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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11,470 | 1 |
When those restrictions expire (in the Iran nuclear deal), Iran will have an industrial-size military nuclear capability ready to go.
|
March 21, 2016
|
foreign policy;nuclear
|
donald trump
|
Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.
|
national
| 36 | 85 | 120 | 194 | 360 | 179 |
Washington
|
Trump said, "When those restrictions expire, Iran will have an industrial-size military nuclear capability ready to go." Key restrictions in the deal never expire, including the pledge to not conduct activities that would contribute to the design and development of a nuclear explosive. And even if Iran were to go all-out for a nuclear program once the 15-year limit on uranium enrichment goes away, it would take months, if not years, for the country to develop a bomb and delivery system so its military could go to war with nuclear weaponry. We rate the as .
|
22,733 | 1 |
Ashli Babbitt is alive and well.
|
March 7, 2023
|
facebook fact-checks;jan. 6
|
instagram posts
|
Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.
| null | 3 | 3 | 15 | 51 | 405 | 140 |
an Instagram post
|
By searching for the headlines that appeared scrolling at the bottom of the clip, we found the footage of the person in the video in a Newsmax broadcast of an Oct. 1, 2022, speech by former President Donald Trump. Although a photo of Babbitt wearing a similar hat circulated after her death, this isn’t her. Video published by news organizations documented the shooting. Her widowed husband has talked to reporters about her death. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and the Civil Rights Division and with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division reviewed video footage, police and witness statements, physical from the scene of the shooting, and the results of Babbitt's autopsy as part of a Justice Department investigation into her death. We rate claims that this video shows Babbit alive and well .
|
1,558 | 3 |
(Pete) Sessions has held at least two fundraisers at adult-themed clubs and made no apologies.
|
April 8, 2010
|
ethics
|
lone star project
|
The Lone Star Project describes itself as "providing fact-based political and legislative analysis designed to help individuals, organizations and the press see beyond the rhetoric and misinformation typically provided by the current Republican State Leadership in Texas and Texas Republicans in Washington... The Lone Star Project is organized as an activity of the Lone Star Fund, which is a federal political action committee registered with the Federal Elections Commission."
|
texas
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a press release
|
Finally, we didn't find record of Sessions airing fundraising regrets. Neither Sessions nor his aides agreed to our requests for on-the-record interviews. The naked ? All indications are that Sessions held one fundraiser in an adult-themed venue and another in a restaurant that's separated from its nightclub featuring nearly nude dancers. We rate the Lone Star Project's statement as .
|
15,978 | 1 |
Florida state senators "are pushing a new government program that allows prescription drugs from China without FDA inspection.
|
April 18, 2019
|
drugs;health care
|
the partnership for safe medicines
|
The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) is a public health group comprised of 69 non-profit organizations including state pharmacy associations and PhRMA.
|
florida
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a TV ad
|
An ad by Partnership for Safe Medicines said, "State senators are pushing a new government program that allows prescription drugs from China without FDA inspection." Senators are actually pushing for an importation program from Canada, not China. In its ad, the organization points to of unscrupulous entities that purported to provide prescriptions from Canada but were actually obtaining drugs from elsewhere or counterfeit operations. Those cases are real, but it doesn’t mean that a proposed Florida program will allow prescription drugs from China without federal oversight. The Florida program would require the federal government’s approval, including state and federal safeguards, including those that involve the FDA. We rate this .
|
8,609 | 5 |
Today's marijuana is 300 percent to 800 percent more potent than the pot of yesteryear.
|
March 13, 2014
|
drugs;recreation;science;marijuana
|
heidi heilman
|
Heidi Heilman of Westborough, Mass., is director of New England field development for Smart Approaches to Marijuana and president of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance.
|
rhode island
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Providence Journal
|
Heidi Heilman said, "Today’s marijuana is 300 percent to 800 percent more potent than the pot of yesteryear." Long-term testing shows that, on average, today's marijuana is three times more potent than pre-1993 marijuana and eight times more potent than grass seized in 1976 and earlier. We rate her as . (If you have a you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)
|
4,542 | 1 |
Says that under his tax plan, "no matter where you are in the stratosphere, you're going to be getting a tax cut.
|
October 25, 2011
|
taxes
|
rick perry
|
Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.
|
texas
| 26 | 24 | 43 | 30 | 31 | 18 |
an interview
|
An Oct. 31, 2011, Wall Street Journal news article , states the presumption that the tax reductions put in place will expire means that under Perry’s approach, "a lot of people would actually face a tax increase compared to current tax levels." Frazier, Perry’s spokeswoman, replied to our inquiry about the center’s analysis indicating lower-income Americans would not get a tax cut by echoing Perry’s announcement of his plan: "Americans in every income group will receive a tax cut." , some households at each quintile of earnings -- from the poorest to richest -- would get tax cuts under Perry’s plan, which promises tax cuts to the vast majority of households annually earning $39,863 or more. But it’s not the case that no matter where you are, you're going to be getting a tax cut. We rate Perry's statement .
|
7,150 | 2 |
Only three in 10 Texas doctors are currently accepting new Medicaid patients.
|
April 1, 2013
|
federal budget;health care;medicaid;public health;state budget
|
rick perry
|
Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.
|
texas
| 26 | 24 | 43 | 30 | 31 | 18 |
a press release jointly issued with U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz
|
Perry said only three in 10 Texas doctors currently accept new Medicaid patients. In a recent year, some 67 percent of Texas physicians submitted at least one Medicaid . More recently, 42 percent of the state’s physicians responding to a 2012 survey said they refuse all new Medicaid patients. Then again, 32 percent said they accept all new Medicaid patients and 26 percent said they limit such patients--signaling that 58 percent of physicians accept at least some new Medicaid patients. By not specifying that the cited "three in 10" reflects only doctors who accept all new Medicaid patients, Perry’s statement falls off target by nearly 30 percent. Still, it has en element of . We rate it .
|
1,051 | 1 |
The health bill's plan for comparative effectiveness research "would be used by the government to ration care.
|
August 18, 2009
|
health care
|
john boehner
|
John Boehner of Ohio is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was formerly the Republican minority leader from 2007-2011, and was the majority leader briefly prior to that.
|
national
| 17 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 22 | 2 |
a press release
|
"We need to spend smarter and treat more effectively," We think it's reasonable to conclude that some insurers may decide to use the government's research findings to determine what kinds of medical services it will cover, or at least which ones it will cover first. But we think it's a stretch to call giving patients better information about which treatments and drugs are most effective "rationing." In fact, given specific language in the bill to the contrary, we think it's outright for Boehner to the research findings would be used by the government to ration care. Our friends at FactCheck.org came to the same conclusion in an item that walks through the evolution of comparative effectiveness research. So we find Boehner 's that comparative effectiveness research findings "would be used by the government to ration care" to be .
|
9,021 | 4 |
Women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men.
|
June 30, 2014
|
health care;women
|
ruth bader ginsburg
|
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She was appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton.
|
national
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
"Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby"
|
Ginsburg wrote that "women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men." Some estimates cited by a litany of politicians and advocates are based on 20-year-old data. But more recent data shows that women do still pay more out of pocket for health care than men do, with one estimate very close -- 69 percent -- and other estimates in the 40 percent to 50 percent range. On balance, we rate the .
|
1,492 | 3 |
Marco Rubio "supported $800,000 for AstroTurf for a field where he played flag football.
|
February 18, 2010
|
state budget
|
charlie crist
|
Charlie Crist lost the race for Florida governor as the Democratic candidate in 2022. He served as a U.S. congressman from St. Petersburg since 2017 and resigned Aug. 31, 2022 to focus on his campaign. As a Republican, Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011. Crist left the Republican Party in 2010 to mount a campaign for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist lost the race to Marco Rubio. In 2012, he endorsed President Barack Obama and announced that he had registered as a Democrat. He lost his race as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014.
|
florida
| 15 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 11 | 2 |
a statement on a campaign Web site
|
But it was one of hundreds of items in a giant $71.9 billion budget bill and the bill didn't specify it was for artificial turf. It wasn't until later news accounts that the turf came to light. It's conceivable that Rubio knew it was for turf -- indeed, using Geller's account of the Speaker's power, you might think he did. But there's no proof. So we find the .
|
14,007 | 0 |
BREAKING: Rosa Parks' Granddaughter SLAMS Racist Democrats, Endorses Trump
|
November 4, 2017
|
fake news;punditfact
|
reaganwasright
|
Reaganwasright is a satirical website.
| null | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
a headline
|
Call it "fan fiction" if you prefer." The headline says, "Rosa Parks’ granddaughter SLAMS racist Democrats, endorses Trump." But Parks didn’t have children. For viewers who scroll to the bottom of the page, they will find a disclaimer that describes the website as satire. We rate this headline !
|
16,517 | 4 |
Women's unemployment has been lower under President Trump than it's been in nearly 70 years.
|
August 27, 2019
|
economy;jobs
|
west virginia republican party
|
The West Virginia Republican Party is the official Republican state party organization in West Virginia.
|
west virginia
| 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a tweet
|
Since Trump entered the White House, women’s unemployment has fallen by one point, or almost one-fifth. Our Ruling The West Virginia Republican Party said, "Women’s unemployment has been lower under President Trump than it’s been in nearly 70 years." The actual number is 66 years, which qualifies as "nearly 70." However, it’s important to note that presidents don’t deserve full credit or blame for such statistical changes on their watch. The statement is accurate but needs additional context, so we rate it .
|
900 | 3 |
More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States.
|
April 16, 2009
|
guns
|
barack obama
|
Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
|
national
| 124 | 165 | 163 | 71 | 71 | 9 |
a news conference
|
But we think Obama also mischaracterizes the statistic some when he says 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States. Not every gun recovered in Mexico is submitted to the ATF for tracing. And so Obama and others can't know exactly what percentage come from the United States. They can only speak to the guns successfully traced by the ATF. And so we rule Obama's statement .
|
18,722 | 1 |
In Nevada, they want to have a thing where you don't have to have any verification of the signature" on ballots.
|
October 25, 2020
|
elections
|
donald trump
|
Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.
