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liar2

like 2

The seasonal cold and flu is actually more dangerous for kids than the Coronavirus" and "there is very low transmissibility from children to their families and communities.

August 8, 2021

children;public health;coronavirus

tom tiffany

In 2004 and 2008, Tom Tiffany ran for the 12th State Senate District, first against Senator Roger Breske, and then Jim Holperin losing both times in very close elections. In 2010, he ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly after the position was vacated by retiring incumbent, Representative Donald Friske. Tiffany won the primary, and later defeated Democrat Jay Schmelling 58.09% - 41.81%. In 2012 Tiffany chose not to seek re-election to the State Assembly and to seek election to the State Senate after Holperin announced he would not run for reelection. He defeated Democrat Susan Sommer, 56% - 40%, in the general election on November 6, 2012. Tiffany succeeded fellow Republican Sean Duffy in Congress, winning a special election against Democrat Tricia Zunker in 2020.

wisconsin

Twitter

Tiffany claimed "The seasonal cold and flu is actually more dangerous for kids than the Coronavirus" and "there is very low transmissibility between from children to their families and communities." The first part of the uses outdated information, and the situation is now the opposite of what Tiffany said. Meanwhile, though the level of transmissibility from schools to families and the community may generally be low, the situation is more complicated than presented. Much depends on the level of spread in the community, how many adults are vaccinated and what mitigation measures are in place. For a statement that contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, our rating is .  

Amendment 1 protects Florida seniors from scams and rip-offs.

October 19, 2016

energy;florida amendments

consumers for smart solar

Consumers for Smart Solar is a utilities-backed advocacy group promoting Amendment 1, the "Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice" ballot measure. 

florida

a web ad

Consumers for Smart Solar said, "Amendment 1 protects Florida seniors from scams and rip-offs." The amendment’s wording doesn’t mention seniors specifically, it only lets current consumer protection laws stand. That means the measure doesn’t preclude any protections, but it also doesn’t provide any. If there were no amendment at all, the effect on consumer laws and regulations would be the same. This talking point may lead many voters, especially seniors, to think the amendment somehow offers new safeguards for solar customers, but it doesn’t. We rate the statement .

Says U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said, "It's better for our budget if cancer patients die more quickly.

March 16, 2017

fake news;punditfact

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

a headline

The back-and-forth illustrated that Price does want to draw back access to Medicaid. The comments in the made-up story, however, echo a real accusation made in 2009 by former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, during debate on the Affordable Care Act. Grayson admonished GOP opposition to the bill by saying on the House floor that "If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly." But Price did not use the words Politicops.com attributed to him by saying the budget would benefit more from cancer patients who gave up and died. We rate the statement !

Senator Obama's relatives and friends say he has been talking about running for president for at least the last 15 years," a campaign spokesman said.

December 2, 2007

candidate biography

hillary clinton

Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.

national

a news release

"The overall thematic attack that he is out there saying that he is somehow different from someone else in the field, that he is somehow propelled into this race … I think that's absolutely fair game for the Clinton camp to go after," said Dunn, a Democratic strategist not aligned with a candidate, but who worked as a consultant to Obama's Hopefund PAC for six months in 2006. "On the other hand, were they wise in the example they used?" It does appear that Obama expressed ambition for the office of president many years ago. We wish we had a ruling category called ", but ." We don't, so we're left with .  

Says George Floyd has "hair in one shot but is bald in the shots of him laying on the ground.

June 15, 2020

criminal justice;crime;facebook fact-checks

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

a blog post

Around the 2:20-minute mark, Floyd can be seen from above as he sits handcuffed against a wall. As he moves, his head looks different at different angles.  This blog post misleads readers to think Floyd’s death was staged. Video footage, witnesses, and autopsy reports prove otherwise. We rate this post .

Photos show a photojournalist crying while capturing pictures of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

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.

a Facebook post

The tweet includes an emoji of Qatar’s flag. Iraq played Qatar in the Round 16 of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and lost 0-1 . The verified Twitter account of Sports360 Arabiya tweeted the same image that day. The caption, translated by Google from Arabic to English, says: "An Iraqi photographer cries while performing his work as he watches his country’s national team exit from the Asian Cup." We rate this Facebook post .

Says Hillary Clinton said, "This planet might be able to support perhaps as many as half of a billion people who could live a sustainable life in relative comfort. Human populations must be greatly diminished, and as quickly as possible to limit further environmental damage.

February 14, 2019

environment;candidate biography;facebook fact-checks

viral image

Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.

a Facebook post

On Feb. 9, 1999, when she was the first lady, she gave a speech about Cairo at The Hague. Among other things, she discussed reproductive health care and family planning. "The world agreed — for the first time — that smaller families and slower population growth are created by choice and opportunity, not control and coercion," she said. More recently, Bindi Irwin, the daughter of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, criticized a State Department e-journal in 2013 for revising an essay she wrote and omitting Irwin’s opinion that the growing population poses the greatest risk to conservation. As for the made-up quote in the Facebook post, we rate it .

Says an image shows the Highland Park shooting suspect "in jail or rehab or a psychiatric center" before the shooting.

July 5, 2022

national;crime;facebook fact-checks;illinois;guns

marjorie taylor greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a Republican representative from Georgia.

georgia

a tweet

PolitiFact could not pinpoint where the image originated, but we found the same image posted on several since-suspended Twitter accounts that appear to have been affiliated with Crimo or the stage name he adopted as an amateur rapper, "Awake the Rapper." A Twitter spokesperson confirmed that the company suspended accounts that "may belong to the alleged perpetrator," per its rules around perpetrators of violent attacks.  Shortly after sharing the image for the second time to her nearly 1 million Twitter followers,  Greene retweeted it again and said , "This is supposedly photoshopped. "  Greene’s office did not respond to a request for comment.  We rate Greene’s that the image shows Crimo "in jail or rehab or a psychiatric center" before the shooting .

Says that in the Philippines more than a century ago, Gen. John Pershing "took 50 bullets, and he dipped them in pigs' blood," and shot 49 Muslim rebels. "The 50th person, he said, 'You go back to your people, and you tell them what happened.' And for 25 years, there wasn't a problem.

February 19, 2016

corrections and updates;history;military;religion;terrorism

donald trump

Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.

national

North Charleston, S.C

Of the eight historians we checked with, all were at least skeptical that what Trump said actually happened, and some expressed disbelief even more forcefully than that. The only of something approximating what Trump said stems from one letter documenting a different scenario written by a veteran more than a half century after the fact. Perhaps more important, the historians took issue with Trump’s suggestion that the tactic -- if it was even used at all -- actually worked to end tensions, noting that unrest persisted for years. In all, Trump’s is , so we rate it . UPDATE, Feb. 29, 2016: After we published this story, a reader pointed us to a memoir by Pershing titled My Life Before the World War, 1860-1917 , which was republished in 2013 by the University Press of Kentucky. In the memoir, Pershing writes that another commanding officer in the Philippines, Col. Frank West, had in at least one case seen to it that bodies of Muslim insurgents "were publicly buried in the same grave with a dead pig. It was not pleasant to have to take such measures, but the prospect of going to hell instead of heaven sometimes deterred the would-be assassins." In a footnote, the editor of the 2013 edition, John T. Greenwood, cited a letter about the incident from Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell, the commander of the Philippines Division, to Pershing: "Of course there is nothing to be done, but I understand it has long been a custom to bury (insurgents) with pigs when they kill Americans. I think this a good plan, for if anything will discourage the (insurgents) it is the prospect of going to hell instead of to heaven. You can rely on me to stand by you in maintaining this custom. It is the only possible thing we can do to discourage crazy fanatics." While these writings do provide strong that United States forces used pigs as a tactic against Muslim insurgents, they do not support the Trump made. There is no that Pershing himself committed these acts, there is nothing said about the use of 50 bullets dipped in pig’s blood, and most important, there is no to support Trump’s that this tactic was effective in stopping violence -- or that it would provide a useful policy today. When we ran this additional information by three of the historians we checked with for our original story -- Silbey, Linn and Janda -- they told us they agreed with our conclusion. Our rating remains .

There are countries in Africa where they have higher vaccination rates than here in the United States.

February 8, 2015

health care;public health;punditfact

katty kay

Katty Kay is an anchor for BBC World News America.

comments on NBC's "Meet the Press"

Kay said, "There are countries in Africa where they have higher vaccination rates than here in the United States." We found ample to back up her point, with several African countries boasting better vaccination rates than the United States. Mauritius, Tanzania and Morocco have nearly complete vaccination of 1-year-olds, according to World Health Organization data. We rate her .

In 1921, early suffragettes often donned a bathing suit and ate pizza in large groups to annoy men…it was a custom at the time.

