ""as they are currently delivered, most of the prevention activities will substantially increase costs."" So, the consensus is that, while preventive care will almost certainly save lives, it's a stretch to say that it will save government spending on health care. As a result, we give Brooks a ."
18516,0,"An episode of ""The Simpsons"" showed Donald Trump in a coffin.","October 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,"Most of these episodes are based on things that happened in the '60s, '70s or '80s that we knew about."" In his Oct. 2 tweet , Trump said that his wife, Melania Trump, also tested positive for COVID-19. ""We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!,"" Trump said. We rate this  ! "
16130,1,"The media was silent that ""the Colorado school shooter is a transsexual, Trump-hating, Christian-hating, leftist freak.","June 9, 2019",religion;sexuality;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claimed that a Colorado school shooter is a ""transsexual, Trump-hating, Christian-hating, leftist freak"" and that the media hasn’t reported on those facts. Journalists have reported that one of the STEM school shooters is transgender and that some of the other shooter’s social media posts were critical of Trump and Christians. We rate this post ."
4660,4,"A part-time Congress with half the pay would still make $38,000 a year more than the average American family.","November 16, 2011",income,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 letter to Nancy Pelosi,"It does not include any one-person households. As one might expect, the median income of ""family households"" is larger than that of the broader category ($61,544 vs. $49,445). Had Perry used the family figure in his calculation, his statement in the letter to Pelosi would have had to change a bit: Half of the current congressional salary is still $25,456 (not $38,000) more than what a typical American family makes in a year. Perry errs around the fringes, but his big-picture point holds. We rate Perry’s statement ."
7629,5,"The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan office, did an analysis and said that passing comprehensive immigration reform will reduce the federal deficit by $200 billion over the next decade.","July 21, 2013",immigration;children;congress;debt;deficit;economy;families;legal issues;workers;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,"an appearance on WPRI-TV's ""Newsmakers"" program","The CBO estimated that immigration reform would reduce the deficit by $700 billion from 2024 to 2033, but those longer-range projections are less certain. PolitiFact usually doesn't offer rulings on predictions such as the ones in the CBO report. But  we can say that Cicilline is correctly quoting the federal nonpartisan report. We rate the   . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
12694,2,"Says Russ Feingold ""voted to raise taxes on Social Security benefits for seniors, he even tried to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.","October 10, 2016",immigration;federal budget;income;social security;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 radio ad,"Our rating Johnson says Feingold ""voted to raise taxes on Social Security benefits for seniors, he even tried to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants."" On a proposal that would have removed a tax increase on Social Security benefits from the 1994 federal budget, Feingold voted no and indicated he was satisfied the increase applied only to higher-income senior citizens. The tax increase wasn’t imposed on all Social Security recipients. Feingold did not vote to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants. For a statement that has an element of , our rating is ."
20174,1,Says a report of unvaccinated Florida teachers dying from COVID-19 isn't real.,"August 13, 2021",corrections and updates;education;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,"More than 40,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the state. An Instagram user implied that a CNN news report about teachers who died from COVID-19 was  because the school year hadn’t started yet.   Broward County Public Schools reopened Aug. 18, a week after the post was made. However, the Broward Teachers Union and additional news reports confirm that the teacher deaths did occur. We rate this post ."
4043,1,There's no money in Social Security.,"July 24, 2011",economy;federal budget;social security;taxes,barry hinckley,"Barry Hinckley ran an unsuccessful race, as a Republican running, for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island in 2012. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, he is the founder and former president of Bullhorn Software in Boston. He is also an aviator and has raced sailboats professionally.",rhode island,2,2,1,0,4,2,an appearance on Channel 6,"But Hinckley, in his Channel 6 comments, said Social Security has no money now . At the time he said it, the checks were still going out. And they still are. (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
5629,1,"Says Gov. Scott Walker is ""cooking the books"" by releasing numbers ""he just dreamed up"" that show Wisconsin gained jobs in 2011.","May 17, 2012",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,an interview,"Our rating Barrett said Walker is ""cooking the books"" by releasing 2011 jobs data ""he just dreamed up."" The figures Walker released haven’t yet been verified by the federal government. But they are based on job counts done quarterly by the state that involve about 95 percent of Wisconsin employers. And Barrett provided no  that the number Walker submitted was somehow manipulated. We rate Barrett’s statement ."
13713,1,"There aren't too many people outside protesting"" his speech at the Phoenix Convention Center.","August 22, 2017",public safety,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 rally,"Trump at a rally in Phoenix said, ""There aren't too many people outside protesting."" Thousands of people were out on the streets of Phoenix protesting Trump’s speech, according to multiple media accounts and the Phoenix police chief, who said the city’s downtown had ""tens of thousands"" of people exercising their right to free speech. Trump significantly underestimated crowds in Phoenix. We rate his statement ."
11013,1,"Says Thomas Jefferson helped ""craft"" the Constitution.","November 22, 2015",history,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",virginia,0,3,3,8,12,4,a TV interview,"Carson identified Jefferson as a craftsman of the U.S. Constitution - a frequently made . Jefferson played many leading roles in history, including as author of the Declaration of Independence, president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia. But in the production of the Constitution, Jefferson didn’t even make a cameo appearance. He was in France during the entirety of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, shut out from the top-secret deliberations. When he returned to the U.S. in 1789, the Constitution had been ratified, a president was in office, and the 1st Congress was open for business. Historians with whom we spoke say Jefferson, at most, deserves a footnote at the end of the credits for sending books from abroad that may have influenced Madison’s thinking. So we rate Carson’s statement ."
6292,2,"Under Obama, home values in Florida collapsed, construction jobs were lost and the state had a high foreclosure rate.","September 7, 2012",housing;message machine 2012,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 campaign ad,"Romney’s ad claims that under Obama, home values in Florida collapsed, construction jobs were lost and the state’s foreclosure rate soared. This much is : The median home value in Florida has dropped by more than half; 300,000-plus construction jobs have disappeared and the Sunshine State continues to rack up a large number of foreclosure filings. But each one of those trends began well before Obama was elected. Analysts say they have been driven by a natural and inevitable market correction much more than by any government policies. But since the ad draws a cause/effect relationship -- the cause being Obama’s presidency, the effect being a sour housing market -- it’s worth noting that more of the decline in home values happened on Bush’s watch, and in the last year Florida housing has again begun to appreciate. At PolitiFact, claims that cite a  statistic but apply misplaced blame on a politician or office holder are commonly rated . We think this three-part  stretches the  even further. Homeowners in Florida who have watched their property value sink and their neighbors’ houses abandoned in foreclosure know this didn’t start when Obama walked into the White House. They’re in at least year seven of this grim reality. Romney’s ad leaves out many critical facts to create a  impression. We rate it ."
409,2,"If the U.S. stops adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, it ""will lessen worldwide demand for oil"" and reduce prices.","April 10, 2008",energy,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,"Brooklyn, N.Y","In April 1996, President Clinton released 12-million barrels to blunt a rise in crude oil prices. Filling the reserve also was suspended after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, and again in 1994 to save money. We find that while McCain is correct in principle, he grossly overstates the potential impact of his idea. Drivers would see little change in the price at the pump if the government stopped buying oil for the Strategic Reserve. We rate his statement ."
17134,1,The mayor of Livermore California explains Trump's popularity and success.,"June 16, 2018",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a LinkedIn post shared on Facebook,"The blog post consists of an introductory paragraph followed by the full text of Sayet’s column. In that introduction, the author of the Linked blog post acknowledges in a muddled way that Sayet’s column was ""mistakenly attributed"" to Kamena. A LinkedIn headline shared on Facebook claimed that the mayor of Livermore, Calif., wrote a column defending Trump.   The column was written by conservative author Evan Sayet, and misattributed to a former mayor of Livermore. We rate it ."
15947,5,There have been zero reported instances of any child born alive after an abortion in Texas.,"April 16, 2019",abortion,donna howard,Donna Howard is a state representative from Austin.,texas,5,3,1,1,0,0,the Texas House,"Howard said, ""There have been zero reported instances of any child born alive after an abortion in Texas."" Health care providers had to start reporting complications from abortion procedures to the state in 2013. We can’t know for certain whether any infants were born alive following an abortion before 2013, but Howard’s  is limited to those cases that were reported. Since providers had to start reporting this occurance, there have been zero cases. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing."
14837,0,Giant rats plague New York City as 4 homeless men found eaten alive,"July 11, 2018",animals;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"This article alleges that four men have died after being eaten by giant-sized rats. However, the story is completely fictional. There are no mutant, man-eating rats in New York, and the pictures have been stolen from various other giant rat hoaxes over the years. We rate this  !"
10404,3,"Two weeks ago, a man entered the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, Georgia, carrying a loaded AR-15 automatic weapon with an extended-capacity, 100-round magazine.","June 15, 2015",public safety;guns,hank johnson,"Hank Johnson, a Democrat, represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District",georgia,2,3,4,3,0,0,a House floor speech,"That is the more common make of this weapon, although all sides and experts acknowledge the weapon can be converted to an automatic weapon. The bigger concern was the 100-magazine drum. Even in a semi-automatic weapon, that would allow a shooter to fire 100 rounds before reloading, the scary prospect that Johnson appeared to want to reference in his statement. Johnson got the gun , the magazine for the weapon right. For that reason, we rate Johnson’s statement ."
17620,2,So 2 doctors from Bakersfield discover that coronavirus mortality rate is 0.03%. 13x less deadly than what was previously thought! Their analysis has since been banned from YouTube.,"April 28, 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,"A Facebook post said: ""So 2 doctors from Bakersfield discover that coronavirus mortality rate is 0.03%. 13x less deadly than what was previously thought! Their analysis has since been banned from YouTube."" The Bakersfield doctors used testing data to argue that the death rate for COVID-19 infections is 0.03%. Their conclusions were disputed by experts and leading medical associations. The video was removed by YouTube, according to reports. We rate this statement ."
9358,1,There were fewer civilian casualties in Cambodia than there have been from American drone attacks.,"September 6, 2014",foreign policy;punditfact,henry kissinger,Kissinger served as Secretary of State in the administration of President Richard Nixon.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,an interview on NPR,"Kissinger said that he thought that an honest accounting would show that there were fewer civilian casualties from America’s bombing campaign in Cambodia than from drone attacks today. While the data lack precision in both cases, we see  over 1,000 civilian deaths due to drones, and at least 4,000 civilian deaths due to American bombs in Cambodia (and the potential for many, many more). These figures represent a high estimate for drone deaths and the lowest guess for the Cambodian bombing in which half a million tons of bombs fell on the country over a span of four years. Kissinger couched his  with a bit of a caveat, but a man of his experience and knowledge could reasonably be expected to understand the difference between the impact of highly targeted drone strikes and the blunt instrument of bombs dropped by B-52s. His statement departs from the most generous and common sense reading of the estimates. We rate his  ."
18281,0,Suggests the alleged Kenosha shooter's father is a deputy in the Kenosha sheriff's department.,"August 27, 2020",civil rights;criminal justice;legal issues;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.",wisconsin,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"He participated in a youth training program for aspiring law enforcement officers.   Aside from the post having zero basis in reality, Rittenhouse lives with his single mother, a nurse’s assistant, in Antioch, Ill, , not Wisconsin. Court records from 2014 show that Kyle Rittenhouse's, Michael Rittenhouse, was living in Zion, Ill., when he was ordered to pay $85 a week in child support. At the time, he worked for QPS Employment, a firm that provides temporary office workers and other staffing services.    We rate the post ."
9344,2,"Says on contraception, his plan is ""cheaper and easier for you"" than Sen. Mark Udall's","September 2, 2014",health care;message machine 2014;women,cory gardner,"Cory Gardner, a Republican, won a seat to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate in 2014. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Colorado House of Representatives.",national,0,2,1,4,2,0,a campaign ad,"Gardner said his plan on contraceptives is ""cheaper and easier for you"" than Sen. Mark Udall’s plan. This is based on his support for a plan to allow for over-the-counter sales of the pill. Gardner’s plan is lacking in concrete details that would allow a thorough evaluation. There’s some  that health care costs generally go down when drugs are made available over-the-counter, but those studies did not look specifically look at the pill. There is a lot of uncertainty and experts — from advocates to economists — question whether Gardner’s proposal would be cheaper to most consumers or the health care system compared to the Affordable Care Act. And Gardner’s plan would only address one type of contraceptive, meaning the many people who choose other methods of birth control would see higher costs. We rate the statement ."
19351,2,More than 91% of the spending in this $1.9 trillion package is not used for pandemic relief.,"February 27, 2021",health care;public health;coronavirus,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 press release,"Fitzgerald said, ""More than 91% of the spending in this $1.9 trillion package is not used for pandemic relief."" Somewhere around 9% of the American Rescue Plan is going to direct disease containment measures such as vaccines, testing and tracing, and other public health initiatives. There’s room for debate over exactly how much of the $1.9 trillion is related to the pandemic. Surely not all of it. But it’s clear the amount going toward pandemic relief is far above 9%. One nonpartisan group identified 85% of the spending as being related to the current crisis. A closer look at the individual spending categories confirms, at minimum, that a majority of the spending goes to address the health and economic fallout of the pandemic. PolitiFact North Carolina rated  a  from U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., that only 9% of the bill was going to COVID, and 91% wasn’t COVID-related. Budd got some credit for referencing 9% in a way consistent with the portion used for direct funding, and there’s a case ""COVID-related"" could reference only direct spending. But Fitzgerald is farther off in flatly asserting 91% didn’t go toward pandemic relief. That’s a broad  that badly misstates the figure he’s trying to reference, that 91% didn’t go toward direct COVID-19 intervention. We rate his  ."
21591,1,"An image shows gas prices on Jan. 6, 2021.","June 17, 2022",economy;gas prices;facebook fact-checks;jan. 6,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,"For many Americans, Jan. 6, 2021, is seared in memory as the day a crowd of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. But an image circulating on Facebook invokes what it claims is a different memory from that day: ""Never forget January 6th"" read the words across an image of a Citgo gas station sign advertising regular gas at $1.99 a gallon. ""Oh yeah, Jan. 6, 2021,"" the caption in the June 17 Facebook post said. ""When Americans could still afford to get to work."""
377,5,"John McCain and George Bush have ""absolutely no plan for universal health care.","March 5, 2008",health care,campaign to defend america,Campaign to Defend America is a left-leaning advocacy organization.,national,1,2,0,0,1,0,a television ad,"""I don't think that there should be a mandate for every American to have health insurance. I think that one of our goals should be that every American own their own home. But I'm not going to mandate that every American own their own home,"" McCain said. McCain does have a health care plan, but there's no clause for making it apply to everyone and therefore universal. So we find this  to be ."
20116,1,We actually have this critical race theory moved into all our schools in Virginia.,"July 9, 2021",,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 speech,"But there's a difference between educators learning about the theory and actually teaching it to students. On that front, Youngkin cites a collection of memos and seminars, but no  that critical race theory is being taught in each of the state’s 1,825 public schools. Critical race theory is not mentioned in the state’s Standards of Learning. A growing list of localities say they do not teach it.   We rate Youngkin’s statement .  "
17503,1,"If you ask Amazon's Alexa about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, it says ""the government planned"" it.","March 31, 2020",technology;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,posts on the Internet,"With this feature, users can create their own automated questions and responses.   Our Ruling  Facebook posts say that if you ask Amazon’s Alexa about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, it says ""the government planned"" it and refers to something called ""Event 201."" There was a project called Event 201 that simulated possible outcomes of a coronavirus pandemic, but it was a planning exercise and did not predict this specific COVID-19 pandemic.   More importantly, we were unable to elicit the same answer from Alexa, and Amazon told us that the answer to that question would be different. We rate the statement . "
9950,1,Obama has chosen to deny the vicious anti-Semitic motivation of the attack on a kosher Jewish grocery in Paris.,"February 11, 2015",terrorism,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 statement,"Perry said, ""Obama has chosen to deny the vicious anti-Semitic motivation of the attack on a kosher Jewish grocery in Paris."" In one interview, Obama described the attackers as ""randomly"" shooting people, but he seems to have been answering a question about how the public perceives acts of violence by terrorists. On several prior occasions, Obama called the attack on the grocery an act of anti-Semitism. Obama’s press team said Obama only meant that the killer did not target particular individuals as long as they were Jewish. In the Vox interview, Obama may have used a poor choice of words to describe the way that people going about their normal, everyday business sometimes end up in terrorists’ line of fire. But Perry goes too far when he says Obama ""has chosen to deny"" anti-Semitic motivation. Obama has specifically cited such a motivation in several other instances. Because Perry’s  is not accurate, we rate his statement ."
14801,0,"Says Maxine Waters told CNN, ""SCOTUS pick should be illegal immigrant.","June 28, 2018",immigration;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,a Facebook post,"In the original clip, Waters can be seen wearing the same attire and jewelry — and speaking in front of the same backdrop — as in the doctored photo. She makes no mention of a judicial nominee being an immigrant.   We searched Google and Nexis and could not find any credible reports indicating that the doctored image was real. Trump Nation did not respond to a request for comment. We rate this image !"
19376,3,Youth usage of marijuana has actually gone down in states that have fully legalized.,"February 10, 2021",children;drugs;public health;marijuana,melissa agard,"Melissa Kristen Agard is an American small business owner and politician from Madison, Wisconsin. A Democrat, she is a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and minority caucus vice-chair. She previously served four terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, when she was primarily known as Melissa Sargent.",wisconsin,2,0,1,1,0,0,Twitter,"Our rating  Agard said youth marijuana use has declined in states that have fully legalized the drug for both medicinal and recreational purposes.   The JAMA analysis she cited did bear that out, although it has its caveats — when looking at individual states’ data, some that legalized the drug years ago have not seen any meaningful change in youth use. Meanwhile, at least one study found the reverse — an increase in use. Experts say it will be many years before what Agard claimed can be said with certainty.   We rate her  . "
1630,5,"At the moment, energy companies spend 0.25 percent on R&D.","May 2, 2010",corporations;energy;oil spill;pundits;science;technology,katrina vanden heuvel,Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editor of The Nation.,national,2,0,1,0,2,0,a roundtable discussion on ABC's 'This Week',"""As a percent of revenue, (the amount the energy industry spends on R&D) is a really small number. The pharmaceutical and intelligence industries spend between 10 and 12 percent on R&D. We're not even in the same ballpark here."" So, even though vanden Heuvel was relying on another pundit for her  (and he, in turn, was relying on an op-ed), the number is very close to numbers published by Brookings and the National Science Foundation. We find her  ."
8156,3,Defensive medicine costs Georgia up to $14 billion a year.,"December 2, 2013",health care;legal issues,doctors for a healthy georgia,Doctors for a Healthy Georgia is a group that wants the Georgia Legislature to enact medical malpractice award reforms that it believes will lower medical costs statewide.,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,its website,"Other reports would suggest the impact to Georgia is far less. Everyone agrees the economic impact estimates are wide-ranging. To score a  on this one, you would have to acknowledge that there are wide-ranging estimates of the costs of defensive medicine. This statement is at least partially accurate, but you would need a lot of context to fully understand its full implications. Our rating: ."
7895,5,Many don't know that Bill Young was once the minority leader in the Florida Senate...because he was the only Republican senator.,"October 9, 2013",congress;states,chris latvala,"Chris Latvala is a Republican in the 2014 race for state House District 76. He is the son of state Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater.",florida,1,0,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"(The Senate back then had 48 members; today it has 40.) The increase reflected Florida’s evolving demographics, with conservative Democrats in the northern part of the state switching parties and new residents moving from conservative states casting votes for GOP candidates and running for office themselves. Democrats remained in control of the Senate until Republicans took over in 1994. Latvala’s tweet is accurate. We rate it ."
3963,2,Says this House processed and approved as many bills as previous Legislatures.,"July 1, 2011",,bruce hanna,Bruce Hanna is the Republican Co-Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.,oregon,0,0,0,1,1,0,a statement during OPB's Think Out Loud,"Angela Wilhelms, Hanna’s chief of staff, said her boss was trying to make the point that ""co-governance did not lead to inaction or gridlock as many predicted it would."" She’s right about that, as she also is correct to say that the Senate and tied House moved fairly heavy-hitting bills on redistricting, education reform, a remake of the Oregon Health Plan and a state budget. Nevertheless, we have to rule the Republican co-Speaker’s statement as . There’s an element of  -- the number of bills isn’t that much different from 2005, and there was hefty legislation on important topics. But he states that the number of bills approved this year was on par with previous Legislatures, and that ""ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."""
14042,2,"Says Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones ""wants to raise taxes.","November 26, 2017",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 tweet,"Trump said Jones wants to ""raise taxes."" While Jones has criticized tax breaks for the rich, we found no examples of him calling to raise taxes. On the contrary, we found several instances of Jones supporting tax cuts for corporations and the middle class. We rate Trump’s  ."
6496,1,"Signs letter saying Consumer Product Safety Commission is acting ""without consultation or input from the company"" to stop the sale of Buckyballs.","October 1, 2012",consumer safety;government regulation;public safety;regulation,phil roe,"Roe is a physician from Johnson City, Tenn, who serves a district in Tennessee's mountainous Northeast corner, and previously served as mayor of Johnson City.",tennessee,0,0,0,0,1,0,Congress,"Blackburn, Roe and their fellow letter writers are concerned that the ""nation’s brightest innovators and job creators"" are being penalized by an overzealous consumer protection agency. We’ll leave it to others to determine whether the sellers of Chinese magnetic balls qualify as the nation’s ""brightest innovators,"" and also decline to determine the  of the letter writers’ assertion that the agency’s first administrative complaints in 11 years suggest ""excessive and selective enforcement."" Those are opinions, but it is possible to see whether the CPSC failed to consult or seek input from the company. The lengthy record laid out by the company’s CEO establishes there was, in fact, much consultation leading up the agency’s conclusion that the toys are inherently unsafe. We rule the Congress members’ statement ."
1433,5,"Texas has installed more wind power than any other state, and all but four countries.","February 16, 2010",energy,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,"Germany had 25,777 megawatts, China had 25,104 megawatts, Spain had 19,149 megawatts and India had 10,926 megawatts. Italy was the country with the sixth largest installed wind power capacity (4,850 megawatts) — just over half of Texas' capacity. Not including the U.S., Texas had installed more wind power than any all but four countries. And more than any other state. We rate Perry's statement as ."
17979,0,Says Democratic leaders aren't wearing masks or social distancing in private,"June 30, 2020",congress;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post shows Pelosi and other Democratic leaders huddled together, criticizing them for not wearing masks or following social distancing guidelines. But the image is from December 2019, months before masks and distance became part of the national response to the coronavirus pandemic.  Citing it as proof in a dramatically different landscape eight months later is , particularly when Pelosi has actually been a strong supporter of mask-wearing and social distancing for herself and the Congressional body she oversees. We rate this  ."
12900,3,Social Security is in trouble (it's going bankrupt by 2034).,"December 10, 2016",social security,sam johnson,"Sam Johnson, a Plano Republican, entered elected office after a career in the Air Force that included many combat missions and nearly seven years as a POW. Johnson, a former Texas House member, won election to the U.S. House in 1991. He announced in 2017 that he won't seek another term in 2018.",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a Facebook post,"Johnson said the Social Security program ""is going bankrupt by 2034."" Johnson's cited government scenario indicates a mismatch between Social Security revenues and obligations will likely result in shortfalls and benefit cuts by 2034. But the relevant report also says the scenario's underlying assumptions come with ""significant uncertainty."" Regardless, it's clear that at some future date Social Security will have to rely solely on incoming payroll tax receipts to cover what would likely be reduced benefits. That’s trouble, as Johnson said. Yet it’s not bankruptcy, which suggests a terminal shutdown. 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."
15552,1,"When I say Mexico is going to pay for the wall, that's what I said. Mexico is going to pay. I didn't say they're going to write me a check for $20 billion or $10 billion.","January 10, 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 roundtable at the border,"Trump said, ""When I say Mexico is going to pay for the wall, that's what I said. Mexico is going to pay. I didn't say they're going to write me a check for $20 billion or $10 billion."" Trump’s campaign called a one-time payment of $5 billion-$10 billion ""an easy decision for Mexico."" The country’s other option would be to lose billions more in impounded remittances from immigrants working in the United States and increased fees on U.S. temporary visas and border crossing cards. Trump as president has thrown out a number of other ways for Mexico to pay for the wall. Now he says it will be ""indirect"" through the trade deal (though that’s unsupported). But his rewrite of a famous campaign pitch doesn’t clear. We rate this statement ."
23123,1,The family separation policy actually began under the Obama administration.,"June 7, 2023",immigration,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 CNN town hall,"Family separations rarely happened under the Obama administration, which sought to keep families together in detention. Based on a court decision, it released families together out of detention. Separations under Trump occurred systematically as a result of his administration’s policy to prosecute all adults crossing the border illegally. After mounting public pressure and criticism, Trump signed an executive order to stop separating families.   We rate the statement ."
21166,1,"Republicans ""nominated the 1st Black woman to the SCOTUS & she was BLOCKED & filibustered by… Joe Biden.","March 25, 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,She was considered enough of a candidate that Biden said she would probably be filibustered if Bush did tap her for the court. Biden was also among Senate Democrats who filibustered Brown’s nomination to a federal appeals court. But there was no Supreme Court nomination to filibuster. The Facebook post omits significant context and the main premise is . We rate it .
16709,1,"Says four Republican representatives ""voted to impeach President Donald Trump.","November 12, 2019",impeachment;voting record;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Other Republicans who criticized Trump in recent months have faced similar disinformation on social media. After he expressed concern about the president’s July phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Rep. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, became the subject of  claims about his own ties to the country.   When Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott spoke in favor of an impeachment inquiry, another social media post falsely claimed he, too, had ""voted"" to impeach the president.   This new Facebook post is  as well. We rate it ."
5695,0,"The new Hartsfield-Jackson international terminal was ""on time and on budget.","March 13, 2012",transportation,kasim reed,Kasim Reed is Mayor of Atlanta.,georgia,5,8,6,1,0,1,press conference,"It’s  that the delays did not take place under Reed’s watch, but no matter how you slice it, the terminal opened years later than originally planned. If officials say it will open in 2006, taxpayers expect it to open in 2006. Reed doesn’t deserve blame for the delays, or the cost overruns. But the mayor is accountable for the highly   that the terminal was finished ""on time and on budget."" Reed earns our lowest rating on this one, ."
886,0,"The administration raises revenue for nationalized health care through a series of new taxes, including a light switch tax that would cost every American household $3,128 a year.","March 24, 2009",taxes,house republican conference,House Republicans are represented by the House Republican Conference.,national,0,1,4,0,3,1,a press release and Web post,"It is  to call it a ""light switch tax."" And it is  to cite a precise ""tax"" of $3,128 -- with no caveats or qualifiers -- when the Obama administration has specified how the money would be returned to people. Given Reilly's comments that they are using his numbers improperly, we see nothing to change our conclusion. So our original ruling stands: . - Bill Adair, PolitiFact Editor    "
5552,4,"Says since 2000, Austin's ""tax burden"" rose more than 40 percent while family income rose more than 20 percent.","March 30, 2012",city budget;city government;taxes,dominic chavez,Dominic Chavez ran for Place 5 on the Austin City Council in May 2012.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a campaign video,"Chavez drew on a calculation that checks out, though the city’s suggested caveats seem worthy of consideration. We rate his  ."
9693,2,"The climate-change agreement between the United States and China ""requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years.","November 12, 2014",environment;china;climate change;foreign policy,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,a media availability,"McConnell said the climate-change agreement between the United States and China ""requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years."" McConnell’s staff has a point that the agreement isn’t binding and may simply be codifying changes China had already planned to make. Still, his  is at best an exaggeration. While it’s theoretically possible that China could meet its emissions target simply by shutting down major plants on Dec. 31, 2029, experts say it would be much less risky to China’s economy to spend the next 16 years working toward the goal, rather than doing it overnight. But even if China did choose to make a literal overnight shift on emissions, that still doesn’t account for China’s pledge to increase non-fossil-fuel use to 20 percent of its energy mix. Building that infrastructure cannot be done overnight and will take years to carry out, experts said. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it ."
6293,2,Says five studies show his tax plan can cut rates and still bring the same revenue without raising taxes on the middle class.,"September 9, 2012",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,a Meet the Press interview,"Romney said that five studies show that his tax plan can cut rates and still bring in the same amount of money as today without raising taxes on the middle class. Romney is using the word ""studies"" generously. Two items on his list are newspaper editorials that can be analytical but are rarely treated as independent research. One article comes from a campaign adviser, a connection that generally suggests a less than independent assessment.  That leaves just two reports out Romney’s five. There is a fair argument to be made that the Tax Policy Center used an arbitrary dividing line of $200,000 to separate high-income households from all others. The same problem lies in setting the breakpoint at $100,000, a choice preferred by at least one of the defenders of Romney’s proposal. The studies from Feldstein and Rosen use 2009 data.  That was an abnormal year and one that made it easier to make the math work for the Romney plan. The analysts could have chosen other years but decided not to. We see no more than two independent studies out of the five claimed. We rate the statement ."
19728,3,"The research showed … that confidence overall in the vaccines increased after the pause"" to review the safety of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine.","May 9, 2021",polls and public opinion;public health;coronavirus,jeffrey zients,Jeffrey Zients is the White House coronavirus response coordinator under President Joe Biden.,,0,0,1,0,0,0,"an interview on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Zients said ""the research showed … that confidence overall in the vaccines increased after the pause"" to review the safety of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. There is  to support his assertion. A de Beaumont Foundation poll found greater enthusiasm to get a vaccination after the pause; YouGov polls show slightly declining hesitancy; and an Axios/Ipsos poll found no softening of interest in getting a vaccination despite the pause. However, there’s also  that the pause worried Americans. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found rising concerns about side effects after the pause was announced. And polls by Kaiser, YouGov and ABC and the Washington Post found low and — after the pause was announced — worsening trust of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, even if that did not spill over into sentiments about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. We rate the statement ."
11987,5,"A shocking 20 veterans are committing suicide each and every day, especially our older veterans.","July 11, 2016",health care;veterans,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, ""A shocking 20 veterans are committing suicide each and every day, especially our older veterans."" His  is supported by recent research by the VA and we rate the statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/f5c79ae1-2a18-49c8-a325-8e1146fc012e"
4781,1,"Our tax code is . . . 80,000 pages.","December 4, 2011",economy;government regulation;taxes,barry hinckley,"Barry Hinckley ran an unsuccessful race, as a Republican running, for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island in 2012. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, he is the founder and former president of Bullhorn Software in Boston. He is also an aviator and has raced sailboats professionally.",rhode island,2,2,1,0,4,2,"an appearance on WPRI's ""Newsmakers"" program","Unlike the U.S. tax code, we'll be brief. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Barry Hinckley said the code is 80,000 pages long, an assertion he made twice on ""Newsmakers"" and his spokeswoman defends by citing some Internet sources. In reality, it's about 11,000 pages on Microsoft Word and less than half that size in book form. Adding in the IRS's rules and regulations still doesn't bring it close to the length Hinckley says. Only when you include all types of ancillary materials does it begin to approach that legendary length. If Hinckley, whose campaign informed us in an email that the code was 3.7 million words in 2009, had done the math, they would have realized that the code couldn't cover that many pages unless you put fewer than 48 words per page. A few minutes searching Amazon.com would also have uncovered real books -- and page counts -- that were more accurate. The U.S. tax code may be  long, maddeningly convoluted and overly complex, but Hinckley's count is way off the mark. We rule his   . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
13790,2,"Says Roy Moore is ""on the wrong side of Trump's border wall.","September 14, 2017",immigration,senate leadership fund,"Senate Leadership Fund is a Super PAC with the stated goal to ""protect and expand the Republican Senate Majority."" ",national,0,2,2,8,0,0,an attack ad,"The Senate Leadership Fund ad describes Moore as being on the "" side of Trump’s border wall."" Based on that and the clips in the ad, most viewers might reasonably think that means Moore is against a wall. In fact, Moore doesn’t want to wait and would rather deploy the American military immediately to secure the border with Mexico. If after that a wall is needed, he said the country should build it. What we have is more of a difference on tactics, not overall strategy or outcomes. The ad makes it sound like the gap is more than that. The ad contains an element of  but ignores critical facts the would give a different impression. We rate it ."
21746,3,We've cut the deficit by a record $1.5 trillion this year.,"July 24, 2022",deficit;economy;federal budget,janet yellen,"Janet Yellen serves as the Treasury Secretary in the Biden administration. An economist by training, Yellen previously chaired the Federal Reserve Board and the White House Council of Economic Advisors.",,0,0,2,0,0,0,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Yellen said, ""We've cut the deficit by a record $1.5 trillion this year."" The final figure remains to be seen, but projections range from $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion, which is in the ballpark. However, declaring this a record sidesteps the highly unusual circumstances that made it possible — the expiration of spending measures to combat the pandemic. Although the administration can  credit for improving matters enough to be able to wind down the pandemic-related spending, the circumstances merit an asterisk when records are being touted. We rate the statement ."
13352,3,Sixty-two percent of all (Texas) property taxes are paid by businesses.,"February 27, 2017",education;small business;taxes,don huffines,"Don Huffines, a Dallas businessman elected in 2014 to represent Texas Senate District 16, was vice chair of the Veteran Affairs & Border Security Committee in the 2017 Legislature. He is a 2022 candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas.",texas,0,1,1,1,0,0,responding to a question about private school vouchers,"Huffines said businesses pay 62 percent of all property taxes. That figure reflects the business share of all state and local taxes including sales taxes--not property taxes alone. Most recently, in contrast, a state projection predicts businesses will account for 51 percent of what school districts raise from property taxes in 2018-19--a share in keeping with previous projections. On the high side, an unpublished TTARA estimate pegs the business share of property taxes at closer to 60 percent. We rate Huffines'  .  – 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."
6347,1,"Fast and Furious"" began under the Bush administration.","September 20, 2012",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.",florida,124,165,163,71,71,9,an interview on Univision,"Obama said that the Fast and Furious program began ""under the previous administration."" That is not the case; Fast and Furious did begin during the time Obama held office. Another similar program, called Operation Wide Receiver, did happen during the Bush administration, and a recent inspector general’s report criticized both operations as ineffective and seriously flawed. But Operation Wide Receiver is not the same thing as the Fast and Furious program. We rate Obama’s statement ."
5774,2,"Less than 2 percent of illegals are picking crops, but 41 percent are on welfare.","June 19, 2012",immigration,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on the Internet,"The Facebook post’s first , that ""less than 2 percent of illegals are picking crops,"" is close to correct. The post’s second , that ""41 percent (of illegal immigrants) are on welfare"" is . Most of the ""welfare"" benefits in question are going to U.S. citizens who live in illegal immigrant households, not directly to illegal immigrants, and very little of it comes in cash form, which is the traditional definition of ""welfare."" On balance, we rate the  ."
219,5,"It used to be the policy of the Republican Party to get rid of the Department of Education. We finally get in charge and a chance to do something, so we double the size of the Department of Education.","December 12, 2007",education,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,"Johnston, Iowa","Student loans make up the bulk of the mandatory spending, meaning that federal law compels the department to cover the cost of guaranteeing and directly making loans to students no matter how the cost fluctuates due to interest rates or the number of student applications. Most other programs — including No Child Left Behind funding — are considered discretionary, meaning the amounts get decided each year. But whether the spending is mandatory or discretionary, Paul, a libertarian who does not believe the federal government has a role to play in education policy, says it's better left to the states. Many of his Republican colleagues, as evidenced by the $73-billion increase in funding the Education Department enjoyed while they controlled Congress and the White House, apparently do not agree. Paul's statement, therefore, is ."
5620,1,"Says ""large majority"" of Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim and not U.S.-born.","April 24, 2012",candidate biography;polls and public opinion,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,the Central Texas Democratic Forum,"National polls consistently show less than half -- sometimes much less than half -- of Republicans saying Obama is a Muslim or born abroad, though both falsehoods have sometimes been the No. 1 Republican responses. Regardless, there is no indication that a ""large majority"" of Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim or that he was born abroad. Hinojosa’s statement rates . UPDATE, 12:33 p.m., May 31, 2012 : After we published this article, a reader pointed out we’d missed a March 2010 Harris Interactive poll indicating 57 percent of Republicans believed Obama to be a Muslim. After reviewing the poll, and weighing critiques of its methodology and wording, we left this story and the statement’s  rating unchanged. See more on the Harris poll here ."
13131,4,"Currently, half a million Floridians have Alzheimer's disease, and in less than 10 years, a 40 percent growth rate means that another 200,000 Floridians will develop this devastating illness.","March 14, 2017",disability;health care;retirement,rosemary laird,"Rosemary Laird is a geriatrician at the Centre for Senior Health in Winter Park, Fla.",florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a Florida Senate committee hearing,"Laird said, ""Currently, half a million Floridians have Alzheimer’s disease, and in less than 10 years, a 40 percent growth rate means that another 200,000 Floridians will develop this devastating illness."" These numbers are sourced to a credible scientific paper, though it’s worth noting that the paper deals in estimates and projections, rather than hard, verifiable numbers. We rate this statement ."
20372,1,"An image of empty grocery store shelves shows the effect of President Joe Biden's ""Build Back Better"" plan.","October 13, 2021",corrections and updates;economy;food;pundits;facebook fact-checks;punditfact;coronavirus;ask politifact,kimberly klacik,"Conservative commentator Kimberly Klacik, a Republican, lost her 2020 campaign for a U.S. House seat from Baltimore.",,0,0,0,1,1,0,a tweet,"Even after Klacik deleted her tweet, screenshots of it remained online. PolitiFact was able to view the Facebook and Instagram posts via CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool. They were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat  news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) We rate the posts ."
7860,5,Photo ID is not required for those who vote by mail.,"September 23, 2013",elections,league of women voters of texas education fund,"Founded in 1985, the league education fund says it ""provides research, publications and forums on public policy issues and disseminates information and training that helps citizens be thoughtfully engaged in the democratic process.""",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a press release,"The league said: """"Photo ID is not required for those who vote by mail."" That’s correct for all but first-time voters who did not present a photo ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when registering to vote. Such voters who seek to vote by mail can expect to be asked for a copy of their photo ID, yet even these voters do not have to do so if they are disabled, in the military or living overseas. We see nothing significant missing from this  and rate it as . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  – 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.   sources   Telephone interviews, Alicia Pierce, title, Texas Secretary of State’s office, Sept. 25, 2013   Web page, ""FAQ,"" VoteTexas.gov, Texas Secretary of State’s office (accessed Sept. 25, 2013)   Telephone interviews, Dana DeBeauvoir, Travis County clerk, Austin, Sept. 25 and 26, 2013   Notice sent to some Travis County voters by mail, ""Request for Identification"" (received by email from Dana DeBeauvoir, Sept. 25, 2013) Telephone interview, Michelle Parker, assistant director, Travis County Elections Division, Sept. 25, 2013"
20520,1,Australian military being trained to **force vaccinate** in door-to-door attacks.,"November 1, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"But we found no  to corroborate the claims made in the blog post. We did find an August fact-check by AAP , which looked into an allegation that Sky News had reported something similar. The news organization found that it had ""no basis in fact."" We agree. We rate this  ."
19270,0,"Ron Johnson didn't ""show up"" for a day of impeachment hearings.","February 12, 2021",,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,"Pocan told Johnson to ""do your damn job and show up,"" retweeting a  that Johnson wasn’t present for that day’s impeachment proceedings. The timeline is a bit odd here, since the tweet that spurred this discussion likely was referencing Feb. 11, but it was being shared and debated in many cases as if it referenced to Feb. 12. In either case the now-deleted tweet was  about Johnson. We don’t know what Johnson was doing every moment of every day, but we have photographic proof he was at the Capitol for the Feb. 11 and Feb. 12 impeachment hearings. That makes a  he didn’t ""show up"" . Pocan’s office provided no convincing  to the contrary. So we have a  based on a deleted tweet that conflicts with an array of photographic and other documented . That’s  and .  Or as we call it, ."
17842,2,United States Navy Seal Team ... helicopter was shot down yesterday in Afghanistan and they lost 30 members of the team.,"June 6, 2020",military;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"A social media post about a helicopter crash in Afghanistan says it happened ""yesterday."" But the attack was in 2011, not 2020. We rate this  ."
13689,2,The idea of putting up (Confederate) monuments actually didn't happen right after the Civil War. It happened during the 1960s.,"August 13, 2017",civil rights;history;race and ethnicity;punditfact,joy reid,Joy Reid is the host of MSNBC's The Reid Report.,,0,1,0,2,1,0,on NBC’s Meet The Press,"Reid said, ""the idea of putting up (Confederate) monuments actually didn’t happen right after the Civil War. It happened during the 1960s."" She added that Confederate symbols were political statements aimed at African Americans. Reid's comment that Confederate symbols are political statements aimed at African Americans is backed up by history, say experts. But she is  that Confederate monuments were built during the civil rights era. Roughly 75 percent were erected before then, according to a comprehensive study of Confederate symbolism. It was during the civil rights era that the Confederate flag gained prominence, which she later clarified. We rate her statement ."
19475,4,"Right now, two-thirds of the U.S. Senate is composed of millionaires.","March 7, 2021",congress;states;wisconsin,tom nelson,"In 2022, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. He was the Democratic nominee running in 2016 for the U.S. House seat held by Republican Reid Ribble. He has served as the Outagamie County executive since 2011. In 2010, Nelson won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor but lost in the general election. Nelson served in the Wisconsin Assembly from 2004 to 2010, and the last two years was the Assembly majority leader.",national,0,1,3,0,1,0,TV interview,"Based on data from 2018, last year of financial disclosures available, 61 Senators had an average net worth of more than $1 million, according to one estimate. So, that is nearly two-thirds.   Many of the 10 newly elected senators also have high net worths, but an updated tally is not yet available.   Nevertheless, political experts say the Senate is likely to attract campaigns from wealthier people, contributing to the high number of millionaires who currently hold seats.   We rate this  ."
2803,1,"On the question on the DREAM Act, no -- no to granting lower tuition to illegals.","November 18, 2010",immigration;education,john mica,"John Mica is a Republican congressman from Winter Park-based Congressional District 7 in Central Florida. As of January 2011, he is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.",florida,0,1,1,0,1,1,an interview with MSNBC,"As for the other states, the only real argument is that passing the DREAM Act could have the consequence of forcing them to offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants as well. And we guess it could. But there's no definitive  that it would, just conjecture and speculation.   And it certainly isn't expressed in the bill language. So we rate this  ."
915,3,"Pay-as-you-go ""is the principle that helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s.","May 7, 2009",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 speech at the White House,"He said the PAYGO ""is the principle that helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s."" He is correct that it is a basic principle behind the effort to balance the budget, but his statement leaves the impression that it was the biggest factor. It wasn't. 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 ."
9467,2,"The state-hired company that evaluates state-mandated student exams ""goes on Craigslist to get examiners to read our students' essays.","September 29, 2014",education,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 debate,"Van de Putte, who has said she opposes high-stakes state-imposed student testing, said the company that scores the existing state tests ""goes on Craigslist to get examiners to read our students’ essays."" There’s a strand of  here; scorer positions have been advertised on Craigslist. But this statement leaves a loosey-goosey impression by not acknowledging the testing company spreads the word about its scorer jobs in a wide range of  venues. Also unnoted, the company further screens applicants to ensure they’re up to the job. Such information was public nearly two years ago. 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."
1662,4,"In the last 10 years we've only had 7,000 barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf ... not counting hurricanes. This well is spewing that amount every day and a half.","May 4, 2010",energy;oil spill,mary landrieu,"Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, served as a U.S. senator from Louisiana from 1997 to 2015.",national,0,2,0,0,1,0,an interview on CNN,"Initially, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that about 1,000 barrels of oil were leaking each day into the Gulf as a result of the accident. But NOAA then increased that estimate to about 5,000 barrels a day (which is about 210,000 gallons). But scientists say it could be far more than 5,000. So Landrieu is close with the 7,000 figure, but there's considerable uncertainty about the actual amount spewing from the leak. We find her  ."
8488,5,"Says ""by 4th grade, 86 percent of African-American boys and 82 percent (of) Hispanic boys are reading below proficiency levels.","February 27, 2014",education;race and ethnicity,louise slaughter,Louise Slaughter is a Democratic congresswoman from New York. She formerly chaired the House Rules Committee when Democrats were in the majority.,national,2,1,0,1,0,0,a tweet,"Slaughter said that ""by 4th grade, 86 percent of African-American boys and 82 percent (of) Hispanic boys are reading below proficiency level."" Government data backs up that depressing statistic, though it’s worth noting that the U.S. has at least seen improvements across all races since the early 1990s. We rate the statement ."
3561,1,"Under President Barack Obama, the United States has ""doubled our exports.","May 10, 2011",economy;trade,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,"Austin, Texas","""The president is committed to doubling our exports within five years and we have already made substantial progress toward that goal,"" said White House spokesman Adam Abrams. So Obama was getting ahead of the facts when he said that the United States has doubled its exports. That’s the goal, and progress toward it is being made. The doubling hasn’t happened yet. So we rate his statement ."
3851,5,Creeping defense commitments in (the Middle East) and globally now consume over half the U.S. discretionary budget annually.,"June 24, 2011",federal budget;military,marcy kaptur,"Marcy Kaptur represents Ohio's Ninth Congressional District in the House of Representatives. She was first elected to the House in 1982. She is the senior-most woman in the 111th Congress.
 ",ohio,4,4,4,0,2,0,the House of Representatives,"The Congressional Research Service says discretionary defense spending dropped to historically low levels after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but escalated again when the United States went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Between 2000 and 2010, CRS says discretionary defense spending increased 6.8 percent per year, on average, in real terms. Others can debate the merits or faults of ballooning defense spending. Kaptur’s statement is accurate and there’s nothing signifcant missing. On the -O-Meter it rates as .  "
15003,0,"The Dutch (Afrikaners) were"" in South Africa ""first.","August 23, 2018",history;punditfact,ann coulter,Ann Coulter is a conservative columnist and author.,,1,1,3,2,3,6,a tweet,"Coulter said that Dutch settlers were in South Africa before black people. This is plainly . Bantu-speaking groups farmed in the eastern regions of modern South Africa perhaps as much as a millennium before the Dutch arrived. In the west where the Dutch settled, other indigenous group lived on the land that the Dutch then claimed. This  defies logic and history. We rate it ."
12642,1,"Says Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold ""voted over 250 times to raise taxes.","August 22, 2016",taxes,americans for prosperity,"Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group advocates for limited government, free markets and fiscal and regulatory restraint.",wisconsin,0,1,2,6,8,2,a web ad,"The  also does not account for the large number of votes that were actually against a tax cut, not in favor of a tax increase. Experts say that’s a big difference. And it doesn’t acknowledge the nuanced nature of the votes themselves or that many votes came on elements of the same legislation. We rate the ad’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/8aecd592-a350-4255-97a3-e1210795a4a1"
13178,4,"In fact, if you add up the net wealth of his cabinet, it has more wealth than a third of the American people total -- close to 100 million people.","March 1, 2017",wealth,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 that Trump’s cabinet had more net wealth than a third of the American people. He bases his claims on an estimate of $9.5 billion of net wealth for the cabinet. Economists familiar with those kinds of comparison told us that Schumer got his numbers right. But they also told us that there needs to be clarification on the meaningfulness of Schumer’s statement, since it doesn’t take billions of dollars to be richer than the bottom third of of the United States. We rate this  ."
11983,4,"African-Americans don't use drugs at a higher level than whites but ""wind up going to prison six times more.","July 7, 2016",criminal justice;drugs;history;human rights;legal issues;crime;public safety;punditfact,van jones,"Van Jones is a host of CNN's Crossfire. A former environmental and human rights activist, Jones in 2009, served as the ""green jobs"" adviser to President Barack Obama. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012).
 ",,1,2,2,0,1,0,a panel discussion on CNN,"Jones said that African-Americans don't use drugs at a higher level than whites but wind up going to prison six times more. African-Americans use drugs at roughly the same levels as white Americans, although overall illicit drug use among blacks has been marginally higher than for whites, with some differences in the types of drugs used, according to a national surveys. Jones' bigger point was about the disparity in sentencing, and the rate of African-Americans' incarceration for drug offenses is very close to what Jones said. We rate his  ."
8818,1,"Says Hillary Clinton spent 30 days in the hospital in 2012 and appeared ""wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury.","May 8, 2014",elections;punditfact,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.,,0,8,2,2,5,0,a panel discussion,"Rove said Clinton spent 30 days in the hospital and then emerged wearing glasses that only people with traumatic brain injury use. Rove since said he was  about the length of her hospital stay. The actual number is four days. By describing a long hospital stay and tying it to signs of traumatic brain injury, Rove associated Clinton with a more profound medical episode. Experts reject that association. Concussions are the mildest form of traumatic brain injury. The glasses Clinton wore are an optional treatment for temporary problems of double vision that are relatively common among people who suffer concussions along with other conditions. She has not worn the glasses for some time, and the neurologists we contacted said most people recover fully. While Rove never claimed Clinton suffered brain damage, he was  about the hospital stay and combined that with the glasses to exaggerate the nature of Clinton’s injury. His  is . We rate it ."
3559,5,The Obama administration increased the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes by 70 percent.,"May 10, 2011",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,El Paso,"During the eight years of Bush's presidency, deportation of convicted criminals rose from 71,079 in 2001 to 114,415 in 2008. That's a 61 percent increase over eight years. In the first two years under Obama, the data suggest a policy shift toward prioritizing the deportation of convicted criminals. And Obama is correct that there has been a 70 percent increase. We rate his statement ."
22391,3,60% of counties in this country are refusing to implement the nation's gun laws.,"November 27, 2022",national;congress;florida;guns;virginia,chris murphy,Chris Murphy is a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate from Connecticut. He previously represented a district in the U.S. House of Representatives.,colorado,2,3,2,4,1,0,an interview on CNN,"Murphy said ""60 percent of counties in this country are refusing to implement the nation's gun laws."" Murphy’s statistic reflects an Associated Press analysis that found 2,000 counties have passed ""Second Amendment sanctuary"" policies pledging to not enforce some gun restrictions passed by their states. This represents about 60% of the nation’s 3,000 counties. But the resolutions do not necessarily mean that the jurisdiction doesn’t enforce gun laws — much less federal laws that take precedence over state and local laws. In some instances, counties with such resolutions are less likely to use the state’s red flag law. More research is warranted, experts say. We rate this statement . RELATED : Ask PolitiFact: What are red flag gun laws and do they keep people safe? RELATED : What Illinois’ ‘red flag’ gun law means after the Highland Park shooting RELATED : All of our fact-checks about guns"
15281,0,"If you get a flu shot, you're ""poisoning yourself.","October 11, 2018",fake news;health care;public health;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,,"The human body, in fact, makes its own formaldehyde and is continuously processing the chemical. A healthy newborn weighing 6 to 8 pounds has 50 to 70 times more formaldehyde in their body than what they would get from all their vaccines, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In short, the  that you are poisoning yourself when you get the flu vaccine is . The fact that the vaccine could save you days of misery; prevent you from spreading the virus to family, friends and coworkers; and might even save your life or, indirectly, the lives of others, makes the  irresponsible. We rate it !"
16437,2,"Says that as vice president, he pinned a Silver Star on a Navy captain in Afghanistan who had carried a mortally wounded comrade out of a ravine, and resisted receiving a medal for his actions.","August 23, 2019",candidate biography;military,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,"Hanover, N.H","Biden said that as vice president, he pinned a Silver Star on a Navy Captain in Afghanistan. Biden said the soldier pulled a mortally wounded comrade out of a ravine, and later resisted receiving a medal. Biden did pin a medal on a soldier who felt he didn’t deserve a medal, and it was in Afghanistan. From there, several details are : The soldier tried to rescue a comrade from a burning Humvee, not off the slope of a ravine. He was an Army specialist, not a Navy captain. Biden was a senator, not vice president. The medal was a Bronze Star, not a Silver Star. The emotional element of a soldier who feels his medal is unwarranted is accurate. But Biden embellished the tale with details to give the story an unimpeachable ring of , and the facts don’t back that up. We rate this ."
15824,5,"Over the last eight years, we've shown that even though we've cut taxes by $8 billion, revenues continue to grow.","February 12, 2019",taxes,john nygren,John Nygren is a Republican who represents the 89th District in the Wisconsin State Assembly,wisconsin,1,1,2,1,0,0,a tweet,"Nygren’s verbiage calling that tally a ""tax cut"" differed from Walker’s statement in 2018 but is in line with how Walker referred to it in our 2015 and 2017 fact checks Nygren said under eight years of Republican leadership Wisconsin has ""cut taxes"" by $8 billion while revenues have risen. The revenues portion of the statement is clearly accurate. The tax cut element is a bit more nuanced, but the changes Republicans made did result in a net savings of $8 billion for taxpayers compared to if the 2010-’11 tax levels had remained in place. And we’ve rated very similar claims as  in the past. We rate Nygren’s statement ."
12801,1,"Says actor Dwayne ""The Rock"" Johnson wore a T-shirt stating: ""We Stand for the flag, we kneel for the fallen.","November 27, 2016",fake news;pop culture,sid miller,"Sid Miller, a former Texas House member, won election as state agriculture commissioner in November 2014.",texas,1,1,3,1,3,2,a Facebook post of photo and caption on Miller's fan page,"Miller posted a photo of ""The Rock"" wearing a T-shirt with a message calling for people to ""stand for the flag and kneel for the fallen."" That image, we found, was a product of photo manipulation. It looks to us like Johnson actually posed in a plain shirt without any message. We rate this photo post .  – 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/78c817db-edb5-41bd-9b0f-73dfd49857bd"
7757,4,The number of African-American men in prison has increased fivefold since he left office.,"August 28, 2013",civil rights;criminal justice,jimmy carter,"Jimmy Carter was elected president of the United States in 1976 and served one term. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. The native of Plains, Georgia was submarine commander, peanut farmer, state senator and Georgia governor. ",georgia,2,2,2,3,0,0,a speech,But if you add in jail inmates -- prisoners awaiting trial and serving sentences locally -- you approach Carter’s numbers. Carter’s overall point is that the number of African-American men incarcerated has increased substantially since he left office. He’s right about that. But you have to include some context to get the whole picture. We rate Carter’s statement .
20197,1,Norfolk naval base has been taken by NATO.,"August 1, 2021",foreign policy;military;facebook fact-checks,tiktok posts,Posts on the video-sharing platform TikTok.,,0,1,3,9,60,18,a TikTok post,"""It's the mission of this command to fight the battle of the Atlantic in the event of armed conflict,"" Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the July 15 ceremony marking full operation of Joint Force Command Norfolk. The command was three years in the making, Milley said. The city of Norfolk unveiled welcome signs calling it ""NATO’s home in North America"" as early as 2018, PolitiFact found. But PolitiFact found no  that the recognition of the NATO joint command as an operation ready for battle means the alliance took over Naval Station Norfolk. We rate this TikTok video ."
18594,3,"Image quotes Sen. Ted Cruz as saying, ""In the last election, 54 million evangelical Christians stayed home. If Christians will simply show up and vote our values, we'll turn this country around.","October 1, 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 post on Facebook,"A viral image quotes Cruz as saying, ""In the last election, 54 million evangelical Christians stayed home. If Christians will simply show up and vote our values, we’ll turn this country around."" Cruz said this in 2015, referring to the 2012 presidential election. As to its substance, there is no definitive  that 54 million evangelical Christians declined to vote in 2012. We rate this  ."
2158,5,"Michael Thurmond ""authored major legislation that has provided more than $250 million in tax relief to Georgia's senior citizens and working families.","April 30, 2010",taxes,michael thurmond,,georgia,1,0,0,1,0,0,his campaign website,"The data comes from the department's annual statistical reports. The reports on the Revenue Department's Web site, however, only go back to 2000. The Revenue Department has reports that date to 1997 with annual low-income credit figures in its north DeKalb County offices. But Thurmond's website gives him some serious wiggle room by saying ""more than $250 million in tax relief."" We rate his statement as ."
22859,1,A photo shows Jeffrey Epstein with four boys on a beach.,"April 8, 2023",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,a tweet,"@HoaxEye, a Twitter account that debunks viral altered images and unearthed the image of Epstein, noted on March 8 that Hive Moderation, a program that aims to detect AI-generated content, found that there was a 99.9% likelihood that the image was created using artificial intelligence.   Searching for the image elsewhere online, we found no credible sources to corroborate that this is a real photo, such as news organizations sharing it — as they have with other Epstein photos — or in photo databases , such as this Getty Images collection of more than 700 photos of Epstein. Epstein was found dead in a jail cell in 2019 in New York while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The New York City medical examiner’s office concluded that he hanged himself.    We rate claims that this is a real image ."
14990,5,"The American economy is continuing its longest monthly streak of job growth in history, with 3.9 million jobs added since President Trump was elected.","August 8, 2018",economy;jobs,west virginia republican party,The West Virginia Republican Party is the official Republican state party organization in West Virginia.,national,6,6,1,0,1,0,a tweet,"The West Virginia Republican Party said, ""The American economy is continuing its longest monthly streak of job growth in history, with 3.9 million jobs added since President Trump was elected."" Both parts of this  are accurate, and while it’s worth noting that no president deserves full credit for economic achievements on their watch, the tweet was carefully worded and is not substantially . We rate it ."
8890,4,"We're fifth in the world (in executions), behind China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.","May 23, 2014",criminal justice;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 ""Real Time with Bill Maher""","Maher said the United States is ""fifth in the world"" in executions. He’s for the most part accurately citing a report from Amnesty International. The only real caveat is that group doesn’t include North Korea on its list because it can’t determine how many executions were performed there (though they think there were more than the United States). That would rank the United States sixth in the world. To us, that doesn’t really diminish Maher’s point. We rate his  ."
10066,2,"Says that ""Susan Rice, the president's national security adviser, has already conceded that Iran will have a robust uranium enrichment capability.","March 9, 2015",foreign policy;military;nuclear,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 Fox News,"Cotton said, ""Susan Rice, the president's national security adviser, has already conceded that Iran will have a robust uranium enrichment capability."" Cotton essentially puts words in Rice’s mouth when he says she ""conceded"" that Iran will keep a ""robust"" enrichment capability. She didn’t use those words in the AIPAC speech. Meanwhile, what she did say -- that zero enrichment capability, ""as desirable as that would be, it is neither realistic nor achievable"" -- may or may not lead to Cotton’s conclusion that Iran will be left with a ""robust"" capability. Experts expect that there is a point between ""zero"" and ""robust"" where Iran’s nuclear ambitions are hampered, but there are too many variables and too much uncertainty to say so with certainty. On balance, we rate the  . Note: This  was fact-checked as part of a reward to  our Kickstarter campaign  to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union. Thanks to all who contributed."
18784,3,People are less likely to just vote for party now. … They're looking at the personalities.,"October 25, 2020",elections,robyn vining,"Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, represents District 14 in the Wisconsin state Assembly. She was first elected in 2018.",wisconsin,1,0,1,0,0,0,a TV interview,"Vining said, ""People are less likely to just vote for party now. … They’re looking at the personalities."" Looking narrowly at Trump’s support among suburban women, there’s a case this is accurate. Trump’s abrasive approach doesn’t appear to be resonating with that group, and fewer appear likely to support him than in 2016. But Vining’s comment was more general than that. And broadly speaking, party is playing a growing role in voters’ decisions — not a shrinking one. Voters are less likely than in the past to cast ballots supporting candidates from multiple parties. And they’re more likely than ever to agree with people from their own party when assessing something like the president’s job performance. We rate this  . "
20170,5,A photo shows two COVID-19 patients lying on the floor awaiting treatment in Florida.,"August 18, 2021",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 reddit thread,A photo shows two COVID-19 patients lying on the floor seeking treatment in Florida. City and state officials confirmed that the photo was taken at a state-supported site in Jacksonville where Floridians can get a free Regeneron treatment. The photo was taken by another patient as he waited in line for his appointment during a week that saw a rapid increase in patients showing up to receive treatment. More chairs and wheelchairs and signs have since been added at the site.  This image is real. We rate this statement .
10686,4,It has been the law since the beginning of the country that the children of American citizens born ... abroad are American citizens by birth.,"August 21, 2015",immigration;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.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,Iowa,"Cruz said: ""It has been the law since the beginning of the country that the children of American citizens born ... abroad are American citizens by birth."" From 1790 on, federal law has held that children born abroad to American citizens become citizens, provided other conditions are met. But the law wasn’t explicit about mothers conveying citizenship (how Cruz became an American at birth) until 1934. 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."
6535,2,"Frank Guinta voted to make middle class taxpayers pay over a $1,000 more a year in taxes.","October 15, 2012",taxes,democratic congressional campaign committee,The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for assisting Democratic candidates for the U.S. House.,new hampshire,1,1,8,14,8,9,"an ad, “Regular,”","The study by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, which is chaired by a Democrat, suggests the budget plan would have increased taxes by $1,358 -- more than the $1,000 referenced in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad. But, it assumes the budget would eliminate a host of deductions and expenditures -- assumptions that are too big a stretch for other tax analysts. Had it passed, the House budget may have increased middle class taxes as the ad suggests. But, given the lack of specifics, there isn’t enough  to know for sure, as the DCCC claims to do. We rate the  ."
6415,0,"(Barack Obama) says he's going to reduce the long-term debt and deficit by $4 trillion, doesn't say how he's going to do it.","September 30, 2012",debt;deficit,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’s “Meet The Press”,"In an interview on NBC’s ""Meet the Press,"" Christie claimed Obama ""says he’s gonna reduce the long-term debt and deficit by $4 trillion, doesn’t say how he's gonna do it."" But the president has outlined in extensive detail how he would achieve more than $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. That plan has received mixed reviews, but it’s  for Christie to suggest Obama has not provided such specific proposals. So, governor, here’s a fiery dose of fairness for you: ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d67054db-a2e9-4a49-b5a7-edc9ea760199 To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
17802,2,"A declaration of disaster, has been issued for the state of Texas. House Bill 1177 Allows any Texan who can legally own a firearm to carry their handgun, open or concealed, for a full week after a state or natural disaster is declared.","June 1, 2020",natural disasters ;facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",texas,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The Facebook post stated that HB 1177 applied to the ongoing state of disaster and allowed open carry of handguns. The post omits a major part of the law, which specifies that it only applies during particular scenarios. We rate this  ."
3859,1,"Rick Scott has destroyed over 100,000 jobs.","June 28, 2011",jobs,rod smith,"Rod Smith is a former state Senator from Alachua County. In 2006, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor. In 2010, he was his party's nominee for lieutenant governor. In 2011, he was elected chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.",florida,0,1,1,0,1,0,an e-mail to supporters,"And that's not even what Democrats charged — they said he has already destroyed 100,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the best  we do have, survey estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, show the state has actually added 76,800 net jobs since January. We know that the budget passed by the Legislature and signed by Scott contains real pain for Florida families, in particular teachers and state workers. But Democrats should focus on claims they can prove, and this isn't one of them. We rate it ."
1166,1,President Bush never did one interview with the New York Times during his entire presidency.,"October 22, 2009",bush administration;pundits;transparency,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.,national,5,6,4,6,7,1,"""The Rachel Maddow"" show","""We'll air a correction."" To be clear, we're not checking Maddow's broader point that Bush played favorites with the press. Is there any president who hasn't? Rather, we're checking Maddow's statement that President Bush ""never did one interview with the New York Times during his entire presidency."" That's not the case, so we rate her statement ."
23257,0,"Former President Barack Obama ""is being sent to Gitmo.","July 4, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"The most recent detainee arrived at the Cuba prison in 2008.    If Obama were being sent to Guantanamo or an assassination plot against Trump were unearthed, the events would draw widespread news coverage. But there’s none.   We’ve previously debunked similar claims that President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.   We rate the  that Obama ""is being sent to Gitmo"" ! "
4395,2,"Our unemployment rate has been higher than 8 percent for more than two-and-a-half years, far above what the Obama Administration promised with the 'stimulus.'","October 7, 2011",economy;jobs;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.",ohio,17,4,11,13,22,2,a news release,"It has been above 8 percent since early in 2009. We think it's a big stretch to call an economic projection a ""promise."" The administration never characterized it that way and included plenty of disclaimers saying the predictions had ""significant margins of error"" and a higher degree of uncertainty due to a recession that is ""unusual both in its fundamental causes and its severity."" Those are critical facts that the speaker’s  ignores. As we have ruled for others who have made this , we rate Boehner’s statement ."
17776,1,"Video shows Seattle police in uniform ""vandalizing"" a building ""to frame protesters.","May 31, 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,"This video was posted with a  that it shows police vandalizing a building to ""frame protesters.""  A police spokesperson says it shows officers trying to gain entry to a Target in response to a burglary. Police say they arrested three suspected burglars inside.  We rate this  ."
17544,2,"Face masks being manufactured in China, for example, went to domestic consumption and their own fight against the virus"" while the U.S. was ""largely unable to import supplies from China.","April 20, 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.",florida,21,38,35,41,30,5,a New York Times op-ed,"Rubio said ""face masks being manufactured in China, for example, went to domestic consumption and their own fight against the virus"" while the U.S. was ""largely unable to import supplies from China."" China did have a greater need for its domestically manufactured masks in February as the virus ravaged the country, but Rubio greatly overstates the situation. Imports of masks from China to the U.S. did drop in January and February, but imports of other products dropped even more. Imports to the U.S. did occur in April through the federal government’s Project Air Bridge, and a few states arranged their own imports with the help of other entities. We rate this statement ."
7022,2,"There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips"" because of sequestration.","February 24, 2013",education;federal budget,arne duncan,"Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education. Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan was chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools.",national,0,2,1,1,2,0,"an appearance on ""Face the Nation.""","Duncan said that because of the threat of sequestration ""there are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips."" That conjures images of hundreds or even thousands of teachers who have already been fired. But the lone example of actual pink slips is the West Virginia district. And officials there provide a contradictory explanation for why 104 teachers are being notified their jobs might be transferred, and eventually eliminated. The other districts held up by education officials haven’t fired a single teacher because of sequestration. Ritsch, Duncan’s spokesman, said that distinction hardly matters: ""Whether they’ve got a pink slip in hand or one is coming in two weeks, the basic point is the same -- their jobs are at risk."" Maybe so. But that’s not what Duncan said, which is that teachers right now are being shown the door. We rate his statement ."
5706,0,Says Barack Obama is a socialist.,"June 5, 2012",candidate biography,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,"an Austin appearance with Wes Riddle, fellow GOP hopeful for US House","    Republicans and Democrats frequently diverge over tax policy, economics and the role of government. Certain Obama policies may have expanded government. Some perceive the health care law as government asserting more control over health care. But we don't see how that's fodder for Obama being a socialist. Indeed, not only is there no case for Obama being a socialist, it's a preposterous sally. We're snatching the matches -- !"
2869,5,"Says the 3C Corridor train would have taken  ""an hour and 15 minutes longer"" to carry passengers across Ohio ""than it would have taken on a New York Central train in 1935.","January 2, 2011",economy;jobs;stimulus;transportation,brent larkin,"Brent Larkin writes a weekly column for The Plain Dealer's Forum section on Sundays. From 1991 until his retirement in 2009, he was director of The Plain Dealer's editorial page.",ohio,1,0,0,0,0,0,a newspaper column,"As an October story in the Columbus Dispatch noted, ODOT itself had said a year earlier that the trip couldn't be made in less than 5 hours 20 minutes -- even if the trains didn't stop. ODOT’s revised schedule hadn't even been seen by the three freight lines that own the tracks the 3C passenger trains would use, putting its feasibility in serious doubt. And, no matter how weak or strong its support, the optimistic revision still comes up longer than the best rail time of 1935. ""The schedules speak for themselves,"" Larkin said. We rate his statement as ."
16210,1,The first slaves shipped to the American Colonies in 1619 were 100 white children from Ireland.,"June 20, 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 post on Facebook,"And, certainly, plenty of people from Europe complained about being treated or bought and sold like slaves (especially in the 17th century). BUT, there weren’t really Irish or English slaves in colonial America."" Such an argument is part of a bigger effort to minimize the tragedy of slavery, Guasco said. ""The argument that ‘whites were slaves too’ or ‘indentured servants were just like slaves’ are both distortions of the past. ""  We rate this Facebook post ."
10116,4,"The Affordable Care Act is ""a major reason why we've seen 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals.","March 25, 2015",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,a speech,"Obama said the Affordable Care Act is ""a major reason why we’ve seen 50,000 fewer preventable patient deaths in hospitals."" Independent experts said the report Obama was using as  represents a credible attempt to quantify recent improvements in preventing hospital-patient deaths, even if the numbers are estimates rather than hard figures. They added that it’s reasonable to credit the health care law’s Partnership for Patients program with accelerating the gains, even if the improvements were already under way at the time the law was passed. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it ."
9204,1,"Africa is spending ""the highest percentage of their GDP on education of any part of the world.","August 3, 2014",education;punditfact,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.",,7,8,5,1,3,0,"comments on CBS' ""Face the Nation""","On Face the Nation , Bloomberg said that Africa is spending ""the highest percentage of their GDP on education of any part of the world"" in the course of praising China’s investment in Africa’s growth. Reports from the United Nations had Africa’s proportional spending on education higher than everywhere but North America and Europe in 2008. But since then, Africa’s overall economic growth has outpaced its governments increasing spending on education. Our calculations based on the most recent available data put Africa’s proportional spending beneath every continent except Asia. African countries do spend more of their governments’ budgets on education than many developed countries, so Bloomberg’s broader point about Africa’s growth has some merit. But Bloomberg’s  cited GDP. We rate his  ."
22731,0,Elon Musk banned U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from Twitter.,"March 6, 2023",technology;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 Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter accounts are alive and well.   Her @RepAOC and @AOC accounts were tweeting as of March 9, and we found no news coverage about a permanent ban thanks to Musk.   His decision in December to ban multiple journalists from high-profile news organizations drew widespread media attention , and we’d expect the same if he moved to suspend a lawmaker’s account.   We rate this post !"
14879,1,ABC News recently banned reporters from wearing American flag lapel pins on air.,"July 24, 2018",fake news;patriotism;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog,"Thus spawned the   about ABC News enacting a new policy banning lapel pins in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Now the  has been updated to make it appear the ABC News’ ""ban"" (in , a longstanding policy) is a response to Donald Trump’s presidency.   The political conditions may have changed since the  was first born, but it is still untrue. As an aside, we’d note that the older  that President Barack Obama sought to ban American flag pins is an extreme distortion of reality . We rate this ."
14878,2,Barack Obama: I'm 'the First Sitting American President to Come From Kenya.',"July 22, 2018",obama birth certificate;punditfact,supremeinsider.com,A website associated with misleading news.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,a blog post,"A story on Supremeinsider.com says ""Barack Obama: I’m ‘the First Sitting American President to Come From Kenya’ (Video)."" In the video from his speech in Kenya Obama does say he’s the ""first sitting American president to come from Kenya."" The article, however, goes on to suggest that this comment invalidates any past efforts Obama has made to assure that he was born in the United States and call for an investigation. The message from Obama’s speech was misinterpreted to mean he was born and/or raised in Kenya when he was actually saying that he is of Kenyan heritage. There’s no  to prove Obama was not born in the United States. We rate this  ."
2286,4,Our tax rates are lower now than they were under Ronald Reagan. They're much lower than they were under Dwight Eisenhower.,"September 20, 2010",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,a televised town hall,"(Not all of these taxes kick in immediately.) We think it's fair to note that Obama has raised taxes and promises to do so again. But we don't think that undermines the factual accuracy of his statement from the town hall. If you make the comparison using tax brackets -- which we think was Obama's clear intent -- then the president is right when comparing today's rates to Eisenhower's, and he's close to right when he makes the comparison to Reagan. On balance, we rate Obama's statement ."
13765,2,Schools in Austin Independent School District are teaching children as young as 4 years old that their gender is fluid – that they're not a boy or a girl and they can choose whichever gender they want.,"July 20, 2017",education,glenna hodge,"Glenna Hodge, a Spicewood lawyer, made a claim about what the Austin district teaches children about gender identity.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,testimony before a Texas Senate committee,"Hodge said: ""Schools in Austin Independent School District are teaching children as young as 4 years old that their gender is fluid – that they’re not a boy or a girl and they can choose whichever gender they want."" Hodge didn’t deliver proof of Austin students including toddlers getting told that gender is fluid nor did we confirm such instruction. It’s clear otherwise that the district has put energy into teachers understanding that each child comes to terms with gender identity among developmental issues. Teacher training materials include a lesson plan describing gender identity varying along a spectrum. 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."
17531,4,"Says Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm is a ""career bureaucrat with no past ties to Wisconsin.","April 20, 2020",public health;states,tom tiffany,"In 2004 and 2008, Tom Tiffany ran for the 12th State Senate District, first against Senator Roger Breske, and then Jim Holperin losing both times in very close elections. In 2010, he ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly after the position was vacated by retiring incumbent, Representative Donald Friske. Tiffany won the primary, and later defeated Democrat Jay Schmelling 58.09% - 41.81%.
In 2012 Tiffany chose not to seek re-election to the State Assembly and to seek election to the State Senate after Holperin announced he would not run for reelection. He defeated Democrat Susan Sommer, 56% - 40%, in the general election on November 6, 2012. Tiffany succeeded fellow Republican Sean Duffy in Congress, winning a special election against Democrat Tricia Zunker in 2020.",wisconsin,0,1,0,6,0,1,a public forum,"In a Facebook post, Tiffany called Palm ""a career bureaucrat with no past ties to Wisconsin."" One problem: He doesn’t tell people he’s talking about the health secretary. At first glance, it seems as if Tiffany is targeting Evers, who has deep ties to Wisconsin. That leaves us with a statement that’s accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate Tiffany’s  . window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND';

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15016,3,"While Richard Cordray was Attorney General, 12,000 rape kits like Allyssa's were left untested. Cordray's failure left serial rapists free to strike again. Then Mike DeWine became Attorney General. He tested all 12,000 rape kits. Now hundreds of rapists are behind bars.","August 22, 2018",legal issues;crime;women,mike dewine,"Mike DeWine, the Ohio attorney general, won the Republican primary for governor in May 2018 and is running in the general election in November. Previously he was one of Ohio's U.S. senator's, lieutenant governor and a member of the General Assembly.",ohio,2,1,5,4,1,0,a TV ad,"DeWine said in a TV ad, ""While Richard Cordray was Attorney General, 12,000 rape kits like Allyssa's were left untested. Cordray's failure left serial rapists free to strike again. Then Mike DeWine became Attorney General. He tested all 12,000 rape kits. Now hundreds of rapists are behind bars."" The ad leaves out a lot of context when it blames Cordray. First, it omits that Cordray inherited a statewide problem. Cordray started to take steps to address the problem, but didn’t get far before he was ousted by DeWine in November 2010. The ad is on firmer ground when it gives credit to DeWine for his efforts to clear out the backlog. But it omits that it took him several years to do it. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important context. We rate this statement ."
5128,1,"Says Gov. Scott Walker is ""openly"" backing a move to abolish the state retirement system and convert it to a 401(k)-style plan that will reduce pensions ""by at least a third"" for current and retired public employees","February 23, 2012",pensions;state budget,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",wisconsin,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"Our conclusion A chain email making the rounds claims Walker is ""openly"" backing a move to abolish the state retirement system. While a study of the system is under way, the email’s  jumps the gun and goes way too far. We don’t yet know the study’s conclusions, and Walker’s administration says no decisions have been made on making any changes at all. What’s more, legal experts say in all likelihood any changes would have to be going forward -- and retirees have the most protection. We rate the email’s  ."
4966,3,"We have cut crime across every single zone in the city of Atlanta by between 10 percent and 16 percent, depending on the zone.","January 19, 2012",crime,kasim reed,Kasim Reed is Mayor of Atlanta.,georgia,5,8,6,1,0,1,the State of the City address,"It’s down in all zones but one. And in the case of east Atlanta, where crime dropped 27 percent, the decline is far more dramatic than the 10 percent to 16 percent decrease Reed mentioned in his State of the City address. In a written statement to PolitiFact Georgia, Reed acknowledged that the city has more work to do, but the lower overall crime rate is a sign of progress. ""One of our goals is to say with confidence that crime is down in all zones, and I believe we are moving in the right direction,"" Reed said. Because Reed’s broader message held , but the data he used are topsy-turvy, we grant him a . "
7632,2,Our recent state budgets have far exceeded population and inflation growth.,"July 25, 2013",population;state budget,tom pauken,"Tom Pauken of Port Aransas, a candidate for governor of Texas in 2014, is a past chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission. He previously chaired the Republican Party of Texas and served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He is a Vietnam veteran.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,an oped column,"Pauken said recent state budgets have far exceeded population and inflation growth. Spending of all funds, which folds in federal aid, exceeded population and inflation growth in five of six recent Texas budgets. Adjusted for those factors, the two-year budgets went up as little as 0.4 percent to nearly 10 percent. And while total spending trailed population growth/inflation in 2012-13, that conclusion could change once number-crunchers account for final spending decisions by the 2013 Legislature. In contrast, state spending alone, over which lawmakers have the most direct control, trailed population growth and inflation in four of the six two-year budgets from 2002-03 through 2012-13--and it’s not expected to exceed inflation/population growth through August 2015. We rate this , which has an element of  but ignores critical facts giving a more meaningful impression, as ."
10123,1,White men account for 69 percent of those arrested for violent crimes.,"March 19, 2015",crime;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,an opinion piece on CNN.com,"Kohn said that white men are at least as dangerous as black men and cited as proof that white men represent 69 percent of people arrested for violent crimes. When presented with the inaccuracies in using that specific figure by PunditFact, Kohn corrected herself. Criminologists we contacted also told us that those absolute figures -- when used correctly --  tell only half the story. When talking about risks to society, it is equally important to provide the population-based rate. When we do that, the threat of violent crimes posed by blacks looks larger than that of whites. For these two reasons, Kohn’s  that ""white men account for 69 percent of those arrested for violent crimes"" is . We rate it ."
13064,1,"Political activists are ""being paid"" to protest members of Congress.","February 21, 2017",congress,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,a press release,"Gohmert said political activists are ""being paid"" to protest members of Congress. His office didn’t provide any  of this, and neither did several other Republican officials we asked. It’s possible some protesters somewhere may be paid, but there’s zero  of a wide-ranging conspiracy to bring in paid activists to disrupt meetings. We rate this statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/a6193c51-8464-41e6-be3a-6f31d4804f51"
18725,0,"Says Clint Eastwood called Joe Biden an ""incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist.","October 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,"In February, he told the Wall Street Journal that while he approves of ""certain things that Trump’s done"" he wishes Trump would act ""in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names."" Eastwood also expressed support for former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who had not yet dropped out of the Democratic presidential race. We rate this Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
14204,1,"In one year, the United Nations ""did 24 resolutions and 20 of them were against Israel.","January 11, 2018",israel,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 event at the Heritage Foundation,"DeSantis said the United Nations spent one year doing ""24 resolutions, and 20 of them were against Israel."" These numbers are . The United Nations' General Assembly passed hundreds of resolutions in the year-long 2016-17 session — not two dozen. DeSantis was apparently trying to repeat a watchdog group's findings that 20 of 24 (and then 26) General Assembly resolutions against other countries , over a few months   in 2016, were against Israel. But his sweeping public comment contained no trace of those clarifications, and he doubled down on his statement at the event. His effort to boil down a complex system into a sound bite doesn't check out. We rate this  ."
2056,5,"About 106,000 soldiers had ""a prescription of three weeks or more"" for pain, depression or anxiety medication.","August 8, 2010",health care;military;this week - abc news,gen. peter chiarelli,Gen. Peter Chiarelli is the vice chief of staff for the United States Army.,national,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an interview on ""This Week.""","Unannounced health and welfare checks and inspections ""have been lost"" as part of that transition. ""There are instances where a leader’s lack of Soldier accountability resulted in suicide victims not being found until they had been dead for three or four weeks,"" the report noted. While the report raises a host of issues, we're only ruling on what the general said about the rate of medication among soldiers. The Army report and other testimony that we found support Chiarelli's statement that approximately 106,000 soldiers had ""a prescription of three weeks or more"" for pain, depression or anxiety medication. We rate his statement ."
9290,4,"Police in the United States are allowed to use tear gas even though it ""has been classified as a chemical weapon and banned in international conflict since 1993.","August 25, 2014",criminal justice;legal issues;foreign policy,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a meme on social media,"The meme said police in the United States use tear gas even though it ""has been classified as a chemical weapon and banned in international conflict since 1993."" The Chemical Weapons Convention did outlaw the use of tear gas in warfare, though that went into effect in 1997, not 1993. However, the meme glosses over some context. It tries to leverage the Chemical Weapons Convention’s decision to ban tear gas as  of why the technique should be illegal for policing, yet that very same convention explicitly allows its use for domestic law enforcement purposes. The  is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it ."
4668,1,"Says his 9-9-9 tax reform plan is not ""regressive.","October 19, 2011",taxes,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,several public statements,"Cain says the personal income flat tax is not ""regressive,"" and technically speaking, all but the poor will be taxed at the same rate. (How he’ll handle the poor remains unclear.) Still, under Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, low- and middle-income taxpayers will pay a greater share of their income on taxes than their wealthier counterparts. This fits the definition of ""regressive."" We rate Cain’s  ."
6491,5,"Tennessee students now cover about 67 percent of the cost of their education at public universities, and some 60 percent at community colleges.","September 13, 2012",education,john g. morgan,"Morgan had been Deputy to the Governor of the State of Tennessee since January 2009; prior to that, he had served as Comptroller of the Treasury for the State of Tennessee for 10 years. His public service career dates back to 1976 except for a brief stint in the late 1980s with Third National Bank. Morgan has had a longtime interest in and commitment to education. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and history from Austin Peay State University.",tennessee,1,0,0,0,0,0,Testimoney to the U.S. Senate Education Committee,"Parents of aspiring college students who remember the days when tuition covered just one-third the per-student costs at state colleges and universities may be shocked to learn that, at least in Tennessee, students now pay 67 percent of the costs of their education through tuition and fees. That’s the point that one of Tennessee’s top higher education officials told a Senate committee, and the research backs him up. We rule this statement .  "
9033,1,"Says children are coming into the U.S. in ""staggering numbers"" because  President Barack Obama ""has been promising amnesty.","June 23, 2014",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.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,a press conference at Lackland Air Force Base,"Cruz said children are coming into the U.S. in ""staggering numbers"" because  President Barack Obama ""has been promising amnesty."" We suppose the government’s 2012 declaration it wouldn’t deport certain young residents already here by 2007 might be misinterpreted as an everlasting amnesty signal by some. But Obama hasn’t offered amnesty to anyone. Other factors in children streaming north from Central America include home-country conditions and a policy reaffirmed by Congress before Obama became president enabling unaccompanied children from places other than Canada and Mexico to settle here with family members or others while waiting for immigration cases to be heard. We rate this statement as .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
17733,1,"A photo shows Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ""on Mackinaw Island today ignoring mask and social distancing rules.","May 24, 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,"That’s because the photo is more than a year old. It doesn’t show Whitmer violating social distancing orders on Mackinac (spelled with a C, but pronounced mack-in-aw). It came from Whitmer’s campaign when she was running for governor in 2018. The Oakland Press, which ran the picture alongside a Q&A with Whitmer in October 2018, said in the caption that it shows her ""speaking to Michigan residents while on the campaign trail. ""  We rate this Facebook post ."
12497,4,"In the state legislature, I supported Second Amendment rights.","September 15, 2016",guns,jason kander,"Jason Kander, a Democrat, is the Missouri secretary of state and is challenging U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., in 2016.",missouri,0,1,0,1,0,0,a campaign ad,"In a TV ad, Kander said, ""In the state legislature, I supported Second Amendment rights."" As a state representative, Kander voted in favor of two bills, which are now law, that would lower the age for someone to conceal and carry a weapon. On the other hand, he also voted against several bills that would reduce regulations on guns. In short, his gun record is nuanced. Further, experts cautioned us not to draw a straight line between votes and gun legislation and support for the Second Amendment. It is possible to support the Second Amendment and favor some regulation on guns. Even though he sometimes voted against bills to expand access to guns, it is fair for Kander to say he supported the Second Amendment as a legislator. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate Kander’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/05a77216-92bf-4df3-933b-6d093512c2a7"
7445,4,"We haven't had a Republican senator in Washington for ... why, I think Clifford Case was our last Republican senator.","June 4, 2013",congress;history,christine whitman,"Christine Todd Whitman was New Jersey's 50th governor, serving from 1994 to 2001. She left the governor's office to become administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under then President George W. Bush. Today she is president of The Whitman Strategy Group.",new jersey,0,2,0,0,0,0,an interview on The John Gambling radio show,"Whitman said during a radio interview, ""We haven't had a Republican senator in Washington for ... why, I think Clifford Case was our last Republican senator."" Brady was the last Republican to serve in the Senate, for eight months in 1982, prior to Chiesa’s appointment. Before that, Case was the last Republican that New Jersey voters elected to the Senate. Since Whitman referred to the ‘last’ Republican senator to represent New Jersey, that title goes to Brady. We therefore rate the former governor’s  . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
19362,0,"Says Donald Trump will be re-inaugurated as president on March 4, 2021.","February 23, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"A Facebook post says Donald Trump will be re-inaugurated as president on March 4, 2021. This conspiracy theory rests on a flawed interpretation of an 1871 bill that consolidated the different neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., into a single entity.  The 20th Amendment to the Constitution changed the inauguration date from March 4 to Jan. 20. And on Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president for a term of four years. This  is  and . We rate it ! ​"
19909,0,"Says Denzel Washington left the Democratic Party because he's ""had it with the lies.","June 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,an Instagram post,"In 2016, he told reporters that it was none of their business who he supported in the presidential election. That year, he also criticized a fabricated story that said he had switched his support from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to Trump.   According to OpenSecrets’ database of political donations , Washington has donated to Barack Obama, Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. But he didn’t make the statements that appear in the Instagram post.   We rate it ."
7586,3,"The city of Brookhaven's ordinance could cause the Pink Pony to close, thereby ""putting 300 Pink Pony employees out of work in this economy.","July 11, 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 ad,"Still, we don’t know if all of them are regularly working there. Do the majority of the 200 or so dancers work two days a week? Once every two months? The Pink Pony  is partially accurate, but it ignores a lot of context that would give a reader a different impression. We rate this  ."
16907,3,"Says Hillary Clinton ""threatened to bomb Iran — totally obliterate them — if she was president.","January 4, 2020",iran;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 doesn’t actually produce good results."" As Democrats criticize President Donald Trump for ordering the airstrike, Facebook users are remarking that Clinton’s comments ""didn’t age well. ""  We’ll leave that to you to decide. But the video is deceptively edited, taking her comments out of context and repeating one of her statements at the end of the clip as a bomb explodes.   We rate it ."
20792,1,If you stop testing (for COVID-19) it all goes away and people just have colds like before.,"January 5, 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,"A Facebook post claims that, if people were to stop testing for COVID-19, the pandemic would go away and people will ""just have colds like before."" Testing does not cause the virus, and putting a stop to it wouldn't mean an end to the pandemic. Testing is important to track the spread and severity of the virus in a community. If testing does stop and people appear to just have colds, that could still mean they’re infected with COVID-19. A person who is vaccinated against the virus but still gets infected is more likely to develop mild symptoms that have the appearance of a cold. They could unknowingly spread the virus to other people. We rate the Facebook post ."
339,2,"Hillary interned with Bob Treuhaft, the head of the California Communist Party.","January 24, 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 based on an article written by Dick Morris,"There's not only no  Clinton was a communist sympathizer, Morris doesn't have his facts right (at least not in the version in the FrontPageMag.com article that made its way into a chain e-mail). Treuhaft was not head of the California Communist Party, nor was he a member when Clinton worked for his law firm. But she did intern for Treuhaft's firm. And he was, at one time, a member of the American Communist Party. So we rate the  ."
16665,1,"Says if an unmarked car tries to pull you over, you should dial 112 to confirm it's actually a police officer because the number provides ""a direct link to state trooper info,"" and that ""this applies in all 50 states.","August 13, 2013",public 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 sergeant told Fox that because several wireless carriers sell cell phones in both the United States and overseas, they convert the emergency number dialed to the appropriate local emergency number. (This reporter and Sprint subscriber tried calling 112 on her phone and the phone read ""emergency call"" as it tried to connect.) U.S. government officials and public safety responders universally encourage people to dial 911 ⁠— and no other number ⁠— during an emergency.   ""There is no guarantee a person will be rerouted to an emergency number,"" a police spokesperson told the Paradise View in Las Vegas in 2013. We rate this Facebook post ."
17835,1,"Wearing masks for the coronavirus ""decreases oxygen intake, increases toxin inhalation, shuts down immune system, increases virus risk, scientifically inaccurate, effectiveness not studied.","June 8, 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,"A Facebook post claimed that wearing masks for the coronavirus ""decreases oxygen intake, increases toxin inhalation, shuts down immune system, increases virus risk, scientifically , effectiveness not studied.""  There is no  to back any of the six parts of the . We rate it ."
11892,5,The LGBT community is more often the victims of hate crimes than any other recognized group.,"June 19, 2016",crime;lgbtq,loretta lynch,"Loretta E. Lynch was sworn in as Attorney General April 27, 2015 and replaced Eric Holder. She previously led the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.  ",florida,1,0,0,0,0,0,"an interview on ""Fox News Sunday""","Lynch said, ""The LGBT community is more often the victims of hate crimes than any other recognized group."" It’s worth noting that there may be widespread underreporting of hate crime incidents in general. However, the best available research shows that the LGBT community is victimized at a higher rate than other minority groups, according to FBI data.  We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c6bf52bd-bfaf-4b75-95ce-8cd3348a1de6"
16436,4,"From 2010 to 2017, natural gas production plummeted by nearly 70 percent in New York, but it soared almost 1,000 percent in Pennsylvania.","August 13, 2019",energy;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.",new york,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"President Trump said between 2010 and 2017, natural gas production in New York fell by nearly 70 percent, while production in Pennsylvania grew by nearly 1,000 percent.   In Pennsylvania, total natural gas production grew by 854 percent between 2010 and 2017. In New York, total natural gas production fell by between 66 and 68 percent.  Trump’s statement was  accurate, but there’s enough difference between 854 percent and nearly 1,000 percent to warrant a  ruling."