|
nevada
| 36 | 85 | 120 | 194 | 360 | 179 |
a rally
|
Trump said "in Nevada, they want to have a thing where you don’t have to have any verification of the signature." Trump’s campaign said he was referring to a lawsuit challenging ballot processing procedures in Clark County. The Trump campaign’s Oct. 23 lawsuit challenges the county’s use of a machine to help flag signature issues on ballots. The case is pending, so it will be up to a judge to decide if any of the arguments have merit. Republicans argue that the fact that only 1.45% of ballots in Clark County needed signature cures translates to a watered down signature requirement. But criticizing the use of the county’s procedures isn’t that the county wants no verification of signatures. We rate this . This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here , for more.
|
21,536 | 0 |
A BP oil executive named Brice Cromwell blamed the Biden administration for high gas prices.
|
June 3, 2022
|
gas prices;facebook fact-checks
|
facebook posts
|
Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
|
national
| 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 |
Facebook posts
|
The text blames the Biden administration for high gas prices, stating that they’re due to America choosing to import oil from other countries. The text is phony — BP oil confirmed that no one named Brice Cromwell works for the company. In addition, the Facebook post has appeared as early as March without naming Cromwell. Fluctuations in oil and gas prices are not caused by the president, no matter who is in office. Experts and data show that the rise and fall of gas prices is due to the global supply and demand, inflation and worldwide events. We rate this !
|
14,264 | 1 |
Californians are overwhelmingly against this concept of the illegal sanctuary state.
|
February 1, 2018
|
immigration;criminal justice;crime;polls and public opinion;public safety;states;the 2018 california governor's race
|
travis allen
|
Travis Allen is a Republican and a member of the California State Assembly, representing the Orange County area. He is a 2018 candidate for California governor.
|
california
| 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
an interview on Capital Public Radio
|
During a recent radio interview, Travis Allen twice repeated the unfounded Californians are "overwhelmingly against" the new sanctuary state law. He’s made this assertion numerous times in recent months despite four polls that show a majority, or in some cases a near-majority, of Californians support the sanctuary policies. A past on the topic earned Allen a rating. On these latest statements, we again rated Allen’s . UPDATE: After publication, the Public Policy Institute of California released a new survey , on Feb. 8, 2018, showing 65 percent of California adults, including 58 percent of likely voters, favored local governments making their own policies and taking action separate from the federal government to protect the legal rights of undocumented immigrants in the state. It found 83 percent of Democrats, 53 percent of Independents and 21 percent of Republicans were in favor. – The statement is not accurate. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
1,545 | 4 |
Says she introduced a ban on "dirty dancing.
|
April 9, 2010
|
candidate biography;children;education;pop culture
|
frederica wilson
|
Frederica Wilson, a former Florida state senator from Miami Gardens, was elected to the U.S. House on Nov. 2, 2010. She represents Congressional District 24 in South Florida.
|
florida
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
her campaign Web site
|
I witnessed it -- a lot of forward-thrusting of the pelvic bone." Clearly Wilson introduced the dirty dancing ban approved by the school board in 1997 and we don't doubt that school activities now have less forward-thrusting of the pelvic bone. But her that the ban would apply "in our community" is a little . Some people might think her ban applied to the entire county, not just the schools. So we rate this .
|
3,866 | 1 |
One of the reasons that Budweiser stayed in New Jersey is the money they got from RGGI to put solar on their roof to save on their energy costs.
|
June 13, 2011
|
environment;cap and trade;climate change;corporations
|
jeff tittel
|
Jeff Tittel is the director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club.
|
new jersey
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
testimony to the General Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities committee
|
Let’s recap. Tittel claimed one of the reasons Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser brewery in Newark stayed in New Jersey is because they received funding through RGGI to install solar panels, thereby reducing their energy costs. Anheuser-Busch told us they weren’t planning on relocating the brewery and that they did not receive funds through RGGI for the solar project. We rate Tittel’s . To comment on this ruling, go to NJ.com .
|
12,858 | 0 |
Breaking: Crew of Air Force One Refuses to Fly Obama 6000 miles 'Just to Play Golf'
|
December 20, 2016
|
fake news;punditfact
|
buzzfeedusa.com
|
BuzzFeedUSA.com is a fake news website.
| null | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
a website
|
After the photo, the article then concludes with a wink: "It’s a fairly well-known fact that after about 150 words and a picture that may or may not be related, most conservative readers will stop reading and go comment that the Muslim should be executed for playing golf. Therefore, less than 20% of those who clicked this article will have made it this far." While BuzzFeedUSA.com’s article fetched no comments, many who read the same article posted on a different news site seem to have missed this disclaimer and praised the dissident pilot. If this kicker isn’t enough to convince you that the article is , or if you only read the headline, we’ll state it more emphatically: It’s ! https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/3641530f-d560-42b8-be6f-23070da52b09
|
13,845 | 1 |
Said there is cholera in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
|
September 30, 2017
|
natural disasters ;public health;punditfact
|
paul krugman
|
Paul Krugman is a columnist for the New York Times and professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008. He describes himself as liberal.
| null | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
a tweet
|
Krugman said that cases of cholera had been reported in Puerto Rico. By his own account, that was . He assumed someone he trusted had verified the facts and the person hadn't. Health care professionals raised the concern that massive damage to the water supply system increased the risk of cholera, but that falls well short of an actual outbreak. While references to a cholera outbreak littered the twittersphere, those accounts were being rejected two days before Krugman’s tweet. We rate this .
|
5,690 | 5 |
In the 2000 Florida election, at least 1,100 eligible voters were wrongly dropped from voting rolls in an attempt to purge a list of felons. Many of those who were dropped showed up to vote and were told they could not.
|
May 29, 2012
|
elections
|
bill nelson
|
Bill Nelson was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2000. He lost re-election to Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. Nelson previously served in the Florida Legislature, Congress and as state Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner.
|
florida
| 4 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
letter to Gov. Rick Scott
|
Nelson precisely cites a Palm Beach Post analysis that put the total number of people wrongfully dropped from the voter rolls in 2000 at about 1,100. Other estimates of wrongful targets are much higher, and experts about the 2000 election tend to go with those. Trouble is, we don’t have exact figures. However, Nelson’s broader point -- that a significant number of people were wrongly tossed from Florida’s voter rolls -- is valid. And he did say at least. We rate his statement . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the 2012 election season. See video fact-checks by clicking here .
|
16,599 | 1 |
Says a photo shows "Kurdish kids" after Turkey's invasion.
|
October 15, 2019
|
children;facebook fact-checks
|
viral image
|
Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
| null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 |
a Facebook post
|
The bottom left photo shows a Palestinian boy photographed by Reuters photographer Ibraheem Abu Mustafa in 2008. The caption says: "A Palestinian boy cries outside his house in the Gaza Strip." The bottom right image shows a Sipa Press photo of a Syrian boy photographed by Sebastiano Tomada in 2012. The caption says: "As Bahar Al Aassad’s army steps up its military campaign to regain control of Aleppo, a severely wounded baby is medically treated by the small staff of doctors in one of the city’s last standing hospitals." We rate this Facebook post .
|
8,836 | 2 |
At the mere request from Putin, President Obama withdrew the plans for a missile defense program based in Poland and the Czech Republic.
|
May 18, 2014
|
foreign policy;punditfact
|
dick cheney
|
Dick Cheney served as Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 in the administration of George W. Bush.
| null | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
an interview on "Fox News Sunday"
|
Cheney said Obama dropped a missile defense plan based in Poland and the Czech Republic on the "mere request" of Putin. While Putin strenuously objected to the plan, a Pentagon reassessment of the nature of Iran’s capabilities was the actual reason for the change. The Pentagon saw a greater danger from Iranian short-and-medium-range missiles than the long range missiles that were targeted in the original plan. NATO allies and Israel also favored the new approach, which included steps to install a missile defense system in Poland in 2018. So, Obama did forgo the Bush-era plan, but he didn’t do it at the "mere request" of Putin. We rate the .
|
846 | 5 |
If we got solar energy from "an area of the Southwestern desert 100 miles on a side, that would be enough, in and of itself, to provide 100 percent of all the electricity needs for the United States of America in a full year.
|
January 28, 2009
|
environment
|
al gore
|
Former Vice President Al Gore cofounded and chairs both Generation Investment Management and Current TV. He is on the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and is a senior advisor to Google, Inc. He is also a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University.
Gore wrote An Inconvenient Truth, a best-selling book on global warming, and is the subject of the Academy Award-winning movie of the same title.
|
national
| 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
a Senate committee hearing
|
Even given all the challenges, they, like Gore, argue large-scale solar development makes sense when you consider the enormous amounts of land, energy and money we currently use to mine fossil fuels, produce electricity from them and control their pollution. Gore didn't exactly tell the whole story, since the 10,000-square-mile solar farm would not do the job "in and of itself" without other infrastructure improvements. But he was testifying on the broad issue of climate change, not delivering a lecture on building a solar plant. And his misattributing the to Scientific American is not a significant inaccuracy, since that article did contain statistics that support the . We find Gore's .
|
21,913 | 2 |
There's an unlimited supply of water being generated "deep within the Earth.
|
August 27, 2022
|
climate change;water;facebook fact-checks
|
instagram posts
|
Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.
| null | 3 | 3 | 15 | 51 | 405 | 140 |
an Instagram video
|
A video claims the world isn’t running out of water because an unlimited supply is being constantly generated underneath the Earth’s surface. While there is water underground, it’s not being spontaneously generated. It’s the result of rainfall and melted snow and ice seeping into soil and being stored in aquifers. Water is constantly being circulated across the Earth, going from the atmosphere to the surface and back again. Climate change and over-extracting from an aquifer have an impact on the availability of groundwater in a specific region at a specific time, but it doesn’t mean the world is running out of water. Drier areas are predicted to become drier as a result of less rainfall, while wet areas become wetter because of an increase in rain. We rate this .
|
17,251 | 0 |
Says "Joe Biden mistakes Idaho for Iowa in visit to Boise fundraiser.
|
March 9, 2020
|
facebook fact-checks
|
bloggers
|
Blog posting on the Internet
| null | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 |
a story
|
The article tells a tale about Biden making a gaffe and saying "Iowa potatoes" instead of "Idaho potatoes. " The website is satirical, but social media users who view only the headline wouldn’t know that. Beyond a few jokes, there is no disclaimer on the story’s page that the tale is fabricated. Readers have to visit the website’s about page , where the one-line disclaimer about it being "Idaho’s #1 source for satirical and parody news" is at the bottom. !
