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A meme lists political legal events that occurred during the first week of June 2020, while nationwide protests were taking place over the death of George Floyd. | Entailment | A meme that hit social media in June 2020 purported to identify three political legal events, which many Americans were likely unfamiliar with, that occurred during the first week of June 2020. That period marked a time of nationwide protests over the police in-custody death of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis: We can't determine with any accuracy what proportion of the U.S. population was aware of the referenced proceedings. But they didn't garner nearly as much prominent news coverage as other events, and for the most part they did take place as described in the meme - with some exceptions in the details of the first entry. To wit: Although Hillary Clinton didn't actually appear in court (or otherwise testify) on June 2, 2020, a hearing was held that day about a rather complex issue of whether the former U.S. secretary of state should have submit to a deposition in a case brought by a third party involving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): The hearing in the D.C. Circuit comes in the case Judicial Watch v. Clinton, a public-records case involving a request for State Department documents and communication about the 2012 terror attack at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed in the attack. The Benghazi attack and Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state have long been flash points for Republicans on Capitol Hill, and Clinton's email practices were the centerpiece of an FBI investigation - in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election - about her handling of classified information. Clinton's lawyers are challenging a March 2 order from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who said Clinton's written responses in the public-records litigation to questions about her email practices 'were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put, her responses left many more questions than answers.' Williams & Connolly partner David Kendall, lead counsel for Clinton, has argued she has broadly addressed her private email before Congress, the FBI and news reporters, and therefore she has nothing more to say. 'The Benghazi Select Committee, the State Department Inspector General, and the FBI all conducted inquiries and made findings on her use of private email,' Kendall wrote in Clinton's D.C. Circuit filing in March. Clinton has testified under oath that she used private email for convenience, her lawyers said in court filings. Depositions of current or former cabinet officials are rare, and plaintiffs face a high burden to prove that 'extraordinary circumstances' compel such testimony. The Justice Department has long resisted efforts to depose high-ranking officials. DOJ, however, is not backing Clinton in her appeal in the D.C. Circuit. The government has said the deposition would not touch on official policy but compliance with FOIA. The arguments in that hearing ran for an hour and a half on June 2, and (as far as we know) the court has not issued its ruling yet, so it is not accurate to say that Clinton 'lost her case' and 'will be forced to testify in September.' That claim seems to be based on the original court order of March 2 that was being contested at the June 2 hearing: Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 3, 2020. Whether his testimony was of more interest (or potential harm) to Republicans or Democrats is debatable: [O]n June 3 the Senate Judiciary Committee convened to discuss the pressing issues of the day: the origins of the Russia investigation, the text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and the Steele dossier - with former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as a witness. For years, it was Democrats who wanted to talk about Russia. Not any more. Democrats these days would be happy never to hold another hearing on the subject. Whether because they believe the truth has been exposed to the degree it ever will be or because they believe they have garnered from the subject all the political benefit they are going to get from it, they are generally happy to let the Mueller report and the fallout from it be the final word on the subject. For Republicans, however, and for the president in particular, talking about the Russia investigation is like listening to golden oldies. It rallies the base. It keeps people mad at super-villains well drawn. The occasional hearing at which to denounce James Comey and all his works is like comfort food. But it's comfort food of a peculiar variety. Because whoever you are and whatever political persuasion you bring to the table, the food has some embarrassing ingredients. For Republicans, there's the small matter that their central narrative is untrue. There was no coup. There was no political spying on a campaign. There was no corruption of the FBI. No amalgamation of the very real errors that took place in the Russia probe will support the only story Republicans want to tell about it. And bringing Rosenstein to testify actually highlights some of the difficulties with the basic Republican thesis. As countless senators pointed out, after all, it was he - a Trump appointee - who signed the last of the Carter Page FISA applications. And it was his decision to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It was Rosenstein - not Comey or FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - who offered to wear a wire in conversations with the president. If you're trying to uncover a deep-state conspiracy, Rosenstein is a tricky figure to have as your witness. There is embarrassment on the other side of the aisle too - because the investigation's errors were real, because the investigation itself was imperfect, because the people who ran it were people with real human failings, and because, ultimately, many Democrats expected too much of the special counsel's office and believed it would prove something it did not ultimately prove. For those interested in watching it, Sen. Ted Cruz's queries to Rosenstein begin around the 1:30:00 mark in the following video: A U.S. Senate committee (not the full Senate) did vote on June 4 to authorize subpoenas of some 35 government officials who served during the Obama administration in connection with a probe involving allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government (now derisively referred to as 'Obamagate'): [A] Senate committee gathered [June 4] with a singular focus on the Obama administration, authorizing 35 subpoenas into the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation. The list of officials who could receive subpoenas after [the] 8-6 vote includes former FBI Director James Comey, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice and former Director of National Intelligences James Clapper. 'It is our job to investigate and provide the American people a complete accounting of what happened during the last transition,' said Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee. 'The subpoena authority I am requesting today will help us gather the necessary information.' The FBI investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane probed allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. In addition to subpoenaing documents and testimony related to that probe, Johnson, who hails from Wisconsin, will also have authority to issue subpoenas for information on the unmasking of incoming Trump administration officials during the transition. | nan | [
"10899-proof-12-didyousee.jpg"
] |
A meme lists political legal events that occurred during the first week of June 2020, while nationwide protests were taking place over the death of George Floyd. | Entailment | A meme that hit social media in June 2020 purported to identify three political legal events, which many Americans were likely unfamiliar with, that occurred during the first week of June 2020. That period marked a time of nationwide protests over the police in-custody death of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis: We can't determine with any accuracy what proportion of the U.S. population was aware of the referenced proceedings. But they didn't garner nearly as much prominent news coverage as other events, and for the most part they did take place as described in the meme - with some exceptions in the details of the first entry. To wit: Although Hillary Clinton didn't actually appear in court (or otherwise testify) on June 2, 2020, a hearing was held that day about a rather complex issue of whether the former U.S. secretary of state should have submit to a deposition in a case brought by a third party involving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): The hearing in the D.C. Circuit comes in the case Judicial Watch v. Clinton, a public-records case involving a request for State Department documents and communication about the 2012 terror attack at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed in the attack. The Benghazi attack and Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state have long been flash points for Republicans on Capitol Hill, and Clinton's email practices were the centerpiece of an FBI investigation - in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election - about her handling of classified information. Clinton's lawyers are challenging a March 2 order from U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who said Clinton's written responses in the public-records litigation to questions about her email practices 'were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put, her responses left many more questions than answers.' Williams & Connolly partner David Kendall, lead counsel for Clinton, has argued she has broadly addressed her private email before Congress, the FBI and news reporters, and therefore she has nothing more to say. 'The Benghazi Select Committee, the State Department Inspector General, and the FBI all conducted inquiries and made findings on her use of private email,' Kendall wrote in Clinton's D.C. Circuit filing in March. Clinton has testified under oath that she used private email for convenience, her lawyers said in court filings. Depositions of current or former cabinet officials are rare, and plaintiffs face a high burden to prove that 'extraordinary circumstances' compel such testimony. The Justice Department has long resisted efforts to depose high-ranking officials. DOJ, however, is not backing Clinton in her appeal in the D.C. Circuit. The government has said the deposition would not touch on official policy but compliance with FOIA. The arguments in that hearing ran for an hour and a half on June 2, and (as far as we know) the court has not issued its ruling yet, so it is not accurate to say that Clinton 'lost her case' and 'will be forced to testify in September.' That claim seems to be based on the original court order of March 2 that was being contested at the June 2 hearing: Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 3, 2020. Whether his testimony was of more interest (or potential harm) to Republicans or Democrats is debatable: [O]n June 3 the Senate Judiciary Committee convened to discuss the pressing issues of the day: the origins of the Russia investigation, the text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and the Steele dossier - with former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as a witness. For years, it was Democrats who wanted to talk about Russia. Not any more. Democrats these days would be happy never to hold another hearing on the subject. Whether because they believe the truth has been exposed to the degree it ever will be or because they believe they have garnered from the subject all the political benefit they are going to get from it, they are generally happy to let the Mueller report and the fallout from it be the final word on the subject. For Republicans, however, and for the president in particular, talking about the Russia investigation is like listening to golden oldies. It rallies the base. It keeps people mad at super-villains well drawn. The occasional hearing at which to denounce James Comey and all his works is like comfort food. But it's comfort food of a peculiar variety. Because whoever you are and whatever political persuasion you bring to the table, the food has some embarrassing ingredients. For Republicans, there's the small matter that their central narrative is untrue. There was no coup. There was no political spying on a campaign. There was no corruption of the FBI. No amalgamation of the very real errors that took place in the Russia probe will support the only story Republicans want to tell about it. And bringing Rosenstein to testify actually highlights some of the difficulties with the basic Republican thesis. As countless senators pointed out, after all, it was he - a Trump appointee - who signed the last of the Carter Page FISA applications. And it was his decision to appoint Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It was Rosenstein - not Comey or FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe - who offered to wear a wire in conversations with the president. If you're trying to uncover a deep-state conspiracy, Rosenstein is a tricky figure to have as your witness. There is embarrassment on the other side of the aisle too - because the investigation's errors were real, because the investigation itself was imperfect, because the people who ran it were people with real human failings, and because, ultimately, many Democrats expected too much of the special counsel's office and believed it would prove something it did not ultimately prove. For those interested in watching it, Sen. Ted Cruz's queries to Rosenstein begin around the 1:30:00 mark in the following video: A U.S. Senate committee (not the full Senate) did vote on June 4 to authorize subpoenas of some 35 government officials who served during the Obama administration in connection with a probe involving allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government (now derisively referred to as 'Obamagate'): [A] Senate committee gathered [June 4] with a singular focus on the Obama administration, authorizing 35 subpoenas into the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation. The list of officials who could receive subpoenas after [the] 8-6 vote includes former FBI Director James Comey, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice and former Director of National Intelligences James Clapper. 'It is our job to investigate and provide the American people a complete accounting of what happened during the last transition,' said Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee. 'The subpoena authority I am requesting today will help us gather the necessary information.' The FBI investigation dubbed Crossfire Hurricane probed allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. In addition to subpoenaing documents and testimony related to that probe, Johnson, who hails from Wisconsin, will also have authority to issue subpoenas for information on the unmasking of incoming Trump administration officials during the transition. | nan | [
"10899-proof-12-didyousee.jpg"
] |
A mug shot from 1978 shows actor Tim Allen after he was arrested on a cocaine charge. | Entailment | In early March 2021, a police booking mug shot was shared on Reddit that purportedly showed actor and comedian Tim Allen. Was the mug shot from a movie or TV show? Was it Photoshopped? Or, was it real? Courtesy: Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office This mug shot is a real photograph of Allen after a cocaine-dealing arrest in 1978. According to a 1996 article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he said of the arrest: 'Getting caught probably saved my life.' The newspaper also published his 1978 mug shot: Courtesy: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1996) In 1991, the Los Angeles Times interviewed Allen and asked about the incident. He had been 'busted for selling cocaine to an undercover policeman' at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Michigan. He had on him more than 650 grams (1.43 pounds) of cocaine. 'Basically, I pleaded guilty. I knew what I did was wrong,' Allen said. 'I did not drag it out in a trial. I knew I made a major mistake. I laid down. Punish me.' In the eight months prior to his sentencing, Allen set out to establish responsibility before the eyes of the court by doing stand-up comedy in a Detroit club, the Comedy Castle-and he was a smash. Because Allen was a seemingly good kid from a good family in Birmingham, Mich., his family hoped he would be let off easy. Instead, he was made an example of and spent two years in a federal prison. 'When I got out, I was angry, because nothing had changed,' said Allen, who wrote the comedy club owner while he was in prison so he would have a place to work after his release. His girlfriend, Laura, now his wife, also waited for him. The Times also said that Allen's stint in prison led to his rise to 'celebrate and satirize manhood - without demeaning women.' The new outlook was said to have led to the inspiration for the ABC network sitcom, 'Home Improvement.' While this was a true story, Allen is no stranger to hoaxes. In 2019, a lengthy Facebook post purportedly written by the comedian was shared far and wide. However, the message appeared to be written by a different man who was also named Tim Allen. | nan | [
"10980-proof-01-tim-allen-mug-shot.jpg",
"10980-proof-08-tim-allen-mug-shot-featured.jpg",
"10980-proof-09-st-louis-post-dispatch-tim-allen-scaled-e1614892734763.jpg"
] |
A statue of first lady Melania Trump in her native country of Slovenia was damaged in a fire during the 2020 Independence Day weekend in the United States. | Entailment | U.S. President Donald Trump wasn't the only occupant of the White House under fire in the summer of 2020. As his administration took criticism for its hard-line stance against the destruction of historical monuments associated with slavery in reaction to nationwide protests against police brutality and racism, a wooden statue of first lady Melania Trump near her hometown in Slovenia was reported to have literally been set on fire over the Fourth of July weekend. Snopes readers asked us to look into this claim, and we found numerous media reports confirming that the wooden structure was indeed burnt until it was partially blackened, though no one knew who was behind it or why they did it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BRAD DOWNEY (@bigtimebrad) on Jul 8, 2020 at 11:30pm PDT Brad Downey, an American artist who commissioned the statue in a village near Melania Trump's hometown of Novo Mesto, told reporters that he had it removed after he was informed by local police on July 5, 2020, that it was struck by fire. In an Instagram video of the removal, he shows the statue being sown off its tree-trunk plinth and hoisted into the air by a crane. Downey told ABC News: I did file a police report, because I was told it is the only way forward for an investigation to be launched ... I am only interested in finding the attackers, and talking to them, not pressing charges against them ... it could have been vandals on both sides: The left-leaning people due to monument destruction buzz or right-leaning people who think it is disrespectful. Carved by local artist Ales Zupevc from the trunk of a tree, the statue had been criticized in the past for being rough-hewn and unrecognizable: one local said it made Melania Trump look like 'an evil stepmother of Pinocchio.' The statue wore a painted pale blue coat, copying Melania Trump's outfit at her husband's presidential inauguration in 2017. Slovenian police are investigating the matter, and as of July 9, 2020, the culprits and motives remained unknown. A police spokesperson told ABC News: Police are investigating the circumstances of the arson incident in the village of Rozno ... The owner of the statue filed criminal charges against unknown arsonists. In January, a large wooden statue resembling Donald Trump was also burnt in Moravce, another Slovenian city. We reached out to the White House for comment, and will update this post if more information becomes available. Given the ample media coverage on the burning of Melania Trump's statue, and the ongoing investigation from local police, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
"10981-proof-07-GettyImages-1153982298.jpg"
] |
A statue of first lady Melania Trump in her native country of Slovenia was damaged in a fire during the 2020 Independence Day weekend in the United States. | Entailment | U.S. President Donald Trump wasn't the only occupant of the White House under fire in the summer of 2020. As his administration took criticism for its hard-line stance against the destruction of historical monuments associated with slavery in reaction to nationwide protests against police brutality and racism, a wooden statue of first lady Melania Trump near her hometown in Slovenia was reported to have literally been set on fire over the Fourth of July weekend. Snopes readers asked us to look into this claim, and we found numerous media reports confirming that the wooden structure was indeed burnt until it was partially blackened, though no one knew who was behind it or why they did it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BRAD DOWNEY (@bigtimebrad) on Jul 8, 2020 at 11:30pm PDT Brad Downey, an American artist who commissioned the statue in a village near Melania Trump's hometown of Novo Mesto, told reporters that he had it removed after he was informed by local police on July 5, 2020, that it was struck by fire. In an Instagram video of the removal, he shows the statue being sown off its tree-trunk plinth and hoisted into the air by a crane. Downey told ABC News: I did file a police report, because I was told it is the only way forward for an investigation to be launched ... I am only interested in finding the attackers, and talking to them, not pressing charges against them ... it could have been vandals on both sides: The left-leaning people due to monument destruction buzz or right-leaning people who think it is disrespectful. Carved by local artist Ales Zupevc from the trunk of a tree, the statue had been criticized in the past for being rough-hewn and unrecognizable: one local said it made Melania Trump look like 'an evil stepmother of Pinocchio.' The statue wore a painted pale blue coat, copying Melania Trump's outfit at her husband's presidential inauguration in 2017. Slovenian police are investigating the matter, and as of July 9, 2020, the culprits and motives remained unknown. A police spokesperson told ABC News: Police are investigating the circumstances of the arson incident in the village of Rozno ... The owner of the statue filed criminal charges against unknown arsonists. In January, a large wooden statue resembling Donald Trump was also burnt in Moravce, another Slovenian city. We reached out to the White House for comment, and will update this post if more information becomes available. Given the ample media coverage on the burning of Melania Trump's statue, and the ongoing investigation from local police, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
"10981-proof-07-GettyImages-1153982298.jpg"
] |
A statue of first lady Melania Trump in her native country of Slovenia was damaged in a fire during the 2020 Independence Day weekend in the United States. | Entailment | U.S. President Donald Trump wasn't the only occupant of the White House under fire in the summer of 2020. As his administration took criticism for its hard-line stance against the destruction of historical monuments associated with slavery in reaction to nationwide protests against police brutality and racism, a wooden statue of first lady Melania Trump near her hometown in Slovenia was reported to have literally been set on fire over the Fourth of July weekend. Snopes readers asked us to look into this claim, and we found numerous media reports confirming that the wooden structure was indeed burnt until it was partially blackened, though no one knew who was behind it or why they did it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BRAD DOWNEY (@bigtimebrad) on Jul 8, 2020 at 11:30pm PDT Brad Downey, an American artist who commissioned the statue in a village near Melania Trump's hometown of Novo Mesto, told reporters that he had it removed after he was informed by local police on July 5, 2020, that it was struck by fire. In an Instagram video of the removal, he shows the statue being sown off its tree-trunk plinth and hoisted into the air by a crane. Downey told ABC News: I did file a police report, because I was told it is the only way forward for an investigation to be launched ... I am only interested in finding the attackers, and talking to them, not pressing charges against them ... it could have been vandals on both sides: The left-leaning people due to monument destruction buzz or right-leaning people who think it is disrespectful. Carved by local artist Ales Zupevc from the trunk of a tree, the statue had been criticized in the past for being rough-hewn and unrecognizable: one local said it made Melania Trump look like 'an evil stepmother of Pinocchio.' The statue wore a painted pale blue coat, copying Melania Trump's outfit at her husband's presidential inauguration in 2017. Slovenian police are investigating the matter, and as of July 9, 2020, the culprits and motives remained unknown. A police spokesperson told ABC News: Police are investigating the circumstances of the arson incident in the village of Rozno ... The owner of the statue filed criminal charges against unknown arsonists. In January, a large wooden statue resembling Donald Trump was also burnt in Moravce, another Slovenian city. We reached out to the White House for comment, and will update this post if more information becomes available. Given the ample media coverage on the burning of Melania Trump's statue, and the ongoing investigation from local police, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
"10981-proof-07-GettyImages-1153982298.jpg"
] |
A viral article purporting to be the obituary of Margaret Ruth Groening, mother of 'The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, is authentic and accurately describes the origins of the names of some of the show's characters. | Entailment | For decades, 'The Simpsons' has been the inspiration behind a number of internet hoaxes and rumors, from the supposed prediction of the Donald Trump presidency (false) and the foretelling of Pokemon Go (also false), to a long list of political pranks and online bamboozles. And, in 2021, a tweet that was shared to Twitter on April 1 by music publicist Eric Alper drew a comparison between Margaret Groening's obituary and Marge from 'The Simpsons.' Despite the conspicuous date of the posting, it did not appear to be an April Fools' joke. This explains a lot for The Simpsons. pic.twitter.com/fEdIJHxlzU - Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) April 2, 2021 The claim that Margaret Ruth Groening inspired the blue-haired motherly figure in 'The Simpsons' is true. Margaret was indeed the mother of Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. And the names of her three children inspired the main characters of the classic 1989 adult cartoon. (Though the full name of the fictional Marge Simpson character was Marjorie. The only significant Margaret in the Simpsons universe is Maggie the baby.) An obituary published in The Oregonian on May 6, 2013, (archived here) described Margaret Ruth Groening, who died in her sleep on April 22, 2013, at the age of 94. Margaret married her Linfield College classmate, Homer Groening, in 1941, whom she chose because he 'made her laugh the most.' Margaret and Homer supported the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Trail Blazers and many local yarn shops (Margaret was a talented needlework artist). Besides Homer, Margaret was preceded in death by her oldest daughter, Patty, who died in Jan., 2013. She is survived by her brother, Arnold; her children, Mark, Matt, Lisa and Maggie; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Matt Groening was born in 1954 in Springfield, Oregon, and grew up two hours away in Portland. His biography noted that he was the son of Homer Groening, an animator and producer of surf movies, and was married to Margaret. 'Many members of the Simpson family are named for members of his own family: Homer, Marge, Maggie, Lisa and Patty,' wrote the website. It's no coincidence that The Simpsons family of five have the same names as Margaret's children. In a 1990 interview, Matt Groening said that the character of Bart Simpson - son of Homer and Marge - was based partly on Dennis the Menace and himself as a child. Bart's original name was going to be Matt, but he changed it because it sounded too closely related. Fittingly, Bart is an anagram of 'brat.' Lisa Groening, Matt's sister in real life - and Bart's sister in cartoon form - also worked in entertainment. And Matt himself was born in Springfield, Oregon, a town of more than 60,000 residents that also served as the inspiration of the fictional Ohio-based town in the cartoon show. And it's not just Matt Groening's family members who inspired the characters on the show. NPR noted in 2012 that much of the content in 'The Simpsons' was prompted by real people and places in his life. The names of many characters on the show - Flanders, Kearney, Lovejoy - correspond to street names in Portland, Ore. Indeed, Groening says his goal was to 'name every character after streets in Portland, but we were in a hurry so I dropped the idea.' Another clue: The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace - also the name of the street the Groenings lived on. And, of course, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are named after Groening's parents and sisters, respectively. | nan | [] |
