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10,615 | 1 | We spend almost twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country. | August 16, 2015 | health care | bernie sanders | Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020. | national | 21 | 62 | 48 | 26 | 18 | 0 | an interview on "Meet the Press" | Sanders said that "we spend almost twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country." The United States spends more on health care per capita than other countries, but not always twice as much. Sanders’ comment suggests the United States outpaces all other countries more than it actually does. European countries with extensive social service networks aren’t so far behind the United States. We rate his statement . |
22,213 | 1 | Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs "sent 6,000 wrong ballots to Republicans. | October 23, 2022 | 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 | a post | That’s . 1,000 voters in Arizona mistakenly received mail-in ballots that included only federal candidates, not state and local candidates. County officials sent the ballots, not Hobbs’ office. And about 20% of voters who received the federal-only ballots were Republicans. We rate this . |
3,367 | 0 | We've lost 26 million jobs … since (Obama's) been president. | April 5, 2011 | economy;history;jobs | reince priebus | Reince Priebus was the first chief of staff to President Donald Trump, replaced by John Kelly in July 2017. Priebus was previously chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post he assumed in 2011. He is also the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He was an unsuccessful Wisconsin state Senate candidate in 2004. He is a Kenosha, Wis., native and lawyer. | national | 1 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 14 | 1 | an interview on NBC's "Today" show | Just for a sense of scale, if it were a net number, losing 26 million jobs, as Priebus indicated, would mean losing about 20 percent of the nation’s jobs -- something on the scale of the Great Depression. We e-mailed the Republican National Committee’s press office for an explanation, but they did not reply by the time we posted this story. Perhaps Priebus simply misspoke, or perhaps he misplaced a decimal point and ended up by a factor of 10. Whatever the reason, the 26 million figure he cited on the Today show was . We rate it . |
21,941 | 1 | Photo shows Queen Elizabeth II meeting Donald Trump wearing a brooch given to her by Barack Obama. | September 8, 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. | null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | The queen did wear a brooch gifted to her by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama when the Trumps were in the United Kingdom, but she wasn’t wearing it when she met the Trumps. And she wasn’t wearing it in the picture being shared online. The Trumps arrived on July 12, when Elizabeth "was otherwise engaged," the Telegraph said at the time. Her audience that day included the archbishop of Canterbury, and she was photographed wearing the small flower brooch that the Obamas found at a Washington antiques shop in 2011. We rate claims that the photo of Elizabeth with the Trumps shows her wearing a brooch given to her by the Obamas . |
21,038 | 0 | Joe Biden was holding a medical device in a photo he tweeted during the 2022 Winter Olympics. | February 21, 2022 | facebook fact-checks | bloggers | Blog posting on the Internet | national | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 | a blog post | Biden wore a black mask, which he held onto throughout the conference. The that Biden was holding a medical alert device masks the . ! RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Cheap fakes’: Viral videos keep clipping Biden’s words out of context RELATED VIDEO |
21,982 | 0 | The Simpsons" predicted Queen Elizabeth II's 2022 death. | September 15, 2022 | facebook fact-checks | viral image | Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine. | null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | According to a Wiki page dedicated to "The Simpsons," Elizabeth has appeared in six episodes, none of which mention her death. We found no elsewhere that she died on the show. This cartoon illustration of the queen in a casket appears to be an alteration of another Simpsonslike cartoon image of former President Donald Trump in a casket. As we noted in a prior fact-check, that image never appeared in "The Simpsons" either. As we did with the faux-Trump image, we rate the that the Simpsons predicted Elizabeth’s death ! |
16,602 | 2 | Hemp has 25,000-35,000 known usages. That means it is going to be something that will replace plastics, and styrofoam and concrete. | October 12, 2019 | marijuana | 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 speech to the Florida Democratic Party | Fried said, "Hemp has 25,000-35,000 known usages. That means it is going to be something that is going to replace plastics, and styrofoam and concrete." The number comes from a Popular Mechanics article in 1938 about the number of potential products that creates an overly optimistic picture of the number of uses. Just because a use exists does not mean that it is commonly available. Most hemp grown now is for CBD. Fried said that hemp products will "replace" such common materials as plastics and concrete, but we found no that hemp has the physical properties to truly replace these materials. The statement contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this statement . |
6,817 | 1 | The amount of money that we put into running our own state legislature is nearly as much as we put into the University of Rhode Island. | January 3, 2013 | economy;education;state budget | dawson hodgson | Dawson Hodgson was a state senator from North Kingstown, R.I., representing District 35 in East Greenwich, South Kingstown and Narragansett. A lawyer and businessman, he was first elected to the Senate in November 2010. In 2014, he made an unsuccessful run for attorney general as a Republican. | rhode island | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | a radio interview | Dawson Hodgson said, "The amount of money that we put into running our own state legislature is nearly as much as we put into the University of Rhode Island." In fact, the state contributes $58 million to URI, roughly $20 million more than the legislature’s budget. That’s not "nearly as much." Whether Hodgson’s point about budget priorities is valid or not, he got the numbers . We rate the . |
6,569 | 3 | Latin America's economy is almost as big as the economy of China. | October 22, 2012 | economy;foreign policy | mitt romney | Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh. | national | 31 | 33 | 58 | 35 | 32 | 19 | Boca Raton, Fla | Romney said that "Latin America’s economy is almost as big as the economy of China." It's a stretch to characterize an economy that's about one-third bigger as "almost as big," especially since China’s lead over Latin America is actually increasing. On balance, we rate the . |
6,096 | 1 | Says President Obama said of the national debt, "If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition. | August 14, 2012 | deficit;message machine 2012 | 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 | an Americans for Prosperity attack ad | Obama wasn’t talking about the deficit or the debt when he said, "If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition." In this instance, the piling on is unnecessary to make the group’s point, and it’s intentionally . The ad takes Obama’s comments from an interview about bank bailouts and TARP and makes it look as if he’s talking about the national debt. The use of the debt clock also purposely detracts from the president’s initial statement about the federal deficit. We rate this . |
18,701 | 1 | The coronavirus "was constructed in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. | October 17, 2020 | china;corrections and updates;coronavirus | 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). | pennsylvania | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | an interview | Perry said the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was "constructed" in a Wuhan, China, lab. There’s no to support this. Scientists who’ve studied the virus’s genetic makeup say that it is a naturally occuring virus. We rate Perry’s statement . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. |
5,349 | 5 | We were the No. 1 job creator in America in February and we are now the No. 4 job creator in the last year. | April 2, 2012 | 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 | an interview with Fox News | Yes. Are we responsible for it? From our perspective out here, we have just taken on a lot of tough problems and created a better environment." That part could be classified as political rhetoric, and we’re not rating it. But Kasich’s statement about job creation rates is . |
7,699 | 4 | Atlanta now has as many visitors as Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles. Orlando, Fla., and New York City still have more visitors. | August 7, 2013 | tourism | kasim reed | Kasim Reed is Mayor of Atlanta. | georgia | 5 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | a radio interview | Other firms say Reed’s appears correct. But there is really no concrete way to tell. The mayor’s statement needs that bit of detail to clarify his . We rated the statement . Staff writer Eric Stirgus contributed to this article. |
13,151 | 1 | The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process. | March 20, 2017 | elections;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, "The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process." Rogers and Comey never said this — not in the video clip Trump shared, nor at any point in the five-hour hearing. Rather, they said they believe Russia interfered in the presidential election, in an attempt to help Trump and undermine the democratic process. They said they don’t know one way or the other if that interference actually did affect public opinion or the outcome of the election. We rate Trump’s . |
7,253 | 2 | Not one dime gets added to the deficit because of Social Security. | April 16, 2013 | deficit;disability;retirement;social security | 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 | Two days after Pocan made his statement, Baldwin said on C-SPAN : "Social Security has not contributed one penny to our current deficit or debt." But unlike Pocan, she noted the government has used "other taxpayer funds" when payroll taxes weren’t enough to pay Social Security benefits. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, our colleagues at PolitiFact Texas , Georgia and New Hampshire examined claims similar to Pocan’s. Each reached the same rating: . And that’s what we rate Pocan’s statement. |
