President Donald Trump and his son Eric both took shots this week at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying crime has risen in the city under his leadership. That’s wrong, according to crime data kept by the New York Police Department. Major felony offenses have dropped every year […]
Facts Check
Trump’s Energy Errors
President Donald Trump clearly supports the oil and gas industry, but he made several false and misleading boasts about his impact on the energy sector. The president suggested that a change in federal policy was responsible for a newly operational natural gas export terminal, saying past leaders’ “anti-American energy” policies […]
Meme Distorts Gillibrand’s Immigration Idea
Quick Take Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has not proposed giving Social Security benefits to “illegal aliens,” as a popular meme claims. She wants to overhaul the immigration system to give individuals in the U.S. illegally a way to become citizens and collect benefits after paying into Social Security. Full Story At […]
Solitaire Image is Old, Out of Context
Quick Take An image of elected officials playing a computer card game has gone viral on social media. But the photo is from 2009, and it shows state lawmakers in Connecticut, not members of Congress. Full Story Deception and poker go hand in hand, but one of the latest viral […]
Social Post Wrong About Obama’s Tax Returns
Quick Take Former President Barack Obama, like many major party presidential nominees before him, released his tax returns — despite a popular social media post that implies otherwise. Full Story As congressional Democrats fight to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns, a popular post on social media implies — wrongly […]
Economists: Tariffs Not Boosting GDP
Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have a small, negative impact on gross domestic product growth, according to economists, the Congressional Budget Office, the International Monetary Fund and the top White House economic adviser. That contradicts President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that the tariffs have boosted the GDP. As the nonpartisan […]
Meme Inflates School Shooting Deaths
Quick Take A meme circulating online claims that 7,182 students have been “killed in U.S. schools” since 2012, but that number is inflated. It likely refers to all firearm fatalities involving children, including suicides and shootings off campus. Full Story Dozens of students have been shot and killed on school […]
Kamala Harris Spins Facts on Truancy Law
Sen. Kamala Harris acknowledges that a 2010 state truancy law she sponsored resulted in some parents being jailed. But she misleadingly claims that jailing parents was an “unintended consequence” of the law. In fact, the law added Section 270.1 to the California Penal Code to allow prosecutors to fine and/or jail a […]
The ‘Raccoon’ Rant Not Written by Steve Harvey
Q: Did the comedian Steve Harvey author a post in support of President Donald Trump circulating on social media? A: No. It was written by an anonymous, 80-year-old American, according to the conservative website that first published it in 2016. FULL QUESTION Did Steve Harvey make the following statement? HOW I […]
O’Rourke Wrong on Gun Control Stat
After the Colorado school shooting, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke advocated universal background checks for gun purchases, claiming that state laws mandating universal checks “have been shown to reduce gun violence by 50 percent.” But academic research doesn’t support that. O’Rourke’s campaign said the statistic came from Everytown for Gun […]