June 6, 2019

fake news;history;facebook fact-checks

viral image

Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.

a Facebook post

That site also states that the photo was taken on July 31 that year during a pie eating contest at Tidal Basin Bathing Beach . We couldn’t find any credible reports of suffragettes eating pizza to annoy men — though the has appeared on Twitter, Reddit and Pinterest, among other websites — and definitely not in 1921. By then, women had secured voting rights. The 19th Amendment , which guaranteed all American women could cast a ballot, was ratified in 1920. We rate this Facebook post as .

AIG executives ... (took) a junket for over $400,000. Twice.

October 9, 2008

economy

barack obama

Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

national

Cincinnati, Ohio

Obama's comments suggest a misunderstanding of the details behind AIG’s collapse, or a deliberate effort to skip over the realities of AIG's corporate structure in order to make a good point. Also, Obama slams AIG for two junkets at a time when the company had only held one. AIG might have had a tin ear when it came to organizing corporate events. But Obama’s to lay blame for the financial meltdown on a highly regulated, profitable part of the business that sells life insurance. We rule the .

The latest with the Durham report is that the Clinton campaign … actually spied on the president of the United States.

February 15, 2022

elections;legal issues

rick scott

Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.

national

a statement to reporters

Scott said "the latest with the Durham report is that the Clinton campaign … actually spied on the president of the United States." The filing from Durham is more tentative than Scott presents. It states that an attorney for an internet company that was collecting data related to White House communications from 2016 to early 2017 also served as an attorney for the Clinton campaign. It doesn’t say that the Clinton campaign directed these activities. And it does not assert that the data was gathered illegally or that it was collected while Trump was president. We rate this .

The Biden White House has "no one there. They don't travel. They don't go down to the border. They don't go overseas.

May 18, 2021

eric trump

Eric Trump is the second son of President Donald Trump and his former wife Ivana Trump. He is the executive vice president of the Trump Organization.

national

a Fox News appearance

Eric Trump said of the Biden White House, "There’s no one there. They don’t travel. They don't go down to the border. They don't go overseas." That’s on every point. The coronavirus has kept some White House staff working away from the White House grounds, but it’s not that "there’s no one there." Biden has made several trips, including a visit to Michigan the day Trump made his . Other members of Biden’s White House and Cabinet have traveled to the border and overseas. We rate this !

Clayton County Public Schools recently achieved a milestone that has eluded other metropolitan districts across the state" by meeting federal guidelines for having a highly qualified staff.

July 26, 2012

education

clayton county schools

The Clayton County school district, which has about 51,000 students, is located just south of Atlanta city limits.

georgia

a press release

Waller said he was aware that there have been other districts that have met the guidelines. "It was not intended to imply no one else has done this," he said. Clayton did meet the 100 percent threshold for this school year, as the press release said. There are other metro districts that have come very, very close, but have not reached that mark yet. We rate this .

Says that President Obama said in 2008 that his proposed greenhouse gas regulations "will bankrupt" anyone who wants to build a new coal-fired power plant.

March 1, 2011

environment;cap and trade;climate change

ohio coal association

The Ohio Coal Association is a trade association that represents the interests of Ohio’s coal industry.

ohio

testimony to a House subcommittee

Candidate Obama’s methods were to be more aggressive. In fact, the EPA has shown some flexibility, agreeing to phase in carbon restrictions on new or expanded plants based on their size. The agency also announced on the same day as Carey testified that it will delay its deadlines for businesses that must report their emissions . Carey quoted Obama accurately but not fully, and the regulations and methods that Obama’s EPA wants -- backed by a U.S. Supreme Court decision saying the agency has to regulate greenhouse gas emissions -- are not the same as the candidate proposed. The quote is right, but given the need for clarification or additional information, we rate Carey’s statement as .

ESPN soccer analyst Shaka Hislop collapsed on air because of the COVID-19 vaccine.

July 24, 2023

facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

tweets

Twitter is a messaging service where people often discuss politics. Individual messages are called Tweets.

a tweet

"  "I got mine months ago, and I feel so much better for it," Hislop said. Looking for news reports or other credible sources connecting this vaccination to his recent collapse, we found only speculation.  That’s not enough to support such a dramatic . If does emerge linking what happened to Hislop on July 23 and his COVID-19 shots, we’ll reconsider this ruling.  For now, it’s .  

John McCain "said publicly that Hillary Clinton would make a good president.

February 5, 2008

elections

james dobson

James Dobson is an evangelical leader who founded the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family.

national

a statement read on the <i>Laura Ingraham Show </i>

Russert: "We may have a fusion ticket right here." McCain: "Thanks for doing that to us. Thanks for doing that to us, Tim." No spin in that exchange. We judge Dobson's statement to be .

British Intelligence Seizes Clinton Foundation Warehouse, $400 Million In Cash.

April 14, 2018

fake news;punditfact

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

posts on the Internet

The source of that ? The Last Line of Defense. Social media posts linked to an article headlined, "British Intelligence Seizes Clinton Foundation Warehouse, $400 Million In Cash." But that never happened -- the tall tale originated with a self-described satirical post. We rate it .

Rhode Island has the second highest per enrollee (Medicaid) cost of any state in the country, which is 60 percent higher than the national average.

March 13, 2015

economy;federal budget;health care;medicaid;poverty;public health;regulation;state budget;states;taxes

gina raimondo

Gina Raimondo served a four-year term as Rhode Island's general treasurer beginning in Jan. 4, 2011 before being elected governor in 2014. She cofounded and served as a general partner of Point Judith Capital. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and a Rhodes Scholar. She is married with two children.

rhode island

a television interview

Raimondo said, "Rhode Island has the second highest per enrollee [Medicaid] cost of any state in the country, which is 60 percent higher than the national average." But in making her statement on one of the central elements in her proposed budget, Raimondo didn’t note that the numbers were from the 2011 year. Granted, those are the most recent statistics available, according to Kaiser. But a lot can happen in four years. Because the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rule it . (If you have a you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)

Under Florida's voting law, a requirement to turn in voter registrations within 48 hours "makes it impossible to meet the deadline if you're working right to the end of the week.

June 4, 2012

elections;pundits;tampa bay 10 news

chris matthews

Chris Matthews is the host of the MSNBC show Hardball. Previously, Matthews served on the staffs of congressional Democrats and worked as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter. He also worked as chief of staff to former House Speaker Tip O'Neil.

florida

comments on MSNBC's "Hardball"

That’s not correct. The law factored in weekends and holidays and gave voter registration groups until the next business day. We rate Matthews’ . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the 2012 election. View the video version of this fact-check here .

Says shredded ballots were found in Dell boxes in Georgia

January 5, 2021

elections;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

georgia

a Facebook post

A Facebook post shares a screenshot of a viral tweet that claimed to find shredded ballots in boxes in Georgia. This is bogus. Shredding ballots is a federal crime and election officials in the state rejected the . Representatives from Fulton County, which was identified as the location where the photo was taken, said the shreds of paper are from the envelopes that absentee ballots come in. !

Video shows child shouting an expletive at Jill Biden.

November 30, 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.

a Facebook post

(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) As Reuters reported , the audio of the child screaming an expletive comes from another video that has been online for at least a few years, before the Biden administration started. The title of that video, posted here on YouTube in 2019, says: "Kid tells teacher to shut up." Other people can be seen reacting to the outburst, both laughing and chastising the child.  We rate claims that this was shouted during Biden’s book reading !

We jumped 11 places since beginning this year in terms of being job-friendly.

July 12, 2011

economy

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

an interview on Fox News

And some of the tax changes that boosted the state were put in place by previous administrations. Kasich was trying to show progress in Ohio, selling both the state and his stewardship. In his , he was citing only one study. On that study his statement was accurate, but these other points help clarify the picture. On the -O-Meter, that gets a rating of .

Says Mitt Romney's comments indicated he would not have pursued Osama bin Laden.

April 27, 2012

candidate biography;message machine 2012;terrorism

barack obama

Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

national

a Web ad

An Obama campaign ad suggested Mitt Romney wouldn’t have agressively pursued Osama bin Laden by citing Romney's statement that, "It's not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person." The Obama campaign is right that Romney used those words, but by cherry-picking them, it glosses over comments describing his broader approach. Romney said he wanted to pursue all of al-Qaida, not just its leaders. The reporter quoting him in April 2007 said he instead "endorsed a broader strategy to defeat the Islamic jihad movement." And he said just over a week later that he would "get Osama bin Laden and track him wherever he has to go, and make sure he pays for the outrage he exacted upon America … he is going to pay, and he will die." Still, Romney was clear later that summer that he would prefer to participate with allies rather than take unilateral action to kill terrorists as Obama supported — and later did. The ad takes Romney’s words out of context, but gets part of the story right. We rate it .

We cut property taxes for seniors and our middle class.

