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When Social Security first started, there was 16 workers for every retiree. Today there are three workers for every retiree and soon there will be only two for every retiree.

August 23, 2011

social security

marco rubio

Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.

florida

a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

In some ways, it illustrates the main problem with Social Security -- more and more money is going out in benefits and less and less money is coming in through payroll taxes. Rubio said, "When Social Security first started, there were 16 workers for every retiree. Today there are three workers for every retiree and soon there will be only two for every retiree." The official numbers from the Social Security Administration back him up. We rate this .

One-third of Floridians own guns. One-third.

February 14, 2018

guns

joy reid

Joy Reid is the host of MSNBC's The Reid Report.

florida

a tweet

Reid said, "One-third of Floridians own guns." Reid’s is accurate based on a 2015 survey that showed that 32.5 percent of Floridians owned guns 2013. However, experts said that the national survey data was not meant to represent the state level. Having said that, experts agreed there hasn’t been any good research on state ownership levels since the early 2000s when it was around 25 percent in Florida. Reid’s number seems to be in the ballpark, but it’s important for people to know there is some uncertainty. We rate her statement .

More (student-athletes) graduate than the students who aren't student-athletes.

August 10, 2014

education;sports;punditfact

mark emmert

Mark Emmert is president of the NCAA.

comments on ABC's "This Week"

Emmert said, "more (student-athletes) graduate than the students who aren’t student-athletes." Experts, the government and the NCAA don’t agree on how this data should be calculated. But the best and most recent measurement we have for drawing a comparison shows that the graduation rate among Division I student-athletes is about the same as the general student body, though it is higher for Division II and Division II. But the graduation rates are not the same across all sports, divisions, schools or demographics, so a group with a particularly good or bad graduation rate could skew the overall results. Because the data is inconclusive, we rate this .

Spike protein goes to nucleus and impairs DNA repair.

November 4, 2021

facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

a video

Blog posts that a recent paper shows that the spike protein on the COVID-19 virus can cause DNA damage, raising concerns about COVID-19 vaccine safety. The study, however, contradicts findings from previous studies that were also conducted on isolated cells in a lab environment. Until their results are replicated in human studies, this has limited bearing on COVID-19 vaccines. We rate the .

If you don't buy cigarettes at your local supermarket, your grocery bill won't go up a dime. The same is true of the sugary drink tax. If passed, you can avoid paying the tax by not buying sugary drinks.

April 14, 2016

taxes

philadelphia daily news

Philadelphia newspaper.

pennsylvania

In an editorial

These are all grocery items that people buy every day at the grocery store or the supermarket." Our Ruling In an editorial supporting the soda tax and condemning the use of the phrase grocery tax, the  Daily News  wrote Philadelphians would avoid the tax by not purchasing sugary beverages. , experts and studies say it’s possible a sugary drinks tax on distributors could lead to some rising prices elsewhere. But there’s not enough data and there’s also a chance those who don’t buy sugary drinks will bear some of the cost of the tax.   We rule the .

The head of the IRS ordered 24,000 emails erased before Congress could review them, making sure the American people will never know the real truth.

September 12, 2016

congress;technology;transparency;taxes

john fleming

John Fleming is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from a district in Louisiana. He was elected to Congress in 2008.

national

a radio ad

Fleming said, "The head of the IRS ordered 24,000 emails erased before Congress could review them, making sure the American people will never know the real ." Emails were erased, and up to 24,000 are likely unrecoverable. However, there’s zero that the head of the IRS ordered them destroyed. Multiple independent investigations confirmed that the erasure was accidental and not intended to obstruct information from Congress. Fleming’s ad says the opposite. We rate this .

Says Barack Obama's health care law "will be the biggest job-killer ever.

March 26, 2012

economy;health care;jobs

rick scott

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

florida

a "Fox and Friends" interview

Analyzing the truthfulness of predictions is tricky business in which we normally prefer not to delve. But the job-killing is widely spread, and does not carry proof. Scott’s spokesman said this is a prediction based on anecdotal conversations with business owners. We say it’s not one steeped in credible, independent -- it’s more like a scare tactic. We rule this .

Tennessee court rules "taxpayer-funded establishments can place signs that say 'No Jews allowed.'

July 17, 2022

religion

instagram posts

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

tennessee

an Instagram post

The post what judges said when they dismissed a lawsuit by a Jewish couple denied services by a Christian adoption agency because of their faith. The lawsuit challenged a 2020 state law that provides legal protections for private religious foster placement or adoption agencies that receive state funding and choose not to provide services to people who don’t share their faith. The court did not rule on the law’s constitutionality or merits, or say "no Jews allowed" signs are permitted if the establishment’s services were available elsewhere. The judges said the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue on several grounds, including that the lawsuit was moot because the couple had since received services from the state and fostered a child, and that the agency’s contract with the state did not apply to out-of-state children. We rate this .

Democrats "introduced a bill that would ban detaining gay illegal immigrants.

April 24, 2023

immigration;congress;lgbtq

will cain

Will Cain is co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Fox News. He was previously an on-air personality at ESPN, where he hosted "The Will Cain Show" on radio and was a regular panelist on "First Take," a morning talk show.

a Fox News segment

Cain said Democrats "introduced a bill that would ban detaining gay illegal immigrants." S. 1208, sponsored by a Democrat, sets standards that the federal government must meet to detain "vulnerable persons.’" This classification includes LGBTQ+ immigrants, but doesn’t outright "ban" their detention.  LGBTQ+ people who are flight risks or threats to the community can still be detained — but it would be up to immigration officials to prove that they meet that detention threshold. We rate Cain’s .   

Anyone can die of a toothache.

January 13, 2016

health care;medicaid

john cortes

District 43 representative from Kissimmee. Retired corrections officer. First elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2014.

florida

a House Health Innovation Subcommittee meeting

Cortes said, "Anyone can die of a toothache." It’s not so much that you’ll die of pain, of course, but dentists and research confirm that an untreated abscess can infect other parts of the body, either through the bones or the bloodstream. Most people won’t die from a toothache, but it’s a condition that if left untreated can lead to the worst: a fatal result. We rate the statement .

Atlanta Public Schools' 2011 CRCT tests were "given under the strictest security possible.

June 24, 2011

education

beverly hall

Beverly Hall is former Superintendent for Atlanta Public Schools.

georgia

a mailer

Certainly, the CRCT was not "given under the strictest security possible" in 2011, as Hall said. APS did tighten its procedures, but PolitiFact Georgia easily found additional ways to increase security. Since APS did boost security starting in 2010, Hall’s statement is not outrageous. But it is . She therefore earns a .

Says he predicts the weather better than Punxsutawney Phil.

February 2, 2011

weather

general beauregard lee

General Beauregard Lee, a groundhog, has predicted Metro Atlanta's weather for more than three decades. He resides at "Weathering Heights," a plantation-style manse at the Yellow River Game Ranch, a wildlife attraction in Lilburn.

georgia

his website

By our analysis, Beau’s staff overestimated his success, but he’s still 10 to 30 percentage points ahead of Phil. Georgia’s underhog is the champion, paws down.   General, emerge from the shadows. Stand tall on your stubby legs. The -O-Meter salutes you with a .

What I have put forward does not add a penny to the debt.

October 19, 2016

debt

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

the third presidential debate

Clinton said, "What I have put forward does not add a penny to the debt." An independent analysis found Clinton’s proposals would add a relatively small amount to the debt, $200 billion over a decade. The Clinton campaign says a new business tax plan will address that, though the proposal hasn’t been independently analyzed. Regardless, Clinton’s explanation leaves out the fact that debt would still rise by about $9 trillion over 10 years because of current policies. Clinton’s proposals don’t stem that increase. Clinton’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/30d13ea3-9259-4377-a2ff-ce6ecb7fb0c3 Update (Oct. 24, 2016): This article has been updated to reflect that one of the reasons the debt will increase is because of  projected spending on Social Security and Medicare.

Seventy bills [Kendrick Meek] authored, not one of them has passed.