14473,0,"In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that. They always like to say 'oh that's a conspiracy theory.' Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people.","April 5, 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,West Virginia,"Trump said, ""In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that. They always like to say 'oh that's a conspiracy theory.' Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people. They don’t want to see it."" While there have been some investigations into multiple voting allegations, including some convictions, they are rare. We found no  that the amount of double voting is anywhere close to millions. We rate this statement . '"
12024,4,"'What difference, at this point, does it make?' I am the guy that got under her skin and provoked that infamous response from Hillary Clinton by asking a pretty simple question, 'Why didn't you just pick up the phone and call the survivors' (of the Benghazi attack)?","July 19, 2016",candidate biography;foreign policy,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.",national,8,18,15,28,11,4,Cleveland,"Johnson said, ""I am the guy that got under her skin and provoked that infamous response from Hillary Clinton by asking a pretty simple question, 'Why didn't you just pick up the phone and call the survivors’ (of the Benghazi attack)?"" During a 2013 hearing, Johnson suggested repeatedly that had Clinton phoned the Benghazi compound, she would have known the attack wasn’t related to alleged protests. Clinton did get exasperated and say, ""What difference, at this point, does it make?"" But Johnson’s phrasing omits the fact that Clinton did provide other detailed responses to Johnson’s question. The  is accurate but needs additional information. We rate the  ."
15805,0,"A photograph shows Beto O'Rourke nearly nude with the words ""feminist,"" ""atheist"" and ""slut"" on his body.","March 14, 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,"The caption of this photo , by photographer Dimitris Lampropoulos, notes that it’s taken at the Gay Pride Parade in Athens on June 11, 2016. We searched for news reports about O’Rourke attending the parade and found none. He did live-stream a sit-in organized by Democrats at the U.S. House of Representatives that month, speak at a conference on border competitiveness and, on June 12, attended a vigil in El Paso in the wake of a mass shooting of a gay nightclub in Florida.    But that person in the photo isn't him. We rate this Facebook post !"
939,3,Sotomayor has had her rulings thrown out by the court a troubling four times.,"May 26, 2009",sotomayor nomination;supreme court,libertarian national committee ,"The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties, and stands for smaller government and lower taxes.",national,0,1,1,0,0,0,"a press release from May 26, 2009","So the Libertarian Party is correct that Sotomayor was reversed four times: three at the appellate level and one at the district court level. But this is out of hundreds of potential cases. Furthermore, the Libertarian Party's implication that four cases represents a high rate of reversal just doesn't hold up. Her record is not far off from another well-known justice, Samuel Alito , nor is it at all unusual for the Supreme Court to reverse most of the cases it hears every year, according to legal experts we spoke to. We rate their statement ."
20523,2,"Merriam-Webster recently changed its definition of the word ""vaccine"" and removed the immunity portion.","November 4, 2021",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,"A Facebook post claims that Merriam-Webster changed the definition of vaccine and removed the portion about immunity. This is . The dictionary did recently revise its definition of vaccine to be more detailed. But it didn’t eliminate the portion about immunity. Rather, it changed the wording to say that vaccines stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease. The entry also references the definition of ""immune response,"" which is more detailed than before. This  presents an element of  but leaves out critical facts that would give a different impression. That’s our definition for . ​​"
8138,3,"It's a good sign for Obamacare that in California, ""the proportion of kids who are signing up is the proportion of kids in the population.","December 1, 2013",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,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Emanuel tried to point to a good sign for the health care law in California, saying ""the proportion of kids who are signing up is the proportion of kids in the population."" The statement is pretty accurate for young adults for the month of October. But it is a curious statistic. Health policy experts said the stat is  because the entire California population is not supposed to access the marketplace. They offered more apt comparisons that relate more closely to the uninsured population and alter the figures. The more important takeaway is that it’s very early to draw significant conclusions about California’s performance and what it could mean for a functional Healthcare.gov after its first month. We rate Emanuel’s  ."
11200,1,"We have more illegal immigrants here"" than we did five years ago.","January 31, 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.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,"an interview on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Rubio said, ""We have more illegal immigrants here"" than we did five years ago. Multiple estimates show that the illegal immigrant population has stabilized, or even decreased, from its peak in 2007 through 2014, the latest available data. According to Pew, the illegal immigrant population was 11.3 million in 2014, down from 11.4 million five years prior in 2010. This is in sharp contrast to dramatic and steady increases throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. There is no  to support the idea that the illegal immigrant population has grown in the past five years. We rate Rubio’s  ."
4231,5,"Over the past 10 years, the number of people living in Lower Manhattan has nearly doubled. In fact, Lower Manhattan has added more people over the last 10 years than Atlanta, Dallas and Philadelphia combined.","September 6, 2011",housing;terrorism,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 jersey,7,8,5,1,3,0,Lower Manhattan,"Nearing the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Bloomberg claimed the population in Lower Manhattan has nearly doubled, exceeding the combined growth in Atlanta, Dallas and Philadelphia. Census data backs up his statement. Many people not only paid more attention to Lower Manhattan in the years following Sept. 11. They moved there. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
6901,2,Says that 9 million to 50 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States.,"January 17, 2013",immigration;population,texas federation of republican women,The Texas Federation of Republican Women describes itself as the most powerful women's political group in the state.,texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,an approved resolution,"The federation said there are 9 million to 50 million illegal U.S. residents. At a glance, that’s almost certainly right, though one could similarly say there are zero to 100 million. Too vast a range is . It’s also fair to concede that no one knows the precise number of illegal residents. However, accepted estimates, tied to household surveys and other research, suggest that the likely range tops out at 12 million or so, only one quarter of the federation’s unsupported top-end 50 million figure. We rate this  as ."
6135,5,Mitt Romney says class sizes don't matter.,"August 22, 2012",education;message machine 2012,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,"Obama’s ad claims that ""Mitt Romney says class sizes don’t matter."" That's pretty much what he has said, saying that Massachusetts data ""showed that classroom size was not relevant in my state to how well the kids were doing."" We rate the  ."
535,1,"Barack Obama has ""reversed"" on his commitment ""to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq immediately.","July 3, 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,an e-mail message from campaign spokesman Brian Rogers,"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 is 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 iron-clad withdrawal timeline in the first place. We find the McCain campaign's statement that Obama has reversed position to be ."
17159,1,"Says it's ""OK to kill babies once born"" in Virginia.","January 30, 2019",abortion,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.",virginia,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"The Facebook post says it’s ""OK to kill babies once born"" in Virginia.  Late-term abortions are allowed under the state’s laws through the third trimester if doctors certify the procedure is necessary for the mother’s health — the proposed law discussed by Northam would not have changed the time period during which an abortion is allowed.  As we’ve previously reported , Northam’s comments were confusing and he didn’t clarify what he meant by saying ""resuscitated."" But he was speaking in the context of pregnancies in which the fetus has severe deformities or is nonviable. The Facebook post overreaches by claiming it’s OK to kill newborns. In Virginia, that’s a felony.  We rate this post ."
22911,4,Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans 18-45.,"April 5, 2023",drugs;public health,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,"Fentanyl comprises about 90% of synthetic narcotic deaths, the CDC said.   Medical experts also said it is likely  but could not be sure because of the lack of CDC data.   The Washington Post conducted its own analysis for a similar age range, 18 to 49, and found that fentanyl was the leading cause of death for that group in 2021 by several thousands.   Abbott’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. That’s our definition for . "
9986,4,"22 times Barack Obama said he did not have the authority to implement this type of"" anti-deportation ""measure. And then the day after he signed this into law, he said, quote, 'I just changed the law.'","February 17, 2015",immigration,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 interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News,"Abbott said that 22 times, Obama ""said he did not have the authority to implement this type of"" anti-deportation ""measure. And then the day after he signed this into law, he said, quote, ‘I just changed the law.’"" Like McCaul, Abbott overstates the number of confirmed instances of Obama indicating he couldn’t independently do more to prevent deportations. He also left out some of what Obama said about changing the law and was slightly off on the president’s timing. With these clarifications, though, Abbott’s statement is spot-on. 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."
4238,3,"One international flight a day in a wide-bodied jet ... one flight daily generates $150 million a year and approximately 2,300 jobs.","September 2, 2011",economy;transportation,bob buckhorn,"Bob Buckhorn is making his second run for mayor in Tampa's nonpartisan elections on March 1, 2011. He previously served on the City Council from 1995-2003.",florida,0,1,2,2,1,0,an interview on WEDU-TV,"The mayor drew on a consultant's study to support the need to lure international flights to Tampa. But he chose an economic impact of $150 million for his generalization — when just one of the airport's five target areas is in Europe. The rest are in Central and South America, which the study says would generate less than half the economic impact he mentioned. Meanwhile, he misspoke on the jobs number, nearly doubling it. Still, the study does support the idea that a new flight's impact might justify local hustle and incentives, the core of Buckhorn's argument. We rule his statement ."
18306,1,The entire city (of Portland) is ablaze all the time.,"August 31, 2020",fires;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 press conference,"Our ruling Trump said of Portland: ""The entire city is ablaze all the time."" While months of protests in Portland have seen many fires set to streets, trash cans, and buildings, those incidents have been confined to a few small sections of the city and relatively easy for the city’s fire department to extinguish. Most of the city has been unaffected. The whole city is not in flames. We rate Trump’s  ."
7285,4,"South Carolina has a labor shortage, specifically in the meatpacking industry.","February 14, 2013",immigration;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.,georgia,2,2,6,2,4,0,a Senate hearing,"To sum up, research shows that South Carolina’s unemployment is almost a full percentage point higher than the national average, and the rate for lower-educated residents is even higher. But in the meatpacking industry, the nature of the work and the wages often turn off many American workers, those on both sides of the immigration debate said. Graham said that there was a problem filling certain jobs, even amid high unemployment. But his statement lacks context about wages and conditions in the meatpacking industry. We rate his  ."
12423,1,"You will learn more about Donald Trump by going down to the Federal Elections"" to see the financial disclosure form than by looking at tax returns.","September 26, 2016",candidate biography;economy;income;transparency;wealth;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 Presidential debate at Hofstra University,"Trump said, ""You will learn more about Donald Trump by going down to the Federal Elections"" to see the financial disclosure form than by looking at his returns. An observer would find valuable information about Trump’s personal financial holdings from his extensive (and legally required) financial-disclosure form. However, experts consider that a red herring. Unlike all presidential nominees since 1980, Trump has not released his tax returns, which experts say would offer valuable details on his effective tax rate, the types of taxes he paid, and how much he gave to charity, as well as a more detailed picture of his income-producing assets. Trump’s statement was, and is, . We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/314c9496-1c70-41c2-ac55-0b36b9e7cc4d"
13990,4,"In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns. They [The Obama administration] prosecuted only 44 of them.","November 6, 2017",crime;guns,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,an interview with Shannon Bream of Fox News,"Cruz said: ""In 2010, 48,000 felons and fugitives lied and illegally tried to purchase guns"" and the Obama administration ""prosecuted only 44 of them."" There may have been even fewer federal prosecutions of such felons and fugitives, figures indicate, though Cruz failed to note that this paucity wasn’t unique to one administration. It’s also worth clarifying that we don’t know if all 48,000 individuals knowingly misled the government. Few of the tallied background checks resulted in further investigation. We rate Cruz'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."
13113,4,"Cost of iPhone: $399
- Cost of healthcare for 1 year: $10,345
- Hearing @jasoninthehouse compare the 2 as if they are the same: priceless","March 7, 2017",health care;technology;the 2018 california governor's race,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,"Democratic California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom caused a stir with his response to a controversial comparison of the costs of an iPhone and healthcare made by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. Newsom claimed iPhones cost $399 while one-year of health care costs $10,345. The lieutenant governor is right about the phone cost, though he selected the cheapest iPhone featured on Apple’s website. In coming up with his health care cost estimate, Newsom’s spokesman cited a federal report showing the nation’s overall health care costs were expected to surpass $10,000 per capita for the first time in 2016. That figure does not necessarily mean everyone is spending $10,345 on health care. Costs vary greatly among individuals. About 5 percent of the population — those who are most frail or sick — accounts for nearly half the spending in a given year, according to the Associated Press. Still, two health care policy experts told us the $10,345 figure is the best available for assessing average health care costs. Another look at the iPhone vs. health care cost comparison by the Washington Post shows plans in the Obamacare market would cost an individual about $8,600 in premiums and deductibles annually, which when combined with out-of-pocket expenses might not be far from is the $10,345 figure Newsom cited. In the end, we found  to back up Newsom’s figures. We also found Chaffetz made enough of a connection between iPhones and health care costs to back up Newsom’s  that the congressman compared them ""as if they are the same."" Newsom’s overall statement is accurate, though it needs some clarifications 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."
19123,4,"Says that ""the way to reach 'herd immunity' is for >70% of the population to get vaccinated.","January 5, 2021",public health;science;coronavirus,jon rosenthal,"Jon Rosenthal is an engineer and Texas politician serving as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives. He represents the 135th District, which includes Northwest Houston, Cypress, and Jersey Village",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"In an email, Rosenthal said his information came from a Reuters article that cited the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control estimating a 67% herd immunity threshold and the World Health Organization estimating a 65% to 70% threshold.   ""There are apparently too many unknowns to be certain, but the 70% figure lines up with some common estimates,"" Rosenthal said.   The herd immunity threshold is calculated by using a disease’s rate of transmission. Although scientists have not agreed upon a definite rate, and even though these rates are highly theoretical, estimates show that the thresholds lies somewhere between 60% and 83%.   We rate this  . "
11196,3,"A Texas law requires every high school to have a voter registrar ""and part of their responsibility is to make sure that when children become 18 and become eligible to vote, that they vote.","January 13, 2016",education;elections,paul saldaña,"Paul Saldaña, a former mayoral chief of staff, won election to Austin's school board in 2014. Board members elected him vice president of the board in January 2016.",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a civic summit hosted by Austin's KLRU-TV,"Saldaña said a Texas law requires every high school to have a voter registrar ""and part of their responsibility is to make sure that when children become 18 and become eligible to vote, that they vote."" A 1983 law requires every high school to have a deputy voter registrar tasked with giving eligible students voter registration applications. Each registrar also must make sure submitted applications are appropriately handled. However, the law doesn’t require registrars to make every eligible student register; it's up to each student to act or not. Also, as Saldaña acknowledged, registrars aren’t required to ensure that students vote. We rate this 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."
1948,2,"GOP candidate for governor Nathan Deal ""is a former Clinton Democrat.","July 21, 2010",voting record,karen handel,"Karen Handel is the former secretary of state of Georgia. She is also the former chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Handel, a Republican, lost the runoff for the GOP nomination for Georgia governor in 2010.",georgia,2,3,5,3,2,1,an interview on WSB-TV,"Deal broke with Clinton to side with Republicans on a variety of legislation, including bills that were important parts of the president's agenda. Furthermore, when Deal became a Republican, the bipartisanship evident during his career as a Democrat all but vanished. He voted enthusiastically against the president, including during Clinton's impeachment. Deal was no pal to Clinton. We rate Handel's statement .   "
22696,1,"Former President Donald Trump ""was the 1st president in U.S. history to acknowledge that children are being sold for sex in the U.S."" while President Joe Biden ""rescinded Trump's executive order that helped combat child sex trafficking.","February 26, 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,"President Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021. Did he rescind Trump’s executive order combating child sex trafficking on Jan. 21, 2021?   During his first few days in office, Biden revoked multiple executive orders issued by Trump, but reviewing the federal register , White House briefings on presidential actions and news reports, we found none that amounted to Biden rescinding a Trump order to fight child sex trafficking.   Bridgette Carr, director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, told The Associated Press in December that she was ""unaware of any executive order on child sex trafficking reversed by Biden."" We rate claims that Trump was the first president to acknowledge child sex trafficking in the United States, and that Biden revoked Trump’s executive order to combat it, ."
8700,2,Democrats very much are in the pocket of the NRA.,"April 16, 2014",campaign finance;punditfact;guns,nia-malika henderson,Nia-Malika Henderson is a political reporter for the Washington Post.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,comments on MSNBC,"Henderson said Democrats are in the pocket of the NRA. Henderson did not send us any information to support or clarify her statement. In terms of campaign contributions, the NRA sends its money almost entirely to Republicans. In the sense that ""in the pocket"" means a cozy comfortable relationship, the political scientists we reached said Henderson’s  was . On the other hand, the record shows that on key votes, some Democrats will avoid raising the ire of the NRA. The relationship is hardly cozy but the result is the same. Henderson’s words don’t capture this factor well, but due to it, enough Democrats end up doing what the NRA wants. We rate the  ."
6099,4,"Says Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan ""want to turn Medicare into a voucher system.","August 15, 2012",federal budget;health care;medicare,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 campaign event,"We agree that in the world of policy wonks, there are distinctions between ""vouchers"" and ""premium support,"" having to do with the type of inflation adjustment used and the degree of marketplace regulation imposed. Compared with his original plan, Ryan’s most recent plan does move closer to fitting the definition of pure premium support. But substantively, it’s still somewhere in between the two approaches. But the Romney-Ryan approach pretty much matches the dictionary definition of ""a form or check indicating a credit against future purchases or expenditures."" We think that describes the general way Ryan's plan would work. For a political discussion aimed at voters rather than policy wonks, we think Obama’s use of the term ""voucher"" is close enough to earn it a rating of ."
4179,1,"Says that in 2009 ExxonMobil ""paid no federal income taxes, received a $156 million rebate.","August 6, 2011",corporations;taxes,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 television interview,"We contacted Shackleford again, who confirmed that the same rationale would apply to Kucinich’s . The amount of income tax that Exxon Mobil paid to the U.S. government in 2009 is confidential information that did not appear on the forms that Kucinich and Sanders relied upon to make their claims that the company paid no income taxes and got a rebate. ExxonMobil says the ""- $156 million"" figure reflects holdover tax issues from previous years that showed up in paperwork for 2009, and that it’s U.S. income tax expense for 2009 was approximately $500 million. A tax professor confirmed that interpreting that $-156 million as the ExxonMoblil’s tax figure would be a misreading of the 10-K form. Based on that, we rate Kucinich’s statement, as we did Sanders’, as ."
17675,2,"Cannabis may stop coronavirus from infecting people, study finds.","May 14, 2020",corrections and updates;drugs;public health;facebook fact-checks;marijuana;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The headline of an article shared on Facebook said: ""Cannabis may stop coronavirus from infecting people, study finds."" The study found, based on lab testing, that cannabis extracts could be part of a treatment that dramatically reduces the chances of being infected by COVID-10.  But the study is preliminary, has not been peer reviewed and tests on humans would need to be done to determine if the extracts could be part of a treatment that blocks the coronavirus, the study’s lead author said.  The headline contains only an element of . Our ruling is . Clarification, May 28, 2020: The study found cannabis extracts should be investigated as an adjuct treatment for COVID-19 in addition to its use in possible preventative products like mouthwash. This story has been updated to better reflect that distinction. Update, June 1, 2020: This story has been updated to reflect that MerryJane.com changed its headline following publication of this fact-check."
3731,4,We have the highest per-pupil cost in the country.,"May 25, 2011",education;taxes,steve oroho,Steve Oroho is a Republican state senator representing Sussex County and parts of Morris and Warren counties.,new jersey,0,1,0,1,0,0,The Star-Ledger,"The senator says New Jersey has the highest per-pupil costs in the country, but admits basing that statement on data for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years. Still, our analysis of data from a nonpartisan arm of the U.S. Department of Education shows that among states only, New Jersey has held the title of highest per-pupil costs in the nation for nearly a decade. The U.S. Census Bureau, however, ranks New Jersey’s per-pupil spending for 2008-09 as third-highest in the nation. Therefore, we rate Oroho’s statement . To comment on this ruling, join the conversation at NJ.com ."
2394,5,I said no to these big bank bailouts.,"October 4, 2010",economy;message machine 2010;voting record,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 TV ad,"In the Texas delegation, nine Democrats and six Republicans voted yes, while four Democrats and 13 Republicans voted no. The Texas delegates who switched votes between versions of the bailout — going from ""no"" to ""yes"" — were Al Green, D-Houston, Mike Conaway, R-Midland, Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. Doggett was quoted in the Oct. 3 American-Statesman saying: ""When markets are poisoned, you demand the best antidote to that poison ... not yield to President Bush's take-it-or-leave-it demand."" So, Doggett twice voted against the TARP measure, the plan since widely called a ""bailout."" We rate his statement as ."
20268,0,Photo shows Rihanna is pregnant,"September 14, 2021",pop culture;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The original photo dates back to at least 2016, and it clearly shows Rihanna without the bump. Rihanna and her boyfriend, rapper A$AP Rocky, have not publicly announced a pregnancy or confirmed the rumors. Add Rihanna to the long list of celebrities whose doctored images we’ve debunked, including Mike Tyson , Whoopi Goldberg , Chief Justice John Roberts , Rachel Levine , Hillary Clinton , Michelle Obama , President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump . We don’t love the way this photo lies. !"
8843,2,The average person who gets the minimum wage in America is 35 years old.,"May 8, 2014",income;jobs;workers,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 radio interview,"To address that, Cooper studied the demographics of workers ""at or near their effective state minimum wage,"" defining that as within 3 percent of the minimum-wage level, Cooper told PolitiFact National in April 2014. The average age is 31 in that group, Cooper found. Our rating Baldwin’s remarks contained an element of  about the demographics of minimum-wage workers. But the average age of 35 holds for those who would benefit from a change to $10.10, not the group Baldwin spoke of -- current minimum-wage workers. We rate her  ."
5163,3,Invested $90 million in traffic fixes without raising taxes.,"February 18, 2012",city budget;city government;transportation,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,a campaign mailer,"We see the hope that every one of the $90 million in voter-approved projects will, one way or another, prove a ""traffic fix."" That’s almost surely correct by the broad definition of traffic touted by Leffingwell. But it’s also reasonable to assume that ""traffic fix"" refers to cars and trucks on roads -- and less than 60 percent of the mayor’s cited ""fixes"" would improve or build roads. Finally, Leffingwell’s mailer can be read as his claiming all credit for the $90 million in projects, when that credit should be spread among many parties including city staff members, City Council members and, especially, voters who supported the 2010 proposition. We rate Leffingwell’s  ."
4332,2,[Federal] law says that you can't give in-state tuition to an illegal alien … unless you first offer it to any other student regardless of their state of residence.,"September 21, 2011",immigration;education,terry gorman,Terry Gorman is president of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement.,rhode island,1,0,0,1,0,1,a TV interview,"The practice of offering in-state tuition to undocumented students promises to be the subject of more court battles. For now, though, Gorman’s statement that granting in-state tuition violates federal law should be evaluated in light of three key facts: * The only court which has directly addressed whether granting in-state tuition to undocumented students conforms with federal law is the California Supreme Court. And that court ruled there was no violation of federal law. * The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the California decision, so the decision stands. * A dozen states have enacted state laws to support tuition policies similar to the one approved in Rhode Island. In two states -- California and Texas -- the laws have been in effect for a decade. None has been successfully challenged. While we reserve the right to reconsider the issue if further court challenges yield different results, for now we rule Gorman’s statement  . (To comment on this ruling, ""like"" us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page. And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.) Update: On Oct. 2, 2011, we revised the wording of one of the key facts in our ruling to make it clear that a dozen states have enacted state laws to make undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition at public colleges."
8344,0,25% of human trafficking victims are located in Texas.,"January 10, 2014",labor;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,an online commentary,"Cornyn said 25 percent of trafficking victims are located in Texas. This  seemingly draws on an outdated percentage for a subset of the planet’s trafficking victims, that is, ""certified"" adult victims from outside the U.S. described some five years ago as located in Texas from April 2004 through January 2006--and that calculation did not account for U.S. citizen-victims. We did not find an estimate of the share of the world’s trafficking victims located in Texas, though the 2012 U.N. estimate seems to show that Texas is not home to a huge share; victims are more prevalent in Asia and Africa than in the developed world, the report said. All told, this  shakes out as  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."
16841,5,"The United States is the only nation ""that grants legal permanent residency to more than a million people per year.","November 13, 2019",immigration;legal issues,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 tweet,"""No other country admits nearly as many immigrants as the United States over long periods,"" Warren said.   Our rating Johnson said the United States is the only nation ""that grants legal permanent residency to more than a million people per year."" Though other countries have undertaken initiatives to grant permanent residency to more immigrants in recent years, those totals remain below the U.S.    The U.S. is still the top country in number of permanent residencies it grants, topping 1.1 million in 2017, the most recent year available. We rate Johnson’s  . "
18255,1,"Says Michelle Obama said, ""Vote Democrat or the riots and violence will continue.","August 21, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"He wants all our kids to grow up with leaders who won’t just serve themselves and their wealthy peers but will provide a safety net for people facing hard times."" ""If we want a chance to pursue any of these goals, any of these most basic requirements for a functioning society,"" Obama said, ""we have to vote for Joe Biden in numbers that cannot be ignored."" That’s a far cry from the statement attributed to Obama in the Facebook post.  Searching for the quote online, we only found other social media posts — no news reports or original sources corroborating this attribution. Looking in the Nexis news archive, there were no articles or news broadcasts relating that Obama said this.   We rate this Facebook post ."
8357,4,I never gave up custody of my children. I never lost custody of my children.,"January 28, 2014",candidate biography;corrections and updates;families;marriage,wendy davis,"Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth attorney, was initially elected to the Texas Senate in 2008. She was the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, giving up a shot at winning re-election to the Senate.",texas,0,12,8,5,1,1,a speech,"Davis said she ""never gave up custody of my children. I never lost custody of my children."" Custody, it turns out, is an outdated term for what has evolved into ""managing conservatorship."" And in the senator’s divorce, she and her ex-husband agreed to joint managing conservatorship, which means that neither parent sacrificed custody. That said, her ex-husband’s home was designated as their daughter Dru’s primary residence in the divorce decree and Davis agreed to make child-support payments. Outside of the legal process, it’s not uncommon for the parent who’s not the primary caregiver to be considered noncustodial, which may explain why the candidate described herself this way less than five months ago. Still, it would be  to say she legally relinquished her parental role. We rate this statement, which was missing this clarification, as . CLARIFICATIONS, 5:50 p.m., Jan. 30, 2014 : This story was amended to clarify that Tilove obtained described letters in the public records of Davis' divorce and that the letters were addressed to the Tarrant County district clerk, not to a lawyer for Wendy Davis. These changes did not affect the rating.  – 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."
9480,4,Most people in New Hampshire want to raise the minimum wage. (State Rep. Marilinda) Garcia opposes it.,"September 16, 2014",income,americans for responsible solutions,"Americans for Responsible Solutions is a non-profit organization started by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and her husband, retired combat veteran and astronaut Mark Kelly, after Giffords was shot in 2011.",new hampshire,0,2,1,1,0,0,an ad,"An ad from the liberal Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC says most people in New Hampshire want to raise the minimum wage, but Marilinda Garcia opposes it. Polls from when the New Hampshire Legislature was considering raising the state’s minimum wage showed that a majority of residents surveyed supported increasing the wage from the federal minimum of $7.25 to $8.25 and eventually to $9 an hour. And Garcia has gone on the record criticizing attempts to raise the minimum wage, saying it’s effects could be ""counter-productive"" and could lead to ""negative outcomes."" She also cast several votes in 2011 that effectively kept the state minimum wage the lowest in the region. The  needs a slight clarification. As backup for the assertion that ""most people in New Hampshire want to raise the minimum wage,"" the poll cited a poll that asked residents about a $9 minimum wage. It’s not clear whether residents would support a hike to the higher level of $10.10, as the president and congressional Democrats are seeking. On balance, we rate the  .  "
17049,0,Chinese people eat human baby soup to improve health.,"February 6, 2020",china;food,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a social media post,"A post circulating on social media said: ""Chinese people eat human baby soup to improve health."" Photos with the post are from an art exhibit in 2000. Experts say the  is a  one that is commonly repeated. We rate it !"
1027,0,"Seniors and the disabled ""will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care.","August 7, 2009",health care,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,a message posted on Facebook,"But that's not what Palin said. She said that the Democratic plan will ration care and ""my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care."" Palin's statement sounds more like a science fiction movie ( Soylent Green , anyone?) than part of an actual bill before Congress. We rate her statement !"
12916,2,We've made other countries rich while the wealth ... of our country has dissipated over the horizon.,"January 20, 2017",economy;trade;wealth,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 inaugural address,"Trump said that other countries became rich while the wealth of America ""dissipated."" Based on the most common measures of national wealth, that is . The United States has the world’s largest economy and, when averaged across the population, the typical American does better than the people of any other country. There is some argument to be made that the typcial Chinese worker's wealth has gone up much faster than the typical American's, but the American is still much wealthier. We rate this  ."
18033,0,Says President Donald Trump tweeted that South Dakota needs to keep its border with California closed.,"July 6, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The state is doing a tremendous job with the coronavirus. I told the governor that everyone is fine without a mask. They just need to keep there border with California closed! That state is full of LOSERS!"" One Facebook user who shared the tweet wrote, ""A president who can’t bother to look at a map, has no clue where states are in relation to each other and is the most ignorant person to EVER be in the WH."""
1196,5,Guantanamo Bay detainees will get the H1N1 vaccine.,"November 2, 2009",health care;pundits;terrorism,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 comment on his television show,"Assuming there are enough supplies, the detainees would eventually be given the vaccine, he said. The White House told us that, to date, no prisoners have been vaccinated, but that priority for the vaccine would follow this order: U.S. forces, deployed health care workers (civilian and contractor), civilians, detainees and non-US Defense Department contractors.    So, Hannity is correct. Current plans say that the vaccines will eventually be offered to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We rate his  ."
20999,3,Says he led the fight to add 200 new police officers to make the City of Milwaukee safer.,"January 6, 2022",criminal justice;crime,cavalier johnson,"In 2016, Johnson ran for 2nd District Alderman on the Milwaukee Common Council, winning a five-way primary with 38 percent of the vote and winning the general election with 4,307 votes (52 percent). 
Johnson was re-elected without opposition in 2020 and was also elected by his peers in a 8–7 vote to serve as the Milwaukee Common Council president.  
Johnson became acting mayor of Milwaukee upon the resignation of  Tom Barrett to assume the ambassadorship of Luxembourg, on December 22, 2021. He is acting mayor until the 2022 Milwaukee mayoral special election. The Milwaukee mayor's office is non-partisan. Johnson is a candidate in the special election. The day before assuming the role, Johnson announced his top priority would be combating reckless driving to create safe streets. ",wisconsin,1,0,3,0,0,0,TV ad,"In a TV ad, Johnson claimed that he ""led the fight to add 200 new police officers to make our city safer."" Johnson played an important role in the approval of 195 recruits, as well as the officers covered by the 2020 COPS grant. But based on expected retirements, those recruits will simply maintain the department’s size, not increase it. We rate the  .    "
7018,2,"Says the federal government is earning more tax revenue now ""than any other time.","February 25, 2013",economy;federal budget;taxes,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,an interview on Fox News,"McCarthy told Fox News, ""There's more money going in than any other time. In the last four decades, on average, we brought in 17.9 percent of GDP. Now we're going to bring in 19.1."" Starting in 2015, reputable projections show revenue rising to 19.1 percent of GDP, up from an average of 17.9 over the last four decades. But McCarthy’s  to say that there’s more money coming in than at any other time. In fact, the nation collected more than 19.1 percent of GDP in seven years of the last 40. To say that the nation will collect the most revenue in raw dollars in 2013, according to tax experts, is meaningless. We rate McCarthy’s statement ."
3606,5,"If you take the population growth here in Virginia, we are net zero on job creation since (Bob McDonnell) became governor.","May 7, 2011",jobs,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 speech,"Economists say governors have little control over economic conditions. Virginia has consistently had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation this century. Those points aside, McDonnell bills himself as a job-creating governor. McAuliffe accurately summarized one set of statistics about employment in Virginia during McDonnell’s term. We rate his statement ."
6842,1,The average age of first marijuana use is 12.,"January 10, 2013",drugs;health care;legal issues;government regulation;regulation;states;marijuana,protect families first,"Protect Families First is a Providence, Rhode Island-based organization formed in 2012 that supports allowing some use of marijuana, including medical use, as long as it is controlled and regulated.",rhode island,0,0,0,0,1,0,a news release,"Protect Families First said in a news release that ""the average age of first marijuana use is 12, the lowest ever and still declining,"" a statement that grabbed our attention because it seemed so unlikely. After we called them, the organization said that figure was in error.  And none of the studies we found suggested that 12 was the average age for first marijuana use. We rate the   . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
369,4,We've won twice as many states. We've won a greater share of the popular vote.,"March 5, 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,an interview on the Today Show,"Back to Obama's : We find he has it  right. On the first part, he'd be better off hedging his  on winning twice as many states as Clinton. But on the matter of popular vote, Obama is accurate. Though, to be fail-safe, he should have specified that he was excluding Michigan. Overall, we find his  to be ."
16325,0,"The El Paso and Dayton shootings were ""false flag"" attacks coordinated by the ""deep state.","August 4, 2019",facebook fact-checks;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"Posts on social media  the El Paso and Dayton shootings were "" flag"" attacks coordinated by the ""deep state."" The posts use a mix of conjecture and misinformation to reach an unproven conclusion. We rate this  ."
9720,1,"The conviction rate is almost exactly the same"" for whites and blacks who commit murder.","November 24, 2014",civil rights;criminal justice;crime;punditfact,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,an interview on 'Fox and Friends',"Giuliani said, ""the conviction rate is almost exactly the same"" for whites and blacks who commit murder. We couldn't find any statistical  to support Giuliani’s , and experts said they weren't aware of any, either. We found some related data, but that data only serves to highlight some of the racial disproportion in the justice system. And when you take a step back, Giuliani’s comment -- even if supported by statistical  -- would amount to cherry-picking data to shed the most benign light on racial disparities of the American justice system. Jurisprudence in general does not reflect this pattern. Without statistical data to back up his , we rate it . Update, Nov. 26, 2014, 2:00 p.m.: Soon after we published this item, the Bureau of Justice Statistics officially confirmed to PolitiFact that they do not have nationally representative data on conviction rates by race."
17752,3,"Says the Republican Party started in Ripon, Wis., ""to counter the Democrats' plans to expand slavery.","April 6, 2020",party support,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A viral Facebook post says the Republican Party started in Ripon, Wis., ""to counter the Democrats’ plans to expand slavery."" The party has clear origins in Ripon, notably because the name of the party originated there. But there were other meetings around that time that can lay  to being pivotal in the party’s formation as well. More critical to this rating is the over-simplification of the Democratic Party’s stance. The majority of Democrats did indeed support an expansion of slavery, but not all. Northern Democrats opposed that expansion, some of whom abandoned the party to help create the Republican Party. In other words, the split was more geographic than partisan. That leaves us with a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details. That’s our definition of ."
2837,1,The Governor did not consult members of his own party before he released his [transportation] plan.,"December 20, 2010",transportation,ward armstrong,"Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County,  was a  a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2012, serving the final five years as minority leader. He served on the Courts of Justice, Finance, and Rules committees. In 2011, House Republicans merged Armstrong's district with that of another incumbent, Republican Charles Poindexter. Armstrong was defeated by Poindexter that fall.
,",virginia,2,0,0,0,3,1,a letter,"Let’s recap. Armstrong wrote the ""Governor did not consult members of his own party before he released his plan."" Clearly, not every Republican legislator was in the loop. While not every GOP legislator was in the loop, plenty were involved in shaping the plan and the Republican leadership says they were kept informed along the way. We find the  .    "
18384,1,Map shows that wildfires stop at the US.-Canada border.,"September 12, 2020",environment;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.",california,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Online, people are arguing about what caused the fires — poor forest management, arsonists, or global warming. Most wildfires in the lower 48 states are ignited by humans, but they’re burning a much greater area due to drier conditions caused by climate change, Hayhoe said.     As we’ve previously reported , climate change has affected the environments where the fires are burning on the West Coast right now, making them more conducive to wildfire. Experts have told us unequivocally that climate change has contributed to the frequency, intensity and scope of wildfires there.   We rate this Facebook post ."
20528,1,"A banner for COVID-19 vaccines says, ""Don't forget to donate your childrens organs.","November 7, 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,"""COVID Vaccines Here, NO Appointment Needed,"" it says. ""Vacunas de COVID Aquí, SIN Cita Previa."" As Reuters reported, the banner also appears in this video tweeted by Boston reporter Nick Giovanni on July 29. ""Mobile #COVID19 vaccination clinic getting set up at #Patriots Training Camp right now,"" he wrote. We rate this post ."
11898,4,People have a constitutional right to have semiautomatic rifles.,"June 19, 2016",legal issues;supreme court;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,an interview,"Our rating Ryan said: ""People have a constitutional right to have semiautomatic rifles."" The U.S. Supreme Court decision has not explicitly declared that Americans have a constitutional right to semiautomatic rifles. And states can, within certain parameters, put restrictions on those guns. But generally speaking, experts told us, semiautomatic rifles are a legal weapon that fall under the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. We rate Ryan’s statement ."
13147,5,"Small businesses ""create two out of every three American jobs.","February 14, 2017",economy;jobs;small business,claire mccaskill,Claire McCaskill is a Democrat and a U.S. Senator from Missouri.,missouri,5,1,3,5,5,0,a press release on her website,"Upon the approval of McMahon as administrator to the Small Business Administration, senator McCaskill release a press release that said, in part, ""Small businesses — which create two out of every three American jobs—are an engine for job growth that we’ve got to support and sustain."" While two-thirds of the workforce is not employed by small businesses, 66 percent of net new jobs since the 1970s have been created by small businesses. And though McCaskill’s statement could be interpreted differently, her statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. We rate this statement ."
5940,5,"Says Jim Frishe wanted to ""tax us for doing our taxes"" through an accountant.","July 20, 2012",message machine 2012;taxes,accountability in government,A third-party group attacking St. Petersburg state Rep. Jim Frishe.,florida,1,0,0,0,0,0,a TV ad,"A third-party group says Frishe voted to tax people for ""doing our taxes."" In 1987, Frishe did vote for a plan to tax services in the state of Florida, including accountants' fees. He later said he favored a proposal to repeal the services tax, but he could not support the repeal in the Legislature becuase it included a provision that raised the sales tax on goods. While those caveats give a fuller picture of Frishe's position and his vote, they do not undermine the statement made by the group Accountability in Government. We rate the  ."
15102,5,I think I received more votes in the Democratic primary than any governor in history.,"September 14, 2018",elections,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,New York City,"Cuomo claimed he won more votes in a Democratic primary than any other governor in the state’s history. The first Democratic primary for governor was in 1914, and an evaluation of results since then shows he is right.   We rate his  .  "
13657,2,"You have almost half the counties in America that have one provider or no provider for insurance"" on the Obamacare exchanges.","July 20, 2017",health care;government regulation;public health,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,"Currently, 33 percent of counties have only one company selling health insurance policies to individuals on the Obamacare exchanges. There are no counties that have no providers. The element of  in Duffy’s  is that the New York Times estimates that in 2018, 45 percent of counties will have one provider or no providers. But that’s a projection and the article notes that the current figure is 33 percent. We rate Duffy’s statement ."
22832,4,"Sullivan County ""has the highest opioid death rate in all of New York state"" yet ""it's the only county in the Hudson Valley not included in the federal High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area"" program.","March 10, 2023",drugs;crime;public health,charles schumer,Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York and the Senate majority leader.,new york,3,7,5,5,5,1,a news release,"Schumer said that Sullivan County, ""has the highest opioid death rate in all of New York state"" yet ""it’s the only county in the Hudson Valley not included in the federal High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area"" program. Sullivan County had the highest rate of opioid related deaths in New York state in 2018 and 2019, and in preliminary data for 2022. Nevertheless, the federal government does not consider Sullivan County a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, although other New York counties are designated as such. However, the list of counties that belong to the Hudson Valley region is open to debate. The statement is accurate but needs additional information. We rate it ."
132,5,Fifty-six percent decline in overall crime. A 73 percent decline in motor-vehicle theft. A 67 percent decline in robbery. A 66 percent decline in murder. This is way beyond what happened in the nation during this period of time.,"May 31, 2007",crime,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,"New York, N.Y","""
During his eight years in office, federal records do show that rates of violent and property crime in New York dropped as sharply as he claims. It is also  that those rates of decline outpaced national averages, and that New York boasted a low violent crime rate compared to the biggest big cities, like Los Angeles and Houston. But his claims do come with some caveats: Numerous studies have failed to show that the politicies of Giuiliani and his police commanders were directly responsible for the decline in crime. Crime rates dropped nationwide during those years, 1994-2001, and most large cities saw significant declines; San Francisco, in fact, enjoyed the steepest drop in violent crime. And, significantly, violent crime rates in New York City had been falling for three years before he took office."
16100,3,"They understand the importance (of medical monitoring). It's clear, though, that they want to do it in a way that is consistent with other states and S.37 just isn't.","May 16, 2019",environment,heidi scheuermann,Heidi Scheuermann represents Stowe in the Vermont Legislature.,vermont,0,0,1,0,0,0,floor debate,"Some courts lay out more stringent criteria for medical monitoring tests, based on significance of exposure, extent of increased risk and seriousness of latent disease.   However, not all courts include those qualifiers in their tests for medical monitoring. S.37 also sets limits on what types of businesses could be sued for medical monitoring in a way that other courts have not done. And a judge in a Vermont federal court has issued a preliminary ruling that could set an arguably less strict threshold for medical monitoring claims than S.37.   We rate this  ."
13526,2,"Says the CBO said ""it's not that people are getting pushed off a plan; it's that people will choose not to buy something they don't like or want.","June 27, 2017",health care,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 with Fox News,"Ryan paraphrased the CBO as saying that millions more would not be insured basically because they would be free not to buy a policy they didn’t want. Some people won’t buy policies due to simple choice, but many others will become uninsured because they’re no longer eligible for Medicaid. The CBO said two-thirds of the 22 million without insurance would lose out through cuts in the Medicaid program. For the remaining 7 million, some portion of those would have chosen not to buy coverage, but some portion would want to buy but find insurance unaffordable. Ryan’s  contains an element of  but ignores a lot of what the CBO said. We rate this  ."
9902,3,"The Affordable Care Act ""basically puts a penalty or a tax on employers for every new job they create.","January 25, 2015",economy;health care;jobs;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 CBS' ""60 Minutes""","Boehner said the health care law ""basically puts a penalty or a tax on employers for every new job they create."" The law does impose penalties and regulations that could increase costs for some companies, though the impact depends heavily on the individual employer’s situation (and could actually result in lower costs for some companies). However, the law will force only a tiny fraction of employers -- less than 1 percent of companies by our estimate -- to start offering coverage when they did not do so before. That’s something that wouldn’t be clear to someone who heard Boehner’s comment. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, so we rate it ."
10304,1,"Says Marco Rubio said that ""felons should not have their voting rights restored"" but that ""convicted felons should be allowed to own guns after they have done their time.","May 13, 2015",elections;crime;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook meme says Rubio said that ""felons should not have their voting rights restored"" but that ""convicted felons should be allowed to own guns after they have done their time."" The meme was posted by a site that describes itself as satirical, and we found no  that Rubio actually said the words attributed to him. While Rubio has spoken critically in the past about felons regaining voting rights, he does not appear to have taken a stance on the restoration of felons’ gun rights. Rubio didn’t say these words, so we rate the  ."
18256,1,"Democrats and Joe Biden ""want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family home zoning.","August 24, 2020",housing;race and ethnicity;missouri,patricia mccloskey,"Patricia McCloskey is an attorney in St. Louis. She and her husband, Mark McCloskey, spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention after they faced felony charges for pointing guns at protesters outside their home.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention,"Patricia McCloskey said Democrats and Joe Biden ""want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family home zoning."" That’s an extreme interpretation of Biden’s proposal to reinstate an Obama administration requirement related to addressing discrimination in housing.  Under the Obama administration’s 2015 change to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, localities receiving HUD funding were required to work with the federal government to identify barriers to fair housing and come up with strategies for dealing with them.  Experts said restoring that regulation would not force those jurisdictions to rezone or build low-income housing. It certainly wouldn’t spell the end for the suburbs. We rate this statement ."
18744,1,I can send every qualified person to a four-year college in their state for $150 billion.,"October 25, 2020",education;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 ""60 Minutes"" interview","On ""60 Minutes,"" Joe Biden said, ""I can send every qualified person to a four-year college in their state for $150 billion."" The Biden campaign later told CBS that Biden had misspoke and that the free public college plan would actually cost double that amount. A campaign spokesperson told PolitiFact the estimated cost would add up to about $300 billion over 10 years. That seems to square with a report by the Georgetown Center on Education, which calculated the cost of Biden’s public college plan and arrived at a similar estimate: $683.1 billion over an 11-year period, generating an additional $371.4 in tax revenue.  However, that’s not what Biden said on 60 Minutes. We rate his  that it would cost $150 billion ."
8551,2,"Earth ""has not warmed for the last 17 years.","March 11, 2014",environment;climate change;punditfact,patrick moore,Patrick Moore is a former member of Greenpeace who says there is no proof man is contributing to a warming planet. He more recently worked as a communications consultant for nuclear energy industries,,0,0,0,1,0,0,an interview on 'Hannity',"Moore said the whole theory of climate change is called into question because ""it has not warmed for the last 17 years."" It’s  that global surface temperatures have remained relatively flat for 17 years, since 1998. However, both 2005 and 2010 were warmer than 1998. Moore’s statement alone ignores that the first decade of the 21st century was the warmest on record. And Moore is cherry-picking a timeframe to support his argument by starting at an extremely warm year. Global surface temperatures have risen, for instance, if you started at 1999, 1996, or any year before that. Moore’s statement contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
17309,1,"President Donald Trump ""will evoke (sic) what is called the Stafford act"" and ""order a two week mandatory quarantine for the nation.","March 16, 2020",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a screenshot,"In New Rochelle, N.Y., Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a one-mile containment zone on March 10. In the San Francisco Bay Area, local officials on March 16 announced sweeping measures to try to contain the coronavirus, including a ""shelter in place"" order for residents in six counties. That order is among the strictest in the country, although it fell short of a total lockdown. The Facebook post misconstrues the effects of the Stafford Act, and its warning about a two-week nationwide lockdown has been dismissed by federal officials. With the information we have, we rate the warning ."
8461,1,"The Ukraine Orange Revolution in 2004 ""was the first color revolution.","February 23, 2014",foreign policy;punditfact,bill kristol,"Bill Kristol is the editor at large of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine. He previously served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle during the Bush administration and to Secretary of Education William Bennett under President Reagan.",,0,3,0,0,1,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Kristol said the Ukraine Orange Revolution ""was the first color revolution."" It was the biggest color revolution, but experts say nobody considers it the first. Georgia’s Rose Revolution took place a year earlier. We rate Kristol’s  . This item was updated at 6:51 p.m., Feb. 23, 2014, to note that the ""color"" revolutions speak more to a group of revolutions that have loose ties to colors -- than actual revolutions with colors in their names."
16227,3,"When asked if the United States should have a military parade to ""show off its might,"" President Dwight Eisenhower said, ""Absolutely not. We are the pre-eminent power on Earth. For us to try and imitate what the Soviets are doing in Red Square would make us look weak.","July 3, 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,posts on the Internet,"A viral image said that when asked if the United States should have a military parade to ""show off its might,"" Eisenhower said, ""Absolutely not. We are the pre-eminent power on Earth. For us to try and imitate what the Soviets are doing in Red Square would make us look weak."" Eisenhower’s presidential library, among other experts, failed to find any occasion on which Eisenhower spoke these words. However, the passage stems from historian Michael Beschloss’ paraphrase of Eisenhower’s views. Several historians told us that Beschloss’ summary aligns with their own understanding of Eisenhower’s views. We rate the statement ."
2600,2,Robert Hurt supported a bill that helped the uranium industry after taking contributions from the industry and because his father had a stake in it.,"October 13, 2010",energy;negative campaigning,sierra club,Sierra Club is a grassroots environmental organization.,virginia,0,1,0,2,1,0,a TV ad,"His father also contributed to his campaigns, but those donations came before the elder Hurt invested in uranium. There is no question his father stands to gain if uranium mining is allowed in Virginia, but Hurt disclosed that and was cleared by the Senate ethics panel to vote on the issue. Therefore, we find the  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 .  "
17738,1,"A photo shows Donald Trump with ""Derek Chauvin - the cop who killed George Floyd.","May 27, 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 tweet,"""Here’s a picture of Derek Chauvin - the cop who killed George Floyd. ""   A Fox News affiliate in Minneapolis reported on May 27 that neither Chauvin nor the other three officers were at the October campaign rally in Minneapolis that’s shown in the photo being shared online.   Lt. Bob Kroll, the president of the Minneapolis Police Union, spoke at the rally, according to the station. Kroll, who is standing next to the man in the photo social media users have fingered as Chauvin, said it’s a different officer.   We rate this Facebook post ."
4968,1,"Our jobless rate, our unemployment rate, is the lowest of all of the big cities in New Jersey.","January 15, 2012",jobs,chris bollwage,Chris Bollwage is serving his fifth term as mayor of Elizabeth.,new jersey,0,0,0,0,1,0,Elizabeth,"The Elizabeth mayor said in an appearance at  the Cuban Club that the city has the lowest unemployment rate among New Jersey’s biggest cities. Among cities with populations of 100,000 or more, Jersey City has a lower unemployment rate than Elizabeth. A city spokesman said Bollwage meant to say Elizabeth had one of the lowest, not the lowest, jobless rates among the state’s most populous cities -- a line he used in his State of the City address earlier this month. He may have got it right then, but he got it  this time around. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
5041,3,"Twenty-five or 24 million people"" are ""out of work or stopped looking for work.","February 8, 2012",economy;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.",georgia,31,33,58,35,32,19,an Atlanta campaign stop,"The remaining one-third may or may not be angling for more hours or a full-time slot at their current employer. They could have stopped looking for full-time work altogether. We don’t know. Romney’s statement is partially accurate, but he gets important details . He therefore earns a ."
15325,1,There have been 44 plans submitted affecting 90 school districts. And the Scott administration has rejected all of them.,"October 10, 2018",corrections and updates;education,christine hallquist,Christine Hallquist is the Democratic candidate for governor of Vermont in the 2018 general election.,vermont,0,0,0,0,1,0,a press conference,"Christine Hallquist accused Gov. Phil Scott of rejecting all alternative governance proposals under Act 46.  But that statement was based on  rhetoric by anti-merger advocates. And in 21 cases, the Secretary of Education agreed with districts who submitted alternative proposals that they could retain their existing structure, and did not recommend forced mergers to the State Board. We rate this  as .   Update Following the publication of this fact-check, Christine Hallquist send out a press release retracting her statement, thanking VTDigger reporter Lola Duffort for the article and celebrating the role of the press in political discourse.  ""I appreciate when the press holds both me and Governor Scott accountable when we make mistakes, as they should. This makes us better and serves the Vermont public,"" she said.  ""Governor Scott and his administration have been very heavy handed on public schools, but Duffort is absolutely correct that he did not, as I stated, reject every Act 46 Alternative Governance proposal. I apologize and retract this . In this, as in all matters of policy, I am open to new information and new  that will serve to better any proposals I put forward.""  "
4313,3,A construction worker who's making $50 or $60 grand a year shouldn't be paying higher tax rates than the guy who's making $50 million a year. And that's how it's working right now.,"September 22, 2011",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,"Cincinnati, Ohio","Obama has made a sweeping statement that it’s common, even typical, for a $50,000-a-year construction worker to pay a higher tax rate than someone earning $50 million a year. The reality is that it’s hard to know for sure. We found that a typical taxpayer with $50,000 in income pays 22 to 23 percent in income and payroll taxes, while the comparable rates for very, very wealthy taxpayers are in the 20 to 30 percent range. The data isn’t specific enough for us to be able to say if a majority of $50 million earners pay tax rates at the low or high end of that 20 to 30 percent range. We do think it’s safe to say that some of those very high earners pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than workers who earn $50,000, and some don’t. So, on balance, we rate the statement ."
15382,1,"Says Tony Thurmond was ""Reprimanded by the Obama Administration for failing to address widespread sexual harassment and assault in district schools.","October 11, 2018",education;elections,"students, parents and teachers supporting marshall tuck","Students, Parents and Teachers supporting Marshall Tuck for Superintendent of Public Instruction 2018 is an independent expenditure group created by EdVoice, a nonprofit that supports charter schools.",california,0,0,0,0,2,0,a campaign TV ad,"A recent TV attack ad by a group supporting Marshall Tuck claimed the Obama administration ""reprimanded"" Tony Thurmond over assault and sexual harassment problems when he served on a school district board. Obama’s Education Department censured West Contra Costa Unified’s handling of sexual harassment during a period when Thurmond served on the district’s board. But the the report never mentions Thurmond and was addressed to the district’s superintendent. School district administrators, not board members, are responsible for day-to-day management in the district. The text of the TV ad distorts the facts by wrongly singling out Thurmond. We rated the  .    –  The statement is not accurate. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. Related fact check: Ad wrongly implies Marshall Tuck is ‘backed’ by Betsy DeVos"
8142,3,"Obamacare medical device tax ""has led to the loss of thousands of jobs"" in U.S.","October 24, 2013",health care;jobs,ted poe,"Ted Poe, of Humble, was initially elected to the U.S. House in 2004. He'a a former judge.",texas,1,0,1,1,1,0,an email to a constituent,"Poe said ""the costly medical device tax"" in the Obamacare law ""has led to the loss of thousands of jobs across the nation."" News stories indicate more than 2,000 such cuts were planned or made partly because of the tax. An industry analyst has said that ""the tax is costing the industry thousands of jobs,"" but also told us that ""it's nearly impossible to determine if the tax alone was the cause of layoffs."" Poe’s  is partly accurate but leaves out this important context. We rate it .  – 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."
18073,1,No U.S. presidents elected before Donald Trump were racist.,"July 22, 2020",history;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,a town hall,"Biden said that no presidents who came before Trump were racist. Historians agree that various presidents can be considered racist. That includes those who enslaved Black people, those who used racist rhetoric and those who held beliefs that white people were superior to other races. Biden’s campaign later clarified the comment, but his original words are .  We rate Biden’s history ."
9063,1,"The U.S. Supreme Court is ""five guys who start determining what contraceptions are legal.","July 10, 2014",health care;sexuality;women,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,"Pelosi said, ""We should be afraid of this court, the five guys who start determining what contraceptions are legal."" This sweeping  was a misstatement, her spokesman acknowledged to PolitiFact. The Hobby Lobby decision didn’t turn on whether certain types of contraception should be legal, but rather on the question of whether certain corporations could decide on religious grounds not to pay for specific types of contraceptives in employee health insurance plans. Experts say that there are solid legal precedents that would keep the Supreme Court from actually banning forms of contraception outright. We rate the  ."
23307,5,"Florida has ""the highest"" homeowners insurance in the nation.","July 15, 2023",housing;florida,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 Florida has ""the highest"" homeowners insurance in the nation. Multiple rankings by industry-related groups back this up. It will take time to see whether several laws signed by DeSantis can bring down costs. Some measures were designed to reduce litigation, a driver of rising premiums. However, Florida will likely always remain one of the higher states in the nation for insurance because of hurricanes. We rate this statement . RELATED : Florida's property insurance overhaul doesn't promise 'immediate relief'"
18521,3,"Says Joe Biden ""made it clear..No More Coal Fired Power Plants!! So, No More Coal!! Wake Up WV, PA,OH, KY","September 29, 2020",energy;facebook fact-checks;pennsylvania,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",west virginia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a text post,"The Facebook post claimed that Biden said ""no more coal-fired power plants!! So, no more coal!!"" Biden during the first presidential debate said that ""nobody’s going to build another coal-fired power plant in America,"" after explaining that renewable energy is ""cheaper or as cheap as"" coal, oil and gas.   The  is missing important context that Biden appeared to refer to marketplace competition, which would be consistent with his climate action plan.  We rate this  ."
12896,3,Paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present and it has nothing to do with an office. It's not an emolument.,"January 11, 2017",ethics;supreme court,sheri dillon,"Sheri Dillon is a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. She worked with President-elect Donald Trump on his plans to distance himself from his business interests while he is in office. ",national,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press conference at Trump Tower,"Dillon, a lawyer for Trump, said under the Constitution, ""Paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present and it has nothing to do with an office. It's not an emolument."" Whether the emoluments clause would include a situation where representatives of a foreign state paid for a room in one of Trump’s hotels is an unanswered legal question. We encountered reasonable arguments on both sides, and there isn’t any judicial precedent to guide us to the right answer. Maybe this question will get answered in a meaningful way during the Trump administration. But for now, we rate the statement ."
22730,0,"Vladimir Putin ""orders destruction of all COVID-19 vaccines in Russia.","March 4, 2023",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus;russia,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"Plus, Real Raw News has a disclaimer saying it contains ""humor, parody and satire,"" though the author has defended his stories as . PolitiFact reporting has found the website regularly publishes , fantastical stories authored by someone using a pseudonym. COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain HIV , as some people have claimed, nor cause AIDS . And on March 5, a day after the publication of this blog post alleging that Putin was destroying all COVID-19 vaccines, the country’s health ministry announced on Telegram that it had recently sent more batches of the Sputnik V vaccine to Moscow and other regions that had reported low stockpiles. We rate this post !"
11680,0,"Says Bruce Springsteen ""only had 8,000 tickets sold"" for a Greensboro show and canceled after ""they didn't get the ticket sales they wanted.","May 3, 2016",lgbtq;pop culture;sexuality;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,a radio talk show appearance on the John Boy and Billy Big Show,"McCrory was way off on the number of tickets sold, which was widely reported before his radio appearance. What's more, he used that  number to suggest that was why Springsteen canceled. In fact, the arena said the show was on the verge of selling out, not half empty. That’s not just  – ooooh, ooooh, ooooh, it’s on fire. ! UPDATE: McCrory apologizes The night after our fact-check went up, we heard back from Pat McCrory’s office about his  that only 8,000 tickets had been sold. Although he’s standing by another  he made – that he loves Springsteen’s music – McCrory admitted he was  about the sales figure and that it was the reason for the cancellation. ""The governor apologizes for using the  number,"" wrote his spokesman, Josh Ellis, in an email to PolitiFact North Carolina. ""It’s too bad Bruce Springsteen actually canceled on nearly 15,000 people at the last minute. Regardless, the governor is still keeping his Springsteen albums despite their political disagreements."" https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/8810b36b-ac00-4caf-bcc4-42e9dba89087"
14819,1,"Says Bernie Sanders was indifferent to Russia's annexation of Crimea because he felt ""they have a lot of Russians anyway.","July 8, 2018",foreign policy;punditfact,danielle pletka,"Danielle Pletka is senior vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.",,0,0,0,0,2,0,"remarks on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Pletka said Sanders was indifferent to Russia's annexation of Crimea because he felt ""they have a lot of Russians anyway."" We found no  to support that assertion. To the contrary, we found that Sanders has consistently criticized the annexation since it occurred and supported measures to punish Russia. We rate the statement ."
21977,4,Blake Masters does not support abortion exceptions for rape and incest.,"September 12, 2022",abortion;government regulation;ad watch,senate majority pac,Senate Majority PAC is a super PAC that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,arizona,0,3,8,5,4,0,an ad,"VoteVets and the Democratic Senate Majority PAC said Masters opposes abortion ""even in the case of rape and incest."" Masters supports an Arizona law, set to take effect Sept. 24, that allows abortion for any reason through 15 weeks of pregnancy but bans abortion after that, with no exceptions for rape or incest.  He also supports a federal personhood law, which is generally viewed as complete or nearly complete ban on abortion. We found no statements from Masters of support for rape and incest exceptions. We rate the statement . RELATED: Blake Masters still supports a national abortion ban, but during the third trimester RELATED: Fact-checking Blake Masters: Mark Kelly voted to legalize abortion ‘up until the moment of birth’ RELATED: Fact-checking ads in the 2022 election campaigns RELATED: Fact-checks on abortion RELATED: Many states are looking toward abortion bans with no exceptions for rape, incest"
15560,0,The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 bans Muslims from holding public office in the United States.,"January 6, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"That meant that 85 percent of about 154,000 visas available annually went to people from northern and western European lineage. President Harry Truman worried that the law was discriminatory, but Congress had enough votes to override his veto. Still, the law does not mention religion nor Muslims. And as other fact-checkers found last year, the  that it bars Muslims from holding office is . We rate it !"
5185,5,The top 1 percent (of income earners) paid 36.7 percent (of the taxes).  ... The top 50 percent pay 97.7 percent.,"February 13, 2012",income;taxes,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 town hall-style meeting,"More than half of those who pay neither tax are elderly. More than one third are non-elderly with yearly incomes under $20,000. The statistics Renacci cited to his constituents were accurate. The top 1 percent of the nation’s taxpayers do pay 36.9 percent of its income taxes and the top half of earners do pay 97.7 percent of the nation’s income taxes. On the -O-Meter, Renacci’s  rates ."
9194,3,25 percent of all drug-related fatal vehicle accidents in the U.S. involve marijuana.,"August 5, 2014",drugs;health care,don't let florida go to pot,Don't Let Florida Go To Pot is an organization opposed to Florida's Amendment 2 to legalize medical marijuana. Their website is operated by Save Our Society From Drugs and the Florida Sheriff's Association.,florida,0,1,2,0,0,0,on their website,"Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot said, ""25 percent of all fatal drug-related vehicle accidents in the U.S. involve marijuana."" Some other research backs up that number, although the studies are limited in scope and descriptiveness. Reports usually don’t show whether marijuana use was the cause of the accident or how long ago the drug was ingested, and are limited in several other ways. Marijuana, for example, can be detected in person’s system for weeks after ingestion. The study cited by the group also only measured drivers that died and were tested for drugs, a very specific scope that doesn’t tell the whole story. Experts warned it’s not wise to imply causation among marijuana users in fatal crashes, but a 25 percent rate of involvement has been established in some studies. We rate the statement ."
2506,0,Says John Kitzhaber wants a sales tax so people without jobs pay taxes.,"October 14, 2010",jobs;message machine 2010;taxes,chris dudley,"Republican Chris Dudley is a financial adviser. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Oregon in 2010. Dudley graduated from Yale University in 1987 with a degree in economics and political science.  He played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association, including six seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.  He retired from basketball in 2003. He was a senior vice president at M Financial and is now a partner in a small financial company in Oregon. In 1994, Dudley and his wife, Chris Love, founded The Dudley Foundation, which is dedicated to children who have diabetes.",oregon,0,1,1,0,0,1,a television ad,"Clearly, it’s a burden to be poor in Washington. Kitzhaber never said anything about implementing a sales tax to make sure the unemployed pay into Oregon’s tax base. We rate this : The statement is not accurate and makes a  .    Comment on this item."
16579,2,"If Trump tries to lie in a TV ad, most networks will refuse to air it. But Facebook just cashes Trump's checks.","October 10, 2019",elections;legal issues,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 ad,"Warren said, ""If Trump tries to lie in a TV ad, most networks will refuse to air it. But Facebook just cashes Trump’s checks."" This is a misreading of both federal and actual practice. Federal law requires broadcast networks to run political candidate ads without vetting them for lies or falsehoods. The same law does not apply to cable networks, but those networks also generally aim to run such ads, experts told us.  Warren does have a point that federal law does not apply to online social networks such as Facebook, so Facebook can take candidate ads regardless of whether they include falsehoods. But overall, it’s  to say that ""most networks"" will refuse to air an ad by Trump with a lie in it. We could find no  that most networks reject  candidate ads. We rate this statement . "
22045,1,President Joe Biden admitted having an inappropriate relationship with a minor.,"September 26, 2022",facebook fact-checks;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"We reached out to the White House press office for comment and did not receive a reply. A Facebook post suggests Biden admitted having an inappropriate relationship with a minor. The , shared by Russian state media, baselessly implied that Biden’s comments acknowledging a longstanding friendship with an audience member amounted to him admitting to an inappropriate relationship with a minor. The  referenced other, debunked claims that Biden is a pedophile.   We rate this  .  "
21169,3,"The United Nations sent out an email instructing staff not to use the words ""invasion"" or ""war'"" when referring to Ukraine.","March 17, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine,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 the U.N. sent an email instructing staff not to use the words ""invasion"" or ""war"" when referring to Ukraine. The email is real and instructed some U.N. staff members not to use the terms. But it came from a regional U.N. office and officials say that it did not reflect the organization’s official policy. Top U.N. leaders have used the words on social media before and around the time the email was sent. For a statement that’s partially accurate but leaves out important details, we rate this ."
20112,1,"Unvaccinated people ""are making the vaccinated people sick and die, but the unvaccinated people are not dead or sick.","August 5, 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,a viral image,"But it’s clear that unvaccinated people are being hit much harder by the virus than those who have been inoculated. Seven states with some of the lowest vaccination rates — Florida, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi — accounted for about half of new cases and hospitalizations in the previous week, the White House said at a briefing Aug. 5. Based on preliminary data, hospitalizations and deaths ""are overwhelmingly unvaccinated people,"" CDC director Rochelle Walensky said at the briefing. The CDC estimated July 29 that the unvaccinated are 25 times more likely than the vaccinated to be hospitalized or to die from the virus. We rate the post ."
6161,5,Says Republicans supported legislation on early voting and in-person voting in 2005.,"August 15, 2012",elections;government regulation;voting record,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,a news conference,"Fedor’s  was that early voting and that Republicans have sought to limit was originally supported by Republicans. That contention is backed by records from the secretary of state's office and legislative voting records. Votes in the House and Senate were cast along party lines with Republicans supporting the measure. Democrats were in opposition, citing what they said were concerns over the timing of the measure. On the -O-Meter, her  rates ."
3221,4,"Since 1999, all Virginia Lottery profits have been used for public education in the Commonwealth for kindergarten through 12th grade.","March 2, 2011",education;state budget,virginia lottery,"The Virginia Lottery was approved by state voters in 1987 and sold its first tickets the next year. In 2011, it is expected $436 million in profits which will be disbursed to K-12 education.",virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a website,"Since 2008, the state’s auditor of public accounts said that the profits go into their own separate fund and are distributed directly to localities for public education. The money is detailed in the state budget line items. Just as lottery officials can’t prove their  that all lottery profits since 1999 have gone to education, nor we can we disprove it. The Lottery would lay aside doubts if it simply said all of its profits go to schools and didn’t mention a start date. We rate their  . "
17007,2,"Event 201 ""gave out stuffed souvenir coronavirus toys"" to ""commemorate"" Novel coronavirus outbreak","January 27, 2020",public health;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on Facebook,"A Facebook post says that Event 201 in October 2019 gave out stuffed coronavirus plushies to commemorate a coronavirus outbreak that didn’t start until December 2019. Yes, these plushies are meant to represent coronavirus microbes. They were given out in October — two months before the first cases of the current 2019 coronavirus outbreak appeared — but this was not because the event’s organizers had predicted the Novel Coronavirus to come. They were distributed as part of the registration for a New York event that was centered on preparing for a new coronavirus pandemic because of the history of outbreaks. These plushies were not intended to commemorate the toll that outbreak would bring. Context is everything. We rate this  ."
15566,3,March 2019 and on-going food benefits WILL NOT be available until further notice. Clients are encouraged to use their food benefits as soon as possible in case SNAP benefits are unavailable in March.,"January 14, 2019",food;poverty;facebook fact-checks,delaware health and social services,Delaware Health and Social Services is a state agency. ,,0,0,1,0,0,0,a flyer,"A Facebook post said, ""March 2019 and on-going food benefits WILL NOT be available until further notice. Clients are encouraged to use their food benefits as soon as possible in case SNAP benefits are unavailable in March."" The first part of that post is premature because it is unknown if SNAP benefits, more commonly referred to as food stamps, will be available in March. All we know is that during the federal government shutdown, food stamps have continued through February. What happens after that is anybody’s guess. We rate this statement .  "
22779,1,"Former President Donald Trump issued a statement threatening to leak ""interesting videos"" of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.","March 20, 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,"The date on the purported statement is March 18, 2022 — nearly a year before McCarthy was elected speaker in January 2023. We found no  that this is an authentic statement from Trump. It doesn't appear on his website , where other statements are posted, nor did we find any news coverage about an alleged video of McCarthy at Mar-a-Lago.   On March 18, 2023, Trump did post a statement on his website about a ""witch hunt,"" but he was referring to a grand jury in New York that may indict him  in connection with a hush money payment.   We rate claims that this is an authentic statement from Trump ."
17345,2,Replacing marriage licenses with domestic union contracts does not alter state or federal benefits.,"February 24, 2020",marriage,adam schnelting,Adam Schnelting is a Republican state representative in Missouri.,missouri,0,0,0,1,0,0,an op-Ed for The Missouri Times,"We couldn’t find any example of marriage benefits specific to Missouri that would be affected.   Our ruling  Schnelting wrote that replacing marriage licenses with domestic union contracts ""does not alter state or federal benefits."" While domestic unions could be recognized in Missouri as legally equivalent to marriage, there is no guarantee that the other states would recognize the union, or the dissolution of the union as such. And, with no federal definition, there is also nothing in federal law qualifying domestic unions for the expansive list of spousal benefits, privileges and rights.    With that, we rate this  . "
702,2,Barack Obama has the longest track record of any candidate in this election in support of the 'Bridge To Nowhere.',"September 15, 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,a news release,"And it passed with a resounding 91 senators in favor. We think it’s a stretch to  that Obama supported the Bridge to Nowhere. Certainly not the way Palin once did when she was running for governor of Alaska. Voting for a $236-billion spending bill that included the Alaska bridge is hardly support for it. But because Obama could have voted to kill the project with the Coburn Amendment, we’ll give it a ."
17686,4,Gov. Wolf is not allowing companies that distribute U.S. flags to ship out orders to be placed at veteran's graves for Memorial Day.,"May 11, 2020",coronavirus;pennsylvania,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Roae posted on Facebook that Gov. Wolf had blocked companies that distribute American flags from shipping orders ahead of Memorial Day. Wolf initially blocked FlagZone from operating during the pandemic and then rejected the company’s request for a waiver. A state official later said the company did not need special permission to ship limited numbers of flags. However, the company didn’t understand this until the state said so, especially since the clarification came days after the Wolf administration rejected FlagZone’s application to resume operations. We rate Roae’s statement ."
11692,1,We're the highest taxed nation in the world.,"May 8, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,an interview on 'Meet the Press',"Trump said, ""We're the highest taxed nation in the world."" By all metrics we looked at, the United States is far from the most taxed nation overall and for businesses. We rate Trump’s  ."
8173,2,Every major city which has a center of poverty is run by Democrats. Every major city.,"December 15, 2013",poverty;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,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Gingrich emphasized that every major, poor U.S. city is run by Democrats. We found two cities in the top 5 poorest, and three in the top 20, that have Republicans at the helm. Yes, most cities on the list are led by Democrats, but Gingrich said ""every."" As such, we rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4cfba731-6fa6-4ffe-8c24-c2fc2ae43b57"
11346,5,"There have been multiple media reports about (Donald Trump's) business dealings with the mob, with the mafia.","February 28, 2016",candidate biography;crime,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, ""There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia."" While it’s important to note that these connections were not atypical in the real estate and casino businesses in the 1980s, Cruz’s statement is accurate. Media reports have linked Trump to mafia bosses and mob-connected business associates for decades. We rate the  ."
17804,2,"Says a new law adopted in Texas means property tax bills ""are no longer really dependent on your values, it is on (local government) revenue growth.","May 24, 2020",taxes,dan patrick,"As a Houston state senator, Dan Patrick won election as lieutenant governor of Texas in November 2014 after earlier defeating incumbent David Dewhurst for his party's nomination. Patrick also has hosted a daily talk show on AM700 in Houston.",texas,7,7,5,6,7,9,an interview,"Patrick said a 2019 law adopted in Texas means that property taxes in the state ""are no longer really dependent on your values, it is on (city and county) revenue growth."" The bill Patrick mentioned limited how much taxing entities can increase property tax revenue before triggering an election, but it did not change the role property values play in any part of the calculation. Property values remain essential to the process. The law’s author said the bill was more about shifting culture than changing the literal calculation for taxes, as it increases transparency and requires an automatic rollback election. But regardless of where the bill shifted focus, property values dictate what a person’s tax bill will be each year and they are part of the equation for cities and counties when they calculate the annual tax rate. We rate this  ."
23101,0,"The blue, pink, and white colors in the progress pride flag represent pedophiles","May 29, 2023",lgbtq;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"""The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the hoist edge shows that progress still needs to be made."" Others have tried to connect the colors to a flag design for ""minor-attracted persons,"" which began circulating a few years ago, but numerous fact-checkers have debunked this myth and found that this flag design is not at all related to the LGBTQ+ community or movement.   The new colors in the progress pride flag are meant to be inclusive of transgender people. It was not created to celebrate adults who are attracted to children. We rate this  !"
1302,5,"Democratic presidents ""have been considerably more effective at creating private-sector jobs.","January 21, 2010",economy;history;workers,carolyn maloney,a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing a district in New York.,national,2,0,0,0,0,0,the House,"""Obviously, luck matters a lot, but when there is a consistent pattern over more than 60 years, it starts to look like more than just luck.""    Kevin Hassett, an economist with the conservative American Enterprise Institute and a former economic adviser to the Republican presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain, argued that the best way to evaluate presidents is to look at their policies. Still, he added, calculations like Maloney's ""are worth doing. They can be thought-provoking and can ignite debates that help inform.""    So the significance of this pattern is open to question, but on the facts, the  is clear: We rate Maloney's statement , not just for the two presidents she cited, but for the postwar presidency as a whole."
7454,2,This president spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning.,"June 11, 2013",climate change;federal budget;science;weather,jim bridenstine,Jim Bridenstine is a Republican representing an Oklahoma district in the House of Representatives.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a House floor speech,"Bridenstine said Obama ""spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning."" We think the most obvious way to read his words is to compare climate-change research funding with dollars spent on ""weather forecasting and warning,"" which produces a 2.7-to-1 ratio. However, even if you accept Bridenstine’s argument that he meant to compare it to ""weather forecasting and warning research ,"" the ratio is still not near 30 to 1. Bridenstine does have a point that climate change research exceeds weather forecasting expenditures, but he’s overstated the discrepancy. We rate his statement ."
10375,4,"In just 17 years, spending for Social Security, federal health care and interest on the debt will exceed ALL tax revenue!","May 29, 2015",debt;federal budget;taxes,dave brat,"Dave Brat represents Virginia's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to the seat in 2014 after pulling of a stunning upset of Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican Primary. He is active in the Freedom Caucus, a conservative wing of Republican congressmen.
Prior to Congress, Brat was chairman of the business and economics department at Randolph-Macon College. 
Brat, a midwestern native, has obtained a Masters in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in economics from American University. He began teaching at Randolph-Macon in 1996.
Brat served two Governors on the Joint Advisory Board of Economists. He was president of the Virginia Association of Economists.",virginia,2,2,0,2,7,1,a Facebook post,"  Brat says that under the current U.S. path, ""In just 17 years, spending for Social Security, federal health care and interest on the federal debt will exceed all tax revenue.""   A CBO report concludes that, in a worst-case scenario in which Congress resumes its old habits of cutting taxes and raising spending, this could happen in 2031 -- 16 years from now. Under a somewhat rosier scenario, in which current budget policies are kept in effect, the U.S. would hit bottom in 2044. Brat’s focus on the bleaker outlook is defensible because Congress this century has not shown great fiscal discipline.   We’re dealing with scenarios, however, and Brat’s statement would have been more accurate if he acknowledged from the outset that the U.S. ""could"" run out of tax money for many major programs instead of saying it ""will.""   No doubt, however, the U.S. is on a risky fiscal path. We rate Brat’s statement ."
23141,3,The White House Gift Shop is putting out a commemorative coin for Donald Trump's indictment.,"June 12, 2023",congress,bill cassidy,"Bill Cassidy, a Republican, represents a Louisiana disrict in the U.S. House of Representatives. He challenged incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in 2014.",,0,0,1,2,1,1,a social media posts,"Cassidy tweeted that, ""The White House Gift Shop is putting out a commemorative coin for Donald Trump's indictment."" His statement is partially accurate in that a business called The White House Gift Shop is promoting the sale of coins commemorating Trump’s indictment. But Cassidy leaves out key details by failing to note that this private vendor is not associated with the actual White House.  We rate his  ."
13016,4,"Before the Affordable Care Act, (West Virginia's) uninsured rate for people 64 to 19 was 29 percent. Today, it is 9 percent.","February 13, 2017",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 interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes,"Sanders said, ""Before the Affordable Care Act, (West Virginia’s) uninsured rate for people 64 to 19 was 29 percent. Today, it is 9 percent."" Sanders pointed to one federal measurement, though it has methodological problems when drilling down to the statistics for smaller states. A more reliable data set for West Virginia’s case showed a decline from 21 percent to 9 percent. The decline was not as dramatic as he’d indicated, but it was still a significant one. We rate the statement  ."
12719,0,"The Democrats are very sly. … (in New Hampshire) we have same day voter registration, and to be honest, when Massachusetts elections are not very close, they're busing them in all over the place.","October 31, 2016",elections;states,chris sununu,"Chris Sununu is serving his third term on the New Hampshire Executive Council representing 20 percent of the state's population, which is about 265,000 people. The council votes on state contracts and appointments. He is CEO of Waterville Valley, one of the state's ski areas in the White Mountains. He is the son of former Governor John H. Sununu and brother to former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu.  ",new hampshire,0,0,2,1,1,1,a radio interview,"Sununu said Democrats take advantage of New Hampshire’s same-day voter registration laws to bus voters in from out of state. While New Hampshire has experienced instances of voter fraud, the state’s top election official says they have been isolated and amount to one or two cases a year. More to the point, neither Sununu nor election officials could point to any instances of Massachusetts residents being bused across the border to vote on election day. The one piece of  Sununu pointed to was an instance of staffers of a Democratic politician registering to vote at the politician’s home -- but that practice was legal, and it did not involve Massachusetts residents being bused across the border en masse on Election Day. Sununu’s  is . We rate it ."
10186,3,"In recent polling in battleground states, a ""majority of the people"" said Hillary Clinton ""is untrustworthy.","April 12, 2015",candidate biography;ethics;negative campaigning;polls and public opinion,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,"In five of the states -- Colorado, Virginia, Iowa and Florida and Pennsylvania -- more people said Clinton is not honest and trustworthy than said she is. However, the percentage reached a majority -- over 50 percent -- in only Colorado and Virginia. Meanwhile, by 47 percent to 46 percent, people polled in Ohio said Clinton is honest and trustworthy. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page ."
793,4,"Barack Obama said ""people making less than $250,000 would benefit from his plan"" then said ""if you're a family making less than $200,000, you'll benefit.","October 28, 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,"Hershey, Pa.","To be clear, we don't see  that Obama is crawfishing backward from his tax plan, as McCain implies. Most of the statements McCain refers to are consistent with Obama's long-stated tax policies. But McCain is also correct that there are a lot of numbers flying around that can be used in different ways. Voters need to be cautious in evaluating these numbers, because there are caveats and assumptions behind them. For this reason, we rate McCain's statement ."
9583,2,Says Charlie Crist could have expanded Medicaid after the health care law passed but didn't.,"October 21, 2014",health care;medicaid,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,Jacksonville,"Scott said Charlie Crist could have expanded Medicaid after the health care law passed but didn't. Experts we talked to said that was possible, with an assist from the Legislature, but not at all likely. The law was too new for legislation to be passed during the 2010 legislative session. Even if Crist had wanted lawmakers to discuss it, they would have been hostile to the idea. The state was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the government, and there was no urgency to enact such sweeping change. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate the statement ."
7561,0,"Says if Texas abortion measure passes, ""someone living in El Paso would have to drive 550 miles each way to San Antonio for something as simple as cervical cancer screening.","July 3, 2013",abortion;health care,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 that if the abortion legislation passed, an El Paso resident would have to make a 550-mile trip to San Antonio for simple services like a cervical cancer screening. That’s not so; such services will continue to be available in El Paso, local experts say. This statement misses the mark so badly, it’s . !   UMC-El Paso women’s health clinics Click here for addresses and contact information for the University Medical Center of El Paso Hospital’s seven Women’s Health Centers. Clinics in state Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program This state program has three main providers in El Paso -- Centro San Vicente , Project Vida and Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe -- and several satellite clinics. Click here to map such clinics across Texas. El Paso-area clinics providing health services free or at reduced cost for eligible women through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program."
13705,0,White supremacist who killed protester is a Democrat and visited (President Barack) Obama in Oval Office.,"August 15, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"OurLandOfTheFree.com said at the bottom of its home page that the site’s creators ""make no guarantee that what you read here is . In fact, it most definitely is not."" Its About Us page noted, ""All posts should be considered satirical and all images photoshopped to look like something they’re not."" This post makes word salad out of key talking points from the Charlottesville clashes, using a couple of factual details to further confuse what’s real and what’s not. We rate the  !"
843,0,"The Obama Administration wants to have soldiers and officers pledge a loyalty oath directly to the office of the President, and no longer to the Constitution.","January 30, 2009",patriotism,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",national,6,5,9,11,44,107,many blogs and an email sent to many people,"But we should have expected this. During the campaign, we found people were passing along e-mails claiming that Obama wanted to adopt the Coke theme song as the National Anthem . So now, as we did for that one, we've got to set the meter ablaze. And this  is not just  . It's a reminder that if you get something shocking in your inbox, you should check it out before you pass it along.  "
11098,1,"Existing law right now requires 700 miles of double-layered border fencing"" on the Mexico border.","December 17, 2015",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.",virginia,8,22,21,48,47,11,a radio interview,"Cruz says, ""Existing law right now requires 700 miles of double-layered border fencing."" He complains that Obama is ignoring the mandate. Such a law was passed in 2006 but no longer is on the books. It was amended in 2008, before Obama took office, and the double-layered fencing requirement was removed. About 650 miles of fencing now stands, of which 36 miles is double-layered. Cruz’s statement is long past its expiration date. We rate it ."
21006,3,"Virginia is ""one of only a handful of states that actually taxes our veterans' retirement.","February 17, 2022",military;pensions,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 rally,"Virginia is one of three states that fully tax military pensions. Twelve more states tax the pensions at reduced rates, which is what Youngkin wants to do in Virginia. All told, 15 states tax military pensions. That’s a minority, but certainly more than the ""handful"" Youngkin describes. We rate Youngkin's  Half .  "
6645,1,"Says during George W. Bush's administration ""we were losing millions of jobs per month,"" while under Barack Obama we have ""three years of gaining hundreds of thousands of jobs per month.","November 2, 2012",economy;history;jobs,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 tweet,"Moore's initial tweet was  when it said the nation was ""losing millions"" of jobs per month under Bush, since even the weakest month under Bush saw the economy lose less than 1 million jobs per month. And he was also  to say that the economy has been ""gaining hundreds of thousands of jobs"" per month for three years under Obama. The economy has averaged well under 200,000 jobs per month during that period and only exceeded the job-gain threshold of 200,000 in 10 months. We applaud his correction, but we still rate his initial tweet ."
3654,3,"It is estimated that Arizona ""has lost more than $100 million in hospitality industry revenues since passage of the Arizona immigration laws.","April 15, 2011",immigration,anti-defamation league,The Anti-Defamation League was founded to fight anti-Semitism. It fights other forms of bigotry as well. ,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a news release,"These, however, are all just estimates and projections. The ADL’s point was that the tourism industry has and will lose millions of dollars. The overall idea that Arizona will likely lose big money because of the new immigration law is correct. The ADL statement, however, leaves out important details and context. That fits our definition of ."
8181,4,"Says ""Harry Reid has a better voting attendance record than these three Congressmen!","December 9, 2013",candidate biography,eugene yu,Eugene Yu is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Georgia.,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a website,"The numbers show he’s correct. But Reid votes far less than the House members. To us, it’s akin to comparing a baseball player who’s been up to bat 190 times to another who’s had 500 plate appearances. Yu’s  needs a little context to be fully explained. Under our rating system, this one meets the definition of a ."
19152,4,"In Michigan, ""we were able to really flatten"" the racial disparity in COVID-19's impact ""and make significant progress.","January 17, 2021",public health;coronavirus,garlin gilchrist,"Garlin Gilchrist serves as Michigan's Lieutenant Governor. He assumed office January 1, 2019 and ran on a joint ticket with Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.",michigan,0,1,0,0,0,0,a speech at MLK Day Jr. Youth Conference,"Gilchrist claimed that Michigan has seen significant progress in reducing the racial disparities observed at the outset of the pandemic, particularly the disproportionate impact on Black residents, and credited community, state and local efforts. Public health experts and officials say Black residents as well as the state and local governments made significant efforts to narrow the disparity. But a surge in cases among white people has also contributed, as the impact of the pandemic spread beyond Detroit into predominantly white areas around the state. We rate Gilchrist’s  . Pat Byrne contributed reporting. "
5649,2,"A government analysis shows under a proposed transportation tax, ""metro Atlanta will create or support an additional 200,000 new jobs, including jobs that are maintained year over year.","April 16, 2012",transportation,citizens for transportation mobility,Citizens for Transportation Mobility is an advocacy group that supports a 1 percent sales tax to pay for transportation projects in Georgia.,georgia,0,1,2,1,0,0,an advertisement,"But those are job years. In fact, we don’t know how many of what your typical person would consider actual jobs this effort would create. Citizens for Transportation Mobility would have been much better off if it said the overhaul would create or sustain an average of 7,120 jobs each year. The statement contains a kernel of , but it is so unclear on important specifics that it is . It meets PolitiFact’s definition of ."
5286,5,"The changes to Georgia's tax and fee structure ""is an overall tax cut.","March 21, 2012",state budget;taxes,brian robinson,"Brian Robinson is the communications director for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican.",georgia,1,2,0,1,1,0,an interview,"We’d like to see more years worth of estimates to see how much revenue the state would collect past FY 2015. Some believe the state will see a surplus in revenue if Georgia’s population grows and more people buy cars. They could be right, especially if the sales tax holiday and construction exemption do not continue past FY 2015. Since Robinson’s quote was based solely on the impact to the state, and not to its taxpayers, the current state estimate does back up his  -- unless the construction exemption and sales tax holiday don’t continue. Based on the current estimates, we rate Robinson’s  as ."
8239,1,Fifty-three percent of graduates from liberal arts colleges these days can't find jobs.,"December 4, 2013",education,johnny isakson,"Johnny Isakson, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Georgia",georgia,4,2,3,2,3,0,a speech,And even that report is viewed with suspicion in some quarters. Some college graduates are having trouble finding work. Isakson is correct about that. But his statement misquotes numbers in a study that itself has been questioned. We rate Isakson’s statement .
4390,3,Says Rick Perry co-chaired Al Gore's campaign for president.,"October 11, 2011",candidate biography;elections,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 Bloomberg/Washington Post Republican presidential debate,"Bobby Aikin, also among legislators then for Gore, said in an interview: ""I think each one of us claimed to be a co-chair or coordinator or some-such like that.""      So, say so long to the ""Chairman Perry"" legend? Sure, barring contradictory .      All in all, Perry indeed endorsed Gore for president, but he did not hold a campaign leadership post. We rate Bachmann’s statement ."
9431,4,"Austin has ""over 1,000 city employees that make six-figure salaries.","September 15, 2014",city budget;city government;corrections and updates;workers,jay wiley,Jay Wiley was a 2014 candidate for the the District 6 seat on the Austin City Council.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,an Austin City Council candidate forum,"Wiley said more than 1,000 city workers make six-figure salaries. When he spoke, 879 workers earned more than $100,000, meaning he overshot. Then again, raises were about to take effect lifting workers in this pay category to 1,162. 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."
10506,2,"Four times, I said, he (John McCain) is a hero, but you know ... people choose selective pieces.","July 19, 2015",elections;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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Trump said, ""Four times, I said (McCain) is a hero but you know … people choose selective pieces."" Trump literally said McCain is a hero five times, but never without caveats. Once, he added ""perhaps, I believe"" before conceding the point. Twice, he was interrupted. And the last two times, Trump said, ""He is a war hero because he was captured."" In other words, Trump also chose ""selective pieces"" and misquoted himself. We rate his  ."
4108,1,Says the government wants to require farm tractor drivers to hold commercial driver's licenses even if they're just crossing a single public road.,"August 15, 2011",agriculture;public safety;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 speech,"""Senator Grassley, when I asked him about it last night — I’ve got to go with your senior senator,"" Perry said. The newspaper said Perry’s staff, ""checking their BlackBerrys, said it might be a recent development that federal transportation officials dropped the idea."" The newspaper said Grassley, referring to the federal announcement, wrote in an electronic newsletter last week that common sense had appeared to prevail in the matter. Far as we can tell, the regulation questioned by Perry hasn't even been proposed at the federal level. We rate his statement ."
19354,2,"The $1.9 trillion relief package is ""about a bridge for Chuck Schumer, a tunnel for Nancy Pelosi.","March 1, 2021",stimulus;florida;coronavirus,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.",national,15,36,42,42,38,8,an interview with CBS News,"Scott said the $1.9 trillion relief package is ""about a bridge for Chuck Schumer, a tunnel for Nancy Pelosi."" The bill has money both for a bridge between New York and Ontario, and for a mass transit project in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is difficult to tie them solely to Schumer and Pelosi because the Trump administration backed both efforts well before the current bill took shape.  Scott cherry-picked and mischaracterized a couple of examples of the bill’s overall spending. Even Republicans say about 50% goes toward helping households and businesses deal with the pandemic’s damage. We rate Scott’s  ."
1192,1,"Mitt Romney ... gave you government health care that is now bankrupting the state"" of Massachusetts.","November 2, 2009",candidate biography;health care;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,a Webcast,"Adding to these financial woes is an increase in the number of people relying on unemployment benefits as the result of losing their jobs, said Alan Sager, a professor of health policy and management at Boston University.     ""The state would be facing a deficit no matter what,"" Sager said.    So, while the state may be broke, it has little to do with the health care program Mitt Romney put in place over three years ago. Instead, tax revenue shortfalls and a growing reliance on unemployment benefits due to layoffs have put a massive budget burden on the state. As a result, we give Beck a ."
290,2,Says he was the only Republican candidate at a prior debate who said lower-income workers were being hurt by the economy.,"January 24, 2008",economy,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,Boca Raton,"Others qualified their statements, depicting Michigan as something of an anomaly in an otherwise strong economy. Romney said his birth state was ""undergoing a one-state recession."" And Thompson said while pockets of the economy were having difficulty, he had no reason to believe the country was heading for a recession. While Huckabee gets the award for tough-talking realist, he was hardly alone in acknowledging hard times. For that reason, we judge his statement ."