July 7, 2014

taxes

charlie crist

Charlie Crist lost the race for Florida governor as the Democratic candidate in 2022. He served as a U.S. congressman from St. Petersburg since 2017 and resigned Aug. 31, 2022 to focus on his campaign.  As a Republican, Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011. Crist left the Republican Party in 2010 to mount a campaign for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist lost the race to Marco Rubio. In 2012, he endorsed President Barack Obama and announced that he had registered as a Democrat. He lost his race as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014.

florida

campaign commercial

Crist said, "we cut property taxes for seniors and our middle class." Crist supported increased homestead exemptions for seniors, although only those considered low income. He also supported tax cuts for property owning residents, but not just an undefined middle class. Voters decided on both issues with constitutional amendments, and the state Legislature did its part by passing bills that Crist signed. Crist’s doesn’t specify the nuances, but property tax cuts for groups falling under those umbrellas did happen during his term. We rate the statement .

Says Joe Biden's Democratic National Convention speech "had to be taped in segments, and the segments had to be edited together.

August 21, 2020

pundits;facebook fact-checks;punditfact

rush limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is a conservative radio talk show host. His website describes him as "America's Truth Detector; the Doctor of Democracy; the Most Dangerous Man in America; the All-Knowing, All-Sensing, All-Everything Maha Rushie; defender of motherhood, protector of fatherhood and an all-around good guy."

a radio segment

Limbaugh said Biden’s convention speech "had to be taped in segments, and the segments had to be edited together." The nearly 25-minute speech was continuous. It was carried live on TV stations, streamed live online and delivered live for a room of reporters, camera crews, campaign staffers and Secret Service agents in Wilmington. Multiple reporters shared photos from inside the venue. We rate Limbaugh’s !

Says Sen. Luther Olsen, his recall opponent, supported the sale of state-owned power plants "not to the highest bidder, but to the biggest donors" with no oversight.

July 25, 2011

energy;state budget

fred clark

Democrat Fred Clark is a member of the Wisconsin state Assembly, representing the 42nd District near Baraboo. He was elected in 2008. He ran unsuccessfully against Republican state Sen. Luther Olsen in an August 2011 recall election.

wisconsin

a television ad

The ad’s starts off OK by saying Olsen supported a no-bid approach. So there’s an element of in the . But some critical facts are ignored and missing on part of the . Olsen backed legislative oversight of any sale, and there is no that his vote was "supporting" a sale to the flashiest campaign donor. We rate Clark’s against Olsen as .

Video footage from Georgia shows suitcases filled with ballots pulled from under a table and illegally counted after election observers were told to leave.

December 3, 2020

elections;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

georgia

Facebook posts

Social media posts that video from Georgia shows suitcases filled with ballots pulled from under a table and illegally counted after election observers were told to leave. That’s . State officials have said there was no suitcase, no instruction to leave, and no illegal counting of ballots. The video does not prove that the bins shown contained fraudulent ballots, either. We rate these Facebook posts . RELATED: Georgia election worker falsely accused of discarding ballot is in hiding, official says

If the FAA is worried about what the 5G deployment will do to the planes, what do you think it will do to our bodies?

January 19, 2022

public health;technology;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a post

The post inaccurately implies that the FAA’s concerns about radio interference are also applicable to human health. That’s not the case. The concern about 5G is that it could cause wireless interference with instruments onboard airplanes, potentially imperiling safety. Current does not support the that 5G technology is a health hazard. We rate this . 

NASA will pay you $100,000 to stay in bed for 60 days!

September 3, 2017

fake news;punditfact

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

a blog post

A recent blog post claims "NASA will pay you $100,000 to stay in bed for 60 days!" NASA does have a program that pays volunteers to participate in bed rest studies, where one lies down for a long period of time. The point is to allow scientists to understand how the body might be affected by space travel. But the blog post grossly the amount of money one would receive for such a task. In the past, rather than being paid $100,000 for 60 days of lying down, volunteers have been paid $18,000 for 70 days of their time. We rate this statement .

U.S. is "really not doing (COVID-19) reporting right" because deaths are being improperly counted and hospitals have an "incentive" to pad stats.

October 24, 2020

elections;coronavirus

donald trump

Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.

wisconsin

Speech

Trump said at a Waukesha rally the U.S. is "really not doing (COVID-19) reporting right" because deaths are being improperly counted and hospitals have an "incentive" to pad stats. This is on every point. The U.S. is following the same COVID-19 death reporting guidelines as nearly every other country, which come from the World Health Organization. Under those guidelines, someone with heart disease, cancer or any other disease whose death is hastened by COVID-19 would be listed as COVID-19 death. And while COVID-19 patients do generate slightly higher payments to hospitals if they’re covered by Medicare — due to a bill Trump himself signed — there’s no this has led to any widespread fraud or reporting as Trump implies. We rate this .  

Under the Hate Crimes bill, "any pastor, preacher, priest, rabbi or imam who gives a sermon out of their moral traditions about sexual practices could be found guilty of a federal crime.

October 8, 2009

crime

john kline

U.S. Rep. John Kline is a U.S. Congressman from Minnesota.

national

a press release

"I don't see how anyone who has read the language of the legislation could come to that conclusion," Moulton said. We certainly think it's fair for Republicans to criticize the decision to add this controversial hate crime provision to a bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we also think it's for opponents of the bill to again raise the scare tactic that it might lead to the prosecution of preachers who condemn homosexuality from the pulpit. The language of the bill makes abundantly clear that it would not. And we rule Kline's statement .

500 National Guardsmen being called to Kenosha ahead of the Rittenhouse verdict. Had they done this in the first place, there wouldn't have been a trial.

November 15, 2021

corrections and updates;facebook fact-checks;guns

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

wisconsin

a post on Facebook

A Facebook post says, "500 National Guardsmen being called to Kenosha ahead of the Rittenhouse verdict. Had they done this in the first place, there wouldn’t have been a trial."  The implies that the National Guard was not present in Kenosha when Rittenhouse shot three people, two of them fatally.  The National Guard was activated and arrived in Kenosha on Aug. 24, 2020. The Rittenhouse shooting happened the following day, Aug. 25, 2020. We rate this .  CORRECTION,  Nov. 22, 2021:  We corrected an description of how George Floyd was killed by a police officer.

Says $500 billion in Medicare cuts are coming.

June 15, 2011

medicare

lois kolkhorst

Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, a former Texas House member, won election to the Texas Senate in December 2014.  She's formerly the chairwoman of the House Committee on Public Health. Her family runs Kolkhorst Petroleum in Navasota, according to biographical information on her campaign website.

texas

House floor remarks

The referenced $500 billion figure depends on a slowing in the pace of Medicare cost increases. That’s not the same as cutting back. Medicare spending will still grow; benefits will expand. Still, there remains the prospect of some providers quitting Medicare, possibly making it harder for patients to get care. Kolkhorst’s statement has an element of , making it .

Under the House health care bill, Medicaid spending "actually goes up 20 percent over the next 10 years.

June 27, 2017

health care;medicaid;punditfact

newt gingrich

Newt Gingrich is a political adviser and author. A former Georgia congressman, Gingrich served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich sought the GOP nomination for president in 2012.

an appearance on 'Fox & Friends'

Gingrich said under the House health care bill, Medicaid spending "actually goes up 20 percent over the next 10 years." By any CBO projection and under any proposed legislation, Medicaid spending will increase over the next decade — because health care costs are increasing. The House health care bill limits that increase to 20 percent, while maintaing the status quo requires a 60 percent increase, according to the CBO. Both the bills in the House and the Senate limit the growth of spending. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it .

After the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, "the ambassador's body was dragged through the street.

May 4, 2014

foreign policy;terrorism;punditfact

laura ingraham

Laura Ingraham is a conservative broadcaster and commentator. On April 13, 2014, she was named an ABC News contributor.

a broadcast of ABC's "This Week"

  Ingraham said that the body of Ambassador Stevens was dragged through the street. We reached out to Ingraham but did not hear back. After reading three government reports and independent press accounts, we find that Stevens, overcome by smoke from the fire, was brought to a Libyan hospital where efforts to revive him failed. To be dragged through the streets implies disrespect. There are no reports of public abuse of his body.  This was debunked long ago and the has been widely available. We rate Ingraham's .

Nationally, they predict prison populations on the basis of third-grade achievement.

March 19, 2019

criminal justice;education

toni preckwinkle

Preckwinkle is the Cook County Board President and also leads the Cook County Democratic Party. She is currently running for mayor of Chicago.

illinois

a debate

Preckwinkle said, "Nationally, they predict prison populations on the basis of third-grade achievement." That’s a riff on a well-worn and startling urban legend that has been debunked repeatedly by PolitiFact and other news outlets over the years. It’s not in Illinois and we could find no credible that suggested it was elsewhere. We rate it .   — The statement is not accurate. Click here  for more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

We rank below Ethiopia, I'm told, in terms of our exports per capita, well below any of the other developed countries we trade with, and well below China and (South) Korea.