A viral article purporting to be the obituary of Margaret Ruth Groening, mother of 'The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, is authentic and accurately describes the origins of the names of some of the show's characters. | Entailment | For decades, 'The Simpsons' has been the inspiration behind a number of internet hoaxes and rumors, from the supposed prediction of the Donald Trump presidency (false) and the foretelling of Pokemon Go (also false), to a long list of political pranks and online bamboozles. And, in 2021, a tweet that was shared to Twitter on April 1 by music publicist Eric Alper drew a comparison between Margaret Groening's obituary and Marge from 'The Simpsons.' Despite the conspicuous date of the posting, it did not appear to be an April Fools' joke. This explains a lot for The Simpsons. pic.twitter.com/fEdIJHxlzU - Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) April 2, 2021 The claim that Margaret Ruth Groening inspired the blue-haired motherly figure in 'The Simpsons' is true. Margaret was indeed the mother of Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. And the names of her three children inspired the main characters of the classic 1989 adult cartoon. (Though the full name of the fictional Marge Simpson character was Marjorie. The only significant Margaret in the Simpsons universe is Maggie the baby.) An obituary published in The Oregonian on May 6, 2013, (archived here) described Margaret Ruth Groening, who died in her sleep on April 22, 2013, at the age of 94. Margaret married her Linfield College classmate, Homer Groening, in 1941, whom she chose because he 'made her laugh the most.' Margaret and Homer supported the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Trail Blazers and many local yarn shops (Margaret was a talented needlework artist). Besides Homer, Margaret was preceded in death by her oldest daughter, Patty, who died in Jan., 2013. She is survived by her brother, Arnold; her children, Mark, Matt, Lisa and Maggie; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Matt Groening was born in 1954 in Springfield, Oregon, and grew up two hours away in Portland. His biography noted that he was the son of Homer Groening, an animator and producer of surf movies, and was married to Margaret. 'Many members of the Simpson family are named for members of his own family: Homer, Marge, Maggie, Lisa and Patty,' wrote the website. It's no coincidence that The Simpsons family of five have the same names as Margaret's children. In a 1990 interview, Matt Groening said that the character of Bart Simpson - son of Homer and Marge - was based partly on Dennis the Menace and himself as a child. Bart's original name was going to be Matt, but he changed it because it sounded too closely related. Fittingly, Bart is an anagram of 'brat.' Lisa Groening, Matt's sister in real life - and Bart's sister in cartoon form - also worked in entertainment. And Matt himself was born in Springfield, Oregon, a town of more than 60,000 residents that also served as the inspiration of the fictional Ohio-based town in the cartoon show. And it's not just Matt Groening's family members who inspired the characters on the show. NPR noted in 2012 that much of the content in 'The Simpsons' was prompted by real people and places in his life. The names of many characters on the show - Flanders, Kearney, Lovejoy - correspond to street names in Portland, Ore. Indeed, Groening says his goal was to 'name every character after streets in Portland, but we were in a hurry so I dropped the idea.' Another clue: The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace - also the name of the street the Groenings lived on. And, of course, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are named after Groening's parents and sisters, respectively. | nan | [] |
A viral article purporting to be the obituary of Margaret Ruth Groening, mother of 'The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, is authentic and accurately describes the origins of the names of some of the show's characters. | Entailment | For decades, 'The Simpsons' has been the inspiration behind a number of internet hoaxes and rumors, from the supposed prediction of the Donald Trump presidency (false) and the foretelling of Pokemon Go (also false), to a long list of political pranks and online bamboozles. And, in 2021, a tweet that was shared to Twitter on April 1 by music publicist Eric Alper drew a comparison between Margaret Groening's obituary and Marge from 'The Simpsons.' Despite the conspicuous date of the posting, it did not appear to be an April Fools' joke. This explains a lot for The Simpsons. pic.twitter.com/fEdIJHxlzU - Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) April 2, 2021 The claim that Margaret Ruth Groening inspired the blue-haired motherly figure in 'The Simpsons' is true. Margaret was indeed the mother of Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. And the names of her three children inspired the main characters of the classic 1989 adult cartoon. (Though the full name of the fictional Marge Simpson character was Marjorie. The only significant Margaret in the Simpsons universe is Maggie the baby.) An obituary published in The Oregonian on May 6, 2013, (archived here) described Margaret Ruth Groening, who died in her sleep on April 22, 2013, at the age of 94. Margaret married her Linfield College classmate, Homer Groening, in 1941, whom she chose because he 'made her laugh the most.' Margaret and Homer supported the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Trail Blazers and many local yarn shops (Margaret was a talented needlework artist). Besides Homer, Margaret was preceded in death by her oldest daughter, Patty, who died in Jan., 2013. She is survived by her brother, Arnold; her children, Mark, Matt, Lisa and Maggie; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Matt Groening was born in 1954 in Springfield, Oregon, and grew up two hours away in Portland. His biography noted that he was the son of Homer Groening, an animator and producer of surf movies, and was married to Margaret. 'Many members of the Simpson family are named for members of his own family: Homer, Marge, Maggie, Lisa and Patty,' wrote the website. It's no coincidence that The Simpsons family of five have the same names as Margaret's children. In a 1990 interview, Matt Groening said that the character of Bart Simpson - son of Homer and Marge - was based partly on Dennis the Menace and himself as a child. Bart's original name was going to be Matt, but he changed it because it sounded too closely related. Fittingly, Bart is an anagram of 'brat.' Lisa Groening, Matt's sister in real life - and Bart's sister in cartoon form - also worked in entertainment. And Matt himself was born in Springfield, Oregon, a town of more than 60,000 residents that also served as the inspiration of the fictional Ohio-based town in the cartoon show. And it's not just Matt Groening's family members who inspired the characters on the show. NPR noted in 2012 that much of the content in 'The Simpsons' was prompted by real people and places in his life. The names of many characters on the show - Flanders, Kearney, Lovejoy - correspond to street names in Portland, Ore. Indeed, Groening says his goal was to 'name every character after streets in Portland, but we were in a hurry so I dropped the idea.' Another clue: The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace - also the name of the street the Groenings lived on. And, of course, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are named after Groening's parents and sisters, respectively. | nan | [] |
A photograph shows Roger Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power symbol. | Entailment | In July 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would commute the sentence of Roger Stone, a political ally who was convicted of seven felony charges, including witness tampering, lying to congress, and obstruction, in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Shortly after the news broke, a photograph started to circulate online that supposedly showed Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power gesture at a bar: This is a genuine photograph of Stone and members of the Proud Boys. Some may argue that this group is merely flashing an 'OK' symbol, but this argument doesn't really hold up, especially when you consider that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Proud Boys as a hate group that espouses white supremacist ideals, and that white supremacists have adopted the 'OK' hand gesture as a symbol of hate. This photograph was taken around the time of the Dorchester Conference, Oregon's oldest Republican political conference, in March 2018. The Willamette Week reported that Stone, who was scheduled to speak at the event, hired members of the Proud Boys to be his private security. The Willamette Week wrote: Roger Stone-the former political adviser to Richard Nixon and President Donald Trump-appeared without incident at the state's oldest Republican conference last weekend. But an organizer of the Dorchester Conference in Salem says Stone was so worried for his safety that he enlisted a right-wing group as private security. Patrick Sheehan, a Dorchester board member who booked Stone, says Stone reached out to the Proud Boys-a group notorious for its participation in Portland street brawls-after reading about violent political clashes in Oregon. 'He was worried about getting killed,' Sheehan says. 'He gets death threats constantly.' Photos of Stone drinking with a handful of Proud Boys circulated across social media over the weekend, outraging Democrats. The photograph of 'Stone drinking with a handful of Proud Boys' mentioned in the Willamette Week article was originally posted by InfoWars host Alex Jones on Twitter on March 3, 2020. The image was captioned: 'InfoWars Roger Stone joined the @proudboysUSA in Salem Oregon tonight. I joined them in spirit!' This is a genuine image of Stone with members of the Proud Boys in March 2018. Although the meaning behind the 'OK' hand gesture is a bit murky - it was, and is still, widely used as a harmless symbol for approval or consent - this symbol has been adopted by white supremacists as a symbol of hate. Here's the Anti-Defamation League's explanation of the 'OK' hand gesture as a symbol of hate: In 2017, the 'okay' hand gesture acquired a new and different significance thanks to a hoax by members of the website 4chan to falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming that the gesture represented the letters 'wp,' for 'white power.' The 'okay' gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan hoaxes using various innocuous symbols; in each case, the hoaxers hoped that the media and liberals would overreact by condemning a common image as white supremacist. In the case of the 'okay' gesture, the hoax was so successful the symbol became a popular trolling tactic on the part of right-leaning individuals, who would often post photos to social media of themselves posing while making the 'okay' gesture. Ironically, some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature. By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy, such as when Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant flashed the symbol during a March 2019 courtroom appearance soon after his arrest for allegedly murdering 50 people in a shooting spree at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. And here's how Southern Poverty Law Center described the Proud Boys: Established in the midst of the 2016 presidential election by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys are self-described 'western chauvinists' who adamantly deny any connection to the racist 'alt-right,' insisting they are simply a fraternal group spreading an 'anti-political correctness' and 'anti-white guilt' agenda. Their disavowals of bigotry are belied by their actions: rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric. Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings like the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville. Indeed, former Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped to organize the event, which brought together Klansmen, antisemites, Southern racists, and militias. Kessler was only 'expelled' from the group after the violence and near-universal condemnation of the Charlottesville rally-goers. Other hardcore members of the so-called 'alt-right' have argued that the 'western chauvinist' label is just a 'PR cuck term' McInnes crafted to gain mainstream acceptance. 'Let's not bullshit,' Brian Brathovd, aka Caeralus Rex, told his co-hosts on the antisemitic The Daily Shoah - one of the most popular alt-right podcasts. If the Proud Boys 'were pressed on the issue, I guarantee you that like 90% of them would tell you something along the lines of 'Hitler was right. Gas the Jews.'' | nan | [] |
A photograph shows Roger Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power symbol. | Entailment | In July 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would commute the sentence of Roger Stone, a political ally who was convicted of seven felony charges, including witness tampering, lying to congress, and obstruction, in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Shortly after the news broke, a photograph started to circulate online that supposedly showed Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power gesture at a bar: This is a genuine photograph of Stone and members of the Proud Boys. Some may argue that this group is merely flashing an 'OK' symbol, but this argument doesn't really hold up, especially when you consider that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Proud Boys as a hate group that espouses white supremacist ideals, and that white supremacists have adopted the 'OK' hand gesture as a symbol of hate. This photograph was taken around the time of the Dorchester Conference, Oregon's oldest Republican political conference, in March 2018. The Willamette Week reported that Stone, who was scheduled to speak at the event, hired members of the Proud Boys to be his private security. The Willamette Week wrote: Roger Stone-the former political adviser to Richard Nixon and President Donald Trump-appeared without incident at the state's oldest Republican conference last weekend. But an organizer of the Dorchester Conference in Salem says Stone was so worried for his safety that he enlisted a right-wing group as private security. Patrick Sheehan, a Dorchester board member who booked Stone, says Stone reached out to the Proud Boys-a group notorious for its participation in Portland street brawls-after reading about violent political clashes in Oregon. 'He was worried about getting killed,' Sheehan says. 'He gets death threats constantly.' Photos of Stone drinking with a handful of Proud Boys circulated across social media over the weekend, outraging Democrats. The photograph of 'Stone drinking with a handful of Proud Boys' mentioned in the Willamette Week article was originally posted by InfoWars host Alex Jones on Twitter on March 3, 2020. The image was captioned: 'InfoWars Roger Stone joined the @proudboysUSA in Salem Oregon tonight. I joined them in spirit!' This is a genuine image of Stone with members of the Proud Boys in March 2018. Although the meaning behind the 'OK' hand gesture is a bit murky - it was, and is still, widely used as a harmless symbol for approval or consent - this symbol has been adopted by white supremacists as a symbol of hate. Here's the Anti-Defamation League's explanation of the 'OK' hand gesture as a symbol of hate: In 2017, the 'okay' hand gesture acquired a new and different significance thanks to a hoax by members of the website 4chan to falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming that the gesture represented the letters 'wp,' for 'white power.' The 'okay' gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan hoaxes using various innocuous symbols; in each case, the hoaxers hoped that the media and liberals would overreact by condemning a common image as white supremacist. In the case of the 'okay' gesture, the hoax was so successful the symbol became a popular trolling tactic on the part of right-leaning individuals, who would often post photos to social media of themselves posing while making the 'okay' gesture. Ironically, some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature. By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy, such as when Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant flashed the symbol during a March 2019 courtroom appearance soon after his arrest for allegedly murdering 50 people in a shooting spree at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. And here's how Southern Poverty Law Center described the Proud Boys: Established in the midst of the 2016 presidential election by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys are self-described 'western chauvinists' who adamantly deny any connection to the racist 'alt-right,' insisting they are simply a fraternal group spreading an 'anti-political correctness' and 'anti-white guilt' agenda. Their disavowals of bigotry are belied by their actions: rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric. Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings like the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville. Indeed, former Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped to organize the event, which brought together Klansmen, antisemites, Southern racists, and militias. Kessler was only 'expelled' from the group after the violence and near-universal condemnation of the Charlottesville rally-goers. Other hardcore members of the so-called 'alt-right' have argued that the 'western chauvinist' label is just a 'PR cuck term' McInnes crafted to gain mainstream acceptance. 'Let's not bullshit,' Brian Brathovd, aka Caeralus Rex, told his co-hosts on the antisemitic The Daily Shoah - one of the most popular alt-right podcasts. If the Proud Boys 'were pressed on the issue, I guarantee you that like 90% of them would tell you something along the lines of 'Hitler was right. Gas the Jews.'' | nan | [] |
A photograph shows Roger Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power symbol. | Entailment | In July 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would commute the sentence of Roger Stone, a political ally who was convicted of seven felony charges, including witness tampering, lying to congress, and obstruction, in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Shortly after the news broke, a photograph started to circulate online that supposedly showed Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power gesture at a bar: This is a genuine photograph of Stone and members of the Proud Boys. Some may argue that this group is merely flashing an 'OK' symbol, but this argument doesn't really hold up, especially when you consider that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Proud Boys as a hate group that espouses white supremacist ideals, and that white supremacists have adopted the 'OK' hand gesture as a symbol of hate. This photograph was taken around the time of the Dorchester Conference, Oregon's oldest Republican political conference, in March 2018. The Willamette Week reported that Stone, who was scheduled to speak at the event, hired members of the Proud Boys to be his private security. The Willamette Week wrote: Roger Stone-the former political adviser to Richard Nixon and President Donald Trump-appeared without incident at the state's oldest Republican conference last weekend. But an organizer of the Dorchester Conference in Salem says Stone was so worried for his safety that he enlisted a right-wing group as private security. Patrick Sheehan, a Dorchester board member who booked Stone, says Stone reached out to the Proud Boys-a group notorious for its participation in Portland street brawls-after reading about violent political clashes in Oregon. 'He was worried about getting killed,' Sheehan says. 'He gets death threats constantly.' Photos of Stone drinking with a handful of Proud Boys circulated across social media over the weekend, outraging Democrats. The photograph of 'Stone drinking with a handful of Proud Boys' mentioned in the Willamette Week article was originally posted by InfoWars host Alex Jones on Twitter on March 3, 2020. The image was captioned: 'InfoWars Roger Stone joined the @proudboysUSA in Salem Oregon tonight. I joined them in spirit!' This is a genuine image of Stone with members of the Proud Boys in March 2018. Although the meaning behind the 'OK' hand gesture is a bit murky - it was, and is still, widely used as a harmless symbol for approval or consent - this symbol has been adopted by white supremacists as a symbol of hate. Here's the Anti-Defamation League's explanation of the 'OK' hand gesture as a symbol of hate: In 2017, the 'okay' hand gesture acquired a new and different significance thanks to a hoax by members of the website 4chan to falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming that the gesture represented the letters 'wp,' for 'white power.' The 'okay' gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan hoaxes using various innocuous symbols; in each case, the hoaxers hoped that the media and liberals would overreact by condemning a common image as white supremacist. In the case of the 'okay' gesture, the hoax was so successful the symbol became a popular trolling tactic on the part of right-leaning individuals, who would often post photos to social media of themselves posing while making the 'okay' gesture. Ironically, some white supremacists themselves soon also participated in such trolling tactics, lending an actual credence to those who labeled the trolling gesture as racist in nature. By 2019, at least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy, such as when Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant flashed the symbol during a March 2019 courtroom appearance soon after his arrest for allegedly murdering 50 people in a shooting spree at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. And here's how Southern Poverty Law Center described the Proud Boys: Established in the midst of the 2016 presidential election by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys are self-described 'western chauvinists' who adamantly deny any connection to the racist 'alt-right,' insisting they are simply a fraternal group spreading an 'anti-political correctness' and 'anti-white guilt' agenda. Their disavowals of bigotry are belied by their actions: rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric. Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings like the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville. Indeed, former Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped to organize the event, which brought together Klansmen, antisemites, Southern racists, and militias. Kessler was only 'expelled' from the group after the violence and near-universal condemnation of the Charlottesville rally-goers. Other hardcore members of the so-called 'alt-right' have argued that the 'western chauvinist' label is just a 'PR cuck term' McInnes crafted to gain mainstream acceptance. 'Let's not bullshit,' Brian Brathovd, aka Caeralus Rex, told his co-hosts on the antisemitic The Daily Shoah - one of the most popular alt-right podcasts. If the Proud Boys 'were pressed on the issue, I guarantee you that like 90% of them would tell you something along the lines of 'Hitler was right. Gas the Jews.'' | nan | [] |
President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating funding for a program helping low-income families with their heating bills. | Entailment | One aspect of President Donald Trump's proposed federal budget for the 2018 fiscal year has come under criticism for its potential effect on low-income seniors, particularly during winter months in colder parts of the U.S. The president's proposed budget eliminated funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which assists people who need help paying their energy bills. According to a 'budget blueprint' released by the Office of Budget and Management (OMB): Compared to other income support programs that serve similar populations, LIHEAP is a lower-impact program and is unable to demonstrate strong performance outcomes. During the 2016-17 fiscal year, LIHEAP reportedly distributed $3.4 billion in aid to around 6 million households. Lawmakers in cold-weather states have consistently opposed cuts. On 15 February 2017-before Trump's administration first announced its proposed budget-Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) were part of a bipartisan group of 45 senators who sent a letter to both the president and OMB calling for 'robust funding' for the program in 2016. They said: More than 90 percent of LIHEAP recipients have at least one household member who is a child, elderly, or disabled, and the percentage of households with at least one veteran has grown to 20 percent. The program helps to ensure that eligible recipients do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording other necessities like food and medicine. Following the release of the proposal in May 2017, independent Maine Sen. Angus King-a member of the Senate Budget Committee-said in a statement: Many of the reductions proposed in this budget - from the cuts to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to LIHEAP - will hammer thousands of people across Maine, including older, disabled, and lower-income people. Hard working Maine people who pay taxes expect a government that works for them, but they are the ones who will suffer when the tax cuts proposed in this budget directly benefit those who need it least. Trump's proposal was rejected by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, each of which allocated $3.39 billion toward LIHEAP for fiscal year 2018, consistent with the initiative's funding for the previous fiscal year. On 8 September 2017, the president signed House Resolution 601 into law, enabling the release of $3.03 billion in LIHEAP funding, good for 90 percent of what both committees allocated. A Senate aide confirmed to us that the release of that money will allow the program to run into calendar year 2018. However, the Trump administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 once again calls for LIHEAP to be scuttled.Recent Updates Update [20 February 2018]: Updated to reflect Trump administration's call for LIHEAP to be cut in latest budget proposal. Arturo Garcia Updated 20 February 2018 LIHEAP President Donald Trump Sources Ingraham, Christopher. 'Here Are the Federal Agencies and Programs Trump Wants to Eliminate.' Washington Post. 16 March 2017. Senator Jack Reed. 'Reed, Collins & Colleagues Urge Trump to Boost Funding for Heating Assistance & Weatherization Program.' 15 February 2017. Senator Angus King. 'King Statement on President's 2018 Budget.' 23 May 2017. United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. 'Summary: FY2018 Labor, HHS Appropriations Bill Clears Subcommittee.' 6 September 2017. The White House. 'President Donald J. Trump Signs H.R. 601 into Law.' 8 September 2017. Associated Press. 'Trump Administration is Calling for Elimination of Program That Heats Homes of Low-Income Families.' Accessed via Los Angeles Times. 18 February 2018. | nan | [
"11127-proof-02-senior_with_bills_looking_worried_fb.jpg"
] |
President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating funding for a program helping low-income families with their heating bills. | Entailment | One aspect of President Donald Trump's proposed federal budget for the 2018 fiscal year has come under criticism for its potential effect on low-income seniors, particularly during winter months in colder parts of the U.S. The president's proposed budget eliminated funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which assists people who need help paying their energy bills. According to a 'budget blueprint' released by the Office of Budget and Management (OMB): Compared to other income support programs that serve similar populations, LIHEAP is a lower-impact program and is unable to demonstrate strong performance outcomes. During the 2016-17 fiscal year, LIHEAP reportedly distributed $3.4 billion in aid to around 6 million households. Lawmakers in cold-weather states have consistently opposed cuts. On 15 February 2017-before Trump's administration first announced its proposed budget-Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) were part of a bipartisan group of 45 senators who sent a letter to both the president and OMB calling for 'robust funding' for the program in 2016. They said: More than 90 percent of LIHEAP recipients have at least one household member who is a child, elderly, or disabled, and the percentage of households with at least one veteran has grown to 20 percent. The program helps to ensure that eligible recipients do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording other necessities like food and medicine. Following the release of the proposal in May 2017, independent Maine Sen. Angus King-a member of the Senate Budget Committee-said in a statement: Many of the reductions proposed in this budget - from the cuts to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to LIHEAP - will hammer thousands of people across Maine, including older, disabled, and lower-income people. Hard working Maine people who pay taxes expect a government that works for them, but they are the ones who will suffer when the tax cuts proposed in this budget directly benefit those who need it least. Trump's proposal was rejected by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, each of which allocated $3.39 billion toward LIHEAP for fiscal year 2018, consistent with the initiative's funding for the previous fiscal year. On 8 September 2017, the president signed House Resolution 601 into law, enabling the release of $3.03 billion in LIHEAP funding, good for 90 percent of what both committees allocated. A Senate aide confirmed to us that the release of that money will allow the program to run into calendar year 2018. However, the Trump administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 once again calls for LIHEAP to be scuttled.Recent Updates Update [20 February 2018]: Updated to reflect Trump administration's call for LIHEAP to be cut in latest budget proposal. Arturo Garcia Updated 20 February 2018 LIHEAP President Donald Trump Sources Ingraham, Christopher. 'Here Are the Federal Agencies and Programs Trump Wants to Eliminate.' Washington Post. 16 March 2017. Senator Jack Reed. 'Reed, Collins & Colleagues Urge Trump to Boost Funding for Heating Assistance & Weatherization Program.' 15 February 2017. Senator Angus King. 'King Statement on President's 2018 Budget.' 23 May 2017. United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. 'Summary: FY2018 Labor, HHS Appropriations Bill Clears Subcommittee.' 6 September 2017. The White House. 'President Donald J. Trump Signs H.R. 601 into Law.' 8 September 2017. Associated Press. 'Trump Administration is Calling for Elimination of Program That Heats Homes of Low-Income Families.' Accessed via Los Angeles Times. 18 February 2018. | nan | [
"11127-proof-02-senior_with_bills_looking_worried_fb.jpg"
] |