|
22,003 | 1 |
Video shows an "invasion of crocodiles" that has flooded the beaches of Brazil and caused residents to panic.
|
September 16, 2022
|
animals;facebook fact-checks
|
instagram posts
|
Posters on Instagram, where people share photos and graphics and sometimes add filters.
| null | 3 | 3 | 15 | 51 | 405 | 140 |
a video on Instagram
|
An Instagram post claimed a video showed a horde of crocodiles invading a Brazilian beach, causing locals to panic. Reptile experts told PolitiFact the footage was not from a beach used by humans but of a sandy portion of wetland in Brazil. The reptiles were yacare caimans, not crocodiles. Caimans congregating in huge numbers is normal and not a cause for panic. We rate this .
|
15,125 | 2 |
Says Beto O'Rourke described police as "modern-day Jim Crow.
|
September 21, 2018
|
criminal justice;crime
|
ted cruz
|
Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.
|
texas
| 8 | 22 | 21 | 48 | 47 | 11 |
a debate at Southern Methodist University
|
Cruz said O’Rourke described police as "modern-day Jim Crow." This has an element of in that O’Rourke’s embrace of the "new Jim Crow" description followed his excoriation of police stops, searches and shootings he attributed to the color of a person’s skin. But O’Rourke also said such actions rank among ways the country systematically discriminates against black residents--extending, he said, to sentencing, economic opportuniy and to how lawmakers carve districts. We rate this . – The statement contains an element of but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
14,046 | 0 |
Singer Tina Turner: "This Thanksgiving Is The First Time in 8 Years That I am Thankful For Our President, God Bless Him And His Supporters.
|
November 23, 2017
|
fake news;punditfact
|
dailynewsforamericans.com
|
Dailynewsforamericans.com posts fake news.
| null | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
a headline
|
We didn’t find many references to Turner weighing in on American presidential politics in recent years. In 2013, Turner relinquished her U.S. citizenship after living in Switzerland for about two decades. We do know that at least in the beginning, she was a fan. The week that Obama won in 2008, a jubilant Turner performing at a concert in Orlando declared , "We’ve got a new president!" As for the story that Tina Turner said she is thankful for Trump, we rate this headline !
|
15,930 | 2 |
Says presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama each tried to get immigration bills passed, but "it did not work because the other party was unwilling to provide the president and his party a victory.
|
April 4, 2019
|
immigration
|
howard schultz
|
Howard Schultz is a businessman from New York. He is the former CEO of Starbucks and is a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics. He said that he was considering running for president in early 2019 but temporarily ended his considerations in June because of health concerns.
|
national
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
a Fox News town hall
|
Schultz said Bush and Obama each tried to get immigration bills passed, but "it did not work because the other party was unwilling to provide the president and his party a victory." Republicans did effectively derail Obama’s 2013 immigration efforts, but in both 2006 and 2007, it was Democrats who were much more likely to side with Bush and Republicans -- his own party -- that opposed him. The facts don’t support Schultz’s argument about partisanship, so we rate the statement .
|
6,800 | 1 |
Says a federal plan to expand Medicaid would cost Florida taxpayers $26 billion over 10 years.
|
January 7, 2013
|
health care
|
rick scott
|
Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.
|
florida
| 15 | 36 | 42 | 42 | 38 | 8 |
a press conference
|
There is no doubt that Medicaid represents a significant part of the state’s budget, and that any plan to expand the system -- no matter how much the federal government pays for -- could include additional costs to the state. But rather than have a fact-based discussion about the state’s responsibilities when it comes to health care, it appears that Scott and his staff are making strange assumptions to make the estimates higher than they actually will be. This is also a case where Scott cannot simply hide behind the fact that he is accurately citing a "study." His office directed the analysis, and it was notified that the assumptions were questionable. Scott gets a pass on one thing: The cost to expand Medicaid is largely unknown. But using a study to say that the expansion of Medicaid would cost Florida taxpayers "over $26 billion" is .
|
1,530 | 3 |
More people are driving under the influence of drugs than are driving under the influence of alcohol. A recent roadside survey showed that 16 percent of the people tested, tested positive for illicit or licit drugs. That's significantly higher than alcohol.
|
March 31, 2010
|
crime;transportation;marijuana
|
gil kerlikowske
|
Gil Kerlikowske is director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, a job commonly known as the "drug czar."
|
national
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
an interview on C-SPAN's Washington Journal
|
By the same token, it's quite possible that many more than 2.2 percent of the study participants were indeed "driving under the influence of alcohol" even if they weren't over the .08 legal threshold. Did these two percentages approach each other in the middle, thus undermining Kerlikowske's statement? Maybe -- or maybe he is right after all. Ultimately, the research isn't yet detailed enough to be sure. With this degree of uncertainty, we rate his statement .
|
9,757 | 3 |
The authors of a report on CIA's torture techniques "never interviewed a single CIA official.
|
December 8, 2014
|
homeland security;human rights;terrorism
|
marco rubio
|
Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.
|
florida
| 21 | 38 | 35 | 41 | 30 | 5 |
a news release
|
Rubio said that the authors of a report on CIA’s torture techniques "never interviewed a single CIA official." He has a point that the committee did not conduct fresh, face-to-face interviews with CIA officers as it was writing the report. However, this glosses over important context. The committee used testimony by then-CIA director Hayden, and the committee had access to transcripts of numerous prior interviews of key CIA officials conducted by the Inspector General and other entities. Rubio’s statement creates the impression that the report wasn’t based at all on interviews with CIA employees, and that’s not the case. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details, so we rate it .
|
16,049 | 4 |
Race is the No. 1 indicator for where toxic and polluting facilities are today.
|
April 29, 2019
|
climate change;public health
|
beto o'rourke
|
Beto O’Rourke is a former representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional District. He represented the district from 2013 until 2019, when he gave up his seat to run a senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz, which O’Rourke lost. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Columbia University. In 2019, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president.
|
texas
| 7 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
climate change plan
|
O’Rourke said, "Race is the No. 1 indicator for where toxic and polluting facilities are today." Several studies say that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to live near hazardous waste facilities and other plants. They’ve also found that race is a stronger indicator than other variables, such as income or property value. There isn’t consensus on O’Rourke’s , but much research and feedback from experts support his . Overall, we rate O’Rourke’s statement .
|
17,139 | 1 |
Quotes actor Will Smith as saying: "I'm not afraid to say that Trump and his supporters are ba…
|
February 9, 2020
|
fake news;facebook fact-checks
|
bloggers
|
Blog posting on the Internet
| null | 8 | 18 | 24 | 53 | 233 | 396 |
a blog post
|
Smith was critical of Trump throughout the promotional tour for the August 2016 film. "As painful as it is to hear Donald Trump talk, and as embarrassing it is as an American to hear him talk, I think it’s good," he said during another press event . "We get to hear it, we get to know who people are, and now we get to cleanse it out of our country." The actor made similar remarks about "cleansing" racism from the United States during a "Tonight Show" interview that same month. But there’s no proof that he said, "I’m not afraid to say that Trump and his supporters are ba…" We rate this statement .
|
13,480 | 4 |
Americans are 25x more likely to be shot & killed than others in developed countries.
|
June 2, 2017
|
crime;the 2018 california governor's race;guns
|
gavin newsom
|
Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California in 2018. He is the state's former lieutenant governor and served as mayor of San Francisco. He is a Democrat.
|
california
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
a tweet
|
Newsom’s is backed by what appears to be a valid study. But another report with credible findings shows the gun homicide rate is not quite as high compared to other nations as Newsom asserts. His statement could have used this additional information. In the end, we rated Newsom’s . – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.
|
17,964 | 4 |
Federal aid for state and local governments through a proposed coronavirus relief bill would amount to "half of what the Republicans put onto the national debt.
|
June 28, 2020
|
debt;coronavirus
|
nancy pelosi
|
Rep. Nancy Pelosi represents a district in California. She served as speaker of the U.S. House January 2019-2021. Formerly the speaker of the House from 2007-11, Pelosi served as the House minority leader from 2003 to 2007 and from 2011 to 2019.
|
national
| 6 | 7 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 4 |
ABC News’ “This Week”
|
Referring to the proposed Heroes Act approved by the House, Pelosi said, "All of that money that is out there, and it is very significant, is half of what the Republicans put onto the national debt." Pelosi’s statement has merit in that the state and local aid proposed in the Democratic coronavirus relief bill amounts to about half of the projected 10-year deficits created by the Republican tax cuts in 2017. But it implies that Republicans alone are to blame for increases to the national debt. A broader look at legislation signed by Trump shows that both parties have supported legislation that has added to the national debt. We rate the statement .
|
18,066 | 1 |
Says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer "defunded the Michigan State Police and the prisons.
|
July 22, 2020
| null |
great lakes news
|
Great Lakes News is a radio program broadcast in Michigan.
|
michigan
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a tweet
|
A tweet from Great Lakes News said a Whitmer executive order "defunded" the State Police and Department of Corrections. The governor’s proposed cuts are part of an effort to close the budget shortfall the state faces in the current fiscal year. The cuts affect several agencies, but in the case of police and corrections, about 99% of the funds will be offset by federal funding this year, though future budgets remain a concern. Whitmer has said she does not support defunding the police, but supports "the spirit" of the movement in calling for more resources for education, transportation and health care. We rate this .
|
10,646 | 3 |
Many of the great scholars say that anchor babies are not covered" by the 14th Amendment.
|
August 19, 2015
|
immigration
|
donald trump
|
Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.
|
national
| 36 | 85 | 120 | 194 | 360 | 179 |
Derry, N.H
|
Trump said, "Many of the great scholars say that anchor babies are not covered" by the 14th Amendment. There are respected academics who argue that the 14th Amendment allows but does not require children of illegal immigrants to receive citizenship just by virtue of having been born on American soil. However, this is a minority of immigration and constitutional law scholars, far outweighed by those who believe the 14th Amendment requires birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. Trump goes too far when he says "many," so we rate his .
|
13,725 | 1 |
Public schools, colleges and state-funded day care centers "will be made into sanctuaries by Bruce Rauner signing SB 31.
|
August 19, 2017
|
immigration
|
illinois family institute
|
The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) is an independent 501c(3) non-profit ministry dedicated to upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois. Since 1992, IFI has worked to advance public policy initiatives consistent with Judeo-Christian teachings and traditions, educating citizens so that they can better influence their local communities and the state. IFI does not participate in, or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office. (See IFI’s Political Campaign Policy.)