July 19, 2011

economy;foreign policy;trade

rob portman

Rob Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. He is a former Republican congressman who also was a U.S. trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George H.W. Bush.

ohio

a television interview

So where does that leave us? Portman's underlying point remains that U.S. exports lag behind other countries. Yet even allowing that he misspoke on the terms for his comparison, he still is off point on one of his examples. His statement is partially accurate, but sorting it out requires knowing some important details. On the -O-Meter, that makes it .

Homelessness has skyrocketed across California. We have the nation's highest homelessness rate and the nation's highest homeless population.

March 8, 2018

homeless;housing;states;the 2018 california governor's race

travis allen

Travis Allen is a Republican and a member of the California State Assembly, representing the Orange County area. He is a 2018 candidate for California governor.

california

Candidate for governor and state lawmaker Travis Allen recently claimed homelessness has "skyrocketed" in California and that the state has "the nation’s highest homelessness rate and the nation’s highest homeless population." A December 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is considered the authority on state-by-state homeless counts, and shows Allen got two of his three points correct. California’s homeless numbers jumped nearly 14 percent in 2017 as nationwide levels remained nearly flat, giving credence to his first point. Meanwhile, the report showed two other states, Hawaii and New York, have a higher per capita homeless rate than California’s. Finally, it shows California, indeed, has the highest total homeless population at 134,278, far more than second place New York. Looking at Allen’s statement in sum, he was on the mark twice and only slightly strayed from the facts on the per capita . For that reason, we rate his overall statement .   – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. UPDATE: After publication, we received an email from a spokeswoman for Travis Allen. To support the statement, she cited an Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee Analysis of AB 2161 showing "California experienced the largest increase in the number of residents experiencing homelessness – over 16,000 individuals" from 2016 to 2017. 

Eighty-five percent of government's running right now. Only 15 percent of government spending is shut down.

October 2, 2013

federal budget

rand paul

Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky elected in 2010. He ran for president in 2016 before dropping out to seek re-election to the Senate. Paul is a medical doctor and an ophthalmologist. His father is Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas. 

national

an interview on CNN

Paul said that "85 percent of government's running right now. Only 15 percent of government spending is shut down." Government shutdowns by nature are somewhat haphazard, so it’s hard at this point to calculate these numbers with any precision. However, due to the big role of entitlement spending in the federal budget, Paul is likely in the ballpark when he measures "government" by the yardstick of spending. However, measuring government in other ways, such as the percentage of federal employees being furloughed in major departments, would make the impact appear bigger. And when he said that "85 percent of government" is operating right now, that’s more of a stretch. Paul’s comment is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it .

At a minimum, 40 percent of those who view child pornography end up molesting children as a result.

November 18, 2011

children;crime

mike dewine

Mike DeWine, the Ohio attorney general, won the Republican primary for governor in May 2018 and is running in the general election in November. Previously he was one of Ohio's U.S. senator's, lieutenant governor and a member of the General Assembly.

ohio

a news conference

And that’s exactly what DeWine did. And researchers caution that there is no that the molesting of children by those possessing child porn takes place as a result of viewing the child porn, a made by DeWine. Quite to the contrary, study of this cause-effect relationship we found suggests that nearly all offenders committed acts of molestation prior to looking at child porn. Those are critical facts that would give a different impression of DeWine’s . On the -O-Meter, his rates .

Obamacare provision will allow "forced home inspections" by government agents.

August 15, 2013

civil rights;health care;public health;privacy issues

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

national

blog posts

Bloggers passed around a last week that a provision of the new health care law will allow "forced" home inspections by government agents. But the program they pointed to provides grants for voluntary help to at-risk families from trained staff like nurses and social workers. What bloggers describe would be an egregious abuse of the law — not what’s allowed by it. We rate the .

Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent $30,000 to attend the Met Gala and "God knows how much on that dress.

September 13, 2021

congress;facebook fact-checks

viral image

Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.

new york

a Facebook post

Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez, told PolitiFact that the congresswoman didn’t buy her ticket to the gala.  "She was invited as a guest of the Met," Hitt said. "She also did not get to keep the dress." A spokesperson for the Met confirmed that Ocasio-Cortez was a guest of the museum.   We rate claims that she paid for her ticket and dress .

The governor does not have any power to veto a referendum [on same-sex marriage] that would be a constitutional amendment.

January 13, 2013

civil rights;families;human rights;legal issues;government regulation;lgbtq;marriage;sexuality

christopher plante

Christopher Plante is executive director of National Organization for Marriage - Rhode Island, which supports traditional marriage and opposes same-sex marriage.

rhode island

an interview

Christopher Plante said Gov. Lincoln Chafee "does not have any power to veto a referendum that would be a constitutional amendment" on the issue of same-sex marriage. It's , as Plante said, that the governor has no veto power over constitutional amendments proposed by the General Assembly. But the question wasn't posed that way, and Plante's answer might have given some viewers the impression that Chafee has no say if the General Assembly decides to send the question of same-sex marriage to the voters. Because his statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rate it . (If you have a you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)

Says Rick Perry "provided in-state tuition... for illegal immigrants.

September 1, 2011

immigration;education

rick santorum

Rick Santorum is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

texas

Tampa, Florida

Six years later, Perry opposed an attempt to repeal the measure, telling the Houston Chronicle : "I’m for leaving the law like it is because I think it serves a good purpose." He reiterated his support during the 2010 Texas gubernatorial campaign. Perry’s comments at the Sept. 12 and Sept. 22 debates aligned with his previously supportive statements. All told, Perry isn’t solely responsible for the Texas law enabling illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition, but he signed it into existence and has stood by it. We rate Santorum’s as .

Says President Donald Trump "never downplayed the virus.

September 9, 2020

coronavirus

kayleigh mcenany

Kayleigh McEnany is an on-air commentator for Fox News and former White House press secretary under President Donald Trump. She was previously a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee and a pro-Trump pundit on CNN.

national

a White House press briefing

McEnany said Trump never downplayed the virus.  The record shows she’s . During the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, Trump said the country was in very good shape and blamed Democrats and the media for trying to inflame the situation beyond what the facts would warrant.  In the very tape that McEnany was asked about, Trump said he downplayed the virus to avoid creating panic. McEnany spun that as him showing leadership to calm a worried nation. The reasons Trump said what he said aren’t part of this fact-check. Trump’s words are. And they give zero support to McEnany’s statement. We rate this .

One out of every 30 people in the Greater Boston area is an illegal alien.

July 26, 2018

immigration;homeland security

jeff sessions

Jeff Sessions is President Donald Trump's Attorney General. He was previously a U.S. Senator from Alabama.  

national

a speech

Sessions said, "One out of every 30 people in the Greater Boston area is an illegal alien." Sessions’ is supported by estimates from Pew Research Center and U.S. Census Bureau data. Factoring in a margin of error in Pew’s study would make Sessions’ a conservative estimate. We rate his statement .

Missouri ranks 45th in the nation in per capita state fiscal support for higher education and Missouri State is last among Missouri schools.

February 14, 2019

education;state budget

clif smart

Clifton "Clif" M. Smart III has served as the 11th president of Missouri State University since June 27, 2011.

missouri

a tweet

Missouri State University’s President Clif Smart said , "Missouri ranks 45th in the nation in per capita state fiscal support for higher education and @MissouriState is last among Missouri schools." While Smart did not have the latest numbers from fiscal year 2019, he was on track with the numbers from previous years, showing Missouri and Missouri State University rank low in comparison to other states and comparable universities. We rate this statement .

You don't know if this (the H1N1 vaccine) is gonna cause neurological damage like it did in the 1970s.

October 8, 2009

health care;pundits

glenn beck

Glenn Beck is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show. He also hosts an Internet-based TV show. Beck formerly hosted a television talk show on CNN Headline News and then Fox News.

national

his radio program

The 30-year track record of seasonal flu vaccines strongly suggests the new H1N1 vaccine won't cause neurological damage. Without noting that the H1N1 vaccine has been manufactured in essentially the same way as the seasonal flu shot that has been used by hundreds of millions of people — without any established link to neurological problems — ends up by omission. And so we rule Beck's statement .   Editor's note: This statement was rated when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  

A video shows Disney is opening pediatric transgender clinics.

July 7, 2023

lgbtq;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

"I enjoy laughing at liberal lunatics, mocking celebrity scum, and exposing the Liberal Media Industrial Complex," Dice wrote on his YouTube account description . Dice shared the same video on Bitchute , where the description clearly stated it was satire. Days before his Oceanside appearance, Dice also posed as Bergman at a Del Mar City Council meeting near San Diego and made the same Disney .  Disney, which has been publicly supportive of LGBTQ+ employees and guests, has not announced any advocacy of or plans for a themed transgender clinic for children in press releases or in news reports. We rate the that this video shows Disney is opening pediatric transgender clinics .