President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating funding for a program helping low-income families with their heating bills. | Entailment | One aspect of President Donald Trump's proposed federal budget for the 2018 fiscal year has come under criticism for its potential effect on low-income seniors, particularly during winter months in colder parts of the U.S. The president's proposed budget eliminated funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which assists people who need help paying their energy bills. According to a 'budget blueprint' released by the Office of Budget and Management (OMB): Compared to other income support programs that serve similar populations, LIHEAP is a lower-impact program and is unable to demonstrate strong performance outcomes. During the 2016-17 fiscal year, LIHEAP reportedly distributed $3.4 billion in aid to around 6 million households. Lawmakers in cold-weather states have consistently opposed cuts. On 15 February 2017-before Trump's administration first announced its proposed budget-Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) were part of a bipartisan group of 45 senators who sent a letter to both the president and OMB calling for 'robust funding' for the program in 2016. They said: More than 90 percent of LIHEAP recipients have at least one household member who is a child, elderly, or disabled, and the percentage of households with at least one veteran has grown to 20 percent. The program helps to ensure that eligible recipients do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording other necessities like food and medicine. Following the release of the proposal in May 2017, independent Maine Sen. Angus King-a member of the Senate Budget Committee-said in a statement: Many of the reductions proposed in this budget - from the cuts to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to LIHEAP - will hammer thousands of people across Maine, including older, disabled, and lower-income people. Hard working Maine people who pay taxes expect a government that works for them, but they are the ones who will suffer when the tax cuts proposed in this budget directly benefit those who need it least. Trump's proposal was rejected by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, each of which allocated $3.39 billion toward LIHEAP for fiscal year 2018, consistent with the initiative's funding for the previous fiscal year. On 8 September 2017, the president signed House Resolution 601 into law, enabling the release of $3.03 billion in LIHEAP funding, good for 90 percent of what both committees allocated. A Senate aide confirmed to us that the release of that money will allow the program to run into calendar year 2018. However, the Trump administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 once again calls for LIHEAP to be scuttled.Recent Updates Update [20 February 2018]: Updated to reflect Trump administration's call for LIHEAP to be cut in latest budget proposal. Arturo Garcia Updated 20 February 2018 LIHEAP President Donald Trump Sources Ingraham, Christopher. 'Here Are the Federal Agencies and Programs Trump Wants to Eliminate.' Washington Post. 16 March 2017. Senator Jack Reed. 'Reed, Collins & Colleagues Urge Trump to Boost Funding for Heating Assistance & Weatherization Program.' 15 February 2017. Senator Angus King. 'King Statement on President's 2018 Budget.' 23 May 2017. United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. 'Summary: FY2018 Labor, HHS Appropriations Bill Clears Subcommittee.' 6 September 2017. The White House. 'President Donald J. Trump Signs H.R. 601 into Law.' 8 September 2017. Associated Press. 'Trump Administration is Calling for Elimination of Program That Heats Homes of Low-Income Families.' Accessed via Los Angeles Times. 18 February 2018. | nan | [
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The Obama administration, not the Trump administration, built the cages that hold many immigrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border. | Entailment | As the well-being of immigrant children in U.S. detention remained a focal point of controversy surrounding the Trump administration in early summer 2019, so did attempts to deflect blame to Trump's predecessor amid accusations of neglect and mistreatment. During the previous summer, the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy of separating immigrant parents from their children was so widely rejected by both political parties that even First Lady Melania Trump took the unusual step of repudiating it. In response to the backlash, U.S. President Donald Trump (falsely) pinned the blame for the child-separation policy on his predecessor, Barack Obama. One year later, amid an ongoing national crisis of conscience over immigrant children incarcerated in detention facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Trump again attempted to pin the blame on his predecessor. During a contentious interview with Spanish-language network Telemundo, Trump wrongly stated that he had reunited families after they were separated by the Obama administration. (In fact, thousands of children were taken from their parents under the Trump administration's 2018 zero-tolerance policy.) But then Trump also attempted to deflect outrage over photographs of immigrant children being kept in 'cages' by asserting, 'Obama built the cages. I didn't build them. Obama built them': That portion of Trump's commentary was true. Pictures of children behind chain-link fencing were captured at a site in McAllen, Texas, that had been converted from a warehouse to an immigrant-detention facility in 2014. Social media users who defended Trump's immigration policies also shared a 2014 photograph of Obama's Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, touring a facility in Nogales, Arizona, in 2014, in which the fencing could be seen surrounding migrants there as well. That picture was taken during a spike in the number of unaccompanied children fleeing violence in Central American countries. Johnson addressed the issue during a June 2019 interview with the non-partisan think tank The Aspen Institute: Very clearly, chain link, barriers, partitions, fences, cages, whatever you want to call them, were not invented on January 20, 2017, OK. And what's interesting is Tom Homan made that statement - and under normal circumstances to fact check that, I would have called Tom Homan, who was the director of ICE ERO [Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations] while I was secretary, and say, 'Hey Tom, did you guys use these things for ICE facilities? Johnson was referring to comments made by Trump's former acting ICE Director Thomas Homan (who was director of removal operations at ICE under President Obama). Homan had said during a June 21, 2019, panel discussion hosted by the anti-immigration advocacy group Center for Immigration Studies that ''The kids are being [housed] in the same facility built under the Obama administration. If you want to call them cages, call them cages. But if the left wants to call them cages and the Democrats want to call them cages, then they have to accept the fact that they were built and funded in FY 2015.' During the Aspen interview, Johnson said that use of the 'cage' detention housing method was supposed to be temporary, and that under the law, children were only supposed to be kept in those facilities for 72 hours before being transferred to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 'But during that 72-hour period, when you have something that is a multiple, like four times, of what you're accustomed to in the existing infrastructure, you've got to find places quickly to put kids. You can't just dump 7-year-old kids on the streets of McAllen or El Paso.' The chain-link fences, Johnson said, were to separate people by gender and age until they were released or transferred to HHS's care. They are also present at a detention facility in Clint, Texas. In early July 2019, as questions about the health of children in border facilities intensified the Trump administration was criticized for locking up young children in 'inhumane' conditions for weeks, and for its overall treatment of immigrants in overcrowded detention facilities. Democratic lawmakers who visited the facilities reported unsanitary, dehumanizing conditions. Meantime, at least seven children had died in custody in the span of a year - an unprecedented number in recent history. The lawmakers' accounts of what they saw coincided with a news story that revealed a secret Facebook group consisting of Border Patrol agents who 'joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas, and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant,' as reported by ProPublica. Many of the children and families in federal detention are refugees fleeing a wave of violence in what is referred to as the Northern Triangle - Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras - with the United Nations reporting that 'Current homicide rates are among the highest ever recorded in Central America. Several cities, including San Salvador, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, are among the 10 most dangerous in the world.' NPR reported in March 2019 that the number of unauthorized entries into the United States via Mexico had increased twofold over the previous year, filling detention centers beyond their capacities. The majority of those border crossings were by families. | nan | [
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A video shows two hikers walking on a lake of crystal clear ice. | Entailment | On 8 December 2014, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing two hikers walking on a lake of ice so clear it appeared as if they were walking on air, with the uploader describing what it depicted as 'Me and my friend walking on frozen mountain lake in High Tatras Mountains in Slovakia': That video racked up more than four million views in just a few short days. While most viewers were simply amazed at the beauty of the frozen lake in the Tatras Mountains shown in the video, others were skeptical about the authenticity of the scene. One persistent claim offered by skeptics as an argument against the video's authenticity was that clear ice is too thin to hold the weight of two grown adults. This claim was refuted by Accuweather in a post published on 13 December 2014: Clear ice is about twice as strong as white ice since it is much more dense, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Ice looks cloudy and white when it has air bubbles due to thawing and refreezing. Another factor frequently questioned by Internet investigators was the actual ice itself: Do such crystal clear waters exist? Slovakian Igor Ludma explained to the New York Daily News a sudden drop in temperature amid a snowless stretch of weather could result in the conditions seen in the video above: It is only possible when the temperatures fall from being relatively mild to very cold very quickly, and at the same time it's important that there has not been any snow which tends to make the ice very cloudy. And we have had those conditions lately which would explain this very clear ice. Accuweather confirmed such weather conditions existed in Slovakia at the time, writing Lomnicky Stit 'has been gripped by subfreezing temperatures since the middle of November.' | nan | [
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A video shows two hikers walking on a lake of crystal clear ice. | Entailment | On 8 December 2014, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing two hikers walking on a lake of ice so clear it appeared as if they were walking on air, with the uploader describing what it depicted as 'Me and my friend walking on frozen mountain lake in High Tatras Mountains in Slovakia': That video racked up more than four million views in just a few short days. While most viewers were simply amazed at the beauty of the frozen lake in the Tatras Mountains shown in the video, others were skeptical about the authenticity of the scene. One persistent claim offered by skeptics as an argument against the video's authenticity was that clear ice is too thin to hold the weight of two grown adults. This claim was refuted by Accuweather in a post published on 13 December 2014: Clear ice is about twice as strong as white ice since it is much more dense, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Ice looks cloudy and white when it has air bubbles due to thawing and refreezing. Another factor frequently questioned by Internet investigators was the actual ice itself: Do such crystal clear waters exist? Slovakian Igor Ludma explained to the New York Daily News a sudden drop in temperature amid a snowless stretch of weather could result in the conditions seen in the video above: It is only possible when the temperatures fall from being relatively mild to very cold very quickly, and at the same time it's important that there has not been any snow which tends to make the ice very cloudy. And we have had those conditions lately which would explain this very clear ice. Accuweather confirmed such weather conditions existed in Slovakia at the time, writing Lomnicky Stit 'has been gripped by subfreezing temperatures since the middle of November.' | nan | [
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Guido Menzio, an Italian economist, was removed from a plane because a fellow passenger thought the math problems he was working on looked suspicious. | Entailment | On 5 May 2016, University of Pennsylvania theoretical economist Guido Menzio boarded an American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Syracuse. The flight was to be a short transfer for him en route to a talk he was about to give concerning a paper he had recently co-authored. As Menzio sat waiting for the rest of the passengers to board the plane, he began to work through a series of differential equations - complex-looking equations commonly used by those who mathematically model systems such as national economies. Menzio rebuffed an effort at small talk from the passenger next to him, according to the Washington Post: 'Is Syracuse home? She asked. No, he replied curtly. He similarly deflected further questions. He appeared laser-focused - perhaps too laser-focused - on the task at hand, those strange scribblings.' Following this interaction between Menzio and his seatmate, the plane remained on the tarmac for a lengthy period of time before being ordered to return to the gate, at which point the passenger next to Menzio - who had complained she felt ill - was escorted away. Shortly afterwards, Menzio was also escorted off the plane and informed by a gate agent that the woman sitting next to him had expressed concerns about his curt behavior and suspicious scribbling, suggesting he could perhaps be a terrorist: And then the big reveal: The woman wasn't really sick at all! Instead this quick-thinking traveler had Seen Something, and so she had Said Something. That Something she'd seen had been her seatmate's cryptic notes, scrawled in a script she didn't recognize. Maybe it was code, or some foreign lettering, possibly the details of a plot to destroy the dozens of innocent lives aboard American Airlines Flight 3950. She may have felt it her duty to alert the authorities just to be safe. The curly-haired man was, the agent informed him politely, suspected of terrorism. The curly-haired man laughed. He laughed because those scribbles weren't Arabic, or another foreign language, or even some special secret terrorist code. They were math. Yes, math. A differential equation, to be exact. Menzio was allowed to return to the plane after American Airline agents determined he posed no threat, while the passenger who reported him was re-booked onto another flight. The incident drew serious viral attention and outrage at the time, in part due to the belief that Menzio 'looked' Middle Eastern and was profiled by the other passenger for this reason. This tale continues to be spread in meme form years after the fact. And it continues to be true. | nan | [
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In mid-2018, Domino's Pizza began giving cities and towns grants for street repairs. | Entailment | In the summer of 2018, readers expressed surprise and skepticism at widely-shared social media posts which suggested that Domino's - a company that makes pizza - had begun a project to pave over cracks and potholes on roads in the United States. On 12 June, Twitter user @GothicKingCobra posted a photo of what appeared to be fresh asphalt covering cracks in a pavement, with the Domino's logo and the words 'Oh yes we did' stenciled on top of it. The post read: Dominos is paying their own money to pave over potholes in cities because cities aren't taking responsibility and this is the greatest PR ever and honesty so sad that a pizza chain is doing the governments job pic.twitter.com/seXY0Ovoq5 - trey (@GothicKingCobra) June 12, 2018 The tweet was later re-posted on Facebook. The photograph was earlier shared on Reddit by a user based in Delaware, but originally appeared in a CBS Philadelphia article on 11 June 2018. The image is authentic and was taken in Milford, Delaware. The Domino's paving project is real. In a press release on 11 June, the company wrote: Domino's is saving pizza, one pothole at a time. Cracks, bumps, potholes and other road conditions can put good pizzas at risk after they leave the store. Now Domino's is hoping to help smooth the ride home by asking customers to nominate their town for pothole repairs at pavingforpizza.com. Four cities and towns have already reached agreements with Domino's to receive funding for the roadworks: Burbank, California; Bartonville, Texas; Athens, Georgia; and Milford, Delaware. According to the company, the project has already filled forty potholes in Milford: | nan | [
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In mid-2018, Domino's Pizza began giving cities and towns grants for street repairs. | Entailment | In the summer of 2018, readers expressed surprise and skepticism at widely-shared social media posts which suggested that Domino's - a company that makes pizza - had begun a project to pave over cracks and potholes on roads in the United States. On 12 June, Twitter user @GothicKingCobra posted a photo of what appeared to be fresh asphalt covering cracks in a pavement, with the Domino's logo and the words 'Oh yes we did' stenciled on top of it. The post read: Dominos is paying their own money to pave over potholes in cities because cities aren't taking responsibility and this is the greatest PR ever and honesty so sad that a pizza chain is doing the governments job pic.twitter.com/seXY0Ovoq5 - trey (@GothicKingCobra) June 12, 2018 The tweet was later re-posted on Facebook. The photograph was earlier shared on Reddit by a user based in Delaware, but originally appeared in a CBS Philadelphia article on 11 June 2018. The image is authentic and was taken in Milford, Delaware. The Domino's paving project is real. In a press release on 11 June, the company wrote: Domino's is saving pizza, one pothole at a time. Cracks, bumps, potholes and other road conditions can put good pizzas at risk after they leave the store. Now Domino's is hoping to help smooth the ride home by asking customers to nominate their town for pothole repairs at pavingforpizza.com. Four cities and towns have already reached agreements with Domino's to receive funding for the roadworks: Burbank, California; Bartonville, Texas; Athens, Georgia; and Milford, Delaware. According to the company, the project has already filled forty potholes in Milford: | nan | [
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The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients. | Entailment | On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people's social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes ('How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce 'Happy' Disabled People') and the Daily Kos website ('Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets'). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people's posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary's symptoms when there is a CDI unit's Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant's case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to 'investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA's Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.') In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of 'other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications' but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are 'too happy' their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling 'fine' in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said 'This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.' They reversed that shit so fast. - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn't yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. 'Disabled people don't all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,' Barbarin wrote. 'Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.' Perusing people's social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that's already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year - or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it's also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo. Furthermore as CBS reports, 'it's hard to imagine how federal disability examiners could even authenticate profiles to evaluate applicants for disability. Social media profiles aren't tied to Social Security numbers, for example, and many users set their profiles to private, preventing strangers from viewing them.' | nan | [
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The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients. | Entailment | On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people's social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes ('How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce 'Happy' Disabled People') and the Daily Kos website ('Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets'). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people's posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary's symptoms when there is a CDI unit's Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant's case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to 'investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA's Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.') In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of 'other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications' but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are 'too happy' their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling 'fine' in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said 'This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.' They reversed that shit so fast. - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn't yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. 'Disabled people don't all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,' Barbarin wrote. 'Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.' Perusing people's social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that's already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year - or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it's also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo. Furthermore as CBS reports, 'it's hard to imagine how federal disability examiners could even authenticate profiles to evaluate applicants for disability. Social media profiles aren't tied to Social Security numbers, for example, and many users set their profiles to private, preventing strangers from viewing them.' | nan | [
"11535-proof-07-hand-apple-iphone-smartphone.jpg"
] |
The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients. | Entailment | On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people's social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes ('How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce 'Happy' Disabled People') and the Daily Kos website ('Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets'). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people's posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary's symptoms when there is a CDI unit's Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant's case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to 'investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA's Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.') In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of 'other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications' but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are 'too happy' their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling 'fine' in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said 'This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.' They reversed that shit so fast. - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn't yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. 'Disabled people don't all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,' Barbarin wrote. 'Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.' Perusing people's social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that's already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year - or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it's also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo. Furthermore as CBS reports, 'it's hard to imagine how federal disability examiners could even authenticate profiles to evaluate applicants for disability. Social media profiles aren't tied to Social Security numbers, for example, and many users set their profiles to private, preventing strangers from viewing them.' | nan | [
"11535-proof-07-hand-apple-iphone-smartphone.jpg"
] |
The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients. | Entailment | On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people's social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes ('How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce 'Happy' Disabled People') and the Daily Kos website ('Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets'). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people's posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary's symptoms when there is a CDI unit's Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant's case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to 'investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA's Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.') In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of 'other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications' but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are 'too happy' their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling 'fine' in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said 'This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.' They reversed that shit so fast. - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn't yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. 'Disabled people don't all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,' Barbarin wrote. 'Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.' Perusing people's social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that's already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year - or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it's also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo. Furthermore as CBS reports, 'it's hard to imagine how federal disability examiners could even authenticate profiles to evaluate applicants for disability. Social media profiles aren't tied to Social Security numbers, for example, and many users set their profiles to private, preventing strangers from viewing them.' | nan | [
"11535-proof-07-hand-apple-iphone-smartphone.jpg"
] |
The Trump Administration is seeking to monitor social media posts of disability recipients. | Entailment | On 10 March 2019, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) was considering leveraging people's social media accounts to determine the veracity of their disability claims: The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. The story resulted in spin-offs from various publications including Forbes ('How a Trump Proposal Could Reduce 'Happy' Disabled People') and the Daily Kos website ('Trump administration seeks to monitor social media of disability recipients, including vets'). As with any story that sounds far-fetched, Snopes.com readers queried whether the story could be believed. It is true that SSA proposed using social media posts in making disability determinations. The proposal was put forward in its fiscal year 2020 budget request, noting (on page 26) that the agency wants to take a more proactive approach in looking at people's posts on the platforms. Whereas social media posts can currently come into play in fraud investigations, the practice could be expanded, per the budget request: In FY 2018, we studied strategies of our private sector counterparts and other government agencies on how social media networks can be used to evaluate disability allegations. Currently, agency adjudicators use social media information to evaluate a beneficiary's symptoms when there is a CDI unit's Report of Investigation that contains social media data corroborating the investigative findings. In FY 2019, we are evaluating how social media could be used by disability adjudicators in assessing the consistency and supportability of evidence in a claimant's case file. (CDI refers to the Cooperative Disability Investigations unit and is responsible for working in conjunction with various agencies to 'investigate suspicious disability claims under SSA's Title II and Title XVI disability Programs.') In a statement emailed to Snopes, agency spokesman Darren Lutz said SSA is studying strategies of 'other agencies and private entities to determine how social media might be used to evaluate disability applications' but declined to provide further details. Although neither The Times nor Forbes articles mentioned veterans, the Daily Kos website cited a tweet posted by writer Dylan Park that introduced the idea that veterans could also be targets of such investigations. The Trump administration is proposing to monitor the social media accounts of veterans, and if the veterans are 'too happy' their disability pensions for PTSD will be reduced. What a fucking joke. https://t.co/dKcCK57OkS - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 In that same post, Park recounts having benefits cut for telling a medical professional he was feeling 'fine' in one visit, despite having post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences on the battlefield. I had to appeal my case in front of a board. I whipped out a photo of the head of a suicide bomber who jumped on a humvee at my checkpoint and said 'This is something I think about at least once a day. Fuck all of you.' They reversed that shit so fast. - Dylan (@dyllyp) April 14, 2019 The SSA and Veterans Administration (VA) run separate benefits programs for adjudicating and dispersing disability benefits. But the two programs can overlap, meaning a disabled veteran can receive benefits from both agencies simultaneously. We sent questions to SSA asking how investigating social media posts could impact veterans receiving SSA disability payments but got no answer by the time of publication. The SSA hasn't yet offered specifics on how it might use social media in evaluating disability claims. But writing for Forbes, Imani Barbarin, who has cerebral palsy and is an advocate for the disabled community, observed that the policy could backfire by mistakenly rejecting people from the program. She noted that such a proposal demonstrates a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of disability and how a social media post made by a disabled person could easily be misconstrued. 'Disabled people don't all function in the same way, and disability is not a set of stereotypes like taking selfies staring longingly at the world. They live lives while managing their energy for the activities they can handle and trying to make those they cannot more accessible,' Barbarin wrote. 'Additionally, studies have shown that a majority of social media users show only the good in their lives, not the hardships or difficulties.' Perusing people's social media posts is already a common practice by private insurance companies determining coverage or investigating claims. But the prospect of the U.S. government adopting the practice to evaluate applications has raised a number of concerns among privacy advocates and advocates for the disabled community, as CBS News reported: [Disability attorney Paul] Young said social media reviews can exacerbate a claims process that's already time-consuming for applicants who are out of work, taking anywhere from one year to three years. The SSA has a very strict definition of disability by law: Claimants must not be able to do work because of their medical condition, and the condition must have lasted or be expected to last at least one year - or be expected to result in death. Social media posts taken out of context can put applicants on the defensive before they even reach a hearing, Young said. Images and videos also have technical problems: A user may have posted a throwback photo to when she was water-skiing in 2016, but the publish date may make it appear the photo is from after she filed her claim. In a world with increasingly sophisticated image-altering technology, it's also getting ever more difficult to authenticate the veracity of a photo. Furthermore as CBS reports, 'it's hard to imagine how federal disability examiners could even authenticate profiles to evaluate applicants for disability. Social media profiles aren't tied to Social Security numbers, for example, and many users set their profiles to private, preventing strangers from viewing them.' | nan | [