August 10, 2010

jeff greene

Jeff Greene, a wealthy businessman from Palm Beach, lost the Democratic primary for Florida governor in August 2018. He campaigned for the U.S. Senate and was defeated in the Democratic primary on Aug. 24, 2010.

florida

a debate

While Meek may have not passed significant legislation, that's not necessarily a measure a Congressman's effectiveness. We define as a statement that is "accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context." We think that's about right in this case. Greene has his number just about right, but leaves out those Schoolhouse Rock details of how a bill becomes a law. We rate Greene's .

Says "excise taxes are...disproportionately burdening middle- and lower-income consumers.

June 30, 2013

taxes

david sutton

David Sutton is a spokesman for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris.

georgia

an interview

"(The higher taxes) alleviates some of the regressivity," Farrelly said, "but it doesn’t eliminate it." Across the Atlantic, when Germany increased its taxes on cigarettes in December 2004 and September 2005, approximately one of eight smokers went to a neighboring nation to buy their smokes at a cheaper price, a team of researchers found. To sum up, Sutton said excise taxes on cigarettes are "disproportionately burdening middle- and lower-income consumers." Numerous studies show Sutton’s is on target, but a larger percentage of them also quit smoking. Our rating: .

Says Scott Walker supports "a health care plan that would gut protections for pre-existing conditions.

October 10, 2018

health care;public health

tony evers

Tony Evers, a Democrat, was elected Wisconsin governor in November 2018. His term begins in January 2019. Evers has served as the Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, a non-partisan position, since 2009. He previously worked as a teacher and school district administrator.

wisconsin

a campaign video

The law provides a variety of protections to people with pre-existing medical conditions — including prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to those people and prohibiting them from charging those people higher rates. So, getting rid of Obamacare would eliminate those protections. Walker has pledged that if Obamacare is repealed, he would seek legislation to guarantee coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. But it’s not clear how that legislation would compare to Obamacare and not clear if it could pass the Legislature. For a statement that is accurate but needs clarification, our rating is .

Very few men outlive their own fertility.

March 26, 2013

children;families;human rights;legal issues;lgbtq;marriage;science;sexuality;supreme court

charles cooper

Charles Cooper, a civil litigator in Washington, has argued several times before the Supreme Court, including in the same-sex marriage case Hollingsworth vs. Perry.

national

arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court

Cooper argued before the Supreme Court that "very few men outlive their own fertility." Experts we consulted generally agree that men — or at least some men — may still father children well into their advanced years. But whether that’s most men or a minority isn’t yet supported by research. Meanwhile, emerging studies document declining fertility as individual men age, and studies don’t yet confirm how many men remain fertile their entire lives. Given the sweeping nature of Cooper's , and the lack of unequivocal , we rate it .

Indiana actually has a higher gas tax than Illinois does even with the increase in (Illinois') taxes.

July 8, 2019

taxes

susana mendoza

Susana Mendoza is the Illinois comptroller. Mendoza served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2001-2010, before becoming the first woman to be elected city clerk of Chicago in February 2011. 

illinois

a podcast interview

By every government measure we checked, and by acknowledgement from Mendoza’s office itself, the is . Illinois residents pay eight cents more in state excise taxes for each gallon of gasoline than residents of Indiana, according to revenue officials in both states. We rate Mendoza’s . — The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

Federal health care reforms amounted to 'the government takeover of health care.'

June 7, 2012

health care

tommy thompson

Tommy Thompson, a Republican, was a 2012 candidate for the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin. He served as governor of Wisconsin from 1987 until 2001, when he left office to become President George W. Bush's secretary of health and human services. He previously spent 20 years in the Wisconsin Assembly. Thompson briefly ran for president, withdrawing in 2007.

wisconsin

a television ad

But we think most would recognize that as Thompson simply stating his position, not claiming he could do it unilaterally. Our conclusion Thompson says in a TV ad that federal health reforms amount to "the government takeover of health care." It’s not a government takeover. We’ve said numerous times that characterizing the law in this way is a distortion of the facts -- and the 2010 Lie of the Year. We rate his .

Over the last few years, we've put more people back to work than all the other advanced economies combined.

November 16, 2014

economy;jobs;labor;workers

barack obama

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

national

a press conference after the G20 summit

Obama said, "Over the last few years, we’ve put more people back to work than all the other advanced economies combined." From publicly available data, we know that since 2009, the United States has created roughly the same number of jobs as the 35 other advanced economies combined, and more than the other six biggest economies. However, it’s not as clear cut that this recovery involves putting "more people back to work," as Obama suggests. The labor force participation rate has consistently declined during this period, suggesting that more and more unemployed Americans are dropping out of the workforce, rather than taking new jobs. On balance, we rate Obama's .

John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

August 28, 2008

bush administration

barack obama

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

national

a speech at Democratic National Convention

Because Biden didn't note a year when he cited McCain's highest "presidential support" score — thereby suggesting an overall score — we ruled his statement only . Here, Obama cites McCain's average presidential support score since Bush was elected. We checked our math, and although we had first said Obama was off by 1 percent, we have since realized that Obama wasn't, we were. It's 90 percent on the nose. .

Incomes are up.

September 14, 2022

economy

joe biden

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

Detroit

Biden said, "Incomes are up." Incomes are up year-over-year if you don’t factor in inflation. But with inflation at 40-year highs, doing so misrepresents the impact Americans feel on the purchasing power of those incomes. Once inflation is included, wages are down on a year-over-year basis by about 4% between July 2021 and July 2022. We rate the statement .

Says President Trump "has ended up attracting larger numbers of people coming to the United States presenting themselves for asylum status at our border than we've ever seen.

July 11, 2019

immigration;corrections and updates

richard durbin

Dick Durbin in the senior U.S. senator from Illinois and the Democratic majority whip.

illinois

a speech

Durbin said Trump "has ended up attracting larger numbers of people coming to the United States presenting themselves for asylum status at our border than we’ve ever seen." Despite some limitations, federal data does suggest the number of credible fear claims made by migrants seeking asylum at the southwest border has hit a record high. However, Durbin’s argument that Trump caused the increase remains unproven and overlooks many other factors experts said could be at play. We rate his . – 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. Correction: A previous version of this fact-check identified Durbin as a three-term senator. It has been updated to reflect he is currently serving his fourth term.

During the debate, Kamala Harris said President Donald Trump "did not appoint minorities to the courts.

October 8, 2020

race and ethnicity;florida

republican party of florida

The Republican Party of Florida represents Republicans in Florida.

national

a tweet

The Republican Party of Florida said Harris said Trump "did not appoint minorities to the courts." The party distorted what Harris said at the debate. Harris accurately said that Trump had not nominated any Black Americans to serve on the federal courts of appeal. The GOP singled out three federal district court nominees who are either minorities or women and one nomination of an Hispanic woman who is an appeals court judge.  It still does not prove that Harris fibbed at the debate. We rate this . RELATED STORY: Fact-checking the 2020 vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris vs. Mike Pence

The Keystone XL pipeline "would have produced 830,000 barrels of oil per day, more than enough to offset what we import from Russia.

February 25, 2022

energy;trade;ad watch;russia

jake laturner

U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., was elected to the House in 2020. He previously served as a Kansas state senator and as the state treasurer.

an ad

LaTurner said in an ad: The Keystone XL pipeline "would have produced 830,000 barrels of oil per day, more than enough to offset what we import from Russia. President Biden's energy agenda has strengthened Putin at the expense of hard-working Kansans." The transport capacity of the Keystone XL pipeline, which Biden canceled, would have been about 830,000 barrels per day — more than the amount of oil being imported to the United States from Russia. But it’s not as simple as substituting one source for the other.  The pipeline would have required years of construction and likely faced legal challenges, so it couldn’t have solved today’s demand needs. Even in the future, there would be no certainty that the pipeline could produce a net increase of 800,000 barrels a day, rather than just transporting oil from Canada that is currently being transported some other way. Nor would producers be obligated to sell that entire amount to the U.S. We rate the statement .

The boilermakers union has endorsed me because I sat down with them and went into great detail with leadership [about] exactly what I would do.