California's Prop 60, which would require condom use in adult films, would put "workers in the adult film industry at risk for lawsuits and harassment.

June 24, 2016

government regulation;public health

no on 60 campaign against condom requirement in adult films

The No on 60 campaign opposes California's proposed condom requirement in adult films. Opponents of Prop 60 include Californians Against Worker Harassment which was founded by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry.

california

a campaign video advertisement

Opponents of California’s Prop 60, which would require condom use in adult films, recently claimed it would put "workers in the adult film industry at risk for lawsuits and harassment." The statement is partially accurate: Some adult film workers, and perhaps a growing share, could face lawsuits if they have a financial interest in the content they work on. But Prop 60 does not specify what constitutes a financial interest. Ultimately, it may be up to the courts to decide. Importantly, the by the opponents makes no mention that only workers with a monetary stake in the films would be liable and only after a complaint process plays out. Those who are independent contractors would face no legal action. The statement leaves out this key context and gives the impression that any or all workers could face lawsuits. We rate the .  – 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/be4f6e60-46d0-4490-af32-884f48bf9a49

Says U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher "breaks earmark pledge.

April 25, 2012

congress;federal budget

tennessee democratic party

The Tennessee Democratic Party headquarters are in Nashville.

tennessee

a blog post on the party’s web site on April 25, 2012

The Tennessee Democratic Party claims Fincher’s decision to sign the letter voicing support for the "miscellaneous tariff bill" means he has reneged on his no-earmarks pledge. But while tariff breaks do raise some of the same concerns as earmarks, they are different. Earmarks direct spending; tariff bills are more like tax breaks. More importantly, the process for tariff breaks is transparent and relatively easy to track, unlike the earmarks of previous years. We rate the Tennessee Democratic Party’s as .

Breaking: John Fetterman RESIGNATION Announcement.

March 3, 2023

congress;facebook fact-checks

instagram posts

Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.

national

a post

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, told The Philadelphia Inquirer he would dismiss any calls to ask Fetterman to step down. Fetterman’s not the first American politician to deal with a significant health issue while running for or holding office; other senators have taken time away while recovering from strokes or other ailments.  A spokesperson for Fetterman’s office declined to comment specifically on this . However, there is no that Fetterman has announced he is stepping down. This is .

Elon Musk tweeted "looking into this" in response to a claim that the "KKK never did anything wrong to Black people.

July 16, 2023

facebook fact-checks

viral image

Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.

an Instagram post

We found no that @ilikegroomingchildren is or was a real Twitter account, nor that Musk responded to someone tweeting that the KKK "never did anything to Black people." Rather, this seems like an effort to pan Musk for responding to other users in a similar manner. The formatting and type in the image don’t match those employed on the real Twitter platform.  For example, he said "looking into it" in response to complaints that a 2024 presidential election denier had been wrongly blocked from Twitter and from conservative accounts that have shared misinformation .  We rate claims that Musk responded "looking into this" to this particular tweet .

Facebook is spamming all climate articles by misleading readers about" the accuracy of climate models.

January 31, 2022

climate change

watts up with that

Watts Up With That is a blog created by broadcaster Anthony Watts to provide a platform for those who accept and those who are skeptical of climate change theories to exchange views.

national

a blog post

The Watts Up With That blog said "Facebook is spamming all climate articles by readers about" the accuracy of climate models. The article misrepresented cautionary words about climate change models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It shared a chart that relies on cherry picked data to undercut the reliability of models. The great majority of climate researchers worldwide have data that shows models do an increasingly good job of capturing temperature changes at the surface. Facebook links to this material do not mislead the public. We rate this .

The nuclear test conducted in our nation this time is the Earth's 2,054th nuclear test. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have conducted 99.99 percent of the total nuclear tests.

May 29, 2009

military

north korean foreign ministry

North Korea is a nation in Eastern Asia, bordering the Korea Bay and the Sea of Japan.

national

a released statement

That means 99.37 percent of all the tests were done by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, he said. "It's about right," Sublette said of the figures cited by North Korea. "If it's off, it's only off by a few (tests)." We aren't inclined to quibble with fractions of one percent. We find North Korea's to be .

Over the last several months, there was a review board headed by two distinguished Americans, Mike Mullen and Tom Pickering, who investigated every element of" the Benghazi incident.

May 13, 2013

foreign policy;terrorism

barack obama

Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

national

a press availability

Obama said, "Over the last several months, there was a review board headed by two distinguished Americans, Mike Mullen and Tom Pickering, who investigated every element of" the Benghazi incident. The definition of what constitutes "Benghazi" is a highly politicized bone of contention between the administration and its critics. Obama’s apparent decision to define the Benghazi incident as the security concerns before and during the attack is understandable, given that Obama said at the same briefing that "the whole issue of talking points, frankly, throughout this process has been a sideshow." But this isn’t the only definition, nor is it an unassailable one. While the board did investigate numerous angles of the security issues, it didn’t look at who perpetrated the attack, nor did it probe the administration’s public communications afterward. No less an authority than the board’s co-chairman undercut Obama’s sweeping that the board "investigated every element" with repeated comments on three Sunday shows. On balance, we rate Obama’s .

Federal law adopted "under Tommy Thompson's watch" prohibits the government from negotiating for "better prices" on prescription drugs for senior citizens

August 15, 2012

drugs;health care;medicare

tammy baldwin

Tammy Baldwin was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 6, 2012. She represented Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District from January 1999 to January 2013. She served as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from January 1993 to January 1999. She was a Dane County supervisor from 1986 to 1994 and briefly served on the Madison Common Council, filling a vacancy, in 1986.

wisconsin

an interview

Kraus cited a number of news articles, including one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that said Thompson was the Bush administration’s "point man" on getting Medicare Part D through Congress; and one in the Philadelphia Inquirer that said Thompson "lobbied tirelessly" for the plan. Moreover, Nemoir acknowledged that the prohibition on the federal government was done under Thompson. Our rating Baldwin said federal law adopted "under Tommy Thompson's watch" prohibits the federal government from negotiating for "better prices" on prescription drugs for senior citizens. Her reference was to the Medicare Part D prescription program, which Thompson lobbied for and which includes the prohibition she stated. We rate Baldwin’s statement .    

Navy SEALs arrest Hillary Clinton.

March 4, 2021

facebook fact-checks

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

a blog post

On March 8, she participated in a live Washington Post interview for International Women’s Day and an online Q&A with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.  On Instagram on March 11, Clinton posted a video featuring former Presidents Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton and images of the ex-presidents and their wives, including Hillary Clinton, getting vaccinated.  The arrest of a former secretary of state and two-time presidential candidate would be major international news, but a week after this blog post was published, no such media coverage has surfaced to corroborate its claims.  That’s because it didn’t happen.  We rate this post !

Says it wasn't until he and a Senate colleague were able to "wrangle the actual streaming video" from BP that scientists were able to calculate the oil spill flow.

October 11, 2011

environment;energy;oil spill

bill nelson

Bill Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2000. He lost re-election to Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. Nelson previously served in the Florida Legislature, Congress and as state Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner.  

florida

a Senate floor speech

  Nelson told his Senate colleagues, "It was not until Sen. Boxer ... and I were able to wrangle the actual streaming video (of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) from 5,000 feet below the surface and put it up on my Web site that the scientists could then calculate how much oil was coming out."  Scientists quickly challenged BP's early estimate based on satellite images and Coast Guard maps. Independent estimates improved when BP released short video clips. But scientists who specialize in flow rate calculations based on high-resolution, time-stamped video didn't have access to data they needed until Nelson's and Boxer's offices pushed for it. Some of those files were indeed downloaded from Nelson's website, while some were on physical hard drives that had to be mailed. A casual listener might think scientists were unable to make early calculations that challenged BP's word without video from Nelson's website — and that's not quite the case. Meanwhile, other lawmakers also pushed for greater openness. But letters, press releases and interviews show Nelson did play a key role in the release of critical data, and for that we'll rate his statement .

Tammy Baldwin voted for $5 trillion in higher taxes.

October 26, 2017

federal budget;taxes

freedom partners

Freedom Partners, initially called the Association for American Innovation when it was established in November 2011, promotes "the benefits of free markets and a free society" and claims "over 200 members." The Washington Post reported that Freedom Partners served as a hub for political spending by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.

wisconsin

TV ads

Baldwin voted for a 2012 federal budget that would have raised taxes by $3.9 trillion over 10 years, but it also would have made $1.7 trillion in spending cuts and spent $1.7 trillion in areas such as infrastructure. Voting for the budget didn’t mean that Baldwin necessarily supported all of the tax increases. There were estimates that total tax collections -- another possible measure of "higher taxes," as stated in the ad -- under budget Baldwin voted for would have been $5 trillion higher than under the budget proposed by the Obama administration. But the ad didn’t make clear that that amount was over a 10-year span, not a sudden increase. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is .

Taxes went down under Jerry Brown.