"11535-proof-07-hand-apple-iphone-smartphone.jpg"
] |
Symptoms of the respiratory condition known as asthma were once treated with cigarettes. | Entailment | Asthma is a respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. Today, flare-ups of asthma are typically self-treated through the use of an inhaler that delivers a type of medication known as a bronchodilator (commonly albuterol) which relaxes and opens air passages to the lungs to make breathing easier. Modern readers might be quite surprised to learn that a common remedy for asthma symptoms was once something that now seems the most unlikely of treatments - cigarettes: This revelation isn't so shocking as it might seem, though, because asthma cigarettes were very different than modern tobacco-based cigarettes - they were a delivery system for asthma medication used before the advent of albuterol and propellant-based inhalers. Back in the early part of the 20th century, when very few effective medications existed for the treatment of most medical maladies, doctors could offer little to asthma patients other than adrenaline injections. In that void, asthma sufferers commonly turned to a type of inhalation therapy dating to the early 19th century, one which involved the use of stramonium leaves: Stramonium was enthusiastically adopted by asthmatic patients and their physicians. In promoting its use as a pain-reliever in 1816, Alexander Marcet noted that Datura stramonium was often 'cultivated in some English gardens' expressly for the purpose of treating asthma. During the following decades, most medical authorities on asthma advocated smoking stramonium because of its anti-spasmodic properties. In 1819, the French clinician and pathologist René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec included a discussion of asthma in his study of the clinical value of auscultation. Believing that asthma was more likely to be caused by spasmodic constriction of the bronchi than by the accumulation of mucus, Laennec recommended a variety of anti-spasmodics, including opium, belladonna, stramonium, tobacco, hyoscyamus and coffee. Products such as Page's Inhalers - cigarettes containing stramonium leaves and other ingredients such as tea leaves, chestnut leaves, gum benzoin, and kola nuts - were therefore a common treatment for asthma symptoms in the early 20th century: Despite the development of effective bronchodilating medications such as albuterol in the early 1970s, asthma cigarettes were still being recommended and used well into the 1990s: During the early decades of the twentieth century, the prominent position of smoking stramonium was challenged not only by new theories of asthma, which prioritized the role of inflammation and regarded smoke as an irritant, but also by the proliferation of novel and effective pharmaceutical remedies, by expanding state regulation of poisonous substances such as opium and cannabis, and by growing concerns about the health risks associated with smoking tobacco. Significantly, however, these factors did not entirely undermine the place of medicated cigarettes in the treatment of asthma: both clinicians and patients continued to rely on commercial powders and cigarettes containing stramonium, cubeb, lobelia, potash and eucalyptus well into the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, of course, the therapeutic principles of smoking or inhalation as a technique persisted in the form of inhalers designed to deliver bronchodilators, steroids and other active substances to diseased lungs. | nan | [
"11604-proof-04-pages.jpg",
"11604-proof-12-asthma_cigarettes_fb.jpg"
] |
Symptoms of the respiratory condition known as asthma were once treated with cigarettes. | Entailment | Asthma is a respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. Today, flare-ups of asthma are typically self-treated through the use of an inhaler that delivers a type of medication known as a bronchodilator (commonly albuterol) which relaxes and opens air passages to the lungs to make breathing easier. Modern readers might be quite surprised to learn that a common remedy for asthma symptoms was once something that now seems the most unlikely of treatments - cigarettes: This revelation isn't so shocking as it might seem, though, because asthma cigarettes were very different than modern tobacco-based cigarettes - they were a delivery system for asthma medication used before the advent of albuterol and propellant-based inhalers. Back in the early part of the 20th century, when very few effective medications existed for the treatment of most medical maladies, doctors could offer little to asthma patients other than adrenaline injections. In that void, asthma sufferers commonly turned to a type of inhalation therapy dating to the early 19th century, one which involved the use of stramonium leaves: Stramonium was enthusiastically adopted by asthmatic patients and their physicians. In promoting its use as a pain-reliever in 1816, Alexander Marcet noted that Datura stramonium was often 'cultivated in some English gardens' expressly for the purpose of treating asthma. During the following decades, most medical authorities on asthma advocated smoking stramonium because of its anti-spasmodic properties. In 1819, the French clinician and pathologist René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec included a discussion of asthma in his study of the clinical value of auscultation. Believing that asthma was more likely to be caused by spasmodic constriction of the bronchi than by the accumulation of mucus, Laennec recommended a variety of anti-spasmodics, including opium, belladonna, stramonium, tobacco, hyoscyamus and coffee. Products such as Page's Inhalers - cigarettes containing stramonium leaves and other ingredients such as tea leaves, chestnut leaves, gum benzoin, and kola nuts - were therefore a common treatment for asthma symptoms in the early 20th century: Despite the development of effective bronchodilating medications such as albuterol in the early 1970s, asthma cigarettes were still being recommended and used well into the 1990s: During the early decades of the twentieth century, the prominent position of smoking stramonium was challenged not only by new theories of asthma, which prioritized the role of inflammation and regarded smoke as an irritant, but also by the proliferation of novel and effective pharmaceutical remedies, by expanding state regulation of poisonous substances such as opium and cannabis, and by growing concerns about the health risks associated with smoking tobacco. Significantly, however, these factors did not entirely undermine the place of medicated cigarettes in the treatment of asthma: both clinicians and patients continued to rely on commercial powders and cigarettes containing stramonium, cubeb, lobelia, potash and eucalyptus well into the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, of course, the therapeutic principles of smoking or inhalation as a technique persisted in the form of inhalers designed to deliver bronchodilators, steroids and other active substances to diseased lungs. | nan | [
"11604-proof-04-pages.jpg",
"11604-proof-12-asthma_cigarettes_fb.jpg"
] |
Mark Chambers, mayor of Carbon Hill, Ala., wrote on Facebook that members of the LGBTQ community and other groups should be 'killed out. | Entailment | On 30 May 2019, Carbon Hill, Ala., Mayor Mark Chambers took to Facebook and posted remarks about 'killing them out' in reference to a post about the LGBTQ community, socialists and pro-choice activists. The post was deleted but not before Birmingham, Ala. news station WBRC captured screenshots of Chambers' comments, which prompted him to issue an apology. Chambers posted a Facebook meme that read, 'We live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals, transvestites lecture us on human biology, baby killers lecture us on human rights and socialists lecture us on economics.' A friend then replied, 'By giving the minority more rights than the majority. I hate to think of the country my grandkids will live in unless somehow we change and I think that will take a revolution.' In response, Chambers stated, 'The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it's bad to say but without killing them out there's no way to fix it.' We located a version of the meme on Facebook: We called the phone number listed on Chamber's profile on the city's website but were unable to leave a message, so we sent an email to him, via the city clerk, but have yet to hear back. Several days after writing the comment, Chambers posted an apology on his now-private Facebook page. UPDATE: Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers is now apologizing for comments he made on social media. He claims his comments on killing people in the LGBTQ community and Democrats were taken out of context. Some people are calling on him to resign: pic.twitter.com/wdVwmdnIZ2 - Josh Gauntt (@joshg_TV) June 4, 2019 When interviewed by WBRC, Chambers at first denied writing the post but later admitted he did. He said he didn't know the comment was public, and that he thought he was sending a private message to a friend. Per WBRC: Chambers went on to defend his comments. 'I never said anything about killing out gays or anything like that,' Chambers said. We read the post from Chambers' page back to him. 'That's in a revolution. That's right! If it comes to a revolution in this country both sides of these people will be killed out,' he said. Chambers then fumed about privacy and his Facebook page not being for the public, although Chambers acknowledged his pages privacy settings were public. He later changed the Facebook page to private. Chambers' comments have engulfed the tiny town of 2,000 in unprecedented controversy. In the fallout, a death threat was called in to Carbon Hill Baptist Church on 4 June 2019, even though the church's pastor, Rev. Scott McCullar, said Chambers is in no way associated with the parish. 'We don't agree with those comments at all, they're reprehensible,' McCullar told us by phone. 'We exist to serve the lord Jesus and share the Gospel, not to make statements like that. We don't even think that way.' The voicemail said, 'Mark Chambers wants all the gay people to be executed. So all the intelligent people want your (expletive) church to burn down. See how that works? Until it is illegal to be in possession of a sentiment, I hope you get (expletive) cancer and die in a fire.' McCullar is among those calling for Chambers to resign. Three of the city's six-member city council submitted a letter on 4 June 2019 to Chambers requesting he do so, but so far he has remained in his post. The community, McCullar said, just wants the controversy to go away. 'By and large it's a wonderful community, the people are very friendly, some of the friendliest people you would ever meet,' he said. 'This just doesn't happen here. They're not used to anything like this whatsoever.' | nan | [
"11615-proof-03-hate_mail_cyber_bullying_fb.jpg"
] |
Mark Chambers, mayor of Carbon Hill, Ala., wrote on Facebook that members of the LGBTQ community and other groups should be 'killed out. | Entailment | On 30 May 2019, Carbon Hill, Ala., Mayor Mark Chambers took to Facebook and posted remarks about 'killing them out' in reference to a post about the LGBTQ community, socialists and pro-choice activists. The post was deleted but not before Birmingham, Ala. news station WBRC captured screenshots of Chambers' comments, which prompted him to issue an apology. Chambers posted a Facebook meme that read, 'We live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals, transvestites lecture us on human biology, baby killers lecture us on human rights and socialists lecture us on economics.' A friend then replied, 'By giving the minority more rights than the majority. I hate to think of the country my grandkids will live in unless somehow we change and I think that will take a revolution.' In response, Chambers stated, 'The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it's bad to say but without killing them out there's no way to fix it.' We located a version of the meme on Facebook: We called the phone number listed on Chamber's profile on the city's website but were unable to leave a message, so we sent an email to him, via the city clerk, but have yet to hear back. Several days after writing the comment, Chambers posted an apology on his now-private Facebook page. UPDATE: Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers is now apologizing for comments he made on social media. He claims his comments on killing people in the LGBTQ community and Democrats were taken out of context. Some people are calling on him to resign: pic.twitter.com/wdVwmdnIZ2 - Josh Gauntt (@joshg_TV) June 4, 2019 When interviewed by WBRC, Chambers at first denied writing the post but later admitted he did. He said he didn't know the comment was public, and that he thought he was sending a private message to a friend. Per WBRC: Chambers went on to defend his comments. 'I never said anything about killing out gays or anything like that,' Chambers said. We read the post from Chambers' page back to him. 'That's in a revolution. That's right! If it comes to a revolution in this country both sides of these people will be killed out,' he said. Chambers then fumed about privacy and his Facebook page not being for the public, although Chambers acknowledged his pages privacy settings were public. He later changed the Facebook page to private. Chambers' comments have engulfed the tiny town of 2,000 in unprecedented controversy. In the fallout, a death threat was called in to Carbon Hill Baptist Church on 4 June 2019, even though the church's pastor, Rev. Scott McCullar, said Chambers is in no way associated with the parish. 'We don't agree with those comments at all, they're reprehensible,' McCullar told us by phone. 'We exist to serve the lord Jesus and share the Gospel, not to make statements like that. We don't even think that way.' The voicemail said, 'Mark Chambers wants all the gay people to be executed. So all the intelligent people want your (expletive) church to burn down. See how that works? Until it is illegal to be in possession of a sentiment, I hope you get (expletive) cancer and die in a fire.' McCullar is among those calling for Chambers to resign. Three of the city's six-member city council submitted a letter on 4 June 2019 to Chambers requesting he do so, but so far he has remained in his post. The community, McCullar said, just wants the controversy to go away. 'By and large it's a wonderful community, the people are very friendly, some of the friendliest people you would ever meet,' he said. 'This just doesn't happen here. They're not used to anything like this whatsoever.' | nan | [
"11615-proof-03-hate_mail_cyber_bullying_fb.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
The animated film 'Incredibles 2' contains scenes that prompted an epilepsy warning at movie theaters. | Entailment | On 15 June 2018, Incredibles 2 - the sequel to the hugely successful 2004 animated movie Incredibles - was released to good reviews. Not long after that, the reviews were augmented by concerns in widely shared blog posts and social media warnings that certain scenes might trigger epileptic seizures. On 16 June, the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation issued a warning about the film: Members of our community have expressed concerns about flashing lights in the new Disney Pixar movie 'Incredibles 2,' and, in certain instances, people having experienced a seizure during the movie. We stand with our epilepsy warriors and their families as they voice their concerns about the movie and appreciate the efforts some theaters have already made to post warning signs for people waiting to see the movie. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, around three percent of people with epilepsy have a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, in which intense flickering lights and other visual stimuli can trigger seizures, migraines, and headaches. Among the common causes of these seizures are 'intense strobe lights,' 'video games or TV broadcasts containing rapid flashes or alternating patterns of different colors,' and even natural sunlight, 'especially when shimmering off water, flickering through trees or through the slats of Venetian blinds.' Over the course of the movie's opening weekend, members of the public shared photographs of a boilerplate warning posted in movie theaters in various parts of the country by various companies including AMC and Cinemark: So I went to see The Incredibles 2 and I saw this sign outside the theatre. I want thank @AMCTheatres for this. With a wife that is diagnosed with Epilepsy I greatly greatly appreciate this! Thank you AMC Cherry Hill pic.twitter.com/90Ts26Lrg2 - Lost Boy Kirby (@TLBKirby) June 18, 2018 Major shoutout to the Jordan Creek movie theater for posting epilepsy warning signs for Incredibles 2. Thanks for lookin out for those of us with epilepsy. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/CVX3wboGHo - Kelsey Culbertson (@kels_culbs) June 16, 2018 I saw The Incredibles 2 today and the theater had warnings about the epilepsy scenes at the ticket areas when I got there. Btw it was a great movie, I totally recommend it, but those with epilepsy might want to be cautious if they go to see it. pic.twitter.com/ODmY8KFQUJ - Whip [Colin WK] (@Whip_YT) June 17, 2018 Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd - Veronica Lewis (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018 Film curator Colin Geddes shared what appears to be a memo sent by Ken Caldwell, Senior Vice President at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, to movie theaters showing Incredibles 2. The memo is dated 15 June 2018, suggesting that Disney took action on the epilepsy risk on the same day the movie was released: It has come to our attention that some lighting effects in Incredibles 2 may affect photosensitive viewers. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that you provide at the box office and other appropriate places a notice to your customers containing the following information: 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photosensitivities.' Bring the kids! This notice sent to exhibitors today from Disney #incredibles2 'INCREDIBLES 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights which may affect customers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy or other photo sensitivities.' pic.twitter.com/N2g0vQ8lsL - Colin Geddes (@colingeddes) June 16, 2018 You can find details here and here about the specific elements in the film that have caused most concern. | nan | [
"11752-proof-02-movie_theatre_warning.jpg"
] |
Police in Crawford County, Georgia forced local man Joe Nathan Goodwin, under threat of arrest, to cut off his own dog's head for rabies testing after police fatally shot the dog. | Entailment | In December 2017, disturbing reports surfaceed that police in Crawford County, Georgia had threatened to arrest a local man if he did not cut off his own dog's head, purportedly for rabies testing, after officers fatally shot the animal. We have received several inquiries about this story. It is true. According to Crawford County Sheriff Lewis Walker, a Sheriff's deputy arrived at the home of Joe Nathan Goodwin on the afternoon of 1 December 2017, responding to a report that Goodwin's pit bull-type terrier Big Boy had bitten a neighbor. Walker says the dog charged at the deputy, who then fatally shot him. Subsequently, investigator James Hollis arrived at the scene and ordered Goodwin to remove the dog's head for the purpose of rabies testing. Goodwin initially refused to comply, but later followed Hollis' order. In a video recorded by Goodwin and posted to Facebook, Hollis can clearly be heard saying: We asked you to cut - remove the dog's head, and you're refusing, right? In another video, Hollis identifies himself as 'Investigator Hollis' and expresses dissatisfaction with the way Goodwin was purportedly talking to law enforcement before appearing to slam Goodwin against a car. In yet another video, Hollis can be heard threatening to arrest Goodwin. The following is clear from this video evidence: Hollis, by his own admission, asked Goodwin to cut off his own dog's head; that Goodwin was reluctant to do so, and even outraged by the request; that Hollis threatened to arrest and charge Goodwin with an unspecified criminal offense. Given that Goodwin was acting under threat of arrest, it is true to say that he was forced to remove his own dog's head. Crawford County sheriff Lewis Walker told local news outlet WMAZ that the incident is under investigation, and that Hollis had been placed on administrative leave. Walker added that any rabies diagnosis should have been handled by the local health department, not responding police officers: That shouldn't have been done on the scene, from what I gathered... We [police] would not transfer an animal in that situation. That's up to the health department. We would respond, and we would notify them. The Crawford County Sheriff's Department sent us a copy of the incident report in this case, which indicates that a local health official told Hollis by telephone that there were two options: either Goodwin had to remove the dog's head himself, or he could transport the animal to a veterinarian, who could perform the procedure. Despite this, according to the report, the health official subsequently told Goodwin he would have to cut off the dog's head himself, apparently without presenting the second option. After Investigator Hollis arrived on scene and exited his patrol vehicle, he called the Crawford County Health Department and spoke with Ms. Sims to let her know of the situation and what needed to be done about the dog. Investigator Hollis placed his phone on speaker mode so that Mr. Goodwin could hear her instructions. Ms. Sims stated that either the owner of the dog needed to cut the head off of the dog or take it to a Vet and have them to do it in order to have the dog tested for rabies. After Ms. Sims stated that Mr. Goodwin had to cut the head off of the dog, he became irate and started yelling and cussing. Proper protocol was not followed in this incident, a spokesperson for the state of Georgia's Department of Public Health told the Telegraph newspaper in Macon, Georgia: The beheading should have been performed by either a veterinarian or a trained animal control officer, 'not only to provide a good specimen, but also for the protection of the person who removes the head,' Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said in an email to The Telegraph on Tuesday. 'That person should have pre-exposure rabies vaccine.'Recent Updates Updated [18 December 2017]: Added details from police incident report. | nan | [
"11774-proof-03-dog_pitbull_silhouette_fb.jpg"
] |
Police in Crawford County, Georgia forced local man Joe Nathan Goodwin, under threat of arrest, to cut off his own dog's head for rabies testing after police fatally shot the dog. | Entailment | In December 2017, disturbing reports surfaceed that police in Crawford County, Georgia had threatened to arrest a local man if he did not cut off his own dog's head, purportedly for rabies testing, after officers fatally shot the animal. We have received several inquiries about this story. It is true. According to Crawford County Sheriff Lewis Walker, a Sheriff's deputy arrived at the home of Joe Nathan Goodwin on the afternoon of 1 December 2017, responding to a report that Goodwin's pit bull-type terrier Big Boy had bitten a neighbor. Walker says the dog charged at the deputy, who then fatally shot him. Subsequently, investigator James Hollis arrived at the scene and ordered Goodwin to remove the dog's head for the purpose of rabies testing. Goodwin initially refused to comply, but later followed Hollis' order. In a video recorded by Goodwin and posted to Facebook, Hollis can clearly be heard saying: We asked you to cut - remove the dog's head, and you're refusing, right? In another video, Hollis identifies himself as 'Investigator Hollis' and expresses dissatisfaction with the way Goodwin was purportedly talking to law enforcement before appearing to slam Goodwin against a car. In yet another video, Hollis can be heard threatening to arrest Goodwin. The following is clear from this video evidence: Hollis, by his own admission, asked Goodwin to cut off his own dog's head; that Goodwin was reluctant to do so, and even outraged by the request; that Hollis threatened to arrest and charge Goodwin with an unspecified criminal offense. Given that Goodwin was acting under threat of arrest, it is true to say that he was forced to remove his own dog's head. Crawford County sheriff Lewis Walker told local news outlet WMAZ that the incident is under investigation, and that Hollis had been placed on administrative leave. Walker added that any rabies diagnosis should have been handled by the local health department, not responding police officers: That shouldn't have been done on the scene, from what I gathered... We [police] would not transfer an animal in that situation. That's up to the health department. We would respond, and we would notify them. The Crawford County Sheriff's Department sent us a copy of the incident report in this case, which indicates that a local health official told Hollis by telephone that there were two options: either Goodwin had to remove the dog's head himself, or he could transport the animal to a veterinarian, who could perform the procedure. Despite this, according to the report, the health official subsequently told Goodwin he would have to cut off the dog's head himself, apparently without presenting the second option. After Investigator Hollis arrived on scene and exited his patrol vehicle, he called the Crawford County Health Department and spoke with Ms. Sims to let her know of the situation and what needed to be done about the dog. Investigator Hollis placed his phone on speaker mode so that Mr. Goodwin could hear her instructions. Ms. Sims stated that either the owner of the dog needed to cut the head off of the dog or take it to a Vet and have them to do it in order to have the dog tested for rabies. After Ms. Sims stated that Mr. Goodwin had to cut the head off of the dog, he became irate and started yelling and cussing. Proper protocol was not followed in this incident, a spokesperson for the state of Georgia's Department of Public Health told the Telegraph newspaper in Macon, Georgia: The beheading should have been performed by either a veterinarian or a trained animal control officer, 'not only to provide a good specimen, but also for the protection of the person who removes the head,' Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said in an email to The Telegraph on Tuesday. 'That person should have pre-exposure rabies vaccine.'Recent Updates Updated [18 December 2017]: Added details from police incident report. | nan | [
"11774-proof-03-dog_pitbull_silhouette_fb.jpg"
] |
Police in Crawford County, Georgia forced local man Joe Nathan Goodwin, under threat of arrest, to cut off his own dog's head for rabies testing after police fatally shot the dog. | Entailment | In December 2017, disturbing reports surfaceed that police in Crawford County, Georgia had threatened to arrest a local man if he did not cut off his own dog's head, purportedly for rabies testing, after officers fatally shot the animal. We have received several inquiries about this story. It is true. According to Crawford County Sheriff Lewis Walker, a Sheriff's deputy arrived at the home of Joe Nathan Goodwin on the afternoon of 1 December 2017, responding to a report that Goodwin's pit bull-type terrier Big Boy had bitten a neighbor. Walker says the dog charged at the deputy, who then fatally shot him. Subsequently, investigator James Hollis arrived at the scene and ordered Goodwin to remove the dog's head for the purpose of rabies testing. Goodwin initially refused to comply, but later followed Hollis' order. In a video recorded by Goodwin and posted to Facebook, Hollis can clearly be heard saying: We asked you to cut - remove the dog's head, and you're refusing, right? In another video, Hollis identifies himself as 'Investigator Hollis' and expresses dissatisfaction with the way Goodwin was purportedly talking to law enforcement before appearing to slam Goodwin against a car. In yet another video, Hollis can be heard threatening to arrest Goodwin. The following is clear from this video evidence: Hollis, by his own admission, asked Goodwin to cut off his own dog's head; that Goodwin was reluctant to do so, and even outraged by the request; that Hollis threatened to arrest and charge Goodwin with an unspecified criminal offense. Given that Goodwin was acting under threat of arrest, it is true to say that he was forced to remove his own dog's head. Crawford County sheriff Lewis Walker told local news outlet WMAZ that the incident is under investigation, and that Hollis had been placed on administrative leave. Walker added that any rabies diagnosis should have been handled by the local health department, not responding police officers: That shouldn't have been done on the scene, from what I gathered... We [police] would not transfer an animal in that situation. That's up to the health department. We would respond, and we would notify them. The Crawford County Sheriff's Department sent us a copy of the incident report in this case, which indicates that a local health official told Hollis by telephone that there were two options: either Goodwin had to remove the dog's head himself, or he could transport the animal to a veterinarian, who could perform the procedure. Despite this, according to the report, the health official subsequently told Goodwin he would have to cut off the dog's head himself, apparently without presenting the second option. After Investigator Hollis arrived on scene and exited his patrol vehicle, he called the Crawford County Health Department and spoke with Ms. Sims to let her know of the situation and what needed to be done about the dog. Investigator Hollis placed his phone on speaker mode so that Mr. Goodwin could hear her instructions. Ms. Sims stated that either the owner of the dog needed to cut the head off of the dog or take it to a Vet and have them to do it in order to have the dog tested for rabies. After Ms. Sims stated that Mr. Goodwin had to cut the head off of the dog, he became irate and started yelling and cussing. Proper protocol was not followed in this incident, a spokesperson for the state of Georgia's Department of Public Health told the Telegraph newspaper in Macon, Georgia: The beheading should have been performed by either a veterinarian or a trained animal control officer, 'not only to provide a good specimen, but also for the protection of the person who removes the head,' Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said in an email to The Telegraph on Tuesday. 'That person should have pre-exposure rabies vaccine.'Recent Updates Updated [18 December 2017]: Added details from police incident report. | nan | [