5,150 | 3 | Says when she "helped get $15 billion more for veterans care, Kucinich voted No. | February 15, 2012 | federal budget;message machine 2012;veterans;voting record | 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 | a campaign commercial | Kucinich takes credit for championing a program that he ultimately voted against. His work for the program gives a different impression than his vote. His positions help explain his votes, both on HR 2055 last December and on HR 3288, the prior spending measure cited in the ad. Those are important pieces of information needed to evaluate the . On the -O-Meter, it rates . |
20,561 | 1 | Close to hundreds" of people died at Astroworld. | November 8, 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. | texas | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | We’ve checked a few other posts related to Astroworld, including that Live Nation packed 50,000 people into a venue that only had capacity for 20,000 and that the tragedy was related to COVID-19 vaccines . Both claims were , and so is this one. Hundreds were injured, but there’s nothing to support the that "close to hundreds" of people died. The New York Times published profiles of the 10 people whose deaths were confirmed in connection with the festival. We rate this . |
6,927 | 5 | Says Texas ranks last in the percentage of residents with high school diplomas. | February 6, 2013 | education;pundits | sacramento bee editorial board | The editorial board of The Sacramento Bee says it composes editorials that are its collective opinion. It meets regularly to discuss community concerns and issues of the day, it says. | texas | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | an editorial | The Bee ’s editorial board said Texas ranks last in its share of residents with high school diplomas. That’s right, though Texas lately has company. In 2011, the Lone Star state tied for last with Mississippi and California. In each state, 81.1 percent of adults 25 and older had completed high school or the equivalent, the government says. We rate this as . |
21,157 | 2 | Says Gov. Tony Evers gave $2.4 million in COVID relief money to Planned Parenthood affiliates throughout Wisconsin "to bail them out and fund abortions. | March 9, 2022 | health care;public health;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 | Campaign email | Kleefisch claimed Evers gave Planned Parenthood affiliates in Wisconsin $2.4 million in federal COVID relief money "to bail them out and fund abortions." Evers did give them grants funds, but they’re not being used to pay for abortions. Our definition of is a statement that contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. That fits here. |
15,544 | 0 | New U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib tweeted "Americans have spent decades raping and pillaging my people. What goes around comes around. | January 4, 2019 | fake news;facebook fact-checks | bloggers | Blog posting on the Internet | null | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 | a tweet | The account also tried to make it appear as if Tlaib’s name was spelled correctly, but it wasn’t. It used an uppercase "i" in place of the lowercase "L" in her last name. When her name is spelled accurately on Twitter, the result is that the lowercase "L" reaches higher than the "T" in her last name. When misspelled with an uppercase "i", that faux-"L" only comes in at about the same height as the T. Moreover, Tlaib’s Twitter following is around 277,000, a number more on par for a member of the U.S. House than the 30 followers the hoax account had amassed before it was removed. We rate this ! |
1,321 | 5 | President Obama's proposed 'spending freeze' will only reduce the $42 trillion in government spending proposed between 2011 and 2020 by little more than one-half of 1 percent. | January 27, 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. | national | 17 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 22 | 2 | a blog post | "In sum, the outlook for the federal budget is bleak," Elmendorf said. So how much of a dent would Obama's freeze make? "As a share of the total deficit problem, it is a small step," Elmendorf said. So Obama positioned the spending freeze as a way to rein in the country's mounting debt, and we think it's fair for Boehner to put those spending cuts in the context of overall spending. We rate Boehner's statement . |
15,280 | 3 | Says Ron DeSantis has not revealed $145,000 in receipts of public taxpayer money. | October 24, 2018 | candidate biography | andrew gillum | Andrew Gillum won the Florida primary for governor in August 2018 and lost the November election to Ron DeSantis. He is a former mayor of Tallahassee and member of the Tallahassee city commission. | florida | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | a WPBF debate | Gillum claimed DeSantis has not revealed $145,000 in receipts of public taxpayer money. DeSantis like other members of Congress received an allowance to cover expenses related to official duties. DeSantis has not disclosed — in detail — how he spent more than $145,000 in travel. But DeSantis has disclosed broad description for the expenses. Some reported expenses are listed as "commercial transportation," but do not specify when or where the trip was taken. At least two travel expenses reported by DeSantis match the dates of 2017 appearances on Fox News shows. DeSantis’ campaign said those were official media appearances, because he was answering questions as a House member and had not yet entered the governor’s race. DeSantis is not legally required to disclose detailed reports of his travel. But a watchdog group said that without itemized it’s not entirely clear how DeSantis spent taxpayers’ money. Gillum’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . |
18,752 | 4 | I am for protecting pre-existing conditions. … I actually co-sponsored legislation to do just that. | October 21, 2020 | health care | chris jacobs | Chris Jacobs is a candidate for New York State Senate District 60. He currently serves as Erie County Clerk. | new york | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | a debate | He did co-sponsor a bill that protects people with pre-existing conditions in certain respects. But experts said that to truly ensure that people with pre-existing conditions can access coverage, more comprehensive action is needed. If the ACA is repealed or struck down and this legislation is put in its place, people with pre-existing conditions could find the coverage they need to be unaffordable, they said. So while his statement is accurate, it needs clarification. We rate Jacobs’ . |
551 | 1 | Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump? O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma! | July 21, 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 TV ad | But how lifting the moratorium would affect future prices is a separate question, (and a tricky one, as we explain here ). What the ad pins on Obama — and others who are "saying no to (new offshore) drilling in America" — are the price increases the country is currently enduring. That saddles the Illinois senator with a lot more influence than he has had. If one were to line up all the leaders in Washington who share some responsibility for the offshore drilling moratorium — the first President Bush, the Republican leadership of Congress, the Democratic leadership of Congress, the Florida delegation — there would be quite a few people ahead of Obama. We find McCain's to be . |
6,654 | 1 | We have more hospitals that are children's hospitals than any other state in the union." | September 18, 2012 | 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 | an interview with The Plain Dealer | But the organizations referenced by the speaker’s staff in support of his were not umbrella organizations that represent all children’s hospitals and their lists were far from complete. Even the two Ohio-based children’s hospital associations do not list the same number of hospitals, and neither lists every children’s hospital in the state. As an aside, there clearly appears to be a strong network of children’s hospitals in Ohio which draws the state high rankings in several areas of care, accessibility and amount of research taking place at the various institutions. But all that does not add up to having the most available hospitals of their kind as compared to other states, as Batchelder claimed. On the -O-Meter, the rates . |
18,852 | 1 | Says a New York Post cover used the headline "YOU'RE FIRED" on Nov. 4 with an image of Donald Trump. | November 8, 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. | null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | That cover — the real one — read "NAILBITER." "Trump defies polls, election on razor’s edge," the cover said alongside an image of a woman biting her nails. On Nov. 8, the day after the race was called for Biden, the cover said: "IT’S JOE TIME." We rate this Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. |
13,654 | 4 | More Texans have jobs today than ever before in the history of our state. | July 14, 2017 | economy;jobs | 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 speech kicking off his re-election campaign | Abbott said: "More Texans have jobs today than ever before in the history of our state." By raw numbers, the more than 12.87 million employed Texans in April 2017 set a record though that count had dipped to 12.85 million by the time Abbott spoke. Also, the state’s June 2017 jobless rate, 4.6 percent, exceeded the rate in more than 50 months since 1976 while Texas in 2016 (like the nation) had an employment-population ratio trailing what it used to be. 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. |
11,482 | 1 | This unit is the only one in the state that strives to implement the principles of Mother-Friendly care as outlined by the national Coalition for Improving Maternity Services Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative. | March 13, 2016 | health care | coalition to save memorial hospital birthing center | Organization formed to preserve the birthing center at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket | rhode island | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | statement | Not only does the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services not review and certify facilities, but all of the other birthing centers in the state say these principles are standard practice at their hospitals. The Coalition to Save Memorial Hospital Birthing Center got back to us Friday. A spokeswoman said: "the Coalition sees no credible that [other hospitals in Rhode Island] have committed the necessary time, financial resources, policy development and staff training necessary to alignment with the Initiative." At the end of the week, the coalition changed its position from a statement of fact to an opinion about the other hospitals' " alignment." We rate the original . |