9777,0,"Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said, 'I do not care if Wallace Hall swings from a tree.'","December 6, 2014",states,wallace hall,"Wallace L. Hall, Jr., appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the University of Texas System Board of Regents, later came under investigation by a special House panel after making inquiries into UT practices.",texas,0,0,0,0,0,1,a speech,"According to Hall, Straus said, ""I do not care if Wallace Hall swings from a tree."" Straus said close to that, but he said in the same breath he’d likewise be open to a special panel deciding Hall deserved to be honored. Overall, the speaker made it clear he wasn’t judging Hall in advance of the committee’s review -- which is hardly how Hall characterized Straus' attitude. With all this detail available in the online video of the Straus interview, Hall’s statement shakes out as  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."
14272,4,George W. Bush doubled the debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. President Obama doubled the debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion. Now we're on course to exceed $30 trillion in the next seven years or so.,"February 8, 2018",debt;deficit;federal budget,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 Senate floor speech,"Paul said, ""George W. Bush doubled the debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. President Obama doubled the debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion. Now we're on course to exceed $30 trillion in the next seven years or so."" Paul is essentially right on all of the numbers. That said, his comment was  to personalize the cause of the debt increases. While Bush and Obama played a role in the increase in the federal debt on their watch, so did other factors, including demographics, external events, and congressional actions driven by the other party. We rate the statement ."
11686,3,"Says Paul Ryan backs a proposal that would be a ""bailout"" of Puerto Rico.","April 13, 2016",bankruptcy;debt;federal budget;financial regulation;retirement,center for individual freedom,"The Center for Individual Freedom is a conservative political action committee based outside of Washington, D.C. that says its mission is to “protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”
 ",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,a TV ad,"Our rating The Center for Individual Freedom, a Super PAC, says in a TV ad that Ryan backs a proposal that would be a ""bailout"" of Puerto Rico. The ad is  in its repeated use of the word bailout, in that legislation supported by Ryan -- unlike past bailout bills -- would not direct any U.S. tax dollars to the debt-ridden island. But the ad was careful to say the ""bailout"" would hurt ""savers and seniors."" And experts told us the bill almost certainly would result in lower returns for Americans who invested money in Puerto Rican bonds. For a statement that is partially accurate but takes things out of context, our rating is ."
21838,1,"Video shows Steve Bannon crying, ""Trump is going to jail.","August 16, 2022",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""  Searching more broadly online, and in the Nexis archive of news stories, we found nothing to corroborate the statement attributed to Bannon in the post. Rather, Bannon recently said Republicans will ""incarcerate"" the officials behind the FBI search.   ""Starting in January, we’re going to investigate, we’re going to litigate and, wait for it, we’re going to incarcerate,"" he said.   This  that Bannon cried and said Trump is going to jail is unsupported by fact. We rate it ."
3124,4,The (Wisconsin) governor has proposed tax giveaways to corporations.,"February 20, 2011",corporations;pundits;this week - abc news;taxes,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,"an interview on ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour.""","Brazile said, ""The (Wisconsin) governor has proposed tax giveaways to corporations."" The tax breaks he signed into law were linked to job growth, which means they were not necessarily ""giveaways."" But he has proposed lower taxes for all businesses. And he’s supported those tax cuts even in the face of a tight budget, saying they would lead to job growth. Because Brazile gets Walker’s basic position on business taxes right -- he wants them lower -- we rate her statement ."
4264,5,Ten years ago the Austin Water Utility used a total of 240.3 million gallons. Every summer since then our peak day of water use has been lower.,"August 16, 2011",city budget;city government;water,save our springs alliance,"The Save Our Springs Alliance says on its website that it works to protect the Edwards Aquifer, its springs and contributing streams, and the natural and cultural heritage of the Hill Country region and its watersheds, with special emphasis on Barton Springs.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,a newsletter post,"Utility spokesman Kevin Buchman later told us by email that in 2002, the ""main reason for moving forward with the construction of a new plant was to meet the projected demands."" He said, though, the utility’s mid-decade focus on conservation allowed the city to postpone the plant’s completion by more than five years. ""Also,"" Buchman said, ""since 2002 we have had one of our (originally three) plants decommissioned and our other two water plants have been expanded as much as possible."" We won’t try to settle the water plant debate here. But the alliance’s statement about peak water use rates ."
14767,4,Pat Morrisey joined a federal lawsuit to allow insurance companies to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.,"June 22, 2018",health care;legal issues,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.,national,7,12,4,3,3,0,a tweet,"Manchin said, ""Pat Morrisey joined a federal lawsuit to allow insurance companies to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions."" Morrisey told PolitiFact that he supports some form of protection for those with pre-existing conditions. Nevertheless, Morrisey did join a lawsuit filed by numerous state Republican officials that asks a court to rule all or part of the 2010 health care law unconstitutional and to prevent the enactment of rules, regulations or other actions under the law. Various health-policy specialists agreed that such a decision from the court would effectively eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The statement ia accurate but needs additional information, so we rate it ."
3594,1,"Wisconsin is one of the few states in the country that do not currently require a photographic identification"" to vote.","April 28, 2011",elections,terry moulton,"Terry Moulton, a Republican, is a member of the Wisconsin state Senate from Chippewa Falls. He was elected to the Senate in 2010 and previously spent time in the state Assembly.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,letters to constituents,"The bottom line? As Wisconsin was on the verge of enacting a photo ID requirement for voting, Moulton said the state was one of only a few without one. But as senators prepared to cast their final vote, most states still do not require photo ID to vote. Moulton’s  to constituents, as his office notes, was well off target. We rate it ."
16373,2,97% of murders occur with handguns.,"August 9, 2019",crime;guns,adam kinzinger,Adam Kinzinger is a U.S. congressman from Illinois’ 16th district and a former member of the Air Force.,illinois,0,0,1,1,2,0,a TV interview,"Kinzinger claimed 97% of murders are committed with handguns. That figure is off-target. In 2017, 46% of all murders were committed with handguns, federal data show. Firearms were used in more than 70% of all homicides, however. And in at least two-thirds of those cases, the firearm was a handgun, making them by far the most common murder weapon. We rate Kinzinger’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."
9991,2,"Students In Fla. High School Forced To Recite Islamic Prayer, Make Prayer Rugs.","February 12, 2015",education;islam,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,florida,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline on DownTrend.com,"DownTrend.com’s headline read, ""Students In Fla. High School Forced To Recite Islamic Prayer, Make Prayer Rugs."" This makes it sound as if students were being indoctrinated into a religion, and that's not the case. Instead, students were studying the religion of Islam as part of a world history class. According to a district investigation, pupils were assigned to make prayer rugs as an art assignment. The district recommended a different art assignment be made from now on. As for reciting the pillars of Islam in class, only one student complained his class was made to read the shahada. The investigation cited a notable lack of  that anyone was forced to recite a prayer. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
4829,1,"Says area near proposed northern Wisconsin iron ore mine is ""15 hours away"" from where public hearing on mining was held.","January 5, 2012",environment;government regulation,kelda helen roys,"Kelda Helen Roys, a Madison Democrat, was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2008 and served until 2012. In 2012, she lost to Mark Pocan in the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives. She is running for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018. An attorney, Roys is the former executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, which supports abortion rights.",wisconsin,3,2,2,2,2,1,a news release,"OK. It is, indeed, a lengthy drive from northwestern Wisconsin to West Allis. About seven hours long, or less. Not 15. We rate Roys’ statement ."
12032,1,Our economy is not growing.,"July 20, 2016",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,a speech at the Republican convention,"Scott said, ""Our economy is not growing."" The GDP has grown between 1.5 and 2.5 percent each year since 2010. That’s perhaps not the level of growth Scott wants, but it’s  to say that the economy isn’t growing. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c5eac01a-ba69-47a7-a778-3f79a143f472"
22336,0,"No, the Pennsylvania Senate race wasn't 'rigged'","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.",pennsylvania,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"We found no news reports or other credible sources suggesting  of widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania’s election. We did see plenty of fact-checks debunking misinformation about the election, including some of our own. One debunked claims that an election results map proves the election there was rigged, and another that Oz’s Instagram following, considerably larger than Fetterman’s, is proof the race was illegitimate.   It’s not, and claims that the Pennsylvania election was rigged are baseless. We rate this post !"
2298,5,"We've created more than 850,000 jobs, more than all the other states combined.","September 12, 2010",economy;message machine 2010,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 TV ad,"According to the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas had 334,100 state government jobs in 2001, the year Perry took office, and 369,800 in 2009 — an increase of 35,700 jobs, or 10.7 percent, on Perry's watch. Significantly, Perry doesn't overtly take personal credit for the state leading the nation in jobs gained over his years as governor. We rate his statement as . This story has been updated to correct the month that Perry became governor. He succeeded George W. Bush on December 21, 2000, not in January 2001."
9698,0,"Austin mayoral candidate Steve Adler has ""never been active in anything that has to do with City Hall.","November 11, 2014",candidate biography;city government;criminal justice;crime,mike martinez,"Mike Martinez,a former firefighter and 2014 candidate for mayor of Austin, served multiple terms on the Austin City Council; her last term ended in early 2015.",texas,2,1,1,1,0,1,an interview for a news story,"Martinez said Adler has ""never been active in anything that has to do with City Hall."" Adler hasn’t been a member of city boards or commissions and we accept Martinez’s assertion Adler hasn’t addressed the council. Then again, Adler had a leadership hand in developing the hate crimes task force and the city’s cultural master plan. All told, this never/anything statement strikes us as  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."
22054,1,"Joe Biden said of Jill Biden, ""She was 12, I was 30.","October 2, 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,"""She was 12, and I was 30. But anyway, this woman helped me get an awful lot done. ""  Some social media posts wrongly claimed that this amounted to Biden admitting he had an inappropriate relationship with a minor. That’s , and so is the  that he said his wife was 12 when he was 30.   We rate this post ."
2706,5,"Says the House Rules Committee is the only panel, other than the Intelligence and Ethics committees, not able to telecast proceedings in its main hearing room.","November 5, 2010",transparency,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 blog post,"Boehner press secretary Michael Steel responded that the speaker-elect ""is committed to making the House more transparent and accountable. ""A number of media outlets, including C-SPAN, have requested the ability to install private cameras in the House chamber,"" Steel said.   ""While no decisions have been made at this time, these requests are under review."" But cameras will be installed in the hearing room of the Rules Committee -- which has been the only panel besides the Intelligence and Ethics committees lacking them. We rate Boehner’s statement as ."
15714,0,Says President Barack Obama is urging Chicago's mayor to pressure prosecutors into not charging Jussie Smollett.,"February 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,"Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson recently said there’s more  ""that hasn’t been presented yet that does not support his innocence."" The producers of Empire announced Smollett will no longer appear on the show. Clearly, it would be national news if a former president inserted himself in a high-profile case such as this one. There is no  that this has happened. This  is !"
15393,0,"Refugees are throwing rocks and trying ""to kill you.","November 2, 2018",corrections and updates;fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a post on Facebook,"Though the photo is widely used in connection with the intifada, we couldn’t find any news reports or retrospectives that featured the image with an official caption or credited to a photographer or publication. However, it’s clear that it’s been around since at least the mid-2000s, and its grainy quality suggests it’s even older. And what’s more, no credible outlets link it to the Central American migrants seeking refuge in the United States. We rate this  ! Correction and update (Nov. 8, 2018): The Facebook user who posted this meme goes by the name The Snarky Conservative 2. In an earlier version of this post, we linked to a different account. The story has been updated. This post also has been updated with news reports saying some members of the migrant caravan have thrown rocks at the Guatemala-Mexico border."
1482,3,"For years now, we have spent more money than we have taken in.","March 10, 2010",economy,annise parker,Annise Parker is the mayor of the city of Houston.,texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a newspaper article,"Since fiscal 2009, the city has been drawing on those reserve funds, ending each year with less than it started. So far, it has drawn $56 million from the fund. Parker is correct that the city has spent more than it's taken in for years, though her time reference works only because the city's fiscal year always includes portions of two calendar years — in this case, 2008 and 2009. Put another way, the city has taken in less than it’s spent for about a year and a half, which includes one complete fiscal year and part of the current one. We rate Parker's statement as ."
11576,4,"Says Hillary Clinton supported and continues to ""support fracking.","April 10, 2016",environment,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 Clinton supported and continues ""to support fracking."" As secretary of state, Clinton supported and promoted fracking around the world. As a 2016 candidate, her support comes with conditions such as local choice, stronger environmental regulation and chemicals. Sanders’  is accurate but needs additional information. We rate it ."
14602,0,Pope Francis: Gun owners 'can't call themselves Christian',"May 8, 2018",fake news;religion;punditfact;guns,thenewyorkevening.com,A website associated with posting fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,2,a fake news blog post,"Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood."" The New York Evening News article had the pope talking about gun owners when he wasn’t, and gun makers specifically when he was talking about the arms trade in general. Plus, it made it sound as though he was speaking recently and in the context of the current debate over guns after the shootings in Parkland, Fla., when in reality, his speech was three years old. It’s just another example of  news writers shooting from the hip. We rate the headline !"
17200,2,"While we are all sitting here debating, Wisconsin has kicked hundreds of thousands of people off of their voting rolls.","February 25, 2020",legal issues;states,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.",wisconsin,5,9,4,1,1,0,a debate,"Klobuchar said during the debate in South Carolina that, ""While we are all sitting here debating, Wisconsin has kicked hundreds of thousands of people off of their voting rolls."" Her campaign said she was referring to purges in 2017 and 2018, which did result in hundreds of thousands of voters being removed from the rolls. But her statement implied that was underway during the debate, which is not the case. Our definition of  is ""The statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here.  window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND';

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5679,1,"Says ""city leadership is threatening to lay off police and emergency services personnel to balance the budget.","April 25, 2012",city budget;public safety,memphis police association,The Memphis Police Association is the union representing Memphis police officers.,tennessee,0,0,0,0,1,0,a commercial,"In trying to influence the Memphis budget hearings, the Memphis Police Association ran commercials claiming that a mayor who still has never proposed cuts in public safety areas was ""threatening to lay off police and emergency services personnel to balance the budget."" Though the mayor said he was ""not going to rule out anything"" he never said there were serious plans to lay off cops or emergency services personnel. In fact, he said such moves would be a ""last resort"" and the budget he eventually proposed calls for increased spending on public safety. We therefore rule the police union’s statement ."
14304,3,There are more guns in this country than there are people.,"February 18, 2018",crime;polls and public opinion;population;guns,kevin nicholson,"Republican Kevin Nicholson, a former Marine, announced in July 2017 that he would run in 2018 for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. He is a business consultant who lives in Delafield, Wis.",wisconsin,1,1,1,2,3,0,an interview,"Our rating Nicholson says: ""There are more guns in this country than there are people."" There is no official count of the number of firearms in the United States. In one estimate, for 2009, the number of guns exceeded the population. But the most recent estimate cited by gun-statistics experts puts the figure at 265 million guns as of January 2015, when the population was 320 million. We rate Nicholson’s statement ."
125,4,The founders advised non-interventionism.,"October 21, 2007",foreign policy,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,Orlando,"""Certainly for that time period, that was their advice,"" she said. Historians over the years have debated whether the founders' advice should be extrapolated as appropriate for circumstances more than two hundred years later. That debate continues today. Interestingly, another piece of advice Washington had in his farewell address was to avoid party affiliations, especially parties based on regional distinctions. (Red states, blue states, anyone?)"
10259,5,"During the Bush administration, you actually had a prominent liberal write a book about how Bush was preparing for a fascist takeover of this country.","May 10, 2015",bush administration;corrections and updates;terrorism;punditfact,rich lowry,Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review.,,1,0,0,1,0,0,"comments on ABC's ""This Week""","Lowry said that a leading liberal had written a book about how Bush was preparing for a fascist takeover of this country. The book Lowry cited does not allege a specific plot. Rather it uses events during the Bush administration and compares them to events that happened in the build-up of totalitarian regimes around the world. But in an interview in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Wolf said a coup was underway and that Bush may declare martial law and prevent the 2008 election. Lowry’s  rates ."
9939,4,If you look at the income of average Americans...they're absolutely flat in constant dollars since 1979.,"February 4, 2015",income;workers,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,a speech,"Beyer says the income of middle-class Americans has been ""absolutely flat"" since 1979. He supports that  by pointing to oft-cited Bureau of Labor and Statistics data showing little or no inflation-adjusted growth in the median gross wage of workers over the last 35 years. An analysis of Census Bureau data yields similar results. Economists, however, define income in far broader terms than individual gross wages. A wider examination of income by the Congressional Budget Office -- which includes other earnings, benefits and tax payments -- shows median household income has increased by 47 percent over the last generation. So there’s plenty of  backing Beyer’s , but it doesn’t win unanimous support from economists. We rate his statement ."
3862,3,"Says that in 2009, Jon Huntsman ""said that the Recovery Act wasn't large enough and as governor he asked for $14.4 billion in federal stimulus funds. Now he's saying that he never supported it.","June 21, 2011",economy;new hampshire 2012;stimulus,richard swett,Richard Swett is a former U.S. representative from New Hampshire.,national,0,0,1,0,0,0,a conference call with reporters,"Huntsman's comments on the stimulus have been all over the map. He said from the start he would have voted against it -- because it wasn't big enough -- and then he's offered different explanations that have emphasized the need for more infrastructure spending or more tax cuts. Swett was right in saying that Huntsman requested $14 billion in stimulus funds, and that he offered his support for a figure even larger -- $1 trillion. But Swett's account is too one-sided. The record shows Huntsman has continued to raise questions about the stimulus all along, even as he accepted the money. We rate Swett’s statement ."
12695,3,One in five American households have nobody under the same roof that's got a job.,"October 31, 2016",economy;families;jobs;workers,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,"Cocoa Beach, Fla","Pence said, ""One in five American households have nobody under the same roof that's got a job."" Pence has a point that, according to federal data, about one of every five families, and about one of every four households, does not include a worker. However, this glosses over the fact that a big majority of these households have no worker because they consist of senior citizens who have retired -- an entirely different policy concern than a weak labor market, and one whose demographic roots make it beyond the reach of the Obama administration. We rate Pence’s statement ."
22109,3,"The Biden administration has ""created"" more than double the number of jobs per month, on average, than any other administration going back to George H.W. Bush.","October 8, 2022",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,an Instagram post,"Biden’s administration said in an Instagram post that he has ""created"" more than double the number of jobs per month, on average, of any president going back to the elder Bush. The chart accurately uses raw numbers, but the comparison is less than meets the eye. The  relies on less than two years under Biden to either four- or eight-year terms for his predecessors. Economists say this puts Biden at an advantage, because most of his predecessors experienced a recession, which hampered their tenure-long job-creation averages. Meanwhile, using a different metric — percentage increase — Biden ranks third among the last six presidents. And the White House’s use of the word ""created"" in reference to jobs is not entirely warranted, because presidential policies are not the only factor shaping job growth. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important context, so we rate it ."
4699,5,"The United States ""is number one in the world in energy resources; Russia is number two.","December 7, 2011",energy,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,"Russia has tried to stake some claims, but Canada, the United States and Denmark -- which controls Greenland -- will also want a say. Our conclusion: Allen said the U.S. has the most plentiful energy resources in the world, followed by Russia. According to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. has the largest proven reserve of fossil fuel resources and Russia is No. 2.  Data from the Energy Information Agency show that Russia has the largest volume of the three fossil fuels. But the American lead in coal, which produces very high amounts of energy when burned, means the United States narrowly edges Russia in the CRS report. We rate the statement ."
13392,4,"An ""abortion procedure is actually safer than a vasectomy.","May 11, 2017",abortion;corrections and updates;health care,mary gonzález,"Mary González, initially elected to the Texas House in 2012, hails from Clint, near El Paso. In the 85th Legislature, she was appointed to the budget-drafting House Committee on Appropriations and was vice chair of the Agriculture and Livestock Committee.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,House debate of House Bill 2962,"González said an ""abortion procedure is actually safer than a vasectomy."" Both procedures rarely have complications, a clarification missing from this declaration. That said, abortion procedures appear to have lower complication rates. 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."
14789,1,"Watch those GDP numbers. We started off at a very low number, and right now we hit a 3.2 (percent). Nobody thought that was possible.","June 28, 2018",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,"Mount Pleasant, Wis","Trump said, ""Watch those GDP numbers. We started off at a very low number, and right now we hit a 3.2 (percent). Nobody thought that was possible."" This is  two ways. First, the most recent saw GDP growth of 2.0 percent, not 3.2 percent. And second, exceeding 3 percent GDP growth in a quarter is not an unusual achievement -- Obama accomplished it eight times. The real achievement would be a full year at 3 percent, which hasn’t happened under Trump yet. We rate the statement ."
21024,1,Hillary Clinton spied on President Trump.,"February 16, 2022",crime;ad watch,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 ad,"Trump’s Save America PAC claimed in an ad: ""Hillary Clinton spied on President Trump."" Durham has not made this allegation, and we’ve found no  to support the . We rate it ."
1183,1,"Health care reform ""establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the 'Health Benefits Advisory Committee') to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase.","October 29, 2009",health care,house republican conference,House Republicans are represented by the House Republican Conference.,national,0,1,4,0,3,1,a news release,"People are then free to select any health plan they like that meets or exceeds the basic requirements. So the committee does not dictate which health plans all individuals must purchase. We find the House Republican Conference's statement, ""Page 111 - Section 223 establishes a new board of federal bureaucrats (the 'Health Benefits Advisory Committee') to dictate the health plans that all individuals must purchase,"" makes it sound as if bureaucrats tell you which plan you have to buy. In reality, the committee advises the secretary of Health and Human Services on what baseline coverage should include. We rate the statement ."
20799,1,DirecTV cancels OAN after Joe Biden orders media outlets and tech giants to banish voices that deviate from the regime's official narrative.,"January 17, 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,"Then Herring sued AT&T, which agreed to carry the channel as part of a settlement.   The DirecTV spokesperson told NPR that the company considers several factors when deciding whether to renew a contract, including in this case whether OAN appealed to a broad enough base of customers.   The Facebook post suggests that DirecTV dropped OAN on Biden’s orders but there’s no  to support such claims. Biden urged media companies to stop spreading misinformation about COVID-19, but he didn’t direct them to make specific business decisions.   We rate this post ."
17907,1,"OSHA says masks don't work"" to reduce COVID-19 transmission ""and violate OSHA oxygen levels.","June 18, 2020",labor;public health;workers;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 ""OSHA says masks don't work"" to reduce COVID-19 transmission ""and violate OSHA oxygen levels."" OSHA actively recommends masks, when appropriate, in the workplace, and has made no determination on whether they affect a person’s oxygen levels.  We rate the post ."
2876,1,Portland spent nearly $1 million in federal stimulus money to install bike path signs where they already existed.,"December 22, 2010",stimulus;transportation,victoria taft,Victoria Taft is a conservative talk show host on KPAM radio.,oregon,0,0,0,0,2,1,a website posting,"Or for spending too much on overhead costs. But the message from the two was that all of the $900,000 was spent on slightly different signs where other signs ""already existed."" And that’s . We rule the  . Comment on this item."
6663,2,"Says that over the past 20 years, Texas public school spending rose 142 percent and per-pupil spending more than tripled when adjusted for inflation.","October 22, 2012",education;state budget,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 League of Women Voters guide for Texas and Austin voters,"Isaac said, ""Over the past 20 years, expenditures for education have increased 142% and Texas’ per-pupil costs have increased from $3,659 to $11,024 after adjusting for inflation."" He’s correct that, adjusted for inflation, total spending went up 142 percent from 1988 through 2008. But that leaves out recent years, including those affected by 2011’s legislative changes. And focusing on the increase alone without taking into account growth factors, especially enrollment, can be . A different measure, budgeted total spending, rose 72 percent from 1992 through 2012. Isaac indicated that per-pupil spending had tripled after adjusting for inflation. The correct amounts show it didn’t even double. So while Isaac’s comment has an element of  -- spending did increase -- his first declared fact lacks vital context and the second is a substantial overstatement. We rate the overall statement as ."
8571,1,"Millions of Americans are ""paying more and getting less"" under Obamacare.","March 17, 2014",health care,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 political ad,"Americans for Prosperity said ""millions are paying more and getting less"" under Obamacare. We found their explanation of ""less"" rather dubious. Most people on the individual market are getting more benefits under the law. At worst, they’re paying more to get more, though in many cases they’re actually paying less. We rate this  ."
13587,0,Malia Obama Fired From Cushy Internship At Spanish Embassy,"June 29, 2017",fake news;punditfact,freedomcrossroads.us,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,4,a blog,"We don’t know whose carrier pigeons the story refers to, but there were no reports of pigeons during her internship last year, either. This isn’t the first time a  news story about the former president’s eldest daughter has made its rounds on blogs and Facebook this year. Previous reports we’ve debunked said that Malia was expelled from Harvard before she even started and that she was arrested for drinking, drugs and dog-fighting. The latest story appeared on FreedomCrossroads.us, an unreliable site that as we have noted previously , has an About Us page that claims it ""uses facts that don’t exist and relies more on imagination than the ."" We rate this statement !"
3754,3,"A large number of the uninsured earn $75,000 or more a year.","May 15, 2011",health care,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""","The census shows that there are 10.6 million individuals who live in households that earn more than $75,000, and they constitute 21 percent of the uninsured. Because the census counts household income, it's likely some of these people are not making $75,000 on their own, but we don't know how many. We can't say if it's a lot or a little. Still, the census numbers suggest that at least some high earners are uninsured, and there's some wiggle room in what exactly Gingrich meant by ""a large number."" So we rate Gingrich's statement ."
19460,0,Jamaica has not recorded any case of the coronavirus.,"March 19, 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 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has flagged the country for having a ""very high level of COVID-19"" and advises people to avoid travel to Jamaica. While some researchers are investigating the potential benefits and risks of cannabis in preventing or treating COVID-19, the science is inconclusive. But health officials have discouraged smoking marijauna , as COVID-19 attacks the lungs.   What’s clearly not : that Jamaica has no reported COVID-19 cases thanks to cannabis.   We rate this post !"
6227,5,Says Bruce Springsteen played in 1975 at Seton Hall University in South Orange at Walsh gym.,"September 5, 2012",pop culture,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 appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,"Before performing part of ""Thunder Road"" with Fallon, Christie told the late-night host that his first Springsteen concert was ""at Seton Hall University in South Orange at Walsh gym"" in 1975. The governor’s Springsteen concert history is correct. As part of Springsteen’s ""Born to Run"" tour, the Boss performed 21 songs on Dec. 11, 1975 at Walsh gym at Seton Hall University. We rate the statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
16770,4,West Virginia is sixth overall in the average number of at-risk youth.,"August 21, 2019",children;education;jobs;public health,woody thrasher,Woody Thrasher is a Republican running for governor of West Virginia against incumbent Republican Jim Justice. He founded the civil engineering firm Thrasher Engineering in 1983 and later served under Justice as secretary of the West Virginia Department of Commerce.,west virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Thrasher said that ""West Virginia is sixth overall in the average number of at-risk youth."" He is correctly citing a study by the website WalletHub that came up with its ranking by using 15 metrics on youth health, employment, and education. An expert said this is a reasonable way to compare states against each other, though it’s hardly the only way; the use of other data points or weighting of the factors could produce somewhat different rankings. We rate the statement ."
17441,3,"If you've let somebody claim your kids for income tax purposes, you will not receive a stimulus check. The person who claimed your kids is gonna get it.","March 31, 2020",economy;families;income;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,"What you won’t receive is the additional $500 that goes to individuals and couples for each dependent child. Instead, that money will be given to the person who claimed the child as a dependent. But if you are claiming a child as a dependent for the 2020 tax year, you become eligible for a payment as well. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate this image ."
5860,1,"Under the health care law, ""everybody will have lower rates, better quality care and better access.","July 1, 2012",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,on 'Meet the Press',"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said ""Everybody will have lower rates, better quality and better access."" But even the study that Pelosi’s staff cited as the source of that statement suggested that some people would pay more for health insurance. Analysis at the state level found the same thing. The general understanding of the word ""everybody"" is every person. The predictions don’t back that up. We rule this statement ."
1144,0,"The Obama White House is renaming Christmas trees ""holiday trees.","October 14, 2009",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 e-mail,"""There is no  to this, and the letter referenced in the e-mail does not exist,"" she said. ""No letter has gone out yet from the White House pertaining to Christmas tree ornaments.""    She added, ""The trees in the White House will be called Christmas trees, and the tree on the Ellipse will be called the National Christmas Tree. There will be no name changes.""    So all this chain e-mail deserves is a lump of coal and a !"
5524,2,Says Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley reduces 36 percent of felonies to misdemeanors and hands them off to her.,"April 15, 2012",crime,jana duty,Jana Duty won election as district attorney of Williamson County in 2012.,texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,Austin American-Statesman news article,"As Duty acknowledged to us, her published comment mistakenly indicated that 36 percent of felony cases in 2011 were reduced to misdemeanors handed off to her office; the relevant ""dismissals"" category on the state database folds in both cases dismissed and cases referred as misdemeanors. The state database relied upon by Duty does not include a single category breaking out cases referred as misdemeanors, though the counts provided by Bradley and Duty indicate that the share of felonies referred to the county attorney’s office as misdemeanors in 2011 was less than 20 percent. We’ll accept that Duty accurately described the 36 percent figure in other venues. However, her quoted  to the Statesman rates ."
7519,4,"In 1999, the NRA leadership in Washington, pretty much the same people intact, were for (expanded background checks.)","June 20, 2013",guns,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.,national,7,12,4,3,3,0,an interview on MSNBC,"Manchin explained his continued pursuit of expanding background checks, saying that in 1999, even ""the NRA leadership in Washington, pretty much the same people intact, were for this."" He’s correct that LaPierre, at the center of the most recent gun legislation battle, testified before lawmakers that the NRA supported ""mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale."" But then, as now, the group was opposed to specific legislative measures behind implementation of expanded checks. Even Manchin’s compromise measure may not have passed muster with 1999’s NRA. He’s right that the leadership expressed support for expanding background checks generally, but the details get more complicated, especially in the context of specific legislation. We rate his  ."
17039,1,"Says a video shows a fox allowing itself ""to feed koala babies in Australia.","January 25, 2020",animals,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube post,"""The young are thirsty,"" he wrote in French. ""Red foxes."" He places the video in a park in Montreal, Canada.   In another video of red foxes suckling that Durocher posted on YouTube in 2014, you can more clearly see their faces — and there’s no confusing them for koalas.   We rate the YouTube post that claims these baby animals are koalas ."
4748,2,"We're $15 trillion now in debt, with a president that's racked up as much debt as almost all of the other presidents combined.","December 15, 2011",deficit;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,"Sioux City, Iowa","Romney was trying to revive a talking point -- that by the end of his first term, Obama will have added as much debt as all the prior 43 presidents combined -- that was accurate enough to earn a  from PolitiFact. This time, though, he allowed small but significant changes to creep in and weaken its accuracy. Romney confused public debt and gross debt; he failed to clarify that he was talking about the debt accruing during the entirety of Obama’s first term; and he misplaced the word ""almost"" in a way that makes it hard to parse his . If we use the public debt figure and put the word ""almost"" where the Romney campaign says it should be, ""almost"" might apply to one of three comparisons -- one in which the debt is about four-fifths of the way to equalling totals under previous presidents. That’s a grain of , but not much more. We rate the statement ."
1935,4,"Opponent Holly Benson said that ""Just because you're poor doesn't mean you're unhealthy, it just means you have a lot more time to go running.","July 15, 2010",candidate biography;health care,pam bondi,"Pam Bondi, a former Hillsborough County prosecutor, was elected Floriday Attorney General on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. After leaving office, she joined Ballard Partners lobbying firm in Washington D.C.",florida,2,4,0,2,2,0,a campaign mail piece,"""Thank you sir, I apologize for that. As soon as I said it, I regretted it,"" Benson says according to the audio recording. ""I mistook something that Ms. Menzel said and meant that there's no reason that anybody couldn't be healthy at any time."" Bondi quotes Benson accurately in the campaign mailer, but Benson tried to walk back her comment right away and apologized for it later in the same radio interview. We rate Bondi's statement  ."
1598,3,"U.S. Rep. Bill Young ""has accepted $737,000 from lobbyists and recipients of his earmarks.","April 14, 2010",candidate biography;elections;message machine 2010,charlie justice,Sen. Charlie Justice is a Democrat representing St. Petersburg.,florida,2,0,1,0,0,1,a web ad,"Back to Justice's . In a web ad, he claims that U.S. Rep. Bill Young ""has accepted $737,000 from lobbyists and recipients of his earmarks,"" and offers two documents totaling more than 80 pages to back up his . We checked the research and, quite frankly, find it a little squirrely. We know that Justice can only track earmarks back to 2008 because prior to that they were largely inserted anonymously, but he includes campaign contributions dating back to 1998. That's not a  apples to apples comparison. And the numbers don't add up. We don't know where Justice got the $737,000 from -- originally we tallied more than $1 million in contributions (though a lot of that was double counted). Then, Justice's campaign provided us with a second document with another $1 million in contributions (and again, a lot of that was double counted). Granted, the number still totals nearly $800,000 when you add both documents together and only count unique contributions. But Justice's  is shaky because he is relying on two leaps of logic -- that any contributor who happens to be employed by a company is a ""recipient"" and that any lobbyist with a firm that did work for a recipient is tied to the earmark. Both create holes in his . We find it ."
20198,2,"California voters to be able to download ballots at home for recall election, sparking security concerns.","August 19, 2021",disability;elections,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.,california,0,0,0,3,4,0,a tweet,County elections officials then match that signature with the ones on file to verify each ballot.   Elder’s campaign did not respond to a request for  to support the  about security concerns. The article he tweeted out doesn’t include anyone raising concerns about the remote voter program.   We rated the  Elder tweeted out as .    – The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.
12101,3,John McCain's chief economic adviser during the '08 race … estimated that Trump's promises would cause America to lose 3.5 million jobs.,"July 27, 2016",economy,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,Philadelphia,"Kaine said ""John McCain’s chief economic adviser during the ’08 race … estimated that Trump’s promises would cause america to lose 3.5 million jobs."" The Moody’s report concluded that Trump’s economic proposals, if adopted in full, could cost 3.5 million jobs. And Zandi was a donor and economic adviser to the McCain campaign. But he was not the chief adviser, and this isn’t the full picture of his political affiliations. As it turns out, Zandi is a registered Democrat and donated the maximum amount to Clinton’s primary campaign. Zandi is a well-respected economist, and we are not in this fact-check casting doubt on the credibility of his Trump report or his work generally. He has advised and worked on issues for politicians on both sides of the aisle for many years. But to identify Zandi only as a former adviser of McCain leaves out a lot of the story about Zandi’s political affiliations. We rate Kaine’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/097b24d4-9ee7-492a-abbe-ea4ea40bd86f"
12306,5,"Says that in 2015, ""illegal"" immigrants accounted for 75 percent of federal drug possession convictions and 5 percent to 30 percent of convictions for murder and kidnapping plus two other crimes.","August 23, 2016",immigration;criminal justice;crime,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.",texas,5,2,4,5,14,1,a slide presented on Hannity’s show during an Austin interview of Donald Trump,"Hannity's slide states that in fiscal 2015, ""illegal immigrants"" represented 5 percent to 75 percent of U.S. residents convicted of five federal crimes ranging from murder to simple drug possession. Those figures accurately reflect federal data though a comprehensive picture would arguably fold in individuals convicted on similar state and local charges. 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. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/8cea2cab-94b1-4f22-bd4e-b23a515342cf"
6582,2,The sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed.,"October 22, 2012",debates;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,a presidential debate,"    Obama said that the sequester -- and the defense cuts that would result from it -- was not his proposition. ""It is something that Congress has proposed,"" he said in the debate. But it was Obama’s negotiating team that came up with the idea for defense cuts in 2011, though they were intended to prod Congress to come up with a better deal for reining in the deficit, not as an effort to make those cuts reality.     Meanwhile, members of both parties in Congress voted for the legislation that set up the possibility of sequestration. Obama’s position is that Congress should now act to avoid those across-the-board cuts.     Obama can’t rightly say the sequester isn’t his, but he did need cooperation from Congress to get to this point. We rate the statement ."
17805,0,"There were not chemical irritants"" used to clear a crowd. Pepper balls are ""not a chemical irritant.","June 7, 2020",civil rights,william barr,William Barr was the United States Attorney General during President Donald Trump's administration for most of 2019 and 2020.,national,0,0,0,1,3,1,an interview on CBS News' Face the Nation,"Barr said federal officers used no chemical irritants to clear people away from a D.C. church Trump planned to visit. He said pepper balls are not chemical irritants. The Park Police used impact munitions made by the PepperBall company. Those munitions contain PAVA, a synthetic chemical that causes extreme eye pain. The Justice Department says pepper balls contain ""highly irritating pepper powder."" We rate Barr’s  ."
22225,1,"California state Sen. Scott Wiener ""doesn't just want to sterilize California kids, but sterilization of kids everywhere!","October 23, 2022",lgbtq;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,Instagram post,"An Instagram video claimed that Wiener, a California state lawmaker,  ""doesn’t just want to sterilize California kids, but sterilization of kids everywhere!"" The post refers to Senate Bill 107, which Wiener sponsored and establishes California as a haven for families of trans youth seeking gender-affirming health care by choice. It does not call for forced sterilization, which is widely considered a human rights violation.  We rate this  . RELATED: New California law on transgender youths doesn’t remove a parent’s custody"
12535,1,"I've gotten to see the commercials that they did on you. And I've gotten to see some of the most vicious commercials I've ever seen of Michelle Obama talking about you, Hillary.","October 9, 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,St. Louis,"Trump said, ""I've gotten to see the commercials that they did on you. And I've gotten to see some of the most vicious commercials I've ever seen of Michelle Obama talking about you, Hillary."" Trump is  to imply that Michelle Obama’s criticism came in an ad her husband ran against Hillary Clinton. Instead, it came from an ad made by a pro-Trump super PAC. And, the comments from Michelle Obama are somewhat oblique. They might be about Hillary Clinton, but they also might be simple pro-family sentiments. We rate Trump’s statement ."
10767,2,"Almost nine out of every 10 pennies that would be spent"" turning a 200-mile stretch of Interstate 70 into a toll road ""would be from folks outside Missouri.","August 20, 2015",state budget;transportation,jay nixon,"Jay Nixon, re-elected governor of Missouri in November 2012, previously served as attorney general and as a state senator.",missouri,1,1,0,2,0,0,comments at the Missouri State Fair,"Nixon claimed that ""nine out of every 10 pennies"" spent on the proposed I-70 toll road would come from non-Missourians. His office later clarified that the remark was ""part of an extemporaneous answer"" to a question from a reporter. In reality, it’s a guess. The report Nixon’s office cited includes many interesting traffic figures, but none of them support his specific . And while the federal highway trust fund would cover much of the work, some of that money comes from gas taxes paid by Missourians. Nixon has a point that a toll road would bring in a good chunk of revenue from out-of-state drivers and  the federal government. But 90 percent? That’s an unsubstantiated guess. We rate this  ."
6897,5,Odds of winning the Monopoly Millionaire instant win game are 1 in 3.27.,"January 24, 2013",lottery,georgia lottery,Georgia Lottery logo,georgia,1,1,0,0,0,0,on a ticket,"These prizes may not count for Lynn, but they sure do for lottery experts, other lottery players and the Georgia Lottery. A free ticket is considered an item of material value, and it is therefore inherently considered a prize, just like cash, a car or any other prize offered by the gaming operator. The Georgia Lottery’s stated odds printed on the Monopoly Millionaire instant game are accurate. We give the lottery a  on this one. And we wish Lynn better luck next time."
4307,1,This is the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression.,"September 15, 2011",economy,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,an op-ed,"The data do show that this one is weaker than most. In this regard, Cain does have a point. But it’s  for Cain to say, ""This is the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression."" It’s a weak recovery, but not the worst. We therefore rate Cain’s  ."
3402,0,"Says Gov. Rick Scott lost Florida 331,247 jobs.","April 2, 2011",jobs,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,picket signs at a parade,"Prison and DCF jobs depend on what the Legislature does, and that's still an unknown.  As for high-speed rail, yes, we've ruled that those jobs won't be coming -- but there were only 21,600 of them at the peak of construction. So Pink Slip Rick has pulled together a bunch of numbers but is misrepresenting what they mean. You can't just lump the governor's cost-saving proposals, which need legislative approval and will undergo tinkering by lawmakers, and vague estimates stemming from rumored policy decisions into one sum and label it ""Jobs Lost."" We rate Pink Slip Rick's  ."
9097,2,"For the first time in history, (Thor's) hammer is being held by a woman.","July 15, 2014",pop culture;punditfact,whoopi goldberg,"Whoopi Goldberg is an award-winning actress and comedian who co-hosts ABC's daytime talk show, The View.",,1,0,1,2,0,2,"a segment on ""The View""","Goldberg said Thor ""is no longer worthy to hold that damn hammer of his. And for the first time in history that hammer is being held by a woman."" It appears Goldberg mixed up her talking points. While this is the first time a woman will be Thor, it’s not the first time a woman has held Thor’s hammer. Storm, Rogue, DC’s Wonder Woman and Jane Foster are among the female characters who have held Thor’s hammer,  in alternate storylines. By Odin’s beard, it’s tough to do this. But Whoopi, your  rates ."
2833,5,Four out of 10 homicides are committed by gun in this city.,"December 1, 2010",crime;guns,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 city council meeting,"We also asked Jeff Bock, the Oregon Uniform Crime Reporting manager with the Oregon State Police, to check homicide causes in other cities in the state. Again, firearms led the way, with knives and other sharp tools trailing behind. Of 373 homicides 2006-2009 in Portland, Gresham, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Eugene and Salem, nearly half involved firearms and 25 percent involved knives or other sharp-edged instruments. We find the statement made by Adams to be . Comment on this item."
12743,0,"Final election 2016 numbers: Trump won"" the popular vote.","November 12, 2016",elections,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,web posts,"Social media was abuzz with the  that the ""final election 2016 numbers"" showed that Trump had won won both the popular and Electoral College contests. Trump certainly won the Electoral College vote, and as a result, he will become president. But he clearly trails in the popular vote. As of this writing, Clinton is ahead by nearly 800,000 votes, a margin that is likely to expand further as late returns trickle in from California, Oregon and Washington state, all of which are strong Clinton states. We rate the  ."
4997,2,Gov. Romney cut off kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens who were on Medicaid to save $5 a day.,"January 30, 2012",medicaid;religion;retirement,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,"Tampa, Fla","Gingrich claimed that as governor of Massachusetts, ""Romney cut off kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens who were on Medicaid to save $5 a day."" It’s  that one Massachusetts nursing home said in 2002 that it would close its kosher kitchen. But that decision was made based on a state funding decision before Romney took office. And that nursing home still planned to offer kosher meals to its residents — just not from an in-house facility. It’s also  that when lawmakers rallied to provide money to make sure nursing homes didn’t have to make that choice, Romney attempted to veto extra funding, saying it would boost nursing home rates. But his veto was quickly overridden. There's no  any senior citizens were denied kosher food. We rate Gingrich’s  ."
6889,5,"Says according to the FBI, more people are killed each year with hammers and clubs than rifles.","January 3, 2013",crime;guns,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,"Like an older Facebook item, Abbott’s tweet uses data selectively, ignoring the significant role of handguns in gun violence. That said, it is correct that FBI data indicates that in 2011, more people were killed with ""clubs and hammers"" than with any type of rifle. We rate his statement as .   Clarification: This story originally posted with the ""speaker"" identified as ""Facebook posts"" instead of Greg Abbott. Updated 2:54 p.m. Jan. 30, 2012."
16346,3,"Says Royce West stood with Wendy Davis ""to support painful late-term abortions.","July 22, 2019",abortion,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 advertisement,"Our Ruling An advertisement from Cornyn’s campaign said that West, one of his Democratic challengers, stood with Wendy Davis ""to support painful late-term abortions."" It’s  that West supported Davis in her effort to kill a bill that would ban abortions at 20 weeks post-fertilization, but the legislation did much more than that. Opponents worried that it would close abortion clinics, which offer other health care services to women. Davis has said she opposes late-term abortions and officials with her team said she filibustered the legislation because it would force clinics to close — which it did. We rate this  ."
4534,5,"Says if elected, he would be the first Mayor who lives east of 82nd.","November 1, 2011",elections,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,a press release,"Smith, for his part, lives east of Interstate 205 on Northeast Pacific Street, according to voting and campaign records. All of this is to say that Smith was right on. If Portlanders select him as their next mayor, he’ll be the first to reside east of 82nd Avenue. We give this  a . Return to OregonLive to comment on this PolitiFact ruling."
13739,2,Two-thirds of the (Hurricane Sandy relief) bill had nothing to do with Sandy.,"August 28, 2017",federal budget;natural disasters ,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 MSNBC interview,"Cruz said that two-thirds of Hurricane Sandy relief money had nothing to do with Sandy. The numbers don’t back that up. Cruz might have been focused on the difference between immediate emergency relief and longer term reconstruction, but his words skipped over that distinction. The data and the assessment of experts show that the bulk of the funds went to the places hit hardest by Sandy. There was a leaky bucket, but not at the level Cruz declared. We rate this  ."
7198,5,"In Rhode Island, 28 percent of adults released from state prisons are re-incarcerated within a year.","March 20, 2013",criminal justice;economy;jobs;legal issues;crime;government regulation;public safety;privacy issues,ban the box ri,Ban the Box RI is a group that supports legislation prohibiting employers from including questions about criminal records on job applications.,rhode island,1,0,0,0,0,0,a video posted on YouTube,"The group Ban the Box RI, in its video says that ""in Rhode Island, 28 percent of adults released from state prisons are re-incarcerated within a year."" That was an accurate citation of a Department of Corrections figure at the time. The figure was revised to 31 percent -- close enough for us to rule  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
2661,5,"Federal spending is ""the highest it's been as a share of our economy in 60 years (and) revenue is the lowest it's been as a share of our economy in 60 years.","November 14, 2010",economy;federal budget;this week - abc news;taxes,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 ABC's ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour""","According to the table, tax receipts as a share of GDP were always higher all the way back through 1950, when they accounted for 14.4 percent of GDP. That would be 59 years -- not quite 60, but very, very close. The recession factors into the tax revenue statistic as well. Both the 2008 stimulus package under President George W. Bush and the 2009 stimulus under President Barack Obama included tax breaks as a major component. Because the statistics show a number so close to 60 years -- and because Conrad was speaking during a television interview rather than a prepared speech or written statement -- we'll give him some leeway and rate the statement ."
20224,1,The US government is trying to create food shortages by telling farmers to destroy their crops.,"August 24, 2021",agriculture;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,a Facebook post,"A compilation of videos being shared on Facebook all  that the federal government is telling farmers in the U.S. to destroy their crops, and threatening to withhold subsidies. Several users  it’s to artificially cause food shortages in the country. The USDA said farmers are not being told to destroy their crops, and that there are no nationwide food shortages on the horizon. Two people featured in the compilation later admitted they were joking in their videos. We rate this  ."
2335,0,It takes as much energy to make a solar panel as it likely generates in its entire life.,"September 16, 2010",environment;energy,j.d. alexander,Sen. J.D. Alexander is a Republican from Lake Wales. He was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2002.,florida,1,1,1,0,1,1,a news article,"By saying ""as it likely generates in its entire life,"" Alexander suggests that he's talking about a typical example of solar panel output, not a fringe case with undefined ""other conditions."" Thus, our ruling. Alexander’s own  says his view ""can be rejected,"" and a mainstream consumer publication call it ""simply a myth."" But he uses this long-debunked  to help justify rejecting $13.9 million in federal funds for Floridians. We have no choice other than to focus a little sunlight his way and declare his ."
11015,5,"Says President Barack Obama ""will not utter the words 'radical Islamic terrorism' and as matter of policy, nobody in the administration will say the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.'","November 14, 2015",islam;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.",virginia,8,22,21,48,47,11,a news conference,"Cruz said that Obama administration won’t use the phrase ""radical Islamic terrorism."" Although we wouldn’t swear White House officials never have uttered the words in public, we could find no  to the contrary. It’s clear that the administration prefers non-religious ways to describe the Islamic State - such as a ""terrorist group,"" ""violent extremism"" and ""twisted ideology."" We rate Cruz’s statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/6a836aeb-405a-49f2-9a3f-32ac9afef818"
2193,1,"It costs us, logistically, three times more to fight in Afghanistan than it does in any other place.","August 30, 2010",afghanistan;federal budget;iraq;terrorism,michael j. gardiner,"Michael J. Gardiner is a lawyer who has run unsuccessfully for Congress twice in the 2nd District, in 2010 and 2012. Born in 1962, he is a graduate of Cranston High School East, the University of Rhode Island and the Western New College School of Law. He served in the Rhode Island Army National Guard from 1981 through 1992. He is divorced with one child.",rhode island,0,0,0,1,1,1,a Rhode Island News Channel debate,"We took the September spending numbers for each year and each war and calculated the approximate cost per service member. Over the life of the Afghanistan war, the cost through September comes out to roughly $1.26 million per person. The average is $758,000 per person in Iraq. So it has cost, on a per-service member basis, about two thirds more to fight in Afghanistan than in Iraq. We rate Gardiner's statement ."
14663,4,"Republican candidate for California governor Travis Allen ""gave campaign donations to Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and Barbara Boxer.","April 23, 2018",campaign finance;negative campaigning;the 2018 california governor's race,john cox,John Cox is a Republican businessman who lives in San Diego County. He is a candidate in the 2021 election to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He ran and lost in the 2018 race for California governor.,california,0,1,3,0,3,0,a campaign ad,"In a recent TV ad , John Cox’s campaign for governor claimed rival GOP candidate Travis Allen donated to three of California’s top Democrats. Campaign records prove the , though the contributions took place a decade ago, before Allen entered politics. The statement is accurate but needs this clarification. 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."
2919,4,"Under federal law, Jared Loughner ""would not have been able to buy a gun"" had he been identified as mentally ill.","January 11, 2011",guns,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,an MSNBC interview,"We’ll concede that  Brown was speaking as a guest on a fast-moving TV program where four other people were jumping in with opinions -- not exactly a forum for discussing the nuances of federal gun law. Nevertheless, his statement lacked the caveat that if Loughner had been diagnosed but had committed himself voluntarily and was not adjudicated by a court, he still could have bought a gun legally. That’s a point of clarification important for a full understanding of his statement. We rate his  . Comment on this item.  "
18686,1,"Michigan has been ""like a prison"" during the coronavirus.","October 22, 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.",michigan,36,85,120,194,360,179,a debate,"Trump claimed that ""it’s been like a prison"" in Michigan under Whitmer’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic. Whitmer implemented strict emergency measures in March, but they were  lifted across the state by June 1. All businesses and schools are allowed to be open. We rate Trump’s  . "
17782,1,"Says Donald Trump got ""exposed for raping a 13-year-old"" in retaliation for law enforcement officers ""killing black people.","May 31, 2020",legal issues;crime;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,"A recent Facebook post says President Donald Trump was ""exposed for raping a 13-year-old"" in retaliation for law enforcement officers ""killing black people."" A 2016 lawsuit accused Trump, then a candidate for president, of raping a minor, but no  was put forth before the case was dropped. There’s also no  that the allegation was tied to law enforcement officer-involved deaths of African-Americans. We rate this Facebook post ."
19000,2,FDA announces 2 deaths of Pfizer vaccine trial participants from 'serious adverse events.',"December 8, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"The blog post says that the FDA announced that two Pfizer vaccine trial participants had died from serious adverse events. A report from the FDA said that while two people who had received the vaccine had died, it didn’t say the vaccine caused their deaths, as this blog post suggests. We rate this post ."
15061,4,President Trump's Republican Party will create more debt in one year than was generated in the first 200 years of America's existence.,"September 11, 2018",debt;deficit;punditfact,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.",,1,4,3,1,4,0,a newspaper column,"Scarborough said, ""President Trump’s Republican Party will create more debt in one year than was generated in the first 200 years of America’s existence."" If you use the period 1776 to 1976, Scarborough is correct. However, it’s worth noting that much of today’s debt picture owes something to guidelines for mandatory spending and net interest for past debts, both of which were shaped by both parties. We rate the statement ."
8998,5,"Says Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst ""promises to shut down the Department of Education and abolish the EPA.","June 23, 2014",environment;education,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.”",national,3,1,2,0,0,0,a TV ad,"An attack ad aired by the League of Conservation Voters said that Ernst wants to ""shut down the Department of Education and abolish the EPA."" In an April debate, Ernst called for the closure of both federal agencies, and her campaign didn’t dispute that. We rate this  ."
17409,5,"On February 7, the WHO warned about the limited stock of PPE. That same day, the Trump administration announced it was sending 18 tons of masks, gowns and respirators to China.","March 31, 2020",china;health care;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post said: ""On February 7, the WHO warned about the limited stock of PPE. That same day, the Trump administration announced it was sending 18 tons of masks, gowns and respirators to China."" The State Department announced the delivery of nearly 18 tons of donated materials on Feb. 7, the same day that the WHO sounded the alarm about the world’s supply of personal protective equipment. The donated materials came from private groups. We rate this statement ."
9850,4,"Currently, Florida is one of only five states in the nation that prohibit citizens from buying electricity from companies that will put solar panels on your home or business.","January 14, 2015",energy,floridians for solar choice,Floridians for Solar Choice is a political action committee that is collecting signatures to get a question on the 2016 ballot to make it easier for property owners to obtain solar energy.,florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a statement on a website,"""Currently, Florida is one of only five states in the nation that prohibit citizens from buying electricity from companies that will put solar panels on your home or business,"" says Floridians for Solar Choice website. That statistic comes from a respected academic source that published its findings in 2014. However, the statement doesn’t mean that 45 states allow sales. Currently, 24 states specifically allow an entity to build a solar system on a customer’s property and then sell the power to the customer. In 21 states, the status is unclear or unknown, and pro-solar advocates say few if any sales are happening there. Still, the  is accurate that only five states specifically prohibit these types of sales. We rate this  ."
22492,1,"Parents that go to school board meetings"" and question the curriculum are being ""flagged by the Department of Justice and the FBI for attending a meeting.","January 8, 2023",education;crime,scott perry,"Republican Scott Perry was elected as the U.S. representative of Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District (York, Adams and Cumberland counties) in 2013. He earned re-election in 2018, and due to redistricting, now serves the 10th Congressional District (Dauphin, Cumberland and York counties).",,0,0,1,0,3,0,ABC This Week interview,"Perry said that ""parents that go to school board meetings"" and question the curriculum are being ""flagged by the Department of Justice and the FBI for attending a meeting.""  Perry’s office provided no  and his  echoes  statements about a 2021 Justice Department memo directing federal law enforcement to hold meetings nationwide about criminal threats against school officials.  The memo focused on monitoring criminal conduct; it wasn’t about investigating parents who spoke about curriculum at school board meetings.  The FBI created an EDUOFFICIALS ""threat tag"" as a logistical tool to track threats of violence against school officials, not to flag parents for attending meetings or questioning curriculum. We rate Perry’s statement .  RELATED : No, the FBI isn’t adding ‘threat tags’ for parents who protest school boards RELATED : Rick Scott wrongly warns FBI coming after loud parents at school board meetings"
18181,3,DEVELOPING: Kamala's sister takes hydroxychloroquine.,"August 12, 2020",candidate biography;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,paul sperry,"Paul Sperry, former Washington bureau chief for Investor's Business Daily, writes commentaries for the New York Post.",california,0,0,2,0,0,0,a tweet,"Sperry’s tweet is technically accurate: Maya Harris does take the drug. But, as many people pointed out in their replies to the tweet, it’s wrongly cast as if this is breaking news. Other comments make clear that at least some people are reading an unsaid suggestion: that she takes it to treat or prevent COVID-19.   She uses the drug for lupus.   We rate this tweet ."
2640,5,Says that the federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993.,"November 8, 2010",infrastructure;jobs;transportation;taxes,george voinovich,"George Voinovich, a Republican, was a U.S. Senator from Ohio. He retired at the end of his term in 2010. Prior to that he was governor of Ohio, mayor of Cleveland and served in the Ohio General Assembly.",ohio,2,0,0,0,0,0,a news release,"But he’ll apparently have some sympathy from the debt commission; in a draft report released Wednesday , Nov. 10, the commission proposed a higher gasoline tax -- raising it gradually by 15 cents beginning in 2013 -- as a way to pay for transportation improvements without raiding the general government treasury. That’s less than Voinovich proposed, and it’s unknown if the provision will be included in the commission’s final report. Also unknown is whether a super-majority of the commission will agree with the full extent of commission proposals -- which include an array of discretionary spending cuts and an eventual raise in the Social Security retirement age -- and whether Congress then will approve the recommendations or shelve them, putting off decisions for another day or year. But when it comes to the history of gas-tax hikes, the facts are on Voinovich’s side, so we rate his statement . Comment on this item ."
4755,2,"Wisconsin election officials to accept Mickey Mouse, Hitler signatures"" on recall petitions.","December 13, 2011",elections;legal issues,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,"The MacIver Institute said ""Wisconsin election officials to accept Mickey Mouse, Hitler signatures"" -- suggesting such signatures would automatically be counted toward the number needed to force Walker into a recall election. For such signatures to actually be counted, they would have to pass undetected through petition circulators, the recall committees, a pair of Government Accountability Board reviewers, Walker’s representatives and other groups that review the petitions. If such signatures were found, Walker could formally challenge them to the board to get them stricken. There's an element of  in MacIver's statement in that fictitious signatures listed with Wisconsin addresses would be accepted -- but only for review. The statement, however, ignores critical facts -- namely that the signatures would have to pass through several layers of review to actually be counted. That's our definition of ."
1484,2,"Marco Rubio is a ""Miami lobbyist.","March 15, 2010",candidate biography,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 press release,"The Crist campaign and Florida Democrats use the present tense, indicating that Rubio is a lobbyist. But he formally withdrew nearly five years ago. Also, his work was not what we traditionally think of as lobbying -- the Gucci-wearing attorney who seeks to influence the state Legislature or Congress. He worked at the local level, primarily on zoning matters. So we find the  to be ."
6984,0,There are more people killed with baseball bats and hammers than are killed with guns.,"February 13, 2013",guns,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,an interview,Broun is a congressman who has inserted himself directly into the heated gun debate. And he’s now running for the U.S. Senate. His high-profile run for higher office means that more of his statements will end up in the glare of the spotlight. And some of them could combust. Our rating for Broun: .  
4807,5,"Taxpayers earning $1 million pay an effective tax rate that is about four times what taxpayers earning $100,000 pay.","December 16, 2011",taxes,declan o'scanlon,Declan O'Scanlon Jr. is a Republican State Assemblyman representing a part of Monmouth County.,new jersey,1,0,0,0,0,0,the Star-Ledger,"In an opinion piece in the Star-Ledger, O’Scanlon wrote: ""Taxpayers earning $1 million pay an effective tax rate that is about four times what taxpayers earning $100,000 pay."" Based on data from the state Treasury department, O’Scanlon is correct. Taxpayers earning $1 million pay an effective tax rate of 6.88 percent, which is about four times the 1.73 percent paid by individuals earning $100,000. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
19185,4,84% of all new electric capacity planned to come onto the electric grid this year is clean energy.,"January 27, 2021",climate change;energy,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,remarks when signing climate change executive orders,"Biden said that 84% of new electric capacity scheduled to come online in 2021 was from clean energy. The number is credible, but it includes 11% from battery storage. Batteries are essential to the expansion of wind and solar power, but they are not necessarily ""clean"" energy sources; they could be charged with electricity produced from fossil fuels. Taking batteries out of the equation still leaves a total of about 70% from wind and solar. However, renewables remain a lesser slice of electricity supply. About 60% of the nation’s electric power comes from fossil fuels. We rate this  ."
10500,1,"The California governor ""says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum"" in vaccines.","June 30, 2015",autism;public health;science,jim carrey,Comedic actor Jim Carrey has been a critic of the scientific consensus on childhood vaccinations and vaccine research.,georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,a Twitter post,"Actor Jim Carrey called aluminum a poison and toxin. Like many other chemicals, it could be, in dosages and scenarios that are rare. There is no scientific  suggesting otherwise. In fact, the only debate stems from a theory, not research that contradicts decades of immunizations. Attaching scientific sounding terms like ""neurotoxin"" can lend a sheen of respectability or fear depending on the usage. Look at the willingness of people to sign a petition banning Dihydrogen Monoxide (you probably call it water). But the fact is, Carrey’s  has no basis in fact and ignores several studies that contradict it. We rate the  ."
17298,1,'The Simpsons' predicted Tom Hanks getting coronavirus in 2007.,"March 12, 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,"  A headline says: ""‘The Simpsons' predicted Tom Hanks getting coronavirus in 2007.""  In the closing credits of ""The Simpsons Movie"" from that year, Hanks’ character says: ""This is Tom Hanks, saying, if you see me in person, leave me be.""  There’s no reference to any kind of outbreak. We rate the statement ."
7884,1,The Obama administration shut down the Amber Alert program because of the government shutdown.,"October 4, 2013",children;federal budget;crime,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,national,2,4,6,12,98,39,messages on Twitter,"People on Twitter, bloggers and others said the Obama administration shut down the Amber Alert system. Actually, each state has its own alert system, and national coordination takes place through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a private nonprofit, untouched by the federal stalemate. The system has continued to operate through the federal shutdown, sending out alerts in Texas and Florida. The one sliver of  that triggered this  is that a federal webpage promoting the program was closed, but that did not affect the program itself. It is a  to confuse that web page with the Amber Alert system. We rate the statement ."
5844,1,Says Dow Chemical decided to build a plant in Saudi Arabia rather than Oklahoma due to the impact of environmental regulations on the supply of natural gas.,"June 19, 2012",energy;government 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,"Frankenmuth, Mich","Mitt Romney said that a Dow official told him that the company opted to build a plant in Saudi Arabia rather than Oklahoma due to the state’s limited supply of natural gas thanks to environmental regulations. If that's case, no record of it appears to exist, Romney's campaign didn't offer any  to back it up and neither did Dow. We rate this  ."
1209,1,"The McCain campaign ""did not elaborate"" on Obama's ties to ACORN.","November 17, 2009",elections;ethics,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'","But we did not elaborate on any of that during the campaign."" So let's recap. The McCain-Palin campaign: sent out a memo to the media detailing Obama's alleged ties to ACORN; launched a Web ad about it; released several statements from campaign staffers; sent out ""fact-checks"" about it after a debate; held media conference calls with campaign staff to discuss it; issued several press releases about it; and McCain mentioned the issue several times during a debate. That sounds like a lot of elaborating to us. We rule Palin's statement ."
18457,2,"Says Joe Biden ""tried to cut Social Security and Medicare for decades. … Now Biden's promising your benefits to illegal immigrants.","September 16, 2020",immigration;health care;medicare;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.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign ad,"Biden wants to allow immigrants illegally in the country to buy health insurance, without subsidies. That would not take away Ameicans ability to buy their own insurance. We rate the ad’s claims . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
10379,1,Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don't believe the 5.6. Don't believe it.,"June 16, 2015",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,his presidential announcement speech,"Trump said, ""Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don't believe the 5.6. Don't believe it."" Setting aside his paranoia about the federal government cooking the books, Trump is off-base even if you give him the maximum benefit of the doubt. The highest official government statistic for under-employment is 10.8 percent -- roughly half as high as Trump says. And if you make a quick and dirty attempt to expand the scope of this measurement to include other Americans left uncounted in the standard statistics, there’s no plausible way to get it past 16 percent -- and even that’s stretching it. That’s well below the range Trump cited, so we rate the  ."
14823,3,"European allies ""pay us $2.5 billion a year to keep our forces there. It would cost us more money to bring the troops home than to keep them in Europe.","July 11, 2018",foreign policy;military;punditfact,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,"comments on MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","Burns said European allies ""pay us $2.5 billion a year to keep our forces there. It would cost us more money to bring the troops home than to keep them in Europe."" The $2.5 billion figure is the most recent estimate -- but the data is 16 years old. It  encompasses hard-to-calculate ""indirect costs,"" and it only covers about one-third of U.S. military expenditures in Europe. Meanwhile, experts said it’s conceivable that it would be more expensive to close up shop in Europe and bring troops back to the United States, but there are many variables surrounding that decision and it’s difficult to factor in the intangible strategic losses from giving up a European footprint. Ultimately, Burns’ assumption is speculative. We rate the statement ."
14124,4,"The average life expectancy for African Americans in Saint Louis and Saint Louis County varies by as much as 18 years compared to the white population, with nearly half of all African-American kids under the age of 18 living in poverty.","November 9, 2017",health care;race and ethnicity;public health,cora faith walker,Cora Faith Walker is a Democratic state representative in Missouri.,missouri,0,1,0,0,0,0,the St. Louis American,"Walker said ""the average life expectancy for African Americans in Saint Louis and Saint Louis County varies by as much as 18 years compared to the white population, with nearly half of all African-American kids under the age of 18 living in poverty."" Walker based this assertion on a study showing a wide difference in life expectancy between two ZIP codes within the city and county of St. Louis. That’s not exactly a comparison of life expectancy by race, but given that one ZIP code is heavily African-American and the other is heavily white, it’s a reasonable proxy. As for the poverty , the rate remains high, but the 50 percent figure is based on old data. More recent estimates find that about a third of African-American children in the St. Louis area are living in poverty. On balance, we rate this  ."
9299,4,My campaign alone has created more jobs in the state of Rhode Island than Narragansett Beer.,"August 26, 2014",alcohol;debates;economy;jobs,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 TV debate,"Clay Pell says that his campaign has created ""more jobs in the state of Rhode Island than Narragansett Beer,"" a poke at Gina Raimondo’s  that she helped bring Narragansett Beer back to Rhode Island. The Pell campaign provided a list of 40 campaign jobs; Narragansett Beer said it has 9 full-time employees in Rhode Island; 20 part-time people who work promotional events in Rhode Island; and four full-time employees out of state. A major difference is that the Pell jobs are short-term and, one way or the other, most or all will be gone no later than November. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we hoist a pint to Pell and 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.)"
11139,2,"Says Sen. Ted Cruz used to be ""in favor of birthright citizenship"" but is now against it.","January 14, 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.",national,21,38,35,41,30,5,"North Charleston, S.C","Rubio said Cruz used to be ""in favor of birthright citizenship"" but is now against it. He was referring to a 2011 radio interview in which Cruz said birthright citizenship was guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and it was better for conservatives to focus on border security instead of trying to change the Constitution. He has since insisted he opposed birthright citizenship then and opposes it now. We can’t find  that contradicts him. Cruz apparently changed his mind on at least one thing: He has said he now supports Congress pursuing a way to change the policy. While that raises questions on some details about Cruz’s position, it’s different than what Rubio claimed. We rate Rubio’s statement ."
19542,4,"Says Gov. Tony Evers' 2021-22 state budget ""increases taxes $1 billion +","March 29, 2021",economy;state budget;taxes,rick gundrum,Elected to Assembly in January 2018 special election. Reelected November 2018.,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,Twitter,"That is, it’s not $1 billion per year -- something that readers could easily miss based on  Gundrum’s tweet. And, when Evers’ first budget went to the Legislature two years ago, Republicans rejected similar tax increases on manufacturers and capital gains. They are likely to do the same this time. Our ruling  Gundrum said Evers’ budget ""increases taxes $1 billion +""  A budget memo by the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau confirms that tally, though it’s worth noting the figure is for a two-year period, not $1 billion for each year. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, our rating is .   "
6827,1,"Semi-automatic weapons, whether pistol or rifle, were designed for use by the military on the battlefield.","January 3, 2013",criminal justice;crime;government regulation;military;public health;recreation;regulation;guns,providence city council,"The Providence City Council is the 15-member legislative body in Providence, R.I. Since 2010 it has consisted of all Democrats, including two women.",rhode island,0,0,0,0,1,0,a council resolution,"The Providence City Council, in a resolution approved earlier this month, asserted: ""Semi-automatic weapons, whether pistol or rifle, were designed for use by the military on the battlefield."" The military and gun experts we consulted told us that history tells a very different story. The military did not embrace the weapons until decades after they were developed. Even today, there are many semi-automatic weapons available to consumers that were not designed for battlefield use. Why bother with such distinctions? The contentious debate over gun control is consuming the nation. We believe it’s imperative to get the facts right. We rate the ""statement of fact"" in the council's resolution  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] . And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
8424,4,"Dollar General ""added 2,500 stores and 20,000 jobs"" during his four-year tenure as CEO.","February 5, 2014",candidate biography,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,a video,"The number of additional employees totaled 13,700. So do we buy what this businessman says about his time at Dollar General? To sum up, Perdue said Dollar General added 2,500 stores and 20,000 jobs when he was the CEO. Perdue’s precise numbers are slightly off from what we found, but his overall point about opening many new stores and creating a lot of jobs is on target. We rate Perdue’s  ."
9808,0,Newly Elected Republican Senators Sign Pledge to Eliminate Food Stamp Program in 2015.,"December 11, 2014",federal budget;welfare,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,social media postings,"More than 115,000 social media users passed along a story headlined, ""Newly Elected Republican Senators Sign Pledge to Eliminate Food Stamp Program in 2015."" But they failed to do due diligence and were snookered, since the story came from a publication that bills itself (quietly) as a ""satirical, parody website."" We rate the  . UPDATE, Jan. 8, 2015: After we published our fact-check, we received a response from Kevin Gallagher of the Daily Leak. We had asked him whether he considers the site’s articles to be political satire. Gallagher responded, ""Yes, the site is full of satire, parody, and spoofs, mainly of politics and sports."" When we asked why the site’s satire label is relatively inconspicuous, Gallagher said, ""Are you familiar with The Onion? Let me know when you find their disclaimer. I'll give you a hint, it's hidden deep down in the FAQ. My site has a much more prominent disclaimer than The Onion, National Report, Daily Currant, or most other similar sites, for that matter."" We also asked him his reaction to 110,000-plus people sharing their story on Facebook thinking it was real: ""As a teacher, it would please me greatly to see more people fact-checking what they read on the Internet. Unfortunately, when it comes to politics in particular, people often have an emotional reaction to a headline before using any reason to deduce whether it could possibly be ."" Help fund PolitiFact's Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response."
5303,2,"Says U.S. Rep. Connie Mack ""took seven and a half years to finish college.","February 24, 2012",candidate biography;education,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.,florida,2,4,6,4,1,0,a web ad,"The  here is that Mack ""took seven and a half years to finish college."" There’s a kernel of  to that statement. Mack enrolled at Sante Fe Community College in 1986 and graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree about seven and a half years later in 1993. But UF records show that Mack did not take classes for two of those years, 1991 and 1992. There’s also a minor point that Mack says he was dual-enrolled in community college at the same time he was completing his high school degree. Those, to us, are critical facts that would give someone seeing the ad a much different impression of Mack’s college career -- which fits our definition of ."
8265,3,"Buried in the Affordable Care Act is ""a huge government bailout.","January 2, 2014",health care;punditfact,charles krauthammer,Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated columnist and a contributor to Fox News.,,1,0,1,1,0,0,"a ""Washington Post"" op-ed","Krauthammer said the Affordable Care Act contains a hidden government bailout for insurance companies that would cover up to 80 percent of their losses. The health care law does contain several mechanisms to mitigate potential losses for insurance companies, and the government stands to help absorb some losses up to 80 percent. But the government also stands to gain if insurance companies are able to turn profits, and the Congressional Budget Office has projected that the government would neither make nor lose money. Experts we spoke with also took issue with Krauthammer’s use of the term ""bailout."" In the past decade, bailouts came after private businesses faced a financial crisis. The measures in the Affordable Care Act have a more complicated sequence that include a variety of outcomes. This  is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
10489,5,"Despite what Donald Trump claims, ""there weren't 15,000 people who turned out in Phoenix"" to see Trump speak.","July 13, 2015",elections;pundits;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 segment on her show,"Maddow called out Trump for exaggerating the size of his audience in Phoenix, saying 15,000 people did not attend his speech despite his  on Facebook to the contrary. News stories and the city fire department back up her point. By many accounts, the crowd size and atmosphere was impressive, but it was about three times smaller than he described. We rate Maddow’s  ."
16453,1,"Says she ""sued Exxon Mobil"" as California attorney general.","September 4, 2019",environment;climate change,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.",california,2,16,4,7,7,0,a CNN climate town hall,"Harris clearly tangled with Big Oil as California AG. There’s just no record she sued one of the industry’s biggest companies, Exxon.   We rate her  .      –  The statement is not accurate. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
14077,1,"Earlier this year, Hurricane Harvey left more than 12 million people in Texas and Louisiana without homes.","November 7, 2017",housing;natural disasters ;weather,ryan sitton,"Ryan Sitton, a Houston-area executive, won election to the Texas Railroad Commission in 2014.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,Drilling Contractor,"Sitton wrote: ""Earlier this year, Hurricane Harvey left more than 12 million people in Texas and Louisiana without homes."" This figure, attributed to a typo, is improbably high. We also didn’t spot an authoritative alternate count though it seems reasonable to say--based on requests for help through FEMA and a state expert’s review rooted in flood insurance claims--that more than a million Texas residents sustained home damage. It looks to us like the hurricane left far fewer Louisianans without homes. We rate Sitton's published  .  – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
17786,1,Says Joe Biden's presidential campaign donated $20 million to bail out protesters.,"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,"A Facebook post says that Biden’s campaign donated $20 million to bail ""rioters"" out of jail. The campaign says individual staff members, not the campaign, donated money to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. There is no  that totaled to $20 million, however. That’s the total amount the organization said it raised from all donors in the first few days following Floyd’s death.  The post assumes that every person the nonprofit assists is violent and ignores the individuals who may have been detained during peaceful protests. We rate this ."
15896,4,"The state budget fully funds ""an initiative to provide free college tuition for illegal immigrants, while rejecting an increase in Tuition Assistance Program funding that would help middle-class families afford college.","April 1, 2019",education;state budget,john flanagan,Senate Minority Leader John Flanagan represents parts of Long Island. ,new york,0,1,0,1,0,0,a news release,"Flanagan said the state budget provides ""free college tuition"" for people who are in the United States illegally, and that it does not expand TAP grants for the middle class. The budget does implement the Dream Act, which allows undocumented immigrants to apply for tuition assistance programs and to receive that assistance if they meet the established criteria. But it did increase TAP funding by $5.4 million for other students - a small increase, but an increase nonetheless. We rate Flanagan’s  .  "
7917,0,The White House had a live video feed of the Benghazi attacks as they occurred.,"October 14, 2013",criminal justice;crime;foreign policy;terrorism,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,an interview with the Texas Observer,"Dewhurst said live video of the Benghazi attacks reached the White House as the attacks occurred. That’s not confirmed by news reports we found, while the White House said in October 2012 that no one there watched a live video feed. Given that this  has been debunked for about a year, we see it as  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."
18647,4,Donald Trump and Thom Tillis opposed legislation that would lower the price of insulin and other prescription drugs.,"September 30, 2020",health check,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",north carolina,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a political ad,"An ad sponsored by a progressive political action committee claims that Trump and Tillis have opposed legislation that would decrease the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs. Based on the two pieces of drug-pricing legislation Change Now points to, that’s accurate. Trump and Tillis have voiced opposition to prominent bills that experts say could decrease the cost of insulin for a broad group of Americans. Both politicians have proposed alternative policies to lower the price of insulin and other prescription drugs, but most of their proposals have not taken effect yet and are largely targeted at seniors. We rate the  ."
1417,5,We are now seeing a decrease in violent crime.,"March 2, 2010",crime,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,the State of the State address,"For the first six months of 2009, the FDLE's semi-annual uniform crime reports showed a 9.7 percent drop in violent crime compared to 2008. The FBI's state-by-state report in 2008, ""Crime in the United States,"" also showed drops in the violent crime rate in Florida per 100,000 people though with slightly different numbers: 722.6 in 2007 to 688.9 in 2008. We are not addressing whether the laws Florida legislators passed directly led to a lower violent crime rate -- that's often a matter of debate among criminal justice experts. But the most recent crime reports do show a decrease in violent crime per capita between 2006 and 2008 and that trend appears to have continued in 2009. We rate this  ."
13501,0,Libtard hero Al Franken forced to resign in disgrace.,"June 15, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"That detail is  because the entire article has essentially copied a May 23 post on TheLastLineOfDefense.org that really was about Schumer. TheLastLineOfDefense.org is a parody website run by liberal troll Christopher Blair . Blair’s goal is to publish  stories with  narratives in an attempt to fool conservatives. How this story ended up getting copied and passed on as a dig at Franken is anyone’s guess, but it’s not . We rate this statement !"
11510,1,"Says Chris Abele ""has had five years and he's done nothing"" about the Estabrook Dam.","March 29, 2016",environment,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 speech,"Our rating Larson says Abele has had five years in office and ""done nothing"" about the Estabrook Dam, with an earlier statement blaming him for a lack of consensus. But records and news accounts show Abele has been consistent in wanting the dam removed, has taken steps to make his wishes known and to build support for removal among nearby communities and other groups. Along the way, he has been thwarted by the County Board. Larson’s statement was that Abele has done nothing. That rates ."
23315,0,"No human remains or aircraft debris were found at the Pentagon or in Pennsylvania after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.","July 18, 2023",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,an Instagram post,"Aircraft debris from United Airlines Flight 93 was likewise found in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Wallace Miller, the former coroner for Somerset County, where Shanksville is located, has said that only 8% of the human remains were ever recovered because the plane exploded when it crashed at 570 miles per hour.   ""Everything vaporized on impact,"" Miller said. FBI photos of the crash site include airplane debris recovered from the scene. We rate claims that no human remains or aircraft debris were found at the Pentagon or in Pennsylvania after the 9/11 attacks !"
20027,0,"Arizona and Georgia now have the proof,"" Joe Biden is ""not our elected president!","July 21, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks;arizona,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.",georgia,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"Biden won more votes than Trump in what local, state and federal officials affirmed was a free and fair election. Recounts didn’t change the outcome. States certified their results. Judges in courtrooms across the country rejected dozens of lawsuits seeking to overturn the election on Trump’s behalf. The nation’s electors cast their votes and sealed Biden’s victory. Nothing has happened to change the results in Arizona and Georgia. We rate the  that Biden is not the elected president as !"
16000,5,"Speaking of the financial crisis that gained traction in 2007, ""I talked about it to anyone who would listen, a crisis is coming.","April 22, 2019",candidate biography;economy;housing;jobs,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,New Hampshire,"Speaking of the financial crisis that gained traction in 2007, Warren said, ""I talked about it to anyone who would listen, a crisis is coming."" There is documented  that Warren spoke against risky mortgage lending practices, rising debt and other factors that contributed to the financial and housing crisis years before it materialized. We rate Warren's  ."
13945,0,Hillary Clinton leaves the country as Mueller indictment is announced.,"October 28, 2017",fake news;punditfact,freedomjunkshun.com,A website associated with fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,4,a headline,"The website uses a similar layout and style as other Blair - affiliated sites , and carries a disclaimer that reads , ""All people, places, names and images should be considered fictitious or fictitious representations."" The real indictments were for President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, who pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of making  statements, money laundering and more. George Papadopoulos, a former Trump foreign policy adviser, also was indicted for lying to the FBI and pleaded guilty. This is another in a spate of  news stories that claimed Democrats were among the people charged in the Mueller investigation. We rate this statement !"
14899,2,"Says Foxconn ""is under investigation in mainland China for securities fraud, environmental fraud and labor fraud.","April 12, 2018",environment;china;financial regulation;jobs;labor;legal issues;workers,matt flynn,"Milwaukee attorney Matt Flynn announced in October 2017 that he is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Wisconsin in the 2018 election. A former chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, Flynn lost bids for the U.S. Senate in 1986 and 1988 and was defeated in contests for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978 and 2004. ",wisconsin,0,0,2,2,0,0,a TV interview,"Our rating Flynn claimed that Foxconn ""is under investigation in mainland China for securities fraud, labor fraud and environmental fraud."" But all of the investigations cited by Flynn are old. The violations uncovered by some do not necessarily constitute fraud, while a few others did not find any violations at all. Much of the  cited comes from outside groups, including advocacy groups and even media companies, rather than the government. We rate Flynn’s  ."
7307,3,"The labor market is weak because if you count the unemployed, underemployed, and those who've stopped looking for work,  the unemployment rate ""actually went up last month to 13.5 percent.","May 5, 2013",jobs;pundits;workers,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,"a discussion on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Gingrich said that if you count the unemployed, underemployed, and those who’ve stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate ""actually went up last month to 13.5 percent."" Gingrich is correct that the measurement in question did rise. However, that rise was not statistically significant, and it has been more than outweighed by a consistent decline in the numbers over the past three years. On balance, we rate his  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/586dbf1f-5b60-4e69-bdbe-32f6e2f691ac"
12765,3,"In Flint, Mich., ""the pipes still haven't been replaced. The water is still poisoned.","November 11, 2016",infrastructure;public health;urban;water;punditfact,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.",,2,6,1,4,5,0,"remarks on MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","Moore said that in Flint, ""the pipes still haven't been replaced. The water is still poisoned."" It will take years to complete the replacement of Flint’s pipes. Officials have replaced a few hundred pipes, with thousands more to go. The tap water is still not safe to drink on its own. However, experts said the city has made progress here, and the water is considered safe when filtered, putting it on par with other cities with older infrastructure. While considerable hurdles remain, Moore has glossed over progress that has been made. We rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/db63e815-a3e5-4d32-aa87-0c16172dd1d5"
16254,1,42 percent of (Walmart's) associates are black.,"July 10, 2019",economy;jobs;race and ethnicity;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,the Washington Post,"Sanders said that 42% of Walmart associates are African American. That figure applies to all people of color, not just African Americans. The actual number is 22.2%. This is almost twice the fraction of blacks in the workforce, but about half as large as Sanders said. We rate this  ."
3560,1,"The Bush tax cuts ""created about 8 million jobs over the first 10 years that they were in existence. We've lost about 5 million of those jobs during this recession.","May 10, 2011",economy;history;jobs;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 NBC's ""Today"" show","First, under the most common yardstick for measuring employment -- the CES data -- Boehner's  is significantly overstated. Second, while Boehner is closer when using a different statistic, it’s only more accurate if he uses a time period much different than the one he stated in the interview. And third, his suggestion that the tax cuts are primarily responsible for subsequent job growth is contentious at best (and the job growth he points to is modest compared to previous administrations). So the numbers Boehner offers are accurate only with significant adjustments. Overall, we find his statement too flawed to give it a rating higher than ."
11046,4,We lock up close to 2.4 million people in this country. We're locking up more people than China and Russia.,"December 2, 2015",china;criminal justice;crime,joe donald,Judge Joe Donald has served on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court since being appointed in 1996. He is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2016.,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview,"U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee: Scott Walker ""brags a lot about having an independent agency investigate police shootings. Of course, he didn’t fund it.""  . Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, in Milwaukee: ""There are more young black males involved in the criminal justice system than there are in higher education.""  ."
18471,1,"Says President Trump tweeted that it's ""not fair for a president to leave office because of BAD votes!"" and that the Supreme Court ""should decide the presidency at every election.","September 23, 2020",supreme court;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"If Trump had actually posted this, it would have prompted widespread news coverage and criticism from his opponents. But there’s none — because he didn’t. Websites allow anyone to generate real-looking, but ultimately  tweets using tweet generators .   There is no record of Trump ever tweeting the statement.   We rate this  ."
17999,1,"Says Amber Alerts are issued for white kids ""but not Black kids in Milwaukee.","July 6, 2020",public safety,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A widely shared Facebook post said Amber Alerts are issued for white kids, ""but not Black kids in Milwaukee."" It grew out of concerns in the Black community that missing children are not taken serious enough in Milwaukee. But the data actually shows a disproportionate high number of alerts — based on population — have been issued precisely for Black children in Milwaukee. Nearly half of all alerts involved Black children, even though only about 1 in 15 state residents is Black. And more than one-fourth of all alerts were initiated by Milwaukee police — all for Black children. We rate this  ."
2915,2,"The nation's food supply is ""99.99 percent safe.","December 25, 2010",food safety,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,a newspaper article,"And with each meal, your risk increases. Your risk of getting sick is actually much greater -- predictions say one in six people will get sick in 2011 from food-borne illness. In other words, while Kingston's math is correct, his results didn't say what he claimed they did. Studies that do measure the safety of certain foods contradict him. Since his statement has an element of  but ignores crucial facts, his statement meets our definition of ."
3975,4,There's pretty much no question that [the curfew ordinances] aren't effective in either reducing crime or preventing harm to young people.,"June 13, 2011",criminal justice,mike males,Mike Males is a researcher for the California-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.,georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,an article,"""The problem with economic substitution theory is that not all juveniles are equally likely to commit crimes,"" he said. Kline’s paper has gone through several revisions, and according to his website, is awaiting publication in American Law and Economics Review. So the weight of academic opinion sides with Males’ assessment that curfews do not reduce crime. But Kline’s interpretation suggests the question deserves more research. Males saves himself with the qualifier ""pretty much,"" but at least some still are asking questions, leaving us with a ruling of ."
8490,3,"Even though Chicago has ""the most stringent gun laws on the books,"" it still ""has the highest murder rate"" in the country.","February 18, 2014",crime;government regulation;guns,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 public meeting,"Our rating Johnson said that even though Chicago has ""the most stringent guns laws on the books,"" it still ""has the highest murder rate"" in the country. Chicago does have some of the strictest gun-control laws, but is not number one among U.S. cities for the murder rate. Meanwhile, the  is mixed on whether stricter gun control is associated with fewer murders. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details, we rate Johnson’s  . Follow us on Twitter and Facebook ."
19694,1,All charges were dropped against Bill Cosby and he was granted an early release.,"March 2, 2021",criminal justice;facebook fact-checks,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube post,"However, it’s not  that the charges against Cosby were dropped, as the video title says, or that his conviction was vacated.   The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections told the Philadelphia Tribune that ""based on the reprieve criteria exempting sex offenders, inmate Cosby is not eligible for a reprieve. ""  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last year heard an appeal of Cosby’s conviction but has not yet ruled on the case.   Searching for Cosby in the state’s prison inmate locator on May 6, we found Cosby listed among the people incarcerated in a facility in Collegeville, Pa .   We rate the  that charges against him have been dropped and he was granted an early release ."
16397,3,"Says ""Dan Bishop doubles down on removing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Under his sham 'association health plans,' insurance companies don't have to pay for medications for pre-existing conditions.","August 8, 2019",health care,dan mccready,Dan McCready is a Democrat who's running for Congress in North Carolina's 9th District,north carolina,1,0,3,0,0,0,a tweet,"McCready said Bishop supported ""removing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions."" That wording could give the impression that this bill directly and immediately strips health care coverage from people with pre-existing conditions. That’s not the case. But experts point out that insurers aren’t required to offer association health plans with a full range of services for people with pre-existing conditions. The proliferation of association health plans could also affect people with pre-existing conditions on ACA plans. McCready’s  is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate his  . 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] ."
2407,1,"Says ""Scott Walker says he would ban stem cell research","October 1, 2010",message machine 2010,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 campaign TV ad,"Democrat Tom Barrett is running a TV ad claiming his opponent for governor, Republican Scott Walker, ""would ban stem cell research in Wisconsin.""   In , Walker has repeatedly said he supports research involving adult stem cells, but opposes research involving embryonic stem cells. That is a critical distinction in the world of science — and of politics. Barrett’s ad ignores it, presenting Walker as so extreme on the matter that he is ""against hope."" We rate Barrett’s  ."
17069,2,"Says Gov. Tony Evers ""proposed raising taxes on the agriculture industry to pay for expanded welfare programs.","January 22, 2020",agriculture;welfare;taxes,john nygren,John Nygren is a Republican who represents the 89th District in the Wisconsin State Assembly,wisconsin,1,1,2,1,0,0,a news release,"Nygren said the governor proposed raising taxes on the agricultural industry to expand welfare programs. It’s not unreasonable to connect tax changes to welfare programs, since both tie into the General Fund and were part of the same proposed budget. Of course, that budget contained a multitude of other changes as well. But Nygren is off base saying Evers proposed raising taxes on agriculture. Evers explicitly left the agriculture side of a tax credit alone, though some agriculture operations could have been indirectly affected since their products are used by manufacturers. That leaves us with a statement that contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate Nygren’s  ."
18024,1,"Says Joe Biden plans to ""mandate net-zero carbon emissions for homes, offices and all new buildings by 2030. That basically means no windows, no nothing.","July 14, 2020",environment;climate change;corrections and updates,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,White House Rose Garden,"Trump said that the Biden-Sanders task force ""mandate net-zero carbon emissions for homes, offices and all new buildings by 2030. That basically means no windows, no nothing."" Biden has a net-zero emissions goal for new buildings by 2030, but his plan doesn’t mention a mandate. Neither the task force recommendation nor Biden’s new climate plan say anything about getting rid of windows, and net-zero emissions buildings can have windows (and many do). Trump’s statement doesn’t align with the facts. We rate it . CORRECTION , July 20: This fact-check wrongly described how energy efficient windows allow more light into a building. The post has been updated to clarify that allowing more natural light reduces the need for artificial light."
4662,4,President Obama's recent plan to cut $100 million of waste within his administration won't actually save money because he's going to spend it elsewhere.,"November 13, 2011",deficit;federal budget,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 newspaper column,"Whether the government spends money well or needs a starvation diet is not the issue here. Jordan’s point was clear, and we do not think he was trying to be cute or clever. He made his statement amid a national and unfinished conversation about taxes, spending and the size of government. But his statement needs clarification, partly because his figure was off -- although that does not affect his overall point -- and also because the concept of saving money can be qualified differently for other purposes. That’s why we rate it ."
12764,1,"Says Donald Trump's presidential victory was ""an electoral landslide.","November 14, 2016",elections;history;states,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,"Indeed, the narrower of Obama’s two wins -- in 2012 with 332 electoral votes -- was described at the time as not being a landslide by The Atlantic, Politico, conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg, Fox News’ Brit Hume and others. Our rating Priebus said Trump’s win was ""an electoral landslide."" But aside from the fact Trump lost the popular vote, his margin in the Electoral College isn’t all that high, either. None of the 10 experts we contacted said Trump’s win crosses that threshold. We rate Priebus’  ."
21980,1,A royal guard member collapsed because of the COVID-19 vaccine.,"September 14, 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,"Hello!, a lifestyle magazine covering royal and celebrity news, reported recently that fainting isn’t uncommon among royal guards. The Daily Express, a British tabloid, wrote in 2011 that the guards are even taught how to faint ""to attention."" "" grit is displayed by those soldiers who can topple forward face first,"" the story said.    Claims that a guard to the queen’s casket fell because of the COVID-19 vaccine are unfounded. We rate them ."