"11774-proof-03-dog_pitbull_silhouette_fb.jpg"
] |
Police in Crawford County, Georgia forced local man Joe Nathan Goodwin, under threat of arrest, to cut off his own dog's head for rabies testing after police fatally shot the dog. | Entailment | In December 2017, disturbing reports surfaceed that police in Crawford County, Georgia had threatened to arrest a local man if he did not cut off his own dog's head, purportedly for rabies testing, after officers fatally shot the animal. We have received several inquiries about this story. It is true. According to Crawford County Sheriff Lewis Walker, a Sheriff's deputy arrived at the home of Joe Nathan Goodwin on the afternoon of 1 December 2017, responding to a report that Goodwin's pit bull-type terrier Big Boy had bitten a neighbor. Walker says the dog charged at the deputy, who then fatally shot him. Subsequently, investigator James Hollis arrived at the scene and ordered Goodwin to remove the dog's head for the purpose of rabies testing. Goodwin initially refused to comply, but later followed Hollis' order. In a video recorded by Goodwin and posted to Facebook, Hollis can clearly be heard saying: We asked you to cut - remove the dog's head, and you're refusing, right? In another video, Hollis identifies himself as 'Investigator Hollis' and expresses dissatisfaction with the way Goodwin was purportedly talking to law enforcement before appearing to slam Goodwin against a car. In yet another video, Hollis can be heard threatening to arrest Goodwin. The following is clear from this video evidence: Hollis, by his own admission, asked Goodwin to cut off his own dog's head; that Goodwin was reluctant to do so, and even outraged by the request; that Hollis threatened to arrest and charge Goodwin with an unspecified criminal offense. Given that Goodwin was acting under threat of arrest, it is true to say that he was forced to remove his own dog's head. Crawford County sheriff Lewis Walker told local news outlet WMAZ that the incident is under investigation, and that Hollis had been placed on administrative leave. Walker added that any rabies diagnosis should have been handled by the local health department, not responding police officers: That shouldn't have been done on the scene, from what I gathered... We [police] would not transfer an animal in that situation. That's up to the health department. We would respond, and we would notify them. The Crawford County Sheriff's Department sent us a copy of the incident report in this case, which indicates that a local health official told Hollis by telephone that there were two options: either Goodwin had to remove the dog's head himself, or he could transport the animal to a veterinarian, who could perform the procedure. Despite this, according to the report, the health official subsequently told Goodwin he would have to cut off the dog's head himself, apparently without presenting the second option. After Investigator Hollis arrived on scene and exited his patrol vehicle, he called the Crawford County Health Department and spoke with Ms. Sims to let her know of the situation and what needed to be done about the dog. Investigator Hollis placed his phone on speaker mode so that Mr. Goodwin could hear her instructions. Ms. Sims stated that either the owner of the dog needed to cut the head off of the dog or take it to a Vet and have them to do it in order to have the dog tested for rabies. After Ms. Sims stated that Mr. Goodwin had to cut the head off of the dog, he became irate and started yelling and cussing. Proper protocol was not followed in this incident, a spokesperson for the state of Georgia's Department of Public Health told the Telegraph newspaper in Macon, Georgia: The beheading should have been performed by either a veterinarian or a trained animal control officer, 'not only to provide a good specimen, but also for the protection of the person who removes the head,' Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said in an email to The Telegraph on Tuesday. 'That person should have pre-exposure rabies vaccine.'Recent Updates Updated [18 December 2017]: Added details from police incident report. | nan | [
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In September 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a former post-doctoral student at Hong Kong University, appeared In multiple televised interviews claiming that she had proof SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was manufactured by the Chinese Communist Party in a Wuhan Lab. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. Controversial and outright false claims made by Chinese Virologist Dr. Li-Meng-Yan, a former post-doctoral student at Hong Kong University, reignited viral internet rumors surrounding the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 and the 2020 pandemic. Yan appeared as a featured guest on the Sept. 15, 2020, episode of Fox News talk show 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' during which she claimed that she had evidence to suggest that the virus was intentionally manufactured and released by the Chinese Communist Party. 'I can present solid scientific evidence to our audience that this virus, SARS-CoV-2 virus, is actually not from nature,' she told the television host. 'It is a man-made virus created in the lab based on the China ... the very unique bat coronavirus, which cannot affect people, but after the modification becomes a very harmful virus.' Yan did claim that SARS-CoV-2 was made in a lab, but the suggestion is false, misleading, and based on a non-peer-reviewed report that was published in two separate studies on Sept. 14 and Oct. 8 in the preprint server Zenodo, which means that the research had not gone through rigorous editorial critically evaluated by scientific experts with an extra degree of scrutiny. Research that has not been peer-reviewed is akin to a blog - anyone can publish one online with little expertise. A reviewed study, on the other hand, is on par with a well-vetted, expertly researched textbook. To facilitate the quick spread of new scientific information in the midst of the pandemic, prepublication research has become more common in order to facilitate the quick dissemination of important information, particularly as peer-reviewed research can take a long time to publish. Despite its erroneous claims, the study had been downloaded more than half of a million times and received more than 700,000 views as of this writing. A History of Contentious Origin Claims Since SARS-CoV-2 was first discovered in January 2020 and subsequently declared a pandemic the following month, conspiracy theorists have peddled notions that the virus was made in a lab and intentionally released as a biological weapon despite rigorous scientific research proving otherwise. According to one expert: 'This particular conspiracy around deliberate release form a laboratory has been doing the rounds throughout the pandemic. It has been rebutted several times already. Ultimately, it could be damaging to public health if reported uncritically without looking at the wider evidence. If people are exposed to and then believe conspiracy theories, this will likely have a negative impact on efforts to keep COVID-19 cases low and thus there will be more death and illness than there needs to be,' said Dr. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, in a statement. And Yan's account of the origins of the virus is no different. The controversial doctor first made headlines in July 2020 when she told Fox News in an exclusive interview that she believed the Chinese government failed to tell the world about the virus' origins at its onset, ignoring her research and potentially putting lives at risk. At the time, Hong Kong University (HKU) issued a news release confirming that Yan had previously been affiliated as a post-doctoral fellow but that she had since left the institution. The news release continued: While HKU respects freedom of expression, Dr Yan's past or present opinions and views do not represent those of the University. HKU notes that the content of the said news report does not accord with the key facts as we understand them. Specifically, Dr Yan never conducted any research on human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus at HKU during December 2019 and January 2020, her central assertion of the said interview. We further observe that what she might have emphasized in the reported interview has no scientific basis but resembles hearsay. HKU does not act on hearsay and we will not further comment on this matter. Snopes contacted HKU for further comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Emails sent from our team to the address listed on Yan's report also went unanswered. In a September 2020 interview with the hosts of the British talk show 'Loose Women,' Yan claimed that she had been chosen to do a 'secret investigation' while studying a cluster of SARS-related viruses in December 2019 when she found out that the Chinese government was manufacturing a virus to use as a bioweapon. After confronting her supervisor, she claimed, she was allegedly forced to flee to the U.S. for her own safety. The story was reiterated in an interview with Tucker Carlson the following day when she directly blamed the Chinese Communist Party for manufacturing the virus. In less than a week after airing, the interview had been viewed more than 2.2 million times. Several media publications reported that Yan's Twitter account was suspended as of Sept. 21, 2020. The first known mention of the suspension was on Tucker Carlson Tonight, however, Twitter declined to comment on the alleged suspension in an email sent to Snopes, and the platform did not flag the virologist's interview. A video of the interview is also still available on Facebook and Instagram, however, both platforms flagged the video for its misleading content. Funding Ties to the Rule of Law Society The report was primarily authored by Yan and three other researchers who listed an affiliation with the Rule of Law Society on the cover page. The society is a political organization - not a research institution - that was founded by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who fled China in 2014 in advance of corruption charges, and Steve Bannon, an American businessman and political strategist who previously oversaw the far-right publication Breitbart News, and was recently arrested in connection to the 'We Build The Wall' fraud scam. Dr. Andrew Preston, a biologist at the University of Bath, highlighted in a statement that the authors' affiliation with a politically based organization rather than with a research institution was a conflict of interest and added that the 'preprint report cannot be given any credibility in its current form,' given its unsubstantiated claims that have not been peer-reviewed. 'The report is not based on an objective interpretation of the SARS-CoV2 genome. The interpretations made are not supported by data, are unsubstantiated and the interpretations are largely stated but not explained,' Preston said. The scientists continued that the report does not appear to start with an open hypothesis about the origin of SARS-CoV2. The language of the report is reminiscent of a conspiracy theory.' Yan's primary argument is that the genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 provided evidence that the virus was manufactured by researchers with the Chinese Communist Party by targeting select parts of the viral genome, a feat that would be nearly impossible, said Craig Wilen, assistant professor of laboratory medicine and immunology at the Yale School of Medicine, in an interview with Snopes. But first, it's important to understand how a virus is sequenced and what researchers know about SARS-CoV-2. How to Sequence a Virus When a new virus is discovered, scientists around the world will work as quickly as possible to create a genetic map by sequencing every genome held within the virus. At the onset of the 2020 pandemic, researchers quickly transcribed the genetic makeup of the virus and uploaded what was known about the 30,000 base-pair genomes into a global database for future study. When mapped, the virus was found to contain roughly 30,000 nucleotides, which form the basis of each structural unit of DNA. Once a map of the base pair is determined, synthesizing a virus in a lab is not unheard of. In fact, many commercial companies hold repositories of 'chunks' of genomic material, but in order to manufacture a virus such as SARS-CoV-2, a scientist would need to take the 30,000 base-pair genome, make that into ribonucleic acid (RNA), and then turn that RNA into a virus. Wilen said that expert virology labs could, in theory, manipulate SARS-CoV, the virus responsible for the 2002 SARS pandemic, or MERS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2014 MERS pandemic, to hypothetically manufacture a new virus, but would first need to know what each of those individual nucleotides is responsible for, and how to manipulate them to become harmful and infectious to humans - an enormous feat that is beyond the scope of many viral labs and research. 'Being off by one could destroy the entire virus. As much as the world has studied this virus now, we have no idea what properties those 30,000 base pairs, which of those are important for infection, which of those make it spread asymptomatically, which of those cause disease,' Wilen said. 'So, we are totally ignorant in terms of the biology in terms of being able to come up with the sequence de novo to then make it.' Wilen likened the manufacturing of a virus to taking one of Shakespeare's sonnets, determining how many words it contains, then chopping up a dictionary and subsequently trying to build a sonnet from those chopped-up words. 'Yes, you would get something that is the right length of a sonnet, but almost certainly it's going to be incoherent and not useful,' he said. Evolutionary Processes Exhibited in the Coronavirus Family In her report, Yan argued that two strains of bat coronavirus were shown to be 89% similar to SARS-CoV-2, which seems at first glance to be quite a bit. Coronaviruses are a large family of closely related viruses that naturally circulate in a number of different species, including bats, camels, pangolins, and rodents. A huge amount of genetic diversity of coronaviruses occurs naturally in the environment, and when it comes to human pandemic coronaviruses, all three have exhibited cross-species transmission from a nonhuman host. In actuality, 89% of genetic similarity is very low. Previous research found that the human genome is almost 99% identical to chimpanzees and bonobos, yet there are very obvious differences between the two species. In terms of Yan's genetic mapping, 89% would suggest that there are roughly 3,300 nucleotides not shared between the two viruses and, if SARS-CoV-2 was manufactured in a lab, researchers would have had to pinpoint the cause and effect of each of those nucleotides in order to make it both infectious and harmful to humans. Yan further argued that SARS-CoV-2 is like 'Frankenstein,' if the beast were a cow with a 'deer's head, rabbit ears, and also has monkey's hands,' which in her logic, suggested that the virus cannot be natural. Wilen said that although this comparison was hyperbolic, it's not necessarily incorrect - viruses undergo several evolutionary changes throughout their short life cycle, but that doesn't mean that they were manufactured in a lab. Coronaviruses' ability to evolve from animal to human transmission is due, in part, to its unique life cycle. Viruses tend to have a 12-hour life cycle while humans, on the other hand, have an average life expectancy of 79 years. Because of this quick lifespan, viruses undergo rapid evolutionary changes in an incredibly short amount of time. Coronaviruses can mutate in two ways, the first of which occurs during replication. Viruses are capable of replicating once they have infected a host, and it is through that replication process that an error can sometimes occur, and one of the tens-of-thousands of nucleotides may mutate. This mutation can change the function of a particular protein, and though such errors are often harmless or have no physical consequence to the virus, sometimes a mutation can result in the virus being unable to replicate or lose its infectiousness. The other way coronaviruses can mutate is through a process known as genetic recombination. This occurs when viruses of two different, but closely related, strains simultaneously infect the same host cell and interact while they are replicating to create a viral progeny (new virus) from two 'parent viruses' that contains genes from both. Recombination is seen in other viruses and happens often. A study published in the April 2020 issue of the scientific journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution found that the SARS-CoV-2 genome can be more than 95% similar to another coronavirus (RaTG3) that was isolated from bats, while a study published in Nature in March found that pangolin coronavirus genomes were between 85.5% and 92.4% similar. Ironically, the similarities between multiple coronavirus samples taken from the wild and SARS-CoV-2 actually argue in favor of natural evolution by way of recombination. 'In the wild, these viruses are circulated all over the place. Animals are getting infected with multiple coronaviruses that are genetically similar, and that facilitates this recombination happening in the wild. It's easy to make it happen in the lab, but it absolutely happens in the wild. This is a good way to make big, functional changes in viruses,' Wilen said.Recent Updates Update [Oct. 30, 2020]: This article was updated to include a link to a second non-peer-reviewed report that was published by Yan in the preprint server Zenodo. | nan | [] |
In September 2020, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a former post-doctoral student at Hong Kong University, appeared In multiple televised interviews claiming that she had proof SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was manufactured by the Chinese Communist Party in a Wuhan Lab. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. Controversial and outright false claims made by Chinese Virologist Dr. Li-Meng-Yan, a former post-doctoral student at Hong Kong University, reignited viral internet rumors surrounding the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 and the 2020 pandemic. Yan appeared as a featured guest on the Sept. 15, 2020, episode of Fox News talk show 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' during which she claimed that she had evidence to suggest that the virus was intentionally manufactured and released by the Chinese Communist Party. 'I can present solid scientific evidence to our audience that this virus, SARS-CoV-2 virus, is actually not from nature,' she told the television host. 'It is a man-made virus created in the lab based on the China ... the very unique bat coronavirus, which cannot affect people, but after the modification becomes a very harmful virus.' Yan did claim that SARS-CoV-2 was made in a lab, but the suggestion is false, misleading, and based on a non-peer-reviewed report that was published in two separate studies on Sept. 14 and Oct. 8 in the preprint server Zenodo, which means that the research had not gone through rigorous editorial critically evaluated by scientific experts with an extra degree of scrutiny. Research that has not been peer-reviewed is akin to a blog - anyone can publish one online with little expertise. A reviewed study, on the other hand, is on par with a well-vetted, expertly researched textbook. To facilitate the quick spread of new scientific information in the midst of the pandemic, prepublication research has become more common in order to facilitate the quick dissemination of important information, particularly as peer-reviewed research can take a long time to publish. Despite its erroneous claims, the study had been downloaded more than half of a million times and received more than 700,000 views as of this writing. A History of Contentious Origin Claims Since SARS-CoV-2 was first discovered in January 2020 and subsequently declared a pandemic the following month, conspiracy theorists have peddled notions that the virus was made in a lab and intentionally released as a biological weapon despite rigorous scientific research proving otherwise. According to one expert: 'This particular conspiracy around deliberate release form a laboratory has been doing the rounds throughout the pandemic. It has been rebutted several times already. Ultimately, it could be damaging to public health if reported uncritically without looking at the wider evidence. If people are exposed to and then believe conspiracy theories, this will likely have a negative impact on efforts to keep COVID-19 cases low and thus there will be more death and illness than there needs to be,' said Dr. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, in a statement. And Yan's account of the origins of the virus is no different. The controversial doctor first made headlines in July 2020 when she told Fox News in an exclusive interview that she believed the Chinese government failed to tell the world about the virus' origins at its onset, ignoring her research and potentially putting lives at risk. At the time, Hong Kong University (HKU) issued a news release confirming that Yan had previously been affiliated as a post-doctoral fellow but that she had since left the institution. The news release continued: While HKU respects freedom of expression, Dr Yan's past or present opinions and views do not represent those of the University. HKU notes that the content of the said news report does not accord with the key facts as we understand them. Specifically, Dr Yan never conducted any research on human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus at HKU during December 2019 and January 2020, her central assertion of the said interview. We further observe that what she might have emphasized in the reported interview has no scientific basis but resembles hearsay. HKU does not act on hearsay and we will not further comment on this matter. Snopes contacted HKU for further comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Emails sent from our team to the address listed on Yan's report also went unanswered. In a September 2020 interview with the hosts of the British talk show 'Loose Women,' Yan claimed that she had been chosen to do a 'secret investigation' while studying a cluster of SARS-related viruses in December 2019 when she found out that the Chinese government was manufacturing a virus to use as a bioweapon. After confronting her supervisor, she claimed, she was allegedly forced to flee to the U.S. for her own safety. The story was reiterated in an interview with Tucker Carlson the following day when she directly blamed the Chinese Communist Party for manufacturing the virus. In less than a week after airing, the interview had been viewed more than 2.2 million times. Several media publications reported that Yan's Twitter account was suspended as of Sept. 21, 2020. The first known mention of the suspension was on Tucker Carlson Tonight, however, Twitter declined to comment on the alleged suspension in an email sent to Snopes, and the platform did not flag the virologist's interview. A video of the interview is also still available on Facebook and Instagram, however, both platforms flagged the video for its misleading content. Funding Ties to the Rule of Law Society The report was primarily authored by Yan and three other researchers who listed an affiliation with the Rule of Law Society on the cover page. The society is a political organization - not a research institution - that was founded by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, who fled China in 2014 in advance of corruption charges, and Steve Bannon, an American businessman and political strategist who previously oversaw the far-right publication Breitbart News, and was recently arrested in connection to the 'We Build The Wall' fraud scam. Dr. Andrew Preston, a biologist at the University of Bath, highlighted in a statement that the authors' affiliation with a politically based organization rather than with a research institution was a conflict of interest and added that the 'preprint report cannot be given any credibility in its current form,' given its unsubstantiated claims that have not been peer-reviewed. 'The report is not based on an objective interpretation of the SARS-CoV2 genome. The interpretations made are not supported by data, are unsubstantiated and the interpretations are largely stated but not explained,' Preston said. The scientists continued that the report does not appear to start with an open hypothesis about the origin of SARS-CoV2. The language of the report is reminiscent of a conspiracy theory.' Yan's primary argument is that the genetic structure of SARS-CoV-2 provided evidence that the virus was manufactured by researchers with the Chinese Communist Party by targeting select parts of the viral genome, a feat that would be nearly impossible, said Craig Wilen, assistant professor of laboratory medicine and immunology at the Yale School of Medicine, in an interview with Snopes. But first, it's important to understand how a virus is sequenced and what researchers know about SARS-CoV-2. How to Sequence a Virus When a new virus is discovered, scientists around the world will work as quickly as possible to create a genetic map by sequencing every genome held within the virus. At the onset of the 2020 pandemic, researchers quickly transcribed the genetic makeup of the virus and uploaded what was known about the 30,000 base-pair genomes into a global database for future study. When mapped, the virus was found to contain roughly 30,000 nucleotides, which form the basis of each structural unit of DNA. Once a map of the base pair is determined, synthesizing a virus in a lab is not unheard of. In fact, many commercial companies hold repositories of 'chunks' of genomic material, but in order to manufacture a virus such as SARS-CoV-2, a scientist would need to take the 30,000 base-pair genome, make that into ribonucleic acid (RNA), and then turn that RNA into a virus. Wilen said that expert virology labs could, in theory, manipulate SARS-CoV, the virus responsible for the 2002 SARS pandemic, or MERS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2014 MERS pandemic, to hypothetically manufacture a new virus, but would first need to know what each of those individual nucleotides is responsible for, and how to manipulate them to become harmful and infectious to humans - an enormous feat that is beyond the scope of many viral labs and research. 'Being off by one could destroy the entire virus. As much as the world has studied this virus now, we have no idea what properties those 30,000 base pairs, which of those are important for infection, which of those make it spread asymptomatically, which of those cause disease,' Wilen said. 'So, we are totally ignorant in terms of the biology in terms of being able to come up with the sequence de novo to then make it.' Wilen likened the manufacturing of a virus to taking one of Shakespeare's sonnets, determining how many words it contains, then chopping up a dictionary and subsequently trying to build a sonnet from those chopped-up words. 'Yes, you would get something that is the right length of a sonnet, but almost certainly it's going to be incoherent and not useful,' he said. Evolutionary Processes Exhibited in the Coronavirus Family In her report, Yan argued that two strains of bat coronavirus were shown to be 89% similar to SARS-CoV-2, which seems at first glance to be quite a bit. Coronaviruses are a large family of closely related viruses that naturally circulate in a number of different species, including bats, camels, pangolins, and rodents. A huge amount of genetic diversity of coronaviruses occurs naturally in the environment, and when it comes to human pandemic coronaviruses, all three have exhibited cross-species transmission from a nonhuman host. In actuality, 89% of genetic similarity is very low. Previous research found that the human genome is almost 99% identical to chimpanzees and bonobos, yet there are very obvious differences between the two species. In terms of Yan's genetic mapping, 89% would suggest that there are roughly 3,300 nucleotides not shared between the two viruses and, if SARS-CoV-2 was manufactured in a lab, researchers would have had to pinpoint the cause and effect of each of those nucleotides in order to make it both infectious and harmful to humans. Yan further argued that SARS-CoV-2 is like 'Frankenstein,' if the beast were a cow with a 'deer's head, rabbit ears, and also has monkey's hands,' which in her logic, suggested that the virus cannot be natural. Wilen said that although this comparison was hyperbolic, it's not necessarily incorrect - viruses undergo several evolutionary changes throughout their short life cycle, but that doesn't mean that they were manufactured in a lab. Coronaviruses' ability to evolve from animal to human transmission is due, in part, to its unique life cycle. Viruses tend to have a 12-hour life cycle while humans, on the other hand, have an average life expectancy of 79 years. Because of this quick lifespan, viruses undergo rapid evolutionary changes in an incredibly short amount of time. Coronaviruses can mutate in two ways, the first of which occurs during replication. Viruses are capable of replicating once they have infected a host, and it is through that replication process that an error can sometimes occur, and one of the tens-of-thousands of nucleotides may mutate. This mutation can change the function of a particular protein, and though such errors are often harmless or have no physical consequence to the virus, sometimes a mutation can result in the virus being unable to replicate or lose its infectiousness. The other way coronaviruses can mutate is through a process known as genetic recombination. This occurs when viruses of two different, but closely related, strains simultaneously infect the same host cell and interact while they are replicating to create a viral progeny (new virus) from two 'parent viruses' that contains genes from both. Recombination is seen in other viruses and happens often. A study published in the April 2020 issue of the scientific journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution found that the SARS-CoV-2 genome can be more than 95% similar to another coronavirus (RaTG3) that was isolated from bats, while a study published in Nature in March found that pangolin coronavirus genomes were between 85.5% and 92.4% similar. Ironically, the similarities between multiple coronavirus samples taken from the wild and SARS-CoV-2 actually argue in favor of natural evolution by way of recombination. 'In the wild, these viruses are circulated all over the place. Animals are getting infected with multiple coronaviruses that are genetically similar, and that facilitates this recombination happening in the wild. It's easy to make it happen in the lab, but it absolutely happens in the wild. This is a good way to make big, functional changes in viruses,' Wilen said.Recent Updates Update [Oct. 30, 2020]: This article was updated to include a link to a second non-peer-reviewed report that was published by Yan in the preprint server Zenodo. | nan | [] |