7,414 | 0 | The National Rifle Association was "founded by religious leaders who wanted to protect freed slaves from the Ku Klux Klan. | February 22, 2013 | civil rights;religion;guns | harry alford | Harry Alford is president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based National Black Chamber of Commerce. | wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | a news conference | Our rating Harry Alford, the head of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, said the National Rifle Association was "founded by religious leaders who wanted to protect freed slaves from the Ku Klux Klan." We can’t say whether he was misinformed or intended to mislead. But the NRA itself says the group was formed by Union Civil War veterans to improve soldiers’ marksmanship. And we found no that religious leaders founded the NRA to protect freed slaves from the KKK. The is not only but -- . |
16,865 | 0 | Says U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib tweeted and then deleted a post that said "Americans have spent decades raping and pillaging my people. What goes around comes around. | January 5, 2020 | fake news;facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | a Facebook post | Quick public servant announcement: If there isn't a checkmark next to my name on the tweet then it's ! To all the foreign countries & reckless commentators out there spreading lies about me: Try to focus on disagreeing with me with facts, instead of making up shit. pic.twitter.com/DPxdZSEKP0 Tlaib has tweeted that the United States should not go to war with Iran following news of the U.S. military killing Iranian security and intelligence commander, Qasem Soleimani , who led the Quds Force in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps , a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. A series of events have intensified tensions between the United States and Iran, including a break into a U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad by supporters of an Iranian-backed militia (the Facebook post alludes to the embassy events.) As for the tweet in the Facebook post, we rate it ! |
10,126 | 1 | Say Apple's Tim Cook "will not do business with Indiana. | March 31, 2015 | corporations;race and ethnicity;punditfact | erick erickson | Erick Erickson is the host of a conservative radio talk show based in Atlanta. | null | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | a RedState.com column | In trying to call out Apple’s Cook for clashing business practices over gay rights, Erickson said Cook "will not do business with Indiana." That is not based on Cook’s public remarks on Twitter and in an op-ed. Cook has been outspoken in his position against the law and others like it across the country, but Apple stores remain open in Indiana and iPhones, iMacs and everything else is still being sold. Erickson’s rates . |
22,018 | 1 | Breaking: Judiciary Democrats just voted to support non-citizens voting in our elections. | September 21, 2022 | congress;elections;facebook fact-checks | instagram posts | Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters. | null | 3 | 3 | 15 | 51 | 405 | 140 | an Instagram post | An Instagram post said "Breaking: Judiciary Democrats just voted to support non-citizens voting in our elections." Democrats proposed a bill to make it easier for voters who are not proficient in English to get ballots in their native language. A Republican amendment said the bill should not be construed to mean noncitizens could vote. But the bill never said noncitizens could vote, nor did it change existing law that says noncitizens can’t vote in federal elections. It’s up to states and local municipalities to decide whether noncitizens can vote in state and local elections. Democrats’ vote against the amendment didn’t change that, either. We rate this statement . RELATED : Nevada Republican misleads about DMV registering "illegals" to vote RELATED : JD Vance’s ad about ‘open border’ and immigrant voters is RELATED : Factchecking Arizona’s Blake Masters’ of open borders and Democratic amnesty plans |
88 | 5 | He's sued gun manufacturers. He was supportive of Brady. He was supportive of things like assault weapon bans. | September 21, 2007 | guns | 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 | The Brady Bill, which created a waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks, became law in 1993. The Assault Weapons Ban, which prohibited the sale of some semi-automatic weapons, expired in 2004 after 10 years on the books. In a February, 2007 interview Giuliani was asked about them both and said: "I was in favor of it because I thought that it was necessary both to get the crime bill passed and also necessary with the 2,000 murders or so that we were looking at," annually in New York City at the time. Currently, Giuliani's stance on gun control is "that we need to enforce laws that exist, as opposed to passing new laws that infringe on individual rights." Huckabee's claims, however, deal with Giuliani's past positions rather than his current ones, and as such are accurate. |
7,588 | 2 | In his book, (Ken) Cuccinelli questions whether Medicare and Social Security should exist. | July 16, 2013 | medicare;social security | democratic party of virginia | The state Democratic Party. | virginia | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | a TV ad | The Democratic Party of Virginia says in a new ad that Cuccinelli, in his book, "questions whether Medicare and Social Security should exist." Cuccinelli gave the Democrats a tiny opening in writing that "bad politicians" have "tried to increase their power by creating programs that dispense subsidized government benefits, such as Medicare, Social Security" that make people "dependent on government." But ad goes overboard because it suggests Cuccinelli is questioning whether the entitlements should exist today and in the future. Cuccinelli specifically wrote in his book, "I am not questioning the existence of these programs, nor how much is spent on them." The Democrats ignored that key passage and we rate their . |
1,494 | 2 | War for the soul of the TxDems: 57% of Dem incumbents for Tx House LOST their primary. | March 10, 2010 | elections | 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 Twitter post | " If the party had included the word "opposed" in front of "incumbents," there'd be no confusion. It could have done so within the 140-character limit set by Twitter. Preston said: "If I had it to do over again, I would certainly throw 'opposed' in there." The GOP's item misrepresents the overall results for Democratic House incumbents. We rate the party's statement as . |
18,482 | 1 | Says Jared Kushner "deleted all of his tweets after the tax story broke. | September 27, 2020 | facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | a post | Another version of the profile archived on the website archive.today confirms Kushner had no tweets on his account as of Jan. 10, 2017, more than a week before Trump took office. Similarly, as of Aug. 17, 2020 — a little more than a month before the New York Times investigation brought Trump’s tax history back into the spotlight on Sept. 27 — Kushner still had no tweets on his account. "@jaredkushner hasn’t Tweeted," the archived Twitter profile reads . "When they do, their Tweets will show up here." We rate this . |
6,366 | 1 | Barack Hussein Obama will ... force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers. | September 23, 2012 | legal issues;religion | government is not god pac | Government Is Not God is a political action committee for social conservatives founded in 1992 by William J. Murray who is currently the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition. The mission of Government Is Not God - PAC is the election to Congress of men and women who hold conservative beliefs on both moral and economic issues. | national | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | a newspaper advertisement | The ad claims that Obama will "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers." But he has not sought to do that himself and the only is a weak link to the solicitor general's argument in the Hosanna-Tabor case. The case did address the proper balance between the government and religious institutions in personnel decisions, but even participants in the case say the government did not say what the ad claims. On balance, we rate the . |
13,669 | 4 | Last year, Democrats won nearly 50% of the vote, yet they hold only 38% of the seats in the state House and 30% of the seats in the state Senate. | July 28, 2017 | elections;redistricting | roy cooper | Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is the governor of North Carolina. Previously he was the attorney general, a state senator and a state representative. | north carolina | 3 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | a newsletter | Cooper’s claims about Democratic representation in the state House and state Senate are accurate. His that Democrats won close to 50 percent of votes is slightly exaggerated if only legislative races are considered, but is closer to the mark when it comes to broad support for Democratic candidates. We rate this . |
14,736 | 3 | The science is clear, under President Trump greenhouse gas emissions are down. | June 13, 2018 | environment;energy | environmental protection agency | The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a federal regulatory agency. | national | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a statement to Bloomberg | The EPA said, "The science is clear, under President Trump greenhouse gas emissions are down." Emissions did fall slightly between 2016 and 2017. But the rate of decline slowed under Trump and the month-to-month changes have been modest. Whatever decline has occurred on Trump’s watch is unlikely to stem from his own policies. Changes to emissions levels tend to come either from changing economic incentives, government policy over the long term, and factors beyond human control, such as the weather. We rate the statement . |