18497,2,"Photo shows ""all the men who have killed police officers this year (2020).","September 16, 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,"It’s  that the people in the images were accused of killing law enforcement officers.  But that was in 2016, not 2020. And more than 16 people were accused of killing police that year. According to the FBI , 118 law enforcement officers were killed in line-of-duty incidents in 2016, including 66 law enforcement officers who died as a result of criminal acts. We rate this post . "
22130,3,"Over the past 5 years, natural gas costs have gone up over 200%"" in the United States.","September 20, 2022",energy,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 tweet,"Manchin said that ""over the past 5 years, natural gas costs have gone up over 200%"" in the United States. Natural gas prices have definitely spiked, but not even the data cited by Manchin’s office supported the 200% figure. Comparing the annual wholesale costs in 2017 and 2022, natural gas prices have increased by 108%, while comparing residential customer costs over the same period, the increase is 53%. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
2308,0,"Says John Boehner ""admits 'we are not going to be any different than we've been' "" by returning to ""the same failed economic policies"" that ""wrecked our economy.","September 23, 2010",economy,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 blog post,"""The preamble is a prelude to the pledge, which is a roadmap right back to failed policies of the past."" That's an opinion that many Democrats share, but we still feel that the Speaker's office significantly distorted Boehner's comments. Even if you believe that the Republicans would indeed return to Bush-era economic policies, it does not justify making that point by twisting Boehner's comment, which was specifically tailored to social issues. Nor does it justify running a video clip that is highly abbreviated and removes all context from Boehner's statement. For these reasons, we rate the blog post ."
4663,4,"Says ""out of 588 school districts, we give 31 (former Abbott) districts 70 percent of the aid.","November 18, 2011",education,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 forum at the University of Notre Dame,"At the University of Notre Dame, Christie claimed ""we give 31 (former Abbott) districts 70 percent of the aid."" The governor wasn’t too far off. Between K-12 aid and preschool aid, the former Abbott districts are slated to receive about 60 percent of the state dollars allocated in the 2011-12 school year. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
7143,4,"When students leave our high schools and they go to the community college, 70-75 percent of them have to pay to take remedial math.","March 22, 2013",children;education,deborah gist,"Deborah A. Gist has been Rhode Island's education commissioner since 2009. She had previously been the education chief in Washington, D.C.",rhode island,0,1,0,0,0,0,"an appearance on ""A Lively Experiment.""","Education Commissioner Deborah Gist said, ""When [students] leave our high schools and they go to the community college . . . 70-75 percent of them have to pay to take remedial [math] courses."" The actual rate this past fall at CCRI was 65.7 percent. It's not in the range cited by Gist, but it's close enough to earn her 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.)"
40,5,"\u201CThirty-four percent of Hispanics don\u2019t have any health care at all, don\u2019t have any health insurance.\u201D","September 10, 2007",iraq,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,,"At Sunday night\u2019s debate in Miami, Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich gave an accurate assessment of the percentage of Hispanics who don\u2019t have health insurance. The January 2007 report \u201CKey Facts: Race, Ethnicity & Medical Care,\u201D published by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, notes that 34 percent of Hispanics are without health insurance coverage. The report cites 2005 estimates by the Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. The report also notes that of all racial/ethnic minority groups, Hispanics have \u201Cthe highest percentage of uninsured, and the lowest percentage of people with employer coverage.\u201D"
15170,3,Missouri has the worst roads in the Midwest and nearly the worst roads in the country.,"August 28, 2018",transportation,renee hoagenson,Renee Hoagenson is the Democratic candidate for the 4th Congressional District of Missouri.,missouri,0,0,1,0,0,0,a tweet,"Hoagenson claimed that ""Missouri has the worst roads in the Midwest and nearly the worst roads in the country."" Missouri did not rank worst in the Midwest on metrics we looked at except besides Hoagenson’s chosen graphic. That was only for the state’s rural roads. None of the measures, though, paints a smooth ride for Missouri’s roads. The state ranked near the bottom of the Midwest in nearly all important measures and fell in the bottom half of most rankings nationally. So, Hoagenson has a point that the state’s roads need work. For those reasons, we rate this  ."
14497,2,Rick Scott wants to destroy Social Security by privatizing it.,"April 9, 2018",social security,jon “bowzer” bauman,Jon Bauman is the President of Social Security Works PAC. ,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a press release,"The Social Security Works PAC president said Scott ""wants to destroy Social Security by privatizing it."" The majority of the  provided by Social Security Works stems from remarks Scott made as governor in 2011 and earlier when he was still the CEO of the hospital chain Columbia/HCA. At best, the  suggests Scott shares some of sentiments as those who support privatization, but that doesn’t mean he has a plan to privatize Social Security. In fact, Scott does not have a publicly available position on the issue. We rate this  ."
5171,3,One out of four of our young people say they are victims of this (dating) violence.,"February 24, 2012",criminal justice;human rights;women,beatrice lanzi,Beatrice Lanzi represents Cranston's District 26 in the Rhode Island Senate.,rhode island,0,0,1,0,0,0,"""an appearance on A Lively Experiment.""","Beatrice Lanzi said ""one out of four of our young people say they are victims"" of dating violence, following a reference to singer Chris Brown, known for physically assaulting his once-girlfriend, Rihanna. The studies we found, however, show that the risk of such physical attacks for teens isn't close to 1 in 4; it's more like 1 in 10. As with most social science research, the numbers can vary depending, for example, on how broadly dating violence is defined and the timeframe examined. A teen who is asked whether he or she has ever experienced dating violence may answer ""no,"" but then respond with a ""yes"" if asked if she has ever been pushed in anger by a boyfriend or girlfriend. What is clear is that to get to the types of numbers Lanzi is talking about, one must include all kinds of aggression, from physical attack to swearing at someone. In fact, when we talked to her, that was how she defined dating violence. No matter what the definition, all relationship abuse is reprehensible. But because Lanzi’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, we rule it  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
14647,0,Jeff Sessions Caught Colluding with Obama,"April 1, 2018",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"I believe those recommendations are right and just. Therefore, I have recused myself in the matters that deal with the Trump campaign."" A headline on the Conservative Patriot blog claimed Sessions was ""caught colluding with Obama."" But there is no  of that. We rate the  !"
3448,3,"An Internet sweepstakes cafe is ""a legitimate business that has been vetted and found to be completely legal in the state.","April 20, 2011",gambling,peter nehr,Peter Nehr is a state representative elected to serve District 48. He is a former Tarpon Springs city commissioner who was first elected to the state House in 2006.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,the 'St. Petersburg Times',"McCollum, the former attorney general, issued an opinion saying they might be illegal, and many think that, in fact, they are. There's no doubt the business was created in a way to work around existing gambling laws. The question is whether it successfully operates within a loophole, or comes too close to illegal gambling. Either way, it's a stretch for Nehr to say the operation has been vetted and is completely legal. So we rate this statement ."
9575,0,"The Affordable Care Act says that ""at age 76 when you most need it most, you are not eligible for cancer treatment. …  Cancer hospital will ration care according to the patient's age.","October 21, 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,"The chain email says that the Affordable Care Act requires that, ""at age 76 when you most need it most, you are not eligible for cancer treatment. … Cancer hospital will ration care according to the patient's age."" With this email, longevity has not meant accuracy: Seniors do not need to worry about their cancer care being yanked away once they reach age 76. The claims are based on an  understanding of a bill that never passed. The Affordable Care Act does not include any sections on seniors losing their treatment eligibility once they reach age 76. We rate the  ."
2620,5,Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the United States.,"November 20, 2010",children,children's healthcare of atlanta,Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is a hospital specializing in pediatric care.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a press release,"And by one widely respected measure, Georgia's kids are the second-most obese in the nation.   Now, that's not to say you need to throw out your kid's stash of Halloween candy. ""Halloween is fun,"" Davis said. ""The problem is we're having Halloween every day."" We rate Children's Healthcare Atlanta's statement ."
3179,5,Says the Army is spending $7 million to sponsor a NASCAR team.,"February 16, 2011",federal budget;military,betty mccollum,"Betty McCollum is a Democrat serving her sixth term in the United States Congress, representing the families of Minnesota’s Fourth District. In 2000, Congresswoman McCollum made history as only the second Minnesota woman elected to serve in Congress since statehood in 1858.",national,1,0,0,0,0,0,"press release, Rep. Betty McCollum","""With trillion dollar deficits, this amendment is where the rubber meets the road for my Republican Tea Party colleagues,"" she said. But her amendment failed. We won't weigh in on the debate over whether the Army's money is well spent or not. When it comes to the dollars, though, McCollum is on the mark, so we rate this statement .    Editor's note:  In an earlier version, the name of Stewart-Haas Racing was misspelled."
4872,4,"The education tax burden for Shelby County -- and Tennessee -- is ""one of the lowest in the country.","November 3, 2011",education;taxes,kriner cash,"Kriner Cash was hired as superintendent of Memphis City Schools, Tennessee's largest school district, in 2008. He is under contract with MCS until Aug. 1, 2013, at an annual salary of $276,500.
Cash previously served as chief of accountability and systemwide performance for Miami-Dade County (Fla.) Public Schools.",tennessee,0,1,0,0,0,0,a presentation to Shelby County's schools merger Transition Planning Commission,"So Cash is right about the state's ranking. The county is more in the middle of the pack nationally, but it accounts for a smaller share of education funding. We rate his  ."
11899,4,"As a result of Roe vs. Wade, ""America's maternal mortality rate dropped dramatically.","June 10, 2016",abortion;public health;supreme court;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,remarks at a Planned Parenthood event,"As a result of Roe vs. Wade , ""America’s maternal mortality rate dropped dramatically.""   Rates of women dying as a result of pregnancy complications were already on the decline when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade . But experts told us that a primary reason behind this trend was legalizing abortion nationwide, which took place over a decade, with Roe as a focal point. So Roe solidified this improvement in maternal mortality rates. We rate Clinton’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/f5af5bca-127a-4301-ab1f-202b4c15c8ed"
7308,2,"Employees in ""workplace freedom"" states make more money","May 1, 2013",income;jobs;workers,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,news report,"But federal data from a nonpartisan government research arm shows that employees in right-to-work states earn less. So does another analysis that tries to hold other things equal. None of it shows a definitive relationship between right-to-work laws and economic outcomes, even though (as the Wall Street Journal noted) the laws were first adopted in the South as part of a larger drive to lure factory jobs from the heavily unionized and better paying North. Maag’s statement, like others we have seen surrounding the highly charged right-to-work issue, suggests a cause-and-effect relationship that is not supported by any . We rate the statement as ."
9301,3,Cory Gardner is sponsoring a bill to ban all abortions right now.,"August 21, 2014",abortion;message machine 2014;women,democratic senatorial campaign committee,The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.,national,2,2,5,2,3,0,a campaign ad,"The DSCC said Gardner ""is sponsoring a bill to ban all abortions right now."" The  is based on Gardner’s cosponsorship of a bill that grants a fetus the same rights as a person from the moment of fertilization. It’s clear that such personhood bills are anti-abortion measures, but there’s a lot of uncertainty in the bill’s language that would have to be sorted through, over time, by the court system, and it’s not clear that it would ban all abortions. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
18541,3,"Says Sri Kulkarni attended ""notorious desert drug parties"" and was arrested for cocaine.","September 25, 2020",congress;drugs,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.,,0,2,4,5,5,0,a campaign ad,"An ad released by a Republican super PAC claims that Sri Kulkarni was arrested for cocaine possession and attended ""notorious desert drug parties."" Overall, these claims are partially accurate. Kulkarni was arrested for cocaine possession. But the arrest was 23 years ago when Kulkarni was 18. He pleaded guilty, but the charge was later dismissed.  The notorious desert drug party is, in fact, a music festival called Burning Man. The Congressional Leadership Fund is taking a small fact — that Kulkarni attended the festival — to make an unproven assertion that Kulkarni is reckless. We rate these claims . ​"
12047,3,The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015.,"July 21, 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,In a speech at the Republican convention,"Trump said, ""The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015."" Many would understand it as calendar year and by this metric, Trump is . However, Customs and Border Protection reports apprehension data by fiscal year. And by that measure, he has a point. On balance, we rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9186c898-10a9-4cc6-8a23-56096417e9d7    "
20930,0,"A grand jury trial begins into crimes against humanity"" involving a fabricated coronavirus pandemic.","February 6, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"The video does not depict actual legal proceedings. Fuellmich said it is a ""grand jury proceeding by the Peoples’ Court of Public Opinion,"" and that it is only modeled on grand jury proceedings. Fuellmich has filed several pandemic-related lawsuits against scientists and politicians, but the lawsuits have not been accepted by courts. The notion that the coronavirus pandemic is fabricated is part of an effort to deny or downplay the virus and is unsubstantiated. We rate this  ! "
15781,0,"Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ""was fired from 'Hot Dog On A Stick' in 2008 — for incompetence.","March 8, 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 post on Facebook,"The Facebook post claims that Ocasio-Cortez was fired from Hot Dog on a Stick for incompetence. We found no  to support that . The business’s parent company doesn’t have a record of someone with her name working there and we discovered no news reports or credible online posts to corroborate the Facebook post’s . The person in the photo doesn’t look like Ocasio-Cortez, and her name tag says Stephanie. The photographer who took the picture confirmed that he identified her as someone named ""Stephanie"" when he shot the image. We rate this Facebook post !"
20945,4,"Virginia's economic growth ""has stalled at less than 1% per year for eight years.","January 17, 2022",economy,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 speech,"Democrats point out that CNBC has named Virginia "" America’s Top State for Business "" for two straight years. Youngkin said Virginia’s economic growth ""has stalled at less than 1% per year for eight years."" He’s a little low. The state’s inflation-adjusted GDP has grown by about 1.3% over the last eight years. We rate Youngkin’s statement .  "
333,1,Everything I have said (on the campaign trail) has been factually accurate.,"February 7, 2008",elections,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,"Portland, Maine","What Obama actually said was ""I think it's fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom."" Read our extended analysis on Clinton's charge here . We rate it . And it's not just us: The Washington Post's Factchecker blog awarded the former president two Pinocchios for the same statements we looked at about Obama. So we find Clinton's superlative — ""everything I have said has been factually accurate"" — to be ."
22398,0,"Hitler ""didn't kill 6 million Jews"" and ""the Holocaust is not what happened.","December 1, 2022",race and ethnicity,kanye west,Kanye West is an award-winning rapper/producer.,,0,0,1,1,1,1,an interview,"Film footage from their April 1945 tour of Ohrdruf in Germany is still available today, among other publicly shared photographs and footage. Physical  from the genocide is also displayed at numerous Holocaust museums, including the train cars that were used to take people to concentration camps and the clothing and shoes of the people who were killed.   Visitors look at the shoes of Jewish people who were killed by the Nazis on March 15, 2005, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial​ museum in Jerusalem.  (AP) We rate Ye’s claims about Hitler and the Holocaust !  "
1802,1,"Under President George W. Bush, ""the national debt went from $5 trillion to $12 trillion.","June 22, 2010",federal budget;history,richard durbin,Dick Durbin in the senior U.S. senator from Illinois and the Democratic majority whip.,national,3,4,4,0,4,1,a Senate floor speech,"That's a 38 percent increase over two years. Looked at another way, the debt under Bush went up $4.357 trillion over eight years, while it has gone up under Obama by $3.801 trillion in two years. Republicans and Democrats will continue to fight over whether spending, wars, entitlement expansions and tax cuts under Bush or spending, wars, entitlement expansions and tax cuts under Obama are a bigger reason for the growing debt. But we believe Durbin's floor statement was off by about $2 trillion. So we rule his statement ."
645,5,"As governor, I've stood up to ... the big oil companies.","August 29, 2008",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,"Dayton, Ohio","""In general, it's business as usual for oil companies in Alaska."" Palin has supported the controversial idea of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has sued the federal government to oppose listing the polar bear as an endangered species, which would curtail energy development. But she didn't  to have opposed big oil companies on everything — she merely claimed to have stood up to them. And that she did, with respect to taxes, Point Thomson leases and the North Slope pipeline. We find her  to be ."
4353,1,"An Environmental Protection Agency regulation that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012, regulates dust.","September 22, 2011",environment,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,a Republican presidential debate,"So, Cain does have a point. The EPA does regulate dust under the Clean Air Act. But Cain’s language was very specific, and now that the dust has settled in the wake of the Republican debate, it’s clear his specifics were . Dust is regulated, but not at all in the way that Cain described. We therefore rate his statement ."
12473,4,"Says Tim Kaine ""actually tried to raise taxes by about $4 billion.","October 4, 2016",candidate biography;debt;deficit;history;taxes,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. ",virginia,5,7,21,12,25,2,the 2016 Vice Presidential debate,"Pence said that when Kaine was governor, ""He actually tried to raise taxes by about $4 billion."" Pence was referring to three unsuccessful tax hikes proposed by Kaine. Two of them, in 2006 and 2008, were for transportation. The third, in 2009, was to raise general funds for the state. Added up, they come to $4 billion in proposed tax hikes and fees. There’s a couple of issues, however. Kaine’s 2009 income tax hike was offset by a $650 million cut in the state’s car tax. So the net annual cost of all three tax and fee proposals was $3.35 billion. Secondly, Pence’s math double counts Kaine’s unsuccessful efforts to raise taxes for transportation. On the whole, we rate Pence’s statement ."
6357,5,A poll conducted in Egypt revealed that 80 percent of Egyptians oppose receiving foreign aid from the United States.,"September 14, 2012",federal budget;foreign policy,barry hinckley,"Barry Hinckley ran an unsuccessful race, as a Republican running, for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island in 2012. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, he is the founder and former president of Bullhorn Software in Boston. He is also an aviator and has raced sailboats professionally.",rhode island,2,2,1,0,4,2,a story on 630WPRO.com,"Barry Hinckley, in raising questions about whether the United States should be giving foreign aid to countries such as Egypt, said that 80 percent of Egyptians oppose receiving foreign aid from the United States. A Gallup poll taken in February shows that he's right in the ballpark. We rate his statement as  . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
14463,4,"From 2000-10, U.S. manufacturing employment shrank by a third after holding steady for 30 years.","March 25, 2018",economy;jobs,alex mooney,Alex Mooney is a Republican representing a U.S. House district in West Virginia.,national,0,2,1,0,0,0,a Wall Street Journal op-ed,"Mooney wrote that ""from 2000-10, U.S. manufacturing employment shrank by a third after holding steady for 30 years."" Mooney’s statistic is accurate in raw numbers. The one caveat is if you measure manufacturing employment as a percentage of the population — which accounts for significant population growth over that period — you can see a steady decline going back decades. Manufacturing’s footprint in the labor market shrank consistently, and by more than half, during the period he cited. We rate the statement ."
17202,3,I certainly supported Barack Obama and Joe Biden. ... I was there both times for them.,"February 26, 2020",elections,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.",,7,8,5,1,3,0,a CNN town hall,"I was there both times for them."" In 2008, Bloomberg defended Obama against attacks that he was anti-Israel, but Bloomberg did not endorse a presidential candidate that cycle. In 2012, he endorsed Obama’s re-election in a post that mixed in criticism of his record. Bloomberg’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
12510,0,"Says ""11 straight years of no major hurricanes striking land"" in the United States ""bores a hole right through the whole climate change argument.","October 5, 2016",climate change;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 broadcast,"Limbaugh said the fact that the United States went 11 straight years without major hurricanes ""just bores a hole right through the whole climate change argument."" It doesn’t. There are several major flaws in his line of reasoning. First, looking only at major hurricanes that hit the United States ignores storm activity around the world. Second, storm frequency does not strictly correlate with rising temperature. Third, many other data points prove that climate change is real. Limbaugh’s argument is  and . We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/827d3cf9-63b0-4f4c-8da5-4dbef2a5204f"
17333,3,"Says that ""over a 45-minute period that we had the press conference"" on the coronavirus on March 13, 2020, the stock market set ""an all-time record.","March 14, 2020",economy;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 news conference,"Trump said that ""over a 45-minute period that we had the press conference"" on the coronavirus on March 13, 2020, the stock market set ""an all-time record."" The Dow Jones Industrial Average registered its largest-ever point gain on March 13, with gains accelerating during Trump’s news conference. But that occurred one day after the Dow’s biggest point decline ever, and the gains were wiped out the next trading day.  Trump’s statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details. We rate this ."
6420,1,"Because of Obamacare, ""over the last two years, health care premiums have gone up -- it's true -- but they've gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years.","October 3, 2012",debates;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,Denver,"Obama said health care premiums have gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years and suggested it was because of the Affordable Care Act. He mistakenly referred to premiums, not all health care spending for 50 years. The historical data for premiums is generally consistent with his , but they only go back 14 years. He also vastly exaggerated the impact of his health care law on the costs. Experts say that's due to the recession, not the law. We rate his  ."
8494,4,"In 1968, a full-time worker earning minimum wage, could actually support a family of three above the poverty line. Today, that same worker would earn less than the poverty line for a family of two.","February 4, 2014",families;poverty;workers,virginia interfaith center for public policy,The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan coalition of faith communities seeking to create progressive public policy.,virginia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a hearing,"There’s a slight snag in the first part of the Virginia Interfaith Center’s  that, in 1968, a full- time minimum wage earner could support a household of three above the poverty line. The wage was bifurcated then. The majority earning $1.60 an hour could support a family of three, but a small group of workers qualifying for $1.15 an hour would have lived below the poverty line The second part of the center’s  -- that a full-time worker today could not raise a family of two on the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour -- holds up. Clearly, the buying power of the minimum wage has decreased in recent decades. The center tried to illustrate that point with a statement that is accurate but needs a little clarification. So we rate its  ."
8923,2,Jason Carter supports using Georgia tax dollars to promote Obamacare,"May 29, 2014",health care,republican governors association,the gubernatorial campaign arm of the Republican Party.,georgia,0,5,6,7,2,2,In a television ad,"Mischaracterizing his stance isn’t hard to do when he won’t give clear answers to the policy questions on voters’ minds. In summary, though, it is still a stretch to conclude that Carter’s objection to one anti-Obamacare bill translates into support for spending state taxpayer money on the law. PolitiFact could not find any specific tax increase that Carter supported as a state senator, shoring up his office’s claims that it would be out of the norm for him to vote in favor of a measure if he believed it would increase taxes. But because Carter’s stance has been so fuzzy, it opens the door for interpretation about what he really believes. We rate the GOP  as ."
8399,5,It's been 14 years since a president or a vice president or a member of their family has not gone and attended at least an event at the Olympics.,"February 9, 2014",sports;punditfact,candy crowley,"Candy Crowley is the host of CNN's ""State of the Union.""",,1,0,0,0,0,0,"comments on CNN's ""State of the Union""","Crowley said ""a president or a vice president or a member of their family"" has attended every Olympic games since 2000. That is accurate. In fact, the tradition goes back 16 years to 1998. We rate Crowley’s  ."
17631,1,Black cats in Vietnam are being killed and consumed as a COVID-19 cure.,"April 24, 2020",animals;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,south west news service,"South West News Service describes itself as a “UK- and US-based news and media content agency.""",,0,0,0,0,1,0,a news story,"The driver said the meat was being taken to Hanoi for consumption, according to the report. But the report contains no suggestion the meat was being used for treatment of coronavirus. When we reached out to South West News Service about the source of the information, the agency told PolitiFact that ""shortly after publication, we identified a number of issues with this story and pulled it from our service. We received new information which led us to doubt the widespread nature of the claims the charity had made on this issue."" We rate this  ."
8315,2,"People on pot ""shoot each other ... stab each other ... strangle each other, drive under the influence, kill families.","January 14, 2014",drugs;crime;punditfact;marijuana,nancy grace,Nancy Grace is a former prosecutor and legal analyst who hosts her own show on HLN.,,0,0,0,2,0,0,a segment on 'Nancy Grace',"Grace said, people on pot ""shoot each other ... stab each other ... strangle each other, drive under the influence, kill families."" Yes, you can find individual cases to back up each of Grace's points, but Grace suggested pot drives people generally to commit violent acts, and there's no  of that. Behavioral science experts we consulted stressed using marijuana has consequences. But a hard turn toward violence, including shooting each other and killing families, isn’t one of the direct effects from using the drug for most people.  We rate Grace’s  ."
8937,3,"It was Dan Sullivan who wrote a bill to cut Alaskans out of those decisions"" about where they can hunt and fish.","June 2, 2014",environment;congress;elections;government regulation;negative campaigning,put alaska first pac ,Put Alaska First is a political action committee supporting Democratic Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska.,national,0,0,1,0,0,0,a television ad,"""If you are a hunter, and you hunt a popular state-owned tract of land, the commissioner can hand that land over to a developer without a public hearing and without adhering to existing laws and (regulations), under HB 77,"" said Jim Lottsfeldt, Put Alaska First senior adviser. Our Ruling: Put Alaska First PAC said in a television ad that Sullivan ""wrote a bill to cut Alaskans out of"" decisions about where citizens can hunt and fish. As commissioner of natural resources, Sullivan did indeed push legislation to limit the public's ability to review and comment on development proposals. However, the ad glosses over a few complicating issues, including the stated goal of the proposal, and suggests, rather speculatively, that hunters could be affected. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate this  ."
15353,0,"Democrats let him (cop killer Luis Bracamontes) into our country,"" and ""Democrats let him stay.","October 31, 2018",immigration;corrections and updates;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,"Trump tweeted a video that said ""Democrats let him (cop killer Luis Bracamontes) into our country,"" and ""Democrats let him stay."" The reality is that Bracamontes’ last illegal entry was under Bush, a Republican president. The majority of his time going undetected was also on the Republican watch, though some of it was on the Democrats’ watch, too. Democratic and Republican administrations deported Bracamontes, but also failed to keep Bracamontes out of the United States. We found no  that he was proactively allowed to stay. We rate this  . Clarification: Federal immigration enforcement was reorganized after 9/11, and subsequently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, received its current name. This report has been updated to remove references to the name ICE prior to 2003."
12161,0,"Hillary Clinton says she wants to, 'raise taxes on the middle class.'","August 4, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign video,"The Trump campaign said, ""Hillary Clinton says  she wants to, ‘raise taxes on the middle class.’ "" According to the transcript, numerous reporters, experts and a computer program, Clinton said the exact opposite. We rate this statement !"
6947,3,"Military spending cuts, known as the sequester, were President Barack Obama's idea.","February 12, 2013",federal budget;military,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 Republican response to the State of the Union,"Rubio said the defense cuts known that are part of sequestration were Obama’s ""idea in the first place."" That doesn’t tell the whole story -- particularly the fact that Obama does not favor these cuts. The White House proposed them as a means of driving the two sides to a compromise over the deficit, not as a real-world spending plan. Still, the idea did originate with Obama’s team. We rate Rubio’s statement ."
1610,1,"Under the new Arizona immigration law, police can't stop someone to check their immigration status unless they think they see something illegal.","April 26, 2010",immigration;legal issues,john huppenthal ,John Huppenthal is the current Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. He was formerly a state senator.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,an interview on MSNBC's Hardball,"The law says the police officer just needs ""reasonable suspicion'' that the person is an alien who is unlawfully in the United States. The police are prohibited from using a profile based solely on racial or ethnic factors, but that standard can be sidestepped. In addition, some seemingly innocuous behaviors like getting in a car or making a gesture or nodding could be seen by a law officer as ""reasonable suspicion"" of the newly enacted prohibition against seeking work while in the United States illegally. The passage in the law citing racial profiling does provide some protection, as does the difficulty of defining a profile for illegal immigrants that could pass legal muster, but the law leaves open several possibilities for police questioning individuals without seeing or suspecting a specific crime.  So we rate Huppenthal's statement ."
8425,5,"Of minimum wage workers in Rhode Island ""only 14 percent serve as sole income earner for their family.","January 27, 2014",economy;jobs,mike stenhouse,"Mike Stenhouse is the chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a conservative think tank. A Cranston, R.I., native, he is a former player for the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos. Previously, he was executive director of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute. He has an economics degree from Harvard University, served as chairman for the 2010 Rhode Island Clean Slate campaign, and as vice president of the Board of Directors for Rhode Island Special Olympics.",rhode island,1,0,1,1,1,1,a news release,"Michael Stenhouse says only 14 percent of Rhode Islanders earning minimum wage or less are the sole earners for their families. Stenhouse was citing figures from an established research group that another research group, with an opposite political philosophy, found to be credible. The study he cited was based on an $8.25 wage, rather than Rhode Island’s $8 rate. But that’s not enough to make a big difference. We rule his   ."
18290,2,"Says Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is ""known for doing nothing. … (Peters) skipped 84% of small business hearings (and) skipped 89% of hearings on China.","August 26, 2020",candidate biography;china;congress;small business,john james,"John James, a Republican, is running for Senate in 2020 against Democratic incumbent Gary Peters. James, a West Point graduate and Army combat veteran, ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2018 against Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.",michigan,0,0,0,1,1,0,a campaign ad,"James said that Peters is ""known for doing nothing. … (Peters) skipped 84% of small business hearings (and) skipped 89% of hearings on China."" The percentages are accurate, but they are cherry-picked because they ignore multiple other measurements that indicate a high level of engagement by Peters in Washington, including recent influential committee assignments, a perfect record on floor votes, and high scores on effectiveness from independent academic analyses. We rate the statement ."
13279,4,"We've lost 70,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization.","April 18, 2017",china;jobs;trade;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.",wisconsin,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,"The latest U.S. Census figures, for 2014, produced two counts: 73,000, which supports Trump’s , and 61,000. And at least some of the losses can be attributed to increased trade with China. We rate the statement . More Trump As he prepared to visit Wisconsin, Trump’s record on the -O-Meter -- on statements fact checked since he’s been president -- shows roughly two-thirds of his statements have been rated near the bottom of the meter."
17334,0,"Says ""there is no"" COVID-19 virus.","March 19, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"The WHO has declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic and global health emergency. On the advice of health officials, several countries — including France , Italy and Spain — have ordered nationwide lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus. Coronavirus prevention measures  have caused  the plunge of global financial markets, as well as layoffs across the country. To  that the virus at the center of the pandemic does not exist, as the Facebook post does, is  and . We rate it !"
20717,3,"The push for high-speed internet for rural areas, from the start, ""was a Democratic thing.","December 12, 2021",bipartisanship;infrastructure;public service;technology,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,TV interview,"Erpenbach claimed pushing for better high-speed internet access was ""a Democratic thing.""  Democrats pushed a broad variety of potential solutions and called for funding early, but Republicans did float bills that could address parts of the problem, albeit market-driven approaches that experts say would leave places that are most expensive to reach uncovered. Today, both sides agree on the need for better broadband — just not quite how to get there.  And at the local level, experts say advocating for improved internet access is a grassroots effort, not a political one.  We rate his  .   "
13162,0,"Says ""(Barack) Obama's mother-in-law charged with larceny and fraud.","March 16, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"TheLastLineOfDefense.org report appears to acknowledge there is no pension for the first grandma (or at least not a legal one). Instead, the post unleashes outrage over Robinson’s alleged attempt to collect money not owed to her. What we have here is one  news website posting a contrived follow-up to another  news website’s  report. Robinson is not collecting a pension, and she hasn’t been charged with a crime for trying to collect a pension. We rate this  !"
14224,5,Small business confidence is at an all-time high.,"January 30, 2018",economy;polls and public opinion;small business,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 State of the Union address,"Trump said, ""Small business confidence is at an all-time high."" The NFIB’s small-business survey set a high in 2017, when all months are averaged. So we rate his statement ."
5425,1,"Every time the price of gasoline rises 1 cent, ""it's a billion dollars out of our economy that goes to Saudi Arabia.","March 23, 2012",corrections and updates;economy;energy;iraq,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 campaign speech,"So, even if Thompson had said Middle East instead of Saudi Arabia, his statement would be .) We rate Thompson’s  . (You can comment on this item on the Journal Sentinel's web site ) Editor's note:  On April 20, 2012 we revised this item to note that if the price of a barrel of oil rose by 42 cents, the U.S. would pay Saudi Arabia $501,900 more per day -- or slightly more than $183 million per year. The original wording, which said the U.S. would pay $501,900 more  per barrel  per day, was ."
16136,0,"Says Kanye West scored ""106 points against wheelchair basketball team.","June 6, 2019",disability;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,"After West did a ""tomahawk slam dunk"" that sent the basketball into a fictional seventh grader’s face, the (!) article quotes West as saying, ""How do you like that? How do you like that? Sit before the great and powerful Yeezus."" PolitiFact bows to no self-proclaimed God . And we rate this Facebook post !"
6281,1,"Ann Kuster ""supports the government takeover of healthcare, which robs Medicare of over $700 billion.","August 27, 2012",health care;message machine 2012,charles bass,Charlie Bass is a U.S. representative from New Hampshire.,new hampshire,0,0,0,3,2,0,and around New Hampshire.”,"Our Ruling: Had Bass been careful in his wording, there might have been some  to his claims. Kuster has expressed support for the Affordable Care Act, and the law has been shown to reduce Medicare spending by $700 billion. But, instead, the Congressman repeated past claims that the Care Act constitutes a ""government takeover"" of health care, and that it ""robs"" $700 billion from Medicare. The government takeover part is so  it's been rated ; the Medicare part is . On balance, we rate the full  ."
13865,4,"In Wisconsin, ""we have a bill that would allow hidden, deadly weapons -- every single person to carry one -- no training, no background check, even around schools.","October 4, 2017",criminal justice;education;crime;government regulation;guns,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 news conference,"As for around schools, anyone who can legally possess a firearm could generally carry it concealed within 1,000 feet of a school, under the bill. For a statement that is accurate but needs additional information, our rating is . Note: This item was updated on Oct. 6, 2017 to make reference to the federal law on carrying a weapon near a school. This does not change the rating. div class='artembed'>"
10632,5,Less than half of the poorest American households have a home Internet subscription.,"July 27, 2015",census;families;income;poverty;wealth,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,his year-in-review speech,"Castro said that ""less than half of the poorest American households have a home Internet subscription."" About 48 percent of the nation’s poorest quintile of households--the bottom 20 percent--reported a home Internet connection in 2013. Home web access correlates with income, it appears. 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."
3012,3,Ten retired nuns were barred from voting in the 2008 Indiana Democratic primary.,"January 25, 2011",elections,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,remarks on the floor of the Texas Senate,"Smessaert said that several of the nuns who were unable to vote have since died and that the others couldn’t be interviewed because of health reasons. So, were the nuns barred from voting, as Van de Putte says? According to media reports and a spokeswoman for Saint Mary’s convent, the elderly nuns were barred from casting a regular ballot because they lacked proper identification. But they were not barred from voting in another way, such as casting provisional ballots — though their votes wouldn’t have counted unless the sisters took additional steps to meet state qualifications. We rate Van de Putte’s statement as ."
4233,5,"The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly approved ""only one out of 376 amendments offered by Assembly Democrats"" in 2011.","August 27, 2011",bipartisanship,brett hulsey,"Democrat Brett Hulsey of Madison, the owner of an energy and environmental consulting firm, was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2010. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the Aug. 12, 2014 Democratic primary for governor.",wisconsin,1,0,0,1,3,0,an opinion column,"yes votes by Assembly Democrats on the bills. That means, on average, 7.5 of the 38 Democrats voted yes on each of the 44 bills. Our conclusion Hulsey said the Republican-controlled state Assembly adopted only one of nearly 400 amendments offered by Democrats to bills that were adopted by the Assembly. Complete official data is not available, but GOP leaders don’t dispute that only one Democratic amendment was approved. We rate Hulsey’s statement ."
13776,2,Muslims' disturbing plan comes out after grocery stores go bare to prepare for Irma.,"September 6, 2017",environment;fake news;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 blog post,"That photo was shot on Sept. 5 at a Publix supermarket in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. by the Palm Beach Post — two days after SITE’s report came out. The Miami Herald and several other outlets also reported on Sept. 5 about empty shelves at stores as Floridians prepared for Hurricane Irma. The New York Times on Sept. 4 also noted there were bare water shelves in Puerto Rico as they also braced for the storm. Freedom Daily’s story itself contains  information, but the headline ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
6212,1,"Says Gov. Chris Christie has embarked on a tour to ""demand that New Jersey's Democratic legislature approve an immediate tax cut that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest.","August 27, 2012",taxes,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,Politico,"Buono said that Christie embarked on an ""Endless Summer"" tour to ""demand that New Jersey’s Democratic legislature approve an immediate tax cut that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest."" Christie first proposed an across-the-board income tax cut that would have benefited higher income filers more than lower income filers. But Christie has since backed off that plan. Before the governor kicked off his ""Endless Summer"" tour, he signed on to a version of the Senate Democrats’ plan to give an income tax credit based on individuals’ property tax bills. We rate Buono’s statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
14313,3,"We have roughly between 85,000 (and) 95,000 open jobs in Wisconsin.","December 21, 2017",economy;jobs,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,radio interview,"The in-state listings appear largely legitimate, based on checks with the largest employers and a search for repeated or out-of-date listings. But that is still short of the range Kleefisch asserted. The database changed somewhat between her statement and the data we analyzed, but not by enough to put the Wisconsin tally in line with her statement. We rate her  . (Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, rather than Froedtert Health, which covers jus tthe Froedtert portion of the operation)."
8126,4,"The economy bled $24 billion"" due to the government shutdown.","December 1, 2013",economy;federal budget;health care;punditfact,doonesbury,Doonesbury is a Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip by G.B. Trudeau.,,0,4,2,0,0,0,the Sunday comics,"Doonesbury , aka Garry Trudeau, said the government shutdown cost the economy $24 billion. That is based on the highest of the independent estimates. The others are lower. Three prominent forecasters, Goldman Sachs, IHS and Moody’s assessed the damage at $20 billion. A survey of economists set $16 billion as the most likely figure. There is broad agreement that the political impasse produced uncertainty that puts an ongoing, if unquantified, damper on growth. Trudeau likes to say he aims for verisimilitude and he achieved that with his use of a high but defensible estimate from an independent source. We rate the  ."
2041,0,Obama admits he is not a citizen.,"August 3, 2010",candidate biography;obama birth certificate,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",rhode island,6,5,9,11,44,107,referring to a YouTube video,"But on the YouTube page, the word ""contrived"" is not visible, unless a viewer opens the full description box. However, nothing in the video itself warns viewers that the Obama clip is fabricated and the video includes a photo -- proven  more than a year ago by our friends at Snopes.com -- of Obama holding a landline telephone receiver upside down. By Aug. 4, 2010, the  Matters video had been viewed over a million times on YouTube, 176 times more often than the original ObamaSnippets.com video, where its humorous nature is clear.  does matter, but not to the makers of the  Matters video or to the creators of the ""Obama admits"" e-mail. We rate them both as . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/27b5599a-0629-4b38-a5e5-67d74dc36f83"
737,2,"Sen. McCain's tax plan provides ""virtually nothing to the middle class.","October 2, 2008",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. ",national,25,64,65,52,55,7,St. Louis,"If you look down the road to 2012, those in the middle quintile would see tax cuts of $1,441 under McCain’s plan and $2,197 under Obama’s. The analysis backs up Obama’s broad contention that McCain’s tax policy is weighted to give the largest benefit to higher-income taxpayers. However, it’s  to say McCain’s plan would provide no relief to middle-class Americans. Its more generous exemption for dependents and lower tax rates would cut across income levels and reduce or eliminate many taxpayers’ AMT exposure. For this reason, we rule the Biden’s comment ."
11545,3,"A study ""from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, and Dartmouth concluded that Medicaid's value to its beneficiaries is significantly lower than the actual cost of the program.","March 28, 2016",health care;medicaid,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 Medium post,"Price, in his committee’s resolution, said that ""for too many Americans, Medicaid is an empty promise. … In fact, a study conducted by a team of renowned economists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, and Dartmouth concluded that Medicaid’s value to its beneficiaries is significantly lower than the actual cost of the program."" Academics did conclude that only a fraction of what Medicaid spends directly replaces what its beneficiaries would have had to pay for their health care costs. But even the Medicaid money that doesn’t replace the beneficiary’s own spending does pay for their health care. This conflicts with the resolution’s  that the paper showed that Medicaid’s ""value to its beneficiaries is significantly lower than the actual cost of the program."" The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
3952,3,"Says that, unlike the U.S. Senate, ""even the Libyan government, in the middle of a civil war, passed a budget on June 15, 2011","June 24, 2011",federal budget;foreign policy,ann marie buerkle,"Ann Marie Buerkle is a Republican U.S. representative from New York, having defeated Rep. Dan Maffei for his seat in the 2010 election.",national,0,0,1,0,1,0,a news release,"Libya is a dictatorship, not a well-established constitutional democracy. Libya’s budget is much less complicated than the U.S. budget, since Libya’s gross domestic product is less than one-half of 1 percent of the GDP of United States. And the passage of the budget in June is seen as demonstrating less about Libya’s normal functioning of government and more about the Gadhafi regime’s need to show the world that it’s withstanding the offensives of the NATO-backed rebels. We give Buerkle credit for her facts, but demerits for her interpretation. So we rate her statement ."
15112,4,"Says ""Claire McCaskill receives the second-most contributions from insurance companies in the entire Senate.","September 19, 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 video,"Hawley said that ""Claire McCaskill receives the second-most contributions from insurance companies in the entire Senate."" This isn't a perfect reflection of her standing among senators in terms of health insurance contributions. This ranking is based all types of insurers, not just health insurers. But with current contributions, she ranks third among current senators for insurance-related donations during the 2018 campaign cycle. We rate the statement ."
756,5,"Under Barack Obama's health care proposal, ""if you've got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it.","October 7, 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,"Nashville, Tenn","But currently it includes a mandate only for children. Obama has said that he did not include a mandate for adults so as not to penalize people with modest incomes. It remains to be seen whether Obama's plan will actually be able to achieve the cost savings it promises for the health care system. But people who want to keep their current insurance should be able to do that under Obama's plan. His description of his plan is accurate, and we rate his statement ."
11755,1,Let me say that I don't think (Bernie Sanders has) had a single negative ad ever run against him.,"May 22, 2016",corrections and updates;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.",national,72,76,70,43,31,9,"an interview on ""Meet the Press""","Clinton said, ""Let me say that I don't think (Sanders has) had a single negative ad ever run against him.""  The number of attack ads against Sanders pales in comparison to the number against Clinton, but she’s  that he’s been completely spared. Democratic groups, including one supporting Clinton, and Republican outfits alike have gone after Sanders. We rate her  . Update, May 23, 2016: This report has been updated to include a response we received from Correct the Record after initial publication. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d7df3b83-bd90-4892-b050-86ae781485af"
9684,3,"The Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, has blocked any vote on the Keystone pipeline for years.","November 16, 2014",congress;energy;voting record;punditfact,chris wallace,"Chris Wallace is the host of ""Fox News Sunday.""",,0,1,3,0,0,0,"comments on ""Fox News Sunday""","Wallace said ""Reid has blocked any vote on the Keystone pipeline for years."" In actuality, several amendments approving Keystone have come up for a vote in the Senate. And Reid and other top Democratic senators have offered Keystone votes several times as part of a broader legislative compromise. But Reid has generally blocked a simple up-or-down vote on the pipeline, using it either as a bargaining chip or by ignoring legislation coming from the House. Wallace’s  is partially accurate but goes too far by saying ""any vote."" We rate it ."
22115,1,Video shows gunfire in Venezuela.,"October 13, 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,"O Dia, a newspaper in Rio, also said in September that police were looking into the video in connection with a drug trafficking investigation.    Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country amid violence, socio-economic insecurity, food shortages and a lack of medical care. They recently surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans as the second-largest nationality stopped at the U.S. border after Mexicans, according to the Associated Press .   But this video doesn’t show shooting in Venezuela.   We rate that  ."
385,5,"(Obama) did accept donations from lobbyists and PACs and he spent money in this campaign from that, through his political action committee.","March 16, 2008",ethics,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 with the mtvU editorial board,"Therefore it's a stretch for Clinton to say, ""He said one thing and did another."" But we're checking Clinton's  that ""(Obama) did accept donations from lobbyists and PACs and he spent money in this campaign from that, through his political action committee."" And Obama's leadership PAC did accept $16,000 from lobbyists, and another $125,000 from PACs, even though it was collected before Obama was an announced candidate. And nearly half of Hopefund's money was spent on key primary states during the campaign. So we rate Clinton's  ."
13821,5,"Florida's coastal and stormwater infrastructure are ""two of the most critical areas during a storm, and received D-plus and D ratings, respectively, by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2016.","September 18, 2017",environment,gwen graham,Gwen Graham lost the Democratic primary for governor in Florida in 2018. She won Florida's second district seat in the U.S. House in 2014 and served for one term. She is the daughter of former Florida Gov. Bob Graham.,florida,2,1,3,2,0,0,an opinion-editorial,"Graham said that Florida’s coastal area and stormwater infrastructure are not prepared to handle climate change, adding that the state ""received D-plus and D ratings, respectively, by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2016."" Graham is accurately citing a report card given out by the oldest engineering society in the country and experts vouched for the group’s assessment and Graham’s larger point. Florida has failed to take preventative measures in the past and it needs to update its existing infrastructure to prepare for climate change. We rate this  ."
10308,2,"Says Hillary Clinton ""makes more per hour at a speaking gig than the average CEO does in a year.","May 13, 2015",income;wealth;workers;punditfact,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.",,4,2,7,5,8,6,a segment on his radio show,"Beck said Hillary Clinton ""makes more at a speaking gig in an hour than the average CEO does in a year,"" in the context of Clinton criticizing ""out of control CEO salaries."" This is an example of imperfect data. What’s clear is Clinton earned north of $200,000 for a typical paid appearance. But what’s complicated is comparing that one-off event to what a CEO makes in a year. Looking at CEOs of large companies, Beck’s  completely falls apart. The data that puts Beck’s  in the best light, from BLS, is incomplete. It doesn’t include stock options, bonuses and other benefits that typically make up an executive’s compensation package. Nor does it account for CEOs of small and medium-sized business who have ownership stakes. At the same time, it includes people classified as chief executives in the public sector, as well as in Puerto Rico — groups that drag the average salary down. Beck's statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
13635,5,"The Inland Empire is ""the second fastest growing region"" for jobs in California.","July 12, 2017",economy;jobs;the 2018 california governor's race;transportation,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,an interview on MSNBC,"Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently claimed the Inland Empire is ""the second fastest growing region"" in California. We took Newsom’s  to mean it has the second fastest job growth rate. Data compiled by two leading economists back up Newsom’s assertion. It shows the Inland Empire’s nearly 3.5 percent jobs growth rate in 2016 was second only to San Francisco’s 4.16 percent. Figures over the past five years show the Inland Empire grew jobs at 22.3 percent, again second only to the San Francisco market.   The lieutenant governor was also correct to describe these Inland Empire jobs as based in the transportation and distribution sectors, based on data from the economists. We rate Newsom’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."
8640,2,EPA officials have commended (Koch Industries) for our 'commitment to a cleaner environment' and called us 'a model for other companies.',"April 2, 2014",environment;regulation,charles koch,"Charles G. Koch is chairman of the board and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc., a position he has held since 1967. He is also a major donor to libertarian causes.",national,0,0,0,1,1,0,"an op-ed for the ""Wall Street Journal.""","In his op-ed, Charles Koch wrote that ""EPA officials have commended us for our ‘commitment to a cleaner environment’ and called us ‘a model for other companies.’ "" Actually, the EPA was focusing on very limited aspects of Koch Industries and not the company as a whole. Further, Koch Industries has a history with the EPA that was completely glossed over, and it includes multiple violations of rules. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
14061,1,Breaking: federal judge grants permission to subpoena Trump.,"November 29, 2017",fake news;legal issues;punditfact,news.groopspeak.com,News.groopspeak.com is a website that attacks President Donald Trump.,,0,0,0,0,1,0,a headline,"For the record, a sitting president can be subpoenaed, said Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. ""Richard Nixon had documents subpoenaed, and the Supreme Court upheld this,"" he told PolitiFact. A headline stated that a ""federal judge grants permission to subpoena Trump."" A federal judge made a ruling about the preservation of documents in a case, but the subpoenas pertain to third-parties, not Trump individually. We rate this headline ."
11419,3,"More lives are lost from violence against women, sex-selective abortion, female infanticide, suicide, egregious maternal mortality, and other sex-linked causes than were lost during all of the wars and civil strife of the 20th century.","February 24, 2016",global news service;women,emma watson,Emma Watson is a British actress and Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women.,,0,0,2,0,0,0,an interview with Gloria Steinem,"Watson said, ""More lives are lost from violence against women, sex-selective abortion, female infanticide, suicide, egregious maternal mortality, and other sex-linked causes than were lost during all of the wars and civil strife of 20th century."" The  comes from the book Sex and World Peace by Valerie Hudson, who was citing a UN figure of 163 million missing women in 2005. That’s 10 million more than her estimate of lives lost in all of last century’s strife, 153 million. But this is using a high estimate for the first measure and a low estimate for the second. The number of sex-related deaths, which varies from year to year, typically falls within 100 million to 130 million range. The number of deaths due to war, according to most other estimates, is about 200 million. Both numbers are disturbingly high, but it’s not clear that one is definitively higher than the other.   With this caveat, we rate Watson’s  ."
3045,2,"Overall we currently have $981 million, almost a billion dollars in active development projects right here in the City of Richmond.","February 3, 2011",economy,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,his annual State of the City Address,"When completed works are excluded, the number of current or planned development deals falls to $732.3 million, 25.4 percent less than what the mayor cited. And another project, the $26.6 million Manchester on the James, is dormant. No doubt, Richmond has been developing in recent years and several major projects were successfully completed in 2010. But the mayor’s number is not right; it paints a better picture than what exists. Therefore we rate the Jones’  ."
18857,1,Election worker brags about destroying Trump ballots; rips up a ballot for DJT on video.,"November 9, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"I’ve never worked for them,"" according to Newsweek. He said he’s wearing his uniform for his job at Amazon in the viral TikTok video.   We rate this blog post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
13234,1,"There is no legal basis"" for Donald Trump's ""missile strike against Syrian military assets.","April 7, 2017",legal issues;foreign policy;military,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 statement,"Even under the War Powers Resolution, the president can send in forces without approval from Congress. Lower courts have ruled in favor of the White House in the use of force, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on that point. Our rating Pocan said: ""There is no legal basis"" for Trump's ""missile strike against Syrian military assets."" For limited military activities like the missile strike, presidents can send in forces without approval from Congress. We rate Pocan’s statement ."
11263,5,The African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse.,"February 11, 2016",financial regulation;race and ethnicity,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,comments during the PBS Democratic debate,"Sanders said, ""The African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse."" Estimates for how much wealth blacks lost from 2005 to 2009 — as a result of the housing bubble — range from 53 percent to 61 percent. African-American net worth plummeted 43 percent from 2007 to 2013 — as a result of the financial crisis. Because the two financial crises are inseparable, we won’t quibble with Sanders’ timeline. We rate his  ."
14284,3,There's a large number of schools in Texas that don't even offer sex education.,"January 26, 2018",education;sexuality,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 claim to David Martin Davies of Texas Public Radio,"White said a ""large number"" of Texas schools don’t offer sex education. In fact, most districts offered sex education in high school in 2015-16, according to a statewide analysis, though nearly 60 percent were teaching abstinence alone. The study estimated that 25 percent of districts didn't offer sex education. 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."
1534,3,"If every house in Florida had a solar-heated water tank, that would eliminate consumption by 17 percent.","February 28, 2010",energy,jeff kottkamp,"Jeff Kottkamp is a former Florida lieutenant governor. He campaigned to be Florida Attorney General and was defeated in the Republican primary on Aug. 24, 2010.",florida,2,0,1,0,1,0,an interview on Newsmax TV,"That's why the Department of Energy says the reduction for water heating energy costs is more along the lines of 50 to 80 percent of the current cost. That means rather than the 17 percent savings Kottkamp cites, it could be as low as 8.5 percent. So Kottkamp's underlying point is correct, but he's overreaching with his conclusion that it would reduce energy costs 17 percent. According to the federal estimate, the actual savings could be only half of that -- as low as 8.5 percent of total energy costs. So we find his  ."
4633,5,The U.S. would gain revenue by cutting personal income tax rates in half and ending tax breaks.,"October 31, 2011",deficit;taxes,mark warner,"Mark Warner, a Democrat, has represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate since 2009. He serves on the Banking, Budget, Commerce and Intelligence committees. He is the honorary co-chairman of the Forward Together PAC.
Warner gave the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Warner previously served as governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. He also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1996. Before public office, Warner was an early investor in the cell phone business, co-founded the company that became Nextel.
Warner was born in Indianapolis, Ind., and grew up in Illinois and Connecticut. Warner graduated from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. He received a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.",virginia,7,3,7,3,2,0,a TV interview,"Hall said Warner has spoken about restricting the deduction to principal residences and capping eligible mortgages for complete interest deduction at $750,000 mortgage, instead of the current $1 million. Our conclusion: Warner says the U.S. could raise money by cutting personal income rates in half and ending deductions. We ran the numbers and found, under the senator’s scenario, the U.S. would collect about $574.2 billion in additional revenues during the current fiscal year. Uncle Sam would have gained about $594 billion during fiscal 2011. We rate Warner’s statement ."
15720,4,"Among neighboring states, the condition of Wisconsin highways was rated ""not only the worst, but it was worse by a gaping margin.","January 27, 2019",infrastructure;public safety;transportation,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,an interview,"Our rating Thompson said among neighboring states, the condition of Wisconsin highways was rated ""not only the worst, but it was worse by a gaping margin."" A Legislative Audit Bureau report found only 32.2 percent of Wisconsin’s highways classified in good condition, far below those of neighboring states Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Those states all had at least 55 percent of highways in good condition. So, the  is accurate -- though the data is, well dated. Our definition of  is the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, and that puts Thompson in the driver's seat with his .   "
15864,5,"Right now, 1 in 4 Texas women of reproductive age are uninsured, totaling 1.5 million Texas women.","March 27, 2019",corrections and updates;health care,john bucy iii,"State Rep. John Bucy III is a Democratic state representative from Austin, Texas.",texas,1,0,0,0,0,0,the Texas House,"Bucy said, ""one in four Texas women of reproductive age are uninsured, totaling 1.5 million Texas women."" His source was a report from an Austin-based group that conducted an analysis of Census numbers. The research method is one that has been used by other organizations and a study from the Guttmacher Institute had similar findings. An analysis of publicly available Census numbers offers an estimate that also supports Bucy’s . We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Correction:  This fact-check has been updated to address a mischaracterization​ of the number of women who are uninsured. About 1 in 4 women between 15 and 44 do not have health insurance. The rating is unchanged.  "
21341,1,"Elon Musk tweeted, ""The fact that an 18 year old can't take out a $10,000 business loan"" but ""can take out a $100,000 student loan tells you everything you need to know.","April 25, 2022",technology;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Our search of the internet turned up another version of the quote that wasn’t attributed to Musk and used different loan figures . We found copies of it on Twitter going back to at least Feb. 8, 2021 .   Musk did tweet on Dec. 28, 2019, that he worked his way through college and ended up with around $100,000 in student debt.   But that’s not the same tweet that’s being circulated here. We rate this  ."
9907,4,Today the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our national income than any year since 1928.,"January 20, 2015",income,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,an interview with Fox News,"Cruz said: ""Today the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our national income than any year since 1928."" Cruz accurately recapped calculations of income by respected researchers though this statement fails to note there are some income streams not part of the cited calculations that would tend to help those of us in the bottom 99 percent, relatively speaking. Also, tax changes that took effect in 2013 may slightly be reducing how much of the nation’s income is held by the top 1 percent. Mark 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."
22523,1,CNN reported that Damar Hamlin's doctor confirmed his cardiac arrest was caused by a COVID-19 vaccine booster.,"January 17, 2023",sports;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,"""  The cause of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest has not been released and doctors are investigating what happened. Some experts who have reviewed the footage of his collapse speculated a blow to the left side of his chest may have caused his heart to stop.   There’s no  that a COVID-19 vaccine caused this to happen. We previously rated claims that the vaccine caused his collapse  . Claims that this is a real CNN headline merit the same ruling: ."
9028,3,"Says Mark Warner has supported Harry Reid ""down the line.","June 9, 2014",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 TV interview,"Gillespie accused Warner of supporting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ""down the line."" Gillespie’s campaign declined to provide any explanation of the statement. Records show that Warner and Reid have voted in accord 87 percent of the time, including on most of the landmark bills since 2009. That shows substantial agreement, but not the knee-jerk support for Reid that Gillespie suggests. Among the 51 Senate Democrats, Warner has the ninth lowest voting percentage with Reid. Reid and Warner usually agree, but they’re not clones. We rate Gillespie’s exaggerated statement ."
19997,1,Headlines show CNN published contradictory reports about hydroxychloroquine in 2020.,"July 10, 2021",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"Social media users claimed in a Facebook post that the headlines on two stories by the same author show CNN published contradictory reports about hydroxychloroquine in 2020.  The April headline said President Trump was "" in so many ways"" about hydroxychloroquine, while the July headline said a study found that the drug ""helped coronavirus patients survive better.""  But the stories did not contain conflicting information. The April story covered four specific claims by President Trump about hydroxychloroquine, and the July story was a report on study findings about the drug.  We rate the  ."
1541,0,The path to ObamaCare becoming law all started with Charlie Crist supporting President Obama's $787 billion stimulus.,"March 22, 2010",health care;stimulus,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 fundraising E-mail,"So Rubio contends that ""The path to ObamaCare becoming law all started with Charlie Crist supporting President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus."" The logic is that Crist was instrumental in helping Obama deliver the stimulus, and that the health care reforms would not be possible without the stimulus. We find this  on both points. Crist, while a vocal supporter of the stimulus and one of the only major Republicans endorsing the spending plan, did little to sway votes in Congress and get the stimulus bill passed into law. And the stimulus, while it had a few health care provisions, had little to do with the health care bill that eventually was passed by Congress. The seeds for the health care bill were sewn during Obama's presidential campaign in 2008, not at a town hall and hug in Fort Myers. All this to say, our first instinct was right. !"
15933,4,"People show up in the emergency room with a sprained ankle, 25 percent get an opioid prescription.","April 11, 2019",drugs;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,a panel at the University of Pennsylvania,"Biden said, ""People show up in the emergency room with a sprained ankle, 25 percent of them get an opioid prescription."" A national study found nearly one in four patients with ankle sprains were prescribed opioids in the emergency department from 2011 to 2015. But rates fell during that time period, to about 20 percent of patients treated for ankle sprains in 2015. More awareness about overprescribing and strengthened state guidelines appear to be driving the decline, experts said. We rate this statement ."
21691,1,"R. Kelly ""missing after prison security verify he's escaped beneath facility.","July 14, 2022",facebook fact-checks;illinois,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",new york,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"We found ""Robert Sylveste Kelly,"" a Black male age 55, who was in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. We previously debunked a  in 2021 that a photo showed Kelly being released from prison. The photo was an old one and showed him leaving jail in 2019 after paying child support he owed his ex-wife. He was still in custody then, and he’s still in custody now.   We rate this post ."
15783,1,"At $93 trillion, the Green New Deal would cost more than the entire recorded spending of the U.S. since the Constitution went into effect in 1789.","March 6, 2019",environment;corrections and updates;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 speech,"Ernst says: ""At $93 trillion, the Green New Deal would cost more than the entire recorded spending of the U.S. since the Constitution went into effect in 1789."" A center-right think tank run by the former head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget office estimates the cost of the Green New Deal, over 10 years, at between $51 trillion and $93 trillion. But the report itself described the estimates as an ""initial foray,"" filled with assumptions and caveats about a thinly detailed plan. No official government cost estimate has been done. And even if the high-end estimate of $93 trillion were accurate, comparing it with total federal spending since the Constitution is problematic, to say the least. Simply adding up federal spending, as Ernst did, doesn't take into account either inflation or population growth. Ernst's statement simply goes way too far. We rate it ."
16764,2,Speaker Pelosi's drug pricing plan would siphon $1 trillion or more from biopharmaceutical innovators over the next 10 years. CBO's preliminary estimate found this bill 'would result in lower spending on research and development and thus reduce the introduction of new drugs.',"November 27, 2019",health care;health check,pharmaceutical research and manfacturers of america,"The Pharmaceutical Research and Manfacturers of America, or PhRMA, represents biopharmaceutical research companies and supports the search for new treatments and cures.",,0,0,0,1,0,0,the “Politico Playbook PM” newsletter,"In its advertisement, PhRMA cites a CBO analysis of the Pelosi-backed drug-pricing bill, H.R. 3. The ad suggests that the bill would ""siphon $1 trillion or more from biopharmaceutical innovators over the next 10 years"" and ""reduce the introduction of new drugs."" This  misses lots of important context. The CBO’s analysis is preliminary, and it could change. The $1 trillion in forgone revenue is the upper limit of what that preliminary analysis predicts. And even if you assume drug companies would lose this much in revenue, the number of drugs that wouldn't make it to market would constitute a small fraction of what pharmaceutical companies typically produce, said experts. It’s further unclear that the forgone drugs would have major clinical value ― little  suggests they necessarily would. Other analyses PhRMA pointed us to ― which might ostensibly support their  ― don’t stand up to scrutiny. This statement has some  to it but omits crucial context that would give a radically different impression. We rate it ."
18653,1,Photo shows Ice Cube and 50 Cent wearing Donald Trump hats.,"October 20, 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,"""I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people 62% are you out of ya f------ mind."" Among the people sharing the doctored image of the rapper and Ice Cube the next day was one of the president’s sons, Eric Trump.   ""Two great, courageous, Americans!"" he tweeted .   We rate this Facebook post ."
14426,0,"Says Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting, ripped up a copy of the U.S. Constitution","March 24, 2018",fake news,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,posts on the Internet,"But multiple other Twitter accounts  (including Adam Baldwin from the tweet above) have shared the posts in the name of political satire. Gab, ""A free speech social network,"" tweeted the doctored GIF of Gonzalez ripping what looks like the Constitution, and then declared it was clearly ""satire"" shortly after. Despite this admission, the original post from Gab was retweeted more than 1,500 times and liked over 3,000 times. These  images of Gonzalez ripping up the U.S. Constitution are doctored. We rate this !"
16476,0,"Says John Bolton ""fundamentally was a man of the left.","September 10, 2019",history;foreign policy;pundits;punditfact,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 Bolton ""fundamentally was a man of the left."" Bolton spent his whole career in Republican politics, and experts said his views have always tilted more to the American right than left.  We found no proof that he had elevated ""Obama loyalists,"" either. We rate this statement ! "
14039,0,President Trump just saved Christmas for 13 million retirees.,"November 24, 2017",fake news;punditfact,reaganwasright,Reaganwasright is a satirical website.,,0,0,0,0,0,3,a headline,"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. In this case, the Reaganwasright Facebook post includes an innocuous headline, ""President Trump just saved Christmas for 13 million retirees,"" and a caption that asks people to share the post 1,000 times to show appreciation for Trump. As of this writing, it had been shared 768 times. We rate this  ."
22329,1,Many elections in Bexar are being called with 0% of precincts reporting! I smell MAJOR FRAUD!,"November 8, 2022",elections;facebook fact-checks;texas,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",national,3,3,15,51,405,140,a post,"The final results were published at 12:41 a.m. Nov. 9 and shows that 540,565 people in Bexar voted. Of that, 389,180 people — nearly 72% — participated in early voting or mailed in their ballots. The 151,385 others voted on Election Day. We find no  that early calls in Bexar County races suggested fraud. We rate that  .  PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
9308,4,"In 2012, there were nearly 12.2 million arrests and only 410 ""uses of deadly force"" by police in the United States.","August 20, 2014",civil rights;criminal justice;public safety;guns,edward flynn,"Edward Flynn was the police chief in Milwaukee, Wis., from January 2008 to February 2018. He was police commissioner in Springfield, Mass., from 2006 to 2008. He served as secretary of public safety under then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from January 2003 until taking the Springfield job.",wisconsin,1,2,3,1,0,0,an interview,"But the criminologists also noted Flynn’s comparison is one legitimate way to measure the frequency of police killings.    Our rating Flynn said that in 2012, there were nearly 12.2 million arrests and ""410 uses of deadly force"" by police in the United States. The Milwaukee police chief correctly quotes official FBI statistics on arrests and justifiable homicides by law enforcement officers, although it appears the 410 is an undercount of the number of people killed by police. We rate his statement . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website ."
14829,0,"Says Mark Pocan's proposal to eliminate the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would ""eliminate border enforcement.","July 5, 2018",immigration;legal issues;crime;regulation,leah vukmir,"Republican Leah Vukmir was elected to the Wisconsin state Senate in 2010, representing a suburban Milwaukee district. She served in the state Assembly from 2002 to 2008. She lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2018.",wisconsin,0,1,2,3,4,3,a news release,"But enforcing the border is not even ICE’s job. Rather, the federal agency pursues unauthorized immigrants who are already inside the country. A different federal agency is responsible for patrolling the border, so border enforcement would continue even if ICE were eliminated. And, in any case, Pocan is not proposing to end border enforcement. For a statement that is  and , we rate Vukmir’s  ."
3830,2,"Rep. Jim Renacci's plan to end Medicare also puts nursing home care for 3,000 seniors in the district in immediate jeopardy.","June 8, 2011",health care;medicaid;medicare,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,"""If you recognize that the bulk of Medicaid spending goes to nursing homes, you would have to conclude that nursing homes would be severely impacted,"" Lamphere said. So where does that leave the DCCC’s  on the -O-Meter?      There is an element of  to the DCCC , but it also ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. The DCCC packs a lot of misinformation into a single sentence. On the -O-Meter, we rate it ."
4876,3,"Mitt Romney is worth ""at least a quarter billion dollars"" and the bulk of his wealth ""remains in blind trusts and overseas bank accounts.","January 10, 2012",candidate biography;corrections and updates;message machine 2012,winning our future,Winning Our Future is a Super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich for president in 2012.,national,0,1,3,2,2,0,"the online video ""King of Bain""","    Winning Our Future’s movie puts Romney’s personal fortune at $250 million and says most of it ""remains in blind trusts and overseas bank accounts.""     According to one analysis of Romney’s financial disclosure, his wealth may total $264 million -- but it may also be closer to $85 million. It’s clear that most of it has been held in blind trusts since 2003, which is common practice among elected officials to avoid conflicts of interest.     But the super PAC didn't provide, and we didn't find, good  that ""the bulk"" of Romney’s money is in overseas accounts. His tax returns show he previously had a Swiss account and that he made almost $3 million in foreign income in 2010. But the tax returns and financial disclosures indicate that a relatively small share of Romney’s wealth is overseas. Taken all together, we rate the  ."
10285,5,"Georgia is on track for 1,200 traffic fatalities this year, a reversal of nine years of declines.","May 11, 2015",public safety;transportation,russell mcmurry,Russell McMurry is commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,news reports,"Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said in recent news reports that the state is on pace to see 1,200 people die in traffic accidents this year – all before the start of the busy summer driving season. Transportation numbers back up that . That data, and figures about the number of registered vehicles in the state, also confirm that would be the first time in nine years that Georgia has not seen a decline in those deaths. We rate the commissioner’s statement ."
1354,3,"Says Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison ""took 154 private flights all funded by taxpayers"" though ""commercial flights were readily available at a fraction of the cost.","February 5, 2010",ethics,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 online ad,"""No way you can do it"" in a day without using chartered planes, Portillo said. The upshot: Perry accurately identified 154 taxpayer-funded private plane trips taken by Hutchison during 16 years of her Senate service, including 15 planes provided by donors, corporations and one identified lobbyist from 2000 through 2009. That single lobbyist does not support the ad's three references to ""lobbyists."" And Perry's  that Hutchison could instead have taken readily available commercial flights for her trips is questionable. We rate Perry's ad as ."
14294,2,I don't need a lecture from Kirsten Gillibrand or anybody else who protected and defended and harbored a sitting president who had sexual relations in the Oval Office and was impeached for lying.,"February 11, 2018",congress;ethics;women,kellyanne conway,"Kellyane Conway is a White House counselor to President Donald Trump. Previously, she was a Republican strategist and pollster who served as campaign manager for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.",new york,0,1,0,5,5,0,an interview on ABC's 'This Week',"We could find no  that Gillibrand ""protected and defended and harbored a sitting president who had sexual relations in the Oval Office and was impeached for lying."" Gillibrand was not elected to Congress until 2006. She worked for the Clinton administration briefly in 2000 after the president was impeached. She has been close with the Clintons since her election in 2006, and she did not publicly condemn the former president until last year. We rate Conway’s  ."
8965,2,The average age of the minimum wage worker is 35 years old.,"June 11, 2014",corporations;economy;income;labor;government regulation;poverty;states;wealth;workers,erin lynch,Erin Lynch is a lawyer and has served in the Rhode Island Senate since 2009.,rhode island,0,0,0,1,0,0,a speech on the floor of the Rhode Island Senate,"The , including data from the two reports cited by the AFL-CIO, suggests that the actual age of the typical person now earning minimum wage is significantly lower than 35. Clearly a lot of people earning the minimum wage are not teenagers. That's the kernel of  in Lynch's statement. But she seems so far off, we rate her assertion  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
2707,5,"More people hunt and fish in Texas in a given year than attend the... games of the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Texans and the Houston Rockets combined.","August 31, 2010",environment;recreation,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,an interview,"We then multiplied that rate increase by the 2006 federal estimate of Texans who fished and hunted in the state (2.6 million) and added the result to the 2006 figure. Our calculation: More than 2.9 million Texans went hunting or fishing in the state last year. All told, it's risky business to stake a , as Staples did, on a nearly five-year-old federal survey. But more recent numbers suggest that the  still holds : More people hunted and fished in Texas than attended home games for the four selected Dallas and Houston sports franchises in their latest completed seasons. We rate the statement ."
13047,4,"There were ""50 percent more murders"" in Orlando and Orange County, Fla., last year ""than in all of Sweden.","February 20, 2017",crime,carl bildt,Carl Bildt was Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994.,florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Bildt said, ""Last year there were app 50% more murders only in Orlando/Orange in Florida, where Trump spoke the other day, than in all of Sweden. Bad."" We're not sure where Bildt got his numbers from because data from 2016 is incomplete. But if history is any guide, he will actually have understated the comparison between Orlando, Orange County and Sweden. For almost a decade, homicide rates in those Florida municipalities have far exceeded that of Sweden. His argument also would have been on par for Melbourne too, had Bildt designated that as the city Trump spoke in. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/79abc69a-1b6b-43da-8af5-8f86e6eb3fb7"
22437,1,"The war in Ukraine is ""all over.","December 12, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,Ukraine has requested such a system to intercept Russian missile and drone attacks.   We rate claims that the war in Ukraine is over . RELATED: Lie of the Year 2022: Putin’s lies to wage war and conceal horror in Ukraine
18065,4,"There's already 10,000 businesses that are not likely to open again, and a significant number of small businesses and minority businesses.","July 22, 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. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,a campaign video,"Biden said 10,000 businesses likely won’t reopen due to COVID-19, and that the health crisis is significantly affecting small and minority-owned businesses. That’s , although the problem is substantially worse than he described. Biden’s campaign said he intended to say 100,000 businesses, a figure that lines up with recent research.  Biden is right that Black and minority-owned small businesses have been disproportionately affected by the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, according to census data research. Biden’s  is accurate — 10,000 businesses are certainly unlikely to reopen — but the caveat is a lot more businesses will also likely close. We rate this  ."
5969,4,"Says David Dewhurst ""explicitly advocated"" a guest worker program for all illegal immigrants.","July 23, 2012",immigration;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.",texas,8,22,21,48,47,11,Houston,"Dewhurst’s 2007 speech advocates a guest-worker program for ""those here today illegally,"" a view he seems to have aired again in an interview a couple months later and one that he also has not forsworn, far as we can tell. So, it can fairly be said Dewhurst advocated a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants already here. Would every single illegal immigrant be in the program, as Cruz says? As a practical matter, probably not, but Dewhurst’s speech laid out no limits. His speech did, however, cite the need for border security, and of late, Dewhurst has said secure borders should be ensured before a guest-worker program is implemented. This significant clarification isn’t acknowledged in Cruz’s , which we rate ."
6124,2,"Tim Kaine supported ""higher energy costs for families.","July 26, 2012",cap and trade;climate change;energy;message machine 2012,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.""",virginia,2,1,3,6,4,1,a TV ad,"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says in a TV ad that Kaine supported ""higher energy costs for families."" It’s clear, as the Chamber notes in small print, that Kaine backs the concept of cap-and-trade legislation, but there’s no record of his support for a specific bill or proposal. Analyses of two measures that have been before in Congress in recent years concluded that cap-and-trade carries a cost for most consumers. At least one cap-and-trade program in place has resulted in an average lower cost for consumers through energy efficiency and rebates. And cap-and-trade legislation is one of the least expensive options for controlling greenhouse gases, experts said. So the assertion that cap and trade leads to higher energy prices is reasonable but depends on the specifics of a plan. The chamber cannot point to an instance where Kaine directly supported a particular measure that would raise energy bills, which is necessary context. There is an element of  and a great deal of hyperbole in the chamber’s  that Kaine supported higher energy bills for families. We rate it ."
17011,4,"All of the aid has not arrived"" to Ukraine.","January 29, 2020",impeachment;foreign policy,val demings,Val Demings is running against U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in 2022. Demings won her race for U.S. Representative in 2016 and subsequently won re-election. She represents a central Florida district. She previously served as Orlando's police chief.,florida,0,3,1,1,1,0,the impeachment trial,"Demings said ""all of the aid has not arrived"" to Ukraine. The Defense Department told us that of the $250 million, about $17 million has not yet been obligated. That’s about 7%. When Trump unfroze the aid in September, that left little time until the end of the fiscal year that month. Congress passed a continuing appropriations bill so the funds could be carried over into 2020.  We rate this  ."
5882,2,"President Barack Obama's health care reform ""slashed $500 billion from Medicare.","June 7, 2012",health care;medicare;public health,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 news release,"But even though some of the news article excerpts Richards cited referred to cuts, he acknowledged that the reductions are in the growth of future spending. Our rating Duffy said the federal health care reform law ""slashed $500 billion from Medicare."" There is an element of  in his statement because Medicare spending will grow by about $500 billion less than it would have without the law. But the law has not already reduced Medicare spending by $500 billion, as Duffy suggests. We rate Duffy's statement ."
18506,4,"For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, my Administration implemented a program to provide any individual without health-insurance coverage access to necessary COVID‑19‑related testing and treatment.","September 24, 2020",public health;health check;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 executive order,"The Trump administration did implement a program to reimburse medical providers for testing and treatment of some uninsured patients, tapping into funding allocated by Congress. Whether — and to what extent — the measure improved ""coverage access"" to care is hard to determine. The fund has paid out more than $1 billion so far. The administration chose this route, which experts said was an incomplete fix, over following some states’ lead in allowing a special enrollment period on the federal marketplace, which would have enabled people without health insurance to buy more comprehensive coverage. Meanwhile, the program has not been publicized and has confusing eligibility rules — both of which have led to speculation that it is not being used as widely as possible. The administration’s program appears to provide narrow financial assistance for COVID-related health care costs. But patients who fall through the cracks may find themselves facing substantial bills. We rate this statement as ."
14300,4,3 American women are murdered every day by their husband or boyfriend.,"February 10, 2018",criminal justice;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.",california,0,4,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Speier said in a tweet that ""3 American women are murdered every day by their husband or boyfriend."" Several domestic violence prevention groups make the same  on their websites, though they cite data that in some cases is a decade old. We examined an analysis  of 2015 homicide data by the Violence Prevention Center, and found that about 2.5 females were killed, on average, by an intimate partner each day in the United States. Speier’s statement could have clarified that assailants include former intimate partners, as well as current ones. Also, her tweet references women, though the victims likely include some teenages. Finally, we found a 2013 Bureau of Justice Statistics report  that cautions the relationship between female homicide victims and their killers is unknown in as many as one third of the cases. This makes the actual number of women killed by intimate partners difficult to determine. One could argue the tally is higher than the studies show. We found Speier’s  is on the right track, but could have used a few clarifications. 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."
6098,3,"Says Paul Ryan ""wants to cut Pell Grant scholarships for nearly 10 million students.","August 11, 2012",education;federal budget,eva longoria baston,"Eva Longoria Baston is an actress and Democratic activist. In August 2020, she hosted the first night of the Democratic National Convention, which was virtual due to COVID-19. In 2012, she was named one of 35 national co-chairs of President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.",wisconsin,0,0,2,0,0,0,a tweet,"But while bringing Pell spending ""under control,"" the budget would nevertheless maintain the maximum Pell grant at $5,500, Ryan wrote in response to criticism of his plan. Our rating Longoria said Ryan ""wants to cut Pell Grant scholarships for nearly 10 million students."" Her  is slightly different than one made by Obama, who arrived at his 10 million figure by assuming spending cuts called for in Ryan's budget plan would be made uniformly across federal programs. Nevertheless, she uses Obama's methodology in making her . We’re giving Longoria the same rating Obama got for making a  that is partially accurate but leaves out important details -- ."
20785,2,NASA hired 24 theologians to study human reaction to aliens.,"December 28, 2021",religion;space;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,"An Instagram post said, ""NASA hired 24 theologians to study human reaction to aliens."" NASA awarded a grant in 2015 to the Center of Theological Inquiry to study astrobiology, and a description of the project involved philosophical questions about the prospect of alien life. But those involved in the project were not hired or employed by NASA. The  contains an element of , but gives a  impression about NASA’s role. We rate this  . "
16761,1,"Says photo shows ""the Golden Gate Bridge opening to the public for the first time back in 1937, and yes, it almost collapsed.","November 29, 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 claimed to show ""the Golden Gate Bridge opening to the public for the first time back in 1937, and yes, it almost collapsed."" The photo isn’t from the bridge’s 1937 opening, but from a 1987 celebration of the bridge’s 50th anniversary. While some people in the 1987 crowd feared a collapse, engineers later said the bridge was built to sustain the crowd. There’s no  a collapse was imminent at its opening in 1937. We rate the post ."
19906,0,Military arrests Adam Schiff.,"June 1, 2021",facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"On June 20 he appeared on Face the Nation , sitting across from host John Dickerson.   We searched for news coverage about the congressman’s supposed arrest and found nothing to support the . In December 2020, USA Today fact-checked a similar allegation that Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been arrested. That was , and so is this.   We rate this post !"
4710,1,"I differed with my party on business legislation, on consumer protection, and on free trade agreements.","November 27, 2011",bipartisanship;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,"In the first case, she differed with Shields, a Democrat, who controlled the committee, but not from the rest of her caucus. In the second case, she differed with some Democrats who, according to one lobbyist, had to be coaxed into tougher legislation. In the third case, she differed with her primary opponents. But that doesn’t mean she’s differed with Democrats on matters of policy. We combine the three mini-rulings to come up with a ."
14658,0,USA: Mysterious Nazi submarine from WWII discovered in Great Lakes!,"May 22, 2018",fake news;military;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"""The U-Boat was on tour. It was kind of a post-war, 'we won' tour, and so people got to go on to it and see it, and then as a condition of the armistice, it had to be sunk,"" Pritzker Military Library CEO Ken Clarke told ABC news. In June of 1921, the sub was sunk by the military. But in this case, the story declaring that a mysterious Nazi submarine from WWII was discovered in Great Lakes is made up. We rate this statement ."
4811,1,"Says a new national poll shows ""the majority of the American people believe we should have a gold standard"" for U.S. currency.","January 3, 2012",economy,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,a speech after the Iowa caucuses,"Paul says ""the majority of the American people believe we should have a gold standard and not a paper standard."" But the polls his campaign cited to back up that  surveyed likely Republican primary voters in three states -- not voters nationwide. The one national poll that addressed this question found 44 percent in favor of a gold standard, and that isn’t a majority. On balance, we rate Paul’s statement ."
12951,1,"Says former President Barack Obama ""took similar action against Cuban refugees"" as President Donald Trump did in his executive order.","January 30, 2017",immigration;terrorism,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 release,"Diaz-Balart said that Obama ""took similar action against Cuban refugees"" as Trump did in his executive order. Experts said that Diaz-Balart is comparing two very different actions. Obama’s rule change ended ""wet foot-dry foot"" -- a policy that provided special treatment to Cubans who arrived on U.S. shores without a visa. Obama didn’t entirely halt immigration for Cubans; his rule change meant that they had to apply just like people from other countries. Trump’s order is far more broad and temporarily suspended entry for people from seven specific countries, as well as refugees from everywhere. We rate this  ."
15417,1,"There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor.","November 10, 2018",environment;federal budget;fires,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.",california,36,85,120,194,360,179,a tweet,"President Trump claimed in a tweet ""there is no reason"" for California’s deadly fires other than poor ""forest management."" Forestry and climate experts say forest management, which includes thinning out forests, setting prescribed burns and clearing brush, is only one factor. But it’s not the only one, and not necessarily the driving force in the state’s recent firestorms. California’s stronger winds, higher temperatures and drier conditions driven by climate change are also making the fires worse. That’s in addition to the fact that more people now live in forested areas, increasing the chances of sparking an inferno. Trump erroneously places the blame on just one factor, while ignoring these other reasons for California’s devastating fires. We rate his oversimplified  .    –  The statement is not accurate. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
554,5,McCain has switched to Obama's position on more troops to Afghanistan.,"July 19, 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,an e-mail from Obama spokesman Bill Burton to reporters,"We are not ruling on McCain's motivation here; the McCain campaign can just as easily argue that McCain has changed position because circumstances have changed. From a political standpoint, it's certainly inconvenient when ""conditions on the ground"" dictate you dropping your position for your opponent's. Be all that as it may, Obama advocated more troops for Afghanistan about a year ago. McCain only recently embraced the same position. We rule this  is ."
1316,5,"Here in Virginia, we have the opportunity to become the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce oil and natural gas offshore.","January 27, 2010",energy;states,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.",national,8,6,7,6,5,3,the Republican response to the State of the Union,"Indeed, the nearly 3 million acres off the coast of Virginia is the only area in the Atlantic in the federal government's current five-year oil and gas leasing program. It also is the only area currently in the leasing process. It puts Virginia at the head of the class. And it makes McDonnell right. We rate his  ."
9085,2,We are accepting more legal immigrants than we ever have in the history (of the United States.),"July 13, 2014",immigration;punditfact,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.,,6,7,14,13,17,5,"a ""Meet the Press"" pundit panel","Santorum said, ""we are accepting more legal immigrants than we ever have in the history"" of the country. Over the last 10 years, in raw numbers, the United States has admitted slightly more immigrants into the country compared to any other 10-year period. But when you factor in the new arrivals as a share of the U.S. population, 1905-14 is the leading time period. And when looking just at raw numbers, the United States admitted more immigrants in 1907, 1990 and 1991.  In fact, the 2013 tally -- 990,553 -- would rank 20th all time. We rate the  ."
12582,3,"Colorado saw ""increased incidents of emergency room visits by young people"" and ""increased incidents of driving while under the influence of marijuana"" following the legalization of recreational pot.","October 18, 2016",public health;transportation;marijuana,scott jones,Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones is the Republican challenger in California's 7th District Congressional race.,california,0,0,1,0,2,0,a U.S. Congressional campaign debate,"Scott Jones said Colorado saw ""increased incidents of emergency room visits by young people"" and ""increased incidents of driving while under the influence of marijuana"" following the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana. Studies show the state indeed experienced a spike in ER visits by young people related to marijuana. Less clear is how marijuana-related traffic incidents have changed since the state legalized the drug. Studies have limited data and show mixed results. Further complicating the matter, marijuana can remain in a driver’s system days after the effect of the drug has worn off, making it difficult to determine whether the drug was the primary factor in an accident. Jones’ statement on the ER visits is accurate. But there’s not enough convincing data to prove the second portion of his . We rate it .  – 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/55ce730b-0af4-4fe8-b4d0-f3615372dfe9"
392,2,"As first lady, Clinton would travel to places that were ""too small, too poor or too dangerous"" for the president.","March 17, 2008",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,"Washington, D.C","Rather, her travels tended to emphasize stable allies of the United States, many of which are quite populous. To view our interactive map of Clinton's foreign trips as first lady, click here. When she traveled with President Clinton, her schedule may have been a little more glamorous, with more time spent in France, England and Russia. But her solo itinerary was no tour of tiny, dangerous places. So we find her statement to be ."
15231,3,"In Congress, Ron DeSantis demanded that any new health law eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions.","September 26, 2018",health care,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 ad,"Gillum's ad said, ""In Congress, Ron DeSantis demanded that any new health law eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions."" We didn’t find an example of DeSantis individually demanding protections for pre-existing conditions be dropped in a new bill. However, he was part of the Freedom Caucus, the conservative wing of the House, that forced changes that weakened protections for pre-existing conditions. ""Eliminate"" is too strong. In May 2017, DeSantis voted in favor of the Republicans’ American Health Care Act in 2017, an Obamacare replacement bill that would have put pre-existing condition protection in jeopardy for some patients. DeSantis also voted for the Graham-Cassidy bill that said states had to show they intended to keep coverage accessible and affordable in order to get federal aid. But the bill also would have allowed states to let insurance companies charge higher premiums to sicker people. We rate this statement ."
13772,0,"Georgia mosque keeps Hurricane Harvey donations, will send to Syrian refugees instead","September 7, 2017",fake news;islam,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a fake news article,A self-described entertainment website posted a story that a Georgia mosque was diverting Hurricane Harvey donations to refugees from Syria. Neither the mosque nor the town it supposedly is in exist. This is pure  news. We rate it .
21380,1,"Senator Grassley hopped off the Finance Committee, where he could be helpful to Iowa and the nation, in favor of the Judiciary Committee","May 5, 2022",congress,mike franken,Mike Franken is a retired U.S. Navy admiral seeking Iowa’s Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in 2022.,iowa,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Franken tried to portray Grassley as leaving a committee that Grassley never left. Even if you consider that Grassley left a leadership position on the finance committee to take a leadership role at the Committee on the Judiciary, Grassley remains a senior member of the finance committee, plus Republican rules prohibited him from having a leadership role on finance.  Franken’s campaign clarified the tweet when asked about it and eventually took it down the morning of May 6. But saying Grassley ""hopped off"" the Committee on Finance during 24 hours that the tweet existed was   . "
6064,4,"Art Robinson says ""Social Security should be ended through attrition.","July 30, 2012",social security,peter defazio,Peter DeFazio is Oregon's U.S. representative in the 4th Congressional District. He was elected to Congress in 1986. He lives in Springfield.,oregon,1,2,1,1,1,0,,"Those are issues for voters. We will rule on the accuracy of DeFazio’s  that Robinson wants to end Social Security ""by attrition."" Robinson has called for an end by attrition and continues to say we should end the current program by attrition, to be replaced by another system, whether it’s private or mixed with a public program. But we think it’s also important to point out that Robinson has consistently called upon the government to honor its obligations to Social Security recipients. We rate DeFazio’s statement : Accurate but needs additional information."
22407,1,"Says Hitler said Black people are the ""true Hebrews.","December 4, 2022",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,a post,"""The quote is being used to reinforce the ideology that we see promoted by Black Hebrew Israelites, which, when promoted by certain extremists and antisemitic factions, is attempting to undermine Judaism and Jewish identity. ""  An Instagram post claimed Hitler said Black people are the "" Hebrews."" Experts say the quote is  and there is no  that Hitler said it. The  comes from an antisemitic documentary that pushes the conspiracy theory that Black people, not Jewish people, are the  descendants of Israel.   This  is . "
19748,1,There is no law that deals specifically with the term 'partial-birth abortion.',"May 12, 2021",abortion;health care;legal issues;health check,xavier becerra,"Xavier Becerra is California's attorney general and a Democrat. Previously, he was member of the U.S. House of Representatives.",,1,2,1,0,1,0,testimony before a House subcommittee,"Becerra said, ""There is no law that deals specifically with the term ‘partial-birth abortion.’"" While the term ""partial birth abortion"" is more of a politically derived label than an official medical term, the legal reality is that Congress passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003, and the Supreme Court upheld it in 2007. Becerra himself voted against the law when it came up in the House. We rate the statement ."
2119,5,Says Barack Obama didn't keep his promise to have an immigration bill in his first year.,"August 9, 2010",immigration,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 speech,"Everywhere, people have expressed frustration with a system that seems fundamentally broken."" It's worth noting that many Republicans have said they won't consider comprehensive immigration reform until the federal government secures the borders — another promise Obama made as a presidential hopeful that PolitiFact has rated ""In the Works,"" since the administration announced it was beefing up border security. On Aug. 13, Obama signed into law a $600 million bill funding 1,500 new border agents, additional unmanned aerial drones, and new Border Patrol stations on the border. Still, we're now in year two of the Obama presidency, with no comprehensive bill backed by the administration on the horizon. PolitiFact rated the promise Broken, and we rate Patterson's statement as ."
15641,4,"Obamacare premiums ""have gone up 160 percent in West Virginia in 4 yrs.","January 6, 2019",health care,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 Facebook post,"Morrisey said that Obamacare premiums ""have gone up 160 percent in West Virginia in 4 yrs."" The source cited by Morrisey’s office offered a figure close to 160 percent, but it used data for 2013 to 2017, which is not the most recent data. Also, it’s important to know that there was a change in the regulatory rules in 2014. However, the actual rise in West Virginia premiums over the most recent four-year period, while not quite as fast as Morrisey said in his Facebook post, has been substantial. We rate the statement ."
15449,3,"Just before Thanksgiving, oil was $54 a barrel, down from $82. ""Thank you to Saudi Arabia.","November 21, 2018",energy;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 tweeted that just before Thanksgiving, oil was $54 a barrel, down from $82. He added, ""Thank you to Saudi Arabia."" The price of oil has dropped in recent weeks, and increased production by Saudi Arabia has played a role. However, oil prices haven’t dropped by as much as Trump said, and several factors other than Saudi Arabia — including increased production by other big suppliers and an expected drop in demand — have played a significant role. We rate the  ."
11373,1,When you're white ... you don't know what it's like to be poor.,"March 6, 2016",economy;income;race and ethnicity;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,"Flint, Mich","Sanders says that ""when you're white ... you don't know what it's like to be poor."" On the contrary -- the most recent figures show that nearly 20 million white Americans are experiencing poverty. While that’s smaller as a percentage than it is for other racial and ethnic groups, that’s still a lot of people. In raw numbers, it’s actually more than any other group. We rate his  ."