A highly magnified image shared to social media in April 2021 showed a puncture hole in someone's skin made by a needle. | Entailment | An image shared to Reddit on April 11, 2021, claimed to depict an intimate look at a puncture hole in skin made by a needle - and its flaky, almost cave-like attributes garnered the picture more than 22,800 upvotes on the social media platform. Screengrab/Reddit A reverse image search revealed that the photograph in question was hosted by Science Photo Library, a London-based database of science and medical images. The SPL website noted that its images are 'acquired from scientific and medical experts, acclaimed photographers and renowned institutions.' According to the caption, the photo was captured by Anne Weston of Francis Crick Institute and showed an up-close-and-personal, highly magnified puncture in the skin made by a tattoo needle: Tattoo needle puncture in skin, coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM). Skin tattooing has been practised for thousands of years. To make tattooing permanent tiny needles are used to punch through the top layer of the skin (epidermis) and into the next layer (dermis). This image shows many skin cells from the epidermis surrounding a hole created by a tattoo needle. Magnification: x280 when printed at 10cm wide. Tattoos become permanent by piercing the top layer of the skin and depositing a small amount of ink within each puncture, according to the Mayo Clinic. And that microscopic process was captured and magnified by SEM, a photography process that the National Library of Medicine noted allows for the 'topographical visualization of structures.' An SEM is more powerful than a traditional microscope because the device scans an electron beam over an item, rather than using a combination of light and high-power lenses to amplify a subject. These electron beams interact with a given sample to map out its surface topography. It works in a similar way as some other, more large-scale topographical mapping technologies, such as deep-sea mapping of the seafloor or light detection and ranging (LiDAR) processes on terrestrial landscapes - but at a much smaller scale. The SEM picture shows the top layer of the skin known as the epidermis. Its outermost layer is known as the stratum corneum, Latin for 'horny layer.' This outer layer provides the first line of defense for the body against the external world and is made up of corneocytes. Corneocytes are made up of keratin filaments - flat cells that organize in a 'brick and mortar formation.' The outermost layer of the epidermis is called the stratum corneum, Latin for 'horny layer.' Mikael Häggström/Public | nan | [
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U.S. President Donald Trump tried to deflect attention from his response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic by repeatedly comparing it to President Barack Obama's handling of the H1N1 pandemic. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. For much of 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump tried to shift the spotlight on his response to the COVID-19 pandemic by criticizing former President Barack Obama's handling of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which Trump claimed resulted in the deaths of as many as 17,000 people. Also known as the 'Swine Flu,' the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus was first detected in the U.S. in April 2009 and quickly spread around the world, eventually prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global pandemic. Trump launched his first Twitter attack criticizing 'Sleepy Joe Biden' (Biden was vice president under Obama) and the Obama administration's response to the H1N1 pandemic on March 12, 2020, eight months before the presidential election in which Biden would be the Democratic challenger. As of this writing, at least 11 similarly phrased tweets had been posted by the president's account, the most recent of which was shared on Sept. 3, 2020. (An archived review of Trump's posts related to H1N1 can be found here.) He didn't just criticize Obama on Twitter. During a July 13 roundtable with law enforcement officers, a reporter asked Trump if the number of coronavirus cases was increasing because testing was also increasing. In his response, the president falsely claimed that the U.S. had one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates before pivoting the conversation to the Obama administration's response to the 2009 H1N1 flu. If you know, Biden and Obama stopped their testing; they just stopped it. You probably know that. I'm sure you don't want to report it. But they stopped testing. Right in the middle, they just went, 'No more testing,' and on a much lesser problem than the problem that we have, obviously with respect to - this is the worst thing that's happened since probably 1917. This is a very bad - all over the world. It's 188 countries right now. At a news conference the following day, the president further defended his actions during COVID-19. His claims about H1N1 testing are misleading, and some news publications have posited that the president's criticism of the Obama administration's response to H1N1 was an attempt to pivot attention away from the Trump administration's contentious response to COVID-19, while simultaneously taking jabs at then-presumed U.S. Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden. In an April 24, 2009, interview with Fox News, Trump had actually praised Obama's response to the H1N1 pandemic. The Obama administration didn't 'totally' stop testing, as Trump claimed. Rather, leading health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) halted some - but not all - forms of testing around the nation and revised the methods for how confirmed cases were reported in the months leading up to Obama's Oct. 24 national emergency declaration. A microscopic view of the H1N1 flu virus. CDC Human H1N1 infection was first detected in California on April 15, 2009, prompting WHO to declare a global public health emergency just 10 days later on April 25. The following day, Kathleen Sebelius, then-U.S. Secretary Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration, declared a public health emergency, a 90-day declaration that frees up additional funding for significant outbreaks of infectious disease. At the time, the U.S. had 20 confirmed cases, but no deaths had been reported. It wasn't until June 11 that WHO declared a pandemic. According to a timeline compiled by the CDC, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands had reported confirmed cases by June 19. During a July 24 press briefing, the agency announced its controversial decision to halt some H1N1 testing and to no longer require states to report H1N1 cases. The decision was made in large part due to the limited capabilities of testing available in 2009. Rapid influenza diagnostic tests at the time were incapable of distinguishing between H1N1 and the seasonal influenza A viruses, and by September 2009, it was estimated that more than 99% of flu viruses circulated in the U.S. were H1N1, making rapid testing for H1N1 an obsolete burden on the healthcare system. According to historical archives, the CDC concluded that the high likelihood of multiple strains of seasonal influenza viruses co-circulating with H1N1 made it nearly impossible to accurately determine the total case count and would ultimately result in a 'vast underestimate of the true number of cases' of H1N1 that could exacerbate biases throughout the pandemic as more people became ill. Laboratory tests for H1N1 available in 2009 could take up to a week to produce a diagnostic and were only recommended for individuals who were hospitalized with the suspected flu, pregnant, or had weakened immune systems. As the 2009 pandemic progressed, U.S. health officials also changed the way that H1N1 confirmed cases were reported. Though flu surveillance in 2009 was carried out throughout the year, routine flu reporting conducted by public health officials only occurred between October and May, during peak infection periods. The CDC shifted its priority from individual reporting of H1N1 cases to instead focus on describing the illness and its overall pattern and asked that states only report either laboratory-confirmed hospitalizations and deaths or syndromic cases, which are a combination of influenza or pneumonia. (Reporting data is available here.) The agency issued the following statement: Individual case counts were kept early during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak when the 2009 H1N1 virus first emerged. As the outbreak expanded and became more widespread, individual case counts become increasingly impractical and not representative of the true extent of the outbreak. This is because only a small proportion of persons with respiratory illness are actually tested and confirmed for influenza (including 2009 H1N1) so the true benefit of keeping track of these numbers is questionable. In addition, the extensive spread of 2009 H1N1 flu within the United States made it extremely resource-intensive for states to count individual cases. On July 24, 2009, CDC discontinued reporting of individual cases of 2009 H1N1 but continued to track hospitalizations and deaths. The CDC decision came after WHO announced on July 16 that it would no longer issue global reports on confirmed H1N1, as the agency no longer deemed such reporting essential to mitigating the spread of the virus to other countries. WHO said that the spread of H1N1 was 'considered inevitable' after the virus had swept across the globe with 'unprecedented speed.' Within a year of the first confirmed H1N1 case, the U.S. had roughly 60 million cases, resulting in 275,000 hospitalizations and more than 12,000 deaths. The WHO officially declared the end of the pandemic on Aug. 11, 2010. | nan | [] |
U.S. President Donald Trump tried to deflect attention from his response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic by repeatedly comparing it to President Barack Obama's handling of the H1N1 pandemic. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. For much of 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump tried to shift the spotlight on his response to the COVID-19 pandemic by criticizing former President Barack Obama's handling of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which Trump claimed resulted in the deaths of as many as 17,000 people. Also known as the 'Swine Flu,' the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus was first detected in the U.S. in April 2009 and quickly spread around the world, eventually prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global pandemic. Trump launched his first Twitter attack criticizing 'Sleepy Joe Biden' (Biden was vice president under Obama) and the Obama administration's response to the H1N1 pandemic on March 12, 2020, eight months before the presidential election in which Biden would be the Democratic challenger. As of this writing, at least 11 similarly phrased tweets had been posted by the president's account, the most recent of which was shared on Sept. 3, 2020. (An archived review of Trump's posts related to H1N1 can be found here.) He didn't just criticize Obama on Twitter. During a July 13 roundtable with law enforcement officers, a reporter asked Trump if the number of coronavirus cases was increasing because testing was also increasing. In his response, the president falsely claimed that the U.S. had one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates before pivoting the conversation to the Obama administration's response to the 2009 H1N1 flu. If you know, Biden and Obama stopped their testing; they just stopped it. You probably know that. I'm sure you don't want to report it. But they stopped testing. Right in the middle, they just went, 'No more testing,' and on a much lesser problem than the problem that we have, obviously with respect to - this is the worst thing that's happened since probably 1917. This is a very bad - all over the world. It's 188 countries right now. At a news conference the following day, the president further defended his actions during COVID-19. His claims about H1N1 testing are misleading, and some news publications have posited that the president's criticism of the Obama administration's response to H1N1 was an attempt to pivot attention away from the Trump administration's contentious response to COVID-19, while simultaneously taking jabs at then-presumed U.S. Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden. In an April 24, 2009, interview with Fox News, Trump had actually praised Obama's response to the H1N1 pandemic. The Obama administration didn't 'totally' stop testing, as Trump claimed. Rather, leading health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) halted some - but not all - forms of testing around the nation and revised the methods for how confirmed cases were reported in the months leading up to Obama's Oct. 24 national emergency declaration. A microscopic view of the H1N1 flu virus. CDC Human H1N1 infection was first detected in California on April 15, 2009, prompting WHO to declare a global public health emergency just 10 days later on April 25. The following day, Kathleen Sebelius, then-U.S. Secretary Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration, declared a public health emergency, a 90-day declaration that frees up additional funding for significant outbreaks of infectious disease. At the time, the U.S. had 20 confirmed cases, but no deaths had been reported. It wasn't until June 11 that WHO declared a pandemic. According to a timeline compiled by the CDC, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands had reported confirmed cases by June 19. During a July 24 press briefing, the agency announced its controversial decision to halt some H1N1 testing and to no longer require states to report H1N1 cases. The decision was made in large part due to the limited capabilities of testing available in 2009. Rapid influenza diagnostic tests at the time were incapable of distinguishing between H1N1 and the seasonal influenza A viruses, and by September 2009, it was estimated that more than 99% of flu viruses circulated in the U.S. were H1N1, making rapid testing for H1N1 an obsolete burden on the healthcare system. According to historical archives, the CDC concluded that the high likelihood of multiple strains of seasonal influenza viruses co-circulating with H1N1 made it nearly impossible to accurately determine the total case count and would ultimately result in a 'vast underestimate of the true number of cases' of H1N1 that could exacerbate biases throughout the pandemic as more people became ill. Laboratory tests for H1N1 available in 2009 could take up to a week to produce a diagnostic and were only recommended for individuals who were hospitalized with the suspected flu, pregnant, or had weakened immune systems. As the 2009 pandemic progressed, U.S. health officials also changed the way that H1N1 confirmed cases were reported. Though flu surveillance in 2009 was carried out throughout the year, routine flu reporting conducted by public health officials only occurred between October and May, during peak infection periods. The CDC shifted its priority from individual reporting of H1N1 cases to instead focus on describing the illness and its overall pattern and asked that states only report either laboratory-confirmed hospitalizations and deaths or syndromic cases, which are a combination of influenza or pneumonia. (Reporting data is available here.) The agency issued the following statement: Individual case counts were kept early during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak when the 2009 H1N1 virus first emerged. As the outbreak expanded and became more widespread, individual case counts become increasingly impractical and not representative of the true extent of the outbreak. This is because only a small proportion of persons with respiratory illness are actually tested and confirmed for influenza (including 2009 H1N1) so the true benefit of keeping track of these numbers is questionable. In addition, the extensive spread of 2009 H1N1 flu within the United States made it extremely resource-intensive for states to count individual cases. On July 24, 2009, CDC discontinued reporting of individual cases of 2009 H1N1 but continued to track hospitalizations and deaths. The CDC decision came after WHO announced on July 16 that it would no longer issue global reports on confirmed H1N1, as the agency no longer deemed such reporting essential to mitigating the spread of the virus to other countries. WHO said that the spread of H1N1 was 'considered inevitable' after the virus had swept across the globe with 'unprecedented speed.' Within a year of the first confirmed H1N1 case, the U.S. had roughly 60 million cases, resulting in 275,000 hospitalizations and more than 12,000 deaths. The WHO officially declared the end of the pandemic on Aug. 11, 2010. | nan | [] |
The town of Fucking, Austria, was renamed 'Fugging. | Entailment | In November 2020, a photograph supposedly showing two city workers in Austria changing the name of a town sign from 'Fucking' to 'Fugging' was circulated on social media: The country of Austria was truly home to a town called 'Fucking' for the last few centuries. In November 2020, however, the town of about 100 residents voted to change the name to something a little less obscene: Fugging. The Local reports that town residents, known as Fuckingers, were tired of tourists coming to take pictures with their town signs (or worse, stealing them) and the ridicule their town received online. The new name becomes official on Jan. 1, 2021. The Local reports: Residents of an Austrian village will ring in the new year under a new name - Fugging - after ridicule, especially on social media, became too much to bear. The villagers - who are officially known as Fuckingers - finally grew weary of Fucking. Minutes from a municipal council meeting published Thursday showed that the village of some 100 souls 350 kilometres (215 miles) east [sic] of Vienna will be named Fugging from January 1, 2021. [...] 'I can confirm that the village is being renamed,' said Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs. 'I really don't want to say anything more - we've had enough media frenzy about this in the past.' (We note that Fucking/Fugging is actually 350 km. west of Vienna, not east of Vienna as stated above.) Local lore suggests that the town's name of Fucking was derived from a Bavarian nobleman named Focko that settled in the area in the 6th century. Fugging's name has evolved over the centuries, spelled at various times as Fukching, Fugkhing, Fuking, and Fucking, which, in the local dialect, is pronounced 'fooking.' Although changing the town's name from Fucking to Fugging may stop tourists from stealing town signs, this town will likely lose its spot on the map of 'rudest place names in the world,' which includes memorable locales like Butt Street, Intercourse Island, Break Wind Reserve, and Mount Fanny. Recent Updates Correction [Dec. 7, 2020]: Added note to stipulate that Fucking/Fugging is located west of Vienna, not east as claimed by a quoted source. | nan | [
"12178-proof-02-fucking-fugging.jpg",
"12178-proof-04-GettyImages-1229905391.jpg"
] |
Actor Misha Collins interned at the White House during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration. | Entailment | In December 2020, a Tumblr post went viral about actor Misha Collins' interning at the White House during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration and writing of an op-ed article in defense of Monica Lewinsky. This, in turn, led to unfounded, untrue, and silly speculation that the actor had once had an affair with the former president. The 'sex scandal' angle of this rumor is simply the result of overactive imaginations, but it is true that Collins once interned at the White House. The above-displayed screenshot was widely shared on social media, however, the original Tumblr post contained two additional bullet points that attempted to stop the spread of false claims concerning an affair between Collins and Clinton: No, Misha Collins did not fuck Bill Clinton. (Can't believe that is a sentence I just typed in the year of our lord 2020.) Yes, Misha did use his position to speak out against the media harassment and victim-blaming of Monica Lewinksy. Sorry to ruin the fun, but I feel like the 'misha fucked bill clinton' joke overshadows the actual story, which is that Misha is just a good dude who stood up for Lewinsky when the rest of the nation was treating her as a laughing stock. Imaginary sex scandal aside, it's true that Collins interned at the White House. The former 'Supernatural' star, who was born Dmitri Krushnic, interned at the White House for about four months circa 1994. Collins has publicly discussed his internship a few times in the past. For instance, at the 'BosCon' conference in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2011 he told a story about how he was once tasked with writing official correspondence letters during his internship. At another conference, Collins told a story about how he used to steal security passes: While the first portion of this video involves a humorous (and possibly incriminating) story from Collins, he touches on a more relevant topic at the end of this clip when he notes that Clinton was often viewed and treated as if he were a celebrity. Collins discussed this idea at length in an article he wrote for Baltimore Sun a few weeks after news broke about Clinton having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in January 1998. Collins (who used his birth name Dmitri Krushnic for the article) wrote that while Lewinsky was often painted as 'infatuated' and 'star struck' with the president, these descriptions could have been applied to any number of other interns. Thu, Jan 29, 1998 - Page 113 · The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) · Newspapers.com Here are a few excerpts from the story: Shorty before Monica Lewinsky began her White House internship in 1995, I completed a four-month-long internship there. Since news broke last week about allegations of a sexual affair between Ms. Lewinsky and President Clinton, I've intently followed the story, and reflected on my White House memories. At least one element of the unfolding story seems misleading. In attempting to find clues about Ms. Lewinsky's behavior to determine whether they suggest an affair, the media have reported that sources describe Ms. Lewinsky as 'infatuated' with the president, 'star struck' and even 'a stalker.' [...] I contend that the description of her behavior could fit any number of young interns. To varying degrees, the vast majority of White House interns and volunteers thrived on their brushes with Mr. Clinton. When I first arrived at the White House, I recall watching two young male interns surreptitiously climb out of a first-floor window into the Rose Garden and make a beeline to the South Lawn, where they pushed their way through a small crowd of foreign dignitaries to get next to Mr. Clinton; one smiled broadly while the other intern snapped a not-so-candid photo of his pal with the commander in chief. [...] The chance to tell your friends that you had seen the president jogging or that he had patted you on the shoulder or that you had received a Christmas card from the first family is the stuff that White House intern dreams are made of. If Monica Lewinsky had not seemed like a star-struck, infatuated stalker who hung around the West Wing every chance she got, then it would be fair to say her behavior in the White House was suspicious. Collins truly interned at the White House during the Clinton administration, and after the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke he truly published an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun in which he defended Lewinsky against some 'misleading' descriptions of her in the news media. These tidbits have led to jokes and some silly speculation about Collins and Clinton having an affair, some of which has been peddled by Collins himself. When the internet caught wind of these rumors in 2011, Collins posted the following message on Twitter: Someone dug up an article i wrote years ago. (Dmitri's my other name.) (Bill Clinton still asks me to wear a blue dress every time we meet.) - Misha Collins (@mishacollins) August 30, | nan | [
"12274-proof-03-1200px-Misha_Collins_36114930301.jpg"
] |
Actor Misha Collins interned at the White House during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration. | Entailment | In December 2020, a Tumblr post went viral about actor Misha Collins' interning at the White House during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration and writing of an op-ed article in defense of Monica Lewinsky. This, in turn, led to unfounded, untrue, and silly speculation that the actor had once had an affair with the former president. The 'sex scandal' angle of this rumor is simply the result of overactive imaginations, but it is true that Collins once interned at the White House. The above-displayed screenshot was widely shared on social media, however, the original Tumblr post contained two additional bullet points that attempted to stop the spread of false claims concerning an affair between Collins and Clinton: No, Misha Collins did not fuck Bill Clinton. (Can't believe that is a sentence I just typed in the year of our lord 2020.) Yes, Misha did use his position to speak out against the media harassment and victim-blaming of Monica Lewinksy. Sorry to ruin the fun, but I feel like the 'misha fucked bill clinton' joke overshadows the actual story, which is that Misha is just a good dude who stood up for Lewinsky when the rest of the nation was treating her as a laughing stock. Imaginary sex scandal aside, it's true that Collins interned at the White House. The former 'Supernatural' star, who was born Dmitri Krushnic, interned at the White House for about four months circa 1994. Collins has publicly discussed his internship a few times in the past. For instance, at the 'BosCon' conference in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2011 he told a story about how he was once tasked with writing official correspondence letters during his internship. At another conference, Collins told a story about how he used to steal security passes: While the first portion of this video involves a humorous (and possibly incriminating) story from Collins, he touches on a more relevant topic at the end of this clip when he notes that Clinton was often viewed and treated as if he were a celebrity. Collins discussed this idea at length in an article he wrote for Baltimore Sun a few weeks after news broke about Clinton having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in January 1998. Collins (who used his birth name Dmitri Krushnic for the article) wrote that while Lewinsky was often painted as 'infatuated' and 'star struck' with the president, these descriptions could have been applied to any number of other interns. Thu, Jan 29, 1998 - Page 113 · The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) · Newspapers.com Here are a few excerpts from the story: Shorty before Monica Lewinsky began her White House internship in 1995, I completed a four-month-long internship there. Since news broke last week about allegations of a sexual affair between Ms. Lewinsky and President Clinton, I've intently followed the story, and reflected on my White House memories. At least one element of the unfolding story seems misleading. In attempting to find clues about Ms. Lewinsky's behavior to determine whether they suggest an affair, the media have reported that sources describe Ms. Lewinsky as 'infatuated' with the president, 'star struck' and even 'a stalker.' [...] I contend that the description of her behavior could fit any number of young interns. To varying degrees, the vast majority of White House interns and volunteers thrived on their brushes with Mr. Clinton. When I first arrived at the White House, I recall watching two young male interns surreptitiously climb out of a first-floor window into the Rose Garden and make a beeline to the South Lawn, where they pushed their way through a small crowd of foreign dignitaries to get next to Mr. Clinton; one smiled broadly while the other intern snapped a not-so-candid photo of his pal with the commander in chief. [...] The chance to tell your friends that you had seen the president jogging or that he had patted you on the shoulder or that you had received a Christmas card from the first family is the stuff that White House intern dreams are made of. If Monica Lewinsky had not seemed like a star-struck, infatuated stalker who hung around the West Wing every chance she got, then it would be fair to say her behavior in the White House was suspicious. Collins truly interned at the White House during the Clinton administration, and after the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke he truly published an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun in which he defended Lewinsky against some 'misleading' descriptions of her in the news media. These tidbits have led to jokes and some silly speculation about Collins and Clinton having an affair, some of which has been peddled by Collins himself. When the internet caught wind of these rumors in 2011, Collins posted the following message on Twitter: Someone dug up an article i wrote years ago. (Dmitri's my other name.) (Bill Clinton still asks me to wear a blue dress every time we meet.) - Misha Collins (@mishacollins) August 30, | nan | [
"12274-proof-03-1200px-Misha_Collins_36114930301.jpg"
] |