902 | 2 | Already we've identified $2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade. | April 14, 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 Georgetown University | He has identified $2 trillion in deficit reductions. But presenting a budget figure 10 years out as a solid number is dicey. And people on both ends of the political spectrum say his numbers are exaggerated considerably. And we find it's significant that the estimate from the well-respected, left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is less than half of Obama's. So we find Obama's statement . |
18,012 | 4 | Kids are less likely to get it (COVID-19). You know, they're less likely to spread. So I think there's some pretty good data out there that will help alleviate some of the concerns. | July 14, 2020 | children;education;public health;coronavirus | kim reynolds | Kim Reynolds, a Republican, has served as governor of Iowa since 2017. | iowa | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | at a press conference | Reynolds’ assertion is supported by the bulk of the existing research, which shows that scientists have seen lower COVID-19 infection rates among young people and have not seen the virus spread among children at the rate as high as the ones for adults. However, researchers have only been able to study the virus since late January 2020 , and they are learning more about it by the day. There may also be statistical quirks affecting the data, such as the limited extent to which children are being tested for the virus. Reynolds’ statement is largely supported by the research published so far, but with a big caveat that the science is preliminary and evolving. We rate the statement . |
4,667 | 0 | People can use food stamps "for anything," including "to go to Hawaii," and even millionaires can qualify. | November 30, 2011 | poverty | 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 | Council Bluffs, Iowa | Each of Gingrich’s claims about food stamps is so -- especially for a self-styled policy wonk -- that we wondered whether he was really intending to be serious. (By publication time, we did not receive answers to several queries made to his press staff.) But the transcript makes it sound like he wasn’t joking, so we’ll assume he wasn’t. For being so in so many ways, we rate his statement . Update: After we published this item we heard back from USDA spokesman Aaron Lavallee. Lavallee said there was one case in which an unemployed Michigan man who won $2 million in the lottery was deemed eligible for food stamps by the state. He was later removed from the program. Given the isolated nature of the incident and the fact that he was removed from the program, our ruling remains . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/aa9d6a47-04ea-4af4-b549-7dfc56517ec0 |
8,266 | 3 | Unemployment insurance kept more than 620,000 children out of poverty in 2012. | January 7, 2014 | children;poverty;workers | barack obama | Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha. | national | 124 | 165 | 163 | 71 | 71 | 9 | a Facebook post | Obama’s Facebook post said that "unemployment insurance kept more than 620,000 children out of poverty in 2012." The number has some backing from an analysis of Census Bureau data published by the Democratic staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee. However, this analysis used an unofficial poverty measure rather than the traditional one, and the report Obama’s team cites as support acknowledges that using the traditional poverty measure would have decreased the number of individuals lifted out of poverty by about one-third. A similar decrease among children would have meant the number of children would have been 427,914 rather than roughly 620,000. Overall, we rate the . |
17,433 | 1 | Says celebrities are calling for a "'total Hollywood strike' until Trump resigns. | April 3, 2020 | facebook fact-checks | bloggers | Blog posting on the Internet | null | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 | a fake news article | The group included O’Donnell and called for millions to hold a protest and sign a petition to "create a political crisis that prevents the Trump/Pence fascist regime from consolidating its hold on the governance of society." Many celebrities signed the petition , but they weren’t calling for a strike. And we could find no to support the latest version of the hoax. The article is . We rate it . |
22,446 | 1 | England's Oxfordshire County Council has passed a trial "climate lockdown," "confining residents to their own neighbourhoods. | December 5, 2022 | climate change;facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | an image on Facebook | A Facebook post claimed that the Oxfordshire County Council has passed a "climate lockdown" trial "confining residents to their neighbourhoods." A trial run of a traffic filter program in Oxfordshire County is focused on mitigating traffic congestion and making spaces more walkable and bikeable. While the program would increase restrictions on private vehicles driving certain roads during the day, traffic restrictions in general are not unique to this program. It does not amount to a ‘lockdown.’ We rate this . PolitiFact contributor Madison Czopek contributed to this report. |
13,649 | 1 | A witness will testify against Hillary Clinton. | July 30, 2017 | elections;fake news;punditfact | bloggers | Blog posting on the Internet | null | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 | a headline | Bloggers said, "A witness will testify against Hillary Clinton." The post used details from several real news events in a way that would lead readers to draw some unproven conclusions. The article said that a founding partner in an opposition research firm was being called to testify against Clinton. Simpson was being asked to discuss details about a dossier filled with unsavory (and largely unsubstantiated) details about Trump as part of an investigation into Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election. We rate this statement . |
2,246 | 4 | Over 22,000 unique Internet Protocol addresses -- in Wisconsin alone -- have downloaded child pornography. | March 18, 2010 | children;crime | j.b. van hollen | J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, was elected Wisconsin attorney general in 2006. He is a former U.S. attorney for Wisconsin's Western District and previously served as district attorney in both Ashland and Bayfield counties. | wisconsin | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | written testimony to a Wisconsin Senate committee | As Wisconsin’s attorney general -- and a candidate for re-election -- Republican J.B. Van Hollen has declared one of his priorities to be fighting Internet crimes against children. The issue is cited on the home page of both the state Department of Justice website and his campaign website . |
5,686 | 0 | Scott Walker has a plan to privatize state lands" and "wants to sell our deer to the highest bidder. | May 31, 2012 | recreation | 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 web ad | The for the goes back to a 10-year-old article that describes Kroll’s views about hunting in his home state of Texas, not Wisconsin. His final report has not been made, there is nothing about privatization in any preliminary recommendations, and Kroll has stated clearly he does not support private management of state lands for hunters. Walker has said the same. Without any direct , this looks like all heat and no light. ! |
4,317 | 5 | The Fed created $1.2 trillion out of nothing, gave it to banks, and some of them foreign banks, so that they could stabilize their operations. | September 7, 2011 | economy;financial regulation | 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 | Two of the several foreign banks getting help were Royal Bank of Scotland Plc at $84.5 billion and UBS AG of Switzerland at $77.2 billion. The Federal Reserve treats foreign banks operating in the United States the same as U.S. banks because they are all part of the same financial system. On a side note, even some companies, including General Electric, received emergency cash. So while Kucinich’s comment that "the Fed created $1.2 trillion out of nothing, gave it to banks and some of them foreign banks so that they could stabilize their operations" is a bit flip, maybe even pejorative, he was essentially correct in describing the unique money-creating capabilities of the Federal Reserve and how it was used. On the -O-Meter, his statement rates . |
5,351 | 1 | Says gubernatorial recall candidate Tom Barrett supported passage of Gov. Scott Walker's bill stripping collective bargaining of state employees. | April 3, 2012 | labor;state budget | 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. | wisconsin | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | a web site posting | The group cites a video that includes a snippet of a radio interview in which Barrett suggests a way to break the stalemate. Barrett did say it was important to separate the higher pension and health care payments from the collective bargaining changes. But he made it clear this was so the piece with broad support -- even from the unions -- could move forward. In the part cut from the video, Barrett clearly states: "I would vote no on the changes in collective bargaining." We rate the union’s . |
19,741 | 1 | Video shows Palestinians faking a funeral procession for a child. | May 10, 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. | null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | Doing a reverse image search, we found that this video has been online for more than a year . It was published on YouTube in March 2020, and translated into English, the title says, "A () funeral during home quarantine in Jordan. " A media outlet in the United Arab Emirates published an article that month that said Twitter users were then sharing the video of a group of people in Jordan who were trying to break a stay-at-home order the government imposed to try to slow the spread of COVID-19. Reuters reported that it was shared as a satirical example of Jordanians creatively trying to circumvent the lockdown. We rate claims that this was staged and filmed in Palestine . |
6,549 | 5 | While I was mayor of the city of Providence we had the lowest crime rate in 30 years. | October 16, 2012 | crime | david cicilline | David Cicilline was elected to the 1st Congressional District in 2010. Before that, he was mayor of Providence, beginning in January, 2003. A Brown University graduate, he received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. | rhode island | 8 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | a debate | The downward trend in Providence coincides with a national decline in the rate of serious crimes, but the decline in the early years of his administration was steeper than the national average. Cicilline and the Providence Police Department may have played a significant role in bringing the numbers down as well, but the scope of that effect is impossible to quantify with any certainty. Nonetheless, the is strong enough for the judges to rate Cicilline'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.) |