IFI works within the state of Illinois to promote and defend Biblical truths to foster an environment where families can thrive and reach their full God-given potential to serve and glorify Him–making the most of the opportunities afforded to each of us by His gift of life and liberty.
|
illinois
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a blog post
|
The Illinois Family Institute said public facilities including schools, colleges and day care centers "will be made into sanctuaries by Bruce Rauner signing SB 31." The original version of the bill prohibited police from making arrests in such facilities, but that language was struck from the version passed by the General Assembly. The new bill contains directives that the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police says merely puts into state statute what most departments already practice. We rate this statement .
|
7,807 | 4 |
The employer mandate "affects only 5 percent of businesses in this country.
|
September 15, 2013
|
health care;small business
|
chris van hollen
|
Chris Van Hollen is a Democratic U.S. Congressman from Maryland.
|
national
| 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
an interview with Fox News
|
Van Hollen said that 5 percent of businesses would be affected by the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act. While different surveys produce different numbers, the Census Bureau has been in this line of work longer than any other body, and its data show that 3.6 percent of firms employ 50 or more workers. That is the group for which the mandate would apply; other firms are too small. The Congressional Research Service relied on the Census data. We found no one who challenged the Census numbers. So Van Hollen’s figures are correct. However, his focuses our attention on the number of firms, which makes the mandate issue look small. But when seen through the lens of individual workers, it is a bigger deal. How big is difficult to say but the significance is larger than the 5 percent number he used. In PolitiFact terms, the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. We rate the .
|
11,108 | 0 |
A Trump television ad shows Mexicans swarming over "our southern border.
|
January 4, 2016
|
immigration
|
donald trump
|
Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.
|
national
| 36 | 85 | 120 | 194 | 360 | 179 |
a television ad
|
Trump’s television ad purports to show Mexicans swarming over "our southern border." However, the footage used to support this point actually shows African migrants streaming over a border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla, more than 5,000 miles away. We rate the .
|
2,886 | 3 |
Saturday's shootings reflect a disturbing trend. Mass shootings have become commonplace since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. There have been dozens of incidents where three or more people have been fatally wounded. Hundreds have died.
|
January 9, 2011
|
criminal justice;crime;pundits;this week - abc news;guns
|
pierre thomas
|
Pierre Thomas is the senior justice correspondent for ABC News.
|
national
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
a report on ABC News' "This Week with Christiane Amanpour"
|
In the past, we were more likely to hear only about local events." So let's recap. Thomas was correct to say that "there have been dozens of incidents where three or more people have been fatally wounded," and he was also correct that "hundreds have died" in such incidents. But its a stretch to say that killings of three or more people are now "commonplace," and it's not clear that there's been a distinct trend upward, either since 2007 (as Thomas put it) or over the past three decades. So we rate his statement .
|
18,527 | 3 |
Says he "strongly supports legalization for Dreamers.
|
September 12, 2020
|
immigration;children
|
john cornyn
|
John Cornyn is a U.S. senator from Texas, former Texas attorney general and former justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He earlier served as a Bexar County state district judge.
|
texas
| 11 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
an advertisement
|
The version of the DREAM Act currently before Congress could provide a pathway to citizenship for more than 2 million Dreamers. Cornyn opposes the legislation because it would give Dreamers access to federal student financial aid that's not available to citizens — a provision that Brandewie said is "wholly unrelated" to the legalization of Dreamers. Our Ruling A Spanish-language advertisement from Cornyn’s campaign says that Cornyn "strongly supports legalization for Dreamers." It’s that Cornyn’s voting history has supported the legalization of Dreamers, but there are also examples of his opposition to bills that package Dreamer protections with other items. We rate this .
|
14,926 | 2 |
I've always voted for keeping the government open. I've never cast a vote to shut down the government.
|
July 31, 2018
|
federal budget;health care;voting record
|
kevin cramer
|
Kevin Cramer is a U.S. Congressman representing North Dakota's At-large congressional district. He is running for U.S. Senate.
|
national
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
a radio interview
|
Cramer said, "I've always voted for keeping the government open. I’ve never cast a vote to shut down the government." We found multiple instances where Cramer indirectly helped to cause a shutdown by voting for bills that defunded Obamacare -- these bills had no chance of survival in the Senate or of being signed by then-President Obama. While Cramer's actions were not direct votes on keeping the government open, they encouraged the 2013 shutdown. We rate this statement .
|
1,463 | 4 |
Rubio admitted he "would have accepted the stimulus money.
|
February 17, 2010
|
economy
|
charlie crist
|
Charlie Crist lost the race for Florida governor as the Democratic candidate in 2022. He served as a U.S. congressman from St. Petersburg since 2017 and resigned Aug. 31, 2022 to focus on his campaign. As a Republican, Crist served as governor from 2007 to 2011. Crist left the Republican Party in 2010 to mount a campaign for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist lost the race to Marco Rubio. In 2012, he endorsed President Barack Obama and announced that he had registered as a Democrat. He lost his race as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014.
|
florida
| 15 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 11 | 2 |
a news release
|
it's another to actively advocate those policies, which I think are disastrous for America." And indeed, even in the aforementioned interview, when asked whether he would have attended the presidential visit from Barack Obama -- referring to a February 2009 town hall meeting in Fort Myers, which Crist attended -- Rubio said he would have avoided it "because that rally was in support of a specific plan." To recap: Crist's campaign claimed that Rubio admitted that he would have accepted the stimulus money. And indeed, in the WFLA interview, Rubio said he "would have accepted those portions of the money that would not have put Florida in a worse position off in the future than it is right now." We rate this .
|
8,506 | 4 |
The Russians didn't wear uniforms when they came in" to Ukraine.
|
March 3, 2014
|
foreign policy;military;punditfact
|
chris matthews
|
Chris Matthews is the host of the MSNBC show Hardball. Previously, Matthews served on the staffs of congressional Democrats and worked as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter. He also worked as chief of staff to former House Speaker Tip O'Neil.
| null | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
a segment on "Hardball"
|
Matthews said, "the Russians didn’t wear uniforms when they came in" to Ukraine. To be certain, they are wearing uniforms. But we think a reasonable person would infer Matthews was talking about uniforms that identified them as Russians. That does require a bit of clarification. So we rate the .
|
18,966 | 0 |
In 10 Michigan precincts, voter turnout reached 100% and in 6 precincts it surpassed 100%
|
November 24, 2020
| null |
russell james ramsland jr.
|
Russell James Ramsland Jr. is a cybersecurity analyst and former congressional candidate from Dallas, Texas. He works for Allied Security Operations Group and has filed multiple affidavits in election-related lawsuits in 2020.
|
michigan
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
an affidavit
|
An affidavit filed in a lawsuit in Michigan seeking to overturn the election purports to show turnout rates in Michigan that indicate election fraud. The numbers do not match the official statement of votes cast in all but one jurisdiction, and many inflate the numbers significantly. The official data show that the number of voters who cast a ballot in November’s election did not exceed the number of registered voters in any of the jurisdictions named. We rate this ! Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.
|
7,427 | 5 |
There was no surge in 501(c)(4) applications in 2010.
|
June 4, 2013
|
taxes
|
tim griffin
|
Tim Griffin was elected the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District on November 2, 2010. The youngest son of a minister and teacher, Tim is a fifth generation Arkansan, veteran, attorney and former small business owner who lives in Little Rock with his wife Elizabeth and their two children. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee.
|
national
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a House Ways and Means hearing
|
Griffin said there was no surge in 501(c)(4) applications in 2010, and the numbers from the IRS back him up. The timeline in the Inspector General’s audit shows that the selective treatment of groups based on their ties to the tea party movement began before any rise in the IRS workload. We rate the statement .
|
22,753 | 0 |
Video shows U.S. Secret Service agents are demons.
|
March 13, 2023
|
facebook fact-checks
|
viral image
|
Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
| null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 |
a Facebook post
|
Inside Edition and others reported on claims that the agent was wearing prosthetic hands so he could hold a gun under his coat. Video footage of the event disproved this rumor, showing his hands in motion and not stiffly at his sides. And earlier this year, we fact-checked a that the Secret Service agent was actually John F. Kennedy Jr. — who is dead — in disguise. That was and so is this . We rate it !
|
13,585 | 0 |
White House chef quits because Trump has only eaten fast food for 6 months.
|
July 6, 2017
|
fake news;punditfact
|
halfwaypost.com
|
A parody website based in St. Louis, Mo.
| null | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
a headline
|
Trump’s culinary preferences have been a topic in the media before. He’s shown a fondness for taco bowls and had promised during his presidential campaign to feed Chinese President Xi Jinping " a double-size Big Mac " if he were to visit the White House. Trump opted instead to offer a more traditional steak and fish during Xi’s trip to the United States in April , but that was at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. But in this case, people who don’t notice HalfwayPost.com’s warnings that its content is all empty calories may be left with a sour taste. We rate this !
|
17,652 | 1 |
Guess what, [children are] not at risk unless they have an underlying medical issue.
|
May 9, 2020
|
coronavirus;pennsylvania
|
mike turzai
|
Mike Turzai, a Republican from Allegheny County, is the state's Speaker of the House. He's been a state rep. since 2001.
|
national
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a video
|
Speaking about the coronavirus, Turzai said children are "not at risk unless they have an underlying medical issue." A new study and a growing number of gravely ill children in New York City prove otherwise. We rate this statement .
|
8,619 | 4 |
Says Rick Scott presided over cuts to the Bright Futures college scholarship program.
|
March 18, 2014
|
education
|
american bridge 21st century
|
American Bridge 21st Century is a Democratic super PAC.
|
florida
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
an online video
|
American Bridge’s video said that Scott presided over cuts to the Bright Futures college scholarship program. During his tenure, the program’s total budget and number of students served has dropped. The average award amount under Scott is smaller than during the Crist years. However, it's worth noting that the Legislature under both Crist and Scott tightened eligibility requirements, which reduced the number of students who received the money. Both Crist and Scott signed off on those changes. We rate this .