October 15, 2020

elections;pennsylvania

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

a town hall

Second, Local 154, the Pittsburgh area chapter mentioned during the town hall, endorsed Trump.  Third, the boilermakers did not endorse Biden twice in the past as his campaign said.  And fourth, the Biden campaign provided no that he "sat down" with the union’s leaders as he said.  Biden’s statement is not accurate. We rate it . 

China has "had now the worst year in 57 years.

September 9, 2019

china;economy

donald trump

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

national

Fayetteville, N.C

Trump said China has "had now the worst year in 57 years." China’s GDP recently grew at its slowest quarterly rate in 27 years, and it is projected to grow at its slowest yearly rate in 29 years. So China’s economy is slowing. But it’s not at its worst point in 57 years.  We rate this statement .

mRNA Vaccines Show No Mortality Benefit - Danish Study

April 26, 2022

public health;science;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

youtube videos

Videos uploaded to YouTube.

national

a YouTube video

A video circulating on social media claims that a Danish study found that mRNA vaccines offer "no mortality benefit." This is an oversimplification that doesn’t accurately reflect the preprint study, which was not peer reviewed. Researchers used clinical trial data to see how the different COVID-19 vaccines reduced deaths from all causes. They found that adenovirus-vector vaccines appeared to protect against non-accident, non-COVID-19 deaths, while mRNA vaccines didn’t have much of an impact. They said more research is needed.  The research didn’t conclude that mRNA vaccines were ineffective at protecting people from dying of COVID-19.  We rate this . 

At his father's bank, Alexi made tens of millions in risky loans to convicted mobsters. Then, the bank collapsed.

June 30, 2010

candidate biography;economy;crime;message machine 2010

mark kirk

Mark Kirk is a U.S. senator from Illinois, having defeated Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias for the seat formerly occupied by President Barack Obama in 2010. Kirk was formerly a U.S. congressman from Illinois’ 10th district.

national

a campaign video

As for Giorango, his relationship with Broadway Bank began long before Giannoulias came on board. But as the Chicago Tribune detailed, the bank made Giorango an additional $20 million in new loans while Giannoulias was a senior loan officer. There's no Giannouias approved the loans, but he did some work on them. Still, we think it's awfully to suggest losses on risky loans to convicted felons led to the bank's demise (though they certainly didn't help). In all, we think that all shakes out to a .

Georgia has the most lax gun laws in the nation.

March 4, 2013

guns

donzella james

Donzella James, a Democrat, represents portions of Douglas and Fulton counties in the Georgia Senate. She is a member of the Education and Youth, Special Judiciary, Economic Development, and State and Local Governmental Operations committees.

georgia

a speech

The senator said, "We know that Georgia has the most lax laws (for) carrying guns." From our review, Georgia is considered to have some lax gun laws. It’s possible from some of the changes proposed, Georgia could score lower in the future. But, for now, there are other states that are far more permissive. We rate James’ . 

Says the NAACP endorsed Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

December 7, 2019

candidate biography;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

It’s also tagged "conservative fan fiction" and "satire." But on this Wordpress site called "Today Breaking News," the Daily World News story is stripped of that context. Same goes for this site called "Daily News Updates. "  The NAACP hasn’t yet endorsed a 2020 candidate, but on Dec. 5 it published this story on its website: "NAACP applauds call for articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. "   We rate these posts !

Says Sen. Chuck Schumer deleted a Feb. 5 tweet criticizing President Donald Trump's decision to ban some forms of travel to and from China.

February 29, 2020

china;public health;facebook fact-checks

tweets

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

new york

posts on Twitter and Facebook

I regret not verifying the authenticity of the deleted tweet before posting this. I’m declaring it a hoax." The tweet is . So it could never have been deleted. We rate this ! 

Says President Donald Trump "came forth with a budget — a trillion dollar cut in Medicaid, $500 billion to Medicare, and $72 billion for the Social Security Disability Fund.

February 25, 2019

disability;health care;medicaid;medicare

bernie sanders

Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.

national

a CNN town hall event

Sanders said Trump proposed cuts of $1 trillion to Medicaid, $500 billion to Medicare and $72 billion to the Social Security Disability Fund. Numbers from the CBO and experts we reached confirmed the $1 trillion in Medicaid reductions. The Medicare reductions are less than Sanders said, probably in the range of $300 to $400 billion. While the White House might $72 billion in savings from the Social Security Disability Fund, the CBO put the number at about $15 billion. There’s no question Trump’s budget called for major reductions in Medicaid and Medicare spending from what would have been without changes in law or policy. Part of that plan reduced money going to hospitals and other providers, which is not the same as reducing benefits to recipients. We rate this Half .

Says Mark Pryor voted "to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.

September 3, 2014

immigration;social security

national republican senatorial committee

The National Republican Senatorial Committee helps elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate.

national

a campaign ad

The NRSC’s ad claims that Pryor voted "to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants." That’s for two reasons. First, the provision was much more narrowly targeted than the ad suggests -- it addressed the treatment of past payroll taxes paid by legal Social Security beneficiaries who at one time had been illegal immigrants. Second, the ad cherry-picks one vote Pryor cast against this provision while ignoring two separate votes he cast for the provision. We rate the .

Says Mitch McConnell voted "two times against the Violence Against Women Act.

July 30, 2014

criminal justice;crime;message machine 2014;women

alison lundergan grimes

Alison Lundergan Grimes is a Democrat challenging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for his Senate seat in 2014. She currently serves as Kentucky's secretary of state.

national

a campaign ad

Grimes’ ad claims McConnell twice voted against the Violence Against Women Act. The paints a very incomplete picture. McConnell supported the act repeatedly when it was first introduced and when it first passed the Senate in the early 1990s, and twice voted to reauthorize it. While he voted against the Democratic versions of the bill in 2012 and 2013 that included new provisions for sexual orientation, immigration status and tribal lands (and eventually became law), he voted for Republican measures that largely maintained the status quo. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details and context. Therefore, we rate it .

With the combined salary of the 87,000 new IRS Agents ($81,456 average annual salary), you could put a police officer ($55,117) in every public school in the nation (97,568) and still have 31,007 police officers or $1,709,012,819 left over.

August 11, 2022

education;public safety;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

texas

Facebook post

A Facebook post by a Texas sheriff’s department claimed that "with the combined salary of the 87,000 new IRS agents" you could put a police officer in every public school in the U.S. and "still have 31,007 police officers or $1,709,012,819 left over." The post relies on unofficial data about salaries and schools. Using official data sources and applying the math used in this post, we found that it would cost about $920 million more to put an officer in every school — not $1.7 billion less. But either way, the involves back-of-the-envelope math based on averages and doesn’t account for real-world variables. The post also distorts the number of projected IRS hires who would be tax enforcement agents and arrives at a conclusion. The statement contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate this .

After prenatal diagnosis, "90 percent of Down syndrome children in America are aborted.

February 19, 2012

abortion;health care

rick santorum

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

national

an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation"

    A number of scientific studies have shown an abortion rate from 80 percent to 90 percent -- close to what Santorum said -- but all have been localized. Since there’s that the decision to abort can vary by region, we think it’s an overstatement for Santorum to say that after prenatal diagnosis, "90 percent of Down syndrome children in America are aborted." There are no standardized, national numbers, so his use of the term "in America" is problematic. On balance, we rate his statement .

Mayor Andrew Gillum says he's indefinitely suspending his campaign for governor in light of a fatal shooting in Tallahassee at a yoga studio on Friday.

November 3, 2018

fake news;facebook fact-checks

bloggers

Blog posting on the Internet

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam will campaign for Mayor Gillum in Lake Worth, followed by a "Get Out the Vote" event at UCF and concluding the day at a Jimmy Buffett GOTV concert in West Palm Beach," a campaign email sent at 12:06 a.m. on Nov. 3 said. A Nov. 3 Spectrum News 13 story also showed what Gillum was up to Saturday, with time stamped updates. Our Ruling A post from The Grio claimed that Gillum is "indefinitely suspending his campaign for governor in light of a fatal shooting in Tallahassee at a yoga studio on Friday." While Gillum did leave the campaign trail to return to Tallahassee and met with some of the victims, he is not ending his campaign for governor because of the shooting. We rate this .

