A new T-Mobile policy aimed at curbing mass marketing texts that don’t meet industry standards is being misrepresented on social media as an effort to censor the messages of everyday people.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ABC News Did NOT Broadcast Report About Dr. Oz’s ‘Amazing’ Diabetes Cure — Audio Was Doctored
Did ABC News host David Muir advertise on air a diabetes cure discovered by TV personality and physician Dr. Mehmet Oz? No, that's not true: A clip containing images of both Muir and Oz used manipulated sound to mislead audiences. The vid
The Dispatch→ DeSantis’ Closing Iowa Strategy: Hit Haley
Plus, Joe Biden turns up the volume on his warnings about Donald Trump.
PolitiFact→ Americans for Prosperity – Wisconsin Public Service Commission has approved rate hikes, but not $1.9 billion
“Wisconsin utilities have charged ratepayers more than $1.9 billion of increases since 2019.”
AllSides→ Fact-Checking Trump’s Recent Immigration Claims
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/24/us/politics/trump-immigration-fact-check.html Former President Donal
AllSides→ Nikki Haley Claims 1 in 6 American Families Can’t Afford Their Utility Bill
https://checkyourfact.com/2023/12/27/fact-check-haley-american-families-utility-bill/ In a recent inter
The Dispatch→ The Dispatch’s Best of 2023
The culture and content we enjoyed the most this year.
The Dispatch→ The Catholic Church’s Blessing of Same-Sex Couples, Explained
The church’s new guidance has left some confused.
The Dispatch→ Thomas Merton’s Blueprint for a More Contemplative Life
This year marked the 75th anniversary of his seminal work, ‘The Seven Storey Mountain.’
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: T-Mobile Will NOT Start Fining Customers On January 1, 2024, For Text Messages It Disagrees With
Will T-Mobile start fining individual customers in 2024 for sending texts or posting content the company doesn't agree with? No, that's not true: The claim on social media misrepresented the nature of the change that will only affect the
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Katie Hobbs Was NOT Hanged At GITMO
Was Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs hanged at Guantanamo Bay on December 22, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The website where this claim was made has a disclaimer that states it pub
ABC News / AP Fact Check→ Meme falsely claims dinosaurs were only invented to prove evolution is real. There is no ‘dinohoax’
Millions of years after the dinosaurs’ extinction, social media users have dug up an old meme to deny the ancient beasts ever actually roamed the Earth.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ATF Background Check Was NOT Updated To Authorize ‘Illegal Immigrants’ To Purchase Firearms
Was the mechanism of the background check conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to screen potential gun owners changed in a way that now allows people lacking citizenship status to buy and possess guns in th
AllSides→ Here’s What They’re Teaching In The Naval Academy’s Gender And Sexuality Class
https://dailycaller.com/2023/12/25/navy-gender-sexuality-class/ An English course at the U.S. Naval Aca
AllSides→ Is This A Real 1919 Comic Strip That Seemingly Predicted Cell Phones?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pocket-telephones/ Claim: A comic first published in 1919 predicted c
AllSides→ Fact-Checking Fake News Is Making Some People Believe It
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-checking-fake-news-people-believe-it-1854164 Checking fake news online is
The Dispatch→ New Year, New Economic Forecast
Economists and everyday Americans try to make heads or tails of the economy.
The Dispatch→ Freudian Quips
No one takes Jung seriously.
The Dispatch→ 2023 Year In Review And 2024 Predictions (With David Lat)
Also: philosophical font disputes.
The Dispatch→ Defending the Ballot
There is more than one way to patrol the borders of democracy.
The Dispatch→ Is the Cure for Male Loneliness … ‘Her’?
Spike Jonze’s AI romance remains a timely meditation on the wonders of and obstacles to intimacy.
The Dispatch→ Farewell to Normalcy
The meaning of 2023.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: US Marines Did NOT Arrest WHO Official Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu — Story Is Made Up
Did U.S. Marines arrest World Health Organization official Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is "false." This claim appears in an article on a website that regularly publi
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Pope Francis Did NOT Authorize WEF To Rewrite Fact Checked Version Of The Holy Bible
Did Pope Francis authorize the World Economic Forum to rewrite a fact checked version of the Holy Bible, and post about it on social media? No, that's not true: The social media post allegedly made by Pope Francis is fake, and there is no
The Dispatch→ The Left’s Whackjob Problem—and Ours
On the asymmetric nuttiness between the right and left.
The Dispatch→ A Great Year for Free Market Capitalism in Film
Five movies that captured the thrill and agony of markets, dynamism, risk, and competition.
Health Feedback→ Approved COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain HIV proteins and don’t cause AIDS, contrary to claim misquoting BBC documentary
REVIEW The claim that COVID-19 vaccines cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) because they contain proteins from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—the virus responsible for AIDS—circulated on social media in December 2023. This cl
The Dispatch→ An End-of-Year Migrant Surge
Border crossings continue to reach record levels while Washington struggles to address the crisis.
The Dispatch→ Deal or New Deal
Should we blame the billionaires?
The Dispatch→ The Year of the Horseshoe Theory
Extremists on both sides have a shared appetite for illiberalism.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show A Car Full Of Kids ‘Ready To Be Sold’ For Sex, Organ Trafficking
Does a viral video show a child trafficker caught while driving a sedan with 25 children in Uzbekistan? No, that's not true: According to local law enforcement and local news reports, the reason for the traffic stop was unsafe driving, no
The Dispatch→ Disloyalty or Pathos
The DeSantis dilemma.
ABC News / AP Fact Check→ False reports of crash victim being stabbed and robbed are spreading virally in US cities
Social media users are sharing the image on community Facebook pages, along with a plea to help identify the girl.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: US Marines Did NOT Arrest Assistant Defense Secretary Tanya Skeen — Story Is Made Up
Did U.S. Marines arrest Assistant Defense Secretary for Acquisition Tanya Skeen? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is "false." This claim appeared in an article on a website that regularly publ
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Hospitalized Woman Is NOT Unidentified — Scam Post Uses Fake Story, Repurposed Photo To Garner Shares
Was an unidentified young woman robbed, stabbed, and left for dead by the side of the road, and will sharing a post on social media help to identify her? No, that's not true: This post is a fabrication designed to trick people to share th
The Dispatch→ Sniffing Out Indoctrination
Fixing free speech at elite institutions
The Dispatch→ Another Trump Term Is a Grave Threat to NATO
And he wouldn’t even have to be a ‘dictator on Day 1’ to pull it off.
The Dispatch→ Where He Found Us
‘He meets us on our own terms because we cannot meet Him on His.’
The Dispatch→ A Different Kind of Christmas for Palestinian Christians
Solemn Christmas celebrations in the Holy Land this year are suffused with pleas for peace.
The Dispatch→ Give That Man a Ham
Congratulations to our first-ever Cutline of the Year honoree.