Actor Misha Collins interned at the White House during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration. | Entailment | In December 2020, a Tumblr post went viral about actor Misha Collins' interning at the White House during U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration and writing of an op-ed article in defense of Monica Lewinsky. This, in turn, led to unfounded, untrue, and silly speculation that the actor had once had an affair with the former president. The 'sex scandal' angle of this rumor is simply the result of overactive imaginations, but it is true that Collins once interned at the White House. The above-displayed screenshot was widely shared on social media, however, the original Tumblr post contained two additional bullet points that attempted to stop the spread of false claims concerning an affair between Collins and Clinton: No, Misha Collins did not fuck Bill Clinton. (Can't believe that is a sentence I just typed in the year of our lord 2020.) Yes, Misha did use his position to speak out against the media harassment and victim-blaming of Monica Lewinksy. Sorry to ruin the fun, but I feel like the 'misha fucked bill clinton' joke overshadows the actual story, which is that Misha is just a good dude who stood up for Lewinsky when the rest of the nation was treating her as a laughing stock. Imaginary sex scandal aside, it's true that Collins interned at the White House. The former 'Supernatural' star, who was born Dmitri Krushnic, interned at the White House for about four months circa 1994. Collins has publicly discussed his internship a few times in the past. For instance, at the 'BosCon' conference in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2011 he told a story about how he was once tasked with writing official correspondence letters during his internship. At another conference, Collins told a story about how he used to steal security passes: While the first portion of this video involves a humorous (and possibly incriminating) story from Collins, he touches on a more relevant topic at the end of this clip when he notes that Clinton was often viewed and treated as if he were a celebrity. Collins discussed this idea at length in an article he wrote for Baltimore Sun a few weeks after news broke about Clinton having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in January 1998. Collins (who used his birth name Dmitri Krushnic for the article) wrote that while Lewinsky was often painted as 'infatuated' and 'star struck' with the president, these descriptions could have been applied to any number of other interns. Thu, Jan 29, 1998 - Page 113 · The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) · Newspapers.com Here are a few excerpts from the story: Shorty before Monica Lewinsky began her White House internship in 1995, I completed a four-month-long internship there. Since news broke last week about allegations of a sexual affair between Ms. Lewinsky and President Clinton, I've intently followed the story, and reflected on my White House memories. At least one element of the unfolding story seems misleading. In attempting to find clues about Ms. Lewinsky's behavior to determine whether they suggest an affair, the media have reported that sources describe Ms. Lewinsky as 'infatuated' with the president, 'star struck' and even 'a stalker.' [...] I contend that the description of her behavior could fit any number of young interns. To varying degrees, the vast majority of White House interns and volunteers thrived on their brushes with Mr. Clinton. When I first arrived at the White House, I recall watching two young male interns surreptitiously climb out of a first-floor window into the Rose Garden and make a beeline to the South Lawn, where they pushed their way through a small crowd of foreign dignitaries to get next to Mr. Clinton; one smiled broadly while the other intern snapped a not-so-candid photo of his pal with the commander in chief. [...] The chance to tell your friends that you had seen the president jogging or that he had patted you on the shoulder or that you had received a Christmas card from the first family is the stuff that White House intern dreams are made of. If Monica Lewinsky had not seemed like a star-struck, infatuated stalker who hung around the West Wing every chance she got, then it would be fair to say her behavior in the White House was suspicious. Collins truly interned at the White House during the Clinton administration, and after the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke he truly published an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun in which he defended Lewinsky against some 'misleading' descriptions of her in the news media. These tidbits have led to jokes and some silly speculation about Collins and Clinton having an affair, some of which has been peddled by Collins himself. When the internet caught wind of these rumors in 2011, Collins posted the following message on Twitter: Someone dug up an article i wrote years ago. (Dmitri's my other name.) (Bill Clinton still asks me to wear a blue dress every time we meet.) - Misha Collins (@mishacollins) August 30, | nan | [
"12274-proof-03-1200px-Misha_Collins_36114930301.jpg"
] |
A video shows a golfing robot hitting a hole-in-one. | Entailment | Robotic laboratories such as Boston Dynamics have created some impressively agile and skilled robots over the years that can run, climb stairs, pick up objects, and perform other basic tasks. At the same time, digital editing software has made it easier to create computer generated images of realistic looking robots. So when readers came across the following video in October 2019 that supposedly showed a robot hitting a hole-in-one, some weren't exactly sure what to think. Was this a feat of mechanical engineering? Or just another digitally created hoax? Golf robot scores a hole-in-one from r/nextfuckinglevel This is a genuine video of a robot golfer hitting a hole-in-one. This video was filmed in 2016 at the TPC Scottsdale golf course in Arizona and shows a robot named LDRIC. The robot's name stands for Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry, and is pronounced 'Eldrick,' which is the actual first name of professional golfer Tiger Woods. CBS News reported: Get ready to meet the next big thing in golf. LDRIC (Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry) is a robot that sunk a hole-in-one at a PGA event this week The robotic sports star's moniker is - phonetically - in honor of Tiger Woods's birth name, 'Eldrick.' The robot made the hole-in-one on the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday. LDRIC was developed by Golf Laboratories, a robotics company that develops machines like this one to test out new golf club designs. Pro golfer Gary McCord collaborated with the company on the robot. LDRIC has a pretty powerful swing - it can hit a ball up to 130 mph and can replicate the swing of any golfer out there, its developers say. According to NPR, it took LDRIC five attempts to sink this hole-in-one. LDRIC was designed by Gene Parente of Golf Laboratories to test golf equipment and can replicate a variety of shots. Here's a video of Parente, professional golfer Gary McCord, and LDRICK on the golf course: LDRIC The Golf Robot - HD from The Golf Agency on Vimeo. 'Golf is an incredibly difficult game,' Parente said. 'To see it done well and consistently is attractive to the average player, the better player and the beginning player. And, to see it done by a robot is just cool! Not only does LDRIC play golf, it can duplicate any swing under highly repeatable conditions. We can simulate launch conditions, swing trajectory, landing angles - all of the technical data you can think of, we can duplicate.' | nan | [
"12297-proof-02-golf-robot-snopes.jpg"
] |
A video shows a golfing robot hitting a hole-in-one. | Entailment | Robotic laboratories such as Boston Dynamics have created some impressively agile and skilled robots over the years that can run, climb stairs, pick up objects, and perform other basic tasks. At the same time, digital editing software has made it easier to create computer generated images of realistic looking robots. So when readers came across the following video in October 2019 that supposedly showed a robot hitting a hole-in-one, some weren't exactly sure what to think. Was this a feat of mechanical engineering? Or just another digitally created hoax? Golf robot scores a hole-in-one from r/nextfuckinglevel This is a genuine video of a robot golfer hitting a hole-in-one. This video was filmed in 2016 at the TPC Scottsdale golf course in Arizona and shows a robot named LDRIC. The robot's name stands for Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry, and is pronounced 'Eldrick,' which is the actual first name of professional golfer Tiger Woods. CBS News reported: Get ready to meet the next big thing in golf. LDRIC (Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry) is a robot that sunk a hole-in-one at a PGA event this week The robotic sports star's moniker is - phonetically - in honor of Tiger Woods's birth name, 'Eldrick.' The robot made the hole-in-one on the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday. LDRIC was developed by Golf Laboratories, a robotics company that develops machines like this one to test out new golf club designs. Pro golfer Gary McCord collaborated with the company on the robot. LDRIC has a pretty powerful swing - it can hit a ball up to 130 mph and can replicate the swing of any golfer out there, its developers say. According to NPR, it took LDRIC five attempts to sink this hole-in-one. LDRIC was designed by Gene Parente of Golf Laboratories to test golf equipment and can replicate a variety of shots. Here's a video of Parente, professional golfer Gary McCord, and LDRICK on the golf course: LDRIC The Golf Robot - HD from The Golf Agency on Vimeo. 'Golf is an incredibly difficult game,' Parente said. 'To see it done well and consistently is attractive to the average player, the better player and the beginning player. And, to see it done by a robot is just cool! Not only does LDRIC play golf, it can duplicate any swing under highly repeatable conditions. We can simulate launch conditions, swing trajectory, landing angles - all of the technical data you can think of, we can duplicate.' | nan | [
"12297-proof-02-golf-robot-snopes.jpg"
] |
A video shows a golfing robot hitting a hole-in-one. | Entailment | Robotic laboratories such as Boston Dynamics have created some impressively agile and skilled robots over the years that can run, climb stairs, pick up objects, and perform other basic tasks. At the same time, digital editing software has made it easier to create computer generated images of realistic looking robots. So when readers came across the following video in October 2019 that supposedly showed a robot hitting a hole-in-one, some weren't exactly sure what to think. Was this a feat of mechanical engineering? Or just another digitally created hoax? Golf robot scores a hole-in-one from r/nextfuckinglevel This is a genuine video of a robot golfer hitting a hole-in-one. This video was filmed in 2016 at the TPC Scottsdale golf course in Arizona and shows a robot named LDRIC. The robot's name stands for Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry, and is pronounced 'Eldrick,' which is the actual first name of professional golfer Tiger Woods. CBS News reported: Get ready to meet the next big thing in golf. LDRIC (Launch Directional Robot Intelligent Circuitry) is a robot that sunk a hole-in-one at a PGA event this week The robotic sports star's moniker is - phonetically - in honor of Tiger Woods's birth name, 'Eldrick.' The robot made the hole-in-one on the 16th hole of the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Wednesday. LDRIC was developed by Golf Laboratories, a robotics company that develops machines like this one to test out new golf club designs. Pro golfer Gary McCord collaborated with the company on the robot. LDRIC has a pretty powerful swing - it can hit a ball up to 130 mph and can replicate the swing of any golfer out there, its developers say. According to NPR, it took LDRIC five attempts to sink this hole-in-one. LDRIC was designed by Gene Parente of Golf Laboratories to test golf equipment and can replicate a variety of shots. Here's a video of Parente, professional golfer Gary McCord, and LDRICK on the golf course: LDRIC The Golf Robot - HD from The Golf Agency on Vimeo. 'Golf is an incredibly difficult game,' Parente said. 'To see it done well and consistently is attractive to the average player, the better player and the beginning player. And, to see it done by a robot is just cool! Not only does LDRIC play golf, it can duplicate any swing under highly repeatable conditions. We can simulate launch conditions, swing trajectory, landing angles - all of the technical data you can think of, we can duplicate.' | nan | [
"12297-proof-02-golf-robot-snopes.jpg"
] |
In October 2021, Donald Trump Jr. was promoting and selling merchandise with the slogan, 'Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people. | Entailment | On Oct. 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins, director of photography on the set of the movie 'Rust,' was accidentally killed when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun. In the wake of this tragedy, Donald Trump Jr. started to promote and sell shirts that read: 'Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.' This is a genuine product that was available for purchase on Don Jr.'s website, shopdonjr.com. The former U.S. president's son has also promoted these items on Instagram. In one Instagram story, Trump Jr. wrote, 'Get Yours Today [at] shopdonjr.com.' In another post, he shared a doctored image that supposedly showed Baldwin wearing one of these shirts: The death of Hutchins is currently under investigation. As of this writing, nobody has been arrested. While it's possible that Baldwin will be held responsible in some fashion for Hutchins' death (in addition to being an actor, he was also producing the film), a search warrant noted that Baldwin was told the gun didn't have live rounds when he was handed the prop weapon. NBC News reported: Alec Baldwin didn't know the prop gun he fired was loaded with live ammunition and neither did the assistant director who handed it to him before the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set Thursday, a search warrant document said. The assistant director yelled, 'Cold gun,' before the shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins, 42, and wounded director Joel Souza, 48, on the set of 'Rust' at Bonanza Creek Ranch, according to an affidavit filed in a Santa Fe court. The term 'cold gun' is intended to indicate that the weapon did not have any live rounds, according to the document obtained by NBC affiliate KOB of Albuquerque and other news outlets. Baldwin, who portrayed former President Donald Trump on 'Saturday Night Live' and appeared in campaigns to oppose the influence of the National Rifle Association, was also the subject of disinformation in the days after the incident as social media users shared fake newspaper clippings falsely claiming that he was ranting about Trump or acting erratically in the moments before the shooting. | nan | [
"12323-proof-10-trump-jr-shirts.jpg",
"12323-proof-11-fake-real-baldwin.jpg",
"12323-proof-12-don-jr-shirt.jpg"
] |
In October 2021, Donald Trump Jr. was promoting and selling merchandise with the slogan, 'Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people. | Entailment | On Oct. 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins, director of photography on the set of the movie 'Rust,' was accidentally killed when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun. In the wake of this tragedy, Donald Trump Jr. started to promote and sell shirts that read: 'Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.' This is a genuine product that was available for purchase on Don Jr.'s website, shopdonjr.com. The former U.S. president's son has also promoted these items on Instagram. In one Instagram story, Trump Jr. wrote, 'Get Yours Today [at] shopdonjr.com.' In another post, he shared a doctored image that supposedly showed Baldwin wearing one of these shirts: The death of Hutchins is currently under investigation. As of this writing, nobody has been arrested. While it's possible that Baldwin will be held responsible in some fashion for Hutchins' death (in addition to being an actor, he was also producing the film), a search warrant noted that Baldwin was told the gun didn't have live rounds when he was handed the prop weapon. NBC News reported: Alec Baldwin didn't know the prop gun he fired was loaded with live ammunition and neither did the assistant director who handed it to him before the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set Thursday, a search warrant document said. The assistant director yelled, 'Cold gun,' before the shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins, 42, and wounded director Joel Souza, 48, on the set of 'Rust' at Bonanza Creek Ranch, according to an affidavit filed in a Santa Fe court. The term 'cold gun' is intended to indicate that the weapon did not have any live rounds, according to the document obtained by NBC affiliate KOB of Albuquerque and other news outlets. Baldwin, who portrayed former President Donald Trump on 'Saturday Night Live' and appeared in campaigns to oppose the influence of the National Rifle Association, was also the subject of disinformation in the days after the incident as social media users shared fake newspaper clippings falsely claiming that he was ranting about Trump or acting erratically in the moments before the shooting. | nan | [
"12323-proof-10-trump-jr-shirts.jpg",
"12323-proof-11-fake-real-baldwin.jpg",
"12323-proof-12-don-jr-shirt.jpg"
] |
Country music icon Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. In November 2020, amid skyrocketing new COVID-19 cases worldwide, came good news: Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna announced promising preliminary findings in their ongoing efforts to develop vaccines to fight the disease ravaging the world. And as an added cherry on top, the Moderna vaccine got a boost from none other than beloved country music icon Dolly Parton. Parton did donate money to help fund research into the coronavirus vaccine, as she acknowledged herself on her Twitter account: When I donated the money to the Covid fund I just wanted it to do good and evidently, it is! Let's just hope we can find a cure real soon. pic.twitter.com/dQgDWexO0C - Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) November 17, 2020 Parton's name can be found in the funding disclosure on an article about the vaccine in the New England Journal of Medicine: According to Vanderbilt University, Parton made a donation to the institution to support COVID-19 research in honor of her friend, Dr. Naji Abumrad, professor of surgery at Vanderbilt. Her donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt 'partially funded the biotechnology firm Moderna's experimental vaccine, which a preliminary analysis released this week found is nearly 95 percent effective at preventing the illness,' per The Washington Post. Moderna, along with Pfizer, is racing to release a vaccine to fight the COVID-19 disease that has killed nearly a quarter of a million Americans. The Parton story was a rare piece of good news to share in 2020 and prompted people to celebrate by singing one of Parton's most famous songs, 'Jolene,' replacing the title lyric with the word 'vaccine.' I couldn't resist trying it immediately, though I had to sing a bit more quietly than I typically would-for this tune in particular-because my family's all asleep right now. But you can see it scans, good enough for country at least! pic.twitter.com/joQL29e7Uk - Ryan Cordell aka Ryan Cordrell (@ryancordell) November 17, | nan | [
"12336-proof-01-GettyImages-1182590558.jpg"
] |
Country music icon Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. In November 2020, amid skyrocketing new COVID-19 cases worldwide, came good news: Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna announced promising preliminary findings in their ongoing efforts to develop vaccines to fight the disease ravaging the world. And as an added cherry on top, the Moderna vaccine got a boost from none other than beloved country music icon Dolly Parton. Parton did donate money to help fund research into the coronavirus vaccine, as she acknowledged herself on her Twitter account: When I donated the money to the Covid fund I just wanted it to do good and evidently, it is! Let's just hope we can find a cure real soon. pic.twitter.com/dQgDWexO0C - Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) November 17, 2020 Parton's name can be found in the funding disclosure on an article about the vaccine in the New England Journal of Medicine: According to Vanderbilt University, Parton made a donation to the institution to support COVID-19 research in honor of her friend, Dr. Naji Abumrad, professor of surgery at Vanderbilt. Her donation of $1 million to Vanderbilt 'partially funded the biotechnology firm Moderna's experimental vaccine, which a preliminary analysis released this week found is nearly 95 percent effective at preventing the illness,' per The Washington Post. Moderna, along with Pfizer, is racing to release a vaccine to fight the COVID-19 disease that has killed nearly a quarter of a million Americans. The Parton story was a rare piece of good news to share in 2020 and prompted people to celebrate by singing one of Parton's most famous songs, 'Jolene,' replacing the title lyric with the word 'vaccine.' I couldn't resist trying it immediately, though I had to sing a bit more quietly than I typically would-for this tune in particular-because my family's all asleep right now. But you can see it scans, good enough for country at least! pic.twitter.com/joQL29e7Uk - Ryan Cordell aka Ryan Cordrell (@ryancordell) November 17, | nan | [
"12336-proof-01-GettyImages-1182590558.jpg"
] |
A photograph shows rocker Alice Cooper together with actress Jean Stapleton. | Entailment | Did Alice Cooper, the godfather of shock rock, and Jean Stapleton, the actress who played matriarch Edith Bunker on the television series All in the Family, really hang out together? A viral image supposedly showing the two celebrities at a party was met with some skepticism as it circulated on social media in March 2019: While the Internet is full of manipulated images of celebrity pairings, this is a genuine picture of Stapleton and Cooper. Many viewers claimed that this photograph was taken at Studio 54 sometime in the 1970s and that Stapleton was wearing some sort of 'bondage' attire. However, this picture was actually snapped at the 'Shakespeare Cabaret' during a Free Shakespeare Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in August 1973. Stapleton's 'bondage' outfit is actually a 'chorus girl' costume that she wore as part of the show. Atom Splitter PR, the boutique music public relations firm that represents Cooper, confirmed to us that this photograph was real and was taken during the cabaret: 'The photo is from a celeb-riddled charity gala at the Hollywood Bowl called 'A Shakespeare Cabaret' on August 19, 1973. Alice performed 'Gutter Cat Vs The Jets/Streetfight' (from the 'School's Out' album) that night. Stapleton may have also performed, but we don't have any info in that regard. Photographer is unknown to us.' While we haven't uncovered many specifics about Stapleton's performance, the Los Angeles Times reported that the actress would play a 'chorus girl' during the show. The actress also told the paper that her 'Edith Bunker image' would 'self-destruct in a Vegas-type act.' Sun, Aug 12, 1973 - 492 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com While we still haven't managed to identify the photographer who took this viral photograph, we did uncover a second image of the godfather of shock rock and Stapleton at this gala. In the following image, which features Cooper holding balloons next to a person in a Planet of the Apes mask, Stapleton can be seen walking by in the background: | nan | [
"12382-proof-02-cooper-and-bunker.jpg",
"12382-proof-03-cooper-and-bunker-1.jpg"
] |
Photographs taken from a yacht show the formation of an island via a volcanic eruption at sea. | Entailment | In August 2006, the crew of the yacht Maiken, sailing out of the Vava'u island group, encountered a remarkable 'stone sea.' The phenomena they spotted were a series of pumice rafts resulting from a nearby eruption, one that was forming a new volcanic island in Tonga: Amazing Sight in the Pacific August 2006, the yacht 'Maiken' is traveling in the south Pacific when they came across a weird sight... It was sand in the water, and floating ON TOP of the waves... This is not a beach, it is volcanic stones floating on the water. The trail left by the yacht... And then this was spotted ... ash and steam rising from the ocean ... And, while they were watching ... A plume of black ash... A brand new island formed... As Maiken crewmember Håkan Larsson reported in his blog entry for that day: We left Neiafu and Vava'u yesterday after some tedious checking out procedures and set sail for Fiji, passing the north side of Late island as first way point. After five miles we noticed brown, somewhat grainy streaks in the water. First we thought that it might be an old oil dumping. Some ship cleaning its tanks. But the streak became larger and more frequent after a while, and there were rocklike brownish things the size of a fist floating in the sea. And the water were strangely green and 'lagoon like' too. Eventually it became more and more clear to us that it had to be pumice from a volcanic eruption. And then we sailed into a vast, many miles wide, belt of densely packed pumice. We were going by motor due to lack of wind and within seconds Maiken slowed down from seven to one knot. We were so fascinated and busy taking pictures that we plowed a couple of hundred meter into this surreal floating stone field before we realized that we had to turn back. Just as we came out of the stone field and entered reasonably normal water we noticed that there came no cooling water from the engine. Not surprising, really. After cleaning the water filter the Yanmar diesel started again. Thank God! Without wind we would have been stuck in a sea of stone if the motor had failed. Next thing to check was the other water inlets. Some minor pumice particles but nothing serious. But the bottom paint were scrubbed away at places along the waterline, Maiken has an ablative paint so it was just doing what is supposed to do. Like we'd sailed through sandpaper. So, we headed back east to get away from the stony sea. There are two active volcanoes south of Late island, adjacent to Metis shoal and Home reef. Since we didn't know which one had erupted, the extent of the eruption and it was getting dark the we decided to anchor in Vaiutukakau bay outside Vava'u for the night. The sky darkened fast from rain clouds over Vava'u and we sailed leaving the stone sea onto darkness towards a perfect rainbow ahead, like a big welcoming arcade. It was completely dark when we anchored close to land at 25 meters depth. In the morning we woke to birds song. Lot of birds nesting on the steep hillside next to us. After checking the motor and boat we set out again. We decided to go south of Metis reef to go clear of the stony debris. Just after leaving Vaiutukakau bay we encountered three whales, probably two males and a female, playing in front of us. They circled around the boat only meters away for a while, seemingly interested of Maiken, before swimming away. A couple of hours ago we identified the active volcano as the one close to Home reef, and we are on our way there now to take a closer look. We are two miles from it and we can see the volcano clearly. One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a central crater smoking with steam and once in a while an outburst high in the sky with lava and ashes. I think were the first ones out here so perhaps we could claim the island and name them(?) Alas, the island didn't last very long. By the time volcanologist Scott Bryan of London's Kingston University managed to get out to the area a few months later to see it for himself, it was nearly completely washed away, leaving only the lingering scent of sulfur - a clue that magma was still cooling inside. A rehash of this item was run under the clickbait headline 'When This Boat Crew Realized What They Were Seeing, It Was Almost Too Late to Escape' and falsely suggested that the Maiken's crew barely escaped death while viewing the eruption (from a safe distance): We don't really think about it on a daily basis, but the Earth is still changing all the time. It just happens so slowly that we can't really perceive it. But every now and then, things speed up ... a lot. Recently, the crew of the Maiken was enjoying a leisurely sail through the South Pacific when they spotted a strange discoloration on the water. They moved in closer to inspect it, but by the time they realized what it was, it was too late.The crew of the Maiken was sailing the South Pacific when they spotted an unusual shadow. As they got closer, what they had taken to be a sandbar revealed itself to be something else entirely. A huge amount of pumice stone was floating to the surface of the water. It looked like a beach. They decided to get a closer look and redirected their yacht towards it. It looks like a beach in the middle of the ocean! The crew decided to sail through it, leaving a break in the stone behind them as they went. They wondered what could have caused this expanse of stone to suddenly appear. The field of pumice was getting even larger as they passed through it. The crew had an uneasy feeling and upped their speed. Once they were a safe distance away, they heard a faint rumbling. Looking back they saw water bubbling from the surface. The source of the pumice stone was an underwater volcano that was actually erupting at the time! They anchored to watch this tremendous event. Massive plumes of smoke filled the sky. As the smoke cleared, they noticed something strange just at the water's surface... It was land! The stunned crew couldn't believe what they were seeing: It was the actual birth of a new island. They sailed a little bit closer to see if their eyes were playing tricks on them. But it was real. The peaks of this new land mass were already taking form. It was one of the rarest events imaginable. They were so lucky! Not only because they were able to witness such an impossible sight ... but also because they apparently very narrowly escaped with their lives! | nan | [
"12579-proof-09-maiken_island_fb.jpg"
] |
