On March 12 2019, a Facebook user shared the image and text-based status update above (archived here) to the Facebook group “LARGEST GROUP EVER! We need 10000000 members to Make America Great Again!”, claiming that President Obama settled
Snopes→ Does a New Bill Require Police to Call Supervisor Before Drawing Weapons?
Lawmakers are considering bills concerning the use of weapons by police officers.
Truth or Fiction?→ Did James Charles Use a Racial Slur in Twitter DMs?
Late on March 12 2019, a Twitter user shared a link (archived here) to an unavailable tweet and claimed that beauty YouTuber James Charles called them a racial slur: In a follow up tweet (archived here), the user reiterated the claim. Those images c
Snopes→ Police Often Use Broad Exemption to Keep Videos from Public
Police videos are considered public records in nearly every state, but vague laws and exemptions often give police chiefs and prosecutors wide discretion to determine when to release them.
Snopes→ UN: Environment is Deadly, Worsening Mess, But Not Hopeless
The sixth Global Environment Outlook, released at a U.N. conference in Kenya, painted a dire picture of a planet where environmental problems interact with each other to make things even more dangerous for people.
Snopes→ Feds Charge Dozens in Widespread US College Admissions Scam
Some parents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and some as much as $6.5 million to guarantee their children's admission, officials said.
Snopes→ California Gov. Newsom Places Moratorium on Executions
Since California's last execution, its death row population has grown to house one of every four condemned inmates in the United States.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: NO New Bill That Would Require Officers to Call Supervisor Before Drawing Weapons
Did Kamala Harris sponsor a new bill named "A Second Chance" that would require police officers to call their supervisor befor drawing a weapon? No, that's not true: the story was published by a police satire website as a joke, it is not real.
Washington Post→ Have Iraq and Syria been ‘liberated’ from ISIS, as President Trump says?
President Trump has claimed his administration has defeated ISIS and beaten back the caliphate in various ways. But the reality is more complex.
Snopes→ Woman Picks Matching Numbers 30 Times to Win Lottery Game
A Virginia woman parlayed a feeling to purchase 30 lottery tickets with the same numbers to win $150,000.
Snopes→ Was Brooke Shields Photographed Nude at 10 Years Old?
Nude photographs of the American actress have been the source of controversy for decades.
Snopes→ Did U.S. House Democrats Pass a Bill to Allow Immigrants to Vote?
A major piece of legislation called H.R. 1 became the subject of confused, misleading scrutiny in March 2019.
Snopes→ Trump Laments Complexity of Modern Airlines in Wake of Crash
Trump tweeted that “airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly.”
Snopes→ Michael Avenatti Says He No Longer Represents Stormy Daniels
Daniels has been a central figure in federal and congressional investigations surrounding the president and Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer pleaded guilty to criminal charges for buying her silence.
Snopes→ Did Patrick Moore, a Doubter of Anthropogenic Climate Change, Co-Found Greenpeace?
We definitely know that he was an early member of Greenpeace.
Snopes→ Black Woman Added to Jury Over Protests by Officer’s Lawyer
Jurors are being chosen in Harrisburg, Pa. because of widespread publicity about the case in the Pittsburgh area.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Chicago Does NOT Have City ID Cards Which Allow Illegal Immigrants To Vote
Does Chicago have city ID cards which allow illegal immigrants to vote in local, state and federal elections? No, Chicago's CityKey ID program does not give non-citizens a way to illegally cast ballots when they otherwise would not be able to
PolitiFact→ Elizabeth Warren – It's True, Boeing 737 Max 8 still flies in US even as FAA calls for software updates
The Truth-o-Meter says: True | It's True, Boeing 737 Max 8 still flies in US even as FAA calls for software updates The crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-Max 8 led several lawmakers to call for the immediate grounding of that plane in the U
FactCheck.org→ Kurt Russell Not Speaking Out Against Democrats
Quick Take A viral meme falsely claims that actor Kurt Russell “speaks out” against the Democratic Party. But the quotation attributed to him is made up. Full Story A meme circulating on Facebook claims to be quoting Kurt Russell when
FactCheck.org→ Larry Kudlow’s Revenue Deception
On the day the Trump administration released its fiscal 2020 budget, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow misleadingly claimed that “overall revenues are up about 10 percent.” In fact, federal revenues are down since the Republican tax
PolitiFact→ Joni Ernst – Ernst uses flabby $93 trillion estimate for Green New Deal
The Truth-o-Meter says: False | Ernst uses flabby $93 trillion estimate for Green New Deal The Green New Deal — a bold, thinly detailed climate change-centered plan from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — has drawn heated reactio
Snopes→ Is This a Video of President Trump Without His Toupee?