September 14, 2010

message machine 2010;taxes

jerry brown

Jerry Brown is the governor of California. A Democrat, he earlier served as governor of California from 1975 to 1983.

national

a campaign ad

He had significant surpluses for the first part of his governorship and in all likelihood didn't need to raise taxes. The most significant in favor of Brown's statement are the state numbers that show taxes per $100 of resident income. By that metric, taxes went up, and then down under Brown, and finished a little lower than when he started. Those numbers sway the meter in a positive direction. We rate the statement "Taxes went down under Jerry Brown," as .

The economy, by every metric, is better than when I came into office.

July 21, 2015

economy;jobs

barack obama

Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

national

an interview with Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show"

Obama said, "The economy, by every metric, is better than when I came into office." That is too sweeping. Certain measures of wages and income, the poverty rate and the duration of unemployment are all worse now than they were when Obama "came into office." The statement contains an element of but ignores facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it .

Says people can follow a 1960 recipe for homemade baby formula as a workaround during the current shortage.

May 11, 2022

children;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a post

(Read more about our partnership with Facebook .) A Facebook post says people can follow a 1960 recipe for homemade baby formula as a workaround during the current shortage. But the FDA advises against it, and says consuming homemade formula can result in adverse health effects for infants. And the American Academy of Pediatrics also strongly advises against homemade formulas, saying they are not safe and do not meet babies’ nutritional needs. We rate this .   

About "1 percent of all the gun sellers are responsible for more than half of the guns that are used in crimes.

March 29, 2016

crime;government regulation;guns

hillary clinton

Hillary Clinton was the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. She served as U.S. Secretary of State during the first four years of the Obama administration. She is formerly a U.S. senator from New York, first elected in 2000. She was a candidate for president in 2008. She previously served as first lady when her husband, Bill Clinton, served two terms as president. She was born in Chicago in 1947, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a law degree at Yale Law School. She and her husband have one daughter.

wisconsin

a forum

( Tracing helped establish that a suburban Milwaukee gun store was a top seller of crime guns locally for more than a decade.) Our rating Clinton said about "1 percent of all the gun sellers are responsible for more than half of the guns that are used in crimes." The best data essentially backs up the , but it is from 1998. It’s also worth noting that the traces go back to the original seller of a crime gun and don’t take into account whether there were other transactions before a particular gun was used in a crime. Clinton’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important information -- our definition of .

There are about 120,000 solar energy jobs in the United States, but only 1,700 of them are in Georgia.

May 13, 2013

energy

tim echols

Tim Echols, a Republican, was elected to the five-member Public Service Commission in 2010. He supports a Heritage Foundation plan that would privatize the reprocessing and disposal of commercial nuclear "material."

georgia

a twitter post

Our conclusion: Echols wrote that there are about 120,000 solar energy jobs in the United States and 1,700 of them are in Georgia. The website he cited to come up with the Georgia number actually said the total was 800 jobs. Echols wrote a correction on Twitter after we noticed the discrepancy. Such estimates are hard. Since he apparently got the first part correct, but erred about Georgia, we rate his .

The company I created, Point Judith Capital, "is the only venture capital firm in Rhode Island.

July 1, 2010

candidate biography

gina raimondo

Gina Raimondo served a four-year term as Rhode Island's general treasurer beginning in Jan. 4, 2011 before being elected governor in 2014. She cofounded and served as a general partner of Point Judith Capital. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and a Rhodes Scholar. She is married with two children.

rhode island

a video on her web page

Providence Equity , for example, specializes in enterprises that deal with media, communications and information. So both Dorsey and Horan agree with Raimondo, who told The Providence Journal on Jan. 20 that she would quit Point Judith Capital if she is elected. Point Judith is "the one capital venture fund based here in Rhode Island," Horan said, adding that, "We need more. The Rhode Island entrepreneurial community would benefit greatly if other firms like Point Judith were established and operating here." So we rate Raimondo's as .

Every study has shown" that when work requirements are tied to federal safety-net programs, "it puts more people to work.

May 28, 2023

federal budget;food;welfare;workers

kevin mccarthy

Kevin McCarthy, who was first elected in 2006, is a Republican member of Congress representing a district in California. McCarthy was elected as House Speaker in January 2023.

an interview on "Fox News Sunday"

McCarthy said, "Every study has shown" that when work requirements are tied to federal safety-net programs, "it puts more people to work." Some studies, especially those that tracked 1990s-era welfare-to-work programs, did show employment gains, although they were often modest and temporary. However, a majority of more recent research on work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid shows little or no gain in employment. The statement contains an element of but leaves out other that would give a different impression, so we rate it .

I remember one of [Curt Schilling's] teammates said he painted his sock, the bloody sock.

July 27, 2010

baseball;economy;pop culture

lincoln chafee

Lincoln Chafee is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He served one four-year term as Rhode Island's governor, beginning on Jan. 4, 2011. He was the first Independent to be elected to that office. He subsequently became a Democrat. As a Republican, he served as mayor of Warwick from 1992 to 1999, when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate following the death of his father, Sen. John H. Chafee. He was elected to a full Senate term in 2000. He is married with three children. In April 2015 he formed an exploratory committee to consider running for President.

rhode island

a comment on the John DePetro Show

We emailed Schilling Tuesday to get his reaction to the accusation, but we never heard back. For now, all indications are that the blood was real and that Chafee is , a fact that he admits and apologizes for. In a follow-up phone call Tuesday night, a Chafee campaign spokesman said it best: "Some candidates shoot themselves in the foot. We shot ourselves in the sock." The -O-Meter gives Chafee a , and scores him a big error in the public relations department.  

Hillary (Clinton) caught on tape laughing about (Hurricane) Irma 'wiping out all of those Florida hillbillies'.

October 16, 2017

fake news;punditfact

asamericanasapplepie.org

A website associated with fake news.

a headline

AsAmericanAsApplePie.org appears to be part of a series of websites associated with Christopher Blair, a self-described liberal troll who publishes fabricated stories in an attempt to trick conservative readers. We’ve fact-checked plenty of stories that originated from websites run by or affiliated with Blair, including TheLastLineOfDefense.org , FreedomCrossroad.us , OurLandOfTheFree.com and FreedomJunkshun.com . AsAmericanAsApplePie.org uses a website template similar to these other sites, and carries a disclaimer that reads , "As American as Apple Pie is here to be your beacon of something you can kinda rely on sometimes but not really." Clinton did not deride Florida on tape or suggest its residents should be blown away by a hurricane. We rate this statement !

I am "the only candidate for lieutenant governor to oppose in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.

October 7, 2013

immigration;education

dan patrick

As a Houston state senator, Dan Patrick won election as lieutenant governor of Texas in November 2014 after earlier defeating incumbent David Dewhurst for his party's nomination. Patrick also has hosted a daily talk show on AM700 in Houston.

texas

a video advertisement, "Fight"

Patrick said he’s "the only candidate for lieutenant governor to oppose in-state tuition for illegal immigrants." He is the one candidate who has filed specific proposals to repeal the law. But each of the Republican candidates was public about opposing the law before Patrick debuted his ad while it leaves the impression that other candidates favor the law or have taken no position on it. That’s just not so. We rate Patrick’s statement as . – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

There's an Amazon distribution center that was advertising, last time I was there, up to $12.75 an hour. Your parents made that three decades ago.

January 16, 2020

economy;income

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

a tweet

In his endorsement video for Sanders, Pocan said that people in 1990 were making the same amount per hour as he saw advertised for the Amazon distribution center in Kenosha today. A quick comparison shows that wages today are slightly higher than what they were then, once inflation is factored in.  But the cost of everyday goods like rent, groceries and cars have outpaced that median wage growth, meaning a worker’s 1990 weekly paycheck, at a $10.43-an-hour rate, would have held more spending power than the $23.33-an-hour rate does today. We rate Pocan’s .  window.gciAnalyticsUAID = 'PMJS-TEALIUM-COBRAND'; window.gciAnalyticsLoadEvents = ; window.gciAnalytics.view({ 'event-type': 'pageview', 'content-type': 'interactives', 'content-ssts-section': 'news', 'content-ssts-subsection': 'news:politics', 'content-ssts-topic': 'news:politics:politifactwisconsin', 'content-ssts-subtopic': ' news:politics:politifactwisconsin' });

Says Quaden Bayles committed suicide.

March 4, 2020

children;facebook fact-checks

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

a blog post

In February, we debunked claims that Kobe Bryant’s widow killed herself after his death. Like this post about Bayles, that one also featured the BBC News logo and an "R.I.P" video that cut off with a warning that told viewers to share it to continue watching.  BBC didn’t report on Bryant’s supposed suicide, and it didn’t report on Bayles allegedly killing himself. We found no other media coverage of such an event, either.  We rate this blog post . 

Blames Mike McIntyre and Nancy Pelosi for the second straight year of no cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.