12846,0,"Because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke.","November 10, 2016",bankruptcy;federal budget;health care;medicare,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: ""Because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke."" Financially, Medicare isn’t entirely in the clear, given that actuaries project that a key reserve fund will run out of money in 2028. But the Medicare trustees themselves, along with a host of experts, say the Affordable Care Act’s changes to Medicare -- including holding the line on spending and raising taxes -- actually puts Medicare in better shape than before the law was adopted. That’s a long way from making Medicare go broke. We rate Ryan’s statement ."
19714,2,Every single Petersburg (Va.) school was accredited when I left office.,"May 6, 2021",education,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 debate,"McAuliffe says, ""Every single Petersburg school was accredited when I left office,"" implying there was a turnaround in the city’s scholastic performance during his time as governor. He’s dead  if you look at the end of his term in January 2018, when none of the city’s public schools was fully accredited by the state based on standardized testing, three were denied accreditation, and three were partially certified. There’s a one-year lag in Virginia’s school accreditation, however, and McAuliffe’s campaign says he was referring to 2019 ratings that reflected Petersburg's academic performance from a year earlier, when McAuliffe left office. It’s a credible argument that McAuliffe should be judged on the 2019 rates, but it’s also highly advantageous to him because standards were eased that year and no Virginia public school was denied accreditation.  Two of Petersburg’s six schools were fully accredited in 2019, while 92% of schools across the state met that ideal. The other four were conditionally accredited, meaning they were performing below standards in at least one area and were required to take corrective actions. They were among the worst-performing 7% of Virginia schools. So there are problems with McAuliffe’s , even when we give him the advantage of using the 2019 ratings. By saying all Petersburg schools were accredited - and deftly avoiding the distinction between fully and conditionally accredited - he creates a  impression of the city’s progress during his term. We rate McAuliffe’s statement .  "
22300,1,"The COVID-19 vaccine for children is proving to be ""not only ineffective, it's also proving to be dangerous.","October 19, 2022",elections;coronavirus,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 tweet,"Lake said COVID-19 vaccines have been proved ineffective and dangerous for children.  At the start of 2022, COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause of death among children 5 to 14. Depending on the virus variant and the study, vaccination has proved to be between 60% to 90% effective in preventing infection. One study found vaccination was 82% effective in preventing hospitalization among children 5 to 11 years old. The vaccine is far less dangerous than the disease. Most vaccine reactions are minor. After 8.7 million doses given to school-aged children, parents reported 100 serious reactions. Half of those were vomiting and fever.  We rate this  ."
829,4,The House Democrats' so-called 'stimulus' has been stuffed with an astonishing $335 million to fund prevention programs of sexually transmitted diseases.,"January 28, 2009",economy;stimulus,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,national,4,5,9,20,14,9,a news release,"The Committee intends that funds be used for grants to States for testing activities, and the prevention of STD infections like chlamydia that have been increasing dramatically in recent years."" We're not going to wade into the debate over whether the spending is appropriate for an economic stimulus bill. We're only ruling on whether there is $335 million in the House version of the bill for STD prevention programs. We note that while the proposed $335 million in the House bill includes prevention programs for STDs, it also includes prevention programs HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis prevention programs, which are not always transmitted sexually. So we find the  ."
21454,1,"Video shows helicopters in Ukraine ""being picked off in ambush - Short range air-to-air missile","May 18, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A recent video shared on Facebook that’s described as showing ""helicopters being picked off in ambush — short range air-to-air missile"" is also from the game.   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 .) We found the footage on YouTube searching for the Facebook post description and ""Arma 3.""  But the YouTube video makes it clear that this is a video game.   We rate claims that it’s real footage of combat . "
7014,2,"Says ""Did you know that the #KeystoneXL project is expected to create 20,000 American jobs, including more than 800 in Oregon?","January 29, 2013",environment;climate change;energy;jobs;workers,greg walden,Greg Walden is a U.S. representative from Oregon. He is leading the transition as Republicans take power in the 112th Congress.,oregon,1,0,1,4,0,0,a Tweet,"In his statement, Walden seems absolute even while there is no clarification that the 20,000 figure refers to ""job years,"" which is much different than the way ""job"" is commonly understood. Walden has a somewhat stronger case on the Oregon job ,  because TransCanada mentions Oregon by name as one state that would produce equipment needed for the project. As for the number 800, however, it is at best a guess. That’s a pipeline full of uncertainty. We rate this  : It contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."
1269,2,A number of the national publications have put this race in a tossup race between Democrats and Republicans. They don't know who's going to win this race.,"January 10, 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 television interview,"That number, however, appears to be just one. The overwhelming majority of pundits who attempt to predict election outcomes all have Republicans favored in the Sunshine State.  Maybe the ratings will change. But they haven't yet. We rate Meek's  ."
21529,1,"The U.S. Justice Department ""conservatively estimated that guns are used 1.5 million times per year to save lives.","June 2, 2022",guns,andy biggs,Rep. Andy Biggs represents Arizona's 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. ,,0,0,0,0,2,0,an opening statement at a House hearing,"Biggs said that the Justice Department ""conservatively estimated that guns are used 1.5 million times per year to save lives."" The Justice Department published a report with the 1.5 million figure, but that was an estimate of the number of times people used guns to protect themselves, their families or their property. The author said the research did not find that the use was to save lives. Another prominent gun researcher said he knows of no ""scientifically based estimates of lives saved."" A review of this kind of gun research concluded that there is no conclusive  that defensive gun use reduces harm to people. The Justice Department’s article did not say what Biggs stated. We rate this  ."
12669,0,"Says Hillary Clinton ""wants to let people just pour in. You could have 650 million people pour in and we do nothing about it. Think of it. That's what could happen. You triple the size of our country in one week.","October 30, 2016",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,Albuquerque,"Trump said Clinton ""wants to let people just pour in. You could have 650 million people pour in, and we do nothing about it. Think of it. That’s what could happen. You triple the size of our country in one week."" Clinton has never said that, nor is this a realistic possibility. Clinton has spoken in favor of bring in 65,000 Syrian refugees, but that’s nowhere near hundreds of millions of people, and not in a week. Trump’s  is not accurate and makes a  . We rate it ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3b2f59e3-9ac5-4f65-b8af-7b6968817f72"
14548,3,"Says of disclosing his $20,000 speech about Syria, ""there was no hiding. I released it.","April 19, 2018",campaign finance;elections;foreign policy,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 radio interview,"Regarding his $20,000 speech about Syria, Kucinich said, ""there was no hiding. I released it."" But Kucinich initially listed ""paid speeches"" on his campaign financial disclosure form with no further detail. When the Ohio Ethics Commission asked him to identify the source of payments, Kucinich provided the commission with a list of the entities that paid him to give speeches, including $20,000 from the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees. So Kucinich initially omitted the information, but disclosed it when asked to do so by a state commission. He also admitted that he made an error by not initially disclosing the source of who paid him for the speech. We rate this  ."
6562,4,"Says a university survey concluded his Massachusetts administration ""had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America.","October 16, 2012",candidate biography;states;women,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,the second presidential debate,"Romney said a survey by the University at Albany after he staffed his Cabinet and senior staff concluded his Massachusetts administration ""had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America."" Twenty-one states actually employed more women in senior roles in 2003. Rather, Massachusetts had the best percentage in the country, something that earned the state positive recognition. But that’s a small clarification. Meanwhile, that narrow Albany survey reflected the number of female appointees shortly after Romney took office. A broader study that looked at all of Romney’s appointments and the percentage of women before and after his term found that his effort flagged halfway through his administration — and that the overall percentage of women in executive positions actually dropped. Still, Romney fairly accurately characterized a survey that ranked his state No. 1. We rate his  ."
19092,2,"32,000 votes for David Perdue ""disappeared"" during the Georgia Senate runoff election.","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 video,"We reached out to CNN for a comment, but we haven’t heard back. The Facebook post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . RELATED:   How will the Senate work under a 50-50 split?"
4173,5,"Congressional Budget Office ""says 8 (percent) unemployment till 2014!","August 24, 2011",economy;jobs,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 Twitter message,"On average, 44 percent of workers who were unemployed in the first half of 2011 had been jobless for more than six months. Moreover, in mid-2011, 31 percent of unemployed workers had been jobless for at least a year. Those rates of long-term unemployment are unprecedented in the post-World War II era."" We’re not judging here who’s responsible for the nation’s unemployment troubles, but how accurately Cornyn echoed the CBO’s projection. His statement rates ."
20938,1,"In England, ""official data shows children are up to 52 times more likely to die following COVID-19 vaccination than unvaccinated children.","January 29, 2022",children;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"A blog post said that in England, ""official data shows children are up to 52 times more likely to die following COVID-19 vaccination than unvaccinated children."" There is no  that links the COVID-19 vaccine to an increase in deaths among children in England. We rate this  . RELATED: Article misleads on dangers of omicron variant using UK virus and vaccination data RELATED: COVID-19 vaccines did not cause a 366% increase in miscarriages, as article claims"
16530,0,"Says El Chapo ""stated in court"" that James Comey helped launder $150 million ""cartel money for Pelosi.","September 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,"A post on Facebook says Joaquín ""El Chapo"" Guzmán took the stand and said James Comey helped launder $150 million ""cartel money"" for Nancy Pelosi. This  is unfounded. EGuzmán did not take the stand at his trial, and therefore could not have testified that his cartel gave millions to Comey, Pelosi or any American official.  This rumor is !"
22196,1,"Proposed Senate bill would give FDA power to approve dietary supplements and ""ban herbs.","October 25, 2022",food safety;public health;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 that the proposed Dietary Supplement Listing Act of 2022 would give the FDA new power to regulate and approve dietary supplements, and is an attempt to ban herbal medicines. The FDA has had regulatory authority over dietary supplements since 1994, and this bill does not expand its powers. Nor does it grant the FDA the power to approve a product before it goes to market. The bill would require supplement makers to register new products with the FDA and provide information about them. The FDA would use that information to create an online database of such products that consumers could also reference. We rate this ."
20301,3,"The NAACP wants"" the Confederate Memorial Carving ""sandblasted off Stone Mountain.","September 18, 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.",georgia,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"  A viral image states that the NAACP wants"" the Confederate Memorial Carving ""sandblasted off Stone Mountain."" The Atlanta NAACP advocates for removing the carving, though not necessarily by sandblasting. The national NAACP opposes Confederate tribute imagery but has not stated a position specifically on the carving.  We rate the post ."
22452,1,The COVID-19 vaccines were linked to the deaths of 80 Canadian doctors.,"December 10, 2022",health care;science;coronavirus,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,a video on Instagram,"A person in an Instagram video repeated Druthers’  that the deaths of 80 Canadian doctors were linked to the COVID-19 vaccines.  There’s no  to support that . Local news reports and public obituaries show that many of the physicians’ deaths were linked to illnesses or accidents. We rate this  . RELATED: 'Died Suddenly' repeats debunked COVID-19 vaccine claims, promotes conspiracy theory"
22378,3,(Raphael) Warnock's camp was shut down for failing to report five findings of child abuse and neglect.,"November 16, 2022",candidate biography;ad watch,herschel walker,Herschel Walker is a GOP candidate for the 2022 Senate race in Georgia. He is a former NFL player.,georgia,0,0,2,2,2,0,an ad,"Walker claimed that ""Warnock’s camp was shut down for failing to report five findings of child abuse and neglect."" The camp was shut down for one summer, in 2003, partly because of unreported allegations of abuse. But no findings of abuse were cited in the shutdown. Warnock was the pastor of the church that ran the camp, but he did not direct it. The ad is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . RELATED: Herschel Walker’s record on the -O-Meter RELATED: Raphael Warnock’s record on the -O-Meter"
9866,4,"A strong majority of Americans support"" the Keystone XL pipeline.","January 20, 2015",environment;energy;infrastructure,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,the Republican response to the State of the Union address,"Ernst said that ""a strong majority of Americans support"" the Keystone XL pipeline. She’s right that between 56 percent and 60 percent of the public has consistently supported the project when asked outright whether it should be built. However, one poll found public concern about building it before reviews are complete -- a stance more in tune with Obama than with Republican leaders. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, so we rate it . EDITOR’S NOTE, Jan. 21, 2015 : After this article appeared, a reader pointed out another poll that had addressed public support for the Keystone XL pipeline that had been released the same day we published the story. A NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll taken in January 2015 asked respondents whether they favored or opposed building the pipeline, or whether they did ""not know enough about this topic to have an opinion."" The inclusion of that last phrase increased the ""don’t know"" response beyond that found in most other polls, to 37 percent. Of those who did have an opinion, 41 percent favored building Keystone XL and 20 percent opposed it. Because that's generally in line with what we found in the other polls, our original rating of  stands."
19498,3,"Nike and Lil Nas X are launching ""demonic shoes"" containing human blood.","March 27, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,Facebook posts,"""Nike did not design or release these shoes and we do not endorse them."" The shoes are not a new release by the corporation, but a custom adaptation of an existing Nike product: Nike Air Max 97s.   This  might sound outlandish, but most of it accurately describes a new limited edition shoe released by Lil Nas X and MSCHF. However, Nike isn’t involved, and the company has sought to distance itself from the project.   ."
6364,0,Barack Hussein Obama will ... force courts to accept Islamic Sharia law in domestic disputes.,"September 23, 2012",islam;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,"The ad from the Government is not God PAC said Obama ""will move America to force courts to accept Islamic sharia law in domestic disputes."" The PAC offered no  -- and we couldn’t find any either. The idea itself runs counter to the constitutional separation of powers and individual protections defined in the Bill of Rights. We rate the statement ."
4828,2,"Bob Menendez just voted to increase the government's debt ceiling to $1.9 TRILLION! In his 19 years in Congress, Menendez has helped overspend America over $15 TRILLION into debt.","December 29, 2011",deficit;federal budget,anna little,"Anna Little is a former mayor of Highlands Borough and a former Monmouth County freeholder. A Republican, Little ran unsuccessfully in 2010 for the Sixth Congressional District seat. She is running again for the same seat this November.",new jersey,0,0,0,1,1,0,a message on her campaign website,"On her campaign website, Little claimed Menendez ""just voted"" for a debt ceiling increase and that he ""has helped overspend America over $15 TRILLION into debt."" But Menendez voted against the most recent debt ceiling increase, and he has a mixed record in regard to past legislative actions that contributed to the higher debt. For example, he rejected tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, but supported the stimulus bill in 2009 and tax cuts in December 2010. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
721,2,"Barack Obama ""pays for every dime"" of his spending plans.","September 26, 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,"Oxford, Miss","As for Obama's  that he ""pays for every dime"" of his spending plans: If the deficit were to stay the same or grow only modestly as a result of Obama's policies, we would give him a better rating. But independent groups agree that the deficit will grow significantly under an Obama administration, and that's an important yardsitck. We give Obama credit for the level of detail many of his proposals have when it comes to spending and cost. But Obama doesn't pay ""for every dime"" of his proposals. We rate his statement ."
2142,3,(Jeff) Atwater's bank was so weak that just a few months ago it was shut down by the FDIC.,"August 12, 2010",candidate biography;financial regulation;housing;message machine 2010,loranne ausley,"Loranne Ausley, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, campaigned to be Florida Chief Financial Officer and was defeated on Nov. 2, 2010.",florida,0,0,1,0,1,0,a web ad,"We can, however, rule on the specific  in Ausley's ad. She said, ""Atwater's bank was so weak that just a few months ago it was shut down by the FDIC."" At the time, it wasn't Atwater's bank. It may have been his former bank, or best yet, it was a bank where he used to work as an executive vice president. For the  timeline, we find the  ."
23035,3,"We pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, in some cases 10 times more than the people of any other country.","April 30, 2023",drugs;health care;public health;health check,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’s “State of the Union”,"When Sanders said Americans ""pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,"" he was on target. But his ""10 times more"" figure is off. Though that comparison may be accurate for some individual drugs or classes of drugs — and he did temper his comment by saying ""in some cases"" — it  overall differences in prices, which are generally higher here but not 10 times those in the rest of the world. A now well-known exception is insulin: The price in the U.S. has been shown to be 10 times as high as in other countries. But even this determination is complicated. Studies that showed a tenfold spread in prices for insulin drugs referred to manufacturer prices, which don’t factor in discounts. But that’s a  comparison because most people don’t actually pay manufacturer prices. Sanders’ statement contains elements of  but also doesn’t provide all the necessary information or context. We rate it ."
10955,1,"The Chinese are there"" in Syria.","November 10, 2015",foreign policy;military,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",national,0,3,3,8,12,4,the fourth GOP debate,"Carson said the Chinese have a presence in Syria. In context, Carson’s comments suggested a military presence. That  appears to be lifted from unconfirmed blog posts and a news report by a Lebanese news site. China and the White House have denied that Chinese troops are in Syria, and experts told us there’s no  to the contrary. Even if Carson meant something less than a military presence, China seems to be taking a hands-off approach to the conflict in Syria. We rate Carson’s  ."
17105,0,Says a photo shows Ilhan Omar without a head scarf.,"January 30, 2020",candidate biography,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 .)   Jeremy Slevin, a spokesman for Omar, told us the image that makes Omar appear as if she were photographed without a headscarf isn’t authentic.   Rather, it seems the image was altered using this photo of a man wanted for a parole violation in South Wales. His distinctive hairline was mocked online after police posted his mugshot on Facebook.   We rate this Facebook post !"
14581,1,Says conservative mega-donor Richard Uihlein is a Wisconsin resident.,"April 19, 2018",elections;housing;states,kevin nicholson,"Republican Kevin Nicholson, a former Marine, announced in July 2017 that he would run in 2018 for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. He is a business consultant who lives in Delafield, Wis.",wisconsin,1,1,1,2,3,0,news release,"Our rating Nicholson released a list of Wisconsin supporters that included ""Dick and Liz Uihlein (Minocqua)."" The Uihleins are major business owners in Pleasant Prairie and own property in Manitowish Waters. But Richard E. Uihlein is frequently referred to in the media as an Illinois businessman and he is a registered voter of Illinois. So is his wife, Elizabeth A. Uihlein. We rate Nicholson’s  .  "
2797,5,"The Atlanta Braves are ""the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America.","December 13, 2010",,atlanta braves,The Atlanta Braves are a Major League Baseball franchise,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a history on team website:,"The Cincinnati Red Stockings, which many people view as a predecessor of the Reds, are apparently baseball's first professional sports franchise. But that is not what the Braves . Regarding their  to the title of ""oldest continuous sports franchise in America,"" it does appear that the team's origins began with the Boston Red Stockings, who then joined what became the National League of Major League Baseball. The key word here is ""continuous."" We believe the Braves slid home safely on this one and rate their  as ."
9039,3,"13 percent of Americans, the lowest ever, are without health care.","July 1, 2014",health care;polls and public opinion;public health;punditfact,donny deutsch,Donny Deutsch is an American advertising executive and television personality who often appears on NBC.,,0,0,1,0,0,0,"comments on MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","His statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. Yes, it is the lowest that Gallup has reported in its five-year poll, though other equally valid surveys show lower rates before 2008. Nonetheless, experts agree that more Americans are insured than there were in the past couple of years. Whether that’s the lowest ever is hard to say. We rate Deutsch’s statement ."
21553,4,Bennie Thompson objected to the 2004 Presidential election.,"June 9, 2022",congress;elections;jan. 6,house republican conference,House Republicans are represented by the House Republican Conference.,,0,1,4,0,3,1,a tweet,"The House Republican Conference tweeted, ""Bennie Thompson objected to the 2004 Presidential election."" Thompson was one of 31 Democrats who voted to object to Ohio’s slate in 2005, when the electoral votes from the 2004 election were officially counted in a joint session of Congress.  That said, the 2005 objection had different implications, since Kerry had both conceded the election to Bush and had stated his opposition to the objection effort in Congress. By contrast, the loser in 2020, Trump, was aggressively pursuing a campaign to overturn the election, including by efforts to convince Pence to reject electoral vote slates. As a result, the objections in 2021 could have overturned the presidential election. With that clarification, we rate the statement ."
21177,2,David McCormick fired Pennsylvanians and bragged about shipping their jobs to Asia.,"March 17, 2022",candidate biography;jobs;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,"An Oz campaign ad said McCormick ""fired Pennsylvanians and bragged about shipping their jobs to Asia."" In 2003, McCormick was the CEO of a Pittsburgh company that cut 50 jobs. That same year, the company announced plans to open a center in India. In a 2005 news article cited by Oz’s ad, McCormick does not mention the company or the job cuts. The article paraphrased him as saying that his work in ""helping companies to move work offshore"" and his military leadership service would help him in a new position with the U.S. Commerce Department. Oz’s ad contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
5963,3,"There's a loophole where you can sell guns without a background check … 40 percent of guns are sold that way"" at gun shows and over the Internet.","July 22, 2012",criminal justice;guns,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.",national,7,8,5,1,3,0,"an interview on ""Face the Nation""","    Bloomberg said 40 percent of gun sales take place through gun shows or the Internet, without a background check.     The best information on the informal gun market is based on a survey and is about 15 years old (the data used in the survey is almost 20 years old). There’s no question that many guns are bought with no background check, but there’s not sufficient current  to say that the proportion is 40 percent of all sales.     Bloomberg’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out that important detail: ."
20801,1,"Novak Djokovic is the first professional athlete to be banned from a major sporting event for ""not taking drugs.","January 16, 2022",sports;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,"A tweet says that Djokovic is the first athlete to be banned from a major sporting event for ""not taking drugs."" This isn’t accurate. Multiple athletes have been banned, in one form or another, from competing in their sports for refusing to take medication or get the COVID-19 vaccine. Team USA and Team Canada both mandated that athletes be fully vaccinated against the virus for eligibility to compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics.  We rate this ."
4411,5,Under Governor Almond the RI DMV had a program that allowed undocumented [people to] use their Personal Tax Identification Number . . . to apply [for] and receive a RI driver's license.,"October 3, 2011",immigration;civil rights;homeland security;public safety;transportation;workers,david quiroa,"David A. Quiroa is president and  founding member of the Guatemalan-American Alliance of Rhode Island. Born in New York City, Quiroa was raised in Guatemala and California. After moving to Newport, R.I. in 1989, he worked as a waiter in a hotel restaurant and, after several raids by immigration authorities, began working to reform immigration laws through the Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy, known as CHisPa. Quiroa also is director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program for the City of Cranston.",rhode island,1,0,0,0,0,0,a news release,"Quiroa said that under the Almond administration the DMV allowed undocumented drivers to use their taxpayer identification number from the IRS to obtain a Rhode Island driver’s license. The division’s regulations show that IRS-issued taxpayer identification numbers could be used for this purpose from May 2002 to May 2003. Therefore, we rule the statement  . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)"
19457,1,"Says Disneyland is enforcing a ""no scream"" policy on roller coasters.","March 20, 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 CBS News affiliate in Los Angeles was among the news outlets to report that theme parks may be required to ask visitors not to scream on rides — and soon corrected its story. And on March 18, the California Attractions and Parks Association tweeted in response to what it called  ""some confusing reports in the press"":  ""At no point has CAPA recommended limiting or prohibiting yelling or screaming on amusement park rides as a way to mitigate transmission of COVID-19."" While some news headlines like this one state that Disney parks are reopening ""but no screaming please,"" we found that the source of these reports was the trade group’s reopening plan.   We didn’t find  that a screaming ban exists, or that Disney is enforcing such a policy.   We rate this  ."
20794,0,"Says Joe Biden said ""dozens of police were killed"" during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol but ""exactly zero people"" died that day.","January 6, 2022",congress;criminal justice;elections;facebook fact-checks;jan. 6,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 said ""dozens of police were killed"" during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The post goes on to say the FBI has no  that anyone died during the attack. We found no proof that Biden ever said those remarks and the deaths during the Capitol attack have been well documented by both government officials and the news media. Of the deaths connected to the attack, five were of law enforcement officers.  We rate the post’s  as . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
23192,1,A lawyer for former President Donald Trump released new proof of 2020 election fraud.,"June 20, 2023",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"In many states, it is legal to drop off a ballot on another voter’s behalf, which is especially helpful for the elderly or voters with disabilities. Critics call the practice ""ballot harvesting,"" while election administrators typically use other terms, such as ""ballot collection."" Federal officials in Trump’s administration said the election was secure, and dozens of judges, including GOP appointees, rejected claims by Trump and his allies that there was widespread fraud.   We’ve debunked other Powell election claims. We rate a Facebook post that claimed Powell released new proof of voter fraud ."
14529,3,"In Mobile, it's something like, 1,700 families generate 80 percent of the crime. We know who those families are.","April 18, 2018",education;crime,bill hightower,Bill Hightower is a state senator in Alabama running for governor in 2018.,national,0,0,1,0,0,0,a debate,"Hightower said, ""In Mobile, it’s something like, 1,700 families generate 80 percent of the crime."" Hightower’s point is roughly related to available research. But he did not describe it correctly. He oversimplified research findings of the Mobile County District Attorney’s office about school suspensions. The office learned kids from 1,200 households were responsible for 75 to 80 percent of school infractions in Mobile’s public schools. It did not go so far as to examine the role of the families in those households. Also, it’s important to know the research was from 2003, and we don’t know if the percentage still holds up. And importantly, the study centered on school suspensions and not ""crime,"" in a literal or legal sense. Because the statement is partially accurate but missing critical context, we rate this statement ."
6806,3,"In the four years before I became governor, we increased state debt $5.2 billion. We've paid it down $2 billion.","December 14, 2012",debt,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 interview,"We give Scott some credit for his broader point about the debt’s steady rise under Crist and sharp decline under his tenure. But the numbers he uses are not accurate if you consider the budget years over which Crist could have exerted any control. Moreover, some bonds Florida issued were to pay for programs in the works before Crist took over, or the Legislature shares at least some of the blame for putting it in the budget. Finally, there was a spike in the debt after 2002 that was driven by a constitutional amendment to limit class sizes. Voters approved that measure, and the state government was required to put it into action. Overall, we rate this  ."
6238,4,"In the last 29 months, our economy has produced about 4.5 million private-sector jobs.","September 5, 2012",economy;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.",national,9,12,13,5,2,3,"Charlotte, N.C","While it’s  that by most measures, the number of jobs in the United States has increased on Obama’s watch, Clinton has done some cherry-picking in coming up with the 4.5 million number. But he chose his words carefully in describing the jobs picture. He said, ""In the last 29 months, our economy has produced about 4.5 million private-sector jobs."" On balance, we rate the  ."
5432,5,"Tourism accounts for 439,000 jobs in the state of Ohio, and visitors spend $36 billion annually.","April 12, 2012",economy;jobs;tourism,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,a news release,"Dovilla’s statement is accurate. He has accurately cited figures for employment and spending prepared by credible researchers. And it’s  that the total jobs figure he cited includes 112,109 indirect jobs that are not supported by consumers spending tourism dollars, but rather by the spending habits of the tourism industry and its employees. But inclusion of such indirect jobs is not unusual for assessing economic impact. On the -O-Meter, Dovilla’s  rates ."
1353,1,"Vice President Joe Biden's meeting ""with the transparency and accountability board . . . was closed to the public.","February 6, 2010",economy;stimulus;transparency,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,a speech to members of the Tea Party,"So, from what we can tell, these gatherings have been private, usually at an office building just a few blocks from the White House, though minutes from those meetings , as well as reports, testimony and financial activity reports are made public. But Palin's  was strictly about that one meeting between Biden and Devaney. She is correct that Biden and Devaney met privately on Jan. 14. But she incorrectly said it was a meeting of the transparency and accountability board when it was just a meeting of the vice president and the chairman. So we find Palin's  ."
7228,1,"Proposed immigration legislation would give new immigrants ""a taxpayer-funded cellular phone.","April 17, 2013",immigration;welfare,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,blog posts on the Internet,"Bloggers charge that new immigration legislation includes ""a taxpayer funded cellular phone"" for new immigrants. Their  is based on something else entirely: a public safety program aimed at beefing up border security. The bill includes grants aimed at helping American ranchers and others in remote locations along the border get satellite phone service so they can be in touch with authorities. And Rubio can point to a well-documented case in which a rancher was killed on his property, and authorities said better phone service would have made a difference in speeding up their response to the case. We rate the  ."
8639,2,If you want out of the individual mandate... all you have to do now is tick off the box that says 'hardship' and you're out.,"April 1, 2014",health care;punditfact,charles krauthammer,Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated columnist and a contributor to Fox News.,,1,0,1,1,0,0,"an interview on ""The O'Reilly Factor""","Krauthammer said people who don’t want to comply with the individual mandate should just ""tick off the box that says ‘hardship’ and you're out."" He is over-simplifying the process. Included in the hardship exemption application -- because there’s an application, you don’t just check a box on your tax form -- is a 14th category that reads kind of like ""other."" It’s meant to catch examples of hardship not delineated in the form. Documentation is requested if possible. Again, claiming it doesn’t mean you get it. You apply. And just because you ask does not mean you will receive. We rate the   ."
13994,0,Snapchat is shutting down!',"November 8, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a fake news headline,"Snopes had earlier traced the  to Channel45news.com , another prank news site that proudly sports a ""Create A Prank And Trick All Your Friends!"" homepage headline and a ""You Got Owned"" meme-style header icon. Snapchat has been facing some financial issues due to $40 million worth of unsold Snapchat Spectacles, a device that allows you to record the world around you through a pair of sunglasses.    Due to the loss of revenue from the unsold units, lowered shares and the dip in daily activity, Snap Inc CEO Evan Spiegel announced his plan to redesign the app in the wake of this fiscal low point. Although Snapchat has definitely been facing some financial woes, they have no plan of shutting down in 2017 or at any point in the near future. We rate this statement !"
20154,1,CA inmate pregnant after being forced to share prison with transgender 'woman.',"August 10, 2021",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.",california,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"Housing placement is decided on a case-by-case basis using a screening tool and considering ""all case factors. ""  In April, the Los Angeles Times reported that there had been 261 requests for transfers since the legislation took effect and 21 gender-based housing requests had at that point been approved. One incarcerated woman told the paper that guards warned them ""men are coming"" and to expect sexual violence. ""Although advocates and inmates say the transfers have been received well, several  that misinformation spread by prison staffers is stirring up transphobia and that more must be done to educate inmates,"" the story says. We rate this post ."
4466,4,"Says ""if you are shot in the city of Newark, you have over an 80 percent chance that you've been arrested before an average of 10 times.","October 13, 2011",criminal justice;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 radio interview on WBGO’s “Newark Today”,"Booker said ""if you are shot in the city of Newark, you have over an 80 percent chance that you've been arrested before an average of 10 times."" The mayor should have said shot and killed, but the rest of his statistic is on point -- and backed by the research of a Rutgers-Newark criminal justice professor. We rate his statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
5359,4,"As the usage [of synthetic marijuana] has dramatically increased, instances of violence, bodily harm and even death have risen with it.","March 27, 2012",drugs;marijuana,nathan deal,Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.,georgia,13,11,11,9,5,0,a press release,"Some  suggests that deaths have risen, too. The link between the drug and violence is less clear. News accounts suggest there is an increase in both, but we found so few cases it’s hard to tell. Deal’s statement could use clarification. Still, it earns a ."
4011,2,"Says that when he was governor of Utah, he worked with the state Legislature to create a flat tax that ""cut income taxes by 30 percent.","July 4, 2011",new hampshire 2012;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,"Belmont, N.H.","Huntsman said he passed a flat tax and ""cut income taxes by 30 percent."" On the flat tax question, the changes under Huntsman certainly made it a flatter tax than the one it replaced, since the changes he oversaw combined several tax brackets into one. But the tax remains more complicated to calculate than a pure flat tax would be. In fact, Utah’s system of tax credits make the tax somewhat progressive in practice, which is something a  flat tax would not be. Meanwhile, Huntsman’s 30 percent  is more . It’s  that the statutory rates in the top bracket declined by almost that much, but the actual reduction in tax dollars paid was far smaller for the overwhelming majority of taxpayers -- usually less than 1 percent of a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income. We think most people hearing Huntsman's comment would believe he was touting a 30 percent cut in what people actually pay at tax time, and the numbers aren’t close to that. So we rate his  ."
23294,1,Video shows a girl hitting former Vice President Mike Pence in the head with a water balloon.,"July 14, 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,"Please do not be offended. All those who march, including me, do so at their peril and are fair game. I had fun even if I got a little wet!"" CBS News reported that thousands of people lined the parade route ""armed with American flags and coolers filled with thousands of water balloons. ""  We rate claims that this video shows Pence ."
4963,4,"Nevada is No. 1 in unemployment, violent crime, car theft, divorce, robberies and foreclosures.","January 19, 2012",economy;gambling;crime,no casinos,No Casinos is a group that opposes the expansion of gambling.,florida,0,3,0,0,0,0,a television ad,"No Casinos said Nevada is No. 1 in unemployment, violent crime, car theft, divorce, robberies and foreclosures. Nevada is at the top for unemployment, divorce and foreclosures. Based on 2009 data, Nevada was at the top for the crime measures, but 2010 data showed the state was near the top, but not no. 1.  We rate this  . "
7252,5,Says the U.S. fleet of attack submarines is scheduled to fall below the 48 boats that Navy says it needs to carry out current missions.,"April 9, 2013",federal budget;military,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 column,"Forbes wrote that the nation’s fleet of attack submarines is scheduled, in less than a decade, to fall below the 48 boats the Navy says it needs to carry out current missions. The congressman accurately cited the best information that was available when his column was published on April 9. Since then, the Navy has issued new projections that say the fleet won’t fall below 48 SSNs until 2025. We don’t fault Forbes for not knowing information that wasn’t available at the time. We rate his statement ."
5070,5,"Florida ""unemployment has dropped more than 2 percentage points, down from 12 percent to 9.9 percent, the second-largest drop in the nation.","February 11, 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,a speech at the CPAC conference,"We should note that Florida’s rate has dropped the second-most because the state’s unemployment rate has been one of the highest in the nation. And even with the 2.1 percentage point decrease, Florida still has the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country. (Nevada is No. 1.) That mitigates the significance of Scott's  but not the veracity of it. We rate his statement ."
14380,0,Delta Airlines is offering free airline tickets for people who take a short survey,"March 12, 2018",fake news;punditfact,delta-flying.info,Delta-flying.info is a phishing website.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a story,".... If you are ever in any doubt as to whether a special offer on Facebook is genuine or not, visit the company’s real website to see if they mention the competition there – or whether they are warning of a scam."" Delta spokeswoman Kate Modolo pointed to this page on Delta.com where legitimate offers from the airline are located. The story that said Delta Airlines offers free airline tickets for people who take a short survey is a scam. We rate this story ."
8462,3,"Chained CPI would save $1 trillion in the second decade off the federal budget debt,"" a report shows.","February 23, 2014",economy;federal budget;medicare;social security;punditfact,david brooks,David Brooks is a columnist for the New York Times.,,3,0,2,0,0,0,"comments on NBC's ""Meet the Press""","Brooks said that using the chained CPI would reduce U.S. debt by $1 trillion in the period of 11 to 20 years from now. That number did not come from the Congressional Budget Office, the one government body that members of both parties count on for impartial long-term projections. Also, the chained CPI estimate Brooks cited goes beyond what Obama proposed last year. In 2013, the president exempted programs for low-income people and offered extra payments for Social Security recipients who had been on the rolls a long time. Those caveats would bring down the savings, no matter what the real number is. We rate Brooks’ statement ."
14895,3,"Every time they've done those border patrols, they've taken out people who have trafficked drugs. That's the federal government's role. They're doing their job.","June 26, 2018",immigration;drugs;homeland security,chris sununu,"Chris Sununu is serving his third term on the New Hampshire Executive Council representing 20 percent of the state's population, which is about 265,000 people. The council votes on state contracts and appointments. He is CEO of Waterville Valley, one of the state's ski areas in the White Mountains. He is the son of former Governor John H. Sununu and brother to former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu.  ",new hampshire,0,0,2,1,1,1,an interview,"Gov. Chris Sununu said federal border checkpoints in New Hampshire help ""take out"" drug traffickers and were a key tool in the opioid crisis. ""That’s the federal government’s role. They’re doing their job,"" he said. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that drug interdictions and arrests cannot be the intended role of Customs and Border Patrol agents, but rather ancillary actions taken if the situation arises. So, border patrol agents may seize drugs during checkpoints, but they turn over drug cases to local police. Meanwhile, state courts have ruled that New Hampshire’s constitution prevents drugs found at vehicle checkpoints by drug sniffing dogs from being used as  in court. In fact, local-federal cooperation on drug cases has stopped, and no drug-related arrests have been made since the decision. While drug detection is not the primary purpose of the checkpoints, it is a secondary aim, according to the Border Patrol. Sununu’s defense of the checkpoints leaves out important details. We rate this  ."
16170,1,FactCheck.org exposed Snopes.com as an extremely liberal propaganda site with an agenda to discredit anything that appears to be conservative.,"June 7, 2019",corrections and updates;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,"""None of us works with or for any political campaign or party, nor have any of us so much as met George Soros and probably wouldn’t recognize him if we did,"" the story says. In March 2018, FactCheck.org reported that nearly a decade earlier, in 2009, it addressed questions of Snopes.com's alleged political bias and wrote that it ""found the website’s work to be ‘solid and well-documented’ and that its articles appeared ‘utterly poker-face’ when tackling rumors about Democratic and Republican politicians."" ""At no point did we ever ‘expose’ the myth-busting website,"" FactCheck.org reporter D'Angelo Gore wrote. In February, Snopes.com announced it was pulling out of its partnership with Facebook because it didn’t have the bandwidth to sign on for a third year. We rate this Facebook post as ."
3064,5,Texas added more jobs in 2010 than any other state.,"February 8, 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.",texas,26,24,43,30,31,18,a speech,"New Hampshire came in second with a 2.1 percent job increase. Finally, we wondered how well the new jobs pay. Abbot told us that while the bureau tracks average hourly earnings for most industry sectors, ""the data will only give you averages across all workers in the industry, nothing about ‘new’ versus ‘old’ jobs."" Regardless of how the new jobs paid, Texas added more of them —  based on net job gains — in 2010 than any other state. We rate Perry’s statement ."
5898,3,"There are 60,000 fewer jobs today in this state than we had in 2008.","July 12, 2012",jobs,ovide lamontagne,"Ovide Lamontage, a fourth generation New Hampshire resident, ran un nsuccessfully ran for governor in 1996 and sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2010, a seat now held by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Lamontage served as legal counsel for the New Hampshire State Senate in 1991. In 1993, he was appointed by then Governor Stephen Merrill as Chairman of the New Hampshire State Board of Education, where he served until 1996, when he resigned to run for governor.
In 2003, as an attorney representing the  Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, he negotiated the settlement between the diocese and the alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests. The settlement spared the diocese from being criminally charged by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office. ",new hampshire,0,0,2,0,0,0,"Rindge, N.H","Our ruling: To Lamontagne’s point, New Hampshire, like the rest of the country, has lost many jobs since the recession started. But the candidate got his numbers . The report he cites compares the current jobs count to the number the state could have reached if the recession had never hit, which isn’t the same thing. Lamontagne’s number of 60,000 jobs lost was twice as high as the actual number of jobs lost. We rate Lamontagne’s  ."
12648,3,"Paul Ryan's already spent millions to try and permanently derail Brad (Schneider)'s progressive, energized campaign.","September 28, 2016",campaign finance;elections,barney frank,"Barney Frank has been in Congress since 1981, and was formerly the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Previously he was a Massachusetts state representative and an assistant to the mayor of Boston. He has also taught at several Boston-area universities.",illinois,0,0,2,1,0,0,a fundraising email supporting Illinois' 10th House District Democratic nominee Brad Schneider,"In a September fundraising email supporting candidate Brad Schneider, former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank said, ""Paul Ryan’s already spent millions to try and permanently derail Brad’s progressive, energized, campaign."" Ryan’s committees, Team Ryan and Ryan for Congress, have donated $31.4 million to the NRCC since he became speaker of the House. As speaker, Ryan does represent the NRCC, which has given $1.8 million to support Dold and oppose Schneider this election cycle.   That's not ""millions,"" but it's not far off. Also, the wording of Frank's statement implies has received a direct contribution from Ryan when the money came from political committees Ryan represents. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate this  ."
10130,1,"Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell is ""allied to group pushing MIXED SEX BATHROOMS in Stafford Schools.","March 28, 2015",children;education;lgbtq;sexuality,susan stimpson,"Susan Stimpson, a Republican from Stafford County, was the chairwoman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. She was a member of the board from 2010 to 2013.
She ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2013. She has announced her candidacy in the House of Delegates seat in the 28th District, challenging Speaker Bill Howell in the 2015 primary election.",virginia,0,1,0,0,1,0,a Facebook post,"Stimpson wrote ""BILL HOWELL is allied to group pushing MIXED SEX BATHROOMS in Stafford schools."" Equality Virginia unsuccessfully advocated allowing transgender students in Stafford to use the restrooms of their choice. Stimpson’s statement makes it sound like the LGBT group wanted a broad policy that would have allowed all students of either sex to use the same bathrooms. That’s not the case. When proposed, the debate focused on one fourth-grader at one school. The connection between Equality Virginia and Howell is equally tenuous. The group made annual donations totaling $6,000 to Howell’s multi-million dollar PAC from 2006 to 2012. What Stimpson omits is that Equality Virginia has not contributed to the PAC in more than two years. The group decided, well in advance of restroom issue, that Howell was unfriendly to LGBT issues and now says Howell ""has not done anything to assist"" it. So any small comity that once may have existed between the speaker and Equality Virginia is certainly dead. We rate Stimpson’s statement ."
3852,2,"Says President Barack Obama's overturning of the Mexico City Policy means federal tax dollars can be used ""to fund abortion all over the world.","June 12, 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,Los Angeles,"However, longstanding federal law bars any aid from being spent on abortions, and USAID polices how its family-planning grants are spent. But Perry’s statement retains a sliver of  in that it’s possible some aid could be misspent or that U.S. aid could free up other money to go toward abortions. 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 ."
12905,1,"Obamacare ""is in what the actuaries call a death spiral.","January 12, 2017",health care,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 media briefing,"Our rating A death spiral is a health industry term for a cycle with three components — shrinking enrollment, healthy people leaving the system and rising premiums. The latest data shows enrollment is increasing slightly and younger (typically healthier) people are signing up at the same rate as last year. And while premiums are increasing, that isn’t affecting the cost to most consumers due to built-in subsidies. So none of the three criteria are met, much less all three. We rate Ryan’s  ."
16356,3,"In 2016, counties hosting a Trump rally saw a 226% spike in hate crimes.","August 5, 2019",crime,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 Facebook meme,"Sanders’ post said, ""In 2016, counties hosting a Trump rally saw a 226% spike in hate crimes."" This is from an academic study. However, it’s worth noting some caveats -- that the data can be subject to ""statistical noise"" and jurisdictional differences in hate crime definitions and police aggressiveness, and that cause and effect are hard to pinpoint. Perhaps most important is that Sanders’ wording implies that the 226% jump stems from comparing hate crimes before and after a Trump rally within the same county, when in fact it’s a comparison from Trump rally counties to similar counties that did not host a Trump rally. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
4393,2,Every worker pays 15.3 percent payroll tax.,"October 12, 2011",new hampshire 2012;workers;taxes,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.",national,0,3,5,4,11,3,an interview on MSNBC,"Cain said, ""Every worker pays 15.3 percent payroll tax."" That's not accurate. Workers only pay half that, with the exception of the self-employed, as we mentioned above. The worker contribution is normally 7.65 percent, and thanks to the payroll tax rollback of 2010, the number this year is 5.65 percent. You can reach that number only by including the half of the tax that employers pay. Some economists say that if the employers’ half of payroll taxes were ended, workers would see  a proportional rise in wages over the long run. But whatever the case, Cain was talking about the reality today. Workers don't pay a 15.3 percent payroll tax, so we rate Cain's statement ."
17051,3,"Says Maxine Waters said: ""I say, we knock off Trump and then, go after Pence. We have the power.","December 15, 2018",impeachment,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 claimed that Waters said in September 2018: ""I say, we knock off Trump and then, go after Pence. We have the power."" We found no record that Waters made this exact statement. However, Fox News reported that Waters said something similar about Trump: ""All I want for him and about him is to be impeached and get him out of the White House,"" and that she would ""go after"" Pence if Trump were to be removed from office. While Waters has repeatedly stated her intention to ""get"" Trump and/or Pence, it has been in the context of Congress exercising its power to impeach a president and not, as the viral post suggests, to advocate violence.  We rate the statement ."
12365,3,One extra year of schooling for girls reduces infant mortality rates among their children by up to 10 percent.,"September 6, 2016",global news service;children;education;public health;women,ertharin cousin,Ertharin Cousin is the Executive Director of the United Nations' World Food Programme.,,0,0,1,0,0,0,a speech transcript on Medium,"The head of the World Food Programme said that one extra year of schooling for girls reduces the infant mortality rates among their children by up to 10 percent. Broadly speaking, the association between more education of young women and better odds for their offspring is real. But this  suffers from several flaws. It speaks of infant mortality when the underlying research addressed child mortality. It asserts a causal link when the data, while very suggestive, don’t fully prove the point. And it treated every year of schooling the same. Perhaps most important, UNESCO, the source that the World Food Programme relied on, has distanced itself from this statistic. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
5328,4,"We have the lowest per-capita spending of any state in the nation"" except for South Dakota.","March 27, 2012",state budget,stacey abrams,"Stacey Abrams, a Democrat and national voting rights activist, is running for Georgia governor in 2022. She lost the Georgia governor's race in 2018. She is a former House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and State Representative for the 84th House District.",georgia,1,2,6,0,2,0,a speech before the Atlanta Press Club,"None of these data show South Dakota trailing Georgia in per-capita spending. Regardless, these data all support Abrams’ broader point. In 2009, Georgia was near the bottom in state per-capita spending. According to one measure -- total state spending -- it’s tied for second. We rate Abrams’ statement ."
2406,1,"Debbie Jackow ""unlike her opponent ... WILL NOT de-fund the 20/20 land program.","September 27, 2010",environment;county budget,debbie jackow,"Debbie Jackow, 57, is running for the Lee County Board of Commissioners District 4 seat in November 2010 against incumbent chairwoman Tammy Hall. Jackow now works as a clinical laboratory scientist for Lee Memorial Health System.",florida,0,0,0,0,1,0,a campaign mailer,"Hall offered no further comment on Green's suggestion during the meeting. Hall has supported Conservation 20/20 every year she's been in office, including the current year. To say Hall is considering de-funding the program would be a stretch. Saying she has de-funded the program is clearly . We rate this statement . "
1937,5,"I never called for a partition"" of Iraq.","July 18, 2010",iraq;this week - abc news,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,"ABC's ""This Week""","But the word ""partition"" carries heavy political implications, namely the creation of three separate nations. And that was never Biden's plan. He consistently upheld the idea of one Iraq with a central government, albeit a more modest one responsible for such things as defense, foreign affairs and sharing oil revenues. That's an important distinction. We rate his  ."
9729,2,"Immigrants ""have captured all of the nearly 9 million jobs created since 2000.","December 7, 2014",immigration;economy;jobs;punditfact,peter morici,"Peter Morici is a professor of economics at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. Prior to joining the university, he served as director of the Office of Economics at the U.S. International Trade Commission.",,0,0,0,1,0,0,"the ""Statesman Journal""","Morici said that all of the nearly 9 million new jobs created since 2000 went to immigrants. His numbers don’t add up. The study he cited linked to numbers that showed that immigrants accounted for about 70 percent of the net job growth. While that study’s headline was that all of the new jobs went to immigrants, that only held  for a certain age range, which Morici misapplied to all workers. Morici is correct that foreign-born workers, both citizens and noncitizens, do disproportionately well in the job market. But the actual numbers fall well short of the 100 percent that he said. ""All"" is an overstatement. There is an element of  in the , but it ignores certain critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate the  ."
9609,2,"Says Charlie Crist wants felons who ""commit a heinous crime"" such as ""intentional permanent disfigurement of a child, you walk out of jail, you immediately get to vote.","October 21, 2014",elections;crime,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 CNN debate,"Scott said that Crist wants felons who commit ""a heinous crime"" such as ""intentional permanent disfigurement of a child"" to walk out of jail and immediately get the right to vote. The Cabinet under Crist made it easier for felons to get their rights restored, but they didn’t regain those rights immediately after leaving jail. The offenders had to complete the terms of their sentence, including probation, to qualify. And then the Clemency Board had to sign off on the restorations. The most serious violent offenders had to undergo an investigation and hearing. The only kernel of  here is that it is possible that some felons who had committed violent crimes got their rights restored, but it wasn’t immediately upon leaving jail. So we rate this  ."
16785,0,Says Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith died in a car crash.,"December 9, 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,"Clicking on the post leads social media users to a junk website that features a  video using the CNN logo that allegedly announces the ""breaking news."" The webpage says the video has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.    This is an attempt to bait people into sharing a celebrity hoax on their Facebook pages and to click on the video as a way to redirect them to other websites where they are subjected to pop-up ads. It’s strongly advised not to try and play the video or click on any of the ads. We rate this !"
17933,4,Trump lost a trade war that he started.,"June 24, 2020",china;foreign policy;trade;ad watch,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 ad,"The ad approved by Biden said, ""Trump lost a trade war that he started."" Longstanding Chinese trade policies may have provoked Trump into acting, but by moving first to impose tariffs, Trump at the very least escalated existing trade tensions into a trade war. And while it may be premature to say that Trump has ""lost"" the conflict, we found wide agreement among trade experts that he is losing. He has not succeeded in getting China to capitulate to structural demands. He’s made marginal gains in the U.S.-China trade balance and in U.S. manufacturing output. But those have been undercut by significant retaliatory tariffs for the agriculture sector and wider harm to the economy from higher prices, supply chain disruptions, and slower economic growth. We rate the statement ."
7030,1,"Under Gov. Scott Walker's public-school budgets, ""a student entering kindergarten will not enjoy the same state investment in his or her education as those that came before them until they are graduating from high school.","February 18, 2013",education;state budget,sondy pope,Sondy Pope was first elected in 2002 to the Wisconsin Assembly to represent the western parts of Madison and the surrounding area.,wisconsin,0,1,1,0,1,0,a news release,"Our rating Pope said it would take Walker ""nearly 12 years"" to make up for his previous cuts in general school aids, based on the pace he set in his proposed 2013-’15 budget. The best number is about eight or nine years, we heard from two experts. That’s when, as Pope put it, a student will ""enjoy the same state investment in his or her education"" as a student in pre-Walker days. So it’s more like middle school or freshman year of high school, not graduation. We rate her  ."
14003,2,Breaking! Roy Moore's accuser worked for Democratic leaders and is actively campaigning for Moore's opponent.,"November 10, 2017",fake news;punditfact,activist mommy,The Activisty Mommy is a conservative website.,,0,0,0,1,0,0,a headline,"The Activist Mommy website states in a headline ""Breaking! Roy Moore’s accuser worked for Democratic leaders and is actively campaigning for Moore’s opponent."" The website is referring to Deborah Wesson Gibson, who owns a sign language interpretation company. The company’s Facebook photos show that Gibson has interpreted speeches for Democrats including Hillary Clinton and Biden. The website also states that Gibson worked for the DNC; however, a spokeswoman for the DNC says that it never paid Gibson or her firm. The article’s  is weak to link Gibson to Jones. Two Facebook shares do not prove that Gibson is actively campaigning for Jones, and the campaign says she has played no role. We rate this  ."
14256,5,There was no requirement to put in affordable housing.,"January 16, 2018",housing,chris kennedy,Chris Kennedy is a businessman and a son of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy.,illinois,1,0,0,0,1,0,an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times,"Kennedy said, ""there was no requirement to put in affordable housing"" at his Wolf Point development because the property was grandfathered in under rules that applied before adoption of the city’s affordable housing ordinance. Public records show zoning changes made in 2013, before construction began, did not alter the development in ways that would have triggered the ordinance. And the city department charged with reviewing new projects confirmed that, because of its original zoning date, the development escapes requirements that apply to projects zoned more recently. Kennedy has made both Chicago affordability and holding candidates to higher standards cornerstones of his campaign. So his own actions are relevant to any exploration of the affordability question. Nevertheless, Kennedy is correct in stating no legal mandate required him to include affordable housing at his Wolf Point development. We rate his  ."
5042,0,"David Dewhurst has a ""record of promoting an income tax.","January 12, 2012",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 handout,"Contrary to Cruz’s , Dewhurst has not promoted a personal or business income tax. It's even a stretch to say he edged in that direction in March 2006 with the comment he quickly forsook. All told, the idea that Dewhurst has a record of promoting an income tax is so far from accurate, it’s . !"
16128,1,"Quotes Thomas Jefferson as saying that ""a government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.","June 4, 2019",fake news;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 Thomas Jefferson once said or wrote that ""a government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."" But the quote could not be found in any of Jefferson’s writings and appears to have originated sometime around the 1950s. It has been attributed to Ford, among others, throughout the years as it became a popular saying for politicians starting in the 20th Century. We rate this  ."
11255,3,I'm self-funding my own campaign.,"February 1, 2016",campaign finance,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,Iowa,"Trump said, ""I'm self-funding my own campaign."" As of the end of 2015, Trump’s own contributions account for more than half of all money the campaign has taken in. He’s contributed far more of his own money than any other candidate this cycle. However, a significant portion of his money comes from individual contributions. For several months last year, the campaign received far more dollars from potential voters than they did from Trump. Additionally, most of Trump’s contributions have been loans rather than donations, so he may hope to recoup those funds. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
8942,3,"Says Eric Cantor ""was the co-author of the House GOP principles on immigration reform. Both the 'New York Times' and the 'Washington Post' said that that captured the essence of what was in the Senate immigration bill.","June 15, 2014",immigration;punditfact,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 statement on ""This Week""","Ingraham did not back down from her criticism of Cantor, saying he ""was the co-author of the House GOP principles on immigration reform"" and adding ""both the New York Times and Washington Post said that this captured the essence of what was in the Senate immigration bill."" As the second highest-ranking member in the House, Cantor was part of top-level conversations that led to a (swiftly rejected) one-page document outlining the House GOP’s starting points for immigration reform. The New York Times and Washington Post did not describe the House’s principles as capturing the essence of the Senate bill. (For one thing, it was only a page long.) Their reports often highlighted the House document’s lack of opportunity for citizenship for most undocumented immigrants and explored whether that was a deal-breaker for Democrats. Her statement is partially accurate but needs more context. We rate it ."
6820,4,"[W]e see America's prison population exploding, with America having a greater percentage of its people behind bars than any other nation in the world!","January 1, 2013",criminal justice,hank johnson,"Hank Johnson, a Democrat, represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District",georgia,2,3,4,3,0,0,a letter,"""It is, however, entirely accurate to state that the United States has the highest reported incarceration rate, as well as the highest total prison population, based on the most recent studies."" The United States has the highest percentage of people in its prisons of any nation that can be verified. From the most recent numbers we’ve seen, the U.S. may have a higher percentage than one nation (Cuba) we thought had more of its people in prison. We’ll give Johnson a higher grade this time on the -O-Meter but still leave room for another country (North Korea, perhaps) that may have a higher percentage of its people in prison. Our rating: ."
16268,1,"Says the FDA will now require sealed ice cream cartons in response to the Blue Bell ice cream licker, thus driving up the cost for consumers.","July 15, 2019",food safety;public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"After a viral video showed a teen licking a Blue Bell ice cream tub before returning it to a Texas Walmart shelf, a post on Facebook claims the incident prompted the FDA to now require all ice cream companies add protective seals to their products, thus driving up the cost of ice cream. But the FDA said the rumor is  and the incident is being handled by local law enforcement and the ice cream company affected. Blue Bell, unlike some other ice cream companies, does not currently have sealed containers but said in a statement it is looking at methods ""to add additions protection to the carton."" We rate this  ."
4377,1,Not a single segment of the proposed Beltline intersects the MARTA system at MARTA stations.,"September 27, 2011",transportation,eva galambos,"Eva Galambos is the mayor of Sandy Springs, Georgia.",georgia,0,0,0,0,1,0,an op-ed,"""In terms of additional connectivity, we’re not getting any."" Galambos admitted she made a  by writing that the Beltline doesn’t intersect MARTA at any of its stations. We thank her for her honesty. Still, her article went off the tracks on that point. We must give her a rating of ."
6544,4,George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood.,"October 16, 2012",abortion;corrections and updates;debates,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 town hall debate,"Obama said in the debate that, ""George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood."" In fact, one of Bush’s first acts as president was to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and other groups working overseas that counsel women about abortion. But as for eliminating Title X funding for health services that Planned Parenthood provides in the United States -- which is what Romney and other Republicans of today favor -- Obama is right. We found no  that Bush sought such a change, and Title X funding actually increased during his presidency. We rate Obama’s statement . Editor's note: This report has been changed to note that abortion rights advocates refer to the Mexico City policy as  ""the global gag rule."" Anti-abortion advocates oppose referring to the policy by that term."
2206,0,"Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded.","June 25, 2010",immigration,jan brewer,"Jan Brewer, a Republican, is the former governor of Arizona.",national,0,0,1,3,1,1,a TV interview,"And for weeks, she refused to back away from the comment. When Brewer finally acknowledged she had erred, she couched her admission with the qualifier ""if I said said that."" She did. This , like several others by opponents of illegal immigration, is   -- emphasizing a non-existent danger. So we rate her comment ."
18473,1,We have a worse economy than any other country in the world that's going through COVID-19 by a factor of three.,"August 23, 2020",economy;coronavirus,richard durbin,Dick Durbin in the senior U.S. senator from Illinois and the Democratic majority whip.,illinois,3,4,4,0,4,1,a radio interview,"Durbin said, ""We have a worse economy than any other country in the world that’s going through COVID-19 by a factor of three."" As of August, when Durbin made his remarks, available data for the second quarter showed U.S. GDP declined by 9.5% relative to the same period last year, better than two dozen other countries around the world. And while other economic indicators such as unemployment rates showed the U.S. economy suffered staggering losses, they were not worse by a factor of three, according to published data and experts. We rate Durbin’s  .  — The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
3372,3,"Across the United States, 25 percent of voting age African Americans do not have the photo ID that this bill would require.","March 22, 2011",elections,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,,"Budish was using the national statistic to argue that the new law would disproportionately impact potential black voters in Ohio. Yet there has been no study of this issue in Ohio so there are no specific figures for the state population. ID rates in other states where studies were done differed greatly. So while Budish’s statement is accurate, it leaves out those important details needed to understand it in full context. On the -O-Meter that rates as ."
5387,4,"Says New Jersey Devils managing partner Jeff Vanderbeek ""froze all those monies during the toughest years in '08-'09"" and ""refused to give the charitable dollars that he was required to give by the contract.","April 9, 2012",city government,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,an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe,"In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Booker claimed Vanderbeek ""froze all those monies during the toughest years in ‘08-’09"" and ""refused to give the charitable dollars that he was required to give by the contract."" According to the arbitrators’ decision, the Devils paid $346,576 toward youth and community sports programs and job training programs for the first year of the contract. But the hockey team did not pay $1.5 million in combined payments over the next three years of the contract. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
19387,0,Says Oprah Winfrey was wearing an ankle monitor during her Meghan Markle interview.,"March 8, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,We watched clips of the interview and looked at still images . What some people are identifying as a hidden ankle monitor looks to us like a fold in Winfrey’s leather boot.    Unfounded claims that powerful figures such as politicians and celebrities have been arrested are not new and they’re rooted in the QAnon conspiracy theory.   There is no  to corroborate the  that Winfrey was wearing an ankle monitor in the interview.   We rate this post .
23256,1,Protestors in France have released animals from the zoo.,"July 4, 2023",animals,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 video of lions walking along a road, this one during the day, is even older. A reverse-image search showed that it was first posted in July 2021 by an Iranian website . Lastly, a clip of a rhino taking a leisurely stroll through a town wasn’t filmed in France and wasn’t a recent occurrence, either. The video was taken in January 2020 in Nepal.   We rate claims that say protesters in Paris have released animals from the zoo ."
3896,2,Says the average government worker won't be impacted in the first two years under the reform of state health benefits.,"June 23, 2011",health care;state budget,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 New Jersey 101.5 FM,"But the senator’s own figures prove him , showing increases starting in the second year. Also, the premiums at the heart of this debate have yet to be determined by the new committees. Have no fear, senator, this statement isn’t getting a . We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
2126,2,"Roy Barnes is part of the team that has run up trillions of dollars in debt that Americans will spend years paying off, and they've done it without creating one job.","August 14, 2010",stimulus,brian robinson,"Brian Robinson is the communications director for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican.",georgia,1,2,0,1,1,0,a newspaper interview,"We agree with Bullock that it is tenuous to link Barnes to Obama's policies. As for the other aspects of the : Robinson is correct to say debt has risen since the stimulus, but we have trouble with the final portion of his quote to the Athens Banner-Herald. The way the federal government counts stimulus jobs has been problematic, but several independent groups say the stimulus has saved or created some jobs. It's a stretch, we believe, to say the stimulus has not created ""one job."" All in all, we rate Robinson's statement as ."
717,4,"He has asked for $932-million of earmark pork-barrel spending, nearly a million dollars for every day that he's been in the United States Senate.","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","Since then, there have been about 930 working days, as they are defined by most people, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, which would mean McCain would be completely right if he had specified working days. Technically, Obama's been ""in Congress"" for more than 1,350 days, if you count weekends. So how many points do you take off for McCain not saying ""every working day""? Not many. We say this  is ."
8216,2,Kathleen Peters refuses to 'take a stand' to repeal Obamacare.,"December 13, 2013",health care,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 mailer to 13th Congressional District voters,"Jolly wanted to portray Peters as soft on Obamacare, in an attempt to win over conservative voters. His use of Peters’ quote, ""I do not think we should take a stand and say absolutely repeal it"" without context is designed to appeal to voters who want the law taken off the books entirely. Peters has repeatedly said she doesn’t support the law, but doesn’t feel it would be good policy to simply strip the Affordable Care Act off the books without addressing some of the problems in the health care system. Her stance lacked specifics before the mailing came out, but it was always clear she wasn’t a staunch Obamacare advocate. She repeatedly said or implied the law should go, so long as some provisions could be retained, such as helping people with pre-existing conditions get insurance. The mailer attempts to make it appear as if she supports the law, which she didn’t do even before clarifying her message. We rate this statement ."
2479,1,Says the Annie's List political group supports third-trimester abortions on demand.,"October 4, 2010",abortion,dwayne bohac,State Rep. Dwayne Bohac is a Republican from Houston.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a mailer,"That's a premise that he fails to back up. Annie's List makes no bones about being comfortable with candidates who oppose further restrictions on late-term abortions. Then again, this year it’s backing two House candidates who voted for more limits. Honestly? Bohac's sweeping, unsupported statement is ."
9066,3,I created the school choice program.,"July 6, 2014",education,gary george,"Gary George, a Democrat, represented Milwaukee in the Wisconsin Senate and was co-chair of the influential Joint Finance Committee. He is a former candidate for governor. In 2003, he was recalled from office as a state senator and convicted a year later of a felony count of conspiring to defraud the government for his role in a $270,000 kickback scheme.
In 2014 he re-entered politics and was an unsuccessful candidate in the Aug. 12, 2014 Democratic primary for the 4th Congressional seat held by Rep. Gwen Moore.",wisconsin,0,0,1,0,0,0,an interview,"Clearly the former senator helped give birth to choice, steering it through the Senate with crucial changes and granting his crucial support. But George didn’t conceive of the idea. And his account crowds out the long leadership -- and more prominent role -- of both Williams and Thompson, not to mention Williams’ authorship of the bill George modified. Our definition of  is a statement that is partially accurate, but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. That fits here."
19569,2,We have encountered the largest surge of migrants (at the southern border) in the last 20 years.,"March 24, 2021",immigration;border security;families;wisconsin,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.  
 ",national,8,2,6,4,7,0,Twitter,"Grothman claimed ""we have encountered the largest surge of migrants in the last 20 years."" While the number of people attempting to enter the county via the U.S.-Mexico border has increased, the numbers so far are nowhere near those reported in the early 2000s, which were in the neighborhood of about 1 million annually.  That said, Biden’s own Homeland Security secretary said the country is ""on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years."" Our definition for  is ""the statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."" That fits here."
11800,0,"Says ""Obama wants to give (Iran) nuclear weapons and Michael Bennet, he was all for it.","May 31, 2016",nuclear,jon keyser,"Jon Keyser is a 2016 Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Colorado. A former Jefferson County state representative, Keyser is an Air Force Academy graduate and a veteran of Iray and Afghanistant.
 
 
 
Air Force Academy graduate and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, announced his run Monday.",colorado,0,0,0,0,1,1,a TV ad,"Keyser said, ""Obama wants to give these guys nuclear weapons and Michael Bennet, he was all for it."" Keyser portrays the agreement as a plot to arm Iran with nukes when it’s designed to do exactly the opposite. The terms of the deal forbid Iran from pursuing a militarized nuclear program. There are limits on uranium enrichment and facility uses, and Iran must allow inspections. It also must abide by terms of international treaties to not seek weapons even after the deal’s guidelines end. To develop nuclear weapons, Iran would have to either break the terms of the agreement or else wait it out and start building one anew once the deal’s provisions have expired (which would be counter to the provisions of treaties that predated this deal). It's  to say Obama and Bennet wanted this deal because they want to give Iran a nuclear weapon. We rate the statement ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/c9edf88f-91bb-450c-82cf-14dacd88c0e3"
439,0,"Obama ... gave almost a million dollars to the (Kenya) opposition campaign who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga.","April 18, 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,,"""It should have said he was a socialist trained in East Germany,"" Barkan said. ""He's populist politics, but he's no socialist."" A nugget of  in a mountain of wholesale inaccuracy does nothing to diminish our ruling on this irresponsible . Neither does the fact the American author says it wasn't meant for worldwide distribution. This is  .  "
18481,1,"A letter from Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says that at ""the beginning of October 2020 the statewide mask requirements will be abolished.","September 26, 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,"On Aug. 4, the governor signed an executive order effective Aug. 5 requiring all residents to wear face coverings in schools, businesses, indoor public spaces, and outdoor public spaces where physical distancing isn’t possible. The order was set to expire on Aug. 17, but the governor extended it until Sept. 30 .   Certainly, the state could decide not to extend the mask requirement and residents will be free to not wear masks on Oct. 1. But the governor has made no such announcement, and this letter, as the emergency management agency pointed out, is .   We rate this post ."
2591,3,Congressman Perriello voted in lock step with Nancy Pelosi 90 percent of the time.,"October 14, 2010",voting record,robert hurt,"Robert Hurt, Republican, represents Virginia's 5th District, which is composed of 19 counties and two independent municipalities and is Virginia's largest, in Congress. Hurt was first elected to the U.S. House in 2010. He serves on the Financial Services Committee and on its Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises and Housing and Insurance subcommittees.
Hurt, a Pittsylvania County native, previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2007 and in the state senate from 2008 to 2010.
Hurt graduated from Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden Sydney, in 1991 and earned a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law, Jackson, Miss., in 1995.",virginia,0,0,1,2,4,0,a statement on candidate's web site,"So let’s recap. First, the Hurt campaign says Perriello voted with Pelosi 90 percent of the time, which is . He voted with his party 90 percent, but voted with Pelosi only 78.4 percent, which is significantly lower. Still, there is support for Hurt’s underlying point that Perriello votes with his party much of the time. So we find the  ."
17305,0,"Silver Solution used on strains of coronavirus ""totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it.","February 12, 2020",public health;punditfact;coronavirus,sherill sellman,"Sherill Sellman is a naturopath, author, lecturer, and podcaster.",missouri,0,0,0,0,0,1,remarks on the Jim Bakker show,"Sellman claimed that a Silver Solution used on strains of coronavirus ""totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it."" No, no, and no.  There are no pills or remedies that cure any strain of human coronavirus including COVID-19. In fact, Sellman’s ""silver solution,"" and colloidal silver, can hurt you, and not just your wallet.  With that, we rate this  . "
2799,1,"Beaverton ""enjoys the most diverse population (by percentage of population) among Oregon cities.","November 23, 2010",race and ethnicity,beaverton,"The city of Beaverton, seven miles west of Portland, is Oregon's sixth largest city with nearly 87,000 residents.",oregon,0,0,0,0,2,0,a press release,"So, we decided to take a look at the demographic breakdown for Woodburn. Our colleague was on to something. About 40 percent of respondents there identified as a race other than ""white"" and 56 percent identified as Hispanic or Latino. Woodburn far outpaces Hillsboro, Beaverton and Portland insofar as diversity by percentage of population is concerned. Comment on this item."
19202,2,Donald Trump is the first president in modern history (who) did not start a new war.,"January 22, 2021",military,donald trump jr.,Donald Trump Jr. is the son of President Donald Trump and his former wife Ivana Trump.,national,0,1,0,2,8,6,a tweet,"Donald Trump Jr. said in a tweet that ""Donald Trump is the first president in modern history (who) did not start a new war."" Trump did not seek authorization from Congress for use of military force, or a formal declaration of war against any other country. He did not engage the U.S. in any new protracted conflicts during his four years in office. But Trump did order and oversee new military operations under existing authorizations, including counterterrorism raids that have spread to several countries in the Middle East and Africa. The  also ignores the record of Carter, who did not start any new wars under the definitions put forward by military and foreign policy experts. As Carter is still alive, we consider him to be part of modern presidential and military history. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . ​"
19777,1,"Video shows ""Israel's defense system.","May 22, 2021",israel;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 longer clip of the game was posted on YouTube on Jan. 24 and described as a simulation of shooting down a hostile jet.   On May 14, someone posted a shorter clip of the video and wrote that it was a ""created simulation"" in Arma 3.   ""The graphics of Arma are very good, it almost looks like real life,"" the post says.   The public relations manager for Bohemia Interactive, the company that makes the game, told Lead Stories that the footage in the post is an altered version of the company’s game.   We rate claims that it shows Israel’s defense system ."
20461,5,"The Biden administration ""published a study concluding 4 (of) 5 new cars on the road by 2050 will still require liquid fuels.","October 5, 2021",climate change;energy;transportation,randy feenstra,Randy Feenstra is a U.S. House member from Iowa's 4th congressional district.,iowa,1,0,1,0,0,0,a tweet,"Feenstra said the Biden Administration predicts that four out of five new cars on the road will require liquid fuels in 2050 and he cites the source. That source, a report from the Biden Administration, states that 79% of vehicles on the road will require liquid fuels by 2050.  We rate Feenstra’s statement to be . "
16135,3,"A photo shows ""brave women of the Red Cross"" arriving in Normandy on D-Day to help injured troops.","June 6, 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,"""As the coffee and doughnut line thins out, American Red Cross girl Grace Smith has a moment to answer the inevitable ‘Where are you from back home?’"" Another photo from June 1944 shows ""Daniel Boone,"" the first Red Cross club mobile to land in Normandy after D-Day.    The photo that appeared on Facebook was also taken after D-Day, by several months, and it captures women arriving in Southern France, not Normandy, as the post claims. But it does depict women with the Red Cross arriving to provide help to injured troops. We rate it ."
10662,1,We're the most highly taxed nation in the world.,"August 24, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,"an interview on ""Fox & Friends""","Trump said the United States is ""the most highly taxed nation in the world."" Depending on the measurement you use, the United States is either in the middle of the pack or on the lighter end of taxation when compared to other advanced industrialized nations. We rate his  ."
9708,3,"The actions I'm taking"" are ""the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every single Democratic president for the past half-century.","November 20, 2014",immigration;legal issues,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 announcing new immigration actions,"Obama said, ""the actions I’m taking"" are ""the kinds of actions taken by every single Republican president and every single Democratic president for the past half-century."" He has a point that every president since Eisenhower, Republican and Democratic alike, has taken executive action on immigration. However, Obama’s action can be viewed as more sweeping than any of those taken earlier. The clearest parallel is Bush’s action in 1990: The percentage of the undocumented population potentially affected was similar, both actions were structured without regard to a specific nationality, and beneficiaries could qualify for a work permit. Still, most of the actions taken by prior presidents were more limited in size, scope and benefits than the one in 1990. So, even if you accept that the 1990 action is a pretty close precedent, that’s a much more limited  than the one Obama made. In other words, it’s an exaggeration to say that Obama’s actions are ""the kinds of actions taken"" by every single president of the past half century. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
8656,2,"Says the Koch brothers ""funded the fight to let flood insurance premiums soar ... Now they're spending millions to buy a Senate seat for Bill Cassidy so he can fight for them.","March 26, 2014",campaign finance;corrections and updates;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 campaign ad,"The Senate Majority PAC ad said the Koch brothers ""funded the fight to let flood insurance premiums soar ... Now they’re spending millions to buy a Senate seat for Bill Cassidy so he can fight for them."" Two major Koch-funded groups opposed the legislative rewrite of the flood-insurance law, and AFP has been airing a lot of ads attacking Cassidy’s opponent. But the ad’s message is significantly undermined by its suggestion that Cassidy is a puppet of the Kochs, particularly on flood insurance. The reality is that Cassidy sided with constituents and against the AFP position on flood insurance as recently as last month. The statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . Correction : The initial version of this story incorrectly stated that FreedomWorks receives funding from the Koch brothers. While FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity were both split off from Citizens for a Sound Economy, a now-defunct group founded and funded in part by the Koch brothers, there is no  that FreedomWorks receives any Koch brothers funding today. This change does not affect our ruling of ."
15512,0,"Quotes Sen. Elizabeth Warren as saying ""If women need to be raped by Muslims to prove our tolerance, so be it. Then thank goodness for Planned Parenthood.","December 18, 2018",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"A meme attempts to link Warren to an offensive quote that said ""If women need to be raped by muslims to prove our tolerance, so be it. Then thank goodness for Planned Parenthood."" Warren did not say that and the quote appears to be entirely fabricated. We found no instances of Warren (or anyone else) saying those words. We rate this  !"
15755,0,Says Bernie Sanders marched with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba.,"February 28, 2019",candidate biography;corrections and updates;foreign policy;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A cutline under a photo said that Bernie Sanders marched with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Cuba. The same photo appeared on an entertainment website. A reverse image search showed that the historical photo includes Castro and Guevara at a 1959 parade in Havana, but we found no no  that Sanders is one of the men in the photo. Experts told us the man is Regino Boti León at a parade in 1960. We rate this  ."
8577,2,"Broward County's unemployment rate of 5.3 percent is ""the lowest in Florida.","March 21, 2014",economy;jobs,barbara sharief,Barbara Sharief is the mayor of Broward County as well as a county commissioner.,florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,"Davie, Fla","Sharief said Broward’s unemployment rate of 5.3 percent is ""the lowest in Florida."" The rate -- which is indeed 5.3 percent -- is the lowest in Florida among large urban counties. But it’s not the lowest in Florida. Seven counties and two smaller metropolitan areas have lower unemployment rates in the most recent data. Because she phrased her otherwise accurate talking point inaccurately in her speech, in a way that makes the county seem to be No. 1 when it's not, we rate the  ."
21631,1,"Video shows Russian artillery tanks ""completely destroyed by Bayraktar TB2 drones"" on July 2.","July 3, 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,"""This type of drones are used in Russia,"" the YouTube post says.    The account has shared similar clips before, though it’s more clearly labeled in other cases as video game footage. ""THIS IS ONLY SIMULATION, NOT REAL LIFE!"" one such post says.    We rate claims that this is real war footage ."
13227,1,The EPA director under Obama said the Clean Power Initiative would have no effect on man-made CO2 emissions. That's what she said. Go look it up.,"March 31, 2017",environment;climate change;energy;government regulation,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 conversation on HBO's ""Real Time with Bill Maher""","Santorum said, ""The EPA director under Obama said the Clean Power Initiative would have no effect on man-made CO2 emissions. That's what she said. Go look it up."" Many scientists would acknowledge that the climate-change impact of U.S. action by itself would be modest. However, McCarthy didn’t actually say that, and few experts would peg the impact at zero, as Santorum did. We rate the statement . CORRECTION, April 6, 2017: This version corrects the academic affiliation of Rob Jackson."
7269,3,"Over half"" of science, technology, engineering and mathematics students ""receiving advanced degrees are not citizens of the United States of America.","April 26, 2013",immigration;education;science;technology,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 speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,"Once you factor in students seeking master’s degrees as well as students in other STEM subjects -- such as medical science, chemistry and physics -- the overall share of foreign students drops well below 50 percent. Our rating McCain said that ""over half"" of science, technology, engineering and mathematics students ""receiving advanced degrees are not citizens of the United States of America."" That’s actually  -- the number is no higher than 37 percent. But McCain has a point that temporary residents account for over half of those earning degrees in many economically important fields, such as electrical engineering and computer science. We rate his  ."
17573,0,"Quotes Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as saying, ""Now is not the time to live by the Constitution, it's time to put that damn thing in a shredder.","April 13, 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,"Whitmer’s office also told us the statement isn’t legitimate.   ""This is completely  information,"" a spokesperson wrote in an email. ""Posts like these are being spread across social media platforms to create rumors and fear."" This quote is bogus and only exists in unsourced social media posts. We rate it !"
23333,1,Two pipeline workers in the Chicago area were given fentanyl-laced water bottles.,"July 20, 2023",drugs;public health;public safety;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 post claimed two flaggers working for a pipeline company in the Chicago area were poisoned with fentanyl-laced water bottles given to them by a person in a passing car. The post shared a letter from a Wisconsin company warning its employees about the incident. We were unable to verify if the letter is real. The letter’s  that the workers at NPL, a separate company operating in Illinois, were poisoned is . NPL posted on its social media accounts that the reports are . We could find no credible  the incident described in the letter happened. We rate the  ."
11156,1,"Every piece of legislation, just about, that I ever introduced (in the U.S. Senate) had a Republican co-sponsor.","January 18, 2016",bipartisanship;candidate biography;history,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 at a campaign organizing event,"Clinton said, ""Every piece of legislation, just about, that I ever introduced (in the U.S. Senate) had a Republican co-sponsor.""  By our review of legislation introduced by Clinton, she isn't even close. Her campaign says she meant to cast the statement differently, but we cannot rule based on what candidates intended to say. Clinton introduced a significant amount of legislation without Republican co-sponsors. We rate this   ."
17930,0,Say Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn support Trump by wearing t-shirt,"July 27, 2016",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on social media,"The altered version previously surfaced on social media during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Around the same time, another Facebook post falsely attributed a tweet praising Trump to Russell, and our reporters rated it .   Our ruling  A photo posted to Facebook shows Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn walking arm in arm wearing Trump t-shirts. A reverse image search found the photo to be doctored. We rate this . "
7236,1,Demand for public transportation is reaching record levels in Wisconsin.,"April 11, 2013",state budget;transportation,georgia department of transportation,The Georgia Department of Transportation plans and maintains state roads and bridges.,wisconsin,2,0,0,0,2,0,a press release,"The intended statement, which is on the group’s website , said simply that demand was up nationwide, without mentioning Wisconsin, he said. Our rating 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, arguing for restoration of transit aid, claimed that ""Demand for public transportation is reaching record levels in Wisconsin."" The group can point to hot spots where ridership in 2011 reached heights unseen for many years, and makes a decent argument that transit cuts have suppressed demand. But its  goes well beyond that, suggesting a quantifiable statewide trend at ""record"" levels -- and hard  of that is lacking. We rate this  ."
5028,4,"Says Chris Christie ""inherited the highest taxes in America and the worst unemployment in the region.","January 31, 2012",jobs;taxes,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 television ad,"Committee for Our Children’s Future claims in an ad that the governor ""inherited the highest taxes in America and the worst unemployment in the region."" A business-backed group ranks New Jersey worst in the nation for its state and local tax burden. The advocacy group is correct by that measure. But there are other measures of tax burden where New Jersey doesn’t rank first and there isn't clear consensus on how best to define tax burden. New Jersey had the highest unemployment rate among its neighbors when Christie took office, and still does. Among all the states in the northeast, only Rhode Island’s jobless rate tops New Jersey’s. We rate the statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
19021,1,A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent was killed for investigating the election.,"December 16, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",georgia,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"It is hurtful to the agent’s family and co-workers. Please be mindful of the things you write, repeat, or share — especially when there is absolutely no  in them. ""  We rate this Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
11915,2,"The United States ""is the only major country that taxes its own exports.","June 24, 2016",federal budget;taxes,kevin brady,Brady represents a Houston-area U.S. House district.,texas,2,1,2,2,0,0,a press conference for Republican tax reform,"Brady said that the United States is the only country that taxes its own exports, a problem the GOP tax plan intends to fix. Other countries do exempt exports from their consumption taxes using ""border-adjustments."" However, experts told us that Brady’s statement ignores the income taxes of other countries, which do end up taxing export income, at least in part. For that reason, we rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/232eaee9-6d5f-4e86-863e-162ba667e2af"
15022,0,"Says ""I have been through the gauntlet, when we had riots in that Capitol.","July 26, 2018",labor;states;unions,leah vukmir,"Republican Leah Vukmir was elected to the Wisconsin state Senate in 2010, representing a suburban Milwaukee district. She served in the state Assembly from 2002 to 2008. She lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2018.",wisconsin,0,1,2,3,4,3,a public forum,"Our rating During a campaign debate, Vukmir said: ""I have been through the gauntlet, when we had riots in that Capitol."" That vastly overstates what happened, in an effort to burnish her own stand-tough persona for voters. The  of ""riots"" in the Capitol was debunked in 2011 and rarely, if ever, has come up since. That is, until Vukmir put herself on the hot seat by recycling the . We still rate it ."
18406,1,"Says he authored legislation ""to guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions -- no matter what happens to Obamacare.","September 15, 2020",health care;health check,cory gardner,"Cory Gardner, a Republican, won a seat to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate in 2014. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Colorado House of Representatives.",colorado,0,2,1,4,2,0,a tweet,"Because protecting people with medical conditions requires many moving parts, the brevity of Gardner’s proposal makes it appear to be a fig leaf for a political problem rather than a means to guarantee protections for people with preexisting conditions. The legislation is unclear on whether it guarantees that people with health problems will be able to buy insurance in the first place. And, even if they can, they may well find it priced out of reach because the legislation does not bar insurers from varying premiums widely on the basis of age, gender or occupation. Viewed in its most favorable light, Gardner’s 117-word proposal would only serve as a place holder for larger legislation, upon which more protections would have to be layered to bolster the effectiveness of its guarantee. We rate this statement .  "
839,2,"The Congressional Budget Office ""estimates that only 15 percent of this stimulus package will be spent in 2009"" and only 37 percent in 2010.","February 5, 2009",economy;stimulus,pat roberts,"Pat Roberts of Kansas was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. He previously served as a U.S. Congressman, elected in 1980.",national,1,0,0,1,1,0,the Senate,"So we have several problems with Roberts' use of the CBO numbers. He uses numbers for a House bill in a Senate debate, when data on the Senate version has been available for several days. He refers to the stimulus ""package,"" but he uses figures that take into account spending only, ignoring the benefits of tax cuts. His statement leaves the impression that the Senate bill would do little by the end of 2010, and we find there's a lot in the CBO data to contradict that. For these reasons, we rate his statement .  "
19082,1,"The woman killed during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol assault was shot by a Secret Service agent, not Capitol Police.","January 7, 2021",guns;jan. 6,jonathan brostoff,"Wisconsin state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, was elected to the Assembly in 2014. ",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,Brostoff claimed a Secret Service agent was responsible for the lone shooting death in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. But he now acknowledges that was . Law enforcement confirmed later that day a Capitol Police officer pulled the trigger. We rate this  .
8311,4,"With the tax controls we already put in place, property taxes on a typical home in December of 2014 will actually be lower than they were in December of 2010.","January 22, 2014",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 speech,"Our rating Walker said, ""With the tax controls we already put in place, property taxes on a typical home in December of 2014 will actually be lower than they were in December of 2010."" It wasn’t all because of the Republican actions, and the  is based on projections that could change. But the governor’s main point is solid based on the specific citation he highlights from a respected source. With the caveats noted, we rate this . To comment on this story please go to JSOnline.com ."
18358,3,"The ""U.S. trade deficit is at an all-time high under Trump in the last three years.","September 9, 2020",trade,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,"Warren, Mich","Biden said the ""U.S. trade deficit is at an all-time high under Trump in the last three years."" The trade deficit in goods was indeed higher under Trump in 2018 and 2019 than in any previous year, though that was not the case in 2017. However, this ignores a substantial surplus in services. When services are factored in, the overall trade deficit was larger in five separate years during George W. Bush’s administration. We rate the statement ."
16032,2,"Says he ""cast the deciding vote"" to override a vetoed 'born alive' bill","April 30, 2019",abortion;voting record,dan bishop,"Dan Bishop is a North Carolina state Senator who represents Mecklenburg County in District 39. In 2019, he was a candidate for North Carolina's 9th Congressional District.",north carolina,0,1,1,2,1,1,a Facebook post,"So it’s  for Bishop to say he cast the ""deciding"" vote. 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 suggest ideas for fact checks, email  [email protected] ."
209,5,We've got some 37-million of our fellow citizens who are living in poverty; about 12-million or 13-million are children.,"December 13, 2007",poverty,chris dodd,"Chris Dodd is a former U.S. senator from Connecticut, having served in that post from 1981-2011. Dodd also ran unsuccessfully for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and was a member of the U.S. House prior to his service in the Senate. He was born in Connecticut in 1944, graduated from Providence College and earned a law degree from the University of Louisville. Dodd is married to Jackie Marie Clegg. They have two children.",national,2,3,3,0,0,0,"Johnston, Iowa","""In 2005, 37.0-million people were in poverty, not statistically different from 2004,"" it says. ""In 2005, the number in poverty remained statistically unchanged from 2004 for people under 18 and people 18 to 64 years old (12.9-million and 20.5-million, respectively),"" it goes on. Dodd even says ""about 12-million or 13-million are children,"" not looking too flashy by quoting the precise number of 12.9-million. The U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 report, released in August 2007, is ""not statistically different from 2005,"" although it lists the number of people living in poverty as 36.5-million and the number of children living in poverty as 12.8-million. Either way, we rule Dodd's statement ."
11981,3,Each [Corbett administration] budget finished in the black.,"June 15, 2016",economy;state budget;stimulus;taxes,mike turzai,"Mike Turzai, a Republican from Allegheny County, is the state's Speaker of the House. He's been a state rep. since 2001.",pennsylvania,0,0,1,0,1,0,an op-ed for PennLive,"Turzai wrote, ""Each budget finished in the black"" from the Corbett administration. This is right, but borderline . It conveys that the state was healthy place financially. Pennsylvania wasn’t. Moreover, the administration implemented one-time tactics to balance the books that their own budget secretary had previously decried. We rule this  ."
19781,1,"The CDC lifting mask guidelines ""out of the blue with no solid explanation proves they lied to you the whole time about everything.","May 16, 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 post says that the CDC lifted its mask guidelines ""out of the blue with no solid explanation,"" proving that the agency ""lied to you the whole time about everything.""  The CDC presented its decision to update guidance for fully vaccinated people and explained that it was based on data showing the effectiveness of vaccines among those who have been fully vaccinated.  We rate this post ."
19437,1,"The Washington Post was ""forced to correct what (Donald Trump) told the secretary of state of Georgia.","March 16, 2021",corrections and updates;elections;pundits;punditfact,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.,georgia,0,0,0,2,2,0,an interview with former President Donald Trump,"Bartiromo said that the Washington Post was ""forced to correct what (Trump) told the secretary of state of Georgia."" That’s . The Washington Post issued a correction about a separate report detailing the contents of a different call Trump had with a different Georgia official, Watson. But the newspaper has not changed its reporting on Trump’s Jan. 2 call with Raffensperger, the secretary of state. The report that was corrected came after the Georgia Senate runoffs and therefore had no bearing on the outcome of that election. We rate Bartiromo’s  . UPDATE, March 17, 10:35 p.m. : This fact-check was updated to reflect Bartiromo’s comments on March 17 acknowledging that she confused the two calls. Our rating remains the same. RELATED: What Trump told Georgia election officials RELATED: Here’s why Georgia’s Republican officials are confident in their presidential election results RELATED: Donald Trump falsely claims Georgia victory in recorded call RELATED: Trump rehashes debunked  about ‘suitcases’ of ballots in Georgia phone callTrump rehashes debunked  about ‘suitcases’ of ballots in Georgia phone call"
15327,1,"Says Texas Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher contradicted herself on her health care position by saying ""we need universal health care.","October 25, 2018",health care,john culberson,John Culberson is the Republican U.S. Rep. for Texas' 7th Congressional District. ,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a TV ad,"Culberson attempts to display Fletcher contradicting herself on her health care position. But the ad uses an incomplete sound bite that ultimately takes Fletcher out of context. Fletcher did use the words ""universal health care,"" and has so in the past, but not in the context of a single-payer or ""Medicare for All"" type health plan. Fletcher has advocated for improvements to the Affordable Care Act and a public option to buy into Medicare,  not through a government-funded single-payer type of program. The ad uses an incomplete sound bite that ultimately misleads viewers on her stance. We rate it ."
12171,1,"Donald Trump says ""all Mexicans are rapists.","August 1, 2016",immigration,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 speech,"Trump has roiled emotions with his debunked claims that the Mexican government is sending ""rapists"" and other violent criminals into the U.S. as unauthorized immigrants."" Kaine has embellished the controversy by saying Trump has said ""all Mexicans are rapists."" The Democrat doesn’t come close to proving his ; all of the Trump quotes Kaine’s campaign sent us pertain to unauthorized immigrants crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. No doubt, many Latinos have taken umbrage with what Trump actually has said. But Kaine put an insult into the mouth of Trump that never was uttered. So we rate Kaine’s statement ."
14731,2,"Says Bill Nelson voted for ""cuts to Medicare providers"" and voted to weaken ""Social Security protections"" as a U.S. senator.","June 11, 2018",medicare;social security,new republican pac,"New Republican PAC is an Independent Expenditure Only PAC (i.e., a Super PAC) focused on the election of Rick Scott in the race for Florida United States Senate. ",florida,0,0,0,1,0,0,a political ad,"The New Republican PAC ad said that Nelson voted for ""cuts to Medicare providers"" and voted to ""weaken Social Security protections"" as a senator in the 2000s. This  is . The votes neither weakened Social Security nor eroded the position of Medicare providers, experts said. The budget act in 2013 actually prevented a larger cut to Medicare providers, and the Social Security votes in the 2000s can just as easily be portrayed as a ""stalking horse"" for personal accounts.  In addition, the ad ignores other actions Nelson has taken to protect Medicare and Social Security. We rate this ."