Evidence that Trump wears a toupee is as thin as a balding person's hair.
Snopes→ Hero or Villain, Ocasio-Cortez Remains a Media Fixation
Believe it or not, there are other members of Congress besides Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Snopes→ Were the Trumps Pictured With the Owner of a Massage Parlor Where Robert Kraft Was Arrested?
Be skeptical of memes because they are often inaccurate.
Truth or Fiction?→ 2005 Obama Immigration Quote
In January 2019, New Jersey politician Joseph Rudy Rullo shared the following meme (archived here), purportedly quoting then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama on immigration: It featured a photograph of Obama on the right, and on the left it read: “W
Washington Post→ Ocasio-Cortez’s misleading complaint: Trump did not transfer funds for the opioid emergency
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) misleadingly compares Trump's action on border-wall funding with the response to the opioid health-care emergency.
Snopes→ Does This Video Capture the Ethiopian Airlines Crash?
Tragedies are bad enough without misrepresenting them via repurposed videos.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Trump’s Budget Does NOT Contain Twenty Million Dollars for Bail
Did President Trump's latest federal budget proposal includet $20 million for bail money? No, it is a satirical report that purports Trump hid millions in the budget document to post bail for his children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The sto
Snopes→ Did Donald Trump Autograph a Woman’s Chest?
If we had to sum up "Trump mania" during the 2016 presidential campaign in one image, this might be it.
Snopes→ Did Joe Biden Once Say He Was Conservative About Most Issues Except Civil Rights?
Biden's remarks appeared in an expansive 1974 'Washingtonian' feature following his election as the youngest member of the U.S. Senate.
Snopes→ Did the Girls Scouts Give Their ‘Highest Award’ to a Girl for Her Pro-Choice Activism?
Right-leaning and pro-life websites extrapolated loosely from a single November 2018 interview that did not mention abortion.
FactCheck.org→ Henry Winkler, Democratic Donor, Still Alive
Quick Take Henry Winkler is very much alive, contrary to a hoax story about his “death” that falsely claims he had been a “huge Trump supporter” and an NRA member. Full Story Henry Winkler, the actor who has been on televis
Snopes→ White House Mum on if Trump Really Thinks Dems ‘Hate’ Jews
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders refused several times to say whether Trump really thinks Democrats "hate" Jews.
Lead Stories→ Fake News: Video Does NOT Show Moment Pilot Lost Control Before Ethiopian Plane Crashed
Does this video show the moment the pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 Boeing that crashed on Sunday? No, that's not true: the footage is from a different crash in Afghanistan in 2013. An example of the video was published on Instagr
PolitiFact→ Elizabeth Warren – Comparing Manafort's sentence to life sentence for man who sold pot
The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Comparing Manafort's sentence to life sentence for man who sold pot As far back as 2010, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was hiding a lot of money from the IRS. Prosecutors
Snopes→ Former Nebraska GOP Staffer Under Fire for Racist Remarks
Benett Bressman, 22, made the remarks anonymously in an online chat forum for fans of the YouTube show "America First."
Snopes→ Minnesota Politician Thanks Fox for Condemning Jeanine Pirro
On her show, Pirro noted that the Minnesota representative wears a hijab in apparent conformity to a directive in the Quran.
Snopes→ Is This Really a Video of a 10-Month-Old Baby Drawing?
Internet users were impressed with (and skeptical of) a video showing a baby drawing cartoon characters.
Snopes→ InfoWars Video Tries to Tie the ‘Four Families of California’ to Internet Domain Name Non-Profit
For discerning readers, the word to perhaps consider here is "apophenia."
Truth or Fiction?→ Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Say Her Girl Scout Troop Recreated the Challenger Launch?
On March 10 2019, right-wing YouTube personality and conspiracy theorist Mark Dice shared the following meme to Twitter and Facebook about a purported quote by U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: First, Dice tweeted the image above with no