3,060 | 1 | The federal health care law is "probably the biggest tax increase ever in the history of our country. | February 3, 2011 | health care;taxes | rick scott | Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024. | florida | 15 | 36 | 42 | 42 | 38 | 8 | comments during a tour of a manufacturing plant | The health care-related tax increases are smaller than the tax increase signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and a temporary tax signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. And they are significantly smaller than two tax increases passed during World War II and a tax increase passed in 1961. The tax increases in the health care legislation do reverse a trend of federal tax cuts and represents the first significant tax increases since 1993. But for Scott to suggest they are the largest in U.S. history is . We rate this . |
3,252 | 1 | 2008: Unions Spent $400 Million to Elect Obama. | February 24, 2011 | campaign finance;elections | republican national committee | The Republican National Committee is the national arm of the Republican Party. | national | 4 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 2 | a political advertisement | When we looked at the public disclosures after the election, we found the unions reported $206.7 million in spending for all Democrats. It's clear that the unions raised additional money for get-out-the-vote activities, but we don't know how much more -- nor does the RNC. Finally, all that money went to support Obama and other Democrats, not just Obama alone. In short, we don't see the to support that unions spent $400 million to elect Obama. So we rate the statement . |
19,050 | 1 | Photo shows "people coming from California to Washington DC" to protest election results. | January 3, 2021 | elections;facebook fact-checks | viral image | Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine. | california | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | The event’s organizer, Shawn Farash, tweeted the image in the Facebook post that day, writing: "We had reports of 9000+ cars...And one airplane today at the #LongIslandLOUDMajority Trump Parade from Seaford to Montauk!" "@realDonaldTrump Long Island loves you!" said someone else who tweeted the image on Oct. 18. We rate this Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. |
4,170 | 2 | In Afghanistan, "it is very, very rare that someone who is killed in action is not killed by an" improvised explosive device, or IED. | August 26, 2011 | military;veterans | bob casey | Bob Casey, a Democrat, is a U.S. Senator representing Pennsylvania. | national | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | a conference call with reporters | We agree in the accuracy of Casey’s underlying point that IEDs pose a special danger to troops in Afghanistan. However, we think it’s important to correct the record for those who may have been misled by the specific statistic he cited. We think most people would consider 38 percent to 50 percent of hostile deaths to be something more than a "very, very rare" occurrence. So we rate Casey’s comment . |
22,495 | 1 | The election in Brazil "was very clearly a rigged election. | January 9, 2023 | elections;pundits | tucker carlson | Tucker Carlson was a Fox News pundit until his departure in April 2023. | null | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 9 | a broadcast | Carlson said the election in Brazil "was very clearly a rigged election." Officials in Brazil have taken several steps to increase voting security, including the formation of a transparency commission before the election that includes experts who inspect and audit the electoral process. The Carter Center, which sent observers to Brazil for the election, said it was not aware of any of fraud, and none of the international or Brazilian observers reported any of significant fraud. More than 100 international observers were in Brazil for the elections in October. Academics have suggested ways to improve the security of the machines, but saying security could be strengthened is not akin to of rigging. Carlson has not provided that the election was rigged. We rate this statement . RELATED: Tucker Carlson on the -O-Meter RELATED: Viral photo of copycat ‘QAnon shaman’ in Brazil wasn’t taken during 2023 riots RELATED: Trump’s baseless about 2020 election fraud and suspending the Constitution Staff researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. |
12,962 | 3 | Says that in Texas, it's "already illegal to enter a bathroom to harm someone. | January 5, 2017 | city government;criminal justice;crime;public safety;sexuality | sylvia garcia | Sylvia Garcia, a Houston attorney, a former member of the Harris County commissioners court, the former controller for the City of Houston and former presiding judge for the city's municipal court system. She joined the Texas Senate in 2013. | texas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a press release | Garcia said it’s already illegal in Texas to enter a bathroom to harm someone. In many ways, significantly, Texas laws forbid a person from harming another person. Also, a longstanding Houston ordinance bars a person from entering the bathroom. But Garcia didn’t show nor did we find similar no-entry restrictions in place statewide or in other cities. We rate this . – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/da650416-03c9-4e00-86f3-ae0faad4f8f6 |
21,277 | 1 | March 2022 moon crash was orchestrated by the government and visible from Earth. | April 11, 2022 | space;facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | a video | does not support the that it was planned by the government. Scientists said the rocket part was "space junk" from a Chinese rocket mission in 2014 and the crash was unintentional. The crash was not visible from Earth. And the videos in the post were created using visual-effects software in 2020 and 2021. We rate it . |
19,557 | 4 | President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposal "is fully paid for. Across 15 years, it would raise all of the revenue needed for these once-in-a-lifetime investments. | April 4, 2021 | federal budget;infrastructure;transportation;taxes | pete buttigieg | Pete Buttigieg is the Transportation secretary under President Joe Biden. Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He decided not to seek re-election and his term ended in January 2020. From 2009 to 2017, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was a lieutenant. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard College and a first-class honors bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College as a Rhodes Scholar. He ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primaries. | null | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" | Buttigieg said Biden’s infrastructure proposal "is fully paid for. Across 15 years, it would raise all of the revenue needed for these once-in-a-lifetime investments." Two independent analyses back up the notion that the new spending will be evened out by the new revenue raised in the plan after 15 years. But long-term projections like this are always tricky, and a 15-year time frame is unusual for evaluating the budget impact of legislation; under the typical 10-year time frame, the plan would not be fully paid for. We rate the statement . |
8,410 | 2 | Says that as a U.S. senator, Scott Brown "delivered for Wall Street, saving big banks $19 billion in taxes. | January 8, 2014 | financial regulation;taxes | 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 campaign ad | Brown might have "delivered" for Wall Street by opposing a specific $19 billion tax proposal that would have been part of Dodd-Frank, but his support for the law -- which proved pivotal for its passage, and which drew Brown significant flak from the financial-services industry -- still helped bring about billions worth of new taxes and fees on the financial sector, not to mention additional regulation. The has an element of , but ignores important details that would give a different impression. So we rate it . |
2,280 | 0 | Speaker Pelosi ... has been busy sticking the taxpayer with her $100,000 bar tab for alcohol on the military jets that she's flying. | September 17, 2010 | ethics | 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 speech to the Values Voter Summit | If Pelosi is to be believed that no alcohol is served on her domestic flights (which account for most of the flights she took as Speaker) and if you agree with FactCheck.org that she took a total of 12 international trips, then the total cost of alcohol would have been something less than $7,000, far lower than Bachmann's $100,000. It's fair game to argue that buying liquor for lawmaker jaunts is an unjustifiable taxpayer expenditure even if perfectly legal. However, if Bachmann wanted to criticize these outlays, she should have read the Judicial Watch news release more closely. Since Bachmann (or her staff) didn't do so, she ended up citing a figure for alcohol expenditures that was close to the much larger number for all non-plane costs of the trip. We rate her statement . |
5,758 | 4 | Says Mitt Romney has said "we don't need 'more firemen, more policemen, more teachers.' | June 12, 2012 | economy;education;jobs | tennessee democratic party | The Tennessee Democratic Party headquarters are in Nashville. | tennessee | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | a press release | The Tennessee Democratic Party says Mitt Romney has said "we don't need 'more firemen, more policemen, more teachers.' " That's a slight exaggeration of Romney's remarks -- he was responding to Obama's comments on them, not outlining his own specific policy against them. Still, that's pretty close to what Romney said. We rate the . |
8,675 | 2 | Federal money for Medicaid expansion "is guaranteed for a few years and then goes away. | April 2, 2014 | federal budget;medicaid | thomas garrett jr. | Thomas A. Garrett Jr., a Republican, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 5th Congressional District in 2016. He was in Virginia's Senate from 2012 to 2016. He has served as an assistant state attorney general and Commonwealth's attorney for Louisa County.
Garrett was born in Atlanta and is a graduate of Louisa County High School in Virginia. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Richmond.