18737,3,I have been very clear with DACA. Even in my campaign six years ago I stood for those Dreamers.,"September 28, 2020",immigration;corrections and updates,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 debate,"Ernst has stated multiple times during and since her 2014 campaign that she supports DACA recipients and would vote to grant them legal permanent residency. However, her voting record does not completely indicate this. She has voted both for and against legislation that would grant legal permanent residency to DACA recipients throughout her term. When she had a chance to cross party lines and join a handful of other Republicans to support ending Dreamer deportations she voted ""no."" For these reasons, we rated the  that Ernst has been clear with her stance on DACA and that even six years ago she stood for the Dreamers as being . UPDATE:  Shortly after publication, we updated this story to include response from the Ernst campaign. "
1383,4,"Says she ""stopped Capital Metro from raising fares for senior and disabled citizens.","February 15, 2010",disability,margaret gomez,Margaret Gomez is the Precinct 4 commissioner in Travis County.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a campaign flier,"Did she stop the fare increase? Sure she did, along with most fellow board members. She also earlier voted twice to advance plans subjecting seniors and the disabled to fare increases. But fares never raised for seniors and disabilities on her watch. We rate Gomez's  ."
19291,1,Our wind and our solar got shut down ... and that thrust Texas into this situation where it was lacking power at a statewide basis.,"February 16, 2021",,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 interview,"""   Texas is a state with diverse energy sources. Grid officials have said multiple times that, on top of grid infrastructure being poorly designed to handle the week's freezing conditions, the drop in power supply is attributable to all energy sources. Although many wind turbines faltered under the conditions, wind energy as a whole outperformed normal expectations thanks to blustery weather.   Abbott walked back the comments he made on Hannity during a press conference the next day, denying that he singled out wind power as the culprit.   We rate this  . "
5755,2,"Says her congressional district has 10,000 medical-device industry jobs and 1,000 will be lost because of health-care law tax.","June 7, 2012",economy;health care;jobs;taxes,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,",tennessee,1,0,3,4,4,0,,"Blackburn  the number of medical device manufacturing jobs in her district and in the state while citing a free-market advocate’s 2009 study that says 1,000 jobs could be lost statewide. Some of the assumptions made by The Manhattan Institute study have been questioned, and the provisions of the bill itself mean there’s little reason to suspect there would be much off-shoring based on the excise tax. There is also no consensus on how much demand might drop for medical devices produced in Tennessee based on pricing. Taking into account that Blackburn’s office acknowledges she made a  in saying ""congressional district"" rather than ""state,"" we rate the statement ."
12830,2,The 2016 and 2017 Missouri budget includes more funding for the University of Missouri than any time in the last 15 years.,"November 13, 2016",education;state budget,kurt schaefer,Kurt Schaefer is a Missouri state senator representing portions of Boone and Cooper counties.,missouri,0,0,0,1,0,0,the Columbia Daily Tribune,"Schaefer praised his work on the Senate Appropriations Committee, citing increased funding for the UM System as one of his accomplishments. But it’s clear from the data that state funding has not kept pace with rising inflation. In reality, state funding for the UM System has decreased considerably since 2008, despite what Schaefer wrote in his ad. We rate his  .  "
16323,1,Elijah Cummings' house was broken into after Trump publicly attacked him on Twitter.,"August 2, 2019",crime;punditfact,chelsea handler,"Chelsea Handler is a comedian, actress, author and television host.",,0,0,0,0,1,0,a tweet,"Handler said, ""Elijah Cummings’ house was broken into after Trump publicly attacked him on Twitter."" An intruder did attempt to enter Cummings’ home, but that was almost four hours before Trump tweeted the first of several attacks on the congressman and his district. We rate this statement ."
6630,1,"Says that Sherrod Brown is an ""Obama rubber stamp"" for ""supporting the job-killing cap and trade plan.","October 31, 2012",environment;cap and trade;climate change;voting record,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 ad,"He ""bluntly stated that unless the (carbon emissions bill's) authors agree to a variety of manufacturing and trade provisions, there is little possibility that the legislation will get anywhere near enough support to clear the Senate,"" according to The New York Times. That bill stalled in the Senate and died without a final vote. In 2008, prior to Obama becoming president, Brown joined Republicans and voted to block a bill that would have created a cap-and-trade system of credits for carbon dioxide emissions. That is far from being a rubber stamp on the issue. On the -O-Meter, the  in the radio ad rates ."
981,2,We were promised. The president said we would keep unemployment under 8.5 percent (if the stimulus passed).,"July 8, 2009",economy;stimulus,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.
 
 
 ",national,7,4,4,9,6,4,a PBS interview,"Some private forecasters anticipate unemployment rates as high as 11% in the absence of action."" That sure doesn't sound like a full-fledged promise to us. We think it's a big stretch to call an economic projection a ""promise."" The administration never characterized it that way and included plenty of disclaimers saying the predictions had ""significant margins of error"" and a higher degree of uncertainty due to a recession that is ""unusual both in its fundamental causes and its severity."" And so we rule the statement by Cantor — and other Republicans who have said the same thing — ."
17348,5,"Says longstanding Food and Drug Administration regulations ""created barriers to the private industry creating a test quickly"" for the coronavirus.","March 13, 2020",government regulation;coronavirus,dan crenshaw,U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw represents the 2nd Congressional District in Texas.,texas,1,0,0,0,3,0,a tweet,"Crenshaw’s statement is accurate. FDA procedures adopted in 2004 meant laboratories had to seek the agency’s approval before developing and using tests in communities, a policy many health care officials have said prevented the country from taking early action in response to the novel coronavirus. It is important to keep in mind that other factors have contributed to the low levels of testing for the virus, beyond the FDA regulations. But Crenshaw’s statement is accurate. We rate it ."
7817,1,Every engine manufacturer in the United States is now in the state of Texas.,"September 18, 2013",jobs;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.",national,26,24,43,30,31,18,"a discussion on CNN's ""Crossfire""","Perry said every engine manufacturer is now in the state of Texas. Using a broad definition from the Census Bureau, we counted 17 firms in Texas that are involved with building engines. However, in that broad line of work , the total number of firms nationwide is well over 350. A sampling of some of the larger engine makers in the United States revealed some notable absences from Texas. We rate the statement ."
2554,1,"Tells David Cicilline, ""94 percent of the carbon emissions which you so want to get rid of are caused by nature.","October 19, 2010",environment;cap and trade;climate change;energy;science,john loughlin,"John Loughlin is state representative from Tiverton who ran an unsuccessful 2010 campaign for Congress in Rhode Island's 1st District. He owns a television, radio and film production company and served 26 years in the military, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve in 2006. He is married with two daughters.",rhode island,1,0,0,1,2,1,a WPRI/Providence Journal debate,"Ultimately, the Loughlin campaign did not provide any  that nature is responsible for the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is the key problem stoking the fears of global warming. And the NASA scientist he mentioned told us Loughlin's comments were ""nonsense."" There's plenty of room to debate aspects of climate change, such as the best way to prevent climate-related problems, how much money should be spent on prevention, and whether it's worth the investment if other countries aren't willing to seriously limit their carbon emissions. But Loughlin's suggestion that nature is largely responsible for the looming problem is . We rate his  as ."
12832,4,California is growing a hell of a lot faster than Texas.,"December 14, 2016",climate change;economy;jobs,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 speech,"Gov. Jerry Brown recently claimed ""California is growing a hell of a lot faster than Texas."" We took this to mean economic growth with a focus on the pace of job creation. California’s 3 percent job growth rate in 2015, which doubled Texas’ pace, definitely fits into Brown's colorful . But California’s rate has slowed to about 2 percent so far this year, closer to Texas’ 1.6 job growth rate. Other economic metrics show California faring better than Texas in several, though not all, categories: California’s GDP expanded faster than Texas’ GDP in the first two quarters of this year, though Texas had a faster GDP growth rate in 2015. Also, per capita income grew twice as fast in California as Texas in 2015, also backing Brown’s statement. Texas, however, has consistently held a lower jobless rate than California in recent years.   Brown, like the state’s economy in recent years, is on the right track. Although California has expanded jobs and its economy faster than Texas in many cases, there are a few cases where that growth has been strong but not necessarily ""a hell of a lot faster."" We rate Brown’s statement .  – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/158c502a-4b3e-463d-906f-529da13e2451"
7649,5,"Says by rejecting an expansion of Medicaid under the new law, Georgia was depriving 25,000 veterans of health care coverage.","July 22, 2013",health care;veterans,michelle nunn,"Michelle Nunn was the chief executive officer of the Points of Light Foundation, a charitable organization. She is the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, a Democrat from Georgia. Michelle Nunn is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat.",georgia,2,2,1,3,0,0,an interview,"""The state can’t cherry-pick which groups of people would be eligible for expanded coverage under Medicaid. Nunn is making a political argument, not a policy argument, so it’s not something we’d have numbers on,"" Robinson said. To sum up, Nunn claimed 25,000 military veterans could be added to Georgia’s Medicaid rolls if the state would sign up for the federal government’s plan under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. The  was based on research that hasn’t been reviewed for a second opinion and appears on target. We rate this  ."
23127,1,Publix drops Ben and Jerry's 'for the good of our kids.',"June 4, 2023",facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"We found no press releases on Publix’s website announcing that it has dropped Ben & Jerry’s products. And searching for Ben & Jerry’s products in Publix locations around the country, we found some favorite flavors on store shelves. Pints of Half Baked , for example, are on aisle 9 in a Publix in Tampa, Florida.   Searching for other coverage of this alleged news, we found the exact same story published on The Dunning-Kruger Times, a self-described satire website.   We rate claims that Publix has dropped Ben & Jerry’s products ."
235,4,McCain opposes repeal of the death tax.,"December 28, 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,a TV ad,"But in a closer look at McCain's record, we find he supports a plan that would render the tax moot for most people. McCain says he wants a tax exemption on estates worth up to $10-million and a 15 percent tax on inheritances worth more than that. Under that plan, about 95 percent of the estate tax returns filed in 2006 would be exempt, according to Internal Revenue Service statistics. Which means the tax would survive for only the wealthiest few. Still, given McCain's votes against repealing the tax, we rule Romney's  ."
2997,1,"Despite claims that you can 'keep the health care plan you like,' the Obama Administration has predicted that as many as 7 out of 10 Americans with employer-provided health coverage could lose their current health plan.","January 23, 2011",health care;workers,blake farenthold,Blake Farenthold was elected to his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. He is a Republican representing a district in Texas.,national,0,0,0,0,1,0,an op-ed,"We rate the statement . UPDATE: Shortly after our story was published, Farenthold’s office replied to our inquiry. They confirmed that the Congressman was referring to the administration’s projected rates of grandfathering, specifically citing Table 3 in the official regulation. We stand by our ruling."
15766,2,"I've already traveled to Washington, D.C., and secured a historic commitment from the Trump administration to provide assistance to the communities that Michael battered.","March 5, 2019",corrections and updates;federal budget;natural disasters ;states,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,his State of the State address,"DeSantis said, ""I’ve already traveled to Washington, D.C. and secured a historic commitment from the Trump administration to provide assistance to the communities that Michael battered."" DeSantis provided no details in his speech, but he was referring to his effort in January to get Trump to extend the amount of time the federal government would pick up the tab for debris removal and emergency protective measures from five to 45 days. DeSantis got a verbal commitment from Trump to make that happen, but we were unable to confirm that with FEMA. A spokeswoman for DeSantis says the ""historic commitment"" is that such an extension is unusual for Florida. But we found that it’s not unusual for the president to tack on extensions even for months that the federal government will pick up the entire tab. We rate this  . This fact-check was updated not long after publication with official comment from FEMA.   https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/125fd840-1bff-4f8e-871f-da10d3146307"
2625,1,"The debt is ""nearly $6 trillion more than when President Obama was sworn into office.","November 5, 2010",deficit;federal 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 newspaper Op/Ed,"Let’s take a look back to decide.    Allen’s language in the Op/Ed plainly implies the Obama administration's actions have already caused the debt to rise $6 trillion. That’s simply . The debt has risen by $3.1 trillion since Obama took office. For that reason, we find Allen’s  to be .  "
11258,0,"Obama spent $7 billion to bring electricity to Africa, failed miserably.","July 30, 2015",global news service;energy;foreign policy,daniel greenfield,Daniel Greenfield is an Israeli-born journalist who writes for conservative publications.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,an article on the Frontpage website,"Greenfield said that Obama had spent $7 billion and failed to bring electricity to Africa. The projected dollar total was correct, but the statement missed the reality that as of August 2015, only about $1.7 billion had been committed. And a lot of the money that will be committed will be in the form of loans or loan guarantees, not gifts. How can you declare failure on a project that isn't yet completed? We rate this  ."
15128,4,"Tim Kaine: ""opposes everything President Trump does.","July 21, 2018",voting record,corey stewart,"Corey Stewart, a Republican, is the chairman of the Prince William County's board of supervisors. He was elected to the board in 2003 to represent the Occoquan district. Then he won a special election in 2006 to become chairman. He was elected to four-year terms in 2007 and 2011.   
Stewart ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2013.
Stewart was born in Minnesota. He graduated from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and earned a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minn. He works as an international trade attorney in private practice.",virginia,0,1,0,5,2,1,a debate,"Stewart says Kaine ""opposes everything President Trump does."" It’s a greatly hyped statement. Kaine doesn’t oppose every Trump action. When Trump has stated a position on legislation, records show Kaine has voted in support of him 34.2 percent of the time. Most of these votes have been on nominations. Not included in the calculation are a number of little-known bills and resolutions helping Virginia that Kaine backed and Trump quietly signed. But Stewart’s larger context - that Kaine fundamentally disagrees with Trump - is correct. Kaine has voted against confirming most of Trump’s major nominees, including Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch and 9 of the 15 people now in the president’s cabinet. Kaine has also voted against Trump’s defining initiatives on tax reform, immigration, health care and tariffs. He’s clearly opposed Trump most of the time on major issues. So we rate Stewart’s statement .  "
14630,3,"Says Gwen Graham ""voted against President Obama 52 percent of the time.","May 11, 2018",voting record,the collective super pac,"The Collective super PAC is the fundraising arm for the Collective — a progressive advocacy group that supports black, progressive candidates and is backing Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum in the Florida Democratic primary.",florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,an ad,"The Collective super PAC said Graham ""voted against President Obama 52 percent of the time."" In her two years in the House, Graham stood out as a Democrat who did not always vote the party line, siding with conservatives on some significant measures about foreign policy and defense. But the group’s ad overstates the percentage in which Graham voted against what Obama wanted by only looking at part of her time in Congress.  Graham voted against Obama’s stated policy preference around half the time in 2015, but only 35 percent of the time in 2016. On average for those 143 votes, she broke with Obama 45 percent over two years. Because the  is partially accurate but missing some details, we rate this  ."
3991,4,Most countries have no debt ceiling.,"July 24, 2011",deficit;economy;pundits;this week - abc news,arianna huffington,"Arianna Huffington founded the liberal news website Huffingtonpost.com, which she sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million. In 2003, she unsuccessfully ran for governor of California.",national,0,3,2,0,0,0,"a roundtable segment on ABC's ""This Week with Christiane Amanpour""","So where does this leave us? While other countries -- with the exception of Denmark -- don’t have a debt ceiling mechanism exactly like the U.S. has, most countries that have been studied do use either mathematical targets or require approval of new borrowing authority whenever a budget is passed. So it’s not as if other countries have no debt limits -- they simply limit their debt using different tools. We think there’s validity in Huffington’s underlying point -- that the U.S. system of imposing a debt ceiling is unusual and that it’s more arbitrary than most other systems. So we rate her statement ."
12261,1,"The fact is"" the Clinton Foundation has ""got about 80 percent in overhead and 20 percent of the money is actually getting into the places it should.","August 23, 2016",candidate biography,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,"comments on ""The Mike Gallagher Show""","Priebus said, ""The fact is"" the Clinton Foundation has ""got about 80 percent in overhead and 20 percent of the money is actually getting into the places it should."" Priebus is incorrectly reading IRS documents. Only a small amount of the donations collected by the Clinton Foundation are awarded as grants to other nonprofit groups. But that doesn’t mean that every other dollar is ""overhead."" The Clinton Foundation spends between 80-90 percent on program services, which experts say is the standard in the industry to define charitable works. It spends the majority of its money directly on projects rather than through third-party grants. Conversely, only between 10-20 percent is spent on management of the foundation and fundraising activities, which is tagged as ""overhead."" Priebus’  rates ."
172,2,"People were hopeless. Sixty percent of the population, 70 percent of the population wanted to live somewhere else. . . . By the time I left, 70 percent wanted to stay.","October 5, 2007",,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,"Washington, D.C","A variation on earlier surveys limited the choice to NYC or ""somewhere else,"" but the negative results varied only a little when both versions of the question were used. So the ""city that I was handed"" at the end of 1993 did not have 60 or 70 percent who wanted to leave, but only 45 percent, according to the polls, and the city Giuliani managed for nearly eight years had 60 percent who wanted to stay, according to the poll he cites, not 70 percent. There's no disagreement among sources here. Giuliani just misquotes the numbers, and does so in a way that reflects better on him. We find his statement to be ."
8980,3,There's $30 billion in expansion funds that we've paid – it's our money and Nathan Deal wants Washington to keep it.,"June 9, 2014",medicaid,jason carter,"Jason Carter was elected to the Georgia Senate in May 2010, representing portions of DeKalb County. He is an attorney at the business litigation firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP. Carter is the grandson of former U.S. president and Georgia governor Jimmy Carter.",georgia,3,1,2,1,0,0,In an AJC article,Carter gets in his own way to suggest Georgia will pay that much in taxes for the program elsewhere. The missing context is that it’s not a dollar-for-dollar trade when it comes to taxes vs. services. Carter makes a good overall point -- Georgia is set to miss out on big bucks for Medicaid. But a lot of context is required to fully understand what is going on here. We rate Carter’s statement .
18801,1,Trump has won the election with 294 electoral votes.,"November 4, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Biden, meanwhile, said early Nov. 4 that his campaign believes ""we’re on track to win this election. ""  We’ll see. But this Facebook post is .    This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more."
16878,2,A collection of photos shows animals caught in the Australia wildfires.,"January 4, 2020",animals;fake news;fires;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Photojournalist Jane Tyska took the photograph on Nov. 11, 2018.   A photo of a group of burned sheep lying dead in a field was taken in Australia, but it was taken in January 2013 in a New South Wales field after bushfires swept through the area. We found that a few of the other photos were taken in Australia more recently, in September 2019 , but several more date back multiple years .   Though this viral post contains a smattering of images that are legitimately connected to the current wildfires devastating Australia, it appears an overwhelming number of those depicted here are not. We rate this post ."
10481,4,Cobb County businesses have already been awarded contracts worth $250 million on construction of a new Braves stadium.,"June 30, 2015",baseball;county budget;debt;economy;legal issues,tim lee,Tim Lee is chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners.,georgia,0,1,1,0,0,0,mass email,"County Commission Chairman Tim Lee said construction of SunTrust Park, the future home of the Atlanta Braves, has already resulted in the award of more than $250 million worth of contracts to Cobb County firms. He based that on a project update the county commission received in May -- and the math from that showed $255 million in contracts. We looked at detailed reports supplied to us by the county and the projection management team. Those reports show the firms have been awarded $270 million worth of contracts for site prep, the stadium and the adjoining mixed use development. On just the stadium, the contracts are valued at $220.5 million. Lee’s right on the overarching point that the stadium project is generating contracts worth millions to businesses with offices in Cobb County. But there’s added perspective that’s needed. Some of these companies are headquartered in other states, a reality on a mammoth project and in a global economy. But to say they are Cobb County businesses is like saying the Wells Fargo down the street is local. You could argue it is and it isn’t. That can change the bottom line. We rated Lee’s statement ."
16296,0,Says Chelsea Clinton is married to George Soros' nephew.,"July 22, 2019",marriage;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 the Nexis database for anything involving the couple, George Soros, and the word ""nephew,"" we found 35 news stories. They were all about Roseanne Barr’s allegation that Clinton is married to Soros’s nephew. And they didn’t corroborate her .   We couldn’t find any  to lend credence to this Facebook post. We rate it !"
13502,1,A study by the National Economics Research Association showed that the (Paris climate) deal could cost 2.7 million lost jobs in the U.S. by 2025 should our country adhere to the commitments made by the Obama Administration.,"June 13, 2017",climate change;jobs,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,an email,"Bilirakis said that the Paris accord could cost the United States 2.7 million jobs by 2025, citing a NERA study that presented this projection. But the study is unreliable, using an extreme model that does not consider the possible benefits of carbon regulation and rules out investment, flexibility or technology that would lead to more jobs. And as NERA itself stated, the study was not designed as a cost-benefit analysis of the Paris accord. We rate this statement ."
9200,2,The per-pupil cost in the [Blackstone Valley Prep] Mayoral Academy far outweighs the per-pupil cost in Cumberland public schools.,"August 10, 2014",city budget;debates;education,ralph mollis,"Ralph Mollis, a Democrat, was elected Rhode Island's Secretary of State in 2006 and again in 2010. He is a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014. Mollis previously served as mayor of North Providence for 10 years.
 ",rhode island,0,0,0,1,0,0,a TV debate,"Ralph Mollis said: ""The per-pupil cost in the Mayoral Academy [Blackstone Valley] far outweighs the per-pupil cost in Cumberland public schools."" That’s a pretty sweeping . And it’s only  for the school’s first two years, when start-up costs, spread over a relatively small number of students, would be high. It’s not  for the more representative last two years, when the Academy’s per-pupil costs were lower, not higher. The efforts of the Mollis campaign to consider ""revenue per pupil"" didn’t sway us. It’s not the same thing and it’s not what Mollis said. Because Mollis’ statement contains some element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, 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: The original version of this item did not mention the third Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, state Rep. Frank Ferri.)"
13481,3,"Says Senate deliberations on the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010 included hundreds of hours of debate and more than 100 Republican amendments, compared with zero for the American Health Care Act this year.","June 13, 2017",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,a tweet,"Sanders’ graphic said that Senate deliberations on the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010 included hundreds of hours of debate and more than 100 Republican amendments, compared with zero for the American Health Care Act this year. Sanders has a point that the Democratic process in 2009 and 2010 included more active involvement by Republicans than Republicans are allowing in the current debate over the repeal-and-replace legislation. However, it’s  for Sanders to make this point through an apples-to-oranges comparison that produces eye-catching zeros that will soon be rendered out of date. Under Senate rules, there will be debate and amendments. We rate the statement in the image ."
16070,4,"When Connecticut did licensing, their shootings dropped, their murders dropped 40%. Suicides dropped 15%.","May 12, 2019",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.",national,10,11,4,2,6,0,an interview on ABC This Week,"Booker said, ""When Connecticut did licensing, their shootings dropped, their murders dropped 40%. Suicides dropped 15%."" Booker is correctly citing research by Johns Hopkins University. Researchers found that Connecticut’s 1995 law was associated with a 40% reduction in gun homicides between 1996 and 2005. In a separate paper, researchers found a 15.4% reduction in firearm suicide rates associated with the law. However, more research is needed on the topic to draw further conclusions. We rate this statement ."
13939,1,"Says Patrick Morrisey ""ran for Congress in NJ as pro-choice.","October 23, 2017",abortion;candidate biography,evan jenkins,U.S. Congressman representing West Virginia's 3rd district.,national,1,1,1,1,1,0,a tweet,"Jenkins said Morrisey ""ran for Congress in NJ as pro-choice."" We found no  Morrisey supported abortion rights during a New Jersey congressional race in 2000. Morrisey opposed abortion except in cases of rape, incest and when the woman’s life is in danger. The Jenkins campaign cited a 2000 AP story that said Morrisey was opposed to a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, one of the more extreme tactics among those who oppose abortion. However, experts and anti-abortion groups told us that opposition to the amendment would not have made Morrisey an abortion rights advocate. We rate this statement . Correction: This report initially said that both candidates had received endorsements from an anti-abortion group this year. We have corrected it to note that both candidates have received endorsements in recent years. "
13811,1,"Thomas Jefferson said, 'Government that governs least governs best.'","September 21, 2017",history,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,comments on 'Fox & Friends',"""The opinion has been associated with Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican party ideology, which is probably why people think he said it,"" she said. ""The association is what has been called a natural Jeffersonian maxim. It’s just not a Jefferson quote."" Pence repeated a saying often associated with Jefferson, but research showed the writer of the Declaration of Independence never said it. We rate this statement ."
5982,2,Says Romney had the uniforms for the 2002 Winter Olympic games made in Burma.,"July 25, 2012",candidate biography;foreign policy;message machine 2012;sports,priorities usa action,Priorities USA Action is a PAC that is supportive of President Barack Obama.,national,2,2,4,6,1,1,a video shown on cable news shows,"Many internal memos were destroyed after the games ended. Our Ruling The ad from Priorities USA Action says Romney had the Olympic uniforms made in Burma. The torch bearer uniforms, perhaps more than 11,000 of them, were made in Burma, but that’s not all the uniforms used in the games, particularly for the athletes, as the visuals in the ad suggest. And we've seen insufficient  to directly link the torch bearer uniforms to Romney. We rate the statement ."
14671,1,"A ""horrible law"" requires that children be separated from their parents ""once they cross the Border into the U.S.","May 28, 2018",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,"Trump said a ""horrible law"" requires that children be separated from their parents ""once they cross the Border into the U.S."" There is no such law. The Homeland Security Department’s longstanding policy is to separate children from their custodians when they are referred for criminal prosecution. Trump’s administration has decided to prosecute all illegal crossings. Families were rarely prosecuted under previous administrations. We rate this statement ."
7803,3,An average of seven children in America are killed by guns every day.,"September 12, 2013",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.,georgia,0,0,3,0,0,0,a press release,"The coalition should have been more specific by saying it was referring to people under the age of 21. We believe that information would add significant context for those who may not believe anyone older than 16 or 18 is a child. The Children’s Defense Fund was more specific, noting its total included children and teenagers. The coalition’s  is accurate, but it omits some important details. Under our rating system, the statement is ."
17289,4,"During the 2009 swine flu outbreak, Biden made reckless comments unsupported by science & the experts. The Obama Admin had to clean up his mess & apologize for his ineptitude.","March 12, 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 tweet,"A Twitter account run by the Trump campaign tweeted that, during the 2009 swine flu outbreak, Biden made ""reckless comments"" unsupported by science and the Obama Administration had to clean up the mess and apologize for it.  During a television interview, Biden said he would advise his family not to travel in confined places, and claimed that when one person sneezes ""it goes all the way through an aircraft."" His comments were met with backlash for inducing fear, and his spokesperson issued a statement to clarify his words. Experts said the statement on how germs travel was . The  is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
22017,1,Soursop cures cancer.,"September 6, 2022",health care;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post,"The video in the Facebook post focuses on using the fruit’s pulp. One study showed that graviola pulp extract had a beneficial effect on prostate cancer cells in mice, according to Cancer Research UK . But again, there haven’t been human studies, ""so we don’t know whether it can work as a cancer treatment or not."" The  that soursop is a cure for cancer still needs more  to support it. We rate this post ."
248,0,I don't describe your plan as amnesty in my ad. I don't call it amnesty.,"January 5, 2008",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,"Manchester, N.H","If the message in ads isn't clear enough, press releases for the ads that are posted on Romney's Web site are chock-full of references to amnesty. The release for ""Remember"" uses the word 17 times, while the one for ""Twists"" drops the loaded word 10 times. Clearly, Romney has two ads where McCain's plan is described as amnesty. And even though his isn't the voice making the charges, he is responsible for the message. So, Romney, they're your ads, and they do ""call it amnesty,"" so  it is."
16750,0,Says a mall Santa beat up a child molester.,"November 7, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"That version placed the episode in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee police told the Associated Press soon after that they had no record of the event. The website Snopes traced the second photo, the one of the man, to a 2012 mugshot. No need to regift this bit of  news. We rate it !"
6656,2,"Says Jeb Bush ""extended early voting"" after seeing ""long lines.","November 4, 2012",elections,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 TV interview,"In his attempt to portray Scott as more concerned about politics than voters, Crist argued that even Bush, a popular Republican, extended early voting as governor. Well, not exactly. In 2002, Bush extended regular voting by two hours because of malfunctioning voting machines -- not early voting. And in 2004, he gave supervisors a handful of counties more flexibility in starting early voting days after a devastating hurricane. It’s important to note that both events were primary elections. Crist made it sound like Bush issued early voting extensions during a presidential election, as Crist did, to accommodate large turn-out. We rate this  ."
23363,3,You can work at some McDonald's in this country for more money than … signing up for the military.,"July 14, 2023",jobs;military,nicole malliotakis,Nicole Malliotakis lives in New York City and is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021. Her district includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. ,new york,0,1,1,0,0,0,a radio interview,"Malliotakis compared the starting salaries for military members with wages at McDonald’s. She did not specify starting wages at McDonald’s and she did not mention other benefits, such as health insurance or retirement savings.  People who study military pay say it is difficult to compare it with civilian compensation because of the unique pay structure and benefits military members receive, such as allowances for food and housing, or government-provided meals and housing.  Base pay for low-ranking members of the military is lower than the average full-time pay for fast-food workers in some states. When housing, food, and federal tax benefits are added, the value of the total compensation for entry-level servicemembers can exceed the average pay for established full-time fast-food workers. In comparing compensation for both jobs, we looked at averages. In some cases, incomes in one job will be higher than in the other, or the reverse could be .  Malliotakis’ statement is partially accurate but it leaves out important details. We rate this .  "
14629,0,"Says Jim Sensenbrenner ""has been in office for 40 years"" and ""he's led on exactly one bill,"" the Patriot Act.","May 14, 2018",candidate biography;congress;terrorism,tom palzewicz,"Tom Palzewicz, a Democratic business owner from the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, is a 2018 candidate for the U.S. House seat held by Republican Jim Sensenbrenner.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,1,a tweet,"Violence Against Women Act : Reauthorized a law that provides funding for programs to fight domestic violence, sexual assault and other crimes. Our rating Palzewicz says Sensenbrenner ""has been in office for 40 years"" and ""he's led on exactly one bill,"" the Patriot Act. Palzewicz told us he meant to say the anti-terrorism law is the only Sensenbrenner-sponsored bill of note. But as for what Palzewicz actually claimed, Sensenbrenner has sponsored 500 bills and amendments, including 34 that became law. That makes Palzewicz’s statement not only  but  -- ."
19107,2,"The U.S. Department of State … released a statement on their website stating that Donald J. Trump's term ended"" on Jan. 11, 2021.","January 11, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The State Department did not return requests for comment.   The  that the State Department released a statement that Trump’s term ended Jan. 11 contains an element of  in that the agency’s website was edited to falsely suggest it had. But the change was not an official statement by the State Department. Rather, reporting indicates this was the action of a rogue employee; Trump is still president.    We rate it . ​"
13836,4,"New York has ""the biggest outmigration of citizens of any state.","September 19, 2017",economy;jobs;population,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,a conversation with reporters,"Cox said New York has ""the biggest outmigration of citizens of any state."" By raw numbers alone, Cox is right. Census data shows more people are moving from New York state to other states than move from any other state. And the flow has become larger since 2011. Given that New York state has the nation's fourth-largest population, nearly 20 million, it's not surprising the numbers dwarf smaller states. But by proportion, and when including international migration, several other states have bigger outmigration rates.  We rate his  ."
17320,2,COVID-19 started because we eat animals.,"March 15, 2020",food;food safety;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 image,"The animals are sought-after in China for their meat and scales, despite a worldwide ban. However, scientists have yet to find conclusive proof that pangolins are to blame for the coronavirus. And as of now, there is no  that eating meat is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Instagram post contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
5996,2,"The White House has three staff calligraphers making between $86,000 and $97,000 each, and just one National Security Director. She makes $55,000.","July 5, 2012",federal budget;homeland security;pundits,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 Facebook post,"Huckabee said that the National Security Director makes less than the three White House calligraphers. That’s accurate, but the statement would have us believe that this particular national security job has a lot to do with policy. That is . It is an administrative position and to suggest otherwise is . Also, Huckabee singles out the Obama administration for having misplaced priorities when the White House has employed calligraphers for decades under both Republican and Democratic presidents. It doesn't mean the White House places penmanship above national security. We rate this statement ."
4681,5,Says the unemployment rate for college graduates is 4.4 percent and over 10 percent for noncollege-educated.,"November 29, 2011",education;jobs,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.,georgia,6,7,14,13,17,5,a speech,"In October, it was 4.4 percent, according to the BLS. In this category, the numbers haven’t changed much in the past 12 months. Santorum’s numbers were on target for college-educated workers. The former senator apparently did his homework this time about the unemployment rate for noncollege-educated workers. We rate his statement ."
17799,1,Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been destroyed.,"June 3, 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,"But a moderator flagged it for violating one of the rules of the forum where it was shared: ""Your title must convey accurate information. ""  The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which manages the Walk of Fame on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, did not immediately respond to PolitiFact’s email about the Facebook post’s . But searching online for news about Donald Trump and the Walk of Fame in the last month, we didn’t find any credible sources corroborating the Facebook post. Rather, we found three other fact-checks debunking it.   We rate this post ."
6167,0,"Says President Obama has waived ""the work requirement for welfare.","August 28, 2012",welfare,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 convention speech,"Santorum said that Obama ""showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare."" The  is a drastic distortion of what the Obama administration said it intends to do. By granting waivers to states, HHS is seeking to make welfare-to-work efforts more successful, not end them. The waivers would apply to individually evaluated pilot programs -- HHS is not proposing a blanket, national change to welfare law. And there have been no comments by the Obama administration indicating such a dramatic shift in policy. Santorum falsely claims that Obama has waived welfare’s work requirement entirely. The remark is  and it inflames old resentments about able-bodied adults sitting around collecting public assistance. !"
17699,3,"On the Southern border, as you know, the wall is going up, it's going up very rapidly. We're at 182 miles.","May 19, 2020",immigration;border security;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.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,a speech,There is construction going on at the Southwest border — so far 187 miles have completed projects. But only a small part of that represents areas of the border that previously had no protection. What the administration has  done is replace old and outdated designs with newer and improved barriers. Trump’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it .
20796,2,A Black Lives Matter administrator was arrested in a 1983 bombing at the U.S. Capitol.,"January 8, 2022",facebook fact-checks;jan. 6,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post claims that Susan Rosenberg is a Black Lives Matter administrator who was arrested in a 1983 bombing at the U.S. Capitol. Rosenberg is not an administrator for Black Lives Matter. She did serve on the board of directors for a nonprofit called Thousand Currents, which helped manage grants for the Black Lives Matter Global Network in a fiscal-sponsorship agreement. That partnership ended in 2020, and it’s not clear if Rosenberg’s work directly involved Black Lives Matter. Rosenberg was indicted in 1988 in the Capitol bombing, but the charges were dropped in 1990 while she was serving a lengthy prison sentence on separate charges of illegal possession of weapons and explosives.  We rate this  ."
21101,1,"Vice President Kamala Harris ""was asked about gasoline prices ... and she tried to defer to President Duda, the Polish president.","March 13, 2022",gas prices;pundits,stephen miller,"Stephen Miller was a senior adviser to President Donald Trump. Previously, he worked in the Senate office of Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions, who became Trump's attorney general in 2017. In April 2021, he launched America First Legal, saying it would use ""our legal system to defend our society and our families from any unlawful actions by the left.""",,0,0,0,1,1,1,a Fox News show,"Miller said that Vice President Kamala Harris tried to defer to the Polish president when asked a question about high gas prices in the U.S. He’s  on both counts. Harris was speaking in a joint news conference with the president of Romania, not the Polish president. And the video clip played before Miller’s criticism edited out the first part of the question to Iohannis. The two leaders paused to determine who would answer first, not because Harris wanted him to answer about U.S. gas prices. We rate this  ."
8752,4,"No other country has a constitutional right"" like the Second Amendment.","April 25, 2014",legal issues;guns,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 speech to the NRA,"Rubio said during a speech to the NRA that ""no other country has a constitutional right"" like the Second Amendment. Mexico and Guatemala have the right to bear arms in their constitutions. However, the Second Amendment is unique because it is the only one that doesn’t include restrictive conditions within the constitutional language. We rate this  ."
1784,0,"Without representation, (the IRS) can increase taxes.","June 13, 2010",health care;message machine 2010;taxes,rick barber,Rick Barber was a tea party-affiliated candidate who lost the Republican nomination to represent Alabama’s 2nd congressional district.,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,a political ad,"The tax codes, complicated as they may be, unfair as they may seem to some, were voted on and approved by duly-elected legislators. That's the very definition of representation. Call it figurative or metaphorical language, the bottom line is the statement is flat-out . And we suspect the Founding Fathers wouldn't like being misled. We rule Barber's statement ."
7689,4,"According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 71.2 percent of Hispanic registered voters in Texas and over 86 percent of African American registered voters participated in the 2012 elections.","August 8, 2013",civil rights;elections;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,an opinion column,"Cornyn said that according to the census bureau, 71.2 percent of Hispanic registered voters in Texas and over 86 percent of African American registered voters participated in the 2012 elections. This echoes a result from the bureau’s quadrennial post-election survey, though it doesn't account for another result indicating that far fewer Latino and African American voting-age Texans voted--and the survey also tends to overestimate participation. Separately, Democratic analyses of voting records suggest that no more than half of Hispanic registered voters and 68 percent of African American registered voters went to the polls. We rate this statement, which lacks these clarifications and additional information, as ."
6467,2,"Says Romney wants to ""take away early childhood education, slash K-12 funding, and cut college aid … to pay for a $250,000 tax break for multi-millionaires.","October 8, 2012",education;message machine 2012,priorities usa action,Priorities USA Action is a PAC that is supportive of President Barack Obama.,national,2,2,4,6,1,1,a campaign ad,"Priorities USA Action said Romney wants to pay for a tax cut for multimillionaires by taking away early childhood education, slashing K-12 funding, and cutting college aid for middle class families. Each charge is an interpretation of how the House budget, proposed by Ryan and somewhat embraced by Romney, could impact education at all levels. The warnings are plausible given the scale of spending cuts called for in Ryan’s budget, but they’re speculative -- these cuts aren’t specified in the Ryan budget, and Romney has said his policies would be different. Finally, spending cuts and tax breaks aren’t a one-to-one comparison, though they do reflect priorities. The ad’s  contains an element of  but takes liberties as it tries to fill in the blanks in Romney's plan. We rate it ."
12377,1,Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy.,"September 16, 2016",obama birth certificate,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 and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy."" There is no  to support this. Clinton supporters circulated the rumor in the last days of the 2008 Democratic primary and after Clinton had conceded to Obama. But the record does not show Clinton or her campaign ever promoting the birther theory, let alone starting it. We rate Trump’s  ."
16864,4,"Says Betsy DeVos is the ""most unpopular person in our government.","December 12, 2019",education;polls and public opinion,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 hearing,"Wilson said DeVos is the ""most unpopular person in our government."" Two polling organizations asking about popularity for about a dozen Trump administration officials back up her statement, though they are a little outdated. We found no polling about the popularity for DeVos in 2019. We rate this statement ."
7984,4,The vast majority of people in this country are keeping their (health insurance) plan.,"October 28, 2013",health care;pundits,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,"comments on MSNBC's ""Morning Joe""","Axelrod said the vast majority of people are keeping their health care plans. That’s certainly what the 2010 health care law intended. The law was crafted largely to leave in place the health care delivery systems for people who get health insurance either through their employer (about 50 percent of people with insurance) or through the government-managed Medicare or Medicaid programs (about 30 percent). Some changes may be occurring in the employer market that would stop people from keeping the health care plans they have. But the bigger issues are in the so-called individual market, which accounts for about 6 percent of Americans who now have health care. The health care law, in essence, raises standards that will make many plans offered in the individual market obsolete. Experts told us there is no precise data to determine how many people will be forced to change health care plans, but they generally agreed the number will be small this year. The broad consensus is that, for the time being, most people will see changes in their coverage and what they pay for that coverage consistent with changes they have seen with their insurance over the past decade. We rate the statement ."
3025,5,Most state employees could pay twice as much toward their health care premiums and it would still be half the national average,"February 1, 2011",health care;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,the State of the State speech,"But we can come to a firm conclusion on the state employee health premiums, here and nationally. The governor relies on a statistic that mixes public and private workers, but in this case that’s not a problem: Walker’s point is that state workers need to be more in line with their private counterparts. Walker’s numbers for state workers and the national context are right on target. And his math holds up even when the comparison is narrowed to just public employees. We rate his statement ."
854,3,"The stimulus bill includes ""$8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland.","February 24, 2009",stimulus;transportation,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.",national,1,4,4,0,1,0,the Republican response to Obama's speech to Congress,"It's for high-speed rail and conventional ""intercity"" rail service. States and agencies all over the country can apply for a share of the money for all sorts of expenses related to city-to-city rail service, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. So Jindal was imprecise on a couple of counts — the train won't go to Disneyland and all $8 billion is not for high-speed rail. But he was not out of bounds in employing the Anaheim-to-Vegas train as an example of the sort of project that may be funded by the $8 billion. We find his  ."
7773,5,The government does not need a warrant to read your old emails.,"June 28, 2013",privacy issues,tom graves,Tom Graves represents Georgia's 9th Congressional District.,georgia,5,0,5,1,0,1,a news release,"The Georgia congressman said the government doesn’t need a warrant to read our old emails. Current law, in place before many modern technology advances, does not include a provision protecting email over 180 days old from the government’s prying eyes. Graves and a cadre of congressional members are working to update the privacy laws. But in the meantime the old rules stand. We rate Graves’  ."
21790,4,North Carolina is among some of the top states in the country for the number of ghost guns that are seized as crime guns.,"July 12, 2022",,michael easley jr.,"Mike Easley Jr., the son of former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, was appointed by President Joe Biden as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.",north carolina,0,1,0,0,0,0,a press conference,"Easley Jr. said ""North Carolina is among some of the top states in the country for ghost guns seized as crime guns."" His office cited a  by ATF, which said North Carolina is among the top states for ghost gun confiscations. But the agency hasn’t released a state-by-state breakdown. An ATF spokesperson also acknowledged that data is spotty because some law enforcement agencies aren’t reporting some ghost gun recoveries or are still learning how to document them. Easley’s statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, which is our definition of ."
12597,1,"Says Hillary Clinton is ""wrong"" to say he mocked a disabled reporter.","October 19, 2016",candidate biography;disability,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,Las Vegas,"Trump said that Clinton is """" to say he mocked a disabled reporter. Trump may deny that he intentionally mocked Kovaleski for his disability, but many Americans believe his remarks amounted to mocking, and we concur that that’s a reasonable -- indeed, perhaps the only -- interpretation of his actions. The notion that Trump’s comments about Cruz and a general undercut Clinton’s  don’t hold water, because all three examples constitute mocking, whether a disability was involved or not. We rate the statement ."
8386,0,"Says President Barack Obama has issued upwards of 1,000 executive orders, more than any modern president.","February 2, 2014",history;government regulation,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 forwarded by readers,"The chain email said Obama has issued more than 1,000 executive orders. That’s not even close. As of Jan. 20, 2014, he was at 168. The email also infers that Obama has far surpassed his predecessors in using his executive powers. That, too, is way off. FDR signed off on more than 3,500 executive orders, and, in fact, Obama is on pace to issue fewer executive orders than any two-term president since 1900. As for the 14 executive orders highlighted in the email? Obama didn’t issue any of them. They came from Kennedy, Johnson and Ford. Almost all of them have been revoked. Overall, the statements in this email seem to be completely made up. So we rate its claims !"
19743,0,Photo shows Kamala Harris pretending to board an official plane.,"May 17, 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,"""Here’s what it looked like to film this scene,"" he wrote on Instagram and Twitter . ""Entirely green screen Air Force One. Just stairs leading up to a box. #DesignatedSurvivor."" We rate claims that the image shows Kamala Harris !"
3337,5,"There has never been a death caused by a [commercial nuclear] reactor in the United States, even when Three Mile Island failed in the 1970s.","March 15, 2011",nuclear,johnny isakson,"Johnny Isakson, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Georgia",georgia,4,2,3,2,3,0,a YouTube.com video,"It’s also worth noting that some scientists back a minority view that the accident increased overall cancer deaths.     That said, Isakson specified in his  that there has never been a death ""caused by a reactor"" in the U.S. This language is not clear, but it does indicate his  is limited to plant operations, not the long-term aftermath of a nuclear accident. His backup information suggests this as well. We rate Isakson’s statement . "
1797,4,"We only have 2 percent of the oil reserves in the world, and we consume 25 percent of the world's oil on a daily basis.","June 20, 2010",environment;energy;oil spill,edward markey,Edward Markey was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 2013 and previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives.,national,2,1,1,1,0,0,an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press',"That's a bit lower than Markey's 25 percent. But we'll add that in 2006 and 2007, the U.S. share of world consumption was 24 percent, which is just a hair under the number Markey cited. All told, Markey would have been better off using Obama's formulation -- that the U.S. consumes ""more than 20 percent"" of the world's oil. But he's still close. We rate his statement ."
402,3,"He took on special interests and won, passing the toughest ethics law yet.","April 14, 2008",candidate biography;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,a television ad,"GOP leaders resisted major changes in law, however, until rank-and-file members from both parties pressed for enactment of a lobbyist registration requirement and House and Senate resolutions restricting gifts. The ad cites a Washington Post editorial that calls the 2007 law ""the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet."" And the editorial credits Reid as the key player, with help from Feingold and Obama. Still, Obama  his role in the ethics debate, and his depiction of the 2007 lobbying and ethics overhaul omits significant historical context. We rule his  to be .  "
7570,0,Private prison systems are calculating how many new beds (they will need) based on the ... number of third graders.,"June 27, 2013",education;crime,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 forum,"In making the case for focusing more on education, St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Kathleen Ford said, ""We know that our private prison systems are calculating how many new beds (they will need) based on the third grade, number of third graders, and that’s just ."" That’s a spin-off of an urban legend. Some of the largest private prison operators in the country say they get their estimates from the states. And the states tell us that what a third-grader does isn’t a factor. It’s certainly not happening in Florida, which is the only place St. Petersburg’s mayor might have some level of control. This  needs to be locked up. We rate it !"
22816,4,"The UK has had ZERO school shootings since"" it changed its gun laws after a 1996 school shooting.","March 29, 2023",guns,instagram posts,"Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.",,3,3,15,51,405,140,an Instagram post,"We rate this  .   RELATED: What counts as a ""mass shooting""? The definition varies RELATED: No  of growing trend of trans radicalization or terrorism, experts say"
17791,2,No tear gas was used and no rubber bullets were used.,"June 3, 2020",civil rights;race and ethnicity,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.,national,0,2,1,3,3,1,a White House press briefing,"McEnany said that neither tear gas nor rubber bullets were used in removing a group of people from the area around a church in Washington. Tear gas, according to the CDC, includes a broad range of chemical agents, and the one used by federal police falls under the government’s description of teargas. Rubber bullets are different from the pepper balls fired by federal police, but both are fired at similar speeds, both can cause extreme pain, and both are characterized as impact munitions. McEnany makes much of the differences in the delivery systems, but the practical effects are similar. We rate her  ."
9466,4,"We have 41,000 people right now on the waitlist for financial-based assistance for our tech colleges and universities,"" most of them for tech schools.","September 22, 2014",education;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,"Conversely, the UW list -- which includes only students who actually enrolled in a UW school -- likely understates it because it doesn’t include applicants who may have enrolled there if they had received a UW grant, So for all those reasons, the 41,000 waitlist figure is the best we have, but not rock solid. Our rating Burke said: ""We have 41,000 people right now on the waitlist for financial-based assistance for our tech colleges and universities,"" most of them for tech schools. There is a large waiting list, and Burke cites a credible source on its size. But some variations in how the lists are defined by the different institutions mean the number should be treated with some caution. We rate her  ."
21863,1,Image shows Trump is representing himself in a lawsuit against the United States government related to the FBI search of his Florida home.,"August 22, 2022",,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,"Several social media posts circulated the  that Trump was acting as his own lawyer in his lawsuit against the U.S. government related to the FBI search of his Florida home.  The claims were based on a screenshot from the online docket of the case, but it was the apparent result of a filing error. Trump does have three lawyers acting as his defense and they are listed in a copy of the complaint.  We rate this . "
16652,4,There's more African American males in the penal system right now than there were (enslaved) at the height of slavery.,"October 8, 2019",criminal justice;jobs;race and ethnicity,jack salzwedel,Chair and Chief Executive Officer at American Family Insurance.,wisconsin,0,1,0,0,0,0,a public forum,"Salzwedel said ""There’s more African American males in the penal system right now than there were (enslaved) at the height of slavery.""  On a strictly numerical basis, the  is on point. There is some clarification needed, though -- chiefly the fact that the nation’s population growth means a lower figure on a percentage basis. Our definition for  is ""the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.""  That fits here."
13929,0,Youngest world leader bans George Soros's Foundations from Austria.,"October 19, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a fake news post,"Soros was implicated during Kurz’s campaign when a Facebook page called ""The  About Sebastian Kurz"" accused the future chancellor, who supports low levels of immigration , of conspiring with Soros to let in a new wave of refugees. The Facebook page was later found to be set up by a consultant working for Kurz’s opponent, Christian Kern . The article’s birthplace, YourNewsWire.com, is known for producing controversial and often falsified news stories. YourNewsWire.com says it delivers ""the news you want and the news other people won’t report"" . This  is !"
6385,3,"Says Rep. Charlie Bass, R-NH voted to ""raise his own pay"" eight times","September 19, 2012",congress;voting record,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 press release Sept. 19, 2012","What can be seen are votes on procedural moves to block the pay raises, or force an up or down vote. Still, Kuster is exaggerating to cite these eight votes to say Bass voted to raise his own pay, because the votes didn’t do that on their own. Still, Bass cast procedural votes that effectively allowed automatic pay raises to stand for eight years, and the practical effect of those votes meant Bass saw raises. And Kuster left out the fact that Bass has voted for pay freezes.   To us, the two caveats amount to a . "
9743,5,"At the 50 Milwaukee schools serving ""at least 80% African-American and at least 80% low income"" students, the reading proficiency is 8%.","December 2, 2014",education,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,an interview,"The bottom-10 schools included seven choice schools and three from MPS. The 10 at the top included five from MPS, four voucher schools (all Lutheran) and one independent charter. Our rating Darling said that at the 50 Milwaukee schools serving ""at least 80% African-American and at least 80% low income"" students,"" the reading proficiency is 8%. That’s accurate to within a few tenths of a percentage point, under the state’s tougher new grading scale. We rate her  ."
9488,3,"When I took office, the deficit was nearly 10 percent of our economy. Today, it's approaching 3 percent.","October 2, 2014",deficit;economy;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 speech at Northwestern University,"Obama said, ""When I took office, the deficit was nearly 10 percent of our economy. Today, it's approaching 3 percent."" Actually, the deficit reached 10 percent of the economy several months after Obama took office, not on his first day. Obama is laying the blame for the high deficit-to-GDP ratio entirely on Bush, when the figure covers time in office for both presidents. In reality, the numbers are more nuanced than he lets on, and his formulation oversimplifies the factors that played into these trends, some of which he had control over and some of which he didn’t. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it ."
1857,4,"Says Republican lieutenants to House Speaker Joe Straus ""aired radio ads supporting Democrat(ic state Rep.) Mark Homer... helping the Democrat to a narrow win.","June 12, 2010",bipartisanship;campaign finance,david barton,"David Barton of Aledo, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 1997 into 2006, is the founder and president of WallBuilders, which describes itself as a national pro-family organization that presents America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious and constitutional heritage.",texas,0,2,1,1,0,0,an open letter,"The radio spot wasn’t aired by the Republicans, as Barton puts it, and only one Republican voice -- McCall’s -- was heard. Also, Straus wasn’t House speaker when the ad aired in 2008, so he had no “lieutenants.” But the GOP members Barton named have proven to be Straus allies. And they earlier joined hands in a radio ad for Homer, their Democratic colleague. Barton’s statement is ."
7740,3,"Says Cory Booker ""supports late-term and partial-birth abortion and opposes safety regulations.","August 23, 2013",abortion;health care;women,bookerfail,"BookerFail is a website run by American Commitment, a conservative super PAC.",new jersey,0,0,1,1,0,0,a U.S. Senate campaign video ad,"A new ad targeting Booker claims, ""He supports late-term and partial-birth abortion and opposes safety regulations."" A spokeswoman for one of the groups behind the ad notes that Booker’s stance on abortion comes from his support of the Democratic National Committee’s 2012 platform, which Booker co-chaired. The platform, though, makes no mention of late-term or partial-birth abortion, which a Booker spokesman agreed the Democrat would support a woman’s right to choose if her life or health is in danger. The platform says nothing else about safety regulations, which some states – such as Texas – have cited in attempts to ban abortion after a certain point in pregnancy. That makes this  partially accurate, but lacking important details -- and that fits the definition of . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
7871,3,"Shutdowns are ""a normal part of the constitutional process,"" with 12 shutdowns under Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill and two during his own speakership.","September 30, 2013",federal budget;history;pundits,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,"a comment on CNN's ""Crossfire""","He's right on the number, but the shutdowns under O'Neill were quite different in nature than either of the ones under Gingrich, or the current one. It’s also dubious to suggest that shutdowns are part of the normal constitutional process. Just because they have been relatively common doesn’t mean they are the way the founders intended government to operate. We rate Gingrich’s  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9b23fd78-e6c8-47ed-a6b3-1ac9bdf33e60"
22917,0,The Antarctic ice cap is not melting.,"April 15, 2023",climate change;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,"Curry believes, along with the vast majority of climate scientists, that Earth is warming. But she has questioned the overwhelming  that humans are the primary cause of global warming and climate change. Easterbrook, a geology professor at Western Washington University, purports that global warming ended years ago, which is not  . He is a regular speaker at the Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change, which has rejected the scientific consensus on climate change and downplayed the seriousness of its effects. We rate the  that the Antarctic ice cap is not melting !"
20595,2,"The Build Back Better bill provides ""'parole' amnesty for millions of criminal illegal aliens.","November 15, 2021",immigration;federal budget;legal issues;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,"A viral image shared on Facebook alluded to members of criminal gangs and stated that the Build Back Better bill provides ""'parole' amnesty for millions of criminal illegal aliens."" The post gives the impression that people who entered the U.S. illegally and committed crimes in the U.S. would be eligible for parole. But parole means something different in immigration law: temporary permission to stay for people who are in the country without permission.  Under the bill, immigration parole would be available to people who entered the country legally or illegally before 2011, but not to people convicted of crimes. We rate the post ."
14449,1,BREAKING: Trump Just Ended Welfare For One HUGE Group For 5 Years!,"March 29, 2018",immigration;fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"The RAISE Act’s provision also only applies to those admitted under the skills-based system, which as Cotton has said, currently represents a small fraction of immigrants legally admitted per year . (The RAISE Act also seeks to limit family-based immigration.) Americatb.com’s post mixes in opinions and hypotheticals (""Let’s say one million immigrants each get $30,000 worth of welfare benefits per year. That’s $30,000,000,000 of free welfare money sucked out of the American budget for people who put NOTHING back into our society, culture, or anything at all"")  but no  to back it’s  that Trump ""just ended welfare"" for immigrants. We rate americatb.com’s  ."
18986,0,"The probability of Biden winning in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania ""given President Trump's early lead ... is less than one in a quadrillion"" in each state.","December 8, 2020",elections;states;supreme court,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A lawsuit seeking to overturn election results in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania asserts the probability of Biden winning in each state is ""less than one in a quadrillion"" given the lead Trump had in each at 3 a.m. If ever a  deserved the label of utter nonsense, this is it. What masquerades as a statistical analysis is actually a logical wasteland that ignores fundamental facts that make all the difference. The votes still uncounted when Trump had his short-lived lead were largely absentee ballots from major cities. Those cities have consistently voted Democratic historically, and mail-in votes within them should be expected to lean even more that direction since Trump had attacked that method of voting leading up to the election while Biden encouraged it. We rate this !"
17231,1,"Starting in March if you travel outside of the United States you won't be allowed back in the country ""due to high risk of the coronavirus.","February 27, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are both halting flights to and from Milan, Italy, as well as several airports in or around China. Both airlines also announced a reduction in service between the U.S. and South Korea. United Airlines made similar changes, suspending operations to and from several Chinese airports, including Beijing and Shanghai, and Hong Kong.   This sweeping   current coronavirus-related travel restrictions and omits critical information. We rate it ."
17840,1,"Corona Virus claims a black belt. Chuck Norris, Dead at 80.","June 11, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"""It has also been reported that the Corona virus is in self isolation for 14 days due to being exposed to Chuck Norris."" The fact-checking organizations Snopes.com and Lead Stories debunked this joking  when versions of it first emerged more than a month ago. As recently as June 8, Norris posted on his official Facebook page . There have been no posts or other  indicating he has fallen ill with coronavirus or any other disease, or that he has died. We rate this post ."
20396,1,"A photo shows a $123,199 turkey for sale at Target ""this year.","October 12, 2021",economy;food;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The price tag lists a Target store at the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis as the location of the photo, and PolitiFact confirmed that the pricing was an error at a single store in 2015. The Reddit user who appears to have first uploaded the image in November of that year wrote on the forum that he brought the turkey to a cashier, but ""the ticket didn’t have a barcode to scan."" The $123,000 price is exponentially higher than the cost of a frozen turkey at Target — or at other U.S. grocery stores, according to recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture .   Target’s website currently shows that similarly sized frozen turkeys are going for a max price of about $23 at the same location in Minneapolis, and $1.39 per pound. We rate this Facebook post ."
1440,2,"George W. Bush was ""the least popular president in modern history.","March 7, 2010",bush administration;pundits,dana milbank,Dana Milbank is a columnist for the Washington Post.,national,0,1,0,2,0,0,the Washington Post,"In the third, it was a statistical tie for the bottom spot. The only way Bush is the clearly the least popular is when measured by disapproval ratings. So we rate Milbank's  .    Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
16944,1,"Says U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski had ""a part in"" undoing a law that used to limit how long trains could idle at crossings.","January 6, 2020",public safety;transportation,marie newman,Marie Newman is a congressional hopeful challenging U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski in Illinois' 3rd Congressional District.,illinois,0,0,1,0,1,0,an interview,"Newman said Dan Lipinski had ""a part in"" in lifting a law that used to limit how long trains could idle at crossings. The federal government does not limit how long trains can stand at crossings. In 2008, Illinois’ top court threw out a state law that allowed towns to issue citations to trains that blocked traffic for more than 10 minutes. But Lipinski played no part in the law’s undoing, which Newman’s campaign acknowledged in response to our inquiry. We rate her  .  — The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
8821,3,28 percent of Kentuckians don't have any online access.,"May 11, 2014",congress;negative campaigning;states;technology;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, ""28 percent of Kentuckians don’t have any online access."" When it comes to Internet speak, ""access"" as a noun refers to whether someone has the ability to acquire Internet. By that definition Oliver is  — as only less than 6 percent of Kentucky residents don’t have access to Internet at what’s considered a basic speed. What Oliver would have been better off saying is that 28 percent of Kentucky’s residents don’t access  (as a verb) the Internet, which is supported by Census Bureau data. That said, Oliver is largely right in making his broader point — that when it comes to Internet access or use, Kentuckians tend to lag behind the rest of the country. The state ranks near the bottom in both percentage of people who live on a broadband grid and the number of people with Internet in their homes. While this is sad news for the prospects of a PolitiFact Kentucky branch, it helps save Oliver’s less-than-perfectly worded . We rate it ."
4305,5,"Says ""as a share of the US economy, the government's support for research and development (R&D) has fallen by nearly two-thirds since the 1960s.","September 16, 2011",federal budget;science,rush holt,U.S. Rep. Rush Holt is a Democrat representing New Jersey's 12th district.,new jersey,3,1,2,0,1,0,an opinion article,"Congressman Holt claimed that as a potion of the nation’s economy, government support for research and development has ""fallen by nearly two-thirds since the 1960s."" Data on federal expenditures from the National Science Foundation show that as a percentage of the gross domestic product, spending has dropped by 62 percent since 1964. We rate his statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
1787,3,The Republican Party lost 1.1 million registered voters since 2008. The Democratic Party lost 1.2 million registered voters… (while) voter registration in the Libertarian Party rose 8 percent.,"June 7, 2010",bipartisanship;elections,libertarian party of texas,The Libertarian Party of Texas nominated Houston lawyer Kathie Glass for governor at its June 2010 convention. Other hopefuls were nominated for U.S. House seats and for statewide offices including seats on the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals.,texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press release,"In fact, McDonald’s breakdown, shown on a chart in his first May blog post, tracks registrations both by raw numbers and percentages for the two major parties and all minor parties lumped together. Upshot: Based on voter registrations in 29 states that allow voters to declare their party affiliation, the statistics cited by the Libertarian Party are correct. But comparing raw numbers and percentages to make a point, as the Libertarians do, can leave a distorted impression: that the major parties are fading away as the Libertarians gallop ahead. Voter for voter, that’s at least an incomplete characterization. We rate the statement ."
3343,3,"Discretionary spending has ""increased over 20-some percent in two years if you don't include the stimulus. If you put in the stimulus, it's over 80 percent.","March 17, 2011",economy;federal budget;stimulus,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 generates his high percentage by lumping in all of the $257 million approved for discretionary stimulus use into 2010 spending. CBO reports indicate that only slightly more than a third of the discretionary stimulus was spent last year.    That suggests that when you add in the stimulus, discretionary spending increased 44 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration -- not ""over 80 percent"" as Cantor says. Cantor’s statement is half right and half . We’ll split the difference and rate it ."
2481,2,We refused to balance the budget on the backs of our children.,"October 11, 2010",education,casey cagle,"Casey Cagle, a Republican, is the lieutenant governor of Georgia",georgia,2,2,1,1,1,0,a television ad,"Cagle correctly points out that the Legislature did restore education funding in some areas and the school systems have more spending flexibility. However, the state cuts have been, as Garrett told us, some of the largest in recent memory. The cuts have had an impact on children and instruction. Cagle's statement has some element of , but it ignores critical facts such as overall state budget cuts and their impact on the classroom. That rates as  in our book."
18890,0,"A member of Joe Biden's COVID-19 task force recommends ""withholding food stamps and rent assistance from those who refuse coronavirus vaccines.","November 13, 2020",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,"Social media posts cite an article as  that Dr. Luciana Borio, a member of Biden’s COVID-19 task force, recommended in a July report that the government withhold ""food stamps and rent assistance from those who refuse coronavirus vaccines."" This is wildly  and contrary to the report’s actual recommendations. Nowhere in the document does Borio or anyone else say that the government should withhold those services to those who decide against getting vaccinated. We rate this !"
8733,0,"Because the EPA closed a lead smelter in Missouri, ""all lead for bullets will have to come from overseas!","April 3, 2014",environment;guns,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 email,"A chain email said that following closure of a lead smelter in Missouri, ""all lead for bullets will have to come from overseas!"" While the closure of a Doe Run primary lead smelter in December 2013 means there are no smelters to make lead from ore anywhere in the United States, smelters to recycle lead remain in operation, and their output is substantial enough to satisfy the needs of ammunition manufacturers. Four months after that particular smelter closed, we found no  that all lead for bullets now comes from overseas. We rate the  ."
6451,2,"Under Barack Obama, the U.S. now has the ""lowest workforce since (President Jimmy) Carter.","October 1, 2012",economy;history;jobs;message machine 2012,american future fund,American Future Fund is a conservative organization.,national,0,0,0,3,2,0,a campaign ad,"The ad says the U.S. now has the ""lowest workforce since Carter,"" emphasizing the point by morphing Carter’s face into Obama’s. The ad includes a significant inconsistency about dates, and it uses the word ""workforce"" incorrectly. During the Carter administration, the size of the civilian labor force was a bit over 100 million. Today, even after the most recent recession, it’s more than 150 million. By a different measure -- the civilian labor force participation rate -- its  is not far off. In general, the last time the rate was consistently this low was under Carter. However, not all the blame for the low participation rates today has to do with the recession and slow recovery under Obama. A portion of the decline has been driven by long-term demographic trends that have nothing to do with the person or the party in the White House. Because it garbles the facts on a number of fronts, we rate the  ."
4857,2,Rob Cornilles is a Tea Party candidate.,"January 5, 2012",abortion;message machine 2012;negative campaigning,democratic party of oregon,"The Democratic Party of Oregon says it ""promotes the election of Democratic candidates at every level across the state of Oregon with technical, financial and volunteer support.""",oregon,0,0,2,1,1,0,campaign material,"We will note that Cornilles has been more willing to buck his party this cycle than Bonamici has. So we’re not sure how that makes him a ""Tea Party"" candidate. The statement contains an element of  -- he said those things in 2010 -- but ignores critical facts, such as his platform and his lack of endorsement from the Oregon Tea Party. We rule the statement . Return to OregonLive to comment ."
2293,3,"Under Lee Fisher Ohio has lost nearly 400,000 jobs.","September 13, 2010",economy;message machine 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 campaign video,"BLS data shows that during his tenure Ohio had a net loss of about 255,000 jobs; a significant number of jobs, although not as many as the Portman ad states.  The higher jobs figure in the ad reflects net jobs lost into this year. Still, at a time when Ohio lost thousands of jobs, Fisher was in charge of the state agency most responsible for bringing new jobs to Ohio. That doesn’t mean he’s responsible for the job losses, but he was in charge of the department most capable of addressing the problem. We find Portman’s  in his Job Czar ad to be ."
12466,1,"On Tim Kaine: ""In exchange for campaign contributions, he appointed a radical jihadi to the Virginia Immigration Commission.","September 21, 2016",campaign finance;ethics,chain email,"Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.",virginia,6,5,9,11,44,107,a chain email,"A chain email, based on postings by two conservative blogs, says that  Kaine ""in exchange for campaign contributions … appointed a radical jihadi to the Virginia Immigration Commission."" This refers to a 2007 appointment. The appointee, Esam Omeish, a surgeon and Muslim activist, said in a 2000 speech that the ""jihad way is the way to liberate your land."" Kaine, when told of the comment seven years later, immediately obtained Omeish’s resignation from the panel. In the aftermath, Omeish said the word jihad has several meanings, and that he was referring to it as an Islamic concept of personal struggle - not a call for holy war. As for the supposed payoff, the email refers to $43,050 in contributions that the New Dominion PAC, representing Arab-Virginians, made to Kaine’s gubernatorial campaign years before Kaine created the advisory commission and appointed Omeish to it. It also refers to $10,000 the PAC - not Kaine -- received from an Islamic nonprofit group four years after the appointment. Kaine was out of office at the time, and there’s no  he benefitted from the donation. Federal laws, in fact, barred that money from being advanced to Kaine’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2012. So the  that Kaine appointed Omeish ""in exchange"" for political money is based on flimsy happenstance, not fact.  We rate it ."
10981,0,"While Americans pray for Paris, the government has acted on mandatory national vaccinations.","November 17, 2015",congress;public health;terrorism,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.",georgia,4,13,35,53,711,331,a viral meme on social media,"A meme making the rounds on social media takes a different tack on the Paris terrorist attacks. It claims the tragedy has been a distraction to government efforts to mandate vaccinations for all public schoolchildren. There is a proposal for a similar law, but there has been no movement on the proposal since a week after it was introduced last spring. That’s the last bit of  to the meme. The rest of the message and implication border on the ludicrous. We rate the  ."
16598,1,"To be clear, I'm not talking about confiscating anybody's guns.","October 16, 2019",government regulation;guns,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.",national,7,11,7,6,2,0,an interview,"O’Rourke said: ""To be clear, I’m not talking about confiscating anybody’s guns."" O’Rourke has said ""yes"" and ""hell, yes"" when asked about confiscating assault-style weapons. And his mandatory buyback proposes taking those weapons from people, even if it involves a purchase. We rate O’Rourke’s  that he is ""not talking about confiscating anybody’s guns"" as ."
18027,1,"Photo shows ""Chuck Schumer kissing this child on Epstein island!","July 17, 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,"On the same day, a Facebook account called Focus On Gambia also posted the image, writing that ""the government of Gambia must take legal action against pedophiles in Gambia."" (In the comments of this post, some users question whether the photo was actually taken in Gambia.) Epstein donated more than $184,000 to both Democratic and Republican politicians from 1990 until his death, including Schumer, who has since donated the money to anti-human trafficking charities.   But we unearthed nothing to support that the image recirculating on social media shows Schumer or that the photo was taken on Epstein’s island.   We rate this post ."
13343,3,"Donald Trump's ""golf course on the island defaulted, like so many of his other failed business schemes. The failure left Puerto Rican taxpayers with a nearly $33 million bill.","April 27, 2017",bankruptcy,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,a press release,"The Florida Democratic Party said that Trump’s ""golf course on the island defaulted, like so many of his other failed business schemes. The failure left Puerto Rican taxpayers with a nearly $33 million bill."" Trump entered into a licensing and management agreement in 2008 -- after the golf course resort had fallen into debt. Trump failed to turn around the resort and it declared bankruptcy in 2015. The Puerto Rico Tourism Development Fund, which provided project financing in 2000 and 2004, filed a  in bankruptcy court for $32.7 million. The fund is paid for with tax dollars. The Democratic Party is correct that taxpayers are left with a nearly $33 million bill, but it  when it points the finger exclusively at Trump, omitting important details about the recession’s impact on the resort and its financial woes years before Trump’s involvement. We rate this  ."
6635,4,"Says Connie Mack was ""the only member of the Florida delegation that voted against a bill to help NASA.","October 17, 2012",space;voting record,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 debate,"Nelson claims Mack opposed a bill to help NASA. And it’s  that Mack was the only member of the Florida delegation to vote against the NASA Authorization Act of 2010.   But there’s a sprinkle of nuance we just can’t ignore. While NASA supported the bill as a new and exciting path forward, many members of Congress had concerns about whether it charted the right path for the space program. Even space policy experts agree that a vote against that legislation isn’t necessarily a vote against the space program. We rate the  ."
4154,2,"Says his hometown of Paint Creek, Texas, ""doesn't even have a ZIP code.","August 14, 2011",candidate biography,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,,"Sam Bolen, a Texas-based spokesman for the postal service, it takes a minimum of 10,000 mail deliveries in an area for it to qualify for its own assigned ZIP code, though some existing codes cover areas with fewer deliveries. At the Haskell post office, about 10 miles northwest of Paint Creek, clerk Nancy Snelling told us that Paint Creek has a ZIP code; it’s 79521, which is also the ZIP code for Haskell, the county seat. Perhaps Perry means Paint Creek is not big enough to warrant its own ZIP code. In that vein, there’s an element of  to his . We rate it ."
18222,1,"Says Kamala Harris said, ""I don't like Joe Biden and do not like his history with certain people or who he's aligned with, he's trash to me.","August 14, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"In a search for the quote online , Google returned two results: a link to a Facebook page where someone had posted it in a comment, and a June 2019 blog post titled, ""Kamala Harris buries Joe Biden. ""  The blog post is supportive of Harris, then still a presidential candidate, and praises her performance during a debate.   The statement that appears in the Facebook post is also in the blog post, but it’s not in a quote attributed to Harris. Rather, it’s the blog post’s author who writes: ""I don’t like Joe Biden and do not like his history with certain people or who he’s aligned with, he’s trash to me."" We rate this Facebook post ."
7694,5,"Under Obamacare, members of Congress are required to purchase their health insurance from the new exchanges.","August 12, 2013",congress;health care,james langevin,"James Langevin has represented Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District since 2001. He was elected to the state's Constitutional Convention in 1986. Two years later, he won a seat as a State Representative and went on to become, at age 30, Rhode Island's youngest Secretary of State in 1995.",rhode island,1,1,2,1,1,0,an interview on WPRO-AM,"It was this proposed rule that prompted critics over the past few weeks to allege that the Obama administration was creating another exemption for Congress members and their staffs. But Congress had already agreed to live by the system it created. What the new rule actually does is continue the federal government’s contribution toward its employees’ insurance coverage. So when U.S. Rep. James Langevin said he would be required to buy his health insurance through one of the Obamacare exchanges, his statement was  . (If you have a  you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
22559,1,"Video shows Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crying after ""Ted Cruz gets up and humiliates her to her face.","January 23, 2023",congress;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Cruz discussed immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border during his speech, and briefly mentioned Ocasio-Cortez.   ""Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has a famous photo of her grasping her head by the kids in cages,"" Cruz said, referring to images she shared in 2019 that showed her at the border. ""Well, I want to give a simple challenge to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and for every Democrat in this body. Go see the Biden cages. ""  We rate claims that this video shows Cruz making Ocasio-Cortez cry . "
18778,0,"Says his supporters were ""protecting"" Joe Biden's campaign bus in Texas.","November 1, 2020",corrections and updates;texas,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.",michigan,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign rally,"We rate Trump’s  . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. UPDATE,  5:20 p.m.: We removed references to this story about a now-deleted YouTube video showing trucks and other vehicles surrounding a Biden campaign bus."
9156,0,"We've had about 3,000 murders"" in connection with lax border security.","July 22, 2014",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,an interview on Fox News,"Abbott told Van Susteren ""we’ve had about 3,000 murders"" in connection with lax border security. This declaration, it turned out, isn’t substantiated by the cited state presentation which instead indicates 203,000-plus immigrants jailed in Texas in recent years had together accumulated 3,070 homicide charges (not convictions) in their lives. These individuals included people living here with legal permission and people here without authorization. Significantly, the presentation doesn’t show the homicides were committed by non-citizens living here without permission. Also, it’s silent on Abbott’s conclusion the immigrants charged with homicide all entered the country due to the border being easy to cross. Absent factual confirmation, the attorney general’s  strikes us as  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."
23209,1,Video shows Tucker Carlson advertising Affordable Care Act subsidies.,"June 19, 2023",health care;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video,"The original video, which Carlson tweeted April 26, came two days after his abrupt firing from Fox News. He mentioned neither the Affordable Care Act nor a $7,000 subsidy.   The Affordable Care Act provides subsidies to lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs for some eligible Americans buying health insurance on the health insurance Marketplace . But there’s no $7,000 cash grab that’s ending soon via a link on Facebook. We rate claims that this video is authentic ."
6406,3,Ben Unger supported a 15 percent property tax increase on Oregon seniors.,"October 1, 2012",message machine 2012;taxes,promote oregon leadership pac (oregon house republicans),Promote Oregon Leadership is the political action committe of Oregon House Republicans.,oregon,1,0,1,1,1,0,campaign mailer,"Look, we know this is standard campaigning. Take a candidate’s position on an issue and weed out the context so you end up with something like Unger supported ""a 15 percent property tax increase on Oregon seniors,"" as if he wanted to single out old folks for additional taxes. To us, the statement is missing important details that voters should have. But then, the mailers wouldn’t be as fun, would they? We find the statement : partially accurate, but missing important details."
2122,3,"U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) refuses to return $37,000 in ""dirty"" campaign contributions from U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)","August 10, 2010",message machine 2010,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,georgia,4,5,9,20,14,9,a recorded message,"But a point that concerned us more is that the contributions were made before the allegations surfaced. Anyone who hears the message would not know from it when the contributions were made, which made a difference to every expert we spoke with. We believe the statement does contain some . But it leaves out important details and takes some things out of context. On our -o-Meter scale, that rates as ."
22654,0,"No administration has ever looked less like America, just by the numbers, than the Biden administration.","February 6, 2023",race and ethnicity;pundits,tucker carlson,Tucker Carlson was a Fox News pundit until his departure in April 2023.,national,0,1,1,5,12,9,a TV segment,"This is . Researchers have touted Biden’s administration as one of the most diverse in the country’s history, thus looking more like the U.S. population. The  also fails to take into account that for nearly two centuries, only white men were represented in the Cabinet and the federal judiciary. Even though women and people of color lived in the country.   We rate this  ! "
1814,0,"U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin didn't want a border fence to block illegal immigration ""because he is afraid that someone will get hurt trying to go around the fence.","June 22, 2010",immigration;homeland security;human rights,michael j. gardiner,"Michael J. Gardiner is a lawyer who has run unsuccessfully for Congress twice in the 2nd District, in 2010 and 2012. Born in 1962, he is a graduate of Cranston High School East, the University of Rhode Island and the Western New College School of Law. He served in the Rhode Island Army National Guard from 1981 through 1992. He is divorced with one child.",rhode island,0,0,0,1,1,1,a posting on his website,"For the record, we asked Langevin’s office why the Congressman voted against the legislation. Spokeswoman Joy Fox responded with an email saying that Langevin is not convinced that the border fence is an answer to the problem of border security. “He had serious concerns that the costs of the bill would not result in significant improvements to our border security. And these concerns, unfortunately, have been borne out. The border fence initiative has been beset by ineffective management, cost overruns and missed deadlines,” Fox said."
293,5,"The 1990s were a time of prosperity. We created more than 22-million new jobs, moved 8-million people out of poverty, and turned our economy around.","January 25, 2008",economy,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,,"It's tough to get around that."" ""To the degree that a president can effect economic progress,"" Burtless said, ""most would say Bill Clinton did well above average."" Let the partisan folks argue about whether Bill Clinton deserves credit for the numbers, or whether Hillary Clinton can recreate them. The numbers are right. We rate Bill Clinton's statement ."
16584,3,The 1% is paying less in taxes than everyone else.,"October 12, 2019",taxes,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 tweeted, ""The 1% is paying less in taxes than everyone else."" The bottom 99% pay more in tax dollars and shoulder a larger percentage of the tax burden than the top 1%. However, focusing on this calculation ignores a contrary piece of the picture: the top 1% continues to pay a larger share of all federal taxes than it collects in income. We rate the statement ."
2508,3,"Says Leah ""Vukmir supports allowing people to carry concealed weapons into day care centers, churches, health care clinics and playgrounds.","October 22, 2010",message machine 2010;guns,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,"In a campaign flier, Sullivan says Vukmir, ""supports allowing people to carry concealed weapons"" into day cares, churches and other places. As stated, Sullivan suggests Vukmir wants to allow most anyone to do so. In reality, the bill in question would have been limited to those who obtained permits and -- in three of the four public places described -- applied to a very limited number of people.   That is an important detail left out. We rate Sullivan’s statement ."
3848,0,Protesters caused $7.5 million in damage to the Wisconsin State House,"June 28, 2011",labor;state budget,dan kapanke,"Dan Kapanke is a Republican state Senator, representing the La Crosse area in northwest Wisconsin. He was elected to his post in 2004. He is one of the Republican state Senators targeted for recalls based on their 2011 vote for a measure curtailing collective bargaining rights for public employees.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,0,2,a fundraising email,"The campaign acknowledged its . Yet its revised statement changed the nature of the , broadening it from a  solely about physical damage to the building. It’s starting to smell like a whole bunch of grills on a holiday weekend. We rated an earlier $7.5 million Capitol damage  . This one, too."
1840,1,"Says Houston's 18th congressional district has been ""gentrified"" and is home to ""more Anglos than African Americans.","June 12, 2010",candidate biography;census;elections;race and ethnicity,john faulk,"John Faulk, a semi-retired accountant, calls himself an ""ardent Constitutionalist."" He was the unsuccessful Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, in 2010.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,a speech,"In 2008, 21 percent of families lived below that level, according to the 2008 census survey. All told, Faulk quoted a portion of the '08 census survey that could lead someone to conclude the district's whites outnumber blacks, signaling a boon for any GOP candidate given that minority voters usually favor Democrats. But that conclusion overlooks the fact that Hispanics -- who are also minority voters -- comprise the majority of white residents. Also, the census data yielded no , such as higher incomes, of significant gentrification. Faulk's statement is ."
1786,4,The addition of a 1 percent sales tax would cost a typical household in Hillsborough County approximately $12 a month.,"June 18, 2010",economy;energy;infrastructure;transportation;urban;taxes,hillsborough area regional transit,"Hillsborough Area Rapid Transit, or HART, is the agency that operates Hillsborough County's bus system.",florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a brochure,"“The real number is probably somewhere in between.” Clearly there are a number of ways to calculate the figure, and the result for all of them is a somewhat imprecise. Still, our research shows that the number in the brochure is very close to the one provided by the MPO, and HART used a recognized, legitimate source in coming up with the figure.  The IRS calculation, while perhaps on the low side, is a recognized standard. So we rate the statement ."
1554,1,Says he did not say Republicans would filibuster immigration reform.,"April 11, 2010",immigration;this week - abc news,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 ""This Week.""","Still, Tapper's question -- ""You said the other day in Yuma, Ariz., that Republicans will use the opportunity to filibuster. Are you going to help with the filibuster of immigration reform?"" -- remains an fair summary (though not a quotation) of Kyl's town hall remarks. The video showed that Kyl predicted a Republican filibuster. So Kyl's statement -- that he didn't say Republicans will use the opportunity to filibuster -- is ."
12010,1,Hillary Clinton is for open borders.,"July 18, 2016",immigration,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.",florida,8,7,10,9,12,7,a speech at the Republican convention”,"Giuliani said, ""Hillary Clinton is for open borders."" Clinton supported a 2013 bill that would have invested billions in border security in addition to a path to citizenship. As a presidential candidate she has called for securing the border and targeting deportation to criminals and those who pose security threats. While her plan would make it easier for many undocumented immigrants to avoid deportation, that’s not the same as allowing a free-for-all at the border and ending enforcement. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cbe27e82-8435-4872-8e49-12f87464cb98"
11687,5,"Closing the tobacco loophole would save Missouri taxpayers $50,000,000","April 14, 2016",public health;state budget,chris koster,"Chris Koster is the Missouri attorney general, and is running for governor as a Democrat.",missouri,1,3,2,0,0,0,a tweet,"Koster said that closing the tobacco loophole would save Missouri taxpayers $50 million. The tobacco settlement and the arbitration that followed is complicated, but ultimately, Koster did reach a settlement to return $50 million dollars to Missouri. If the legislature passes SB 1096 by June 3, that money would come to the state in 2017. If it doesn’t, the state could potentially be on the hook for even more. Any money the state received would be dollars that taxpayers would not have to provide. Taxpayers could get $50 million worth of services or $50 million in tax cuts. Either way, they come out ahead. We rate this  ."
6085,4,Says Ronda Storms voted to fund the 'Taj Mahal' courthouse.,"August 13, 2012",message machine 2012;state budget,rob turner,Rob Turner is the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser.,florida,1,1,0,0,0,0,a campaign mailer,"Turner says in a mailer that Storms ""voted to fund the ‘Taj Mahal’ Courthouse."" She indeed cast a vote for a transportation bill that included funding for the courthouse, that much is . But there is some additional information we find missing from this attack. Namely, the courthouse money was inserted at the last minute into a larger bill without much explanation. The money, as far as most lawmakers knew, was to build a courthouse, not an opulent one. Once details of the ‘Taj’ became known, Storms openly criticized the plan. We rate this  ."
10825,3,"Says as secretary of state she was reserving judgment about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and ""hoped it would be the gold standard.","October 13, 2015",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,the first Democratic debate,"Clinton said when she was secretary of state, she was reserving judgment but ""hoped (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) would be the gold standard."" She’s twisting her 2012 remarks a bit. Clinton said, ""This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements,"" which is a more confident  than if she had said she ""hoped"" it would meet that standard. This is in contrast to more recent comments where Clinton said she had concerns about the deal and that she ultimately opposes it. The statement is distorting her previous comments. We rate it ."
19921,1,A flag expressing support for police officers violates the U.S. Flag Code.,"June 14, 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 that the flag expressing support for police officers violates the U.S. Flag Code. According to the U.S. Flag Code, the black and white flag with the blue stripe in the center is not an official version of the American flag. The post suggests that the police support flag includes discoloration. ""Discoloration"" is not listed in the flag code as a violation. To make its point about a purported code violation, the post also uses an  administrative citation. We rate this  ."
8330,3,"Says in 2000, Fox News broke the story of George W. Bush's drunk driving arrest. ""Who broke it? Fox News.","January 22, 2014",bush administration;punditfact,ann coulter,Ann Coulter is a conservative columnist and author.,,1,1,3,2,3,6,"a broadcast of CNN's ""Piers Morgan Live""","Coulter said Fox News broke the story of George W. Bush’s 1976 drunk driving arrest. In terms of being the first to broadcast the story, that is correct. On the other hand, breaking a story has the strong meaning of having made the effort to uncover something that was obscure. In that sense, a local news station that happened to be a Fox affiliate gets the credit. While Fehlau's station was contracted to run Fox programming, it is independetly owned and not part of Fox News, the cable news channel. We rate Coulter’s statement ."
2755,1,"The DREAM Act the ""would give amnesty to over two million illegal aliens.","December 1, 2010",immigration,rightmarch.com,"RightMarch.com is a conservative organization formed in March of 2003 to lead the ""Virtual March from the Right"".",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a chain e-mail,"The RightMarch.org figure assumes every single child of an illegal immigrant who meets the age requirements will complete two years of college or join the military. That's not realistic. In fact, the Migration Institute estimates the number of people likely to obtain permanent citizenship is actually less than half that. It's in the same report. We rate the RightMarch.org  ."
8682,5,"During Lyndon B. Johnson's first 20 years in Congress, ""he opposed every civil rights measure that came up for a vote.","April 10, 2014",civil rights;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.",texas,124,165,163,71,71,9,speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library,"Obama said that during Johnson’s ""first 20 years in Congress, he opposed every civil rights measure that came up for a vote."" That was the case for Johnson, who broke this pattern by steering passage of civil rights acts starting in 1957. We rate this statement as .  – 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."
2042,4,Florida is now the No. 1 state in the country for automobile accident fraud.,"July 31, 2010",consumer safety;crime,holly benson,"Holly Benson is a former secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration. She campaigned to be Florida Attorney General and was defeated in the Republican primary on Aug. 24, 2010.",florida,0,2,0,0,0,0,a candidates' debate,"Benson claimed that Florida is now the No. 1 state in the country for automobile accident fraud. We spoke with industry experts and reviewed existing literature on the topic, and found that she was largely correct. Data from both the National Insurance Crime Bureau and the Insurance Research Council show that Florida had the biggest number of claims that either the insurance companies or independent reviewers found of questionable legitimacy. Still, those figures only represent likely or potential fraud, not confirmed cases of fraud. We rate this ."
10274,4,"The ""highest economic growth decade was the 1960s. Income tax rates were 90 percent.","May 17, 2015",economy;taxes;punditfact,bill gates,Bill Gates is the co-founder of Microsoft and helped launced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.,,0,1,0,0,0,0,"an interview on CNN's ""Fareed Zakaria GPS""","Gates said that in the 1960s, high taxes, 90 percent, and high economic growth came at the same time. The underlying reasons are complicated, but the numbers largely bear out. On average, annual growth was about 4.3 percent for the decade, higher than any other post-World War II period. Gates was a bit off in talking about a 90 percent tax rate. During the 1960s, the marginal rate fell for a time to 70 percent. Gates did not go so far as to say that higher taxes bring higher growth. And for good reason. The connection between taxes and growth is quite tricky. We rate this  ."
8535,5,"If you rent a U-Haul to move your company, it costs twice as much to go from San Francisco to Austin than the other way around, because you can't find enough trucks to flee the Golden State.","March 7, 2014",economy;states;tourism;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 speech,"Perry said: ""If you rent a U-Haul to move your company, it costs twice as much to go from San Francisco to Austin than the other way around, because you can’t find enough trucks to flee the Golden State."" His rate contrast is spot-on--with the difference even wider for renting a big truck. U-Haul generally says rate differences reflect its need to keep equipment available to customers everywhere. We rate this  as ."
18293,0,"If you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debt. The CDC is even pushing to use records for mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines.","August 27, 2020",elections,robocaller,Robocaller targeting Detroit voters with misinformation about mail-in voting.,michigan,0,0,0,0,0,1,a robocall,"The robocall claims the personal information of those who vote by mail will be included in a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants, credit card companies to collect debt and the CDC to administer mandatory vaccines. There is absolutely no  to the claims. While the robocall says that the personal information of those who vote by mail will be exposed, there is no information mail-in voting makes public that isn’t already included in public voting records. Voting by mail does not require voters to share personal information beyond basic identifying information already required when voters registered with the state, and this information is used only for the purposes of administering elections. We rate the call’s claims ."
5619,2,Says the majority of candidates in Texas' 25th Congressional District live outside the district.,"May 16, 2012",candidate biography,justin hewlett,"Justin Hewlett, the mayor of Cleburne, previously served as a Cleburne City Council member and a member of the Johnson County Commission.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,a campaign mailer,"Our conclusion is that four of the 12 Republican candidates -- not the majority, as Hewlett says -- live (and vote) outside the district. Still, some hopefuls lived outside the district until not long ago, giving Hewlett’s  an element of . We rate it ."
583,4,Big oil's filling John McCain's campaign with $2-million in contributions.,"August 4, 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,a TV ad,"Combined with the $1.3-million that went to the campaign, that's easily enough to push McCain over $2-million in oil contributions. It's worth pointing out that Obama, too, has accepted at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil industry executives and employees, as we note here , and the Center for Responsive Politics points out more recently here . But we're focusing on the  that big oil gave McCain's campaign $2-million. It's not unequivocally , because the phrasing implies that the big oil corporations themselves were the givers, when it was actually their executives and employees, not to mention those of smaller natural gas companies. But energy industry players clearly have given McCain well over $2-million, so we find the  .  "
1611,4,"The new Arizona immigration law ""says that any police officer can stop anyone who appears to them to be reasonably suspicious of being an undocumented person.","April 26, 2010",immigration;legal issues,alfredo gutierrez,Alfredo Gutierrez is a former Democratic state senator in Arizona.,national,0,1,0,0,0,0,an interview on MSNBC's Hardball,"As we try to rate the accuracy of Gutierrez' statement, the degree of uncertainty about the law gives us pause, making us reluctant to rule either statement fully  or fully . That said, we think that a close reading of the law and the views of the experts we contacted do allow us to draw some conclusions. Gutierrez' statement -- that the law ""says that any police officer can stop anyone who appears to them to be reasonably suspicious of being an undocumented person"" -- is fairly accurate, but not entirely. While the law does appear to provide significant latitude for law enforcement officers in Arizona to question people about their immigration status -- on a pretext as basic as a broken taillight -- the law also says the grounds cannot be based on race or ethnicity alone. This is a somewhat more narrow standard than Gutierrez indicated, so we will downgrade his comment to ."
13092,0,"300,000 pounds of rat meat sold as chicken wings across America.","February 15, 2016",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,Internet posts,"The site admits as much in its disclaimer , referring to ""the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content."" The original story posted a day before the Super Bowl was played on Feb. 7, 2016, as a joke ""warning"" people of counterfeit chicken wings. We contacted UrbanImageMagazine.com to ask if they knew the story was , but didn’t hear back. But we smell a rat, all right, and it’s the content of this story. We rate it !"