Says he didn't take "corporate PAC money.

March 13, 2018

campaign finance

conor lamb

Conor Lamb is a Democrat who ran to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district in a March 13, 2018, election.  

pennsylvania

an election night speech

U.S. Congressional candidate Conor Lamb said, "I'm proud that you helped me refuse corporate PAC money." FEC records do not list corporate PACs as having donated to his campaign or having directly spent money in support of his candidacy. While it’s possible corporate PAC money donated to other PACs reached him indirectly, experts say that’s not the same thing.   Lamb’s is literally accurate, but campaign finances are complicated and voters need additional information.

Says America's most violent cities are that way because of their Democratic politics

June 16, 2020

crime;party support

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

wisconsin

a Facebook post

A viral Facebook post links "America’s deadliest cities" with having a "Democrat majority," implying a causal connection. The data cited has some fundamental issues, notably that it uses out-of-date FBI data and ranks cities by crime rate when the FBI specifically warns against doing so.  This glosses over the array of intensely local factors that influence crime. Violent crime in particular stems from a limited group of people in a limited area, so assuming that segment has a particular political bent based on the city at large — and that their violence stems from those politics — is a stretch at best. Large cities do have more crime. And they do have more Democrats — both in terms of general voting and local leadership. But it’s a classic example of correlation without of causality. We rate this .

A wind turbine must "spin continually for over four years just to replace the energy it took to manufacture it.

July 19, 2023

climate change;energy;facebook fact-checks

instagram posts

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

an Instagram post

A 2017 study by Taiwanese researchers found the energy payback period was 13 to 14 months. The highest estimate we found was a bit under six years, in a 2019 study by civil engineering professors at the University of Texas at Arlington. "In general, as technology advances, the energy payback times will decline," said Ryan Wiser, senior scientist in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. Most of the we found on energy payback says it takes a wind turbine operating for months, not years, to produce more energy than was needed to manufacture it. We rate the .

As a state representative, David Cicilline argued against Megan's Law and voted against mandatory registration of sex offenders.

October 21, 2010

children;criminal justice;negative campaigning;voting record

americans for common sense solutions

Americans for Commonsense Solutions is a political interest group that lists a Providence address.

rhode island

a radio ad

The ad from Americans for Common Sense Solutions is . It doesn't mention what Cicilline's objections were to the original law, nor that he subsequently voted in favor of it three times. PolitiFact's definition of a statement says it "contains some element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression." That sounds right to us. .

Many gang members have taken advantage of "glaring loopholes and our laws to enter the country as illegal, unaccompanied, alien minors.

January 30, 2018

immigration;homeland security;crime

donald trump

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

national

State of the Union address

Trump said many gang members have taken advantage of "glaring loopholes and our laws to enter the country as illegal, unaccompanied, alien minors." What Trump in the past has referred to as "loopholes" are requirements explicitly called for in the law. It’s also uncertain how many gang members have come to the United States as unaccompanied minors, but some law enforcement officials said some have. Experts note unaccompanied minors are vulnerable to recruitment after their arrival to the United States. In many cases, these minors are the victims of the gangs rather than perpetrators of crime. We rate Trump’s .

Wisconsin found 112k votes at 3am.

November 4, 2020

elections;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

wisconsin

a Facebook post

The City of Milwaukee was still counting absentee ballots around 3 a.m., but that doesn’t mean that those ballots were found or appeared at that time. We rate the Facebook post . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more. RELATED : Fact-checking the avalanche of Wisconsin election misinformation

Over half of the black workers in this country earn less" than $15 an hour.

November 6, 2015

economy;jobs;race and ethnicity

bernie sanders

Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.

national

Rock Hill, S.C

Sanders said that "over half of the black workers in this country earn less" than $15 an hour. Depending on the time frame used, the data shows that roughly half of black workers earn less than $15. The most recent data shows that half earn less than $15.60, which is a little higher than what Sanders said, but his number is not far off. We rate his .

A recall election for Wisconsin governor would cost "$7.7 million -- $7.7 million that may already be allocated to merit raises for teachers or health care for the poor or school books for your kids.

November 15, 2011

education;elections;health care;state budget

rebecca kleefisch

Rebecca Kleefisch was the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 2011-19 under Gov. Scott Walker. She previously worked as a TV anchor and reporter, most recently with WISN-TV in Milwaukee. Kleefisch was defeated August 9, 2022 in her Republican primary bid for Republican nomination for governor.  

wisconsin

a video

Kleefisch said a statewide recall will cost "$7.7 million that may already be allocated to merit raises for teachers or health care for the poor or school books for your kids." Both of her claims are a mixed bag. Kleefisch's cost figure is stated as fact, when the actual figure is not known, but it appears to be in the ballpark and might be conservative. On her second point, Kleefisch provides no that funds would be taken from allocations already made for schools or health care. But her broader point -- that money for the election might come from funds that are at least designated for other programs, is correct. In short, Kleefisch's statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details-- our definition of .

I've cast a couple of 99-1 votes" and been the lone dissenter.

September 7, 2007

candidate biography

fred thompson

Fred Thompson was a U.S. senator from Tennessee from 1994 to 2003. He graduated from Memphis State University and earned a law degree at Vanderbilt University. Thompson practiced law and served a variety of government counsel positions, including as minority counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities ("Watergate Committee"). In his acting career Thompson has appeared in 18 films, and recently worked as a TV actor, playing a prosecutor on the series Law and Order. Thompson was born in Alabama in 1942. He has been married to Jeri Kehn since 2002, and has four children, two from his first marriage. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 22, 2008.

national

Sioux City, Iowa

"I don't think the federal government ought to be federalizing something that's been under the state purview for 200 years," Thompson told a crowd in Sioux City, Iowa, Sept. 7, 2007. "Give me a good reason why, when the federal government... can't get its own act together, why it ought to be taking on these other things in order to get a press release and a headline? ... That's not the right thing to do." But he wasn't perfect. As a senator from 1994 to 2003, Thompson did divert from his federalist philosophy in at least one big way: supporting President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sets federal standards for local schools.

Says Reps. Rush Holt, Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell are "willing to jeopardize seniors' access to coverage by gutting $741 billion from Medicare" to pay for a "big-government healthcare takeover.

August 14, 2012

health care;medicare

national republican congressional committee

National Republican Congressional Committee

new jersey

a news release

In news releases, the committee claimed Holt, Pallone and Pascrell are "willing to jeopardize seniors’ access to coverage by gutting $741 billion from Medicare" to pay for a "big-government healthcare takeover." The health care reform is projected to reduce future Medicare spending by more than $700 billion between 2013 and 2022, but program spending will still increase. That increase will just be smaller than without the reform. The "healthcare takeover" remains bogus, because the private health insurance industry remains intact under the reform and stands to gain more enrollees. There’s only one ruling for such heated and claims: ! To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com .

China account(s) for 90 percent of North Korean trade.

April 28, 2017

china;foreign policy;trade

rex tillerson

Rex Tillerson is the former CEO of Exxon Mobil. On Feb. 1, 2017, he was sworn in as President Donald Trump's secretary of state. On March 13, 2018, Trump fired Tillerson and replaced him with CIA director Mike Pompeo.

national

comments to the UN Security Council

Tillerson said, "China account(s) for 90 percent of North Korean trade." China’s role as an outsize trade partner of North Korea is a relatively new development. Since 2000, trade with the rest of the world has dropped off, as Chinese trade has risen. While the ratio is subject to change based on political factors, China now accounts for around 90 percent of North Korean trade. We rate Tillerson’s statement .

In Australia "they went and confiscated all the guns. You know who did what Australia did? Venezuela.