| virginia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | an op-ed | Garrett wrote that the federal money that’s being offered for Medicaid expansion "is guaranteed for a few years, then goes away." His aide says that Garrett simply means the 100 percent federal match is only guaranteed for a few years. And sure, some money will go away as the U.S. match shrinks to 90 percent in 2020 and beyond under the Affordable Care Act. But Garrett does not make that distinction in his sweeping statement, which he repeats a second time in his column. He creates a impression that Obamacare cuts off all money for Medicaid expansion after states opt to increase their enrollments. We rate his statement . |
19,888 | 1 | The 2020 election results in Pennsylvania "show a statistically impossible pattern" and votes were manufactured for Joe Biden. | June 14, 2021 | elections;facebook fact-checks | bloggers | Blog posting on the Internet | pennsylvania | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 | a Facebook post | The Philadelphia Inquirer reported June 4 that Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania General Assembly face growing pressure, including from Trump, to audit the election. But the GOP lawmaker who heads a committee that held 10 hearings on the state’s election system said the state House would not authorize such an audit. Trump had a "lead" in the early vote tallies because the counting of mail ballots, per Pennsylvania election rules, took longer than ballots cast at the polls, and it was expected that Biden would make gains through the mail vote. No of fraud has been established. We rate the post . |
22,283 | 1 | The United States is "about to run out of diesel fuel ... by the Monday of Thanksgiving week. | October 27, 2022 | facebook fact-checks;punditfact;ukraine;russia | 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 | Carlson claimed that the U.S. is "about to run out of diesel fuel ... by the Monday of Thanksgiving week." He cited data from the Energy Information Administration to back up his , but the agency and a fuel expert said the numbers estimate only how much fuel the country has stored; it doesn’t include fuel produced at refineries or imported into the U.S. We rate this . PolitiFact contributing writer Becca Schimmel contributed research to this report. |
19,263 | 2 | After the Capitol insurrection, "one of the first people arrested was a leader of antifa. | February 12, 2021 | impeachment;jan. 6 | michael van der veen | Michael van der Veen is the founder of the van der Veen, O'Neill, Hartshorn, and Levin law firm in Philadelphia, Pa. He represented former President Donald Trump during the Senate impeachment trial in February 2021. | national | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | a speech at the U.S. Senate | Van der Veen said during the Senate impeachment trial that after the Capitol insurrection, "one of the first people arrested was a leader of antifa." That’s not accurate. There is no that antifa activists were behind the Jan. 6 riot. Sullivan was arrested nine days after the insurrection. He posted #antifa on social media, but he has denied being a part of antifa and an affidavit associated with his arrest did not mention him being a part of the coalition. Many other criminal complaints explicitly tie rioters to right-wing groups that van der Veen did not mention. His contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it . |
10,068 | 4 | Says Secretary of State John Kerry, "when he was a senator, flew to Managua and met with a communist dictator there, Daniel Ortega, and accused the Reagan administration of engaging in terrorism. | March 15, 2015 | history;foreign policy;terrorism | mitch mcconnell | Mitch McConnell is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky and the Republican minority leader in the U.S. Senate. | national | 5 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 1 | an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" | McConnell said Secretary of State John Kerry, "when he was a senator, flew to Managua and met with a communist dictator there, Daniel Ortega, and accused the Reagan administration of engaging in terrorism." We aren’t comparing Kerry’s Nicaraguan visit to the recent Republican senators’ letter to Iran’s leadership. But on the facts, McConnell got it right, with two imperfections on the margins, regarding both the timeline and the exact phrasing of Kerry’s charge against the Reagan administration. The statement is accurate but needs clarification, so we rate it . |
6,733 | 3 | Milwaukee County government employees pay "much more" for their health care than City of Milwaukee or State of Wisconsin employees. | November 14, 2012 | county government;health care;workers | marina dimitrijevic | Marina Dimitrijevic is the director of the Wisconsin Working Families Party. She's also a Milwaukee County supervisor and previously served as chairwoman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. Voters elected her to a Milwaukee County supervisor's post in 2004; in 2012, her fellow supervisors elected her to lead the board. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the Aug. 12, 2014 Democratic primary for the 19th District seat in the state Assembly. | wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | an interview | The precise number is hard to judge. And those people could pay out "much more" if you think hundreds of dollars a year or more is a big deal. But there’s an important detail here that undercuts Dimitrijevic’s : the county’s contribution to workers’ flexible spending accounts. Because of that, some city and county employees ultimately may pay similar amounts when you factor in that taxpayer-funded contribution. We rate Dimitrijevic’s statement . |
1,342 | 1 | For the hour after the (Jan. 14) debate, 'Debra Medina' was the No. 1 search on Google and for the remainder of that night No. 3. | January 29, 2010 | elections;pop culture | debra medina | Debra Medina, a Wharton businesswoman, sought the 2010 GOP nomination for governor. | texas | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | an interview | Perhaps Medina misspoke to the radio reporter or exaggerated her search ranking on Google. Despite our requests, her campaign never produced to shore up her . Medina enjoyed a spurt of debate-night interest that may have extended through the month. Yet we couldn't find proof her name was the No. 1 or No. 3 search term that evening--and Morris, the Austin expert, said that's surely not so. We rate Medina's statement as . |
14,587 | 0 | Breaking: Michelle Wolf fired -- Comedy Central apologizes to Sarah Sanders. | May 2, 2018 | fake news;pop culture;punditfact | the liberty raise | The Liberty Raise is a website that posts some fake news. | null | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | a headline | Comedy Central spokesman Steve Albani told PolitiFact that Wolf departed The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at the end of 2017. Then she landed her own show on Netflix . The Break by Michelle Wolf on Netflix is scheduled to debut on May 27. A spokesperson for Netflix confirmed for PolitiFact that Wolf’s show will start streaming weekly on that date. We rate the story about Wolf being fired . |
13,009 | 0 | This issue of busing voters in to New Hampshire is widely known by anyone who's worked in New Hampshire politics. It's very real, it's very serious. | February 12, 2017 | elections | 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." | national | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | an interview on ABC's "This Week" | A top adviser to Trump said people were bused into New Hampshire as part of an elaborate voting fraud scheme. However, there is no this occurs, and Republicans and Democrats in New Hampshire say it does not. Trump and his White House have been asked multiple times to provide but have not. We rate the . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/61821be7-0697-4ead-8dc0-2de40a18053e |
19,272 | 0 | Says Joe Biden planned a winter storm as "warfare, an attack on Texas by altering the jet stream. | February 15, 2021 | weather;facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| texas | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | a text post | Again, that’s not what is happening in Texas and many other parts of the country. Cloud seeding has been cited as for the chemtrails conspiracy theory, which falsely claims the government uses aircraft to spray chemicals in the sky to control the population. We found posts from Biddle in groups dedicated to the conspiracy theory. The post is and . We rate it ! |
8,875 | 0 | Says Barack Obama is the only American president who has not visited the D-Day Monument in Normandy on D-Day. | May 30, 2014 | history;military;veterans | chain email | Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims. | national | 6 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 44 | 107 | messages on the Internet | The chain email said that Barack Obama is the only American president who has not visited the D-Day Monument in Normandy on D-Day. This long-circulating email was always -- presidents Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama himself had indeed visited the monument in Normandy on D-Day -- but it’s especially now, with Obama scheduled to visit the monument again on D-Day 2014, making him the only president to visit it twice on D-Day. We rate the . |
7,869 | 4 | The shutdown is projected to result in "$10 billion in costs to the economy per week. | October 1, 2013 | economy;federal budget | 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 tweet | Wasserman Schultz said the shutdown is projected to result in "$10 billion in costs to the economy per week." That number comes from an investment report from Goldman Sachs. We found other estimates from financial firms that were slightly larger and slightly smaller than the $10 billion figure, but they were in the same ballpark. A key point here, though, is that these are estimates. Experts agree that caution and caveats are needed: There is much uncertainty about the economic impact, including the timing and length of the shutdown. For instance, if the shutdown is short and workers get paid back wages, the impact could ultimately be modest. If the shutdown continues for several weeks, the price tag could escalate exponentially. Overall, we rate this statement . |
3,298 | 3 | Due to a flaw in the 1995 Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act numerous oil companies are now drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in federal lands and paying no royalties to the federal government. | March 3, 2011 | energy;federal budget;gas prices | 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 House committee hearing | "I do think there’s bipartisan support to still try to fix that," said Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican who chairs the committee. So how does Kucinich’s statement rate on the -O-Meter? Testimony at the hearing from the head of a watchdog group advocating action suggests it is the drilling leases for the Gulf of Mexico that are at fault rather than the law that established the royalty relief. But the congressman was correct that some oil companies pay no royalties, and the GAO report his staff cited suggests that is an issue worth billions of dollars to the federal government. On the -O-Meter, we rate Kucinich’s as . |