October 23, 2010

message machine 2010;social security

national republican congressional committee

National Republican Congressional Committee

national

a campaign commerical

In an interview, an NRCC spokesman argued that the proposed COLA "fixes" may not win passage because of recklessly large spending by Congressional Democrats. The NRCC has a point, but Pelosi's office says that a vote is planned for November , and in any case, it strikes us as a bit of a convoluted explanation for the ad's . The simpler explanation -- and the one that we think most viewers would take away from the ad -- is that McIntyre and Pelosi had something directly to do with eliminating a cost-of-living increase for two consecutive years in the first place. Even though the ad carefully avoids an explicit accusation that McIntyre and Pelosi voted to eliminate the COLA , we think the ad implies otherwise. So we rate this part of the ad .

George Allen "voted to end Pell Grants for 84,000 students.

September 12, 2012

education

tim kaine

Tim Kaine is a U.S. senator representing Virginia, elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president. Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010, lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2006, mayor of Richmond from 1998 to 2001, and city councilman of Richmond beginning in 1994. He was also the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011. Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minn. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1979 from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a law degree from Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., in 1983. He took a year-long break during law school to work with the Jesuit order as a Catholic missionary in Honduras, becoming fluent in Spanish.  

virginia

a news release

Kaine said Allen voted to end Pell Grants for 84,000 students. The need-based federal grant typically goes to undergraduate students from low-income families.   There’s no doubt that Allen in 2003 cast a specific vote to alter the financial aid formula for awarding Pell Grants and that the non-partisan GAO said the change would drop 92,000 students from eligibility. He was on the losing side of that vote. Allen argues that even if the more restrictive formula had been enacted back then, the overall education budget -- which he supported -- would have still increased total funding for Pell Grants and the number of recipients would have risen the next school year. He’s right on that point. So Kaine’s statement is accurate but lacks some information: Allen’s vote would not have cut the overall Pell Grant program; it would have slowed its rate of growth. For that we reason, we rate Kaine’s statement .

Electric vehicles would not have fared well in the Virginia snowstorm traffic jam.

January 4, 2022

environment;transportation;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

virginia

a post

A Facebook post implied that a massive traffic pileup during a Virginia snowstorm would have been far worse with more electric vehicles on the road. Cold weather can diminish the range of an electric vehicle that’s moving. But there is no to suggest electric vehicles idling in standstill traffic would have fared any worse than gas-powered vehicles, which need a running engine to provide heat and can run out of gas while idling.  Electric vehicles don’t use much energy while idling, and drivers can use even less by using the seat warmers instead of the heating system. We rate this . Monique Curet contributed to this fact-check.

Says at his confirmation hearing Brett Kavanaugh said birth control methods could be considered "abortion-inducing drugs.

September 7, 2018

abortion;supreme court

kamala harris

Kamala Harris is the vice president of the United States. Harris was elected as a senator from California in 2016. She previously was California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017. From 2004 until 2011, she was the district attorney of San Francisco. Harris received a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Howard University and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. In 2019, she ran for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in December. On Aug. 11, 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden named Harris as his running mate.

national

a tweet

Harris tweeted a clip in which Kavanaugh said, "Filling out the form would make them complicit in the provision of the abortion-inducing drugs that they were -- as a religious matter, objected to." In Harris’ tweet, Kavanaugh appears to define contraception as abortion-inducing. But the video failed to include a crucial qualifier: "They said." In fact, he was citing the definition of the religious group Priests for Life. He has not expressed his personal view. We rate this statement .

Oregon's per capita income is 9 percent below the national average and getting worse. This is a state that's actually getting poorer.

January 2, 2012

economy;income;jobs;poverty;workers

matt wingard

Matt Wingard represents Oregon House District 26. He was first elected in 2008. He runs a public relations consulting firm in Wilsonville. 

oregon

a news story online

We are poorer than we were in the 1970s or even in 2000, relative to other states. But the fact remains that incomes have increased over time in Oregon, even adjusted for inflation. The lag itself does not mean that we are growing poorer. We rate the statement -- he’s correct on the figure, but not correct on whether it means we are growing poorer. Return to OregonLive to comment .

For the amount of money Hillary Clinton would like to spend on refugees, we could rebuild every inner city in America.

June 22, 2016

immigration;urban

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

New York attacking Hillary Clinton

Trump said that Clinton wants to spend hundreds of billions on refugees and for that money, "we could rebuild every inner city in America." Trump’s campaign provided no supporting numbers. Clinton has not said how much she would spend on refugees, but the Obama administration request for FY 2017 is about $2.2 billion. That figure could increase for Clinton, as she has said she wants to take in more Syrian refugees. If it doubles or even triples, it is nowhere near "hundreds of billions." It is also a scant fraction of the price tag to rebuild America’s inner cities. There is no comprehensive tally of what it would take to deal with substandard housing and infrastructure, but we quickly found a backlog of about $225 billion in projects. Trump’s numbers are off by a huge margin. We rate this . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/939f9175-5c91-4f06-aeae-8acc8af38c08

Ohio's electricity rates are 10 percent below the national average.

July 6, 2010

economy;elections;energy

ted strickland

Ted Strickland was governor of Ohio from 2007 through 2010. He lost his bid for re-election in 2010 to Republican John Kasich.

ohio

a campaign speech

The premise of Strickland’s statement is that Ohio is still trending below the national average when it comes to electricity rates, and thus is better off than many other states in terms of utility costs. The context of his point was accurate. But while the full 2010 figures are not yet available, there were more up to date figures the governor could have relied on during his speech that, while not as flattering as 2009, could have still effectively made his point — just more accurately. We rate this statement as . Comment on this item .

Natalyn Archibong skipped (Atlanta) City Council meetings or was late 90% of the time. Then she voted herself a pay raise.

October 29, 2013

candidate biography

matt rinker

Matt Rinker is a candidate for the Atlanta City Council, hoping to represent the 5th District.

georgia

a flier

This makes Rinker’s flier confusing, if not . As for her attendance record, Rinker’s number comes close to our count concerning how often Archibong is either absent or was not present when the council convened. Council records show Archibong is usually present when the council makes its first vote of the day. Rinker’s contains some elements of , but there is a lot of context that needs to be considered before fully understanding what he put in the flier. On our rating scale, this one gets a .

If Obama's economic plan creates 600,000 new government jobs, "that's about the size of the post office work force.

January 4, 2009

federal budget;stimulus

mitch mcconnell

Mitch McConnell is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky and the Republican minority leader in the U.S. Senate.

national

a news interview

UPDATE: Obama offered new job numbers for his stimulus plan during his weekly radio address on Jan. 9, 2009. His economic advisers believe the stimulus plan will create between 3 million and 4 million jobs, with at least 90 percent in the private sector, Obama said. The advisers' report estimates that 3.675 million jobs will be created, and that 244,000 of those will be government jobs — a much lower number than the size of the U.S. Postal Service. But McConnell was correct at the time he made his statements, so our ruling stands.

NC Republicans "raided $58 million that was supposed to help create jobs for North Carolinians.

March 27, 2018

environment;energy

north carolina democratic party

NCDP

north carolina

an ad campaign

An NC Democratic Party ad campaign claims Republicans in the legislature "raided $58 million that was supposed to help create jobs for North Carolinians." It's unclear how many jobs the mitigation fund would create. The party also withheld the fact that Democrats voted for the bill too, and that the mitigation fund was diverted to schools. But the party’s broader point is accurate. Republicans led the push to empty the mitigation fund and Democrats reluctantly went along with the effort because it was tied to education changes they supported. So we rate this .

Says Bill Murray said, "So if we lie to the government, it's a felony. But if they lie to us it's politics.

January 26, 2020

corrections and updates;pop culture

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.

a Facebook post

In 2013, however, a parody Bill Murray Twitter account tweeted the quote that appears in the Facebook post, right down to the misspelling of "it’s." "I AM NOT BILL MURRAY," reads the account’s bio. "This is a parody account. This account is not in any way affiliated with the actor Bill Murray. "  We rate this Facebook post .

Says U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., celebrates gun ownership even in the face of school shootings.

January 17, 2013

guns

coalition to stop gun violence

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

georgia

a video

By leaving those parts out, the coalition changes Barrow’s central message supporting gun ownership for protection and self-defense. The group attempted to target Barrow with a highly emotional ad. But it comes across as the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. The coalition gets our lowest rating on this one. .

The Clintons now charge the Secret Service $10,000 monthly rent for the use of (a) Secret Service residence and that rent is just about equal to their mortgage payment.