2681,1,It's gotten to a point where the average federal worker makes twice as much as the average private sector worker.,"November 10, 2010",economy;federal budget,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 news conference,"Federal registered nurses actually make more: $77,830, compared with $66,530. BLS didn’t have a ""cybersecurity professionals"" category. We found federal ""computer specialists"" made $88,920, compared to $78,010 for their private-sector counterparts. So where does that leave us? That’s why we rate Boehner’s  ."
15015,1,"As Tennessee governor, Phil Bredesen ""supported higher taxes on us. Higher gas taxes. Higher sales taxes.","August 29, 2018",candidate biography;taxes,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,an attack ad,"Americans for Prosperity said that Bredesen supported higher gas and sales taxes. Neither tax changed on his watch. Both the gas and state sales tax remained the same throughout his time as governor. Food taxes went down and cigarette taxes went up. While he piecemealed additional revenues here and there, he opposed raising the broad-base sales tax. The ad uses the word ""support"" in the broadest fashion possible to mislead Tennesseans about their experiences under Bredesen. We rate this  ."
12528,2,"Says ""Rob Portman voted for the bipartisan bill to affirm climate change is real, humans significantly contribute to it and it needs to be addressed.","September 28, 2016",environment;energy,clearpath action fund,"ClearPath Action Fund is dedicated to building support for political leaders that believe in conservative clean energy solutions through market-­based principles that capitalize on innovation. Established by entrepreneur Jay Faison, it advances its mission through electoral support for conservative clean energy champions. ",ohio,0,0,0,1,0,0,a campaign ad,"An ad by ClearPath Action said, ""Rob Portman voted for the bipartisan bill to affirm climate change is real, humans significantly contribute to it and it needs to be addressed."" While Portman did vote for a bipartisan bill recognizing climate change as a threat in need of action, that bill did not include the word ""significantly."" Portman has voted against other amendments when they include the word ""significantly,"" and has voted for amendments that do not quantify how much human activity affects climate change. ClearPath Action has since discontinued the ad, admitted the  and pledged to release a corrected version. We rate the original version of the ad . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/67974c57-e2bb-4327-a497-e2db21a126f0"
12781,2,"President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (was) a fancy name for almost a trillion-dollar spending bill. The ARRA was supposed to fix our crumbling roads and bridges,"" but now, ""we have absolutely nothing to show for it.","November 26, 2016",federal budget;infrastructure;stimulus;punditfact,eric bolling,Eric Bolling is a conservative political commentator. He is a former Fox News host.,,0,1,1,3,2,0,a commentary on Fox News,"Bolling said the stimulus was ""a fancy name for almost a trillion-dollar spending bill. The ARRA was supposed to fix our crumbling roads and bridges,"" but now, ""we have absolutely nothing to show for it."" Infrastructure efforts under the stimulus can fairly be critiqued for shortcomings in efficiency and for their relatively modest impact on promoting job growth and reducing the backlog in needed repairs and expansions. However, Bolling seriously overstates his case. Contrary to what he said, the actual expenditures in the stimulus bill on infrastructure were dwarfed by a combination of tax cuts and safety-net payments. And both these tax cuts and individual payments and the infrastructure projects funded by the bill undermine his assertion that ""we have absolutely nothing to show for"" the act. We rate his statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/6e0e521a-4147-4ad5-9506-1544a02138b9"
22415,0,News clip showing Herschel Walker with early lead in Georgia U.S. Senate runoff is evidence of fraud.,"December 6, 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.",georgia,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"""As of 7 p.m. local time, the pool of votes was exactly the same as it would be at the time that counting was finished. But depending on how they were counted you could get — or give — a very different sense of how the election unfolded."" The bump Warnock receives in the news clip in this Instagram post is not  of fraud. It simply reflects more Georgia precincts reporting their votes .   We rate claims that this is  of fraud ! "
17662,3,"It's not that there's a virus shield between Canada (4,500 deaths) and the U.S. (80,000 deaths). What exists is a difference in leadership.","May 9, 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,"A Facebook post claimed: ""It’s not that there’s a virus shield between Canada (4,500 deaths) and the U.S. (80,000 deaths). What exists, is a difference in leadership."" These numbers aren’t directly comparable because the U.S. has a far larger population, so the post  the difference.  But on a per-capita basis, the United States still has nearly twice as many COVID-19 deaths as Canada does.  Experts said differences in how political leadership responded to the disease are one factor in the disparity. But there are others, such as the virus’ heavy impact on New York City; poor access to health insurance and health care among people more vulnerable to the coronavirus; and people’s different responses to guidelines aimed at containing the virus. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
5398,3,"Says oil ""production's down where Obama's in charge.","April 10, 2012",corrections and updates;energy;message machine 2012;oil spill,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 Web ad,"A Crossroads GPS ad says Obama takes credit for Bush-era policies, then blames him for a downturn in oil production on federal lands. While it’s  that the effect of a president’s policies don’t show up in oil production for some time — in some cases, decades — the ad goes too far when it cites a 14 percent decline in production in a single year as  of the impact of  Obama's overall energy strategy. The ad says oil production's down where Obama's in charge."" The facts show that the decline represents a single year that followed years of substantial gains and occurred only offshore in the wake of a major oil disaster. The ad’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and takes things out of context. We rate it .   CORRECTION: We updated this item on April 18, 2012, to add the change from 2008 to 2009 to our net increase/decrease calculation for oil production on federal lands under Obama. That changed a small net decrease to a net increase of 10.6 percent. Our ruling has not changed."
3580,4,"Says the Texas Board of Nursing has a backlog of ""3,000 complaints against nurses, many of them sexual assaults, malfeasance.","May 3, 2011",health care;crime;regulation,john whitmire,"John Whitmire is a Houston attorney who was first elected to the Texas Senate in 1982. Prior, he served in the Texas House of Representatives.",texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,remarks on the Senate floor,"He offered several examples: The investigator may be under-performing; extensive due process is required; the medical records of the patient involved in the complaint are difficult to obtain. So, the board says it has about 3,000 backlogged complaints, as Whitmire said. According to the board, many of the complaints allege malfeasance by nurses, as Whitmire also said, and a smaller number involve sexual assaults. But no one can determine the precise breakout without access to confidential board information. We rate Whitmire’s statement as ."
7038,1,"Says Rick Scott called education not a ""core function"" of the state.","March 4, 2013",education;state budget,florida democratic party,the Florida affiliate of the Democratic Party.,florida,4,7,10,5,4,3,a press release,"The Florida Democratic Party said in a press release that Scott called education ""not a ‘core function’ of the state."" The Democrats point to Scott’s 2011 comments about his budget proposal that included massive and wide-ranging cuts -- including to education. Scott called for focusing on ""core functions"" of the state. Scott cut the education budget in a year when he talked about funding for ""core functions."" But he never specifically said education was not a ""core function."" It’s a stretch and a leap of logic for Florida Democrats to  otherwise. We rate this  ."
11965,4,"Harris County, Texas has ""some of the highest jailing and incarceration rates in the U.S. and the world.","May 19, 2016",corrections and updates;criminal justice,rodney ellis,"Ellis, a former member of the Houston City Council, was initially elected to the Texas Senate in 1990. On his campaign website, he singles out his authorship of legislation affording state-funded college grants for needy students. He chairs the Senate Committee on Government Organization.",texas,1,2,0,0,0,0,response to a lawsuit,"Ellis said Harris County has some of the highest jailing and incarceration rates in the U.S. and the world. Harris County's rate -- calculated as the number of inmates per 100,000 residents -- exceeds the rates for the United States and world though we found jurisdictions including Dallas County with higher rates. To be fair, though, Ellis didn’t say Harris County’s rate is the highest, only that it’s among the highest. 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/afcdafa1-4811-4cca-aa29-4f7c28e16ac7"
22896,4,One in 5 Americans has lost a family member to gun violence.,"April 14, 2023",guns,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 speech to the National Action Network,"Harris said, ""1 in 5 Americans has lost a family member to gun violence.""  The statistic comes from a Kaiser Family Foundation survey taken in March. The poll found that 19% of U.S. adults have a family member who was killed by a gun, including by suicide.  That’s a higher percentage than found in surveys conducted in 2022 and 2018, though differences in question wording make direct comparisons among the three polls tricky. We rate the statement . RELATED: Gun violence surpasses car accidents as the leading cause of death for people ages 1 to 19"
22068,1,George W. Bush was photographed talking into the wrong end of a phone.,"October 3, 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,"(Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. ) The photo has been altered. A reverse image search led us to the original , taken in March 2003 by then-White House photographer Eric Draper.   The caption says Bush, who was holding the phone correctly, was talking to then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.   We rate claims that he was photographed holding the phone upside-down ."
9841,3,"Milwaukee ""incarcerates 1.2% of white men"" and has ""incarcerated over 50% of black men in their 30s.","December 31, 2014",census;civil rights;criminal justice;occupy wall street;urban,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a meme circulated on Facebook,"That is, at a given point in time. The second part of the  essentially quotes the study accurately -- more than 50 percent of black men in their 30s in Milwaukee County were or had been incarcerated. But there is no corresponding figure for white men. For a statement that is partially accurate but leaves out important details, our rating is . To comment on this item, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web page ."
10530,5,"Says Donald Trump ""has supported a Canadian-style universal health care system.","July 21, 2015",elections;punditfact,erick erickson,Erick Erickson is the host of a conservative radio talk show based in Atlanta.,,1,0,1,2,2,0,a column on Redstate.com,"Erickson said that Trump has supported a Canadian-style universal health care system. Trump’s own book from 2000 affirms that. By about 10 years later, he had changed his position. Erickson got it right. We rate this  ."
13905,1,"NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem is ""against the law.","October 16, 2017",legal issues,roy moore,"Roy Moore is a lawyer, judge, activist and Republican politician from Alabama. Moore ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2017. He served as judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Court of Alabama from 1992 until he was elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000. He was removed from his position in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument he installed in the Alabama Judicial Building. He then served as president of the Foundation for Moral Law, a Christian activist group, until 2012 when he was once again elected Chief Justice.",national,0,0,2,0,1,1,an interview,"Moore said NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem is ""against the law."" Moore's basis is that a law on the books describes patriotic etiquette during the national anthem. But his statement gives the  impression the law is binding, when in fact it’s merely guidance that carries no penalty. Additionally, legal experts told us the First Amendment protects the right to kneel during the national anthem. We rate this ."
3202,2,"In slashing $1.7 billion from Social Security, ""Rep. Jim Renacci may end up forcing the entire agency to ... shut down for a month, causing seniors to not get their benefits on time, halting claims processing, and forcing new retirees and disabled workers into a backlog.","February 22, 2011",federal budget;social security,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,"That would result in backlogs and delays in processing new paperwork. That’s what happened when furloughs were implemented during the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996. Where does that leave Democrats’ claims about Renacci?    There are some elements of  in the DCCC’s , but it stokes it up with hyperbole and leaves out several critical facts that would give listeners a different impression. On the -O-Meter, that means ."
2716,2,"Red light camera installed to ""promote public safety.","November 12, 2010",transportation,city of atlanta,City of Atlanta,georgia,1,0,1,1,1,0,a press release,"The study done for the city of Atlanta found no major difference in accidents since the red light camera was installed. Many researchers believe there is no major difference in accidents with red light cameras, but they do increase the fear factor among some motorists to slow down. The city's  that the camera ""promotes public safety"" has some , but it leaves out important details, such as the typical rise in rear-end collisions. So motorists, beware when approaching a yellow light. Meanwhile, we rate Atlanta's  as ."
3684,2,"Every time you buy an airline ticket, the federal government runs a background check on you.","May 31, 2011",homeland security;terrorism;transportation,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,a press release,"Zimmerman said by email that the FBI and TSA are ""large, powerful bureaucratic organizations with very significant resources to check on travelers. It would also make sense that they would not divulge all the depth of details of what they do."" Upshot: Every airline passenger must hurdle a check of basic personal information against a federal database before stepping onto a commercial flight. But these do not constitute actual background checks. We rate the statement ."
22722,0,Bill Gates arrest warrant issued in Philippines for 'premeditated murder' linked to vaccine roll out.,"March 4, 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,"Diane Desierto, a University of Notre Dame law professor who taught at the University of the Philippines College of Law, further told Reuters that there’s ""no such thing as a Heinous Crimes Court"" in the Philippines. The ""Heinous Crime Court"" doesn’t appear on a government list of courts in the Philippines nor could we find any credible news stories or other sources corroborating claims that such a court exists, or issued a warrant because Gates was suspected of murdering hundreds of thousands of people.   Serious side effects from COVID-19 vaccines are ""possible but extremely rare ,"" the World Health Organization says. The Department of Health in the Philippines doesn’t mandate vaccines, but ""highly encourages"" people to get vaccinated and says on its website that ""vaccination is an important way to protect yourself from getting severe COVID-19. ""  We rate these posts !"
15938,0,"A video clip from the Notre Dame cathedral fire shows a man walking alone in a tower of the church ""dressed in Muslim garb.","April 16, 2019",fake news;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a video clip,"A video clip posted on social media showed a man walking alone in one of Notre Dame’s towers ""dressed in Muslim garb."" The clip is from an authentic media live stream of the Notre Dame fire, but displays a lower-quality and cropped version that doesn’t allow the viewer to clearly see it was a firefighter. The clip also doesn’t last long enough to show other firefighters who show up in the same area moments later, and is cropped to omit the water hoses being used to fight the fire. French authorities are conducting an investigation into the fire, but preliminary reports, so far, deem the cause as accidental, pointing to a possible link to the cathedral’s renovation project. We rate this !"
12294,2,Illegal immigration costs our country more than $113 billion a year.,"August 31, 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,Arizona,"Trump said, ""Illegal immigration costs our country more than $113 billion a year."" Trump presented this figure as a hard fact to make his case, and not as the rough, high-end estimate that it is. The figure matches a 2013 study by a group that wants to reduce immigration, FAIR. It’s uncertain how much immigrants in the United States illegally cost taxpayers, but FAIR’s data is largely based on broad estimates and assumptions. Another report by a conservative think tank pegged the amount at about $85 billion a year. Reports by pro-immigration or neutral groups have come in significantly lower, and other reports have been inconclusive. Estimating the costs of illegal immigration is extremely difficult and produces dramatically different figures, depending on the source. Yes, there are costs. But Trump is selecting the highest of all possible estimates from a range that varies widely. We rate Trump’s statement ."
16165,1,"Says John Wayne said, ""If you don't want an American flag flying in your town square or at your school, then why the hell are you living in the US?","April 7, 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,"We found similar results searching for an abbreviated version of the quote. Next we searched the Nexis database for the quote in all available English-language publications and found nothing. Searching for ""John Wayne"" and ""American flag"" and ""town square,"" we couldn’t find the quote or anything similar, though a 2003 story about rural Texas auctions in the Los Angeles Times quotes a man who wants a full-sized American flag emblazoned with Wayne’s image. We’ll reconsider this fact-check if a source for this statement surfaces. In the meantime, we rate it ."
11739,3,Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt is unsustainable and it is unpayable. And the reason why it is unsustainable has everything to do with the greed of Wall Street vulture funds.,"May 16, 2016",financial regulation,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,San Juan,"Sanders said, ""Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt is unsustainable and it is unpayable. And the reason why it is unsustainable has everything to do with the greed of Wall Street vulture funds."" Puerto Rico’s debt was already unsustainable by the time Wall Street hedge funds and banks began playing a role as a result of decades of local mismanagement, U.S. policy and economic misfortune. But Sanders has a point that the financial sector has taken advantage of and is excerbating the situation. What's more, they're effectively preventing crisis relief by actively working to stop Puerto Rico from restructuring its debt. We rate his  ."
3753,2,"Says George LeMieux ""even compared Marco Rubio to Barack Obama.","June 10, 2011",candidate biography,adam hasner,"Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, is a former Majority Leader for the Florida House of Representatives.",florida,1,4,4,2,1,0,an Internet ad,"Let's again look at the text of the ad, which starts by linking LeMieux to three issues -- the federal stimulus package, Big Sugar and cap and trade. Then the ad abruptly switches to general statements about Rubio saying that LeMieux falsely attacked Rubio and ""compared Rubio to Barack Obama."" LeMieux didn't compare Rubio and Obama on an issue such as those listed at the start of the ad -- he said they both used a familiar campaign tactic, throwing ""bombs"" about something they didn't have to vote on themselves. The ad provides no explanation for how he compared the two politicians and neglects to note that LeMieux supported Rubio's campaign once Crist left the GOP. We rate this statement ."
17869,0,"Says these ""elite"" figures are on house arrest with ankle monitors ""due to child trafficking crimes.","June 16, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The photo of Obama shows him paddle boarding in January 2020 in Hawaii. The bracelet on his ankle is real, but it’s not a house arrest monitor. The device is called a ""SharkBanz, "" which uses technology to deter a shark attack. (Note: It’s difficult to be on house arrest and also paddleboard in Hawaii ). We rate this !"
18315,5,"Nick Freitas ""supports a plan letting insurance companies deny coverage for preexisting conditions like asthma or diabetes.","August 26, 2020",health care;voting record,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 TV ad,"In a TV ad, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says Freitas ""supports a plan letting insurance companies deny coverage for preexisting conditions like asthma or diabetes."" Freitas has repeatedly called for the abolishing Obamacare, which mandates that long-term health insurance policies cover preexisting conditions. In 2014, he said Obamacare should be repealed even without a replacement plan. In 2018, he voted to significantly expand the duration of short-term insurance plans in which coverage of preexisting conditions can be legally denied.  These actions overshadow Freitas’ vague promise this year - made through his campaign manager - to protect preexisting condition coverage while working to end Obamacare. We rate the DCCC's  .  "
18705,1,Says photo from Hunter Biden's laptop shows Paul Pelosi Jr. abusing a girl and doing drugs.,"October 26, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"We haven’t been able to review or verify the contents of the laptop hard drive allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden because the data has not been seen, at least not widely. Allies of President Donald Trump who say they have it — particularly Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer who procured the laptop — have declined to share the data with other outlets for review.   We rate the social media post about Pelosi’s son . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
5390,0,The 2011 Legislature did not cut Texas public school funding.,"April 4, 2012",education;state budget,susan combs,"Susan Combs was initially elected as state comptroller in 2006. Previously, she served as Texas agriculture commissioner and in the Texas House. She didn't seek re-election in 2014.",texas,0,0,0,0,1,1,a public appearance,"    Lawmakers cut public school aid, mainly by changing an established funding formula and reducing aid to targeted programs. To say otherwise is ,  and by a wide margin . !"
8421,4,"North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis would let insurance companies ""deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.","February 12, 2014",health care,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.",national,0,2,0,1,1,1,a campaign ad,"Patriot Majority USA’s ad said Tillis would let insurance companies ""deny coverage for pre-existing conditions."" Tillis’ staff says he is open to replacing the law, perhaps with the Burr-Coburn-Hatch proposal, but he hasn’t endorsed it yet. More importantly, we don’t find examples in which Tillis has publicly advocated replacing Obamacare with something else, at least not prior to our asking him about it in regards to this ad.  Given all of this, we can’t really blame Patriot Majority USA for drawing the conclusion that Tillis would repeal Obamacare and not replace it. Still, we're left with an element of uncertainty about what Tillis' position on pre-existing conditions actually is. Overall, we rate the  ."
423,3,Hillary Clinton supported NAFTA and permanent China trade. Pennsylvania lost thousands of jobs.,"April 17, 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 mailer to Pennsylvania voters,"Another study by EPI concluded Pennsylvania lost another 44,173 jobs between 1993 and 2004 due to NAFTA. But while the Obama campaign mailer tries to make it seem as though the two Democratic candidates are far apart on trade issues, in substance they are not. It is  that Clinton has in the past verbally supported NAFTA and permanent trade with China. Yet it is also  that she has spoken forcefully about the need to reform NAFTA and to much more stringently enforce trade agreements with China. So we rate the claims in the mailer to be ."
13708,2,Crime has been getting worse since Jerry Brown was elected governor.,"August 4, 2017",corrections and updates;criminal justice;crime;taxes,john moorlach,John Moorlach is a California State Senator. He is a Republican and represents portions of Orange County. ,california,0,0,0,1,0,0,an op-ed,"It increased in 2012 and again in 2015, provoking concern from politicians and those who research crime trends. The other four years under Brown, however, the crime rate has decreased. In the end, when one measures the overall crime rate from 2010 through 2015 and through 2016, both fuller pictures of Brown’s time in office, there’s a slight decrease. Our rating remains the same. Click here for   more   on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
884,4,"The Employee Free Choice Act mandates the ""elimination of the secret ballot.","March 24, 2009",workers,arlen specter,"Arlen Specter is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. He was initially elected to the Senate in 1980 as a Republican and was elected another four times on the Republican banner, even serving for a time as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, before switching parties in 2009 to become a Democrat. He was denied the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in 2010, losing in the primary to Rep. Joe Sestak, and retired in 2011.",national,1,1,0,0,0,0,a speech on the Senate floor,"As a practical matter, secret-ballot elections would be far less frequent if the Employee Free Choice Act were passed. But they would still take place under certain circumstances: during decertification contests, or on the occasions where unions won the support of more than 30 percent but less than 50 percent of the employees (but unions don't generally ask for elections unless they have the support of more than half). There would also continue to be secret-ballot elections in instances where a majority of employees say they want one. That is, where more than 50 percent of the employees sign cards requesting a vote on unionization rather than cards saying they want a union to represent them. So we find Specter's  to be ."
11858,4,"Last year, ""244 suspected terrorists walked into gun shops and attempted to purchase a firearm; 223 were able to get the firearm.","June 14, 2016",congress;homeland security;crime;government regulation;public safety;terrorism;guns,charles schumer,Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York and the Senate majority leader.,national,3,7,5,5,5,1,a news conference,"Schumer said that in 2015, ""244 suspected terrorists walked into gun shops and attempted to purchase a firearm; 223 were able to get the firearm"" according to the GAO report. He correctly notes that this is gun shop data from the GAO, but he is  to suggest that the report is a tally of the number of suspected terrorists trying to make a firearm purchase. As the report makes clear, it's the number of attempted transactions, some of which might have been done by the same individual. The statement is accurate but it needs clarification and additional information, so we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/47d79ce0-3137-4146-834d-1d858403e397"
19024,0,President Donald Trump will hold his inauguration for a second term at Mar-a-Lago,"December 16, 2020",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",florida,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,A Facebook post purporting to be from the Trump campaign said Trump will hold his inauguration for a second term at Mar-a-Lago. The Trump campaign confirmed the post is a . Trump lost his bid for a second term and plans to move to Mar-a-Lago after his presidency ends. Het has not announced what he will do during Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration. We rate this statement . RELATED: Timeline: How Donald Trump responded to the coronavirus pandemic  
10296,5,"Accidents are down 50 percent and injury accidents are down 60 percent"" in the rebuilt Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee.","May 13, 2015",public safety;state budget;transportation,wisconsin transportation builders association,The Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association is a trade group representing roadbuilding firms and others in the transportation construction industry. It is active in lobbying and education.,wisconsin,1,0,0,0,0,0,a radio ad,"On I-94, which feeds the Marquette, a DOT study reported a 5 percent increase eastbound from the Brewers ballpark from 1989 to 2009. All that might suggest that volume in the Marquette after the rebuild is roughly the same or higher than it was before construction. Our rating The Wisconsin Transportation Builders Association radio ad contended that ""accidents are down 50 percent and injury accidents are down 60 percent"" since the redesign of the Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee. There are different ways to slice this, but the ad cites official state data that is backed up within a few percentage points by more recent figures, and is generally confirmed by local data. We rate the  ."
901,4,Venezuela is a country whose defense budget is probably 1/600th of the United States.,"April 19, 2009",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,a news conference,"So, yes, Obama's numbers were a little off. We're not going to ding him too hard for that, though, as his overall point is correct. And Obama's use of the word probably 1/600th suggests it is more of a guestimate than a hard statistic. The Venezuelan military is indeed a tiny fraction of the size of the U.S. military. And so we rule his statement ."
17985,2,"Says police unions have it ""written into a contract that (officers) are not going to be accountable"" for misconduct.","June 12, 2020",criminal justice,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 TV interview,"Moore said police unions have it ""written into a contract that (officers) are not going to be accountable"" for misconduct. The context implies that this is referring in particular to deaths they cause. This is a sweeping  that implies by its lack of specificity that officers are shielded from internal, criminal and civil liability by language in their union contract. Unions simply don’t have that kind of power. Police unions do offer protections that can make it more difficult to discipline officers, or result in lesser punishments. But officers protected by union contracts are routinely fired, criminally charged and successfully sued in civil court. There’s a point to be made about union contract influence, but Moore’s attempt to make it was greatly exaggerated. We rate this  ."
1996,1,I don't think the argument can be credibly made that the United States of America is undertaxed compared to our competitors.,"July 26, 2010",taxes,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,"Washington, D.C","Despite the caveats from our experts, we see no reason to undercut Marcus' finding that the U.S. ranks low among other developed countries in total tax burden. Corporate taxes are comparatively high in the U.S., and that's a worry for businesses and, indirectly, for their employees and customers. But corporate taxes only accounted for 12 percent of federal tax revenues in 2008, so we don't think it's valid to focus on that factor to the exclusion of the broader tax burden. While we won't take a position on the the question of overtaxation, we think that, contrary to what Pawlenty said, there is a credible argument to be made that the U.S. is undertaxed compared to its competitors. So we rate his statement ."
424,3,"Hillary Clinton is ""willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance.","April 18, 2008",health care;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,a television ad,"Is it possible that Clinton's plan could garnish wages? Yes. Her plan has a mandate, and she said it was one of several ways that a mandate could be enforced. But she was clearly speaking of it as one scenario among several, not advocating it as a definite enforcement mechanism. For this reason, we find Obama's  to be ."
21620,1,"J.K. Rowling tweeted, ""If you American birds could keep your legs closed then maybe you wouldn't need abortions in the first place?","June 26, 2022",abortion;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 Tweet,"On June 28, 2022, she shared a video of a British politician showing support for the Roe v. Wade decision. ""More proof, as though it were needed, that women's rights are under attack across the developed world. #RoeVsWade,"" Rowling wrote. On May 6, 2022, following the leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion, she tweeted that she believes, ""women all over the world should have access to safe, legal abortion. ""  We rate this viral image . "
22395,1,"There may be a new pandemic on the way after the release of a 50,000-year-old zombie virus.","November 29, 2022",public health;science;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 says, ""There may be a new pandemic on the way after the release of a 50,000-year-old zombie virus."" But the virus discovered in Siberian permafrost by researchers wasn’t ""released."" It was taken from a sample and revived in a laboratory using amoeba as bait, a method the researchers said eliminated any threat to humans, animals or crops. The researchers expressed concern about the risks of viruses that may resurface in the future. But experts we contacted said there is likely little risk. The  that a new pandemic might be on the way because of the virus’s revival is not accurate. We rate this  ."
10861,5,Brewpubs can't sell growlers of their beer to customers.,"September 24, 2015",alcohol;regulation;states,slice & pint brewpub,The Slice & Pint brewpub operates out of Emory Village near Decatur.,georgia,1,0,0,0,0,0,the fall menu,"A brewpub owner in DeKalb County has created a series of beers designed to call attention to what his says is the state’s interference between his business and consumers. The IPA in question effectively claims that brewpubs can’t sell their products to go. A new state law is clear that neither brewpubs nor breweries can make those sales. The brewpub does have the option to sell to wholesalers, who can then make the suds available to consumers. But that is not the same thing as getting a growler to go with your pizza. We rate the  ."
3245,1,We now work the longest hours of any people around the world.,"March 8, 2011",labor,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 C-SPAN interview,"In other words, in addition to those countries listed earlier, there are many more developing countries where people work more hours than Americans. Sanders said ""We now work the longest hours of any people around the world."" That may have been  when compared to other industrialized nations in 1997. But it's not  now , and it's not  when you consider any country, as Sanders said. We rule his statement ."
13903,2,"And I think that his engagement with Congress is something that never happened under President Obama. They were never allowed to debate it. They were never allowed to discuss it. So, now Congress is going to be fully engaged on the threats of Iran.","October 15, 2017",congress;foreign policy,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,comments on ABC,"Haley said Congress was never allowed to debate or discuss the Iran nuclear agreement while Obama was in office. Though Congress had to fight for the right to disapprove of the deal, the passage of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 allowed Congress to not only vote on the deal but to also hold public hearings and debate. The Senate ultimately did not have the votes to block the deal, but the act included a requirement for the president to frequently monitor Iran’s progress in meeting the agreement’s conditions. So Congress did have input, even if Obama initially tried to avoid it. We rate this  ."
4220,3,"Since Rick Perry became governor, ""Texas has gone from 46th in the country to 50th in the population that graduates from high school.","August 17, 2011",education;new hampshire 2012,new hampshire democratic party,The New Hampshire Democratic Party is the Granite State's branch of the Democratic National Committee.,national,0,3,3,4,0,0,an interview with the 'Telegraph.',"The Democrats say Texas's ranking for high school graduates fell four spots under Perry. They are largely right about the drop, though their numbers are slightly off. The Democrats also exaggerate by blaming Perry. Although experts say he shares some responsibility, it is largely a factor of the state's demographics and history of education funding . We rate his  ."
9119,4,Tourism and retirees are the dominant economic engines in our state.,"July 11, 2014",economy;retirement;tourism,nan rich,Nan Rich won a seat on the Broward County Commission in 2016. She served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000-2004 and then was elected to the Florida Senate. She served as leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus 2010-2012 and then was term limited. Rich lost a Democratic primary for governor in 2014.,florida,0,3,1,1,0,0,a speech to the Florida Press Association,"Rich said, ""tourism and retirees are the dominant economic engines in our state."" We didn’t find a simple way to quantify whether tourism and retirees are the dominant economic engine in Florida, but a combination of statistical data and expert analysis suggests that both are important engines, and possibly too important, due to the low-wage jobs they bring. We rate this  ."
1965,2,"Georgia is ""the Saudi Arabia of pine trees.","July 20, 2010",energy,georgia politicians ,Various.,georgia,0,0,0,1,0,0,political campaign,"But so will a lot of other agricultural products. And there are still many questions about the viability of the alternative fuels industry. The Saudi Arabia of pine trees? Well, Georgia is at least the Kuwait of conifers. We give this one a ."
3161,0,Unfortunately we have documented instances where people defecated in the (Statehouse) building.,"February 23, 2011",labor;state budget,tom niehaus,"Tom Niehaus is a state senator from Ohio's 14th Senate District. In January of 2011, his Republican colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as the president of the Ohio Senate for the 129th General Assembly.",ohio,1,0,0,0,0,1,interviews with reporters,"As Senate president, Niehaus is one of the most influential people in the state government and when he speaks people listen. Yet this  is beyond . It’s a  assertion that is unsupported by the people who actually take care of the Statehouse. Statements that are both  and  get a special rating on the -O-Meter: . Comment on this item ."
18980,0,"In Chesterfield (Va.), the Southside precinct is infamous for having over 100% of the vote count…","December 1, 2020",elections,amanda chase,"Amanda Chase is serving her second term as a state senator, representing Chesterfield County. Although she has been elected as a Republican, she has frequently feuded with GOP leaders and is not a member of the Senate's Republican Caucus. She is running as Independent for governor in 2021. Chase has been a strong supporter of gun rights and the preservation of Confederate Monuments. She has been a critic of mandatory COVID-19 restrictions.
 ",virginia,0,0,0,0,0,2,a radio interview,"Chase, trying to prove there’s voting fraud in Virginia, says Chesterfield’s Southside precinct is infamous for logging more votes than there are voters.  Election records show the strongly-Democratic precinct has never had a voter turnout greater than 70% in its 12-year history. Presented with statistics, Chase says of her overvote  ""maybe it didn’t happen,"" and ""I wouldn’t put any credence in what I was saying."" Chase’s voting fraud  is fatuous and inflammatory. We rate it !"
6926,1,"Florida has ""the second-lowest (campaign) contribution limit in the entire country.","January 30, 2013",campaign finance,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 news conference,"Weatherford claimed Florida’s direct campaign contribution limit is the second-lowest limit in the country. Florida’s limit ($500 per election) is low compared to some states, though it’s not that low when you consider that people can make multiple contributions using business entities. But even still, Weatherford errs in trying to make a sweeping comparison because states don’t have an across-the-board limit. We rate his  ."
350,1,"As has been noted by many observers, including Bill Clinton's former secretary of labor, my plan does more than anybody to reduce costs.","February 21, 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,"Austin, Texas","However, there is no consensus in the research community about how much each element will save, or how much could be saved if these elements were effectively implemented in combination."" Obama clearly believes his plan will reduce costs significantly, and we see no reason to disagree with that. But will it save even more than Hillary Clinton's plan? We find little conclusive  of that, nor do we find independent experts willing to argue that case decisively. So we find his  ."
3979,0,"A clause hidden in the Obamacare bill, which is now law, gives Obama the right to form a private army.","July 15, 2011",health care;military,victoria jackson,Victoria Jackson is a columnist for WorldNetDaily and a former cast member of Saturday Night Live.,national,0,0,0,0,0,1,a column by Victoria Jackson,"We don't find that to be the case, and her source, Andrew Napolitano, seems to be making up interpretations of the health care law that have no basis in reality. The Ready Reserve Corps created by the law would be part of a long-established uniformed team of health care professionals that are part of the Department of Health and Human Services, not the military. They don't carry sidearms, and they don't have military training. If this is Obama's army, it's an army armed with tongue depressors and stethoscopes. For perpetuating nonsense, we rate Jackson's statement !"
20867,1,"The CDC staged ""the 'escaping monkeys' as a cover story for releasing the next bioweapon.","January 26, 2022",public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,pennsylvania,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"She attended a party the night of the accident and later discovered that she had been exposed to COVID-19, the paper said.   ""I want people to know I am not sick regardless of what they are reading that has been put out there in the media,"" she said. Cynomolgus monkeys are often used for medical studies, and the New York Times reported that they were in such high demand for coronavirus vaccine research at the start of the pandemic that some scientists discussed needing to create a monkey reserve, or emergency stockpile. It’s not clear whether these monkeys were part of that effort.   Claims that the CDC staged this crash to release a bioweapon are unfounded, and we rate it . "
12036,3,There are more Hoosiers going to work than ever before.,"July 20, 2016",economy;jobs,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,Cleveland,"Pence said, ""There are more Hoosiers going to work than ever before."" Literally, more Indiana residents are employed now than at any time in the past. But it’s a data point with very little meaning, since, as any statistician will tell you, it doesn’t take into account the size of the state’s population. Looking instead at the percentage of Hoosiers working shows that the percentage was higher during the previous employment peak in 2000. And the widely used unemployment rate — which is even more precise because it is based on the number of residents who are actively looking for a job — has been lower than its current rate over long stretches of recent history. We rate the statement . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/2078352d-5a91-4bdf-9872-462839fd76b5"
9771,4,"It has been many years, if ever, since an inmate has completed his or her high school diploma while incarcerated in a state correctional facility for adults.","November 12, 2014",corrections and updates;criminal justice;public safety,"l.c. ""buster"" evans","L.C. ""Buster"" Evans is an assistant commissioner in the Georgia Department of Corrections. He is a former superintendent in Forsyth County Public Schools based in Cumming Georgia",georgia,0,1,0,0,0,0,a press release,"And in a prison system where seven out of 10 inmates lack a diploma or GED, this could be the start of major improvements. But the GED is a high school equivalency, recognized by the vast majority of employers, colleges and universities. And that’s something the state has been helping some inmates attain for years. That’s important context. For this reason, we rate Evans’ statement .  "
8934,1,"Americans ""invented the automobile.","June 12, 2014",history;technology;punditfact,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 broadcast of the ""Laura Ingraham Show""","Ingraham said that Americans invented the automobile. If we look at internal combustion-powered vehicles, all of the first examples come from Europe, and the first commercial enterprise emerged in Germany. America played a major role in automobile production, but Ingraham spoke specifically about an earlier stage -- invention. We rate the  ."
13980,5,The No. 1 job vacancy in Florida every month for seven years has been nursing.,"October 31, 2017",public health,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 speech,Putnam said the No. 1 job vacancy in Florida every month for seven years has been nursing. He’s right. The top online job advertisement in Florida has been registered nurses every month for the past seven years. Experts agreed that the shortage has been an issue for awhile in Florida. We rate this  .
7967,3,"Georgia ""spends in the top 10 nationally on education, yet, most of our education metrics hover in the bottom five.","October 10, 2013",education;state budget,nancy jester,Nancy Jester is a former member of the DeKalb County School Board,georgia,0,0,1,0,0,0,a newspaper op-ed,"National results of college readiness exams and graduation rates ranked Georgia among the bottom in most reports. Georgia did rank in the top 10 states nationally in a survey touted by state education officials. But even in that report, Georgia scored low marks in key areas, including student achievement. Jester’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details about education funding that could give the reader a different impression. We rate Jester’s  ."
21433,1,"Photo from ""data leak at Elon Musk AND NASA … are said to be from one of Elon Musk's Space-X satellites.","May 15, 2022",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,a Facebook post,"The image itself has been online for years, and previously, it wasn’t connected to NASA, SpaceX or Elon Musk. It appeared in this 2018 tweet , this January Quora post , this 2020 blog post claiming the earth is flat, and this undated blog post musing that the earth is neither flat nor a sphere.   This NASA image , created by combining data from two satellites, shows what Earth looks like from space. It is well-established that the Earth is a sphere — more specifically, an irregularly shaped ellipsoid, according to the National Ocean Service — and it does not look like the image in the Facebook post.   We rate this post ."
14345,4,"Says Mike DeWine ""flip-flopped on the gun issue and has earned an F from the NRA.","January 29, 2018",congress;guns,mary taylor,"Mary Taylor lost the Republican primary for Ohio governor in 2018. She is the lieutenant governor of Ohio, elected in 2008 with Gov. John Kasich. She is the director of the Ohio Department of Insurance and also heads Kasich's “Common Sense Initiative” to reform Ohio’s regulatory policies. Prior to becoming lieutenant governor, she was a auditor of Ohio and a member of the General Assembly.",ohio,0,1,1,1,0,0,a speech,"Taylor said DeWine ""flip-flopped on the gun issue and has earned an F from the NRA."" DeWine did receiving failing grades from the NRA based on his record in the U.S. Senate, including in 2010 when he ran for Ohio Attorney General. As Taylor noted broadly, DeWine did flip-flop. As attorney general he has taken several stances more aligned with the NRA and no longer supports an assault weapons ban. Taylor zeroes in on DeWine’s record from many years ago and omits that by 2014, he had clearly earned the support of the Buckeye Firearms Association when it endorsed his re-election. We rate this  ."
2138,2,The seed of Muslim is passed through the father.,"August 19, 2010",religion,franklin graham,The Rev. Franklin Graham is a Christian minister and the president and CEO of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the international relief organization Samaritan's Purse.,national,0,0,1,1,1,0,an interview on CNN,"To be clear, we're fact-checking what Graham said, not whether any religion is any better or worse than another. In looking at most of the scholarly and objective descriptions of the Islamic faith, we found little to support Graham's statement that ""the seed of Muslim is passed through the father,"" absent belief in the tenets of the religion. In fact, the vast majority of sources said that religious faith was based on the affirmation of Islamic beliefs. But we found a secondary definition that said people born to a Muslim father and identify as cultural Muslims could be considered Islamic, even if they don't have Islamic beliefs, though that was considered controversial. So we rate Graham's statement ."
20436,1,Barack Obama signals That Democrats Intend to Cheat in the Virginia Governor's Election.,"October 23, 2021",elections;facebook fact-checks;virginia,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"A headline says that Obama signaled that ""Democrats intend to cheat in the Virginia governor’s election."" In a speech endorsing McAuliffe for governor of Virginia, Obama urged the crowd to get out and vote early by mail or in person. He did not encourage or hint at any illegal voting tactics.  We rate this headline ."
20094,1,"CDC confesses: Vaccines are failing, and the vaxxed can be superspreaders.","August 1, 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,a post,"An Instagram post said, ""CDC confesses: Vaccines are failing, and the vaxxed can be superspreaders."" The post said this was ""via the words of the CDC’s own director Dr. Rochelle Walensky."" We could not identify any instance in published or broadcast accounts, or CDC news releases, where Walensky said vaccines are failing. And she did not say vaccinated people are superspreaders; she said vaccinated people infected with the delta variant have similarly high viral loads as unvaccinated people.  We rate this  ."
9010,2,U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue's company took $3 million from the federal stimulus program that President Barack Obama created.,"June 18, 2014",stimulus,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,radio and television add,"Perdue sat on four company boards, including at Alliant. That’s a lot different than owning, running or working day to day for a company. We think it’s  to say Alliant is his company in an attempt to link him to the president’s stimulus program. It is a company with which he has an affiliation, so there is a bit of  here, but just a bit. We rate the attack ad statement as ."
3053,1,A 5-cent charge on paper bags is a tax.,"February 8, 2011",environment;taxes,mark daniels,Mark Daniels is a vice president of Hilex Poly Co.,oregon,0,0,0,0,1,0,a legislative hearing,"Bottled drinks were once 5 cents cheaper. Utility companies used to not charge 3 percent extra for energy programs. Frankly, we think it’s easier to avoid the 5 cent charge on bags than it is to bypass bottled drinks or the public purpose charge on utility bills. We rate the  . Comment on this item."
19744,1,Photo shows an anti-Israel activist holding a photo of Adolf Hitler.,"May 17, 2021",israel;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 November 2020, an Israeli activist was criticized for comparing Netanyahu to Hitler, according to the Jerusalem Post, and saying in a video on social media that ""in the 30s, there was a bitter enemy of the Jews. He was in Germany, and he acted just like you; divided, incited, destroyed."" In 2016, a poster showing Netanyahu with a Hitler mustache appeared at an art school in Tel Aviv, and in 2017, pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Sydney protested the prime minister’s visit to Australia, calling him a ""war criminal"" and carrying a banner with Netanyahu with a Hitler mustache and the word ""fascist. ""  The Instagram post makes a far-reaching  based on an  description of the photo. We rate it .  "
22282,4,"The state is absorbing the cost of overtime pay for farmworkers, and farm owners do not have to pay any more.","October 25, 2022",agriculture;labor;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 debate,"Hochul, in response to criticism about the state lowering the overtime threshold for farmworkers from 60 hours per week to 40 hours per week, said that farm owners didn’t have to pay for the recent changes to overtime rules.  The enacted state budget for 2022-23 includes refundable tax credits to pay the cost of the overtime as the threshold for overtime pay drops from 60 hours per week to 40 hours per week over the next 10 years.  As with other legislative items, as the State Legislature included the tax credits in this budget, lawmakers can remove them in a future budget.  In 2020, overtime pay for farm labor above 60 hours per week took effect. These tax credits do not cover the overtime costs incurred when an employee works more than 60 hours per week.  We rate Hochul’s  .  "
19531,1,"The number of pregnant women who have miscarried increased by ""366% in just six weeks"" as a result of their receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.","March 21, 2021",children;public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,an article,"A  circulating online claims that the number of pregnant women who have miscarried increased by ""366% in just six weeks"" as a result of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. This statement takes data out of context and presents an unfounded conclusion. Health officials in the U.K. say that there is currently no  of an increase in miscarriages after COVID-19 immunization. The article on which the  is based misrepresents figures from the country’s vaccine reporting system, and officials say it doesn’t account for the increased vaccination rate over time, or the country’s average rate of miscarriages. Nor is there any  that has shown a causal link between the vaccine and miscarriages. We rate this . "
767,0,The truth was revealed there in that report that showed there was no unlawful or unethical activity on my part.,"October 11, 2008",candidate biography,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 reporters,"But the issue here is Palin’s characterization that the report concluded that she did not do anything ethically . The report concluded just the opposite. The report says she did abuse her authority and she did violate state ethics laws. By saying otherwise repeatedly, in what seems to be a deliberate attempt to mislead or confuse voters who don't know the facts, Palin isn't just , she's ! ."
5320,4,"Last year, we produced 14 percent less oil on public lands than we did the year before.","March 26, 2012",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 radio interview,"Much of the current success was seeded under a different administration, just as Obama’s actions are expected to bear fruit later. And at least part of the drop on public lands last year was due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil spill and, according to BLM, an apparent shift by oil companies to private lands ripe for fracking. That leaves us here: Portman’s fact was accurate: There was a 14 percent drop on public lands. Everything else can be teased out and spun for either party’s purposes. Under PolitiFact guidelines, when a statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, it rates a -o-Meter rating of ."
11359,2,"U.S. global AIDS spending helped reduce ""political instability and violence"" by ""40 percent"" in recipient nations.","February 29, 2016",foreign policy;public health,tom daschle,Tom Daschle is a former U.S. senator from South Dakota.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,an op-ed,"Daschle said that U.S. global AIDS spending helped reduce ""political instability and violence"" by ""40 percent"" in recipient nations. No one questions that the program did much to ease the burden of disease and helped many sufferers. But there are several reasons the argument that it led to political stability is difficult to make. As the report Daschle cited notes, many of the countries were on an upward path before PEPFAR began. On top of that, Washington carefully selected which nations to include in PEPFAR. Finally, experts knew of no study that shows a large scale health intervention reducing instability and violence. On the contrary, and specific to HIV/AIDS, no study has found that the disease causes instability. Daschle’s statement treats correlation as if it were causation. We rate this  ."
473,5,"McCain ""hired some of the biggest lobbyists in Washington to run his campaign.","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","Okay, so McCain has clearly set a policy that forbids current federal lobbyists from drawing a campaign paycheck and campaign officials say they are in full compliance with that. Now. But the policy comes more than a year into the campaign. Current lobbyists hired by the campaign may have now been purged, but the fact is they were hired. We rule Obama's statement .  "
17292,5,"Some states are only getting 50 tests per day, and the Utah Jazz got 58.","March 12, 2020",public health;pundits;sports;punditfact;coronavirus,michael dougherty,"Michael Dougherty is a senior writer at the National Review and a visiting fellow for the social, cultural and constitutional studies division at the American Enterprise Institute.",,1,0,0,0,0,0,a tweet,"Dougherty said ""some states are only getting 50 tests per day, and the Utah Jazz got 58."" Oklahoma public health officials quickly completed tests on 58 people who had had recent contact with Gobert, the Jazz’s center, after he tested positive for COVID-19.  It’s not clear how many tests each state is running per day. But Dougherty’s  that ""some states are only getting 50 tests per day"" lines up with what had been reported at the time the  was made. We rate this statement ."
12785,4,Texans pay the sixth-highest property tax in the nation.,"November 29, 2016",taxes,dan patrick,"As a Houston state senator, Dan Patrick won election as lieutenant governor of Texas in November 2014 after earlier defeating incumbent David Dewhurst for his party's nomination. Patrick also has hosted a daily talk show on AM700 in Houston.",texas,7,7,5,6,7,9,a press release,"Patrick said: ""Texans pay the sixth-highest property tax in the nation."" While it may be  that on average, Texas property taxes are the sixth-highest in the nation, the actual taxpayer burden on residents can vary greatly by locality, making the average less representative. 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"
2960,4,"Of the top five cities for staged automobile accidents, three are in Florida. … We rank No. 1 in the country in staged auto accidents.","January 19, 2011",consumer safety;crime,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,Tallahassee,"That said, only 0.17 percent of the claims were deemed suspicious or questionable, and only about one in 20 of those involved questions of staged accidents. The sample is not enough to draw conclusions on, Scafidi added, but, ""It is a useful tool for analysis and for us to see where the potential fraud hot spots are."" Atwater is  correct about the high numbers of auto fraud cases coming from Florida, but he neglects to mention that the numbers he referred to are ""questionable claims,"" not yet confirmed as actual staged accidents.  It’s an important detail. For omitting that clarification, we rate his  ."
21532,1,"The sale of more than 600,000 Wisconsin deer licenses shows that Wisconsin's hunters are the ""eighth largest army in the world.","May 23, 2021",military;guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A post claimed that the sale of more than 600,000 Wisconsin deer licenses shows that Wisconsin’s hunters are the ""eighth largest army in the world.""  The post inflates the number of gun deer hunting licenses sold in Wisconsin for the 2020 hunting season by more than 30,000. There’s also no indication that each of the roughly 569,000 gun deer licenses sold were sold to residents of the state. Some were sold to non-residents. Even if Wisconsin had 600,000 deer hunters who use firearms, the group would not be the eighth largest army in the world. We rate this  . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report."
6561,0,Virginia papers called (Scott) Rigell's campaign 'Mostly False.',"September 28, 2012",message machine 2012,paul hirschbiel,"Paul Hirschbiel was the 2012 Democratic nominee for Virginia's 2nd District congressional seat held by Republican Scott Rigell.
Hirschbiel, a venture capitalist, is the owner and president of  Eden Capital, a Virginia Beach-based firm focusing on both for-profit and not-for-profit consulting and investing.
He was a founder of a venture capital firm currently known as Cornerstone Equity, which focuses on microcomputer, retail and consumer products. The company was an early investor in Dell Computer and Hirschbiel was a member of Dell's board of directors.
Hirschbiel grew up in Norfolk. He earned his B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hisrscbiel lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, Susan. They have two children.",virginia,0,0,0,0,0,1,a TV ad,"Hirschbiel said Rigell’s campaign had been labeled """" and attributed his statement to PolitiFact. PolitiFact Virginia rated a single 2010 election  by Rigell as , but we never passed judgment on the overall veracity of the candidate or his campaign. Hirschbiel’s statement was over the top and we give it our worst rating: ."
3460,5,Says he couldn't keep a 42-inch redfish he caught because of fishing rules.,"April 19, 2011",oil spill,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 posting on Twitter,"If you're following this, that means that Scott -- based on what he told reporters -- broke the fishing rules. But the Governor's Office later told Orlando's WESH-TV that Scott misspoke. Each angler brought back one fish, and Scott's 40-inch monster was tossed back into the Gulf of Mexico, a spokesman said. And that means Putnam was right when he said he couldn't keep his 42-inch redfish because state fishing rules prohibit it. We rate this  ."
15757,4,"Just two weeks ago, Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill every person in West Virginia 32 times over.","February 15, 2019",drugs,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,a tweeted video,"Miller said, ""Just two weeks ago, Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill every person in West Virginia 32 times over."" If you consider 2 milligrams to be a lethal dose -- which the Drug Enforcement Administration does -- then Miller’s estimate is very close to correct. The only caveat is that differences in purity and the health and size of the potential victim can make a difference. That said, there’s no question that the fentanyl from the seizure, spread evenly and effectively through the population, could have killed every West Virginia resident many times over. We rate the statement ."
3685,1,Says Wisconsin state Senate President Michael Elllis (R-Neenah) broke Senate rules during debate on a photo ID bill for voters.,"May 19, 2011",elections;states,fred risser,"Democrat Fred Risser is a member of the Wisconsin state Senate, representing as Madison district. he was elected to the Legislature in 1956 and is the longest serving state lawmaker in the nation.",wisconsin,0,0,0,0,1,0,a debate on the Senate floor,"When he was asked later, Risser pointed to the unwritten rules of common decency. But his  focused on the written rules of the Senate, which allow for the parameters of debate to be set by a majority vote. It’s rare, but permissible. And that’s what happened here. We rate Risser’s  ."
8695,2,"Every one of ""more than 30 federal judges who have considered the issue of gay and lesbian rights since last June… ruled that marriage is a constitutional right and you cannot deprive individual citizens of that right based on their sexual orientation.","April 8, 2014",civil rights;legal issues;lgbtq;marriage,david boies,"Since 1997, David Boies has been the chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. He is among attorneys to challenge state restrictions on same-sex marriage.",texas,0,0,0,1,0,0,the Civil Rights Summit at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library,"Boies said that since June 2013, every one of more than 30 federal judges who have considered gay and lesbian rights ""has ruled that marriage is a constitutional right and you cannot deprive individual citizens of that right based on their sexual orientation."" District judges have almost uniformly ruled for gay-marriage plaintiffs in this timeframe, but Boies’ count of such judges is considerably off.  We identified nine federal district judges who have issued such rulings since last June. We rate this , which has an element of , 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."
9188,5,It's been 17 years that we've had unemployment higher than the national average in Oregon.,"July 18, 2014",economy;jobs,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 campaign debate,"It’s actually been 18 years, but that covers the time frame of Richardson’s . Also, though a state economist said Oregon’s rate was sometimes statistically even with the national average, that feels like splitting hairs. Anyone looking up Oregon Employment Department statistics would find Oregon’s rate higher for the period Richardson cites. Though Richardson implied that Kitzhaber was at fault, he didn’t say so directly at the debate, so we didn’t evaluate that as part of Richardson’s . We find Richardson’s  ."
11694,5,"Before April 22, ""we have restored the rights of more than 18,000 individuals, which is more than the past seven governors combined in their four-year terms.","April 22, 2016",history;crime,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 speech,"McAuliffe said that before issuing a blanket restoration of rights on April 22 to felons who had served their time, he already had ""restored the rights of more than 18,000 individuals, which is more than the past seven governors combined in their four-year terms."" Records prove his point.   We rate his statement ."
11058,4,I have always opposed driver's licenses for illegal aliens.,"November 30, 2015",immigration;transportation;voting record,david simpson,David Simpson is the former mayor of Avinger. He was initially elected to the Texas House in 2010.,texas,1,1,0,0,0,0,a campaign press release,"Simpson said he’s always been opposed to illegal immigrants having driver’s licenses In 2011, Simpson joined House members in voting for the change in law requiring license applicants to document their legal residency, which we take as a strong indication of his position. But there’s a hint of uncertainty in Simpson’s 2013 vote on a proposal offered in favor of unauthorized residents someday getting resident driver permits as sought by Alonzo and others, which importantly didn’t and don’t exist, and his ambiguous 2014 remark about driver’s licenses. 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."
7015,4,"There's going to be a slowdown and delays in flights"" as a result of the sequester.","February 25, 2013",federal budget;transportation,raymond lahood,"Raymond LaHood, a former Republican member of the U.S. House from Illinois, is secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.",national,0,1,1,0,1,0,an interview on MSNBC,"LaHood is warning that once sequestration hits, travelers will experience flight delays. Experts we interviewed said the Obama administration has a fair amount of leeway to reduce the impact on some travelers. That said, the FAA has made clear that air traffic controllers consume so much of the agency’s budget that some will have to be taken off the job, and that will diminish the functioning of the nation’s airports. The rating: ."
17735,1,"Says Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's family spent May 20 at her second home, breaking her own stay-at-home orders.","May 20, 2020",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"""It didn't, and to be honest I wasn't laughing either when it was relayed to me because I knew how it would be perceived."" Regardless, there is no  that Whitmer spent the afternoon of May 20 at her house in Elk Rapids. And even if she did, it would not have violated her current stay-at-home order. The Facebook post is . We rate it ."
17065,5,Over 50% of the people now in the House and state Senate have not been born in Virginia.,"January 23, 2020",population,denver riggleman,"Denver Riggleman was elected to the U.S. House of Represenatives in 2018. He's a Republican representing the 5th Congressional District, spanning from Southside Virginia, throught Lynchburg up to Front Royal.
Riggleman was born in Manassas, Va. in 1970. He has a B.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and is a former U.S. Air Force officer and contractor with the National Security Agency. In 2014, he opened a craft distillary. ",virginia,1,0,0,0,0,0,a radio interview,"Riggleman says, ""Over 50% of the people now in the House and state Senate have not been born in Virginia."" Fifty-two delegates in the 100-member House were born outside of Virginia; so were 22 members of the 40-seat Senate. We have trouble with Riggleman’s implication that those born outside Virginia are out of step with the state. Many born outside the state grew up and were educated in Virginia. Moreover, the 52% percent of lawmakers born in other places nearly matches the 50.5% of Virginia citizens born elsewhere. The numbers reflect Virginia’s diversity But the raw statistic Riggleman cites is correct, and we rate his statement .  "
14963,4,"Says Texas charter schools ""get 100% state $/pupil funding while district schools (95% students) get about 1/3 funding from state w/ rest coming from local prop taxes (which is why those taxes are so high). Districts getting less b/c scarce $ going to charters.","July 18, 2018",education;state budget,donna howard,Donna Howard is a state representative from Austin.,texas,5,3,1,1,0,0,a tweet,"Howard said Texas charter schools get all their per-student aid from the state while school districts, which serve 95 percent of students, get a third of their funding that way with the rest drawn from property taxes. Also, Howard said, districts get less because scarce dollars go to charter schools. Howard’s points about student enrollment and state funding going to charter schools and school districts hold up. It’s also  that a student who leaves a district school to attend a charter school costs the district state aid while that student brings the charter school thousands of dollars more in per-pupil state aid than what the district would get. This dense tweet lacks the clarification that upticks or slides in local property values greatly affect whether a district faces ups or downs in state aid. 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."
13267,0,Texas law enforcement officer fatally shot upon arriving for work by 3 Muslim refugee.,"April 4, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"In reality, the man who killed Greenwood turned out to be William Kenny, an area man who held a grudge against law enforcement. Authorities had conducted a manhunt for a week, but Kenny had killed himself the day after shooting Greenwood . While the post is a real news article posted without attribution, the headline is altered to stoke prejudiced sentiments toward Muslims. It’s a gross misrepresentation of the circumstances surrounding a law enforcement officer’s death. We rate the headline !"
20658,2,"An organ recovery medical team pays tribute to a young female organ donor"" in this photo.","September 25, 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,"Below the photo that’s being shared on Facebook, the story says ""fellow doctors were pictured paying their respects to Zhao with deep bows at a hospital in Hefei City, the capital of Anhui Province. ""  There are some similarities between the story circulating online and the reality of the photo. It shows doctors paying their respects to a fellow doctor, who was an organ donor. But it doesn’t show an organ recovery medical team paying tribute to a young female organ donor.   We rate this  ."
7857,1,"A strong bipartisan majority"" in the House of Representatives ""voted to defund Obamacare.","September 20, 2013",federal budget;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,a news release,"Cruz said that ""a strong bipartisan majority"" in the House of Representatives ""voted to defund Obamacare."" Even if you consider the overall 230-189 margin to be a ""strong"" victory for backers of the measure, it doesn’t qualify as ""bipartisan"" except in the most hyper-technical sense. Two Democrats out of the 190 who voted --  more than 1 percent of the party’s caucus -- joined Republicans in voting for the bill. In our book, that doesn’t qualify as much of a bipartisan action. We rate the  ."
5364,3,"Says the Obama administration ""will no longer enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).","March 1, 2011",lgbtq;marriage,vern buchanan,Vern Buchanan has represented Florida's 13th Congressional District since 2007.,florida,2,0,1,1,1,0,a mailer,"Buchanan said in a mailer that the Obama administration  ""would no longer enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)."" The Obama administration said in February 2011 it would no longer defend the law in the courts. But the HRC cites examples that enforcement continues -- for example, gay couples can’t file their taxes jointly. We found legal experts who made arguments on both sides about whether not defending DOMA in the courts equals not enforcing it. If Buchanan had said that Obama would no longer ""defend"" DOMA he’d be on safe ground, but he chose ""enforce"" instead. The Obama administration is enforcing the law to some extent, such as forbidding joint tax returns or survivors’ benefits in Social Security for gay couples. Still, there’s clear  that the Obama administration is seeking to mitigate the law’s effects. We rate this  ."
1776,4,"Says the Republican ""state convention is actually larger than the Republican National Convention.","June 9, 2010",bipartisanship;economy;message machine 2010,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,"Riggs also noted a news article published in May by the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times stating that 50,000 delegates, protesters and reporters are expected to attend the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa. So how does Dewhurst’s statement shake out? This month’s GOP state convention drew more delegates than the 2008 national convention, but economic and other indicators suggest the national convention ultimately draws more people. Similarly, though Dewhurst’s boast is justified by one measurement, by another it doesn’t add up. We rate his statement ."
10422,0,The Civil War wasn't about slavery.,"June 23, 2015",history;punditfact,gavin mcinnes,Gavin McInnes is a co-founder of Vice Media and a frequent Fox News guest.,,0,0,0,0,1,1,a tweet,"McInnes said that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery. McInnes’ preferred research method, Google, proved him . In the words of the seceding states themselves, the South wanted to secede because it wanted to preserve slavery. That, in turn, started the Civil War. McInnes’ Twitter profile shows a man staring intently with eyes crossed, which captures the accuracy of tweet. We rate this  ."
8208,2,Scott Walker raises nearly 70 percent of his money from out of state,"December 13, 2013",elections,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,"Our rating Burke said that ""Scott Walker raises nearly 70 percent of his money from out of state."" By her layman’s definition of the 2014 campaign season, she’s on target. But the number drops to 56 percent if you use the official state definition of the 2014 cycle -- an approach that weeds out a mountain of recall-related donations from the analysis, as Burke’s campaign said she intended. We rate her  . To comment on this article, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website ."
5951,3,USA is #1 in gun violence.,"July 21, 2012",guns,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",national,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a post on the Internet,"The Facebook post says the ""USA is #1 in gun violence."" That's only  if you compare the U.S. with other affluent nations on a per capita basis. But widening the comparison to all nations, not just the richest ones, there are at least 17 other countries with higher per capita rates of gun homicides, most of them with rates astronomically higher than the U.S. rate. And measured by raw gun homicides, the U.S. doesn’t rank first -- at least two and possibly as many as five countries have had more gun homicides in recent years than the U.S. did. On balance, we rate this  ."
21802,2,Governor Tony Evers gave counties the green light to defund Wisconsin's police departments.,"July 29, 2022",criminal justice;elections;legal issues;wisconsin,republican governors association,the gubernatorial campaign arm of the Republican Party.,national,0,5,6,7,2,2,Email,"The Republican Governors Association claimed Evers gave Wisconsin counties ""the green light"" to defund the police.  A spokesperson for the association pointed to a veto of a Republican bill that would penalize counties and municipalities that reduce police budgets regardless of context. So, it’s not like there is nothing there. But that veto simply kept the status quo – it was not a proactive step by Evers to force or encourage cities and counties to cut law enforcement. What’s more, Evers has flatly stated he does not support defunding the police, and directed $100 million in pandemic aid to law enforcement. So, the statement ""contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.""  That’s what we call . "
14377,5,Says China and Singapore impose the death penalty on drug dealers.,"March 10, 2018",drugs,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 rally,"Trump said China and Singapore impose the death penalty on drug dealers. Chinese law says that individuals who smuggle, traffic, transport or manufacture drugs and meet certain conditions can receive a death sentence. Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act also calls for the death penalty for individuals convicted of trafficking specified amounts of opium, cocaine, cannabis, and other substances. We rate Trump’s  ."
13712,0,"Says ""Barcelona terrorist"" is cousins with former President Barack Obama.","August 19, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"""Obama can’t be convicted for being a man’s cousin but he can be investigated for aiding and abetting terrorists,"" the story read. A note on the bottom of TheLastLineOfDefense.org noted that ""everything on this site is a satirical work of fiction."" Its About Us section carried a disclaimer that read, ""We present fiction as fact and our sources don’t actually exist."" The tale of a suspected terrorist being a cousin to Obama is entirely made up. We rate it !"
1458,0,"Bill White ... supports the 'ObamaCare' socialized medicine plan, as well as 'Cap and Trade' legislation that would kill thousands of Texas jobs.","February 20, 2010",cap and trade;climate change;health care,cathie adams,"Cathie Adams served as the Republican Party of Texas chair from October 2009 to June 2010. She was previously elected to the Republican National Committee and has been a delegate to every state and senatorial district Republican convention since 1988. Before becoming chair, she helmed the Texas Eagle Forum. She lives in Dallas.",texas,0,0,1,1,1,1,a fund-raising letter,"Texas is the biggest state not to have adopted these standards. And I think the auto makers will see the writing on the wall if we do so."" Any politico can appreciate why Republicans want to portray White as favoring ""socialized medicine"" and cap-and-trade legislation critics say would slam the state's economy. But in the absence of confirming facts, these sizzlers read like  smears. We rate Adams' statement ."
13297,4,The pace of missile development between (Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un) has increased the testing about twenty-fold.,"April 18, 2017",foreign policy;military;nuclear;public safety,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,"Youngsville, NC","Sen. Richard Burr said that in North Korea, ""the pace of missile development between (Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un) has increased the testing about twenty-fold."" Experts say missile testing has certainly increased, and at least one analysis shows that increase was close to what Burr said. What’s less clear is if the increased testing has gone hand-in-hand with increased development, or if the tests aren’t moving the country’s missile program forward as much as they might seem. We rate this  ."
18017,1,"All the books"" have been removed from the classrooms of a Minnesota middle school because administrators ""claim that the books cannot be cleaned.","July 14, 2020",education;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,"Weeding library collections is a common practice . The American Library Association calls it "" essential ."" A Fox News affiliate reported that some residents salvaged some of the discarded books. But the  in the Facebook post that all books had been removed from this middle school’s classrooms because of the coronavirus is .   We rate this post ."
1911,5,We're spending $1 trillion a year on our foreign policy.,"July 5, 2010",federal budget;foreign policy;military,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 CNN interview,"Those totals include the Department of Defense, overseas contingency operations, the State Department and other international programs, and ""a few other agencies and programs typically included in a 'security' budget."" Ron Paul claims that the U.S. spends $1 trillion a year on foreign policy. Our experts acknowledged that the figure largely depends on one's definition of ""foreign policy."" Changing the definition means altering the expenses that one includes in the calculation. There was disagreement, for example, on whether to include the interest payments on debt-financed military spending and how to calculate that debt."
8160,4,"Says Nelson Mandela ""was a communist.","December 5, 2013",history;foreign policy;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,"an exchange on Fox's ""The O'Reilly Factor""","O’Reilly said that Mandela ""was a communist."" The weight of the historical  shows that O’Reilly is correct. For a time, Mandela -- despite his denials -- appears to have been a member not only of the party but also of its central committee. However, it’s worth noting that Mandela’s affiliation with the party or its goals was never a dominant feature of his ideology or message. We rate O’Reilly’s  ."
6217,0,Says Barack Obama is a Muslim.,"September 2, 2012",candidate biography;religion,hank williams jr.,"Hank Williams Jr. is a renowned, rowdy country singer. He is the sole son of the late legend, Hank Williams.",texas,0,0,0,0,0,1,Fort Worth,"Obama is not a Muslim. This has been clear for years. This  sets the woods . UPDATE, 5:42 p.m., Oct. 24, 2012 : This story has been revised to clarify that we were checking on the factual accuracy of the . This change does not affect the rating."
8659,1,"Says Charlie Crist supports ""cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.","April 1, 2014",health care;medicare,republican party of florida,The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.,florida,2,6,6,12,10,4,a Facebook post,"The Republican Party of Florida said Crist supports ""cuts to the Medicare Advantage program."" Crist has flip-flopped on a lot of issues, including the federal health care law. He used to oppose the Affordable Care Act, but now he supports it. The law tries to bring down future health care costs by reducing Medicare Advantage payments. But on the issue of Medicare Advantage, Crist has actually been consistent: He's been critical of the Medicare Advantage cuts for years. He specifically said he opposed the reductions in 2009 and 2010, and he still opposes them today. Crist doesn’t appear to have come up with other ways to save money on health care without reducing payments to Medicare Advantage. But our purpose here is to fact-check the  that he supports the cuts, and we found no proof that he does. We rate this  ."
19697,2,"With the goal to preserve 30% of the earth's land and water by 2030, ""300 million people stand to lose their land and livelihood, most of them tribal and indigenous peoples.","April 22, 2021",global news service;environment;agriculture;climate change;human rights,survival international,Survival International is a global movement for tribal peoples.,national,0,0,0,1,0,0,a website press release,"Survival International said under the 30x30 plan, ""300 million people stand to lose their land and livelihood, most of them tribal and indigenous peoples."" The 300 million figure is derived from a study on the impact of land conservation efforts, but not the 30x30 initiative specifically. While conservation efforts have led to forced evictions in the past, that’s not always the case, and the assumption that 30x30 would do so runs counter to the stated priorities of the nations pressing for the plan.  Survival International said it should have said ""many"" not ""most"" of the 300 million would be indigenous people. The  contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it ."
9951,4,"In the past year, DeKalb has ""attracted and retained more than 2,300 jobs.","January 22, 2015",economy;jobs,lee may,Lee May is the interim chief executive officer of DeKalb County government.,georgia,1,2,0,0,0,0,the 2015 State of the County address,"Looking at the categories, the bulk of the people being counted - those on the state level, in job training and some hired on the local level - are likely to be the same as the number of jobs. But for some people working part-time on the local level, or in the CIP, the distinction could boost or underestimate the actual number of jobs. Without more data, which the county does not collect, we don’t know what is happening. Overall, that means the statement is  right, except for problems the county acknowledges in its counts. We rate the statement ."
7499,0,"Under Republican-backed state budget, the state education agency estimates expansion of Wisconsin's school voucher program ""could cost nearly $2 billion annually","June 5, 2013",education;state budget;taxes,peter barca," 
Peter Barca, a Kenosha native and Democrat, has served two stints in the state Assembly. He was first elected in 1984 before resigning after winning a U.S. House seat in 1993. He served one term in Congress, losing re-election to Mark Neumann. Barca served in various governmental and private-sector posts before winning election to the Assembly in 2008. He was elected Minority Leader of the Assembly Democrats in 2011.
 ",wisconsin,0,3,2,0,3,1,a fund-raising email,"But the cost of the entire voucher program -- not just the expansion -- averages $192.5 million per year for the 2013-15 budget cycle. DPI's $1.9 billion-per-year estimate is not based on the 2013-15 expansion; it would only apply if the voucher program expands dramatically years down the road. The money exaggeration may make for good copy when it comes to raising money. But when it comes to math, it’s a major failure.    We rate Barca's statement ."
4001,5,The state of Georgia is near the bottom among states for SAT scores and graduation rates.,"July 11, 2011",education,chip rogers,State Senator Chip Rogers is a Republican from Woodstock.,georgia,1,1,1,1,0,0,Town hall meeting,"A review of its most recent data (the 2007-08 school year) showed about 65 percent of students who were freshmen four years earlier graduated that year. Georgia ranked ahead of only Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Washington, D.C. Rogers is correct to say Georgia SAT scores are ""near the bottom"" nationally. The graduation rates are trickier, but even with potentially flawed data, Georgia was ahead of just three states. We rate his  as ."
12663,1,"The ""left"" is blatantly attempting to disrupt Georgia's elections.","October 19, 2016",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,a tweet,"Brian Kemp, Georgia’s chief elections official, said in an Oct. 19 tweet that the ""left"" is trying to disrupt Georgia’s election process. When contacted, Kemp’s camp was unable to supply much . The left-leaning ACLU did file suit, seeking to extend Georgia’s voter registration deadline due to Hurricane Matthew, but a judge refused a statewide extension. Georgia has a few reported cases of voting problems, but they do not amount to a left-wing conspiracy to disrupt the vote. We rate Kemp’s statement ."
13050,0,Target to discontinue sale of Holy Bible.,"February 16, 2017",fake news;punditfact,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a headline,"As for being able to buy the good book, a search of the Target.com website turns up 791 results in a search for ""Holy Bible,"" so it’s readily available. But just to make sure, we contacted Target’s public relations department, which assured us that yes, you can still buy the Bible in stores. And no, there were no plans to change that. Target did eventually start offering private bathrooms to try to settle the boycott over transgendered bathrooms, but it never said it would stop selling the Bible. We rate this statement ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/eb166a41-f45d-47df-87c1-3df849991812"
3102,0,"Says under his budget-repair bill, ""collective bargaining is fully intact.","February 18, 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 radio interview,"In arguing the changes would be modest, Walker cited the civil service system and said ""collective bargaining is fully in tact."" However, Walker himself has outlined how his budget-repair bill would limit the collective bargaining rights of public employees. Indeed, it’s that provision that provoked daily demonstrations at the state Capitol and national media attention. To now say now say collective bargaining would remain ""fully intact"" is not just , it’s  . And that means it is "
10357,4,U.S. Embassy Celebrates America's Independence on June 4th in Order to Accommodate Muslims.,"June 6, 2015",foreign policy;religion,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,social media posts,"Various social media posts recently offered headlines like this one: ""U.S. Embassy Celebrates America’s Independence on June 4th in Order to Accommodate Muslims"" The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta did reschedule its July 4 celebration for June 4, and it explained the move as a way ""to respect"" the holy month of Ramadan. The switch had to do with increasing the odds of a successful event by scheduling it when local people would not be distracted by a religious observance that requires daytime fasting. Also, it’s not unprecedented for embassies to re-schedule July 4th celebrations for a variety of reasons, including the weather. The blog posts are accurate but require additional information, so we rate the statement ."
9335,3,"Big Oil gave Scott Brown $454,260.","August 27, 2014",campaign finance;corporations,jeanne shaheen,Jeanne Shaheen is a Senator from New Hampshire.,new hampshire,2,4,4,3,0,0,an ad,"Shaheen’s ad said that ""Big Oil gave Scott Brown $454,260."" Independently collected data shows that while Brown received roughly that much from donors categorized under the ""oil and gas industry,"" only about 11.5 percent of that haul came from companies and individuals affiliated with the biggest multinational companies -- what most viewers would consider ""Big Oil."" The statement is partially accurate, but leaves out important details. So we rate this  ."
16729,2,"Says ""President Obama fired every Bush appointed ambassador upon his election.","November 15, 2019",foreign policy,mark meadows,Mark Meadows is a North Carolina Republican member of the United States Congress.,north carolina,0,0,1,1,1,0,a tweet,"That was routine, unlike Yovanovitch’s removal. And at least a couple of political appointees, including Ashe, actually stayed months into Obama’s presidency. We rate this  . Correction : In the first reference to Ashe, we've corrected the sentence to say ""successor"" rather ""predecessor."""
11000,1,Says President Barack Obama did not invite a Republican senator to dine at the White House until his fifth year in office.,"November 11, 2015",bipartisanship,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. ,iowa,14,24,17,18,5,2,"Atlantic, Iowa, during a campaign event","Based on our review of visitor logs, there are a handful of instances in which Republican U.S. senators visited the White House residence between 2009 and 2012, including a 2011 dinner attended by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. There’s also that high-profile 2010 case in which Obama invited two Republican senators to dinner – the famous Slurpee Summit – only to be publicly snubbed. And it’s worth noting, too, that the records indicate that Obama hasn’t dined privately with Democratic senators all that often either – suggesting that private evening meals just aren’t part of Obama’s congressional relations strategy.  We rate this  . "
15189,3,"2.4 million people in Wisconsin have pre-existing conditions"" and Leah Vukmir supports letting insurance companies ""deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.","September 20, 2018",corporations;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 TV ad,"On the second part of Baldwin’s statement, Vukmir has indicated that high-risk pools are a solution for covering people with pre-existing conditions. But those were in place because -- before the Affordable Care Act, which Vukmir wants to repeal -- insurers were allowed to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. And Wisconsin’s high-risk pool covered only a fraction of people with pre-existing conditions. That being said, Vukmir has not specifically said she supports allowing insurers to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and she has said those should be covered  — even if she has been vague about how that would happen. For a statement that is partially accurate, we give Baldwin a ."
1004,1,"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs ""lied"" when he said President Obama's birth certificate is posted on the Internet.","June 17, 2009",candidate biography;obama birth certificate,worldnetdaily,WorldNetDaily is a conservative Internet news Web site owned by the Western Center for Journalism.,national,0,0,0,0,2,2,an advertisement,"And that's really the central issue here. The Health Department says the ""Certification of Live Birth"" is Hawaii's version of a birth certificate. Calling it by other names — Certificate of Live Birth, Certification of Live Birth — is just semantics. WorldNetDaily may be right that the original birth certificate wasn't posted, but if Hawaii says the the document Obama posted can rightly be called Obama's birth certificate, how is Gibbs lying? We harbor no delusions that anything we say here will slow the persistent drumbeat of the birthers, but we rule this statement ."
20487,1,"In-N-Out cups say ""Let's go Brandon.","October 26, 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,"The chain’s CEO has said in an interview that her uncle put Bible verses on In-N-Out’s cups and wrappers in the early 1990s. In addition to John 3:16 on the soda cup, the milkshake cup features Proverbs 3:5 and the burger wrappers have Revelation 3:20.   As In-N-Out has drawn support from some people for refusing to comply with COVID-19 vaccine mandates in California, misinformation about the chain — and about the slogan ""let’s go Brandon"" — has spread online. Among other  claims: that CNN reported the chain ""is the fast food of white supremacists"" and that the Anti-Defamation League classified ""Let’s go Brandon"" as hate speech . We rate claims that this ""Let’s go Brandon"" cup is real .   "
20089,1,"Says Gov. Tony Evers has declared Wisconsin ""permanently closed"" for business.","July 20, 2021",economy;small business;coronavirus,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,Twitter,"Our ruling  In a tweet, Kleefisch declared Evers had said Wisconsin is ""permanently closed"" to business. Setting aside the partisan debate over whether the governor is doing enough to boost business in the Badger State, the image is being mischaracterized as best. Evers’ physical office is not permanently closed, nor is the Capitol itself.   And even if it was closed, that label would be attributed to Google, not Evers.   We rate this  .   "
1091,4,Medicare began as a public option and now holds 97 percent of the market share.,"September 14, 2009",health care;medicare,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.",national,3,5,6,2,3,0,a fundraising letter,"But getting back to Price's statement, we find the following: He is right that Medicare was a public plan and its coverage of physicians' services was voluntary, which is another way to say ""optional."" And its participation rate among eligible seniors is close to 97 percent. But we take a notch off our rating to acknowledge that people disagree about whether the words ""public option"" today are the same as Medicare's ""voluntary"" Part B in 1965. It's important to note that the founders of Medicare expected that nearly every senior would be covered by Part B, while the Democrats' ""public option"" today is envisioned as just one of many options in the health care exchange. We rate Price's statement ."
3387,5,"Proposed fees for Rhode Island beaches will still be ""less than some of the town beaches.","April 3, 2011",recreation;state budget,richard licht,Richard Licht became a superior court judge in Rhode Island in 2014. He is a former lieutenant governor and former director of the Department of Administration for the state of Rhode Island in the Chafee administration.,rhode island,2,0,0,0,0,0,TV interview,"On weekends and holidays, the state’s new fee would be $14 -- less than fees in 8 of the 12 beach towns. So when Licht says the new state fees are less than ""some"" of the town beaches, we can’t  disagree. In fact, the state fees are lower in many instances. We won’t kick any sand at Licht on this one.   We rate his  ."
7647,2,"Under Obamacare, people who ""have a doctor they've been seeing for the last 15 or 20 years, they won't be able to keep going to that doctor.","July 31, 2013",health care,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 Fox News interview,"Rubio said that for people who currently have health insurance, ""They have a doctor they’ve been seeing for the last 15 or 20 years, they won’t be able to keep going to that doctor,"" due to Obamacare. Rubio ignores the fact that without Obamacare, patients can lose access to their doctor when their employer switches plans or they switch (or lose) jobs. Some patients who buy health insurance through the exchange could lose access to their current doctor, but it’s difficult to predict how many. We rate this  ."
7865,1,"(Texas Republicans) believe in abolishing Social Security, abolishing V.A. health care.","September 25, 2013",social security;veterans,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 MSNBC interview,"Sanders'  that the Texas GOP wants to ""abolish"" Social Security and VA health care didn’t line up with the official 2012 party platform, which called for a ""privatization"" of both programs. Privatization could bring systemic shake-ups to either issue in question, but wouldn’t entirely eliminate the programs. While the state party would like veterans to get their health care through private plans and young people to direct their Social Security taxes to private accounts, we found no  that GOP Texans are pushing to eliminate either system entirely. We rate Sanders'  ."
18707,1,Biden admits to voter fraud.,"October 24, 2020",elections,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.,national,0,2,1,3,3,1,a tweet,"McEnany said that Biden ""admits to voter fraud."" This is wholly . Biden was describing an effort to prevent voter suppression when he misspoke. We rate this  ."
10807,0,"Says Donald Trump's ""Make America Great Again"" hats were made in China.","October 4, 2015",china;punditfact,tweets,Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.,,2,4,6,12,98,39,tweets,"Tweets aim to paint Trump as a hypocrite for hawking ""Make America Great Again"" hats with ""Made in China"" labels from his campaign store. Those hats are knockoffs. Trump has even trademarked the phrase ""Make America Great Again."" Trump’s hats are made by a California company that says they are, indeed, American made. We rate the  !"
6782,5,"Among Milwaukee Public Schools students, ""86 percent are behind in reading and 80 percent are behind in math.","December 3, 2012",city government;education;poverty,don pridemore,"Don Pridemore is a former Republican member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing District 22 from 2004 to 2015. He did not seek re-election in 2014.
Pridemore ran for the nonpartisan state executive office of Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2013. He was defeated by incumbent Tony Evers in the general election on April 2, 2013.
 
 ",wisconsin,1,0,0,0,1,0,a news conference,"He said it was important to cite the performance of private schools that get public funding since they are ""pitched as the solution to issues with MPS."" But we’re not testing a  about voucher schools -- we’re testing Pridemore’s  about MPS students’ proficiency in reading and math. Our rating Pridemore said that among Milwaukee Public Schools students, ""86 percent are behind in reading and 80 percent are behind in math."" We would note that the figures are as high as they not because of a change in student performance, but a change in the way the state scores a test. Nevertheless, Pridemore states the figures accurately and we rate his statement ."
14500,0,Dying 78 year old CIA agent admits to killing Marilyn Monroe.,"April 12, 2018",fake news;punditfact,science vibe,A website promoting fabricated news and stories,,0,0,0,0,0,1,on an alternative news site,"The Science Vibe article presents the reasoning behind why Marilyn Monroe became a security threat is because she had supposedly slept with Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro making her susceptible to exposing strategic information to communists. While there are conspiracy theories surrounding the relationships of Monroe and the  behind her death ruled by police as a probable suicide , there is no  that she was murdered in part of a cover-up. When we tried to search for the quotes attributed to Hodges, we found no results or credible sources for them. We also found this story circulated by several other hoax sites. We rate this ."
17241,4,"Says Bernie Sanders ""voted against the Brady Bill five times for background checks on people.","March 5, 2020",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. ",,25,64,65,52,55,7,an interview with NBC,"Biden said Sanders ""voted against the Brady Bill five times for background checks on people."" Sanders did vote against the Brady bill, including a shifting mix of background check provisions, five times. The most recent of those votes took place 26 years ago. In his 2020 campaign, Sanders is fully supportive of expanded background checks and other gun control policies supported by a wide range of Democratic politicians. We rate the statement ."
21105,5,"Florida is ""49th in the nation when it comes to (Medicaid) funding"" for people with disabilities.","February 21, 2022",disability;medicaid;health check,nikki fried,"Nikki Fried is the chair of the Florida Democratic Party and Won't Back Down political action committee. Fried lost the Democratic primary for Florida governor in 2022. Previously, she served as the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner. Before that, she worked as a lawyer and marijuana lobbyist and as the head of the felony division of the Alachua County public defender. ",florida,1,1,0,3,0,1,a virtual town hall meeting,"In response to a question about services to people with disabilities, Fried said Florida ranked ""49th in the nation when it comes to (Medicaid) funding."" While the latest data ranks Florida fifth in the nation for overall Medicaid spending, the context of Fried’s statement was related to the state’s funding for intellectual and developmental disability services.   Though Florida is spending a significant amount of money on its Medicaid program, the state is 49th in the U.S. regarding per-capita spending on services for people with disabilities. Since 2007, Florida’s fiscal effort for such services has decreased 10% annually. We rate this  ."
7491,1,"There are over 2,000 crimes recorded per 100,000 population in the U.K.,"" compared to ""466 violent crimes per 100,000"" in the United States.","June 21, 2013",crime;foreign policy;guns,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,national,8,18,24,53,233,396,a meme on social media,"The meme said ""there are over 2,000 crimes recorded per 100,000 population in the U.K.,"" compared to ""466 violent crimes per 100,000"" in the United States. Our preliminary attempt to make an apples-to-apples comparison shows a much smaller difference in violent crime rates between the two countries, but criminologists say differences in how the statistics are collected make it impossible to produce a truly valid comparison. We rate the  ."
5724,1,"Virginia ""is home to more veterans per capita than any state in America.","May 28, 2012",census;military;veterans,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,McDonnell’s office acknowledges the governor erred on Memorial Day when he said Virginia has the most veterans per capita of any state. Virginia was No. 4 in 2010 and moved up to No. 3 in 2011. We rate the governor’s  .
1174,1,One-third of the health care dollar goes to no such thing as health care; it goes to the insurance companies.,"October 27, 2009",corporations;health care,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.",national,0,1,3,0,1,0,a speech on the House floor.,"The study found total administrative costs for all those groups accounted for 31 percent of health care expenditures in the United States. Still, that's not anywhere close to what Kennedy said. He said that ""One-third of the health care dollar goes to no such thing as health care; it goes to the insurance companies."" The actual number is about 7 percent. We rate Kennedy's statement ."
15276,0,Canada Pays Off Entire Federal Debt One Day After Marijuana Legalization,"October 18, 2018",debt;facebook fact-checks;marijuana,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,posts on the Internet,"This is better than the oil sands!"" ""The Daily Bonnet ""is a Mennonite satirical news site from the heart of the Bible belt, Steinbach, Manitoba,"" the site’s ""about us"" page says. ""Apart from the names of local and international celebrities, all characters and situations presented are entirely fictitious."" Anyone sharing this without clearly noting that it’s satire is sharing  content. We rate it ."
625,2,John McCain wants to privatize Social Security.,"August 26, 2008",social security,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,Denver,"But nothing's off the table,"" McCain said. ""I don't want tax increases. But that doesn't mean that anything is off the table."" That sounds to us to fall considerably short of Clinton's statement that McCain ""wants to privatize Social Security."" She stretches things when she equates his currently vague designs for the program with Bush's failed policy proposal, so we judge her statement to be ."
17484,5,"Before COVID-19, ""Iowa had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, and many employers were scrambling to find qualified employees to fill their job openings.","April 7, 2020",economy;workers,jack whitver,Jack Whitver is Iowa Senate majority leader,iowa,1,0,0,0,0,0,an email newsletter,"Whitver said unemployment in Iowa was among the lowest in the country before the U.S. deliberately shutdown parts of the economy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and that companies were struggling to find workers. He also said millions in the U.S. had been lifted out of poverty and wages had been increased.  This was all before the coronavirus, and subsequent statewide measures to contain its spread, wreaked havoc on Iowa’s employment and economy. The United States has almost certainly entered a recession , and the economic outlook across the country is grim, but Iowa was in a relatively good place just a month ago. Iowa unemployment had been at a historic low since 2017, and in February it ranked 11th in the country. Employers in Iowa did have trouble finding qualified workers to fill positions.  Wage increases are less clear. Wages have gone up 3 percent in the last year, but that increase hasn’t kept pace with many other states in the Midwest. Additionally, median wages only increased 4.4 percent since 2009, and the biggest wage increases were concentrated at the top. The poverty rate in the U.S. has been declining steadily since 2015, and in 2018 it reached pre-recession levels. We rated Whitver’s  as ."
9638,1,"As a result of Obamacare, ""California seniors face benefit cuts of over $1,700.","October 28, 2014",federal budget;health care;medicare;message machine 2014,american crossroads,American Crossroads is a 527 campaign committee that supports Republican candidates.,national,1,0,4,5,5,0,a campaign ad,"American Crossroads said that as a result of Obamacare, ""California seniors face benefit cuts of over $1,700."" First of all, this  is  because it makes it seem like all seniors will face these cuts, when the statistic actually refers to Medicare Advantage enrollees -- only about one-third of seniors. The statistic comes from a report that assumes all reductions in Medicare Advantage spending results in fewer benefits for enrollees. While insurance providers feel the cuts, there are multiple ways for them to respond other than reducing benefits, such as trimming administrative costs. We heard from multiple experts and researchers who said Medicare Advantage benefits have remained stable. The ad also leaves out the fact that the federal health care law expanded Medicare’s minimum required benefits and established incentives for Advantage plans to provide extra benefits. It’s possible that some Medicare Advantage enrollees could see their benefits shrink, but this ad blows that possibility out of proportion and ignores important context. We rate this  ."
7495,4,Says he can be on the ballot for Congress while serving time in jail.,"June 21, 2013",elections,stephen nodine,Stephen Nodine is a former Mobile County Commissioner and a potential 1st Congressional District candidate.,national,0,1,0,0,0,0,statements to the media,"Nodine claimed that he ""can run"" for office. As a legal matter, he is correct. The Constitution enshrines the idea that the people get to decide who shall represent them, and the only limits are age, citizenship and residency. In terms of federal law, Nodine can indeed run. His desire to run as a Republican puts him in murkier waters. Political parties enjoy a certain independence. The opinions of the legal experts we reached ranged from thumbs up to thumbs down on Nodine’s chances in court. But even on the more optimistic end, the court battles would be decided long after the election Nodine cares about is over. In the broadest sense, Nodine has the legal right to run for office from jail, but significant barriers lie between that right and his name appearing on the ballot. We rate the statement ."
21199,1,"A baby's immune system can't handle antigens from vaccines, because new food must be introduced slowly to identify allergic reactions.","March 23, 2022",children;public health,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A Facebook post implies that a baby’s immune system can’t handle antigens from vaccines, because new food must be introduced slowly to identify allergic reactions.  There are antigens in vaccines, but they are in very small amounts, less than what a baby encounters in their daily environments, according to the CDC.  Allergens in food are present in greater quantities, even in small portions, leading to recommendations that babies try new foods slowly, to test for any allergic reaction. The post’s comparison is not adequate, and the premise that vaccines are not safe due to antigens is . We rate this  . "
13217,1,"When you look for a job, you can't find it and you give up. You are now considered statistically employed.","April 4, 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.",national,36,85,120,194,360,179,a CEO town hall,"Trump said, ""When you look for a job, you can't find it and you give up. You are now considered statistically employed."" That’s flat  -- someone who stops looking for work would be shifted to the ""out of the labor force"" category, not the ""employed category."" We rate the statement ."
9538,3,"The Greenlight Pinellas 1-cent sales tax ""is permanent, we never get to vote on this again.","September 30, 2014",transportation;taxes,no tax for tracks,No Tax For Tracks is a community organization in Pinellas County created to oppose budget increases for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.,florida,0,0,2,0,2,0,an email newsletter,"No Tax For Tracks said the Greenlight Pinellas 1-cent sales tax ""is permanent, we never get to vote on this again."" There is no clause or provision in the proposal that allows for another vote. However, saying the tax is ""permanent"" also goes too far. While it is certainly likely that the sales tax would be in place for the foreseeable future if passed, the tax has a review clause set for 50 years from now. The long time frame is because the taxes are dedicated to paying for major long-term construction projects like light rail. As to whether the county commission would ever bring the question back to voters, it’s improbable but not impossible. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it ."