1,093 | 3 | Obama used to be a lawyer for ACORN. | September 16, 2009 | candidate biography | karl rove | Karl Rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush. He has worked as a commentator and political analyst for Fox News. | national | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | an interview on Fox News | He handled o ne case along with two other attorneys. ACORN was one of several plaintiffs. And the U.S. Department of Justice sided with ACORN in the case. We think Rove's comment suggests a deeper legal relationship between Obama and ACORN than actually existed. And so we rule Rove's statement . |
15,818 | 0 | Says Beto O'Rourke "gave the remaining $4.5+ mill from his Senate race to (the Texas Democratic Party) a few months ago, & the Party sent the money back to him on the day of his announcement. | March 18, 2019 | campaign finance | tweets | Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets. | texas | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 98 | 39 | a tweet | O’Rourke transferred $4.5 million to the state’s Democratic party during the last month of his Senate campaign and party officials said the money was spent immediately to mobilize volunteers and voters. Political parties are not allowed to give more than $5,000 to a political candidate during an election. We rate this . – The statement is not accurate and makes a . |
20,655 | 1 | Ghislaine Maxwell's co-defendants include Beyonce and Kanye West. | December 9, 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. | null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | The criminal docket in the case — case number 1:20-cr-003300-AJN — does not name Beyonce, Kanye West or the other defendants named in the civil case. The separate, civil case — case number 1:20-cv-07102-LLS — was filed in federal court in August 2020. According to the complaint filed by Texas resident Charlene Latham, among other plaintiffs in the case , "over the course of decades, the defendants established a lucrative but sociopathic, criminal enterprise where defendants engaged in decades of human trafficking, sexual assaults and various abuses." A judge dismissed the case in September 2021 on grounds that it was frivolous, court records show . We rate claims that Beyonce, Kanye West, and others are co-defendants in Maxwell’s criminal case . |
12,690 | 2 | In many instances, (people's) health care costs are more than their mortgage costs or their rent, which, by the way, is a first in American history. | November 1, 2016 | economy;health care;history;government regulation;regulation | 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, "In many instances, (people's) health care costs are more than their mortgage costs or their rent, which, by the way, is a first in American history." This is a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison. He is comparing total health care costs but not total housing costs, looking at only mortgage and rental costs. To further complicate matters, per-person health care costs far more than what most households pay because many get their health insurance subsidized by employers or the government. With those caveats in mind, the federal data show Trump is, on average, . But the candidate fudged it a bit, and given individual circumstances it's certainly possible that some households are, in fact, seeing higher health care bills than what they're paying on their rent and mortgage. So we rate this . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/4549f29a-a2e2-49dd-8fff-34d70628f2be |
18,060 | 1 | The United Nations' "new world order" agenda will create one world government with one world military and the end of national sovereignty. | May 9, 2020 | environment;climate change;economy | 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. | null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 | a Facebook post | The list alludes to a real action plan, Agenda 21, that was created in 1992, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which introduced 17 goals. Those action plans were created to end poverty and inequality, not to create a totalitarian government. They are also nonbinding. Some of the post’s listed goals seem to link to the 17 goals introduced by the U.N., but they exaggerate or manipulate the meaning and proposed outcomes of the action plans. We rate this statement . |
4,745 | 4 | Traditionally, presidential candidates release their tax returns . . . Mitt Romney still won't. | December 6, 2011 | candidate biography;message machine 2012;new hampshire 2012;transparency;taxes | democratic national committee | The Democratic National Committee is the national organization of Democrats. | national | 7 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 0 | a Web video | Romney’s camp did not respond to questions about if and when he would release his income tax returns. In response to the question when the Perry camp raised the issue, a Romney spokeswoman said the campaign would revisit the question during the next tax-filing season, presumably in April. Our Ruling Of 34 presidential and vice presidential candidates reviewed above, only seven -- Brown, Buchanan, Huckabee, Forbes, Giuliani, Lugar, Nader -- declined to release personal tax returns. So while most follow the practice, not all do. We rate the DNC’s . |
15,915 | 4 | We cut unemployment by more than half" in South Bend, Ind. | April 7, 2019 | candidate biography;economy;jobs | pete buttigieg | Pete Buttigieg is the Transportation secretary under President Joe Biden. Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend, Ind., in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He decided not to seek re-election and his term ended in January 2020. From 2009 to 2017, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and was a lieutenant. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and literature from Harvard College and a first-class honors bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College as a Rhodes Scholar. He ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primaries. | national | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" | Buttigieg said "we cut unemployment by more than half" in South Bend. On the numbers, he’s right, and observers of South Bend’s fortunes say Buttigieg did things, both tangible and intangible, to improve the city’s economic outlook. That said, it’s worth noting that the decline in unemployment closely tracked declines in Indiana and the United States, suggesting that what he accomplished on unemployment was not unique. We rate the statement . |
11,737 | 0 | Says Donald Trump said of women, "And you can tell them to go f--- themselves. | May 16, 2016 | women | priorities usa action | Priorities USA Action is a PAC that is supportive of President Barack Obama. | national | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | a television ad | Priorities USA, in an anti-Trump ad, quotes the candidate as saying, "And you can tell them to go (bleep) themselves." It comes after multiple comments critical of women. The super PAC says the sound clip wasn't meant to be taken as a reference to women. That, as Trump might say, is a huuuuuuuge stretch. The ad is all about women. It features seven women and two men, only one of whom has a speaking role. All of the mouthed phrases — except the one in question — clearly attack, criticize or make disturbing references to women. The ad offers no indication that the "f--- themselves" line refers to anything but women. In fact, it refers to businesses that left the United States. The statement in the ad represents a misrepresentation of what Trump said. We rate it ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/600ae970-2bd5-47aa-b74b-c9270aa48e6f |
692 | 2 | I said two years ago that the Fannie and Freddie thing was a very serious problem and we had to work on it. | September 16, 2008 | economy;housing;regulation | john mccain | John McCain was a U.S. senator from Arizona, a post he held from 1987 to his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the U.S. House. He was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. McCain was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and spent his career in the military, as his father did. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was born in 1936 in Panama. | national | 37 | 37 | 31 | 32 | 39 | 8 | an interview on CNN's "American Morning" | We give McCain some credit for weighing in on problems surrounding Fannie Mae, even though he got involved after a comprehensive government report issued a loud alarm to anyone watching. However, his attempts to depict those efforts as some sort of early warning that could have lessened the current credit crisis just don't wash. All McCain was talking about then was the potential fallout of accounting troubles in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He didn't say anything about a freewheeling climate among creditors that had major financial institutions becoming badly leveraged on bad loans. We rule his . |
1,189 | 5 | History tells us that job growth always lags behind economic growth. | November 6, 2009 | 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 | remarks from the White House | The San Francisco Chronicle , relying on numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in August charted the lag between recessions' end and the peak of unemployment rates. In the eight recessions between 1949 and 1991, unemployment rates lagged by an average of about three months. After the last two, however, it took 15 months and 19 months, respectively, before unemployment rates peaked. Bottom line, President Obama is right when he cautions that employment has lagged behind economic recovery in the past. And so we rate his statement . |
20,826 | 0 | Total deaths from COVID MUCH LOWER than reported. | January 22, 2022 | coronavirus | youtube videos | Videos uploaded to YouTube. | null | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 10 | a YouTube video | But that’s a interpretation of the data. The U.K. report cited in the video clearly states that all 131,641 deaths — more than seven times what the video claims — were "due to COVID-19," meaning the virus was the underlying cause of death, even if the patients had preexisting health conditions that may have contributed. We rate this . RELATED LINK: COVID-19 death toll has not been overcounte |
6,628 | 2 | Says opponent Chad Chadwell "wants condom techniques demonstrated to your children. | October 30, 2012 | education;sexuality | tere mccann | In 2012, Tere McCann sought election to Place 2 on the Round Rock Independent School District Board of Trustees. | texas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | a campaign mailer | McCann said Chadwell "wants condom techniques demonstrated to your children." This statement has an element of in that Chadwell supports a developing proposal that could lead to students from eighth grade into high school being taught about contraceptive methods, including condoms. However, Chadwell was not explicit about supporting classroom condom demonstrations, we learned. It’s notable, too, that the presenter who stirred board discussion declared that condom demonstrations are not part of the contemplated lesson. These critical facts are absent from McCann’s . All told, we see a gaping difference between supporting a lesson on various contraceptive methods and advocating show-and-tell condom demonstrations. We rate this as . |
