Social media users have been posting extensively about a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the scale of its chemical dangers. Experts say the situation is serious, but not unprecedented, and that the most dramatic claims are likely exaggera
Poynter→ ChatGPT: Separating fact from fiction in the era of AI
Watch how fast this artificial intelligence tool can write a fake article, from a fake newspaper, with a fake reporter. Amazing, but kind of scary, too. This new technology is […] The post ChatGPT: Separating fact from fiction in the era of AI
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: ‘Illegal Immigrants’ CANNOT Be Police Officers In California
Can "illegal immigrants" be police officers in California? No, that's not true: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that allowed non-citizens who are legally authorized to work in the U.S. to become police officers. There are no citizenship re
PolitiFact→ Tom Cotton – Proposed Medicare Advantage changes cannot accurately be called 'cuts,' experts said
"It's President Biden who is proposing to cut Medicare Advantage."
PolitiFact→ Social Media – Social media posts falsely name 22-year-old as Michigan gunman. Police say it was Anthony McRae, 43
“Michigan State University suspect is 22-year-old ‘Raymone Jordan.’”
FactCheck.org→ Trump’s Hollow ‘Empty Folders’ Defense
Former President Donald Trump’s latest defense for having classified documents found by FBI agents at his Mar-a-Lago home is that many of them were simply “empty folders” stamped “classified” on the outside that Trump kep
PolitiFact→ Instagram posts – Do magnetic pole shifts cause modern climate change and earthquakes? Science says no
“Humans are not causing climate change.” Magnetic pole shifting “is causing havoc worldwide in weather, climate, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.”
PolitiFact→ Ohio derailment is just the latest serious industrial accident in the U.S.
The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, was preceded by dozens of industrial accidents that killed thousands of Americans, and caused widespread environmental damage. Here’s a rundown.
The Dispatch→ Fact Check: Did a CDC Deputy Director Say the COVID Vaccines Cause Illnesses?
The Center for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Claims are circulating online that Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, the deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said that th
PolitiFact→ Facebook posts – Turkey-Syria earthquakes were natural disasters, not geoengineered
The earthquake in Turkey is a "scripted" use of geo engineering weather modification HAARP
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast’ WSJ Headline
On February 15 2023, a popular tweet showed a screengrab of a purported headline (“To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast”) in the Wall Street Journal on February 14 2023: Groceries too expensive? Just stop eating, you poors. Als
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Audio Sounding Like Biden Advising ‘Own A Musket For Home Defense’ Is NOT Real
Is a recording sounding like President Joe Biden telling people to "own a musket for home defense" real? No, that's not true: Although the voice sounds like Biden, video clearly shows he's speaking different words than those heard in the
The Dispatch→ Bye, America
President Joe Biden speaks on the banks of the Ohio River to highlight his economic plan on rebuilding infrastructure and creating good paying jobs. (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.)Forcing federal contractors to use U.S. goods and serv
The Dispatch→ Christie on DeSantis: ‘None of Us Really Know Who He Is’
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)Plus: What’s next for Florida Sen. Rick Scott.The post Christie on DeSantis: ‘None of Us Really Know Who He Is’ appeared first on The Dispatch.
Logically→ The video shows a cat rescued from the rubble caused by the Turkey earthquake in February 2023.
A November 2022 video of people in Turkey flocking to rescue animals from a shelter where they were mistreated has been linked to the earthquakes.
Logically→ 15,000 dead people voted for Joe Biden, and the election was rigged.
Official statements and evidence do not support the claims that the 2020 US election was rigged or that there was large-scale dead voter fraud.
Logically→ Video shows man exposing astronaut Neil Armstrong for the ‘fake’ moon landing.
Neil Armstrong's refusal to swear on the Bible is not evidence that the moon landing was faked.
Logically→ The video shows people demolishing a mosque in Pakistan to sell its iron and bricks for food.
The viral video shows people attacking an Ahmadi mosque in Pakistan's Karachi in an incident unrelated to the economic crisis in the country.
The Dispatch→ A Chemical Train Derailment in Ohio
Smoke rises from a derailed cargo train in East Palestine, Ohio. (Photo by DUSTIN FRANZ/AFP via Getty Images)Government officials say it’s safe for residents of East Palestine to return home, but risks remain.The post A Chemical Train Derailment in O
Poynter→ Did Canada invent football? Pretty much. Dave Grohl’s Super Bowl claim is largely right.