August 10, 2019

foreign policy;guns

matt gaetz

Matt Gaetz was elected to Congress in 2016 representing Florida's 1st District. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives serving District 4 in 2010. His father is former Sen. Don Gaetz.

florida

an interview on Fox News

Gaetz said in Australia "they went and confiscated all the guns. You know who did what Australia did? Venezuela." Gaetz’s about Australia is , and his comparison to Venezuela is flawed. After a mass shooting in 1996, Australia banned semi-automatic and self-loading rifles as well as shotguns and offered a one-year buyback. It did not ban all guns. The number of civilian-owned guns is now nearly the same as before the 1996 law, although the rate of ownership is less. In Venezuela, the government instituted measures to try to limit the flow of guns to civilians. But experts said most guns are sold on the black market and that guns remain rampant in Venezuela. The idea that private gun owners could successfully challenge a national military is also unlikely.  We rate this statement .

The United States invented the community college. Nobody else had ever done anything like it.

April 21, 2015

education;history

hillary clinton

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

national

a roundtable at a community college

Clinton said "the United States invented the community college. Nobody else had ever done anything like it." This is largely correct, though Clinton’s terminology could have been more precise. Also, other types of institutions in Europe share characteristics of community colleges. Still, the specific U.S. system is was an innovation. On balance, we rate her .

Says Bernie Sanders "has been largely a very reliable supporter of the NRA.

April 14, 2016

candidate biography;guns

hillary clinton

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

national

New York

Clinton said Sanders "has been largely a very reliable supporter of the NRA." This is a stretch. Sanders won his congressional bid about 25 years ago thanks at least in part to the NRA, and has voted against major pieces of gun control legislation. However, he has also cast votes for gun control and has received low marks from the NRA for the past 20 years. Neither the gun lobby nor gun control advocates Sanders as their own. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3c800a70-11ea-44a5-99cb-3bc3f6ad3e60

Let's start with the premise that Rhode Island already has one of the 10 strictest [gun laws] amongst all the states.

January 3, 2016

guns

nicholas mattiello

Nicholas A. Mattiello has been Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives since March 25, 2014. A Democrat and lawyer, he is a graduate of the Suffolk University School of Law and represents District 15 in Cranston. He previously served as Majority Leader in the House.

rhode island

newspaper story

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is an outspoken advocate for gun control laws. And its legal experts rate Rhode Island among states with the strongest gun-control laws. The statement is .  

Georgia is the second-fastest growing state for international tourists.

January 19, 2011

tourism

chris cummiskey

Chris Cummiskey is Georgia's Economic Development commissioner.

georgia

a budget presentation

Tyrer, the state economic development spokeswoman, said Delta’s push for more international flights has helped. She also said the department has been more aggressive in marketing Georgia in other countries, particularly China and Germany, as a tourist destination. Georgia has had a tourism representative in the U.K. for about 10 years, Tyrer said. The numbers in the federal report accurately reflect what the commissioner told state lawmakers in the budget hearing. We rate Cummiskey’s statement as .

The Iran nuclear deal is "putting billions of dollars back into a country that's the world's largest supporter of terrorism. We are actually giving them the money to fund the terrorists that are killing us and our allies.

July 18, 2016

terrorism

rudy giuliani

Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City. He was born in Brooklyn in 1944 and previously served as a federal prosecutor, as well as an associate attorney general under President Reagan. He graduated from Manhattan College and earned a law degree from New York University Law School. He has been married since 2003 to Judith Nathan and was married twice before. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline. He withdrew from the presidential race on Jan. 30, 2008.

new york

a speech at the Republican National Convention

At the Republican National Convention, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the United States is giving Iran billions of dollars under the Iran nuclear deal and that the money is being used to fund terrorists. He also called Iran the world’s largest supporter of terrorism. Giuliani is right that Iran ranks as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The billions of dollars released to Iran was already Iran’s money, but could only be released with U.S. consent. On the last part of Giuiani's , experts have said it’s difficult to know whether Iran has used any of the money to sponsor terrorist groups. We rate this as . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/d81d1a7d-7aa5-47d8-b7e3-1859f23fc5b8

Nobody is found dead of corona in their homes.. They all die at the hospital.

September 7, 2020

facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

While many people who die at home aren’t tested for COVID-19, an "increasing number" of at-home deaths have been confirmed to show they were caused by the disease, the story says. This Facebook post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook .)  The coronavirus is not a hoax, and you can read all of PolitiFact’s coverage about it here .  We rate this post . 

As governor, Maggie Hassan first proposed a $1 billion spending increase.

June 8, 2015

state budget;taxes

impact america action

Impact America is an Indiana-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, Impact America isn't required to publicly disclose its donors as a campaign committee 

new hampshire

an ad

  Multiple ads from Impact America Action state that "As governor, Hassan first proposed a $1 billion spending increase." The reality is more complicated. There was a spending increase of $1 billion in her proposal, but nearly half of that amount came from the federal government, and much of the rest came from other sources of revenue. Only about $184 million -- one fifth of the total increased spending -- came from the general fund. We rate the

Says all Vegas hotels but Trump's have donated food, rooms in COVID response.

April 9, 2020

facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

A Facebook post attacks Trump’s Las Vegas hotel as being the only one in the city that didn’t offer food or rooms for emergency personnel. The Trump Organization hasn’t provided any information, and searches by PolitiFact and other news organizations didn’t turn up any that Trump’s properties have made such donations. Several other hotels in Las Vegas have made donations, but the Trump hotel does not appear to be the only exception. The city has hundreds of hotels, motels and inns, and a hotel industry trade group says 36 Las Vegas hotels were participating in its national initiative to offer rooms to first responders and health care workers.  For a statement that contains an element of , but leaves a impression, our rating is .

Mark Kelly criticized the (Paycheck Protection Program), then turned around and took money for his own multi-million dollar company.

July 31, 2020

economy;coronavirus

martha mcsally

Martha McSally, a Republican, is a former U.S. Senator and former U.S. Representative from Arizona. McSally served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 2010 as a full colonel. She was the first female fighter pilot to fly a combat mission and command a fighter squadron. She was elected to public office for the first time when she won election to Congress in 2014.

a tweet

A company that Kelly co-founded and in which he has investments received up to $2 million in a loan from the program. But Kelly’s campaign and the company say he was not involved in the application process. McSally’s campaign did not provide information disputing that statement and we didn’t find any either. McSally’s statement contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it .

Says Rick Perry told students he couldn't attend a gubernatorial forum due to scheduling conflicts, then on forum day "tweeted that he'd just been running with his dog.

October 5, 2010

ethics

bill white

Bill White, an author, is a San Antonio native who was mayor of Houston from 2004-2009. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor of Texas.

texas

a news story

However, it looks like there was another message delivered to the student organizers of the Coronado High forum; the saved voice mail — which no one in Perry's office questioned — is persuasive. It's also undisputed that Perry tweeted about his run around Lady Bird Lake (né Town Lake) the morning of the El Paso forum. That's also what White said. In the end, we're mindful that Perry has repeatedly said his unwillingness to debate is based on White not releasing more tax returns, whereas White's statement suggests that Perry would have joined the forum if only he hadn't ginned up the "schedule conflict" excuse. We rate White's statement .

Franklin Roosevelt never allocated more than 12 percent of GDP to federal spending, while the percentage for Barack Obama is not projected to drop below 22.8 percent.

February 8, 2010

federal budget;pundits

glenn beck

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

national

a commentary on Fox News Channel's 'Glenn Beck Program'

Instead, he pulled a fast one on viewers. Beck's end date excluded rates of federal spending that were twice as high as what Obama is on pace to spend. So we rate his statement .   Editor's note: This statement was rated when it was published. On July 27, 2011, we changed the name for the rating to .  

400,000 Oregonians have gained access to health care" through the Affordable Care Act.

May 28, 2014

health care

jeff merkley

Jeff Merkley is a Democratic senator from Oregon. He was elected in 2008. Merkley won his first campaign for the Oregon Legislature as a representative in 1998. He was elected Democratic leader in 2003 and speaker of the House in 2007. He studied international relations at Stanford University and earned a graduate degree in public policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

oregon

an interview

And anywhere from 60,000 to 83,000 Oregonians who didn’t qualify for Medicaid have purchased private health insurance plans, many with the help of tax credits. So those totals may well make Merkley’s 400,000 . But neither he nor anyone else can say how many of them already had access to health care before the ACA went into effect. Merkley’s statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. We rate it .