|
12,635 | 4 |
We have almost 68,000 Georgia students who are required by law to attend a chronically failing school.
|
September 9, 2016
|
education
|
nathan deal
|
Nathan Deal is running for Georgia governor in 2010.
|
georgia
| 13 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 0 |
education conference
|
We ran the numbers -- and he’s right. There are about 68,000 students in these failing schools. But his administration sets the standard, its numbers are out of date and there are other options. Opponents also some of these "chronically failing" schools have made gains in recent years. We rate his .
|
9,319 | 2 |
The prosecutor who brought the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry "has ties to Obama. He has ties to the Democrats.
|
August 31, 2014
|
ethics;punditfact
|
tom delay
|
Tom DeLay, a former members of the U.S. House and Texas House, is a former House majority leader. He resigned his seat in June 2006. In 2010, a Travis County jury convicted him of laundering corporate donations to help Texas House candidates in 2002, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the convictions Oct. 1, 2014.
| null | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
an interview on "State of the Union"
|
The ruling DeLay said it’s "not " that McCrum isn’t a Democrat, saying "he has ties to Obama (and) he has ties to Democrats." McCrum has loose ties to Obama and Democrats -- and he has Republican ones, too. News reports and McCrum’s political record show he is not expressly partisan, having contributing a few hundred dollars to a few people on both sides of the aisle. There's a sliver of in DeLay's statement, but it ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it .
|
465 | 5 |
NATO hasn't provided enough troops (in Afghanistan) because they are still angry about us going into Iraq.
|
May 13, 2008
|
military
|
barack obama
|
Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
|
national
| 124 | 165 | 163 | 71 | 71 | 9 |
Cape Girardeau, Miss
|
So Obama is on solid footing when he says more troops are needed in Afghanistan. In a Pentagon news briefing in July 2007, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said as much, calling the international military mission "under-resourced." And even a U.S. government report concluded that European criticism of the U.S. war in Iraq has made some NATO countries less willing to commit troops to Afghanistan. While some NATO experts say that is not the only reason, they agree it is a big one. We rate Obama's statement .
|
6,719 | 5 |
Says he has never voted for raising taxes.
|
November 27, 2012
|
candidate biography;taxes
|
saxby chambliss
|
Saxby Chambliss, a Republican, is a United States senator from Georgia
|
georgia
| 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
an interview
|
The fact that some excise taxes were increased as other taxes were cut at far higher levels does not constitute a tax increase by my definition, nor by the definition of tax watchdog groups," he said. To sum up, Chambliss said he has never voted for a tax increase in his 18 years in Congress. By the standards of some of the most active federal tax watchdog organizations in the nation, Chambliss has not raised taxes. There was one clear example of a tax increase that would have an impact on smokers, but it was part of a bill that cut taxes for a large number of Americans. We rate this .
|
11,567 | 4 |
Says a company that got tax breaks from the state later "laid off 100 Ohioans, even as its CEO cut a half-million-dollar check to Kasich's super PAC.
|
April 3, 2016
|
campaign finance;candidate biography;ethics
|
ted cruz
|
Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator from Texas, first elected in 2012. Cruz also was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas, previously serving as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and as a domestic policy advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign, according to his campaign biography.
|
ohio
| 8 | 22 | 21 | 48 | 47 | 11 |
ad paid for by campaign for Ted Cruz
|
Cruz’s attack ad links a series of headlines to suggest that as governor, Kasich rewarded his former business ties in exchange for political contributions. The ad’s tone is ominous, but the text is factual. What isn’t explained is that everything in the ad has been the subject of prior complaints that did not provoke any regulatory action. It’s been suggested that an overhaul of state rules might prevent similar situations from arising, and similar allegations from dogging Ohio leaders. But that’s a different ad, for another day. We rate these claims .
|
6,194 | 2 |
President Obama's education "solution" includes an effort to "nationalize curriculum.
|
August 28, 2012
|
children;education
|
rick santorum
|
Rick Santorum is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. He is a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.
|
florida
| 6 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 5 |
a speech at the Republican National Convention
|
Santorum said Obama has tried to "nationalize curriculum." Santorum appears to be adopting an argument from critics of the Common Core standards. But Santorum’s statement is for several reasons. For starters, the discussion about common standards pre-dates Obama. Although the vast majority of states have adopted those standards, they are voluntary. The states don’t have to adopt the Common Core standards to apply for Race to the Top grants or waivers from No Child Left Behind, although that’s been the preferred route so far. Finally, it’s important to note that standards aren’t the same as curriculum. States can agree on a standard about multiplication or reading but create different curriculums to teach those skills. Santorum has oversimplified a complex topic and fed into the generic "federal takeover" argument. We rate this . PolitiFact Florida is partnering with 10 News for the election. See video fact-checks here .
|
13,065 | 5 |
During his campaign for president, Donald Trump "committed to honoring states' rights when it comes to marijuana legalization.
|
February 24, 2017
|
drugs;states;the 2018 california governor's race;marijuana
|
gavin newsom
|
Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California in 2018. He is the state's former lieutenant governor and served as mayor of San Francisco. He is a Democrat.
|
california
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
a letter
|
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently claimed Donald Trump, during his campaign for president, "committed to honoring states' rights when it comes to marijuana legalization." In at least three campaign interviews, Trump said he thought the issue of legalizing marijuana should be left to the states. This wasn’t one of Trump’s high-profile promises like building a wall on the Southern border. And he did not address marijuana in his major campaign speeches. But he did make clear, multiple times, how he felt when asked. In a separate interview on Fox News, Trump expressed concern over legal pot in Colorado. But in two subsequent interviews he returned to his line that the matter should be decided by the states. In the end, Trump’s own words back Newsom’s . We rated it . – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
14,092 | 2 |
The candidates controlled by Madigan, all of them have said, 'The answer to our problems is a massive income tax hike.'
|
December 4, 2017
|
elections;state budget;taxes
|
bruce rauner
|
Bruce Rauner was elected governor of Illinois in 2014. He became the first Republican governor in the state in 12 years upon his inauguration in January 2015. The gubernatorial campaign was Rauner's first foray into politics. He previously had been a principal at the private equity firm GTCR in Chicago.
|
illinois
| 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
a press conference
|
Rauner said Democratic gubernatorial "candidates controlled by Madigan, all of them have said, ‘The answer to our problems is a massive income tax hike.'" Rauner’s "controlled by Madigan" tag is aimed at the three highest-profile candidates, Pritzker, Kennedy and Biss, and suggests without proof they are all acting at the behest of the powerful House Speaker. All three have advocated for a change from a flat income tax rate to a graduated-rate system in which tax rates are higher for those with higher incomes. Despite Rauner’s examples, a progressive income tax system does not necessarily mean a tax increase for the middle class. And there is no that anyone in Illinois politics has a blueprint for income and tax brackets under a potential Illinois system. The closest such blueprint, from 2012, had the vast majority of voters paying the same or lower taxes. Nor is that decision up to the governor. It would take three-fifths of the General Assembly and a majority of voters to bring a progressive tax to reality. Recent history does not point favorably to this happening without significant Democratic gains in the Legislature. Pritzker was squishy when discussing immediate revenue needs with Crain’s, but Rauner cites the Crain’s article as Pritzker’s solid endorsement of a "massive tax increase." We rate Rauner’s statement .
|
8,518 | 5 |
Austin is "a city that has basically doubled in size every 25 years or so since it was founded.
|
February 25, 2014
|
city government;population
|
lee leffingwell
|
Lee Leffingwell, initially elected mayor in 2009, is a former Austin City Council member and retired airline pilot. Leffingwell, a past chair of the city's Environmental Board, grew up in Austin's Bouldin neighborhood, according to the biography posted on the city's web site.
|
texas
| 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
his "State of the City" address
|
Leffingwell said Austin is a "city that has basically doubled in size every 25 years or so since it was founded." That's right per changes in population, making this historical statement . – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
5,049 | 2 |
The polls "show over half of Americans identify themselves as being pro-life.
|
February 3, 2012
|
abortion;children;health care;human rights;legal issues;government regulation;polls and public opinion;public health;religion;women
|
barth bracy
|
Barth Bracy is executive director of Rhode Island Right to Life.
|
rhode island
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
a radio interview
|
Barth Bracy said the polls "show over half of Americans identify themselves as being pro-life." To us, that means greater than 50 percent of the population now feel that way. That was for one Gallup poll that is now nearly three years out of date. Although 51 percent in that survey said they were "pro-life," the level of support has dipped a bit in subsequent surveys. Gallup frequently polls people on this question, and its polls show that anti-abortion advocates have clearly gained ground since the mid-1990s, when fewer than 40 percent of Americans identified themselves as "pro-life." Given the margin of error, the polls reveal a fairly even divide between the two sides. But the most recent polls show that, despite some surges of support, it is not correct to say that more than half of Americans call themselves "pro-life." We rule Bracy's statement as . Gallup's next survey on the question will be released in May. (Get updates from PolitiFactRI on Twitter . To comment or offer your ruling, visit us on our PolitiFact Rhode Island Facebook page.)
|
14,502 | 2 |
Luke Messer? He plotted with the Never-Trumpers to steal the nomination from President Trump.
|
April 3, 2018
|
candidate biography
|
todd rokita
|
Todd Rokita is a Republican congressman representing Indiana's 4th Congressional District since 2011. Rokita is running for U.S. Senate in 2018.
|
national
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
an ad
|
Rokita said Messer "plotted with the Never-Trumpers to steal the nomination from President Trump." Rokita’s campaign and supporters argued that Messer’s engagement with questions about a white knight candidate and criticism of Trump’s rhetoric on national television expressed an implicit support of the anti-Trump movement. But we found no indication that Messer actively plotted to prevent Trump from winning the Republican nomination or election. He maintained reluctant support for Trump throughout the 2016 campaign. What's more, Rokita had moments where he criticized Trump in a similar manner as well. We rate this .
|
15,636 | 0 |
A Virginia principal "expelled two kids for wearing a crucifix around their necks saying, 'there is no place for religion at school.'