20508,1,Bergen County in New Jersey gave more votes to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate after all the ballots were counted.,"November 3, 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.",new jersey,4,13,35,53,711,331,a Facebook post,"After early voting results were finalized on Nov. 3, the results on the website were updated again.   The Associated Press has called the race for Murphy , but the county’s election results are still unofficial until the election is certified.   Clearly, some people have been confused by the county’s method for presenting its election results. But it’s not  of fraud, and 40,000 weren’t ""found"" — they were counted.   We rate claims that Bergen County fraudulently gave more votes to Murphy than Ciattarelli after all ballots were counted . "
19133,1,Says Joe Biden has plans to ban animal agriculture and gas-powered cars.,"October 14, 2020",agriculture;energy,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.",iowa,36,85,120,194,360,179,a campaign speech,"We’ve concluded that Ernst’s and Trump’s claims that Biden would eliminate animal agriculture and gas powered cars if elected president aren’t  because Biden has never endorsed the Green New Deal legislation as written. And, while Biden says he agrees with some basic principles of the legislation, the resolution would not eliminate animal agriculture or gas-powered cars. Our ruling is . Sabine Martin contributed to this report."
22936,1,"The ocean is ""flat"" and ""contained"" by land features that jut up from a flat (not spherical) earth.","April 20, 2023",science;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"A Facebook page promoting flat Earth conspiracy theories claimed that the ocean is ""flat"" and ""contained"" by land features that jut up from a flat (not spherical) earth. Sea level is uneven across the planet. Several factors influence the ocean’s varied topography, including underwater mountains, underwater cliffs and undersea currents.  The ocean is held in place by Earth’s gravity, which pulls it down toward the planet’s center.  We rate this  .  "
7186,2,"The people who were running the budget, in the Corzine years, decided to steal from the unemployment trust fund. … As did other Governors before. We simply don't do that, haven't done it, and won't permit it.","March 25, 2013",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 answer to a caller on NJ 101.5's ""Ask The Governor"" program","Christie said, ""The people who were running the budget, in the Corzine years, decided to steal from the unemployment trust fund. … As did other Governors before. We simply don’t do that, haven’t done it, and won’t permit it."" The governor’s  contains an element of , that other administrations have diverted money from the fund, but his hasn’t. The reason? State law now forbids such diversions – something he didn’t say. Although Christie was speaking colloquially about ‘stealing’ from the fund, he was  when he pegged diversions to the Corzine administration. The last time such a diversion occurred was when Codey was interim governor. We rate Christie’s statement . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
7693,3,"Says ""nearly half of Oregon's children are poor.","August 7, 2013",poverty,jim francesconi,Jim Francesconi is a member of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education.,oregon,0,1,1,0,1,0,an opinion article,"In fact, if you use federal definitions for poverty, about a quarter are poor and another quarter are low-income. But experts tell us that families that are described as low-income still struggle to meet their basic needs and, for all intents and purposes, qualify as poor. Be that as it may, Francesconi was referencing a report that used the federal definitions. As such, his statement leaves out important details and we, too, think it would have been better to say ""poor and low income."" We rate this  ."
6149,5,"In 2008, candidate Barack Obama attacked John McCain for proposing cuts to Medicare.","August 26, 2012",medicare;message machine 2012,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 campaign ad,"Romney’s new ad says ""candidate Barack Obama attacked John McCain for proposing cuts to Medicare."" That's an accurate description of what Obama said. We rate Romney's  ."
6933,3,More than 40 percent of sales nationally are made without background checks.,"January 26, 2013",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 speech,"U.S. Rep. Cicilline said that more than 40 percent of gun sales nationally are made without background check. Cicilline accurately quoted a figure that comes from a 15-year-old study, based on data that’s almost 20 years old. Clearly, many gun sales are made without background checks. There’s no current, reliable data to estimate what percentage of sales are made that way and experts disagree on whether the 40-percent figure is still valid. We rate 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.)"
10099,3,"Dallas ""African-American and Hispanic students pass AP exams at a higher rate than any other place in America.","February 17, 2015",education,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 said Dallas ""African-American and Hispanic students pass AP exams at a higher rate than any other place in America."" That’s an overly broad recap of research indicating that such students in Dallas passed math and science AP exams at a better clip than peers in more than 15 districts nationally with like demographics. This conclusion, that is, didn’t sweep in every AP test nor did it extend to the Dallas students outpacing students everywhere else. On balance, we rate Abbott’s statement .  – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context."
21599,4,"Adam Laxalt ""wants to restrict"" and ""worked to limit access to birth control.","June 14, 2022",health care;government regulation;women;ad watch,catherine cortez masto,Catherine Cortez Masto was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2016 in Nevada. She previously served two terms as Nevada's Attorney General.,nevada,0,2,4,1,2,0,an ad,"Cortez Masto said Laxalt ""wants to restrict"" and ""worked to limit access to birth control."" As Nevada’s attorney general, Laxalt supported efforts that would have reduced access to birth control. We did not find that he has made any statements since 2018 on restricting access. We rate the statement . PolitiFact staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. RELATED: Fact-checking ads in the 2022 campaigns RELATED: What would state laws look like in a post-Roe world? RELATED: The race for the Nevada Senate seat: A guide"
19214,1,"Photo shows Democratic protesters who ""stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2018.","February 4, 2021",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,an image,"Unlike the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the 2011 protests were largely peaceful .   Watch more footage of the demonstrations below: In 2018, hundreds of people protesting Kavanaugh’s confirmation were arrested after gathering in Senate buildings and galleries, including the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda. Others were charged with ""crowding, obstructing, or incommoding"" the East Front steps of the Capitol building. But a photo Nugent relies on to show that Democrats ""stormed"" the U.S. Capitol doesn’t show any of that. We rate it ."
22331,1,A New York election results map is evidence of fraud.,"November 10, 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 york,4,13,35,53,711,331,an Instagram post,"These numbers are identical to a breakdown of how each county voted in the governor’s race on the New York State Board of Elections  website showing unofficial election results. Zeldin initially refused to concede because he said there were too many uncounted ballots and he expected Hochul’s lead to narrow. But he congratulated Hochul on her win the morning after Election Day, saying , ""There’s no way that we would have been able to get this close to 50% without being able to successfully connect with so many people who have in the past voted Democrat."" We don’t know why the map in the video in the Instagram post shows identical vote counts for the candidates in multiple counties, but that didn’t reflect the race’s  results and it’s not  of fraud.   We rate that  ."
2203,0,Lindsey Graham endorsed Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate.,"September 8, 2010",elections,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,florida,8,18,24,53,233,396,postings on Twitter,"Bishop included a helpful timeline explaining Graham's one-time support for Crist. Graham endorsed the Republican version of Crist back in 2009, but yanked that support when Crist announced he was leaving the party. The old endorsement came back to haunt Graham, and Crist, on Twitter. But don't be fooled. We rate it !"
14904,2,"Says Scott Walker ""has cut more from public education than he's put back in, obviously. He took $1.6 billion and some change away and then puts back $630 million and he's calling that progress.","June 19, 2018",education;state budget,mahlon mitchell,"Mahlon Mitchell has served as president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin union since January 2011. A Democrat, he lost to Republican Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in Wisconsin's June 2012 recall elections. In November 2017, he announced his candidacy for governor in the 2018 election.",wisconsin,2,1,0,4,0,0,an interview,"So, that was not a cut, but it did curtail how much additional money school districts could raise on their own. On actual state funding of schools, Walker did cut about $784 million with his first state budget. But he has been adding back funding with each of his subsequent budgets, to the tune of about $1 billion in total. Mitchell’s statement contains an element of , but mixes apples and oranges and ignores facts that would give a different impression. Our rating is ."
3627,5,"For more than 30 years after World War II, there was a steady reduction in U.S. debt as a percentage of gross domestic product.","May 20, 2011",deficit;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,an interview,"It increased fairly consistently to its current level of roughly $14.3 trillion on April 30, 2011. Let’s review. McDonnell said that since the end of World War II, the national debt as a percentage of GDP went down over a roughly 30-year period until the 1980s. McDonnell is correct that the debt, when measured as a percentage of the country’s GDP, was on a downward trajectory during that time. We rate his  ."
1447,2,"Charges on the Republican Party of Florida credit card were made with ""my money.","March 4, 2010",candidate biography;elections,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 Fox News,"To recap, Rubio said the charges were made with ""my money."" There is some  on both sides. On one hand, Rubio is able to document that he made payments to American Express for some items that he declared to be personal. That supports his contention that it was his money. But the fact that there were purchases that appear to be personal, and were paid for by the Republican Party, undercuts his . And although the card was under his name, American Express says that in general -- as long as a cardholder isn't violating the rules set out by the company -- it is the company (in this case the party) that is liable for the charges. And the cardholder (in this case Rubio) won't have his credit rating affected if the bill is not paid on time. So there's little  that it was ""his money,"" but more that it was really the party's. We rate his  . Editor's note: This statement was rated  when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  "
10634,4,The rate in which people are working (in Wisconsin) is almost five points higher than it is nationally.,"August 6, 2015",jobs;labor;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,a debate,"Wisconsin has topped that figure in 24 of the past 38 years. Our rating In the debate, Walker said ""the rate in which people are working (in Wisconsin) is almost five points higher than it is nationally."" He’s right on the numbers, but the same statement could have been  had it been made by any of his seven immediate predecessors, Republican and Democrat. That important bit of context was missing from his . We rate it ."
15963,5,"Since 2011, we have documentation of 1,671 dead bodies we have recovered in Texas, many in Brooks County.","April 16, 2019",border security,dan patrick,"As a Houston state senator, Dan Patrick won election as lieutenant governor of Texas in November 2014 after earlier defeating incumbent David Dewhurst for his party's nomination. Patrick also has hosted a daily talk show on AM700 in Houston.",texas,7,7,5,6,7,9,a press conference,"Patrick said, ""Since 2011, we have documentation of 1,671 dead bodies we have recovered in Texas, many of them in Brooks County."" U.S. Border Patrol has recorded this many deaths since 2011 in Texas and even more along the entire border. The number of recorded deaths has been declining in recent years. These deaths do not paint an accurate picture of the number of migrants dying as they attempt to enter the country — the real number is likely much higher. But Patrick’s  is right. Just 1,671 bodies have been documented in Texas and many of them are from Brooks County. We rate this  .  – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing."
4160,0,We spend less on defense today as % of GDP than at any time since Pearl Harbor.,"July 20, 2011",federal 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,a Twitter post,"That’s a firm statement, but since the Cold War ended, and in a few other years as well, the percent of GDP used for defense has been consistently lower than current spending levels. Further, experts say the concept is highly . Gingrich gets our lowest rating on this one. . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/eb4f23c2-73ca-401b-a074-f0e112a9968a"
3666,4,Some neighborhood schools are closing.,"May 18, 2011",education;state budget,texas house democratic caucus,The Texas House Democratic Caucus has 49 members.,texas,0,1,0,0,0,0,a press release,"The school board is not expected to take action on closures until the fall. To the -O-Meter: In their statement, the Democratic legislators indicated that some neighborhood schools would close as a result of state budget cuts. Guess that depends on your definition of ""some."" The House Democratic caucus sent us a list of more than 90 schools, but we could find only seven — out of thousands across the state — that will shut their doors because the Legislature is reducing education aid. We rate the Democrats’ statement ."
15,5,"Let's pay attention to kids who are not going to college, which ends up being about 60 percent of the kids... and get them trained for the jobs that are there. Because, you know, there are auto mechanic jobs paying $50,000, $60,000 that they can't get filled. There are airline mechanic jobs paying a lot of money that can't get filled."" Remarks at AFSCME forum 6/19/2007","August 21, 2007",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,,"She also is correct that the automobile and airline industries are facing significant mechanic shortages. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there will be 34,000 unfilled jobs for auto mechanics and 4,000 for airline technicians each year through 2014. However, she  the pay that graduates of vocational schools can expect to earn in these professions. An auto mechanic earning $50,000 to $60,000 would be in the 90th percentile of earnings for that occupation, according to government data. The average salary for an auto technician is $32,450; for an airline mechanic it's $45,290."
791,1,"Obama says Iran is a 'tiny' country, 'doesn't pose a serious threat.'","October 28, 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,Florida,"This isn’t the first time Obama has talked about the grave threat posed by Iran. He has repeatedly characterized it as such during his campaign. Obama never said the threat from Iran was “tiny” or “insignificant,” only that the threat was tiny in comparison to the threat once posed by the Soviet Union. And if the McCain campaign was unclear on that point, it should have been clear after Obama's comment in May that ""Iran is a grave threat."" To continue to twist Obama's words, especially after that clarification, earns another .  "
14142,0,"Says Sandra Bullock said to Hillary Clinton, ""If you don't like our president you can leave and never come back again.","December 25, 2017",fake news;pop culture;punditfact,flash 24 daily,Flash 24 Daily is a website that posts some fake news.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a headline,"Bullock has adopted two  African-American children -- a boy and a girl. ""I would like my rights represented and those of my son — very selfish views, and I think everyone else has them,"" she says. ""When this film came along, it came along at a time that I was having that internal discussion with myself about who in our country would step out of their comfort zone to help others for the greater good."" We found no  that Bullock said to Clinton ""if you don’t like our president you can leave and never come back again."" We rate this headline ."
11478,4,"Congress will begin its recess ""without having allocated one penny"" to fight Zika.","March 18, 2016",global news service;public health,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.",,72,76,70,43,31,9,a post on Medium,"Clinton said that Congress had not ""allocated one penny"" to fight Zika. In terms of targeting new dollars to deal with the Zika virus, that is correct. House Republicans say that they did provide money through the emergency Ebola appropriation. To the extent that those funds could be redirected, that holds up. But it is also  that when that money was approved there was a bipartisan agreement that it would be used for longer term efforts to build overall health care system capacity. There is a policy disagreement on the best way to deploy federal funds -- and we're not weighing in on that here. But regardless, there is no new money to confront Zika. We rate the  ."
15661,1,"Says that at Beto O'Rourke's rally in El Paso, there were ""200 people, 300 people.","February 11, 2019",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,"El Paso, Texas","Trump said that at O’Rourke’s rally in El Paso, there were ""200 people, 300 people."" Our review of the available visual  suggests that the number is clearly several times that. Media reports suggest the number may have been much larger still, in the thousands. We rate the statement ."
4120,1,"In Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools.","August 18, 2011",education;science,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,New Hampshire,"Teachers are also permitted to discuss it with students in that context."" The Texas Education Agency sent us a similar statement. Our sense: No doubt, some Texas teachers address the subject of creationism. But it’s not state law or policy to intermix instruction on creationism and evolution. We rate Perry’s statement ."
3537,0,"Benzene has ""never been proven to be harmful.","April 28, 2011",environment,rick hardcastle,Rick Hardcastle was first elected to the Texas House in 1998. He did not seek re-election in 2012.,texas,0,0,0,0,0,1,remarks on the House floor,"According to a study Smith authored that was published in the Annual Review of Public Health in April 2010, ""there is probably no safe level of exposure of benzene, and all exposures constitute some risk."" Where does that leave us? It’s  that benzene is a common air pollutant and is found in everyday products such as detergents. But to  that airborne benzene has not been proven harmful flies in the face of scientific  that long-term exposure in the workplace can cause cancer and other negative health effects — not to mention studies suggesting lower levels of environmental exposure may also be unsafe. ."
6198,3,The majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future.,"August 30, 2012",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.",national,31,33,58,35,32,19,a convention speech,"Romney said that ""the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future."" We found three polls that support his . Americans are indeed pessimistic about their children’s prospects. But that’s nothing new, according to the NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll. For at least the last 20 years, Americans have expected that our kids would be worse off than we are. Romney cast this national outlook as specifically an Obama-era phenomenon. We rate his statement ."
10757,2,"There is not ""one of the Muslim nations"" that doesn't have ""discrimination against women, discrimination against gays, subjugation of other religious beliefs.","September 22, 2015",corrections and updates;human rights;islam;lgbtq;religion;women,ben carson,"Dr. Ben Carson is President Donald Trump's secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A retired pediatric neurosurgeon, Carson ran as a Republican for president in 2016. He owns homes in West Palm Beach and Maryland.",national,0,3,3,8,12,4,"an interview with Fox's ""The Kelly File""","Ben Carson said there is not ""one of the Muslim nations"" that doesn't have ""discrimination against women, discrimination against gays, subjugation of other religious beliefs."" Carson has a point that many countries with a majority-Muslim population do have poor records on institutional discrimination against women, members of the LGBT community and religious minorities. However, his broad-brush statement glosses over the fact that such policies are not universal. Numerous Muslim countries offer freedoms in each category. We rate the  . CLARIFICATION, Nov. 24, 2015 : We've updated this article in response to a reader's suggestion, clarifying that the list of Muslim countries that have had female leaders includes both heads of state and heads of government."
3340,1,"Says the Southwest Florida Water Management District has $850 million in reserves, enough money in savings to run without levying taxes for more than two years.","March 28, 2011",water;taxes,j.d. alexander,Sen. J.D. Alexander is a Republican from Lake Wales. He was first elected to the Florida Senate in 2002.,florida,1,1,1,0,1,1,comments to reporters,"The rest of the money is either part of Swiftmud's annual budget or being used to fund current, ongoing contracts. Alexander was trying to make the point that Swiftmud's bank account needs pruning. The district does have $182 million stored away to be used for future projects. But Alexander has overstated the issue by saying the Southwest Florida Water Management District has enough money in savings to run without levying taxes for more than two years. We rate this  ."
223,2,Sixty-five percent of the Iraqi people now say it's okay to shoot an American soldier.,"November 15, 2007",iraq,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,"That's what campaigns do."" And what we do is call them on it. Richardson wasn't just ""juicing the numbers,"" as Geer said. He was deliberately hyping the language and hyping the numbers to make a stronger point than the facts justified. The best we can rule is ."
8011,5,"Before the Republican wave in 2010, Democrats had an advantage on the generic ballot in Congress. Even in 1994 with the Gingrich revolution ... Democrats had that advantage.","November 3, 2013",elections;punditfact,jonathan karl,Jonathan Karl was named ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent in December 2012.,,2,0,0,0,0,0,"a conversation on ABC's ""This Week""",Karl used polling from before the 1994 and 2010 elections to emphasize that people shouldn’t read too much into the fact that Democrats currently hold a 48-40 lead among voters who are asked generically if they’d vote for a Democrat or Republican for Congress. Karl is accurately citing ABC polling leading up to the 1994 and 2010 elections. Other polling we found does not contradict Karl’s statement. We rate this  .
18449,1,"Quotes Ronald Reagan as saying, ""Keep voting Democrat ... One day they will restrict your freedoms, restrict your history and restrict your safety. All in the name of professional victims that don't understand the consequences of their ignorance.","July 30, 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,"""We have searched his official speeches from 1981-1987,"" she said in an email. ""We are unable (to) find this quote in any of his speeches given in official capacity."" After conducting searches for the full quote and for various portions of the quote — including ""restrict your freedoms,"" ""restrict your safety,"" ""professional victims"" and more — PolitiFact found no  that Reagan said this quote on the National Archives or the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library archives . Despite the fact that this quote was debunked by other fact-checking organizations in July , the  has continued to spread online. We rate this  ."
14488,0,Walmart rewards everyone with $75 coupon to celebrate its 125th Anniversary,"April 10, 2018",fake news;punditfact,walmis2018.com,This website is not affiliated with the Walmart corporation. It has advertised fake coupons.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,on a scam site,"When we finished, we were asked to share the survey with our Facebook friends — the promised coupon never materialized. It wasn’t a bug. It’s just not real. Neither were free Delta and Southwest airline tickets . We rate this scam ."
3992,5,"When the Republicans were in charge, they actually expanded government health care with the prescription drug program.","July 16, 2011",health care;medicare;new hampshire 2012,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,an interview with the 'Telegraph',"""That was a real, fundamental change."" Our ruling: So Paul is right on both counts. It was a Republican bill that passed with strong Republican support. And it dramatically increased government. We rate his statement ."
19649,3,One of (Joe Biden's) first acts in office was sending an immigration bill to Congress to grant mass amnesty to illegal immigrants.,"April 19, 2021",immigration,thom tillis,Thom Tillis is a Republican who serves as U.S. Senator from North Carolina.,north carolina,0,2,7,3,2,0,an op-ed,"Tillis said: ""One of his first acts in office was sending an immigration bill to Congress to grant mass amnesty to illegal immigrants."" It’s fair to say that Biden’s plan would offer a wider path to citizenship than other proposals in recent years. However, experts avoid the word amnesty because it’s a vague term that doesn’t convey that criteria applicants must meet in order to qualify for citizenship. On balance, we rate this  ."
4785,3,"Says Newt Gingrich ""supports amnesty for illegal immigrants.","December 20, 2011",immigration;message machine 2012,restore our future,Restore Our Future is a super PAC run by supporters of Mitt Romney.,national,1,1,3,1,0,2,Iowa and Florida,"""Amnesty"" has become a radioactive term in American politics, and Republicans in particular do not want their immigration policies described that way. Gingrich supports allowing illegal immigrants who have been in the United States for many years to apply for legal status. He’s said that process should look at each individual and whether they have ""family, church and community ties."" They would also have to pay a fine. What he describes sounds like a more restrictive process than the 1986 law supported by Reagan that allowed for widespread amnesty. Still, most legal amnesties include some sort of process. Gingrich’s plan is clearly an amnesty of sorts, though it is more limited in scope. The ad says Gingrich ""supports amnesty for illegal immigrants."" That’s a blunter  than the statement we rated previously from Romney, that Gingrich’s plan is ""a new doorway to amnesty."" Romney’s comment implied that there was something new about Gingrich’s plan rather than being the same amnesty policies of the past. The ad, on the other hand, loses that nuance. So we rate its  ."
16009,5,"You've got millions of families paying 40, 50, 60% of their limited incomes to put a roof over their heads.","April 22, 2019",housing,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 CNN town hall,"Sanders said that ""millions of families"" are paying ""40, 50, 60% of their limited incomes to put a roof over their heads."" The most recent data shows that he’s right about both homeowners and renters all across the United States: there were about 18.5 million households spending more than 50% of their income on housing alone in 2016. We rate his statement ."
18456,2,"When California faced a budget crisis,"" Christy Smith ""voted to lay off teachers and then voted to increase her pay.","September 9, 2020",education,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.,california,0,2,4,5,5,0,an ad,"The Congressional Leadership Fund said: ""When California faced a budget crisis,"" Smith ""voted to lay off teachers and then voted to increase her pay."" Smith voted in 2012 to lay off 17 temporary elementary school teachers and two permanent physical education teachers. Within two months, however, she also voted in favor of rehiring all of the temporary teachers, and one of the physical education teachers. The second physical education teacher was brought back part time. A vote she took in 2013 was to notify temporary teachers of possible layoffs. Smith did vote in 2014 for a $12.50 increase in a monthly stipend for board members, their only compensation. The statement about Smith’s votes on teacher layoffs ignores the fact that Smith also voted to rehire all the teachers, ultimately only losing a half of a position. And the  about Smith’s vote on pay leaves out the fact that the increase amounted to $12.50 per month, important clarifying information. Overall, the  this ad makes is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more."
6766,2,"Says Charlie Crist and Missouri Rep. Todd Akin ""hold same abortion views. No exception except the life of the mother.","December 12, 2012",abortion;candidate biography,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,a tweet,"Since Crist has taken both sides on abortion, it is possible to attack his view and be partially correct -- just pick a year, race and quote that matches the attack. In this case, Curry said,  ""Todd Akin & @charliecristfl hold same abortion views. No exception except the life of the mother."" But even RPOF acknowledges that Crist's exceptions go beyond the life of the mother to include rape and incest. And RPOF ignores Crist’s words and actions that would conflict with Akin’s stances -- such as when Crist called himself ""pro-choice."" We rate this  ."
19373,1,Biden took down Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head.,"March 3, 2021",children;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"Facebook posts  that Biden ""took down"" Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head. This isn’t accurate. Announcements by Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Hasbro reflect internal company decisions. Biden wasn’t involved. Neither has been ""taken down"" by the president of the United States. Hasbro said that Mr. Potato Head will continue to be sold, and more than three dozen Dr. Seuss books remain in circulation. Efforts to move away from tying Seuss to National Read Across America Day preceded Biden’s time in office, as did the company’s decision to discontinue some titles.  This post is . "
8632,2,"Less than 1 percent of 1 percent of the American population has given an amount over $200"" to a federal political campaign.","April 2, 2014",elections;punditfact,heather mcghee,"Heather C. McGhee is president of Demos, a group that believes too much political and economic power lies in the hands of too few people",,1,0,1,1,0,0,an interview on MSNBC,"McGhee said, ""Less than 1 percent of 1 percent of the American population has given an amount over $200."" McGhee way overshoots the mark. At that donation level, the more accurate statistic is a tenth of 1 percent. McGhee’s staff acknowledge the error. The data do support her bigger point that big donors dominate the campaign system. But McGhee used very precise numbers for rhetorical effect. And she got those numbers  by at least a factor of 10. We rate the  ."
7421,3,"Says Americans ""invented 'Pong,' 'Space Invaders' and the iPhone.","May 11, 2013",economy;families;patriotism;science,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,the commencement address at Hillsdale College,"Cruz said ""Pong,"" ""Space Invaders"" and the iPhone were invented by Americans. This appears so for ""Pong"" and the iPhone. But a Japanese programmer is credited with developing ""Space Invaders."" We rate this partly accurate  as . UPDATE, 3 p.m. June 6, 2013 : This story was updated shortly after its publication to provide more information on the iPhone's development. The paragraphs drawing on Mary Bellis and an article in Slate were added. These changes did not affect the rating."
14743,0,"Says the ""Pope calls for world wide gun confiscation except for the UN","May 3, 2018",fake news;punditfact;guns,common sense news,Common Sense News is an online program that says it is freeing America one enslaved mind at a time.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,a blog post,"An online program said Pope Francis had called for worldwide gun confiscation, except for the United Nations. The pope has not said those words or called for such a change. The most generous reading is that this is based on interpretations of remarks the Pope has made about regional and ethnic conflicts. In keeping with Christian doctrine, one would expect the pope to speak against violence. What is striking is even with that, the pope said that there can be just uses of weapons. We shoot down another bit of  news and rate this  ."
23125,3,"A place like California, they give (immigrants in the country illegally) benefits. They give unemployment checks.","June 7, 2023",immigration;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.",california,2,10,9,13,14,2,a roundtable discussion,DeSantis’ statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it . PolitiFact Staff Writer Nuria Diaz Muñoz contributed to this report. RELATED: Ron DeSantis’ once-slim immigration agenda is now a focal point of his 2024 presidential bid
3953,1,"Every time we've cut the capital gains tax, the economy has grown. Whenever we raise the capital gains tax, it's been damaged.","July 13, 2011",economy;taxes,grover norquist,"Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform, a group he founded in 1985 to advocate for a tax system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. Its flagship program is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which it began promoting in 1986 and expanded to the state level in 1990. Those who sign on to the pledge commit to oppose any effort to increase income taxes on individuals or businesses. Norquist also serves on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association of America, the American Conservative Union and The Nixon Center.",national,0,2,0,0,3,1,an interview on CNN,"Clearly, he intends that as a statement of causation. But the analysis of Kravitz and Burman rebuts that. They found no  of a connection between actual economic growth and changes in capital gains tax rates. The actual effect of capital gains tax rates remains a hotly contested issue. We rate Norquist's statement . "
11030,4,"Despite attention on global warming, ""fewer Americans carpool today to work than carpooled in 1980"" and ""SUVs have never been a larger proportion of the vehicles being sold in this country.","November 30, 2015",environment;climate change;transportation,george will,George Will is a conservative columnist syndicated by the Washington Post.,wisconsin,10,5,3,7,7,1,a TV talk show,"In 2014, traditional SUVs and crossovers accounted for 34 percent of new-vehicle sales, as high as any year going back to 1995. Our rating Will said that despite attention on global warming, ""fewer Americans carpool today to work than carpooled in 1980"" and ""SUVs have never been a larger proportion of the vehicles being sold in this country."" Will is correct on carpooling to work and essentially correct on SUVs, when taking into account both traditional SUVs and the smaller crossover vehicles. But it’s worth noting that the market share for the traditional SUVs is down from its peak in 2002. We rate the statement .  "
15403,1,Says MSNBC called the Florida governor's race for Andrew Gillum before Election Day.,"November 6, 2018",elections;facebook fact-checks,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a Facebook post,"Our Voter Assistance Hotline is open and has been assisting voters who are calling in with questions about where to vote, how to vote, etc."" Though MSNBC aired a graphic that looked like Gillum won the tight gubernatorial race, the network quickly said it was a . As Hayes said earlier in the segment: ""We have quite simply never seen a midterm election like this one."" But, he added, ""we don’t know, let’s be clear, how all this energy will translate to election results.""    We rate this  ."
1497,3,"In Cover Florida ""thousands already enrolled and climbing.","March 24, 2010",health care,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 radio ad,"thousands. And he is also technically correct to say enrollment is ""climbing"" because the number of participants has grown every month. Yet we think listeners of Crist's radio ad will get the impression that their governor has introduced a large program that is growing rapidly and making significant progress in covering Florida's 3.6 million uninsured. But it's a tiny effort that is growing a small amount. We find his  ."
5285,5,"Says a study shows that children who live with a biological parent and the parent's boyfriend or girlfriend ""have a 20 times greater chance of being sexually abused.","March 2, 2012",children;families;crime;marriage,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,an interview,"It was highest for children living with one parent who had an unmarried partner in the household -- 57.2 per 1,000 children. That’s more than eight times higher than the rate in households with married biological parents. Our rating Grothman said a federal study shows that children who live with a biological parent and the parent's boyfriend or girlfriend ""have a 20 times greater chance of being sexually abused."" Grothman accurately quotes the study, which found that the rate of sexual abuse among children who live with a biological parent and the parent's partner is 20 times higher than the rate for children who live with their married biological parents. We rate his statement ."
3193,5,"A telephone company will no longer have to provide landline service to customers if there is an alternative provider, including wireless.","March 21, 2011",regulation,ward armstrong,"Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County,  was a  a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2012, serving the final five years as minority leader. He served on the Courts of Justice, Finance, and Rules committees. In 2011, House Republicans merged Armstrong's district with that of another incumbent, Republican Charles Poindexter. Armstrong was defeated by Poindexter that fall.
,",virginia,2,0,0,0,3,1,a House floor speech,"But Irby said those comparisons occur only in the same group of technology, meaning wireless prices are compared to other wireless services, not landline prices. Let’s review. Armstrong said a bill approved by the General Assembly would allow phone companies to refuse to run landlines to new customers if alternative services, including cell phones, are available. He’s right and we rate his  ."
9288,3,The growth rate of women-owned businesses in Texas has nearly doubled that of the nation since President Obama has taken office.,"July 10, 2014",small business;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,an email blast,"Abbott said the ""growth rate of women-owned businesses in Texas has nearly doubled that of the nation since President Obama has taken office."" A reasonable estimate shows the described growth rate in Texas was nearly double the national rate from 2007 into 2013. Then again, Abbott’s trumpeting of Texas under Republicans versus the country under Obama also pokes at the last two years of George W. Bush’s presidency, which the Abbott email didn’t acknowledge. Also, the implied message that women-owned businesses are booming ignores that most women-owned firms remain extremely small and don’t generate huge revenues. We rate this 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."
10535,2,"Says under his leadership ""Wisconsin median household income"" is up 2.7%, while it is down 1.3% nationally under President Obama.","July 21, 2015",economy;income,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,"Our rating Walker said under his leadership, ""Wisconsin median household income"" is up 2.7 percent and down 1.3 percent nationally under Obama. He pointed to data from the Current Population Survey. But the data considered more accurate -- from the American Community Survey -- showed the opposite. We rate statements that contain some element of  but ignore critical facts that would give a different impression as . That fits here."
22643,3,"Right now, driving 100 miles in an electric vehicle is more expensive than driving an internal combustion engine car.","January 27, 2023",climate change;energy;gas prices;transportation,erick erickson,Erick Erickson is the host of a conservative radio talk show based in Atlanta.,,1,0,1,2,2,0,a video,"Citing a post by car blog Jalopnik, Erickson said, ""Right now, driving 100 miles in an electric vehicle is more expensive than driving an internal combustion engine car."" The  was based on a study conducted by the Anderson Economic Group, which found that from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, for midpriced vehicles, it was more expensive to charge an electric car than to fuel one with an internal combustion engine.  But the comparison did not hold  for luxury vehicles. And the report didn’t account for differing costs across the nation for fuel, electricity and taxes. It also did not factor in other points of cost comparison between the vehicles, such as maintenance and environmental costs.  The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate this  . "
5928,0,"Says raising the state income tax rate on millionaires to offset property taxes for other residents is ""not a tax increase. It's a tax shift.","July 15, 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 on 6abc’s “Inside Story”,"During a TV interview, Greenwald offered this description of his proposal to raise the state income tax rate on millionaires and use the extra money to offset property taxes for people earning up to $250,000: ""It’s not a tax increase. It’s a tax shift."" But despite how the money would be spent, raising any tax rates is clearly a tax increase. Calling such a measure a ""tax shift"" doesn’t make any sense, and Greenwald should know better. So, here’s three more words to add to his vocabulary: ! To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
14692,1,Americans received the biggest tax cut in history last year.,"May 29, 2018",taxes,patrick mchenry,Patrick McHenry is a U.S. representative from North Carolina.,north carolina,0,2,0,0,2,0,a newsletter,"McHenry said ""Americans received the biggest tax cut in history last year."" That statement, which Trump has repeated, wasn’t  when he said it and it’s not  now. We rate it ."
18381,1,"A CNN headline reads: ""Members of Crip gang volunteer to fight wildfires after sky turns red.","September 12, 2020",fires;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 meme,"It was created by doctoring a real article that CNN published Sept. 10. That article is about United States sanctions on a Ukrainian lawmaker — not gang members putting out wildfires. ""It is not a screenshot from CNN. It’s been fabricated,"" said Emily Kohn, senior director of communications for CNN. The Instagram post is ."
3331,0,"Says the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act adopted last year contains ""a series of slush funds, set up to stay on the books automatically, with little or no oversight.","March 14, 2011",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.",ohio,17,4,11,13,22,2,video,"Congress also has the power to oversee the bill’s implementation, and Republicans have held several hearings on the subject already this year. Boehner may object to the latitude the health care bill gives HHS. But as speaker, his words carry a lot of weight, and he should choose them wisely. His  ""slush fund"" label is not only , but . On the -O-Meter, that rates a ."
4587,3,"After losing 750,000 jobs a month before this administration, the U.S. economy under Barack Obama has had 20 straight months of growth, has added 2.8 million jobs in the private sector and added ""millions of jobs in manufacturing.","November 13, 2011",economy;jobs,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""","On Wasserman Schultz’s first two points, we have no major quibbles. On the third, the number is accurate according to one calculation, but it is cherry picked in a way that sheds the most favorable light on the president. And on the fourth -- manufacturing jobs -- Wasserman is flat-out . We realize that she said ""we've begun to add millions of jobs,"" suggesting more to come. But a rebound of 303,000 jobs is too few to support a  that big. Meanwhile, we’re downgrading her for overselling Obama’s role in job creation. On balance, we rate her statement ."
21089,1,"Two years ago we were ""drilling our own oil for $27 a barrel."" Now, thanks to Joe Biden, we're ""paying $105 a barrel to Russia.","March 6, 2022",energy;gas prices;facebook fact-checks;russia,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, two years ago, the U.S. was drilling its own oil for $27 a barrel and thanks to Biden is now paying Russia $105 a barrel. The U.S. was not drilling it’s own oil for $27 — it was selling at these types of low prices at a loss due to effects from the pandemic. The U.S. has purchased oil from Russia for decades and the $105 per barrel from Russia cited in the post is probable, but prices in general were going up and the U.S. was paying more for all oil imports, not just those from Russia. Biden and his policies are not playing a meaningful role in the rising prices, experts said. The surge is due to multiple things, including rising demand amid sluggish production increases from pandemic lows, as well as the war in Ukraine.  We rate this post .  RELATED: Ask PolitiFact: Why are gas prices going up?   RELATED: Fact-checking Biden’s  that there are 9,000 unused oil drilling permits"
20782,3,Fully vaccinated Australians in hospital for COVID-19 surpass unvaccinated,"January 12, 2022",facebook fact-checks;coronavirus,bloggers,Blog posting on the Internet,,8,18,24,53,233,396,a blog post,"An Epoch Times headline shared on social media said ""Fully vaccinated Australians in hospital for COVID-19 surpass unvaccinated.""  The headline suggests that vaccinated people are more susceptible to severe illness from the virus than unvaccinated people. But the headline misrepresents the data cited in the article, parts of which are accessible only to paying subscribers. The article is about data from one Australian state — not the whole country — where there were more vaccinated people in the hospital than unvaccinated people.  But nearly 93% of eligible people in the state are vaccinated. Coupled with the fact that more than 50% of those in the ICU with COVID-19 were unvaccinated, experts say, the figures demonstrate the vaccines’ effectiveness in preventing severe illness. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate this  ."
21646,0,Video shows Joe Biden putting a Medal of Honor on a Vietnam War veteran backward.,"July 6, 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,"In the clip that’s being shared, the gold star medal that hangs from the blue ribbon that Biden affixed around Birdwell’s neck isn’t visible. But in other footage , and photos, it is.   You can see someone handing the medal to Biden and then Biden appropriately placing it around Birdwell’s neck in this clip that was shared live on YouTube by PBS NewsHour. The medal is also visible in this Getty Images photo as Biden secures the medal on Birdwell.   We rate claims that he put the medal on Birdwell backwards !"
14670,3,"GOP candidate for California governor Travis Allen ""on the floor vote … refused to join Republicans opposing driver licenses for illegal aliens.","April 23, 2018",immigration;elections;public safety;states;the 2018 california governor's race,john cox,John Cox is a Republican businessman who lives in San Diego County. He is a candidate in the 2021 election to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom. He ran and lost in the 2018 race for California governor.,california,0,1,3,0,3,0,a campaign TV ad,"John Cox’s campaign for governor claimed in a recent TV ad that Travis Allen ""on the floor vote … refused to join Republicans opposing driver licenses for illegal aliens."" Legislative records show Allen voted against a bill that allowed undocumented Californians to apply for a state drivers license during a floor vote in the state Assembly in May 2013. They also show he missed a final vote against the same measure in September 2013, even though he was present at the Capitol that day. There’s some  to Cox’s . But it leaves out the key context about Allen’s earlier opposition, a detail that’s too important to omit. We rate the  .   – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context."
9428,5,Every time [the people from Newport Tent] work in a city or town they have a whole different set of permits that they have to get in order to pitch a tent.,"September 7, 2014",economy;government regulation;regulation;small business,catherine taylor,"Catherine Taylor is a Republican who made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in Rhode Island in 2014. Taylor, who also ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state in 2010, is a former speechwriter for Sens. John and Lincoln Chafee, and served as director of the Rhode Island Division of Elderly Affairs.
 ",rhode island,1,0,0,0,1,0,a TV interview,"Catherine Taylor said that tent companies such as Newport Tent must meet different permit requirements in each of Rhode Island’s cities and towns. Although the state legislature has worked to ease the regulations governing Newport Tent and other tent companies, one thing hasn’t changed. Those companies must still seek permits from cities and towns through processes that vary widely and have differing requirements. We rule Taylor’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.)"
10438,5,"Only five states, including Georgia, do not have a hate crimes law.","June 18, 2015",crime,various media reports 2,this is for hate crimes story. fact-check of reports in news media.,georgia,2,0,0,0,2,0,church shooting aftermath,"Attorney General Loretta Lynch has opened an investigation to determine whether a federal hate crimes charge should be brought in the mass church shooting in Charleston. This is in the absence of a state hate crimes law in South Carolina. The tragedy has drawn attention South Carolina, Georgia and three others identified as the only ones without state-level hate crime laws. The Anti-Defamation League, which has arguably been the biggest advocate of these laws, says research backs up that there are five states in this category.. We rate the statement ."
18019,0,"A Joe Biden-Bernie Sanders ""unity"" policy document shows ""they want to abolish our police departments. They want to abolish our prisons, I guess.","July 14, 2020",criminal justice;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.",,36,85,120,194,360,179,the White House Rose Garden,"Trump said that a Biden-Sanders ""unity"" policy document shows that ""they want to abolish our police departments. They want to abolish our prisons, I guess."" The document does not say anything about abolishing police departments or getting rid of all prisons. The document includes several passages that clearly indicate that police and prisons will exist in the future, with proposed changes. Criminologists say some of Biden’s policies represent a continuation of policies enacted by Trump himself in the First Step Act. We rate the statement ."
18699,3,"A photo shows Barack Obama in front of ""cages"" built during his administration to hold migrants.","October 23, 2020",immigration;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,an image on Facebook,"The Trump administration’s ""zero-tolerance"" policy prosecuted all adults who crossed the border illegally and sent their children to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. The Facebook post uses a  image to make a point about immigrants in federal custody during Obama’s presidency. While the enclosures in the photo were built under Obama, the photo was not from his time as president — it’s from 2019.   The post is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it ."
9215,3,We have less crime in the (Rio Grande) Valley than we do in other major Texas cities.,"July 21, 2014",immigration;criminal justice;crime,"juan ""chuy"" hinojosa","Hinojosa, a fomer Texas House member, was initially elected to the Texas Senate in 2002.",texas,0,0,1,0,0,0,a press release,"Hinojosa said the valley has less crime than major Texas cities beyond the border region. We don’t know how crime compares in this way for the months since June 2013. But for 2012 and the first half of 2013, reported crime rates, adjusted for population differences,  showed the big cities outside the valley experiencing more crime. However, some valley locales had higher rates than non-valley places in our data sifts. On balance, we rate the senator's  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."
4958,3,"For the first time in 13 years, our dependence on foreign oil is below 50 percent.","January 18, 2012",energy;ethics;message machine 2012,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 campaign commercial,"But fully evaluating the accuracy of the  also means looking at the context in which it is made. Obama clearly claims credit in the commercial; and his own source for the  makes clear that a number of factors, including the poor economy and gains from drilling -- which began before his administration -- are among them. These are important details. Without them, the  in the ad -- made specifically to boast of Obama’s accomplishments -- lacks context. And when factually accurate claims leave out such important context, the -O-Meter’s dial turns to ."
21132,1,Putin Vows to 'Crush' Child Traffickers in Ukraine,"March 2, 2022",facebook fact-checks;ukraine;russia,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a public Facebook post,"A post on Facebook alleged that Russia started its invasion of Ukraine to fight child trafficking. The  originates in an article published by a website known for fabricating stories and sources.  There is no  that ending child trafficking is a goal of the war in Ukraine. Russia itself is failing to deal with human trafficking within its own borders, according to a report by the U.S. State Department.  And while Putin has been very descriptive about his reasons for invading Ukraine, child trafficking has never been mentioned. We rate the post ."
4671,5,"It's legal to ""sign a recall petition (against Gov. Scott Walker) even if you have already signed another recall petition,"" but only one signature counts","November 22, 2011",elections,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 website alert,"Magney said the state agency will look for obvious cases of fraud. Our conclusion We can’t predict whether all multiple signers will be found, but state law makes clear that one -- and only one -- signature is to be counted. And it’s perfectly legal to sign more than once. That was the focus of the statement from One Wisconsin Now. We rate it ."
16990,5,"The American people are overwhelmingly with us"" in calling witnesses in Senate trial","January 24, 2020",impeachment,charles schumer,Charles Schumer is a Democratic senator from New York and the Senate majority leader.,new york,3,7,5,5,5,1,a news conference,"Schumer said ""the American people are overwhelmingly with us"" in calling for witnesses to testify in the Senate impeachment trial.  Not everyone may agree on what constitutes ""overwhelming"" support. But poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans - in some cases as high as 69 percent and 72 percent - support calling witnesses during the Senate impeachment trial.   We rate Schumer’s  . "
5015,1,"Since ObamaCare and the stimulus passed, the unemployment rate in the U.S. has increased.","February 5, 2012",corrections and updates;economy;jobs;message machine 2012,pete hoekstra,"Pete Hoekstra is a former congressman and was the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. He did not seek re-election in 2010, choosing instead to pursue the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Michigan that year, finishing second to now-Gov. Rick Snyder. During the 2012 campaign cycle, he is seeking to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.",national,0,0,0,0,1,0,a website linked to a campaign ad,"Neither time span offered in Hoekstra’s website checks out, based on the unemployment rate on the day the ad first aired. One shows that the unemployment rate is the same now as it was when the stimulus passed (although it went up in the interim). The other shows that the rate has fallen since the health care law passed. We rate the statement . EDITOR’S NOTE : After we published this story, a reader asked us to evaluate Hoekstra’s  from the perspective of Michigan, where he’s running for Senate. So we did. In February 2009, when the stimulus was signed, unemployment in Michigan was 12.0 percent. In March 2010, when the health care bill was signed, the rate was 13.3 percent. In December 2011 -- the most recent month available -- the rate was 9.3 percent. So the declines in unemployment over both time spans were actually steeper in Michigan than they were nationally. We are keeping our rating at ."
7135,4,"While the United States has seen its unemployment rate steadily decline, New Jersey's remains nearly two percent higher than the national average and more than a point higher than Connecticut and New York.","March 19, 2013",jobs,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 response to the release of employment data by the state Labor Department,"In response to unemployment numbers released in January by the state Department of Labor, Buono said, ""While the United States has seen its unemployment rate steadily decline, New Jersey’s remains nearly two percent higher than the national average and more than a point higher than Connecticut and New York."" Buono has varying degrees of accuracy on her three points, looking strictly at unemployment rate: the national unemployment rate has declined steadily while Christie’s been governor; the country’s unemployment rate has been nearly 2 percent below New Jersey’s, but only for about six months; and New Jersey’s unemployment rate has been more than 1 percent higher than New York’s and Connecticut’s for the bulk of the time Christie has been in office. Given the varying degrees of accuracy, as well as the state measuring unemployment differently from the BLS, we rate Buono’s  . To comment on this story, go to NJ.com ."
18711,1,Joe Biden says he supports sex changes for kids.,"October 20, 2020",children;sexuality,american principles project,American Principles Project is the premier national organization engaging directly in campaigns and advocacy on behalf of the family. A conservative super PAC.,,0,0,0,0,0,1,an ad,"American Principles Project claimed: ""Joe Biden says he supports sex changes for kids."" Biden has stated opposition to discrimination against transgender people, he has not said he supports for sex changes for children. We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
18828,0,Seven Milwaukee wards report more 2020 presidential votes than registered voters.,"November 4, 2020",elections,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",wisconsin,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A widely-shared online article said ""seven Milwaukee wards report more 2020 presidential votes than registered voters."" The numbers cited by Milwaukee City Wire do not match data from the Milwaukee County clerk’s office, which show the number of registered voters exceeded ballots cast. Moreover, it’s simply not possible for there to be more ballots than voters. We rate this  ."
3680,3,Says public education will get more money in 2012-13 though lawmakers cut $15 billion in overall spending.,"May 26, 2011",education;state budget,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 tweet,Funding dipped .9 percent in 2010-11. Spending on public education is higher in the pending budget than the current one. But Sullivan’s implication--that Texas schools are sitting pretty--obscures reality. The new budget doesn’t cover projected enrollment growth. We rate the statement .
7384,2,"Says 70,000 children ""have lost their Head Start slots"" because of the sequester.","May 14, 2013",children;education;federal budget;poverty,mark warner,"Mark Warner, a Democrat, has represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate since 2009. He serves on the Banking, Budget, Commerce and Intelligence committees. He is the honorary co-chairman of the Forward Together PAC.
Warner gave the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Warner previously served as governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. He also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1996. Before public office, Warner was an early investor in the cell phone business, co-founded the company that became Nextel.
Warner was born in Indianapolis, Ind., and grew up in Illinois and Connecticut. Warner graduated from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. He received a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.",virginia,7,3,7,3,2,0,a radio interview,"Warner said 70,000 children have ""lost their Head Start slots"" because of the sequester. He strains the limit of an Obama administration estimate that ""up to"" that number of children may lose out. There’s no doubt that many children will lose Head Start spots as the budget cuts sink in, but at this point, nobody knows how many already have. HHS is gathering that information. The White House estimate assumes that local Head Start organizations will respond to funding cuts by reducing slots, but that isn’t the only option. Many organizations are exploring different options, such as fundraising and reducing hours. Warner’s statement contains an element of  in that some children already have lost Head Starts slots and others have less access to the program. But by and large, he assumes that a worst-case scenario for Head Start has already taken place. We rate his statement ."
4933,3,We have 25 million Americans out of work.,"January 23, 2012",economy;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,Tampa,"While the U-6 measurement is not the official gauge of unemployment in the United States, it’s a valid statistic to consider in conjunction with others. However, Romney’s use of the term ""out of work"" seems to be a stretch when about one-third of the ""25 million Americans out of work"" are actually working part-time. On balance, we rate the statement . "
9211,2,"So far, the war in Gaza has left more than 1,800 Palestinians dead -- the population equivalent to 100 9/11s.","August 4, 2014",israel;terrorism;punditfact,joy reid,Joy Reid is the host of MSNBC's The Reid Report.,,0,1,0,2,1,0,comments on her MSNBC show,"Reid, decrying the UN’s failure to temper the rising death counts in Gaza, said, ""So far, the war in Gaza has left more than 1,800 Palestinians dead -- the population equivalent to 100 9/11s."" She used a couple of rough estimates, but Reid’s math basically works out for the parameters she set. The parameters, however, are the problem. Using 9/11s as a unit ignores qualitative differences between the Sept. 11 attack and the Israeli-Palestinian war. It’s also not clear what populations she’s referring to, and while looking at deaths as a proportion of population can be useful, the numbers here are too small for them to mean much. There are also at least equally valid and different ways to compare deaths as a proportion of population that would produce vastly different results. (Going from 100 9/11s to less than 1 9/11.) Reid’s statement contains an element of  but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate her  ."
15794,5,"California has ""the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere, the largest death row in the United States of America — two times the size of the next largest state: Florida.","March 13, 2019",death penalty;crime;public safety,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 news conference,"Gov. Gavin Newsom repeated the  that California’s death row ""is the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The largest death row in the United States of America -- two times the size of the next largest state: Florida."" We rated a similar   in 2016. At the time, we noted most countries in the Western Hemisphere have abolished the death penalty and that several U.S. states have far higher death row totals than the few remaining countries that still use capital punishment. Experts say death rows in the U.S. are ranked individually, and that the rankings have not shifted in recent years. California’s 737 death row inmates stands out considerably from other states, as well as countries in the Western Hemisphere. Newsom repeated what remains both an accurate and somber statement. We rate his  .   – 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."
1381,3,"The stimulus includes ""$219,000 to study the sex lives of female college freshmen.","February 17, 2010",stimulus,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,a press release,"According to the recovery.gov synopsis, the study will involve a half-time research assistant and part-time temporary assistants. While McConnell's characterization of the study packs a good political punch, we think the actual study isn't nearly as ... sexy ... as he makes it out to be. It's a public health study. And so we rule this  ."
20638,0,Image shows Donald Trump's new Christmas card.,"December 6, 2021",fake news,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 Twitter user pointed out that the image of Trump on the  card appears to have been taken from a photo at the state banquet at Britain's Buckingham Palace in 2019, where Trump posed alongside Queen Elizabeth II, Melania Trump, Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Dutchess of Cornwall.      While Trump was mocked at the time for the way he looked in his formal attire, the doctored photo in the purported Christmas card takes the mocking a step further to create a sexually suggestive image. We’ll spare you the details. This card is as  as an aluminum Christmas tree. We rate it !"
13100,4,"Florida pays our teachers $10,000 a year less than the national average.","March 7, 2017",education;jobs,janet cruz,"Janet Cruz of Tampa was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives on February 23, 2010. She is the House minority leader for 2017.",florida,0,1,0,0,0,0,a speech,"Cruz said, ""Florida pays our teachers $10,000 a year less than the national average."" The real difference between the average national and Florida pay for teachers is technically closer to $9,000 than $10,000. We rate this  ."
18773,1,Joe Biden called Black youth super predators.,"November 1, 2020",crime;race and ethnicity,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,"The context of Biden’s speech shows he was not specifically talking about Black people or any other specific group of people. Biden used the term again in a 1998 speech, but again, did not apply the label to people of any specific race. We rate Trump’s  . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
17087,0,Kobe Bryant Is Still Alive and Faked His Death LEAKED FOOTAGE,"January 26, 2020",fake news;facebook fact-checks,youtube videos,Videos uploaded to YouTube.,,0,0,2,0,19,10,a YouTube video,"The original video is from July 14, 2017. Bryant posted it then to his Instagram account, showing himself getting a tattoo of his daughter’s name, Bianka Bella. He’d previously tattooed the names of his other daughters on the same arm. The YouTube video has nearly 1 million views, but it’s . We rate it ."
10400,4,"Between 2010 and 2014, there was no net in-migration from Mexico.","June 17, 2015",immigration;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,"a broadcast of ""The Daily Show""","Clinton said that between 2010 and 2014, there was zero net in-migration from Mexico. The census data to prove that is not in for 2014, but the numbers up to 2013 support his point, as do very preliminary 2014 data.The population of people living in America but born in Mexico fell by about 40,000 since 2010. That’s not a perfect measure, but the experts we reached said it is a strong indication of a prevailing trend. The experts we reached said that other data, including a rapid decline in apprehensions at the border and changing demographics in Mexico add weight to the conclusion that Clinton was correct. With a caveat for the missing year of survey information, we rate this  ."
18045,1,"Says Joe Biden said, ""We don't need any more N***** bigshots.","July 16, 2020",candidate biography;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,"It’s  that Biden twice used the word on camera, as the video says. But context matters, and the video doesn’t make clear that Biden was quoting from a passage in a court ruling when he said it. Someone watching this could understandably — and wrongly — believe that these were Biden’s own words. They weren’t.  We rate this  ."
15359,2,"Says California Republican Young Kim is ""a tax cheat"" who ""illegally claimed a $7,000 annual homestead exemption on a house she wasn't living in,"" had ""multiple tax liens placed on her"" as a result and ""owes over $10,000 in unpaid federal income taxes.","September 17, 2018",ethics;taxes,gil cisneros,Gil Cisneros is a California Democrat running in California's 39th Congressional District in 2018/,california,0,0,0,1,0,0,a spoof website,"The Cisneros campaign says Kim is ""a tax cheat"" who ""illegally claimed a $7,000 annual homestead exemption on a house she wasn’t living in,"" had ""multiple tax liens placed on her"" as a result and ""owes over $10,000 in unpaid federal income taxes."" The IRS debt is more substantial than the property tax, but there is no information to show it has anything to do with cheating. ""Cheat"" implies motivation, and news stories have used the word to describe people who purposely violated homestead exemption laws to save on taxes -- typically saving much more than $74 a year. Nic Jordan, the Cisneros campaign spokesman, told us the campaign used the word colloquially. Whether a  or not, Kim had two liens and owed $387 to the county as a result of an improperly recorded homeowner’s exemption. The law is the law, as Kim’s last opponent said. But it was a minor civil matter, and one that the current property assessor says never should have resulted in liens. Cisneros focused on the $7,000 annual reduction in the house’s assessment, not mentioning on the spoof website that it made a difference of $74 a year. This makes it sound far worse than it was. With these elements combined, we rate the  ."
23202,0,The Guantanamo Bay detention camp remaining open is proof that Joe Biden is not the president.,"June 19, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"The facility remaining open is not  that Biden is not president.   Former President Barack Obama, who also pledged to close Guantánamo, repatriated or resettled about 200 men. But, Vox reported , he faced legal challenges. ""No president has been able to close Guantánamo because once something is created outside the law, it’s almost impossible to bring back inside the law. ""  We rate claims that the detention camp remaining open is proof that Biden is not the president !"
16645,0,"Says drinking cream of tartar mixed with orange juice daily will help people quit smoking because it ""flushes the nicotine"" out of the body.","October 14, 2019",fake news;public health;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,A viral Facebook post says people can easily quit smoking by mixing cream of tartar and orange juice because it helps remove nicotine from the body.  This  relies on unsubstantiated pseudoscience. No credible  supports it. We rate it !
20981,1,"Says Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, ""If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching TV by candlelight.","February 17, 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 didn’t find it attributed to her in articles and news broadcast transcripts collected in the Nexis news archive.   But we did find it in a 1991 Los Angeles Times obituary for comedian George Gobel. ""Producer David O. Selznick chose him as the only live comic for TV’s two-hour salue to Thomas A. Edison on the 75th anniversary of the inventor’s invention of the incandescent lamp,"" the obit says. ""Gobel’s remark from the late 1954 special — ‘If it weren’t for electricity we’d all be watching television by candlelight’ — remains one of the classic one-liners of American comedy."" We rate claims Greene said this . "
19927,0,"Facts have now come out to show conclusively"" that the 2020 presidential election wasn't legitimate.","June 27, 2021",national;elections;wisconsin;arizona,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,a statement,"Trump said, ""facts have now come out to show conclusively"" that the 2020 presidential election wasn’t legitimate. No such facts have emerged. Trump’s claims are based on distortions and mischaracterizations. His claims of a rigged election started even before the results were known. The election was legitimate, as affirmed by experts on elections, including Republicans, and officials who served in Trump’s administration, as well as local and state bodies that certified the results. Multiple audits and court cases also have reached the same conclusion.  We rate Trump’s statement ! RELATED: Trump’s  distortion about Georgia’s voter rolls RELATED: Michigan Republican-led investigation rejects Trump's  that Nov. 3 election was stolen RELATED: Trump falsely implies Arizona audit has exposed fraud RELATED: Trump lost. Yet the 2020 election falsehoods live on in Arizona RELATED: Here’s why Georgia’s Republican officials are confident in their presidential election results"
12043,3,Every single strawberry that is served to Members of Congress will have passed through the rough hands of an undocumented immigrant.,"May 12, 2016",agriculture;immigration;jobs;labor,luis gutierrez,Luis Gutierrez is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois.,illinois,0,3,3,0,0,0,a speech,"Gutiérrez stated to the House that, ""Every single strawberry that is served to Members of Congress will have passed through the rough hands of an undocumented immigrant."" The  says that about 50 to 70 percent of farm workers in the United States are undocumented. While most data and experts agree that the figure is higher for the strawberry industry, there is no clear way to deduce a solid estimate that would back Gutiérrez’s . Since PolitiFact puts the burden of proof on the speaker, we rate this  ."
13518,2,"There ""are not cuts to Medicaid"" in the GOP health care proposals.","June 25, 2017",health care,kellyanne conway,"Kellyane Conway is a White House counselor to President Donald Trump. Previously, she was a Republican strategist and pollster who served as campaign manager for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.",national,0,1,0,5,5,0,"an interview on ABC's ""This Week with George Stephanopoulos""","Conway said that Republicans are not cutting the Medicaid program. The Republican health care proposals would slow the rate at which Medicaid spending increases, but spending would still increase. However, the proposals include policy changes that will leave fewer people eligible for Medicaid. That’s a cut. Conway’s  has an element of  but leaves out critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate the  ."
17114,1,"Says Maxine Waters tweeted, ""Every single gun owner I have talked to has told me, 'As soon as I walked out of that gun store, I felt a killer growing inside of me.' When will we acknowledge there is no such thing as a responsible gun owner?","February 20, 2020",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,"We searched both accounts for the words in the Facebook post and came up empty.   @MaxinePWaters, the account in the Facebook post , has been suspended for violating Twitter’s rules.    But back in 2018, Snopes fact-checked another such tweet from the account that was fooling people. Snopes then reported that @MaxinePWaters has no connection to the lawmaker.   We rate this Facebook post ."
1675,3,John Mica's brother is an oil lobbyist and his daughter represents the natural gas industry.,"May 12, 2010",candidate biography;energy,heather beaven,Heather Beaven is a Democrat running for Congress in Florida's 7th Congressional District.,florida,0,0,1,0,0,0,an e-mail to supporters,"Mica's daughter, D'Anne Mica, once listed Consumers Alliance for Affordable Natural Gas as a PR client, a group that lobbied for increased natural gas drilling. The only real question is if D'Anne Mica currently represents the oil and gas group as Beaven suggests in her e-mail. On that point, there's slim  she does. The group hasn't been mentioned in a newspaper article since 2007, doesn't have an active website we can find and a person who worked for the alliance said they've been out of operation for a couple of years. Finding no additional supporting material, we rate Beaven's  ."
7211,3,"Says President Barack Obama ""has allowed, each year he's been here, the prosecutions of gun cases (for background check failures) to go down. ... They've declined every year since President Bush left office.","April 14, 2013",legal issues;guns,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,"comments on ABC's ""This Week with George Stephanopoulos""","Sessions said that Obama ""has allowed, each year he's been here, the prosecutions of gun cases to go down. .. They've declined every year since President Bush left office."" That’s  -- but the data covers only the first two years of Obama’s term, and it didn’t nosedive under Obama since it was already a tiny percentage under Bush. Obama could order tougher prosecution of gun-denial cases, but like his predecessors, he or his appointees have determined that other crimes are more urgent and take precedence. On balance, we rate the  ."
17601,3,"At the end of the year, we put into that federal pot $116 billion more than we take out,"" while Kentucky ""takes out $148 billion more than they put in.","April 23, 2020",federal budget;state budget;coronavirus,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 news conference,"Cuomo said that ""at the end of the year,"" New York puts $116 billion more into the federal treasury than the state receives in federal funds, while Kentucky receives $148 billion more than it contributes. Cuomo was referencing figures from a report from the Rockefeller Institute, which has been widely cited . However, a listener to Cuomo’s news conference would likely think that these figures represent yearly contributions. They are actually four-year cumulative totals contained in the Rockefeller Institute analysis. We rate this  ."
753,1,"Barack Obama's plan calls for ""mandates and fines for small businesses.","October 7, 2008",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,"Nashville, Tenn","The plan does not define what's a small business and what's not. McCain calls this a ""fine,"" but being required to contribute to a pool is not the same as paying a penalty for some wrongdoing. So even by a generous definition, Obama does not fine ""small businesses."" Indeed, they are not even subject to the mandate. We rate McCain's  ."
4080,1,High-speed rail would have cost Florida taxpayers $1 billion to build.,"August 5, 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,TV interview,"If high-speed rail had moved ahead in Florida, Scott said the state would have had to pay $1 billion to build it. Scott bases his claims on hypothetical cost overruns from a suspect study written by a libertarian think tank. While the study correctly points out that other transportation projects have experienced cost overruns, there are several flaws  with the study. Most importantly, the study assumes that the state would pay for cost overruns. But that ignores that both the state official in charge of the rail project and the U.S. Department of Transportation secretary said that the state wouldn't be liable for overruns. And legislators were keen on having it happen that way before fully embracing the high-speed rail line. In the end, the state's share to build the line would have been capped at around $280 million (and legislators hoped the final number would be even less). You can't rewrite history to fit your narrative. We rate Scott's  . "
21760,1,Abigail Spanberger is raking in thousands from defund the police groups because she supports defunding the police.,"July 18, 2022",abortion;public safety,national republican congressional committee,National Republican Congressional Committee,virginia,4,5,9,20,14,9,a blog,"Therefore, Spanberger supports defunding police.   What the NRCC ignores is that Planned Parenthood’s publicly posted scorecard tracking key votes in Congress does not include defunding the police. Planned Parenthood officials said their organization backs Spanberger because she has consistently voted for bills that would expand access to abortion and reproductive health care.   Moreover, the NRCC ignores that Spanberger has been a leading Democratic critic of the defund movement and has supported a number of bills and proposals that would substantially increase federal funding for local police departments. We rate the NRCC’s  .  "
5572,1,Says Mitt Romney would deny gay people the right to adopt children.,"May 10, 2012",lgbtq;message machine 2012,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 ad,"Obama and Romney have starkly different positions on gay marriage, but Obama’s ad distorts Romney's position when it says he would deny gay couples the right to adopt children. We found nothing in Romney’s past statements to support that . He is a clear opponent of gay marriage, and does not seem to favor civil unions if they afford all the same benefits as marriage. But he is on record as supporting domestic partnerships, with specific rights determined individually by states. The Obama campaign interprets this as Romney saying states would be allowed to deny gay couples the right to adopt. But when he has articulated his position, he has often mentioned adoption as one of the rights states could grant. And this year, Romney called adoption by same-sex couples ""something which people have the right to do."" The  in the Web ad is not accurate. We rate it ."
22302,1,Image shows that the New Mexico secretary of state counted more than 17 million registered voters in a state with a population of about 2 million.,"November 7, 2022",elections;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 post,"""The election night reporting (ENR) website was in test mode and had mock data for the last few weeks as we ran a test election with the county clerks in preparation for (Nov. 8),"" Curtas told PolitiFact in an email. ""We of course are now finished with that test and the ENR site is now prepped for Election Day and the ‘mock data’ message has been taken down."" An archived version of the webpage from Oct. 21 did show the ""17 million"" registered voters figure along with ""Testing in Progress"" written across the site. Curtas said the stand-in figure remained on the site until the morning of Nov. 6 by  but has been updated and now reflects the actual voter registration number in New Mexico, about 1.36 million. We rate the  that this image shows the New Mexico secretary of state counted more than 17 million registered voters ."
22900,4,"Florida has ""the second lowest tax burden per capita in the United States.","April 13, 2023",economy;taxes,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 speech,"But regardless of the method, Florida ranks relatively low for its tax burden — as low as second from the bottom and as high as 11th from the bottom. However, a tax burden ranking measures how states compare with one another in the overall amount of taxes they levy; it does not address whether those taxes are allocated equitably across the income spectrum. Florida is considered a highly unequal tax state , so although its overall taxation rate is low, the burden falls more heavily on lower-income residents. DeSantis’  is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate it ."
12913,1,"Businesses are leaving Illinois. I think, statistically, that can be proven to be false through the Bureau of Labor Statistics. No net businesses left Illinois.","November 28, 2016",,jason keller ,Jason Keller is the legislative director for the Illinois AFL-CIO.  ,illinois,0,0,0,0,1,0,during an Illinois House committee hearing on a workers’ compensation reform bill,"We reached out to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, where an economist told us BLS does not track when businesses move in and out of state. We contacted several other private and public organizations we thought might track this data. What Keller said would be at BLS was neither there nor anywhere else we checked. Someone wishing to track and compile business moves would need individual business records or tax identification numbers to do so, Lubotsky said. Based on the lack of  and the impracticality of compiling the numbers Keller said could be found at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we rate his  ."
12069,4,"Says Debbie Wasserman Schultz ""has voted for huge subsidies for the sugar industry ... as well as for delays in cleanups.","July 9, 2016",environment,tim canova,"Tim Canova is running against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in 2018. Canova, who lives in Hollywood and is a Nova Southeastern University law professor, lost to Wasserman Schultz in the Democratic primary in 2016. In April 2018, he announced that he would switch from running in the Democratic primary against Wasserman Schultz to running as an independent.",florida,0,2,1,0,0,0,a post on Medium,"Canova said Wasserman Schultz ""has voted for huge subsidies for the sugar industry ... as well as for delays in cleanups."" In 2003, while in the state Senate, Wasserman Schultz was part of a unanimous vote for a seven-year delay to clean up the Everglades. Canova omits that two days later she changed her vote, but the vote had no practical effect and the measure passed anyway. Canova also said Wasserman Schultz voted to subsidize the sugar industry when she voted for the farm bill in 2008 and 2014. The farm bills didn’t contain actual cash subsidies, but they clearly contained lucrative benefits for the industry. The farm bill is a sweeping bill that benefits a long list of programs -- not just sugar. Wasserman Schultz has taken other steps to support Everglades cleanup. But Canova’s point about her specific actions is largely accurate. We rate this  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/e8e8d7dc-ac5b-467d-bd9a-704468f40e5d"
19038,0,'Simple math' shows Biden claims 13 million more votes than there were eligible voters who voted in 2020 election.,"December 20, 2020",elections;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"A headline on The Gateway Pundit said, ""REVEALED: ‘Simple math’ shows Biden claims 13 million more votes than there were eligible voters who voted in 2020 election."" This isn’t a case of simple math; it's a case of flawed analysis. The Gateway Pundit conflated registered voters with eligible voters. The two are not the same. There is no  that Biden claimed 13 million more votes than was mathematically possible.  This statement rates !"
11048,1,If Trump had just put his father's money in a mutual fund ... he'd have $8 billion.,"December 2, 2015",wealth;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 Facebook post,"Occupy Democrats shared an image that said if Trump had taken the money he got from his father and simply put it in a fund that tracked the S&P 500, he’d have $8 billion today. While it's  that Trump got a leg up from his father on the order of many tens of millions of dollars, this specific  suffers from a key flaw. The only way to hit the $8 billion mark is to start with $200 million in 1982, and it's  to say that was Trump's father's money. While the father's business put Trump on the path to have $200 million in 1982, Trump himself had been running the company for eight years.  We rate this  ."
12804,3,"Alison Alter ""has exploited a campaign finance loophole to obtain over $64,000 in public dollars to fund her campaign.","November 29, 2016",city budget;city government;elections;ethics,sheri gallo,"Sheri P. Gallo, a longtime Austin businesswoman, won election in 2014 as the District 10 member of the Austin City Council. She was sworn in along with the mayor and nine other council members in January 2015.",texas,0,0,1,1,0,1,a mailer spotted by an Austin voter,"Gallo said Alter ""has exploited a campaign finance loophole to obtain over $64,000 in public dollars to fund her campaign."" Gallo couldn’t have known when she sent her mailers that Alter ultimately exceeded the spending limit she’d pledged to meet. But under city rules, Alter qualified for the runoff money anyway, as Gallo noted, because Gallo hadn’t committed to the same finance restrictions. Was that a loophole? We find that reasonably debatable. We rate Gallo’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."
1892,0,"Says Gov. Rick Perry is ""by far and away the highest-paid state employee on an hourly basis.","June 17, 2010",candidate biography;elections;ethics,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 press conference,"For starters, Perry’s hourly wage as calculated by White is less than what we calculated for several state employees (coaches). Most importantly, he assumes the public schedule released by Perry’s office accounts for all his working hours. But according to the Statesman’s previous reporting as well as two veterans of the governor’s office, such schedules are woefully incomplete. White could have sought a better accounting of how the governor spends his time without cobbling together comparisons that don’t hold up. !"
12621,3,"A World Health Organization report shows ""that more people are dying of TB.","October 12, 2016",global news service;public health,doctors without borders,Doctors Without Borders is an international nonprofit that provides medical care in places facing conflict and poverty.,,0,1,1,0,0,0,a press release,"The group Doctors Without Borders called the latest WHO report on TB shockingly bad and noted that more people are dying from the disease. That statement about the rise in the deaths ascribed to tuberculosis is accurate. Estimated deaths rose by about 300,000 people. But much of that increase has more to do with better reporting and more complete data than an actual increase in deaths. As the WHO report noted, experts came to believe that earlier estimates were too low. This was largely driven by the numbers out of India. Looking back 10 years, the trends in the number of deaths and the TB death rate show steady improvement. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate this  ."
6180,1,"When his grandfather arrived in the United States, ""there were no government benefits for immigrants.","August 28, 2012",welfare,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,"Contrary to Santorum’s , millions of Americans in the 1920s would have either qualified for benefits directly, such as payments to veterans, or have been protected by workers' compensation laws that provided benefits to those who became disabled by their jobs. And state and local governments had the longstanding role of paying support to people who were disabled or indigent. This provides a much more complex picture than Santorum is painting. We rate his statement ."
8234,3,"The federal health care law tells ""the American people precisely what type of coverage they have to have.","January 5, 2014",health care;punditfact,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.",,31,33,58,35,32,19,"comments on Fox's ""Fox News Sunday""","Romney said the administration is telling ""the American people precisely what type of coverage they have to have.""  We were unable to reach Romney. The health care law does mandate some types of coverage, and for some people, requires 10 essential health benefits. But it’s not nearly as sweeping as Romney makes it sound. The biggest changes are on the individual market, while people who get their insurance through an employer will see far fewer major changes, if any. We rate his statement as ."
16248,0,"Quotes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as saying ""I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said lots of things.","July 9, 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,"Co-anchor Mika Brzezinski starts off by asking Trump who he consults with on foreign policy issues. Trump replies with the exact statement: ""I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said lots of things."" He goes on to talk about how he wrote about Osama Bin-Laden before September 11, that he knows what he’s doing and listens and talks to ""a lot of people ... but my primary consultant is myself.""    This quote belongs to Trump, not Ocasio-Cortez.   We rate this meme !"
6794,5,Our pension system is the only one in the country that's 100 percent funded.,"November 16, 2012",pensions;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,a speech,"For a majority of retirees, payments cannot fall below what employees received upon retirement. Our rating Gov. Scott Walker told an audience of California conservatives that ""Our pension system is the only one in the country that’s 100% funded."" It’s slightly below 100%, but so close that a respected research organization rounds it up. And no other plan covering general state employees can make that . We rate Walker’s statement ."
12525,2,"I was gone"" when there was a red line against Syria.","October 9, 2016",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 second presidential debate,"Clinton said, ""I was gone"" when there was a red line against Syria. Clinton was secretary of state in August 2012 when Obama said if the Assad regime were to use chemical weapons, that would cross a ""red line"" after which Obama would consider using military force in Syria. In the months following that statement, Clinton reiterated Obama’s position, using the phrase ""red line."" A year later, August 2013, the White House confirmed Syria had crossed this ""red line."" By this point, Clinton had left the State Department months earlier. However, in the days following that revelation, Clinton met with Obama and his staff several times and publicly endorsed the White House’s position on how to respond. The  has an element of , but leaves out critical information that would give a different impression. We rate her  . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/9328863a-16c5-4ef6-98cc-2c51aa5553cc"
18393,1,"Selene Delgado Lopez is ""everyone's friend in Facebook.","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,"Unlike many other profiles, there isn’t an option to ""Add Friend,"" perhaps making it seem like she already is a friend — but she’s not.   ""It’s simple,"" Mashable reported in a Sept. 4 story titled, ""Say hello to the latest weird viral Facebook hoax: ‘Selene Delgado Lopez.’"" ""One of the Selene accounts — the one that has now gone viral — has the friend request button disabled in their Facebook privacy settings."" The origins of the hoax are unknown, according to Mashable.    We rate this Facebook post ."
2660,5,We now consume at the federal level 25 percent of the gross domestic product. Historically we were at 20 percent. So we've taken 5 percent away from the private sector.,"November 14, 2010",economy;federal budget,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 CBS' ""Face the Nation""","Even without special stimulus measures, spending goes up for mandatory items such as food stamps. So in 1983, under a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, the government spent just 1.2 percentage points less than the current level, which suggests that the recession shouldn't be ignored as a major reason why spending is so high. Still, Paul's larger point is valid. Federal spending is now approximately 25 percent of GDP, and that level is roughly 5 percentage points higher than the historical pattern. So we rate his statement ."
19604,1,Derek Chauvin had his left hand in his pocket while kneeling on George Floyd.,"April 6, 2021",criminal justice;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,"Facebook posts said Chauvin had his left hand in his pocket while kneeling on George Floyd. While some screen grabs taken from a bystander’s video appear to show that Chauvin had his left hand in his pocket as he pressed Floyd to the pavement, both the video itself and enhanced versions of the screen grabs indicate that his hand was actually on his thigh.  Chauvin was wearing black gloves during the incident that blended in with his dark pants. We rate this Facebook post . Related: Instagram post ignores full Floyd video to falsely  officer’s knee was not on Floyd’s neck Related: Did George Floyd say he ‘ate too many drugs,’ as Derek Chauvin's defense claimed? Related: No, autopsy doesn’t say George Floyd died of overdose"
8721,3,"Last election, the Koch brothers ""spent three times what the top 10 unions spent combined.","April 20, 2014",campaign finance;punditfact,doonesbury,Doonesbury is a Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip by G.B. Trudeau.,,0,4,2,0,0,0,"the ""Doonesbury"" comic strip","Doonesbury , aka Garry Trudeau, said the Koch brothers spent three times more than the top 10 unions combined in the 2012 elections. The information came from sources that attempted to track the political giving of the Kochs and the biggest unions. But there are some complications with the numbers. On the Koch side, the sources Trudeau cited did not say that all of the money connected to David and Charles Koch was their personal money. The Kochs have played a key role in creating a unique legal mechanism to raise and spend money that obscures the ultimate donors, and the nature of that mechanism gives them a high level of of control over how it is spent. To some extent, unions also feed into third-party money operations. And union political activity is spread much wider and among more organizations than the Kochs’ giving. In short, a  apples-to-apples comparison is quite difficult. That said, one independent analysis of trackable federal data found organizations tied to the Kochs spent three and a half times what unions did in 2012. How does all of this shake out? Trudeau goes too far in ascribing all of the money to the Kochs but the ratio he offers is in the ballpark of what we can determine at the federal level. We rate the  ."
6067,3,"Says Barack Obama ""has deported more people than any other president in this country's history.","August 7, 2012",immigration;message machine 2012,american principles in action,"American Principles in Action is a conservative group ""dedicated to preserving and propagating the fundamental principles on which our country was founded.""",national,0,0,1,0,0,0,an advertisement,"Technically, the ad isn’t correct to say that Barack Obama ""has deported more people than any other president in this country's history,"" since George W. Bush cumulatively deported more over his full eight-year term -- and since Bush would remain ahead of Obama if Mitt Romney wins the presidency in November. However, we -- and the experts we interviewed -- agree that the ad is right to note a significant jump in deportations under Obama. Measured by the monthly frequency of deportation, Obama’s numbers are significantly higher than Bush’s were, even as the estimated population of illegal immigrants was falling. We rate the  ."
5947,1,"I used my line-item veto authority to veto $360 million dollars in special interest spending, so that our budget this year ... is still smaller than the fiscal year 2008 and 2009 budgets signed by my predecessor.","July 9, 2012",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 speech at the Brookings Institution,"Christie said he used his ""line-item veto authority to veto $360 million dollars in special interest spending, so that our budget this year ... is still smaller than the fiscal year 2008 and 2009 budgets signed by my predecessor."" Only one fourth of that figure -- about $86 million -- represents appropriations in the budget reduced by Christie’s line-item veto. And Christie’s point that those cuts reduced the size of the budget to below 2008 and 2009 levels is . The budget the Legislature passed was already smaller than those two budgets. We rate this  . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
22051,4,More fentanyl has crossed the border in the last two months under Biden than in 2019 under Trump.,"August 23, 2022",immigration;drugs;homeland security,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, ""More fentanyl has crossed the border in the last two months under Biden than in 2019 under Trump."" We don’t know how much fentanyl has crossed the border undetected, but we do know how much has been seized. Federal agents seized 4,500 pounds of fentanyl in July and August 2022,  at the southwestern border, which was more than the 2,800 pounds seized all of 2019. But whether the 2022 change is attributable to Biden’s policies is unclear. Also unclear is whether the recent spike in seizures reflects a larger inflow or improved interdiction by law enforcement. We rate the statement ."
18084,0,"Say that according to the Los Angeles Times, ""95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens,"" more than two-thirds of all births in Los Angeles County ""are to illegal alien Mexicans"" on Medicaid, ""nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal,"" and Nancy Pelosi ""wants to put a windfall tax"" on retirement fund profits.","July 9, 2020",immigration;children;housing;crime;race and ethnicity;retirement;taxes;facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",california,24,50,108,245,1410,570,on social media,"Facebook posts said that according to the Los Angeles Times, ""95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens,"" more than two-thirds of all births in Los Angeles County ""are to illegal alien Mexicans"" on Medicaid, ""nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal,"" and Nancy Pelosi ""wants to put a windfall tax"" on retirement fund profits. The assertions in this post not only range from unsupported to , but they have been circulating consistently for almost a decade and a half despite repeated debunkings by fact-checkers as well as the Los Angeles Times itself. We rate the statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more."
15645,4,"Today, property taxes are lower than they were in 2010.","January 11, 2019",states;taxes,john nygren,John Nygren is a Republican who represents the 89th District in the Wisconsin State Assembly,wisconsin,1,1,2,1,0,0,a tweet,"Our rating Nygren said ""today, property taxes are lower than they were in 2010."" Data from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows the statement generally rings . But there have long been wrinkles on these claims -- from declining property values driving the drop to an increase in commercial and manufacturing property values shifting the burden from homeowners. Those sorts of factors are still in play, this time with tax credits contributing to latest decrease. And the rating is still ."
1003,4,"Doctors, nurses, hospitals, even the pharmaceutical industry, (and) AARP"" say that health reform ""makes sense to do.","July 22, 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 on health care reform,"And the American Nurses Asssociation supports the House bill, but has no clear position on the Senate bill. Those are a lot of details to keep track of, so we've provided you with a handy guide here . But back to Obama's . He's correct that most in the health care industry support some sort of reform, but when we're talking about the overhauls that have been put to paper — specifically, the House and Senate bills — there is quite a bit of disagreement among hospitals, nurses, Medicare patients, doctors and the drug industry over which plan is best; industry support isn't as rock-solid as Obama would make it seem. As a result, we give him a ."
15201,3,"Says Dave Brat ""voted against protecting pre-existing conditions.","September 28, 2018",health care;voting record,abigail spanberger,"Abigail Spanberger is the 2018 Democratic nominee for the 7th Congressional seat in Virginia. A former CIA agent, she is challenging incumbent Republican Dave Brat",virginia,1,2,1,0,1,0,a TV ad,"Spanberger’s ad says Brat ""voted against protecting pre-existing conditions,"" and, in a limited way, he did when he supported the AHCA. The bill would have allowed states to request a waiver from a popular Obamacare provision barring insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. But the sweeping language in the ad makes it seem like the AHCA would affect any child or adult with a pre-existing condition, and that’s not so. In fact, a small portion of them would have been at risk. Kaiser estimates that about 6.3 million people faced potentially higher - much higher - premiums for one year. That’s somewhere 4 and 13 percent of the people under 65 with pre-existing conditions. So Spanburger’s  is partially accurate, but omits important details and context. We rate it .  "
15731,3,We have a president who wanted to throw 32 million people off of the health care they had.,"February 25, 2019",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,a CNN town hall event,"Sanders said that Trump ""wanted to throw 32 million people off of the health care they had."" This is based on Trump’s encouraging Senate Republicans to vote for a repeal bill. After three years, the measure would have reduced the ranks of the insured by 27 million, and 32 million after nine years. Those are government estimates of the future, and not people who would immediately lose insurance, as some might understand Sanders’ words. In addition, the 32 million includes some unknown number of people who would choose not to buy insurance soley due to the end of the individual mandate. Plus, Trump also supported measures that would reduce the number of insured people by 23 million and 22 million. This makes it more difficult to tie him to a specific reduction in the number of insured. It is reasonable to say that Trump backed the loss of insurance for tens of milllions of people over time, but not more than that. We rate this  Half ."
22837,0,Video shows Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas crying after a question from an aide to former President Donald Trump.,"March 31, 2023",facebook fact-checks,facebook posts,"Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
 ",,24,50,108,245,1410,570,a Facebook post,"There are no aides of former President Donald Trump in the video, which instead shows two Republican representatives sharply questioning Mayorkas about his immigration policy record.   The lawmakers featured in the clip are Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., and Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., though others spoke during the hearing. But no one, including these two, said something like, ""Do you have the number?""   And Mayorkas didn’t cry.    We rate this post !"
9333,5,We cut our deficits by more than half.,"September 1, 2014",deficit;economy;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.",wisconsin,124,165,163,71,71,9,Milwaukee,"But Obama, it’s fair to say, was speaking of the change during his presidency. And his  dovetails with one PolitiFact National checked in July 2013, rating  Obama’s  that the deficit is falling at the fastest rate in 60 years. Our rating At a union rally on Labor Day, Obama declared ""We cut our deficits by more than half."" The numbers back up Obama’s :  Thanks to income tax revenues rising and spending on emergency assistance dropping, America’s deficit has fallen by more than 50 percent from its highest point since World War II to a level $733 billion lower. We rate the  ."
6018,2,The president's health care law raids Medicare by more than $500 billion and creates a Medicare rationing board — a group of 15 unelected bureaucrats — to slow the growth of Medicare spending.,"July 29, 2012",health care;medicare,scott garrett,"Since January 2003, Scott Garrett, a Republican, has represented New Jersey's 5th Congressional District, which includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties. Prior to joining Congress, Garrett served in the New Jersey Assembly between 1990 and 2002.",new jersey,1,0,0,1,0,0,an op-ed on NorthJersey.com,"Garrett said that the ""president’s health care law raids Medicare by more than $500 billion and creates a Medicare rationing board — a group of 15 unelected bureaucrats — to slow the growth of Medicare spending."" The national health care law does not cut funding for Medicare, though it does decrease projections for future spending growth. Spending on the program will continue to grow, but at a slower pace. The law does create a 15-member board to prevent Medicare spending from exceeding certain growth targets, but the board is specifically forbidden from proposing any plans to ration care. Overall, we rate this statement . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com ."
15031,1,Says Beto O'Rourke said he's grateful that people are burning or desecrating the American flag.,"September 4, 2018",corrections and updates;legal issues;patriotism,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 video,"Cruz said O’Rourke said he’s ""grateful"" that people are burning or desecrating the American flag. O’Rourke was asked to speak to a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right to desecrate the flag in nonviolent protest. However, his answer didn’t go there, instead focusing on his support of protests for civil rights and other causes. O'Rourke earlier said he didn't think anyone should burn an American flag. 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. UPDATE, 11:13 a.m., Sept. 6, 2018 : This story was updated to add a missing word to O'Rourke's reply at the El Paso event and to add a sentence paraphrasing the Cruz campaign's defense of the senator's accuracy. These changes did not affect our rating of the statement."
1690,1,"In the history department at the University of Texas, out of 50 registered voters, only one is a Republican.","May 18, 2010",education,robert koons,Robert Koons is a philosophy professor at the University of Texas at Austin.,texas,0,0,0,0,1,0,the Austin American-Statesman,"Voting in a Republican or Democratic primary doesn't necessarily mean a person belongs to that party — never mind the bulk of voters (and history professors, our check suggests) who abstain from primaries altogether. Their political affiliations, if any, aren't reflected in voting records. Without polling faculty members individually, no one can say with certitude what they are. If Koons presents compelling  that indeed, as he says, one in 50 registered voters in the department is a Republican, we'll re-plumb this topic. We rate his statement as ."
7463,4,"Worldwide credit card transactions, the credit card fraud rate is 0.04 percent, compared to almost 8 percent, 9 percent, 10 percent of Medicare fraud.","June 12, 2013",crime;medicare,peter roskam,Roskam graduated from the University of Illinois before spending his early career in the office of Congressman Henry Hyde. He later earned his J.D. from Kent College of Law. Roskam has represented Chicago's western suburbs in both the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate. He is chief deputy whip and is now serving his fourth term.,national,0,2,0,0,0,2,an interview with Fox News,"Roskam said the Medicare fraud rate is 8 to 10 percent. His office pointed us to various documents that analyzed the problem of improper payments, an issue that mixes fraud together with nominally legal activities such as referring patients for more tests than are necessary. This suggested Roskam was using an inflated estimate of fraud. However, a recent study tends, in the worst-case analysis, to support Roskam’s figures. Roskam’s comparison to credit cards overlooks many key differences between the structures of the health care and credit card industries, and it tends to obscure the systematic nature of fraud in health care, whether public or private. But Roskam is right that credit card fraud is a tiny percentage of all transactions. We rate the statement ."
3540,3,"Rick Perry ""advocated to liquidate"" the state's rainy day fund in 2007.","May 4, 2011",state budget,steve ogden,"Steve Ogden, initially elected to the Senate in early 1997, went on the chair the budget-drafting Senate Finance Committee. He previously served in the Texas House and U.S. Navy. He did not seek re-election in 2012.",texas,0,1,1,0,0,0,remarks on the Senate floor,"Winding up: We found no record that Perry proposed to empty the rainy day fund to pay for rebates in 2007 — he never specified what they would cost — or that the Senate ""roundly rejected"" such an idea. The record does show that Perry’s rebate proposal got nowhere in the Legislature. It also shows that despite Perry’s avowed distaste for tapping the rainy day fund, he has repeatedly approved state budgets that effectively spent it all. And that was the larger point Ogden and Watson were trying to make in their exchange on the Senate floor. We rate Ogden’s statement ."
21773,1,AirPods are essentially microwaving your brain.,"August 2, 2022",public health;technology;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 alleges that AirPods are ""essentially microwaving your brain"" by emitting high levels of electromagnetic radiation. But the electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, the devices release as radiofrequency radiation are far below limits set by the government and much less than the cellphones they are used with, experts say. Although some researchers have expressed safety concerns about long-term exposure, there is no scientific  to link the low-level EMFs emitted by cellphones — and, by extension, wireless earpieces like AirPods — to cancer or other health problems in humans.  We rate this  ."
10605,3,"Emails released to the public show Hillary Clinton discussed ""the location of Ambassador Stevens, who of course was murdered, in Libya.","August 5, 2015",candidate biography;terrorism;punditfact,andrew napolitano,Andrew Napolitano is a Fox News political commentator and legal analyst.,,1,0,2,4,1,3,"an interview on Fox's ""Hannity""","Napolitano said emails released to the public show Clinton discussed ""the location of Ambassador Stevens, who of course was murdered, in Libya."" To clarify, Stevens was not the ambassador to Libya at the time, and the emails occurred about 18 months before the Benghazi attacks that killed him. Clinton received at least six emails that discussed Stevens’ location in Libya, though the terms are vague -- for example, saying he was in Benghazi at an unidentified hotel. The context of Napolitano’s statement gives the impression that the emails contain information that would have been damaging if released, but it was widely noted in the media at the time that Stevens was in Benghazi, and on at least one occasion, reporters encountered him at the hotel where he was living and working. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and context, so we rate it ."
7497,5,"Says proposed teacher contract ""would layer on more restrictive rules.","June 5, 2013",education,portland public schools,Portland Public Schools is Oregon's largest school district.,oregon,2,1,1,0,0,0,an opinion piece,"And teachers would argue they need the rules to protect their time in the face of growing district mandates. But we're not ruling on that -- PolitiFact doesn't delve into opinions, positions or predictions. We're just ruling on whether the proposed contract creates more restrictive rules for these specific situations. Clearly it does. We rate this statement ."