Kamala Harris said about Hurricane Ian that "if you have a different skin color, you're going to get relief faster.

October 2, 2022

climate change;congress;corrections and updates;weather

rick scott

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

florida

a television interview

Scott claimed Harris said, "if you have a different skin color, you're going to get relief faster" after Hurricane Ian. Harris said no such thing in a response to a question that touched on several topics, including Hurricane Ian, climate change policy and disparities in who is most harmed by climate change and extreme weather. We rate this . Clarification, Oct. 6, 2022 : This story has been updated to clarify that the FEMA webpage for Hurricane Ian victims linked to in this story doesn’t mention race or equity. Elsewhere, the agency’s website does discuss its efforts regarding equity. The rating is unchanged.

Photo shows the "USS Al Gore Global Warming Research Vessel" covered in ice.

February 8, 2021

climate change;facebook fact-checks

viral image

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

a Facebook post

Climate change deniers sometimes point to cold weather as that global warming is a hoax. But experts say that extreme cold weather like some communities in the United States are experiencing could be linked to climate change .  As Judah Cohen, the director of seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental research, told the New York Times: "Severe weather is much more frequent when the Arctic is warmest. It’s not in spite of climate change, but related to climate change. "   We rate this .

Says his book, The Art of the Deal, is "the No. 1 selling business book of all time.

July 1, 2015

candidate biography

donald trump

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

national

remarks on CNN

Trump said his 1987 memoir The  Art of the Deal is "the No. 1 selling business book of all time." The highest estimate pins the number of sales at 1 million, which we weren’t able to verify. According to one source of sales data, The Art of the Deal sold 184,000 physical copies since 2001. There are no lists of all-time sales, but we weighed The Art of the Deal against other popular books in its genre. While the book was very successful, it comes nowhere near claiming the title of top seller. Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People  and Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People easily outpace it. We rate the .

There's not one public study, and by public study I mean a study available to the public, that has looked at using the product Kaput to poison feral hogs.

March 6, 2017

environment;animals

will herring

Will Herring owns the Hubbard-based Wild Boar Meat Company.

texas

a San Antonio Express-News news story

Herring said there’s no public study of Kaput, the product that might soon be available in Texas to attack feral hogs. There’s no public study of that EPA-registered product, we confirmed. But a 2015 study submitted to a science journal would become public if it’s accepted for publication. Also, the effects on feral hogs of warfarin, Kaput’s active ingredient, has been explored in published studies. We rate this statement . – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/79f1a70f-3245-4ee8-ae8a-b94980d9c72f

Independent analysts "found that Trump's tax plan, given to the wealthy and big corporations, would rack up $30 trillion in debt.

July 27, 2016

debt;taxes

tim kaine

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

national

Philadelphia

Kaine said that independent analysts "found Trump's tax plan, given to the wealthy and big corporations, would rack up $30 trillion in debt." Kaine is on pretty solid ground with the substance of his assertion, but he’s cherry-picked the biggest figure of several that were available. We rate his statement Half  .

Jill Biden implied the COVID-19 pandemic was planned.

June 28, 2021

facebook fact-checks

instagram posts

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

an Instagram post

An Instagram post shows Biden appearing to say that the pandemic was planned. The post takes her statements out of context to present a narrative. The full remarks show she was referring to vaccine research.  We rate this .

Halliburton defrauded American taxpayers of "hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraq.

June 6, 2010

corporations;legal issues;military;pundits;this week - abc news

arianna huffington

Arianna Huffington founded the liberal news website Huffingtonpost.com, which she sold to AOL in 2011 for $315 million. In 2003, she unsuccessfully ran for governor of California.

national

an interview on "This Week."

Certainly there have been hundreds of millions of dollars that Halliburton's KBR attempted to charge the government that have been denied. Government audits of KBR's work in Iraq will likely continue for some time, and we do not expect a final accounting on these fronts anytime soon. Huffington glossed over some of these points in her back and forth with Liz Cheney. There's also much that makes us believe that hundreds of millions of dollars were lost to waste and inefficiency, not deceitful fraud. So we rate Huffington's statement .

There is "$500 billion of unspent COVID money" that can be rescinded.

April 10, 2023

federal budget;coronavirus

nikki haley

Nikki Haley announced on Feb. 14, 2023 that she is running for president in the Republican primary. Haley was the governor of South Carolina 2011-2017 and then served as President Donald Trump's ambassador to the UN in 2017 and 2018.

Salix, Iowa

Haley said there is "$500 billion in unspent COVID money" that could be rescinded. Haley’s campaign didn’t say how she reached that figure, but USASpending, an online funding federal government spending tracker, shows that about $430 billion was unspent as of Jan. 31. However, a Government Accountability Office webpage said the majority of that sum has been allocated. Estimates about how much remains unspent and unallocated range from $70 billion to $90 billion. The statement is partially accurate because more than $400 billion in COVID-19 relief funds remain unspent. But it leaves out the critical detail that the  majority of the funding has been allocated and would therefore be hard to rescind. We rate it .  

Says "For the first time in our state's history, the Pride flag has been raised at our State Capitol!!

June 18, 2019

civil rights

gavin newsom

Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California in 2018. He is the state's former lieutenant governor and served as mayor of San Francisco. He is a Democrat.

california

a tweet

The raising in 1990 went through protocols, was sanctioned and announced ahead of time in a Bay Area newspaper. Newsom acknowledged in a subsequent statement that this "piece of our state’s history deserves to be called out and recognized." Even so, we rate his initial .   –  The statement is not accurate. Click here for  more  on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

Says J.D. Vance said, "People who voted for Trump voted for him for racist reasons.

April 26, 2022

elections;race and ethnicity;ad watch

club for growth

The Club for Growth is an anti-tax group.

ohio

an attack ad

A Club for Growth Action ad said Vance had said, "People who voted for Trump voted for him for racist reasons." In the full interview from which those words were drawn, Vance allowed that some people voted for Trump for racist reasons, but he said most people voted for Trump for his policies on jobs. Vance rejected the idea that racism played much of a role in Trump’s win. The edited version of Vance’s words gave a very different spin than what he actually expressed. We rate this .

There is no clinical evidence that vaccinating healthcare workers protects patients.

March 5, 2013

health care;labor;public health;unions

seiu

SEIU is the Service Employees International Union. It represents 2.1 million health care and public services workers.  

rhode island

a lawsuit

SEIU Healthcare Employees Union, District 1199, said in its lawsuit that "there is no clinical that vaccinating healthcare workers protects patients." That’s an unequivocal statement. But in fact, researchers found such and published their findings in peer-reviewed studies in respected medical journals. The fact that other researchers disputed the doesn’t mean the doesn’t exist. We’ll leave it to the scientists to fight over how conclusive the is. But our judges rule this . (If you have a you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, e-mail us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg "has been arrested.

April 6, 2023

facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

new york

a Facebook post

We also found no news reports about Bragg’s arrest, an event that would draw broad media coverage. Meanwhile, Bragg has good reason to travel with a security detail (The Brunswick News has a photo of him being escorted by one March 22). Federal law enforcement officers have been "tracking a surge of violent threats" against Bragg, Time reported , including a typewritten death threat enclosed with white powder. Claims Bragg was arrested are unfounded. We rate this post !

Under the Obama administration, we are drilling and producing more domestic energy supplies than we ever had before.

October 9, 2012

environment;economy;energy

james langevin

James Langevin has represented Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District since 2001. He was elected to the state's Constitutional Convention in 1986. Two years later, he won a seat as a State Representative and went on to become, at age 30, Rhode Island's youngest Secretary of State in 1995.

rhode island

a debate

Langevin may have thought he misspoke, but he actually had the larger trend right. What he got was the suggestion that the Obama administration was responsible when, in fact, the role of any administration in such matters is usually limited. Because the statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context, we rate it . (Get updates from PolitiFact Rhode Island on Twitter: @politifactri . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)

Says Marco Rubio "was for immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship before he was against it.