|
January 30, 2019
|
religion;facebook fact-checks
|
viral image
|
Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
| null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 |
a Facebook post
|
If the supposed principal’s name sounds familiar, it’s not from the news. But you'll be remembering the Michael Jackson song, "Wanna Be Startin’ Something’." Help me sing it! "Mama-say, mama-sa, m-ma-ko-ssa." We rate this !
|
18,598 | 1 |
Senate Republicans' move to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in an election year is "not constitutional.
|
October 10, 2020
|
congress;legal issues;supreme court
|
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.
| null | 25 | 64 | 65 | 52 | 55 | 7 |
a comment to reporters
|
Biden said Senate Republicans’ move to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court in an election year is "not constitutional." Some legal experts said the move to fast-track Barrett seems to conflict with some of the Constitution’s basic underlying principles, such as the idea that there should be consent of the governed. But there is no clause in the Constitution that would prevent Senate Republicans from moving forward, legal experts said. We rate Biden’s statement .
|
21,569 | 1 |
When Joe Biden "walked into this administration … 20 million people were on unemployment insurance benefits.
|
June 13, 2022
|
economy;jobs
|
karine jean-pierre
|
Karine Jean-Pierre is an assistant to President Biden and White House Press Secretary. She has been a long-time adviser to Biden in the administration, the campaign, and to the then-vice president. Earlier, she served as chief public affairs officer for MoveOn.org and as an NBC and MSNBC political analyst.
| null | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
a press briefing
|
Jean-Pierre said that when Biden "walked into this administration … 20 million people were on unemployment insurance benefits." The number of unemployed Americans did crack 20 million early in the pandemic, but Donald Trump was president at the time. By the time Biden was sworn in and was seeking passage of the American Rescue Plan, the number had fallen by about half, to 10 million. An even more appropriate statistic for evaluating Jean-Pierre’s statement — the number of Americans continuing to collect unemployment insurance benefits — had fallen even further by the time Biden took office, to less than 5 million, or just a quarter of what Jean-Pierre had said. We rate the statement .
|
3,520 | 5 |
Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal cuts "nothing" from Medicare, Social Security or defense in the next two to three years, and "in three years, he does not cut one dime from the debt.
|
May 1, 2011
|
deficit;federal budget;medicare;military;social security;this week - abc news
|
david stockman
|
David Stockman served as budget director under President Ronald Reagan.
|
national
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
an interview on 'This Week with Christiane Amanpour'
|
Whether the deficit should be reduced quickly or slowly is no doubt a debate that will continue to burn. Stockman urges a dramatic approach to cutting spending and increasing taxes quickly, while Ryan's proposal offers a more gradual approach to cutting spending, and it doesn't advocate raising taxes. Stockman said Ryan's plan "leaves Medicare totally untouched for three years, leaves Social Security totally untouched for 10 years, leaves defense totally untouched for the next three years, and then, after cutting that small amount, gives it all back by extending all the Bush tax cuts that we can't afford. ... In three years, he does not cut one dime from the debt." Stockman is factually accurate on all these points, and we rate his statement .
|
23,059 | 1 |
The NEXT pandemic is here and children are the target, says Bill Gates.
|
May 18, 2023
|
public health;facebook fact-checks;coronavirus
|
facebook posts
|
Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 |
a Facebook post
|
A video claimed that the next pandemic is already here, with a podcast co-host intimating that avian flu in the U.K. was the start of the next pandemic and suggesting that Bill Gates said it’s targeting children. Two farm workers tested positive for the bird flu in England, but no health officials have suggested it represents the start of a new pandemic. And Gates did not say the next pandemic will target children. We rate the .
|
9,045 | 0 |
In the last three years alone, 13 times, the Supreme Court, unanimously, 9-0, including all of the president's liberal picks, have struck down the president's executive orders.
|
July 6, 2014
|
supreme court
|
sean spicer
|
Sean Spicer is former press secretary to President Donald Trump. Previously, he was the communications director for the Republican National Committee.
|
national
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union"
|
Spicer said, "In the last three years alone, 13 times, the Supreme Court, unanimously, 9-0, including all of the president's liberal picks, have struck down the president's executive orders." Most of the litigation actually came in response to actions under the Bush administration. In the few cases initiated during Obama’s two terms, the court wasn't even ruling on challenges to Obama’s executive orders. Spicer took an already debunked argument and made another in repeating it, so it was even more . We rate the statement .
|
4,590 | 4 |
41 cents out of every dollar (the U.S. spends) is borrowed from places like China.
|
November 14, 2011
|
economy;federal budget;message machine 2012
|
public notice
|
Public Notice and its Public Notice Research & Education Fund advocate on economic issues and the federal government. Public Notice does not disclose its donors. Public Notice’s executive director, Gretchen Hamel, is a former spokesman for the House Republican Conference.
|
national
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a political ad
|
So we’ll leave it up to you to decide whether the metaphor is apt. The ad from Public Notice says, "41 cents out of every dollar you spend is borrowed from places like China." China is indeed the country that holds the most U.S. debt. But the most recent numbers on U.S. debt put the borrowed amount slightly lower, at 36 cents on the dollar. So we rate this statement .
|
4,753 | 0 |
Says Texas did not bail out a loan program he oversaw as state agriculture commissioner.
|
December 15, 2011
|
agriculture;candidate biography
|
rick perry
|
Rick Perry is the U.S. Energy Secretary and was governor of Texas from late December 2000 through 2014. He was re-elected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. He unsucessfully ran for president in 2012 and 2016.
|
texas
| 26 | 24 | 43 | 30 | 31 | 18 |
Sioux City, Iowa
|
Our sense? Taxpayers picked up built-up costs that otherwise could not be covered. It seems reasonable to call that expenditure a bailout. Further, Perry’s contention there was no bailout runs counter to his signing the spending into law -- making his debate . !
|
22,866 | 1 |
Video shows footage of the war in Ukraine.
|
April 3, 2023
|
facebook fact-checks;ukraine
|
facebook posts
|
Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
| null | 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 |
a Facebook post
|
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.) Searching for the post’s video description turns up a YouTube post from about a year earlier. It has the same description, but identifies the video as being from "Arma 3," a military simulation game. We rate claims that this clip shows real footage from the war in Ukraine .
|
15,052 | 4 |
Says Joe Radinovich "was cited 30 times for not paying court fines.
|
August 17, 2018
|
legal issues
|
congressional leadership fund
|
The Congressional Leadership Fund is a super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and strengthening the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives.
|
national
| 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
A campaign ad
|
The Congressional Leadership Fund said Radinovich was cited 30 times for not paying court fines. Radinovich unquestionably did not pay a number of his traffic and parking fines when due. The 32-year-old was charged in 32 separate traffic or parking cases since he was 18. But a single case can involve one or more legal citations, and this is where the Congressional Leadership Fund’s characterization can get a bit tricky. The PAC said Radinovch was "cited 30 times for not paying court fines," but a "citation" can mean, in the legal sense, a ticket or a charge. Or it can mean a notation in the record. It is unquestionable that the Minnesota court records note Radinvich’s repeated failure to pay fines when due. That did not mean Radinovich faced 30 new misdemeanor charges strictly for failure to pay; rather, the PAC told PolitiFact that it used the word "cited" as a reference to court notations of Radinovich’s failure to pay on time, and these notations were not just in the cases sent for collection. With that caveat, we rate the Congressional Leadership Fund’s .
|
16,146 | 3 |
Republicans on the budget-writing committee "did nothing" to address oversight of
large-scale farms, "as literal manure is coming out of people's faucets.
|
May 29, 2019
|
environment;animals;state budget;water
|
jimmy anderson
|
From Fitchburg, Wisconsin, Anderson received his law degree from University of Wisconsin Law School.
|
wisconsin
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a tweet
|
Anderson claimed Republicans on the budget-writing committee "did nothing" to address oversight of large-scale farms, "as literal manure is coming out of people's faucets." There is on both parts of the -- but with caveats. The committee delayed action on measures on fee changes directly tied to CAFOs, it did not reject them. And there are clear concerns about the impact of manure on drinking water, including cases where fecal microbes has been detected in water. But Anderson's "literal" pushes the picture too far. We rate Anderson's . Editor's Note: After this was rated and published, Republicans on the Legislature's finance committee voted June 11, 2019, to reject Evers' proposed fee increases for large farms. The committee did agree to direct all proceeds from existing fees to the DNR, rather than allowing $250 to continue going to the general fund. Rating are determined based on the information available to the speaker at the time a was made. Thus, the committee action does not change this rating.
|
14,764 | 2 |
Florida taxpayers "pay tens of millions of dollars a year to feed and house in our prison system criminal illegal aliens.
|
June 7, 2018
|
immigration
|
adam putnam
|
Adam Putnam lost the Republican primary for Florida governor to U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in 2018. A former Republican Congressman from Congressional District 12 in Central Florida, was elected Florida Commissioner of Agriculture on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014.
|
florida
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
an interview with Fox News
|
Putnam said Florida taxpayers "pay tens of millions of dollars a year to feed and house in our prison system criminal illegal aliens." Putnam's estimates for how much undocumented immigrants in prisons cost Florida taxpayers have several major problems. For starters, the state only tracks inmates who are not U.S. citizens, without diving into whether they are in the country legally or illegally. Even if we had the right numbers, experts told us that fixed costs for the prisons mean reducing the population yields uncertain cost savings. Eliminating a small percentage of inmates doesn’t mean the overall prison budget can be reduced by the same percentage. We rate this .
|
8,383 | 5 |
Some businesses in Oregon "are having to shrink back their businesses as a result of the law.
|
January 10, 2014
|
corrections and updates;health care
|
monica wehby
|
Dr. Wehby has practiced for 15 years and has held numerous leadership positions at the local, state and national levels. She currently is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Randall Children's Hospital in Portland.
|
oregon
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
La Grande
|
Because we can’t assess motives, we chose to look more narrowly at whether businesses are or are not making cutbacks in response to the law, accepting that the overwhelming majority would be acting with their businesses’ bottom line in mind. Wehby’s campaign provided an example of a significant scaling back of an Oregon-based business, though aspects could not be independently verified. She also gave us links to national news stories reporting similar cuts elsewhere. An Oregon consultant also outlined an example of a business trimming employee hours as a result of the law. We rate her .