Super Bowl LVII had some remarkable moments. Rihanna performed the halftime show in a red jumpsuit and debuted a new baby bump, and the Kansas City Chiefs came back with […] The post Did Canada invent football? Pretty much. Dave Grohl’s Super B
The Dispatch→ An (Unidentified Flying) Object Lesson
Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby speaks at the White House. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)If we’re not being invaded by aliens, what’s going on? A Dispatch Explainer.The post An (Unidentifie
The Dispatch→ Popular Nonsense
President Joe Biden speaks to guests at the Laborers’ International Union of North America training center on February 8, 2023, in De Forest, Wisconsin. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)Our polarization is bad, but bipartisan consensus can be wor
Full Fact→ SNP’s claim that Liz Truss’s government cost UK economy £30bn is not reliable
This figure represents an old estimate of the likely cost to the Treasury. The cost to the economy cannot be reliably measured.
Logically→ Video shows an unidentified object flying over Arizona recently.
An old video circulating since at least 2010 has been wrongly linked to the recent spate of unidentified objects spotted in North American skies.
Full Fact→ Posts about missing boy use stock photograph of child model
The image has been available online since 2015.
Washington Post→ Biden linked covid to a spike in violent crime. He omitted factors.
In the State of the Union address, the president left out half of the story.
The Dispatch→ Little Green Men
"That wheat ain't going to Beijing."The post Little Green Men appeared first on The Dispatch.
The Dispatch→ Video: Flying Objects and GOP Politics
Watch the video of our weekly livestreamed conversation. The post Video: Flying Objects and GOP Politics appeared first on The Dispatch.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Antineoplaston Therapy Is NOT Proven To Cure Cancer
Is antineoplaston therapy developed by Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski an effective cure for cancer? No, that's not true: There is not sufficient evidence that antineoplaston therapy -- an alternative type of cancer treatment using drugs that are
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Invent Computer Viruses To Sell Microsoft Antivirus Programs
Did Bill Gates create computer viruses and infect Microsoft computers to then sell antivirus software programs? No, that's not true: There's no evidence that either Gates or his company deliberately created and spread computer viruses, an
Truth or Fiction?→ Britney Spears Stage Crasher Finds Online ‘Fame’ Thanks to Junk Website
A 37-year-old man arrested for crashing the stage at a Britney Spears concert in 2017 found a different type of attention online in 2023 thanks to his mugshot appearing on an online “fake news” site. Jesse Webb was arrested on August 9 2017
PolitiFact→ What counts as a “mass shooting”? The definition varies
There is no single definition for a mass shooting. That sows confusion about the prevalence of these events and can hamper policy efforts to address gun violence, experts said after the Michigan State University shooting.
FactCheck.org→ Internet Hoax Spreads False ID on Michigan State University Shooter
Quick Take Police identified the suspect in the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University as Anthony Dwayne McRae, who shot and killed himself. But a viral internet hoax used the photo of another man and falsely claimed that th
PolitiFact→ Sawyer Hackett – Texas schools can still teach the works of Martin Luther King Jr.
Gov. Abbott “signed a bill last year eliminating the requirements for Texas schools to teach MLK’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.”
Truth or Fiction?→ ‘Meanwhile in Ohio’ ‘Death Plume’ Image
On February 13 2023, a Facebook account shared the following image, purportedly a photograph of a huge, dark plume of smoke near the site of a train derailment in Ohio: An attached status update referenced unrelated news about “unidentified obj
The Dispatch→ The Earth 2 Primary
In 2016, both Nikki Haley and Tim Scott endorsed Marco Rubio in the South Carolina primary. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and what might have been.The post The Earth 2 Primary appeared first on The Dispatch.
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Maxwell Chikumbutso’s ‘Self-Powered’ Electric Car Invention Is NOT Documented To Function As Claimed
Did Maxwell Chikumbutso, an inventor from Zimbabwe, develop a technology to turn radio frequencies into free, unlimited, green electricity that can power a car that never needs charging, a television or even a neighborhood? No, that's not
Lead Stories→ Fact Check: Human Body Does NOT Have 2 Trillion Volts Of Electricity
Does the human body contain 2 trillion volts of electricity in it? No, that's not true: A professor in electrophysiology told Lead Stories it "does not make sense" to talk of voltage of the human body. He likened the human body's electric
PolitiFact→ Erick Erickson – For certain car models, it’s more expensive to drive electric, but that’s not the whole story
“Right now, driving 100 miles in an electric vehicle is more expensive than driving an internal combustion engine car.”
Truth or Fiction?→ Sandy Hook Survivor at the Michigan State University Shooting
On February 14 2023, in the wake of a mass shooting at Michigan State University just hours before, several social media accounts claimed that a Sandy Hook survivor was a student there: One of my MSU students was from Sandy Hook. Her first grade t