January 23, 2015

immigration

debbie wasserman schultz

Debbie Wasserman Schultz became the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee in 2011 and resigned in July 2016. The Florida Democrat was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 after serving in the state senate. She represents Congressional District 23 in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

florida

Fort Lauderdale

Wasserman Schultz said that Rubio "was for immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship before he was against it." The 2013 Senate bill which Rubio co-sponsored to overhaul our immigration system included a pathway to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants, albeit one with significant hurdles. After that died, Rubio said he still favored immigration reform, but that it’s only chance was through piecemeal bills. In his book, Rubio outlined specific steps for illegal immigrants to obtain legal status, and after many years eventually pursue citizenship.   There is a kernel of to Wasserman Schultz’s , though, because some immigration advocates say Rubio’s piecemeal approach greatly reduces the chance that Congress would ever get to the point of addressing residency and citizenship. We rate this .

Greg Abbott "has campaigned with a sexual predator who has bragged about having sex with underage girls.

September 19, 2014

corrections and updates;ethics;crime;sexuality

wendy davis

Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth attorney, was initially elected to the Texas Senate in 2008. She was the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, giving up a shot at winning re-election to the Senate.

texas

the Rio Grande Valley

Davis said Abbott "has campaigned with a sexual predator who has bragged about having sex with underage girls." Davis didn’t mention Nugent’s name, but she’s right the former rock star, who stumped for Abbott this year, has talked about sexual escapades with much younger women. Then again, we found no confirmation of Nugent explicitly saying his victims were underage. Also, Davis’ statement could have given debate viewers the misimpression Nugent is a convicted sex offender, which isn’t so. 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.

Says Kobe Bryant tweeted, "I have information that will lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton.

January 26, 2020

corrections and updates;crime;facebook fact-checks

viral image

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

a Facebook post

Searching his account for any tweets about the Clintons, we found one from January 2013.  He tweeted a photo of himself with former President Bill Clinton.  "Great event with President Clinton and @KVBFF for renovation of Step Up on Vine!" he wrote. We rate this Facebook post .

The majority of (the American people) voted for a Democratic House.

February 12, 2013

congress;elections

steny hoyer

Steny Hoyer is the current House minority whip, having served in the position once before from 2003 to 2007. He was majority leader of the House from 2007 to 2011, and is the dean of the Maryland congressional delegation, having served the 5th district since 1981.

national

a media availability with reporters

Hoyer said the majority of Americans "voted for a Democratic House."  We found an impartial and thorough analysis that supports his , at least when considering votes for the two dominant parties. Indeed, Democrats earned a majority. When considering votes for candidates of all parties, House Democrats still earned the most votes. But the share is a plurality, not a majority. It’s a small but noteworthy difference. We rate Hoyer’s statement .

Says video of body bags being dumped in a ditch shows the "situation in Italy" due to the coronavirus.

March 27, 2020

public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

You can watch the full clip from "Pandemic" here .  Italy has seen a high death toll as a result of the coronavirus, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. According to the World Health Organization , the country had recorded 139,422 confirmed cases and 17,669 deaths from COVID-19 as of April 9. But the clip passed off by Facebook users as footage of the "situation in Italy" is lifted from a 2007 TV series about a fictional pandemic. We rate this Facebook post .

Of $60 billion Congress approved in response to Hurricane Sandy, "only 10 percent was for disaster relief.

March 1, 2013

federal budget

al cardenas

Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, chairs the American Conservative Union.

national

an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe

Cardenas was specific with his numbers, but his own organization says he misspoke. Our math shows that the $15 billion for FEMA disaster relief and flood insurance alone are more than double what Cardenas claimed. And while Ellis raises some valid questions about how much of the $60 billion package will ultimately go to disaster relief, we find it will be significantly more than Cardenas said. We rate his statement .

Says some of the names that may be purged from voter roll are people who have died.

January 19, 2020

voter id laws;voting record

robert spindell

Robert Spindell is a Republican and one of six commissioners on the Wisconsin Elections Commission. He was first appointed in 2019.

wisconsin

a TV interview

Spindell said the controversial list of names up for purging from the voter roll includes people who have died. But people who died were removed before the original inactive voters list was created in October, and others who have died since then have been removed as part of the ongoing monthly updates. That doesn’t line up with Spindell’s present-tense that names at risk of removal include people who have died. So there’s an element of , but it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. That’s our definition of .

We have 93 million people out of work. They look for jobs, they give up, and all of a sudden, statistically, they're considered employed.

August 28, 2015

economy;jobs

donald trump

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

national

an interview with Sarah Palin

Trump said, "We have 93 million people out of work. They look for jobs, they give up, and all of a sudden, statistically, they're considered employed." That figure, boosted by Trump’s description, represents a basic misunderstanding of the labor market. Once you strip out full-time students, senior citizens, the disabled, and those who have chosen not to work to take care of their children, a more reasonable estimate of "out of work" Americans is somewhere in the neighborhood of 21 million, or less than a quarter of Trump’s figure. Meanwhile, he is flat that the government reclassifies discouraged workers as "employed." We rate his .

Says, "In Oregon in 2010, 49 percent of all pregnancies were unintended.

May 15, 2013

children;families;health care;women

carolyn tomei

Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, is a member of the Oregon House of Representatives. Her interests are public health and human services.

oregon

a House floor speech

PolitiFact Oregon rates the accuracy of the statement, not the ins and outs of the survey from which the statement comes. In the colloquial sense, Tomei is off by a few points. In the survey sense, she is backed up by a national study, although for a different year. We find those two factors are enough to find her statement accurate, but needing both clarification and additional information. We rule the statement .

In three days last week, (Gov. Rick) Perry flew to five cities at taxpayers' expense, holding press conferences, delivering $2,325,000 in checks.

May 19, 2010

elections;ethics;state budget

bill white

Bill White, an author, is a San Antonio native who was mayor of Houston from 2004-2009. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor of Texas.

texas

a Facebook post

All in all, White got several things right — five cities visited, press events, money awards. And it's the state pays some costs any time the governor goes anywhere. But White's crucial assumption — that Perry's flights were at taxpayers' expense — is . It's a misstep the candidate might have avoided by reading his local newspaper. !

The "boyfriend loophole" means that "if you commit a serious crime of domestic abuse against your wife, you can't get a gun, but if you do it against your girlfriend, you can.

August 12, 2019

crime;guns

amy klobuchar

Amy Klobuchar is a senator from Minnesota. Klobuchar was elected as senator in 2006 and re-elected in 2012 and 2018. Klobuchar received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. In 2019, she announced she was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out March 2, 2020.

national

an interview

Klobuchar said the "boyfriend loophole" means that "if you commit a serious crime of domestic abuse against your wife, you can't get a gun, but if you do it against your girlfriend, you can." The gun prohibition, which is in federal law, does not apply to boyfriends who are, or were, in mere dating or more casual relationships.  But it does apply to boyfriends who have a child in common with the domestic violence victim; live or lived with the victim; or who are "similarly situated to a spouse." Also, 19 states have similar laws on misdemeanor domestic violence cases. Klobuchar’s statement is partially accurate. We rate it .

25 percent of federal inmates are noncitizens.

July 7, 2015

immigration;punditfact

larry o'connor

Larry O'Connor is a radio host and editor-at-large for IJReview.com

an interview on "The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson" on Fox News

O’Connor said 25 percent of federal inmates are noncitizens. According to the Bureau of Prisons, that’s pretty much spot on. But it’s important to know that a hefty fraction of those inmates are only in prison for violating immigration laws and are in facilities more or less created to house them. If you take those people out of the equation, you’re looking at about 12 percent of federal inmates. The is correct, but it overlooks a significant wrinkle. We rate it .

We win when voter turnout is high, we lose when it is low.