|
1,338 | 4 |
Uses headlines to portray Gov. Rick Perry as beholden to special interests.
|
February 4, 2010
|
ethics
|
kay bailey hutchison
|
Kay Bailey Hutchison, initially elected to the U.S. Senate in 1993, did not seek re-election in 2012. She ran for governor in 2010, losing the Republican nomination to incumbent Rick Perry.
|
texas
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
A TV advertisement
|
It’s not unusual for campaign ads to present excerpts from newspaper stories as a stream of headlines. It’s also not rare for a candidate to quote an editorial as news reportage, even though editorials are opinion pieces. Still, a voter could conclude that Hutchison’s ad consists entirely of genuine clear-cut news headlines. That’s not so. We give her use of the headlines a rating of .
|
4,977 | 4 |
Congressman Phil Roe hands out $1.3M government check" from a federal program that "he voted against.
|
January 7, 2012
|
health care;stimulus;voting record
|
tennessee democratic party
|
The Tennessee Democratic Party headquarters are in Nashville.
|
tennessee
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
a press release
|
Congressman Roe voted against the stimulus bill that provided the reimbursement funding for Takoma Regional and later showed up at a ceremony in which the hospital announced it had received the funding. But because Roe did not vote against this particular hospital receiving that specific $1.3 million federal reimbursement for converting to electronic medical records, we're going with on the Tennessee Democratic Party's .
|
14,881 | 2 |
President Trump proposed the increase to $700 billion to our military budget, which included the 355-ship Navy, which included a military pay increase, a modest one, which included, a yet even more modest housing allowance, but yet (Sen. Tim Kaine) even voted against giving more money to our men and women who are in the military service and against our housing allowance.
|
July 21, 2018
|
congress;federal budget;voting record
|
corey stewart
|
Corey Stewart, a Republican, is the chairman of the Prince William County's board of supervisors. He was elected to the board in 2003 to represent the Occoquan district. Then he won a special election in 2006 to become chairman. He was elected to four-year terms in 2007 and 2011.
Stewart ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2013.
Stewart was born in Minnesota. He graduated from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and earned a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minn. He works as an international trade attorney in private practice.
|
national
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
a debate
|
Stewart said, "President Trump proposed the increase to $700 billion to our military budget, which included the 355-ship Navy, which included a military pay increase, a modest one, which included, a yet even more modest housing allowance, but yet (Kaine) even voted against giving more money to our men and women who are in the military service and against our housing allowance." Kaine did vote no on a short-term government spending bill, which included several of the military-related provisions Stewart cited, in order to signal his disapproval for another short-term budget resolution. However, Kaine eventually voted in favor of those same provisions when he said yes to the omnibus spending bill on March 23, and he has taken other actions and made other statements in support of those provisions. We rate Stewart’s statement .
|
4,444 | 4 |
Slot machines in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have generated 20 percent of the promised $500 million per year for schools.
|
October 11, 2011
|
education;gambling
|
no casinos
|
No Casinos is a group that opposes the expansion of gambling.
|
florida
| 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a statement on their website
|
No Casinos claimed that slot proponents promised the voters $500 million per year for schools and have generated a "paltry 20 percent of that figure." The ads that we saw stated that slot machines "could" generate $500 million a year. But at times Jim Horne, a key slots proponent, said it more strongly: "we're talking roughly $500 million a year for our schools" and "Amendment 4 will inject public education with $438 million after the first year alone. This funding will increase to $2.3 billion over the next five years." In reality, the amount of projected revenue at the time was more complicated and depended upon how many facilities added slots and whether it was in one or two counties and the rules set by the Legislature -- and proponents certainly didn't make those caveats clear in the ads we viewed although they did couch it with "could." The amount of revenue generated is about 20 percent a year of the $500 million. We rate this .
|
8,748 | 3 |
Dan Patrick "got caught not paying his taxes" and "pocketed his employees' payroll taxes.
|
April 16, 2014
|
bankruptcy;candidate biography;taxes
|
david dewhurst
|
David Dewhurst, the former state land commissioner, was initially elected lieutenant governor of Texas in 2002. He lost his 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate and lost his bid for re-nomination in 2014.
|
texas
| 4 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
a video ad
|
Dewhurst said Patrick got caught not paying taxes and pocketed employees’ payroll taxes. The first part of this is backed up by records showing the IRS filed liens because Patrick’s company didn’t submit payroll taxes in parts of 1985 and 1986. Patrick also had liens filed against him for unpaid state and local sales taxes. Documents indicate Patrick caught up on his federal tax tab in 1989 and met his sales tax obligations in 2006, the year he ran for the Senate. We see no confirmation, though, that Patrick "pocketed" employees’ payroll taxes, though such taxes did go unpaid to the government at times. On balance, we rate Dewhurst’s statement as . – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
1,562 | 5 |
John Paul Stevens is the only Protestant on the U.S. Supreme Court.
|
April 12, 2010
|
religion;supreme court
|
stephen colbert
|
Stephen Colbert is the host of CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Previously, he worked for Comedy Central as host of The Colbert Report, and he also starred on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
|
national
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
an interview on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report"
|
According to the CIA World Factbook, a little more 50 percent of Americans identify as Protestant. Catholics make up about 24 percent of the population, while Jews represent about 1.7 percent of the population. So, back to Colbert's . He's correct that Stevens is a Protestant and he's the last one on the Supreme Court bench. Colbert's first statement on the -O-Meter gets a .
|
5,227 | 4 |
Says Gov. Scott Walker cut aid to local schools despite campaigning on trying to restore two-thirds state funding for education
|
February 29, 2012
|
education;state budget
|
kathleen falk
|
Kathleen Falk, a Wisconsin Democrat, lost a bid in 2012 for the Democratic nomination to run against Gov. Scott Walker in a recall election. Falk served as the Dane County executive from 1997 to 2011. She ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002 and for state attorney general in 2006.
|
wisconsin
| 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
an appearance at Marquette University
|
So Walker sent clear signals his first budget might not be able to meet the goal. Our conclusion Falk claimed Walker proposed a big cut in state school aid, even though in the campaign, he said "said he was going to try to fully fund the two-thirds state commitment to education." Walker did support it in principle and says it remains a goal for the next budget. But Falk’s critique of Walker fails to note that before election day he signalled it may not be possible to be able to move back to two-thirds funding in the first year. We rate Falk’s .
|
21,281 | 1 |
No one visiting Disney can get in" because of protest.
|
April 16, 2022
|
facebook fact-checks
|
facebook posts
|
Posters on Facebook and other social media networks.
|
florida
| 24 | 50 | 108 | 245 | 1,410 | 570 |
a Facebook post
|
A Facebook post claimed that a "Patriot Convoy" of protesters on April 16 successfully blocked visitors from entering Disney World in Florida. There was a protest that day, but it was at an intersection on the outskirts of the large Walt Disney World Resort property. The local sheriff’s office and the protest’s organizers said no roads were blocked and no one was prevented from entering the property. We rate this . RELATED: There’s no Disney+ lost over 350,000 subscribers in ‘five days ’ RELATED: There’s no Disney recently lost 172,000 reservations RELATED: ‘Don’t say gay’ vs. ‘parental rights': Fact-checking claims about Florida’s HB 1557
|
12,048 | 5 |
Forty-three million Americans are on food stamps.
|
July 21, 2016
|
welfare
|
donald trump
|
Donald Trump is the former president of the United States. He was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. He has been a real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, "The Apprentice." Trump's statements were awarded PolitiFact's 2015, 2017 and 2019 Lie of the Year. In November 2022, he announced he would run for president in 2024.
|
national
| 36 | 85 | 120 | 194 | 360 | 179 |
the 2016 Republican National Convention
|
Trump said, "Forty-three million Americans are on food stamps." The number of SNAP participants has been falling in recent years amid the economic recovery, but Trump is reciting the most recent participation. We rate Trump’s .
|
18,106 | 0 |
Says Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic insulting his supporters.
|
July 29, 2020
|
facebook fact-checks;coronavirus
|
viral image
|
Graphics, pictures and charts shared on social media give chain emails a run for their money when it comes to spreading too-good-to-be-true claims all over the Internet. A common form is is the "Internet macro," which uses an easily recognized and repurposed image (called a meme) wth superimposed text to make a funny but political argument. Sometimes these images are passed across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit so widely that the original source is nearly impossible to determine.
| null | 4 | 13 | 35 | 53 | 711 | 331 |
a tweet
|
Though the voice in the video sounds like the president, comedian J-L Cauvin — a talented Trump impersonator — has claimed credit . The footage that appears in the video was posted on July 27, unedited, by a CBS affiliate. Trump says little, listening instead, as he tours the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Innovation Center in Morrisville, N.C. But the video that’s being shared on social media is , and claims that it’s real are . !
|
8,089 | 2 |
Florida "remains the top travel destination across the world.
|
November 15, 2013
|
tourism
|
rick scott
|
Rick Scott, a wealthy Florida businessman, was first elected Florida's 45th governor on Nov. 2, 2010 and re-elected Nov. 4, 2014. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and is running for re-election in 2024.
|
florida
| 15 | 36 | 42 | 42 | 38 | 8 |
a news release about Florida's tourism statistics
|
While touting Florida’s tourism numbers, Scott said, "The Sunshine State remains the top travel destination across the world." There isn’t one simple way to declare "the" top travel destination in the world. But Scott’s would probably elicit a " mais non! " from Scott’s counterparts in France, who can boast to being the undisputed global leader of international tourists. And if you don't consider France a fair comparison, recent data on travel spending shows that California edges out Florida. Visit Florida is clamoring to achieve that No. 1 ranking, but we didn’t find proof that we are already there. Scott is clearly a cheerleader for his own state, but the data to back up his is murky and difficult to substantiate. We rate the .
|
1,526 | 3 |
As a state rep, I was considered the fourth-most conservative in the Legislature.
|
January 14, 2010
|
states
|
rick green
|
Green, a former Texas state representative from Dripping Springs, was a 2010 candidate for the Texas Supreme Court.