September 17, 2007

candidate biography

chain email

Chain emails circulate on the Internet, usually anonymously, making a variety of political claims.

national

an e-mail message circulated by many people

The Clinton's now charge the Secret Service $10,000 monthly rent for the use of said Secret Service residence and that rent is just about equal to their mortgage payment." We checked with the Secret Service, which declined to comment and referred us to Clinton's Senate office. Philippe Reines, Clinton's press spokesman, said in an e-mail message, "They have not and do not receive money" from the Secret Service. That matches a statement from White House spokeswoman Nanda Chitre, who told the New York Post in January 2001 that "They are entitled to charge rent, but they have decided not to do it." So we find the charge to be .

Two years ago Providence alone spent $50,000 a year notifying the school department" about residents in the state's sex offender registry.

April 11, 2013

children;criminal justice;crime

joee lindbeck

Joee Lindbeck is a special assistant attorney general who heads the office's Legislation and Policy Unit.

rhode island

a House Finance Committee hearing

Special Assistant Attorney General Joee Lindbeck testified that "two years ago Providence alone spent $50,000 a year notifying the School Department" about residents in the state's sex offender registry. She was correctly quoting a memo regarding the approximate dollar amount but incorrectly attributed all of the spending on notifications to the School Department. On the one hand, everyone we spoke with said the biggest chunk of money went for school notifications. On the other, it's clear from the people with whom we spoke that a significant chunk of that money went to notifying other entities as well. We rate her statement . (If you have a you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)

H&M advertised a sweatshirt that said, "Koolest Kid in the Klan.

January 25, 2021

facebook fact-checks

viral image

Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.

a Facebook post

It started appearing on Reddit and meme websites in 2018.  Doing a reverse image search of the boy in the KKK sweatshirt, we found what looks like the original image . In this version, though, the front of the sweatshirt is blank.  H&M didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s query about the Facebook post, but Lead Stories reported that a spokesperson told the fact-checking website that the photo is . We rate this image .

Eleven individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million credit" from Wisconsin's manufacturing and agriculture tax credit.

January 30, 2017

agriculture;income;jobs;taxes

gordon hintz

Wisconsin state Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, was elected to the state Assembly in 2006. In September 2017, his colleagues elected him minority leader of the Assembly.

wisconsin

an interview

Our rating Hintz said "11 individuals who make over $30 million each got $22 million (in) credit" from Wisconsin's manufacturing and agriculture tax credit. The figures are essentially solid, coming from the nonpartisan state Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The bureau estimates that 11 claimants (individuals or married couples) who each earn over $30 million will share a total of $22 million in credits. But those are estimates, for 2017, not credits actually received. For a statement that is accurate but needs additional information, our rating is .

Greg Casar passed paid sick leave.

February 8, 2022

candidate biography;government regulation;public health;workers;ad watch

greg casar

Gregorio "Greg" Casar was initially elected to the Austin City Council in 2014. He represents the city's District 4.

texas

an ad

Casar said he "passed paid sick leave."  As a member of the Austin City Council, he spearheaded an Austin ordinance that would have required private employers to provide paid sick leave. But the ordinance was challenged in court and never took effect. Casar’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details — our definition of .

The Congressional Budget Office "has already doubled its estimate for the cost (of Obamacare) so far from roughly $800 billion to $1.7 trillion.

July 26, 2012

deficit;federal budget;health care;taxes

michael riley

Michael G. Riley, a Narragansett businessman who calls himself a "small-government and free-market Republican," made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District in 2012. He is co-founder of the Coastal Management Group, a consulting and investment company. He has served on the Narragansett Pension Board and Charter Review Commission.

rhode island

a taped debate on "State of the State"

Congressional candidate Michael Riley said the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the cost of Obamacare has doubled. The CBO itself says that's not and that its estimates, on a year-by-year basis, have not changed significantly. Furthermore, the numbers cited by Riley are because they represent only the gross costs of the health care law, not any savings. According to the CBO, the savings will actually reduce the deficit, although that estimate hasn’t been updated in two years. Information debunking similar claims has been available for the last four months here , here , here and, most recently, here . We rate his . (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)

One" Texas school "district alone -- Austin ISD -- is expected to lose more than $530 million in local property taxes to Robin Hood this year.

July 16, 2017

education;state budget

joe straus

State Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, was initially elected the speaker of the Texas House in 2009.

texas

an email blast

Straus said the Austin district "is expected to lose more than $530 million in local property taxes to Robin Hood this year." As of May 2017, the Austin district estimated that in 2017-18 it would flow nearly $534 million in local property tax revenue through the state’s school finance system, nicknamed Robin Hood, to help equalize school funding across the state. We rate this . – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

Breaking: woman says she was offered big money by Washington Post to accuse Roy Moore of misconduct.

November 13, 2017

elections;fake news;punditfact

evening world

Evening World is a pro-Donald Trump website that publishes articles from other right-wing sources.

a headline

We found no contact information or disclaimer on the Evening World’s website, eveningw.com . The pro-Donald Trump website lifts accounts from other conservative websites. ( The Evening World was an actual newspaper that published in New York City from 1887-1931). There is no that a Post reporter offered a woman money to make an accusation against Moore. We rate this headline .

John McCain said last year he didn't know of a solution to the mortgage crisis.

September 16, 2008

economy;housing

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

Golden, Colo

I'd love to give you a solution, but I don't know." He also said he he relies on his advisers and other "smart people" to keep him up to speed on economic matters. Let's stipulate that this interview does not showcase McCain at his best on issues of the economy and finance. But Obama's statement that McCain said he "didn't know" of a solution to the mortgage crisis appears to be accurate given the full context of the interview. We rate Obama's statement .  

Obama opposed exploring for energy in Alaska.

March 27, 2012

environment;gas prices;message machine 2012

american energy alliance

The American Energy Alliance is a partner of the industry group Institute for Energy Research.

national

a video ad

The American Energy Alliance ad said that Obama "opposed exploring for energy in Alaska." That’s a narrow slice of reality. It’s that the president opposes opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, but the administration has approved plans that allow for expanded drilling in other parts of Alaska, including clearing a process that could let Shell sink new rigs in two Alaskan offshore areas as soon as summer 2012. The ad leaves out that significant piece of the picture. We rate it .

Iran has stockpiled 10 times as much enriched uranium as it had" in 2016.

September 13, 2020

iran;ask politifact

joe biden

Joe Biden is the president of the United States. A Democrat, Biden served as a Delaware senator from 1973 (elected at the age of 29) until 2009. During his time in the Senate, he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, chair of the International Narcotics Control Caucus and chair of the Judiciary Committee. He subsequently served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2016. Biden launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1988 and 2008. He received a degree in history and political science from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from Syracuse School of Law. 

national

an op-ed on the CNN website

Biden said that Iran has 10 times as much enriched uranium as when he left office in 2016.  Iran went from having no more than 202.8 kilograms of enriched uranium to 2,105 kilograms, which is more than a tenfold increase. We rate this . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click  here , for more.

Non-essential people get to file for unemployment and make two to three times more than normal," but essential workers still on the job get no pay raise.

April 1, 2020

income;jobs;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

A Facebook post said that "non-essential people get to file for unemployment and make two to three times more than normal," but essential workers still on the job get no pay raise. This dynamic only applies to some workers who have modest incomes. For four months, from April through July of 2020, unemployed people are eligible for $600-per-week federal bonuses that, in some cases, can double or nearly triple what they earned on the job.  We rate the Facebook statement .

A lot of people are talking about" the removal of a "very fair prosecutor" in Ukraine.

July 25, 2019

ethics;foreign policy

donald trump

Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016.  He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.

national

a phone call

Trump said "a lot of people are talking about" the removal of a "very fair prosecutor" in Ukraine.  The former Ukrainian prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, whom Trump appeared to be referencing, did not enjoy the sterling reputation Trump claimed. Far from it. Many Western leaders and institutions were largely united in seeking Shokin’s removal. Domestically, he was "likely one of the most unpopular figures in Ukraine" over his reputation for corruption, the subject of popular street protests.   We rate this . RELATED STORY:   Donald Trump said European nations have not put money into Ukraine. They have put in a lot RELATED STORY:   Trump’s Ukraine call, a whistleblower and the Bidens: What we know, what we don’t RELATED STORY :  Read the declassified whistleblower complaint on Ukraine, Biden and Trump

Half the kids coming out of college this year … can't find a job, or a job that's consistent with a college degree.

August 20, 2012

education;jobs

mitt romney

Mitt Romney is a U.S. senator from Utah. He ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. Prior to that, Romney served one term as governor of Massachusetts, elected to the post in 2002. He was born in 1947 in Michigan, where his father was governor from 1963 to 1969. Romney graduated from Brigham Young University and received both a law degree and an MBA from Harvard University. Romney helped found the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984, which launched or rebuilt such companies as Staples and Dominos Pizza. Romney managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from 1999-2002. He ran for president in 2008 but lost the Republican nomination. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons, Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben and Josh.

new hampshire

Manchester, NH

Romney was right to say that half of American college graduates this year are either unemployed or underemployed, and he interpreted the corresponding research correctly. We give him a .