April 12, 2016

elections

bernie sanders

Bernie Sanders is a senator from Vermont. Sanders was first elected to the Senate in 2007 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2018. The senator also ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016, losing the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. From 1991 until 2007, he was the representative of Vermont’s At-Large District of the House of Representatives. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago. In 2019, he announced he was running for the Democratic nomination for president and dropped out in April 2020.

national

Syracuse, N.Y

Sanders said, "We win when voter turnout is high, we lose when it is low." Sanders did notch a few notable victories in high-turnout primaries, but it would be cherry-picking to focus only on primaries. Sanders has won caucuses, which have produced the lowest turnout rates of 2016 across the board. And while Sanders did win the handful of states where Democratic turnout increased over 2008, these increases were tiny, casting doubt on how significant an accomplishment this is. The statement contains some element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it . https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/074dfd44-4244-447d-8cd3-371fb14bad33

Eliminating affirmative action in admissions in Florida led to "more African American and Hispanic kids attending our university system" than before.

February 27, 2015

education

jeb bush

Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He served two terms as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is also the brother of former President George W. Bush and the son of former President George H.W. Bush. 

florida

a CPAC appearance

Bush said that eliminating affirmative action in admissions led to "more African American and Hispanic kids attending our university system" universities than before. The raw numbers of black and Hispanic students are up, but the percentage of black students in the State University System is down slightly since Bush’s 1999 executive order. The number of Hispanic students has gone up considerably, but that is partly because of a recent change in how students report ethnicity during the admissions process. There’s no hard Bush’s One Florida program had much to do with the enrollment changes. Experts say demographics, graduation rates and state-sponsored scholarship money have had more influence. We rate the statement . Note: This was fact-checked as part of a reward to  our Kickstarter campaign  to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union. Thanks to all who contributed.

Virginians pay the 11th-highest power bills in the nation.

November 16, 2018

energy;regulation

clean virginia

Clean Virginia is a non-profit organization seeking to overhaul the state's system of regulating power companies, which it says is "corrupt," and "rigged" against  consumers. The organization notes that Virginia's two dominant power companies, Dominion Energy and the Appalachian Power Co., which provide 82 percent of the state's electricity, have contributed more than $12 million to state campaigns since 1996. Those contributions, the organization contends, have reseulted in favorable treatment by the Genral Assembly.    

virginia

website post

Clean Virginia says, "Virginians pay the 11th-highest power bills in the nation." Virginia does have the 11th-highest residential power rates in the country, according to 2017 federal government statistics. But there’s much to this ranking that Clean Virginia omits in trying to establish the bills as proof that Virginia’s regulation of power companies is "rigged" against consumers and "corrupt." The hefty bills are not caused by high electricity rates, which are established in negotiations between power companies, regulators, state politicians and other parties. To the contrary, Virginia has the 17th-lowest residential rates. What’s driving the big bills is the high consumption of electricity by Virginia households who, on average, use the eighth-most power in the country. That follows a pattern across the U.S.; states with low residential rates use a lot of electricity and vice versa. Clean Virginia tells half the story, and we rate its statement .  

Today New Mexico (has) the sixth-fastest growing economy.

September 26, 2007

economy

bill richardson

Bill Richardson is the former governor of New Mexico, having served two terms in that position from 2003-2011. Richardson is also a former congressman, U.S. secretary of energy, and ambassador to the United Nations. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, and was President Barack Obama’s initial nominee for secretary of commerce in 2009.

national

Hanover, N.H

If economic strength is measured by the increase in state's gross domestic product, New Mexico actually ranks higher than sixth. Measured by the change from 2005 to 2006 (the most recent data available), the state ranks fifth, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. So if Richardson was using this measurement of the economy, he slightly understated his state's growth. Either way, Richardson is generally correct that the state's economy has done well in his term (largely because of gains in the oil and gas industry). We find his .

The federal government has made investments in science and technology inventing the products that led to the creation of Google.

June 26, 2012

technology

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.

georgia

a speech

It’s clear that Google’s co-founders used resources from the NSF for their work. Some, such as Malseed, say those resources were helpful, but a part of the puzzle. We believe the president’s statement is technically accurate. But it might give a bit too much credit to the government’s role in Google’s development. We rate Obama’s as .

Says "There are now Occupy Wall Street camps in hundreds of cities across the United States.

October 13, 2011

city government;occupy wall street

sam adams

Sam Adams is the mayor of Portland. Before that he was a city commissioner and , for 11 years, was chief of staff to then-Mayor Vera Katz.

oregon

a press conference

The thing is, we don’t know how many mayors are dealing with Occupy Wall Street events, whether it’s more than 100, which is not hundreds, or in the 200 to 300 range, as some sites say. Throw in Adams’ specific about protest camps, and we rule the mayor’s statement . As of Oct. 13, there were not camps in hundreds of cities across the United States. But there may be hundreds of mayors dealing with the issue. The statement contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.

There were more people on welfare than working in 2013.

January 21, 2015

economy;jobs;poverty;welfare;punditfact

terry jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey started as editor in chief of CNSNews.com in September 2007. Prior to that, he served for more than a decade as editor of Human Events, where he is now an editor at large.

TownHall.com

Jeffrey said that in 2013, there were 109,631,000 Americans "on welfare," outnumbering the "105,862,000 full-time year-round workers in the United States." While the is based on real numbers, it’s a fundamentally flawed, apples-and-oranges comparison. The number of "welfare" recipients -- unlike the number of workers -- is enlarged by the inclusion of children and senior citizens. The comparison also ignores that many "welfare" recipients actually work, so trying to separate the two categories creates a dichotomy. We rate the .

Says Tom Hanks was photographed wearing a T-shirt with progressive slogans on it.

September 20, 2019

fake news;facebook fact-checks

facebook posts

Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.  

a Facebook post

Facebook took down that page and many others as part of its efforts to detect "coordinated inauthentic activity on the platform." Facebook said "No racism no war" was linked to Iran, though not the Iranian government.  This isn’t the first time Hanks has been depicted in a doctored image. In 2018, the actor was falsely shown as wearing a tee bearing a vulgar anti-Trump Halloween message.  We rate this viral image .

A sitting sheriff cannot be charged except by a warrant issued by a Superior Court judge.

May 4, 2015

legal issues;crime

danny porter

Danny Porter is Gwinnett County's District Attorney.

georgia

an interview with AM750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB radio

He had other options. Warrants can be issued against sheriffs by the state court and probate courts judges. PolitiFact defines a statement as when it’s at least partially accurate but missing enough context to be to the average reader. Porter’s statement fits that bill. We rate his statement .  

Under Obama's tax plan, "95 percent of you will get a tax cut.

September 26, 2008

taxes

barack obama

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

national

Oxford, Miss

So Obama's statement at the debate glosses over a few important details about who would get tax cuts under his plan. If you're talking about everyone, it's 81 percent.  If you're talking about working families, it's 95 percent. The difference between 81 percent and 95 percent is not insignificant. We rule his debate statement .

Only 2 percent of public high schools in the country offer PE classes.

May 29, 2012

education;health care

michelle obama

Michelle Obama is the wife of Barack Obama and the former First Lady of the United States. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School and has worked for the Mayor of Chicago and the University of Chicago. Michelle and Barack Obama have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

national

an interview with NPR

Official federal data show that more than 95 percent of high schools in 2006 required PE -- a far cry from the 2 percent Obama cited. We rate her .

We've got an average of 5,600 soldiers committing suicide. That's about 20 a day.

May 27, 2014

health care;veterans

david scott

U.S. Rep. David Scott represents Georgia's 13th district, which covers portions of Cobb, Clayton, Douglas, Fulton, Henry and DeKalb.

georgia

WABE

To sum it up, though Scott is a little off on his math, he’s close enough on the daily rates for us. He has a point to drive home, that a lot of veterans are dying by their own hands. The problem is when he attempts to link the daily suicide rates of all military veterans, who may never have visited a VA center, with the current scandal. The study offers no to back up the implication that blame lies with the VA on those deaths. With that context, we rate Scott’s statements as .

Says Gov. Tony Evers' budget includes tax and fee increases even while spending "more on his way to a nearly $2 billion deficit.

April 2, 2019

deficit;taxes

david craig

David Craig is an American Republican Party politician currently serving in the Wisconsin State Senate. He previously was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

wisconsin

a tweet

The budget does increase taxes. But it has to be balanced by law. That said, projected numbers do show Evers would start the next two-year budget, beginning in July 2021, with a projected gap of $1.96 billion. That number will change based on the performance of the economy and other factors. We rate this .