|
texas
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
a speech
|
It appears that Free Enterprise gave conservative credit only to the lawmakers who did that on those two measures, and Green was not one of them, according to the House Journal. His wife, Kara Green, the campaign's treasurer, said her husband did not support either measure. Summing up: Green accurately recaps his conservative ranking — albeit by a single group, the Free Enterprise PAC, during his first of two terms. He omits the fact that he was not considered fourth-most conservative in his second term, according to the group. We rate his statement as .
|
807 | 3 |
The accuracy of the Obama tax calculator
|
October 14, 2008
|
taxes
|
barack obama
|
Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
|
national
| 124 | 165 | 163 | 71 | 71 | 9 |
campaign Web site
|
The Obama tax calculator doesn't falsify information or make things up. But it's not entirely accurate, either, especially when it comes to tax increases for higher incomes. It's not accurate to say higher incomes don't get a tax cut when actually they get a tax increase. A calculator suggests a well-calibrated instrument that displays an objective answer, and we can't say that about the Obama campaign's device. So we issue a "Buyer Beware" and rate the Obama tax calculator .
|
6,426 | 5 |
Says Mitt Romney wants to add $2 trillion to defense budget that the military hasn't asked for.
|
October 22, 2012
|
debates;military
|
barack obama
|
Barack Obama is the former president of the United States. Obama also served as a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was born in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. Obama's father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Obama previously served in the Illinois state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
|
national
| 124 | 165 | 163 | 71 | 71 | 9 |
a presidential debate
|
The president said Romney planned to increase defense spending by $2 trillion and that was money the military hadn’t asked for. Military leaders have testified in support of the president’s spending plan, and we found no of disagreement behind the scenes. We rate the statement .
|
10,012 | 1 |
Abortions account for 94 percent of the services provided for pregnant women by Planned Parenthood.
|
January 22, 2015
|
abortion;health care;human rights;religion;women
|
bishop thomas tobin
|
Thomas J. Tobin has been the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence since May 31, 2005.
|
rhode island
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
a newspaper column
|
Bishop Thomas Tobin said that "... Abortions account for 94 percent of the services provided for pregnant women by Planned Parenthood." He cited as his source the Susan B. Anthony List, which arrived at that percentage using numbers that don’t represent all services provided to pregnant women by Planned Parenthood. Because Planned Parenthood says it doesn’t track that number, we don’t know what percentage of pregnant women seen by the agency receive abortions. But neither does the Susan B. Anthony -- nor Bishop Tobin. We rate his . (If you have a you’d like PolitiFact Rhode Island to check, email us at [email protected] And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)
|
11,322 | 2 |
When they passed Obamacare, they put a bailout fund in Obamacare. … We led the effort and wiped out that bailout fund.
|
February 25, 2016
|
health care
|
marco rubio
|
Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, was a candidate for president of the United States in 2016 and then dropped out and won re-election to the Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and took office Jan. 5, 2011. Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He served on the West Miami City Commission from 1998 to 2000. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami.
|
national
| 21 | 38 | 35 | 41 | 30 | 5 |
comments during the Houston GOP debate
|
Rubio said, "When they passed Obamacare, they put a bailout fund in Obamacare. … We led the effort and wiped out that bailout fund." The "bailout fund" is actually a provision in the Affordable Care Act called risk corridors, designed to temporarily aid insurers as they adjust premiums. Rubio helped persuade Congress to prevent Health and Human Services from being able to cover expenses its own budget. But experts have said Rubio is to call the program a bailout, and that the program is supposed to pay for itself through fees from insurers. Furthermore, the program hasn’t been "wiped out." At best, Rubio and Congress have temporarily limited one potential way CMS could have covered insurance companies' losses. We’ll have to see what happens when the program expires after 2016 -- then any outstanding bills will be due, one way or another. We rate Rubio’s statement .
|
5,892 | 2 |
For his first interview as president, Barack Obama chose Arab TV for an apology.
|
July 4, 2012
|
foreign policy;message machine 2012
|
secure america now
|
Secure America Now is an independent, non-profit group that claims 2 million members of all political stripes, united behind "policies that will protect our nation against terrorist infiltration, attack and capitulation to our enemies."
|
national
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
a TV ad
|
Secure America Now’s ad says, "For his first interview as president, Barack Obama chose Arab TV for an apology." The ad particularly emphasizes that Obama apologized. Obama’s first television interview after taking office was with the Al Arabiya network at the White House. But the ad gets nothing right beyond that. By saying "all too often the United States starts by dictating," Obama was not apologizing but being diplomatic about past strategies that failed to yield results. What’s more, the ad criticizes Obama’s approach to Iran, but his quote actually referred to the Israelis and the Palestinians. The statement contains an element of but ignores critical facts and gives an impression. We rate it .
|
8,697 | 1 |
Eighty percent of Wall Street executives and their spouses' donations go to Democrats.
|
April 12, 2014
|
campaign finance;financial regulation
|
louie gohmert
|
Louie Gohmert, a U.S. House member since 2005, is a former chief justice of the Texas 12th Court of Appeals and Smith County state district judge. He lives in Tyler.
|
national
| 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
a speech at the New Hampshire Freedom Summit
|
Gohmert said that "80 percent of Wall Street executives and their spouses' donations go to Democrats." Gohmert would have had a stronger argument if he’d said that was the case six years ago, when candidate Barack Obama was vacuuming up Wall Street donations. The problem is, that’s no longer . In fact, the exact opposite pattern has held for Wall Street donations during the past three election cycles. In addition, Gohmert overstated Franc’s percentages and ignored the difference between donations to Democratic presidential candidates and congressional candidates. We rate his .
|
10,183 | 3 |
Says Hillary Clinton took "money from kings of Saudi Arabia and Morocco and Oman and Yemen.
|
April 12, 2015
|
campaign finance;candidate biography;foreign policy;military;negative campaigning
|
reince priebus
|
Reince Priebus was the first chief of staff to President Donald Trump, replaced by John Kelly in July 2017. Priebus was previously chairman of the Republican National Committee, a post he assumed in 2011. He is also the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He was an unsuccessful Wisconsin state Senate candidate in 2004. He is a Kenosha, Wis., native and lawyer.
|
wisconsin
| 1 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 14 | 1 |
an interview
|
Our rating Priebus said Clinton took "money from kings of Saudi Arabia and Morocco and Oman and Yemen." The monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Oman have contributed to the Clinton Foundation, but Yemen, which does not have a king, has not. And although Priebus’ was made during a discussion of the foundation as well as contributions to political candidates, his phrasing could have left the impression that Clinton herself, rather than the foundation, received the money. For a statement that is partially accurate, our rating is . To comment on this article, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's web page .
|
5,016 | 4 |
Most women, including 98 percent of Catholic women, have used contraception.
|
February 1, 2012
|
families;health care;religion
|
cecilia muñoz
|
Before joining the Obama Administration, Cecilia Muñoz was senior vice president for the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at Latino civil rights organization the National Council of La Raza.
|
national
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a post to the White House Blog
|
Muñoz said, "according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, most women, including 98 percent of Catholic women, have used contraception." We read the study, which was based on long-collected, frequently cited government survey data. It says essentially that — though the statistic refers specifically to women who have had sex, a distinction Muñoz didn’t make. But that’s not a large clarification, since most women in the study, including 70 percent of unmarried Catholic women, were sexually experienced. Catholic bishops argue it’s more relevant to note the percentage of sexually active women who don’t want to become pregnant and who currently use hormones, IUDs or sterilization — since the smaller number would provide smaller justification for spreading the cost of contraceptives to the general public. But we think it’s reasonable to note that most women have used contraceptives even if they aren’t currently using them. It means most women would find occasion to take advantage of the new co-pay-free contraceptive rule. Meanwhile, Muñoz used the phrase "have used," which made it clear she meant women who had used contraception before, not necessarily now. It would have been clearest if Muñoz had specified she was talking about women who have had sex — and perhaps that the statistic referred to women ages 15 to 44. But her statement was otherwise accurate. We rate it .
|
9,650 | 1 |
More people are losing their insurance (due to Obamacare) than are becoming newly insured.
|
November 3, 2014
|
health care;punditfact
|
herman cain
|
Herman Cain is an author, columnist and talk radio host. Cain, a former pizza franchise CEO, ran for president as a Republican in 2012.
| null | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 3 |
a blog post
|
Cain said that "more people are losing their insurance (due to Obamacare) than are becoming newly insured." While it’s reasonable to ask questions about the limitations of the available data, there is wide consensus from five private-sector organizations that roughly 10 million more Americans are insured today than were before the law began operations in late 2013. That’s inconsistent with Cain’s , so we rate it .
|
21,171 | 2 |
Gas prices are high "due to the Democrats' war on fossil fuels.
|
March 18, 2022
|
economy;gas prices;transportation
|
ron johnson
|
Ron Johnson is a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin. A businessman and accountant, Johnson defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in the 2010 election. He is seeking re-election in 2016.
|
wisconsin
| 8 | 18 | 15 | 28 | 11 | 4 |
Twitter
|
Johnson claimed that the "astronomical gas prices" are "due to the Democrats’ war on fossil fuels." He noted, among other things, halting subsidies for oil companies, ending fossil fuel company drilling on public lands and ending the Keystone XL pipeline. Experts say those things could have had a small impact, but it’s more likely that the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the supply and demand for oil, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions are having a much larger impact. We rate this , meaning the statement contains an element of , but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.
|
17,258 | 3 |
You're more likely to die of influenza right now" than the 2019 coronavirus.
|
February 3, 2020
|
public health;facebook fact-checks;punditfact;coronavirus
|
dr. drew pinsky
|
Dr. Drew Pinsky is an American internist and television personality.
| null | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
a Daily Blast Live segment
|
Dr. Drew said "you’re more likely to die of influenza right now" than the 2019 coronavirus. The key phrase in this is "right now." It’s that, as of March 10, the flu poses a more immediate threat to the American public than the 2019 coronavirus. That’s because it’s currently more widespread; the CDC estimated there were as many as 49 million flu illnesses from October to February, while there have been 647 coronavirus cases in the United States. But the mortality rate of the flu is lower than that of COVID-19 — the former is estimated to be as high as 0.1%, while the latter is around 3.4% so far. That means you’re more likely to die if you get the coronavirus than if you get the flu, even though you’re less likely to contract COVID-19. Dr. Drew’s is partially accurate but leaves out important details. We rate it .
|
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