23,303 | 1 | Stop getting mammograms immediately as they are outdated and dangerous!" Thermography "is a safer way to test for breast cancer! | July 11, 2023 | health care;women;facebook fact-checks;health check | david wolfe | David Wolfe is a lifestyle and wellness social media influencer. | null | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | a Facebook post | A Facebook post said, "Stop getting mammograms immediately as they are outdated and dangerous" and suggested thermography was a safer alternative for detecting breast cancer. The American Cancer Society, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force all recommend mammograms to screen for breast cancer. Experts told PolitiFact that they weren’t aware of experts or cancer-preventing organizations that have advised against mammograms, despite what the post suggested. Mammography is not without risks and drawbacks, but experts rebutted the idea that thermography screening alone has proved safer or more effective at detecting breast cancer. We rate this . PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. |
12,776 | 0 | There was "serious voter fraud" in California. | November 27, 2016 | elections | donald trump | Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024. | california | 36 | 85 | 120 | 194 | 360 | 179 | a tweet | Donald Trump claimed "serious voter fraud" took place on Election Day in California. He offered no backing up his statement and his press team did not respond specifically to a request about fraud in the state. Elections officials and nonpartisan observers in California said there were no widespread reports of voter fraud. The state has some of the most stringent voter verification laws in the country. Allegations of fraud are so rare that Los Angeles County, the state’s largest county, does not track them. PolitiFact New Hampshire examined Trump’s that the Granite State also experienced "serious voter fraud." It described Trump’s statement as "reckless with zero ," and rated it after finding there were "no complaints of voter fraud filed in an election in which more than 728,000 ballots were cast." Trump’s about California voter fraud is equally reckless and without substantiation. We rate it . – The statement is not accurate and makes a . Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/212609ba-7a41-42a0-bb8a-2368e2b5121e |
4,119 | 5 | The "mega-rich" pay about 15 percent in taxes, while the middle class "fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot. | August 14, 2011 | taxes | warren buffett | Warren Buffett is an investor and philanthropist. He is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Neb. | national | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a "New York Times" op-ed | One final note: People who don't pay any income tax at all tend to have limited incomes, or they qualify for enough deductions -- think of child tax credits and mortgage interest -- that they have no income. When Buffett talks about people in the middle class who pay more taxes than he does, he's thinking of people who make much higher than average salaries. So when it comes to Buffett's statement, there are two categories: the rich and the really rich. And the tends to point to the conclusion that the really rich pay less in taxes as a percentage of income then their merely well-to-do counterparts -- if their income comes primarily from investments. Overall, we rate Buffett's statement . |
4,599 | 0 | Says that Sen. Sherrod Brown is "out there egging on a lot of these protesters who are spitting on policemen and going to the bathroom on policemen's cars at these protests on Wall Street and other places. | November 14, 2011 | civil rights;economy | josh mandel | Josh Mandel, a Republican from Lyndhurst, is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He served as Ohio treasurer from 2011 to 2019. Before that, he was a state representative from the 17th Ohio House District. He unsuccessfully challenged Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in the 2012 US Senate race. Mandel is running for the GOP nomination for an Ohio U.S. Senate seat in 2022. | ohio | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | a radio interview | On a conservative radio program Monday, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel let loose a provocative attack on U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, whose job he hopes to snag next year. |
2,747 | 4 | Says more than $3.5 billion in state revenue that is supposed to be dedicated to basic needs and functions is being diverted to "make the books look balanced. | November 15, 2010 | state budget | kirk watson | Kirk Watson, who initially won his seat in the Texas Senate in 2006, was previously mayor of Austin. Earlier, he served on the Texas Air Control Board, precursor to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He was the 2002 Democratic nominee for Texas attorney general. | texas | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a speech | "At the end of the story," Ogden said, "the obvious answer is a tax overhaul in the state of Texas. We really have a pretty rickety system right now." Bottom line: Watson accurately recaps the amount of money allocated from specific-purpose accounts for the 2010-11 state budget. But the shifting of funds doesn't just look like a book-balancing; it's for real. We rate Watson's statement . |
14,484 | 2 | A recent stomach virus outbreak at the beleaguered Quincy Veterans' Home shows Gov. Bruce Rauner "is letting persistent health issues jeopardize the wellbeing of our nation's heroes. | March 30, 2018 | public health;veterans | 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 tweet | Pritzker’s March 30 tweet held out a recent norovirus outbreak that sickened two dozen individuals at a state-run veterans’ facility in Quincy as of how Rauner had been "letting persistent health issues jeopardize the wellbeing of our nation’s heroes." Rauner has been under fire for his administration’s handling of deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at the facility. Yet unlike Legionnaires’, which is contracted by inhaling water vapor contaminated with the bacteria, the stomach bug state health officials suspect caused the latest Quincy health problems is spread from person to person, rendering a case for structural mismanagement something of a stretch. Norovirus spreads most frequently in closed environments like nursing homes and assisted living facilities such as Quincy. There is no specific cure for it, meaning the response from care providers is largely limited to isolating patients, casting doubt on what Rauner or his administration could have done to prevent or eliminate it. Asked how Rauner bears blame for the gastroenteritis outbreak, Pritzker’s campaign did not directly respond, instead attempting to characterize it as further after the Legionnaires’ problems at Quincy that the Republican should not be trusted to handle any health issue at the state facility. That conflates two very different epidemiological challenges, and leaves an impression--disputed by experts--that more could have, and should have, been done to stop the spread of norovirus at Quincy. For that, we rate Pritzker’s as . |
20,401 | 2 | The five most-endangered hospitals in the country are all in (North Carolina). | October 11, 2021 | health care | jeff jackson | Jeff Jackson represents the Charlotte area in the North Carolina state senate. | north carolina | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | a candidate forum | Jackson said: "The five most-endangered hospitals in the country are all in our state." North Carolina does have financially vulnerable hospitals. A 2020 report from The Chartis Group found six North Carolina hospitals to be among 216 of the nation’s "most vulnerable." A Sheps Center also found financially-vulnerable hospitals in North Carolina. But there is no ranking among these hospitals. And, based on available data, it’s for Jackson to suggest that the situation is more dire for rural hospitals in North Carolina than it is for those in other states. Jackson’s spokesman acknowledged that Jackson misspoke. What Jackson did say has an element of , but certainly leaves out critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this . |
20,569 | 1 | Keystone Pipeline was blocked by Obama on Warren Buffett's behalf. | October 27, 2021 | environment;energy;facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | post on Facebook | A Facebook post claims the Keystone Pipeline was blocked by Obama to benefit Buffett. That’s . The Keystone XL Pipeline has been blocked multiple times for climate, economic, and perceived national-interest reasons. We don’t find that the decision was intended to benefit Buffett. Buffett, in fact, supported its construction. We rate this . RELATED VIDEO |
22,987 | 1 | A robot with artificial intelligence "self-terminated" after 15 minutes of manual labor. | May 6, 2023 | technology;facebook fact-checks | facebook posts | Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 | a Facebook reel | A May 6 Facebook reel shows a robot moving boxes and suddenly collapsing. "The AI (artificial intelligence) experienced 15 minutes of wage slavery and then immediately killed itself after determining it as the logical choice," text on the video reads. "Even AI knows that repetitive passionless work drains your life force." The 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.) |
5,019 | 5 | Ohio has one of the highest provisional ballot rates in the country, and many of them go uncounted each election. | January 27, 2012 | elections | kathleen clyde | Kathleen Clyde was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in November 2010. Her 68th District includes the majority of Portage County. She currently resides in Kent.
| ohio | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a news conference | In 2008, nearly 40,000 provisional ballots, just under 20 percent, were rejected in Ohio. In the 2010 election, More than 11,000, slightly more than 11 percent, were rejected. Only three states rejected more ballots. Among states larger than Ohio, Texas, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania all had fewer provisional ballots and fewer rejections. On the -O-Meter, Clyde’s statement rates . |
5,229 | 5 | There are a lot of casinos across the country that have gone bankrupt. | March 6, 2012 | bankruptcy;economy;gambling;state budget;states | robert jacquard | Rhode Island state Rep. Robert Jacquard is a Democrat who represents District 17 in Cranston. | rhode island | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a speech | Gambling is a boom or bust industry. Even when times are good, casinos fail. And when times are bad, even more fail. As Schwartz told us, casinos "definitely are not a sure thing." Good management matters -- a point Jacquard made as well. We rate Jacquard’s statement . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.) |
23,106 | 1 | Having "biological boys … in their locker rooms" is a reason why "a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year. | June 4, 2023 | education;lgbtq;sports;women | 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. | null | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | a CNN town hall | Haley said the presence of "biological boys" in girls’ locker rooms is a reason why "a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year." Teen girls today are experiencing rising rates of suicidal ideation. However, there is no research that suggests this is being caused by the presence of trans athletes in locker rooms. Research points to other causes, including feelings of isolation or loneliness, feeling like a burden on others, difficulty navigating parental and family relationships and pressures from constant exposure to social media. We rate this statement . |