Photographs taken from a yacht show the formation of an island via a volcanic eruption at sea. | Entailment | In August 2006, the crew of the yacht Maiken, sailing out of the Vava'u island group, encountered a remarkable 'stone sea.' The phenomena they spotted were a series of pumice rafts resulting from a nearby eruption, one that was forming a new volcanic island in Tonga: Amazing Sight in the Pacific August 2006, the yacht 'Maiken' is traveling in the south Pacific when they came across a weird sight... It was sand in the water, and floating ON TOP of the waves... This is not a beach, it is volcanic stones floating on the water. The trail left by the yacht... And then this was spotted ... ash and steam rising from the ocean ... And, while they were watching ... A plume of black ash... A brand new island formed... As Maiken crewmember Håkan Larsson reported in his blog entry for that day: We left Neiafu and Vava'u yesterday after some tedious checking out procedures and set sail for Fiji, passing the north side of Late island as first way point. After five miles we noticed brown, somewhat grainy streaks in the water. First we thought that it might be an old oil dumping. Some ship cleaning its tanks. But the streak became larger and more frequent after a while, and there were rocklike brownish things the size of a fist floating in the sea. And the water were strangely green and 'lagoon like' too. Eventually it became more and more clear to us that it had to be pumice from a volcanic eruption. And then we sailed into a vast, many miles wide, belt of densely packed pumice. We were going by motor due to lack of wind and within seconds Maiken slowed down from seven to one knot. We were so fascinated and busy taking pictures that we plowed a couple of hundred meter into this surreal floating stone field before we realized that we had to turn back. Just as we came out of the stone field and entered reasonably normal water we noticed that there came no cooling water from the engine. Not surprising, really. After cleaning the water filter the Yanmar diesel started again. Thank God! Without wind we would have been stuck in a sea of stone if the motor had failed. Next thing to check was the other water inlets. Some minor pumice particles but nothing serious. But the bottom paint were scrubbed away at places along the waterline, Maiken has an ablative paint so it was just doing what is supposed to do. Like we'd sailed through sandpaper. So, we headed back east to get away from the stony sea. There are two active volcanoes south of Late island, adjacent to Metis shoal and Home reef. Since we didn't know which one had erupted, the extent of the eruption and it was getting dark the we decided to anchor in Vaiutukakau bay outside Vava'u for the night. The sky darkened fast from rain clouds over Vava'u and we sailed leaving the stone sea onto darkness towards a perfect rainbow ahead, like a big welcoming arcade. It was completely dark when we anchored close to land at 25 meters depth. In the morning we woke to birds song. Lot of birds nesting on the steep hillside next to us. After checking the motor and boat we set out again. We decided to go south of Metis reef to go clear of the stony debris. Just after leaving Vaiutukakau bay we encountered three whales, probably two males and a female, playing in front of us. They circled around the boat only meters away for a while, seemingly interested of Maiken, before swimming away. A couple of hours ago we identified the active volcano as the one close to Home reef, and we are on our way there now to take a closer look. We are two miles from it and we can see the volcano clearly. One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a central crater smoking with steam and once in a while an outburst high in the sky with lava and ashes. I think were the first ones out here so perhaps we could claim the island and name them(?) Alas, the island didn't last very long. By the time volcanologist Scott Bryan of London's Kingston University managed to get out to the area a few months later to see it for himself, it was nearly completely washed away, leaving only the lingering scent of sulfur - a clue that magma was still cooling inside. A rehash of this item was run under the clickbait headline 'When This Boat Crew Realized What They Were Seeing, It Was Almost Too Late to Escape' and falsely suggested that the Maiken's crew barely escaped death while viewing the eruption (from a safe distance): We don't really think about it on a daily basis, but the Earth is still changing all the time. It just happens so slowly that we can't really perceive it. But every now and then, things speed up ... a lot. Recently, the crew of the Maiken was enjoying a leisurely sail through the South Pacific when they spotted a strange discoloration on the water. They moved in closer to inspect it, but by the time they realized what it was, it was too late.The crew of the Maiken was sailing the South Pacific when they spotted an unusual shadow. As they got closer, what they had taken to be a sandbar revealed itself to be something else entirely. A huge amount of pumice stone was floating to the surface of the water. It looked like a beach. They decided to get a closer look and redirected their yacht towards it. It looks like a beach in the middle of the ocean! The crew decided to sail through it, leaving a break in the stone behind them as they went. They wondered what could have caused this expanse of stone to suddenly appear. The field of pumice was getting even larger as they passed through it. The crew had an uneasy feeling and upped their speed. Once they were a safe distance away, they heard a faint rumbling. Looking back they saw water bubbling from the surface. The source of the pumice stone was an underwater volcano that was actually erupting at the time! They anchored to watch this tremendous event. Massive plumes of smoke filled the sky. As the smoke cleared, they noticed something strange just at the water's surface... It was land! The stunned crew couldn't believe what they were seeing: It was the actual birth of a new island. They sailed a little bit closer to see if their eyes were playing tricks on them. But it was real. The peaks of this new land mass were already taking form. It was one of the rarest events imaginable. They were so lucky! Not only because they were able to witness such an impossible sight ... but also because they apparently very narrowly escaped with their lives! | nan | [
"12579-proof-09-maiken_island_fb.jpg"
] |
Photographs taken from a yacht show the formation of an island via a volcanic eruption at sea. | Entailment | In August 2006, the crew of the yacht Maiken, sailing out of the Vava'u island group, encountered a remarkable 'stone sea.' The phenomena they spotted were a series of pumice rafts resulting from a nearby eruption, one that was forming a new volcanic island in Tonga: Amazing Sight in the Pacific August 2006, the yacht 'Maiken' is traveling in the south Pacific when they came across a weird sight... It was sand in the water, and floating ON TOP of the waves... This is not a beach, it is volcanic stones floating on the water. The trail left by the yacht... And then this was spotted ... ash and steam rising from the ocean ... And, while they were watching ... A plume of black ash... A brand new island formed... As Maiken crewmember Håkan Larsson reported in his blog entry for that day: We left Neiafu and Vava'u yesterday after some tedious checking out procedures and set sail for Fiji, passing the north side of Late island as first way point. After five miles we noticed brown, somewhat grainy streaks in the water. First we thought that it might be an old oil dumping. Some ship cleaning its tanks. But the streak became larger and more frequent after a while, and there were rocklike brownish things the size of a fist floating in the sea. And the water were strangely green and 'lagoon like' too. Eventually it became more and more clear to us that it had to be pumice from a volcanic eruption. And then we sailed into a vast, many miles wide, belt of densely packed pumice. We were going by motor due to lack of wind and within seconds Maiken slowed down from seven to one knot. We were so fascinated and busy taking pictures that we plowed a couple of hundred meter into this surreal floating stone field before we realized that we had to turn back. Just as we came out of the stone field and entered reasonably normal water we noticed that there came no cooling water from the engine. Not surprising, really. After cleaning the water filter the Yanmar diesel started again. Thank God! Without wind we would have been stuck in a sea of stone if the motor had failed. Next thing to check was the other water inlets. Some minor pumice particles but nothing serious. But the bottom paint were scrubbed away at places along the waterline, Maiken has an ablative paint so it was just doing what is supposed to do. Like we'd sailed through sandpaper. So, we headed back east to get away from the stony sea. There are two active volcanoes south of Late island, adjacent to Metis shoal and Home reef. Since we didn't know which one had erupted, the extent of the eruption and it was getting dark the we decided to anchor in Vaiutukakau bay outside Vava'u for the night. The sky darkened fast from rain clouds over Vava'u and we sailed leaving the stone sea onto darkness towards a perfect rainbow ahead, like a big welcoming arcade. It was completely dark when we anchored close to land at 25 meters depth. In the morning we woke to birds song. Lot of birds nesting on the steep hillside next to us. After checking the motor and boat we set out again. We decided to go south of Metis reef to go clear of the stony debris. Just after leaving Vaiutukakau bay we encountered three whales, probably two males and a female, playing in front of us. They circled around the boat only meters away for a while, seemingly interested of Maiken, before swimming away. A couple of hours ago we identified the active volcano as the one close to Home reef, and we are on our way there now to take a closer look. We are two miles from it and we can see the volcano clearly. One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a central crater smoking with steam and once in a while an outburst high in the sky with lava and ashes. I think were the first ones out here so perhaps we could claim the island and name them(?) Alas, the island didn't last very long. By the time volcanologist Scott Bryan of London's Kingston University managed to get out to the area a few months later to see it for himself, it was nearly completely washed away, leaving only the lingering scent of sulfur - a clue that magma was still cooling inside. A rehash of this item was run under the clickbait headline 'When This Boat Crew Realized What They Were Seeing, It Was Almost Too Late to Escape' and falsely suggested that the Maiken's crew barely escaped death while viewing the eruption (from a safe distance): We don't really think about it on a daily basis, but the Earth is still changing all the time. It just happens so slowly that we can't really perceive it. But every now and then, things speed up ... a lot. Recently, the crew of the Maiken was enjoying a leisurely sail through the South Pacific when they spotted a strange discoloration on the water. They moved in closer to inspect it, but by the time they realized what it was, it was too late.The crew of the Maiken was sailing the South Pacific when they spotted an unusual shadow. As they got closer, what they had taken to be a sandbar revealed itself to be something else entirely. A huge amount of pumice stone was floating to the surface of the water. It looked like a beach. They decided to get a closer look and redirected their yacht towards it. It looks like a beach in the middle of the ocean! The crew decided to sail through it, leaving a break in the stone behind them as they went. They wondered what could have caused this expanse of stone to suddenly appear. The field of pumice was getting even larger as they passed through it. The crew had an uneasy feeling and upped their speed. Once they were a safe distance away, they heard a faint rumbling. Looking back they saw water bubbling from the surface. The source of the pumice stone was an underwater volcano that was actually erupting at the time! They anchored to watch this tremendous event. Massive plumes of smoke filled the sky. As the smoke cleared, they noticed something strange just at the water's surface... It was land! The stunned crew couldn't believe what they were seeing: It was the actual birth of a new island. They sailed a little bit closer to see if their eyes were playing tricks on them. But it was real. The peaks of this new land mass were already taking form. It was one of the rarest events imaginable. They were so lucky! Not only because they were able to witness such an impossible sight ... but also because they apparently very narrowly escaped with their lives! | nan | [
"12579-proof-09-maiken_island_fb.jpg"
] |
The first Thanksgiving proclamation in the United States was issued by George Washington. | Entailment | Although the observance of thanksgiving ceremonies in the North American colonies that now constitute the United States dates to the 17th century, many years elapsed before Americans settled on a fixed date for a national Thanksgiving holiday. The date on which Thanksgiving was celebrated varied from state to state until President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in October 1863, calling upon the entire nation to 'observe the last Thursday of November [1863] as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.' And not until 1941 did Congress pass legislation establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday we now observe. However, it was President George Washington who first issued a proclamation calling upon all the 'people of the United States' to observe 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer' on a specific date. In 1789, the first year of Washington's presidency, the U.S. Congress approved a resolution requesting that President Washington 'recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer': On 25 September 1789, Elias Boudinot of Burlington, New Jersey, introduced in the United States House of Representatives a resolution 'That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.' Citing Biblical precedents and resolutions of the Continental Congress, the proponents of a Thanksgiving celebration prevailed, and the House appointed a committee consisting of Elias Boudinot, Roger Sherman, and Peter Silvester to approach President Washington. The Senate agreed to the resolution on 26 September and appointed William Samuel Johnson and Ralph Izard to the joint committee. On 28 September the Senate committee reported that they had laid the resolution before the president. Washington issued the proclamation on 3 October, designating a day of prayer and thanksgiving. Washington enclosed the Thanksgiving Proclamation in his Circular to the Governors of the States, written at New York on 3 October 1789: 'I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency a Proclamation for a general Thanksgiving which I must request the favor of you to have published and made known in your State in the way and manner that shall be most agreeable to yourself.' Although the Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by President Washington in 1789 did not literally state that Americans should be thankful for the 'happy conclusion to the country's war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution' (as quoted in the above example), it did embody those concepts, recommending that the people of the United States observe 26 November 1789 as an occasion for giving thanks to Almighty God for 'the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war' and for the 'peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness': [New York, 3 October 1789] By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.' Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be - That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks - for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation - for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war - for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed - for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted - for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions - to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually - to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed - to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord - To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us - and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. As noted at the University of Virginia's The Papers of George Washington web site, the day of thanksgiving proclaimed by President Washington was widely celebrated throughout the fledgling United States of America: Whatever reservations may have been held by some public officials, the day was widely celebrated throughout the nation. The Virginia assembly, for example, resolved on 19 November that the chaplain 'to this House, be accordingly requested to perform divine service, and to preach a sermon in the Capitol, before the General Assembly, suitable to the importance and solemnity of the occasion, on the said 26th day of November.' Most newspapers printed the proclamation and announced plans for public functions in honor of the day. Many churches celebrated the occasions by soliciting donations for the poor. Washington's secretary, Tobias Lear, wrote to John Rodgers, pastor of the two Presbyterian churches in New York City, on 28 November, that 'by direction of the President of the United States I have the pleasure to send you twenty five dollars to be applied towards relieving the poor of the Presbyterian Churches.' | nan | [
"12639-proof-02-Untitled-design-5.jpg"
] |
The first Thanksgiving proclamation in the United States was issued by George Washington. | Entailment | Although the observance of thanksgiving ceremonies in the North American colonies that now constitute the United States dates to the 17th century, many years elapsed before Americans settled on a fixed date for a national Thanksgiving holiday. The date on which Thanksgiving was celebrated varied from state to state until President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in October 1863, calling upon the entire nation to 'observe the last Thursday of November [1863] as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.' And not until 1941 did Congress pass legislation establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday we now observe. However, it was President George Washington who first issued a proclamation calling upon all the 'people of the United States' to observe 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer' on a specific date. In 1789, the first year of Washington's presidency, the U.S. Congress approved a resolution requesting that President Washington 'recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer': On 25 September 1789, Elias Boudinot of Burlington, New Jersey, introduced in the United States House of Representatives a resolution 'That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.' Citing Biblical precedents and resolutions of the Continental Congress, the proponents of a Thanksgiving celebration prevailed, and the House appointed a committee consisting of Elias Boudinot, Roger Sherman, and Peter Silvester to approach President Washington. The Senate agreed to the resolution on 26 September and appointed William Samuel Johnson and Ralph Izard to the joint committee. On 28 September the Senate committee reported that they had laid the resolution before the president. Washington issued the proclamation on 3 October, designating a day of prayer and thanksgiving. Washington enclosed the Thanksgiving Proclamation in his Circular to the Governors of the States, written at New York on 3 October 1789: 'I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency a Proclamation for a general Thanksgiving which I must request the favor of you to have published and made known in your State in the way and manner that shall be most agreeable to yourself.' Although the Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by President Washington in 1789 did not literally state that Americans should be thankful for the 'happy conclusion to the country's war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution' (as quoted in the above example), it did embody those concepts, recommending that the people of the United States observe 26 November 1789 as an occasion for giving thanks to Almighty God for 'the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war' and for the 'peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness': [New York, 3 October 1789] By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.' Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be - That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks - for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation - for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war - for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed - for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted - for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions - to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually - to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed - to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord - To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us - and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. As noted at the University of Virginia's The Papers of George Washington web site, the day of thanksgiving proclaimed by President Washington was widely celebrated throughout the fledgling United States of America: Whatever reservations may have been held by some public officials, the day was widely celebrated throughout the nation. The Virginia assembly, for example, resolved on 19 November that the chaplain 'to this House, be accordingly requested to perform divine service, and to preach a sermon in the Capitol, before the General Assembly, suitable to the importance and solemnity of the occasion, on the said 26th day of November.' Most newspapers printed the proclamation and announced plans for public functions in honor of the day. Many churches celebrated the occasions by soliciting donations for the poor. Washington's secretary, Tobias Lear, wrote to John Rodgers, pastor of the two Presbyterian churches in New York City, on 28 November, that 'by direction of the President of the United States I have the pleasure to send you twenty five dollars to be applied towards relieving the poor of the Presbyterian Churches.' | nan | [
"12639-proof-02-Untitled-design-5.jpg"
] |
The first Thanksgiving proclamation in the United States was issued by George Washington. | Entailment | Although the observance of thanksgiving ceremonies in the North American colonies that now constitute the United States dates to the 17th century, many years elapsed before Americans settled on a fixed date for a national Thanksgiving holiday. The date on which Thanksgiving was celebrated varied from state to state until President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in October 1863, calling upon the entire nation to 'observe the last Thursday of November [1863] as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.' And not until 1941 did Congress pass legislation establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday we now observe. However, it was President George Washington who first issued a proclamation calling upon all the 'people of the United States' to observe 'a day of public thanksgiving and prayer' on a specific date. In 1789, the first year of Washington's presidency, the U.S. Congress approved a resolution requesting that President Washington 'recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer': On 25 September 1789, Elias Boudinot of Burlington, New Jersey, introduced in the United States House of Representatives a resolution 'That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.' Citing Biblical precedents and resolutions of the Continental Congress, the proponents of a Thanksgiving celebration prevailed, and the House appointed a committee consisting of Elias Boudinot, Roger Sherman, and Peter Silvester to approach President Washington. The Senate agreed to the resolution on 26 September and appointed William Samuel Johnson and Ralph Izard to the joint committee. On 28 September the Senate committee reported that they had laid the resolution before the president. Washington issued the proclamation on 3 October, designating a day of prayer and thanksgiving. Washington enclosed the Thanksgiving Proclamation in his Circular to the Governors of the States, written at New York on 3 October 1789: 'I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency a Proclamation for a general Thanksgiving which I must request the favor of you to have published and made known in your State in the way and manner that shall be most agreeable to yourself.' Although the Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by President Washington in 1789 did not literally state that Americans should be thankful for the 'happy conclusion to the country's war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution' (as quoted in the above example), it did embody those concepts, recommending that the people of the United States observe 26 November 1789 as an occasion for giving thanks to Almighty God for 'the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war' and for the 'peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness': [New York, 3 October 1789] By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.' Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be - That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks - for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation - for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war - for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed - for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted - for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions - to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually - to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed - to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord - To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us - and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. As noted at the University of Virginia's The Papers of George Washington web site, the day of thanksgiving proclaimed by President Washington was widely celebrated throughout the fledgling United States of America: Whatever reservations may have been held by some public officials, the day was widely celebrated throughout the nation. The Virginia assembly, for example, resolved on 19 November that the chaplain 'to this House, be accordingly requested to perform divine service, and to preach a sermon in the Capitol, before the General Assembly, suitable to the importance and solemnity of the occasion, on the said 26th day of November.' Most newspapers printed the proclamation and announced plans for public functions in honor of the day. Many churches celebrated the occasions by soliciting donations for the poor. Washington's secretary, Tobias Lear, wrote to John Rodgers, pastor of the two Presbyterian churches in New York City, on 28 November, that 'by direction of the President of the United States I have the pleasure to send you twenty five dollars to be applied towards relieving the poor of the Presbyterian Churches.' | nan | [
"12639-proof-02-Untitled-design-5.jpg"
] |
A photograph shows a large blood clot removed from a patient's lung. | Entailment | A photograph that popped up on social media in May 2015 was described as a picture of a blood clot removed from an 80-year-old patient after he presented with a 2-day-long nosebleed. According to the accompanying text, the patient coded shortly after arrival at an emergency room, and a blood clot that went 'from his nose down his airway and into his lungs' was removed via intubation: 80 yr old male with nose bleed for 2 days. Refused to go to ER. Wife finally talked husband to go to ER. He coded shortly after arriving. Medical doctor went to do intubation and found this. Pulled it out in one piece. It a blood clot that goes from his nose down his airway and into his lungs. It an amazingly beautiful blood clot. The photograph was shared by Kevin Kimberlin, an EMT who told us that the patient was treated at a hospital he transports to, and that the picture was taken by a friend of his who worked on the patient. In November 2018, the New England Journal of Medicine website posted a similar photograph of 'an intact cast of the right bronchial tree' that was 'spontaneously expectorated' by a patient 'during an extreme bout of coughing': | nan | [
"12671-proof-08-bloodclot.jpg",
"12671-proof-10-bloodclotfb.jpg"
] |
An artist created a virtual illustration of Curetes, a street in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. | Entailment | In late September 2021, a Reddit user posted a virtual recreation of what was described as the ruins of a street in Ephesus, a city in ancient Greece. (What's left of Ephesus is in modern-day Turkey.) This is how Ancient Greece really looked like. Here's a reconstruction of Curetes Street in ancient Ephesus from interestingasfuck The virtual recreation was done by Hungarian artist Adam Nemeth, who uses his skills to visually replicate what centuries-old structures may have looked like at their zenith. Nemeth's illustration of Curetes Street, which is dated 2017, can be found on his website: Curetes Street was a major thoroughfare in Ephesus, which was, as the Encyclopedia Britannica notes, 'the most important Greek city in Ionian Asia Minor,' and was founded around 600 B.C. The city ruins lie near the modern Turkish town of Selƈuk. According to Alaturkaturkey.com, a travel site: Named after the priests who guarded the flame of Prytaneion, Curetes Street played host to religious festivals depicting the birth of Artemis, that culminated in a procession to the Temple of Artemis. The smooth marble streets also hide a surprising utility of the Roman world: underground drainage, sewage, and water pipes, water and waste flowing into and out of the city through clay pipes. The Prytaneion was the symbolic center of a city in ancient Greece, which housed a public hearth which contained an eternal flame. Other landmarks illustrated by Nemeth include the Library of Celsus, also in Ephesus, and Whitby Abbey, a 7th-century monastery in the U.K. that inspired Bram Stoker to write 'Dracula.' | nan | [
"12684-proof-08-Copy-of-Rating-Overlay-FEATURED-IMG-18.jpg"
] |
An artist created a virtual illustration of Curetes, a street in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. | Entailment | In late September 2021, a Reddit user posted a virtual recreation of what was described as the ruins of a street in Ephesus, a city in ancient Greece. (What's left of Ephesus is in modern-day Turkey.) This is how Ancient Greece really looked like. Here's a reconstruction of Curetes Street in ancient Ephesus from interestingasfuck The virtual recreation was done by Hungarian artist Adam Nemeth, who uses his skills to visually replicate what centuries-old structures may have looked like at their zenith. Nemeth's illustration of Curetes Street, which is dated 2017, can be found on his website: Curetes Street was a major thoroughfare in Ephesus, which was, as the Encyclopedia Britannica notes, 'the most important Greek city in Ionian Asia Minor,' and was founded around 600 B.C. The city ruins lie near the modern Turkish town of Selƈuk. According to Alaturkaturkey.com, a travel site: Named after the priests who guarded the flame of Prytaneion, Curetes Street played host to religious festivals depicting the birth of Artemis, that culminated in a procession to the Temple of Artemis. The smooth marble streets also hide a surprising utility of the Roman world: underground drainage, sewage, and water pipes, water and waste flowing into and out of the city through clay pipes. The Prytaneion was the symbolic center of a city in ancient Greece, which housed a public hearth which contained an eternal flame. Other landmarks illustrated by Nemeth include the Library of Celsus, also in Ephesus, and Whitby Abbey, a 7th-century monastery in the U.K. that inspired Bram Stoker to write 'Dracula.' | nan | [
"12684-proof-08-Copy-of-Rating-Overlay-FEATURED-IMG-18.jpg"
] |
Gay men reclaimed the hashtag #ProudBoys from the white supremacist organization of the same name in order to celebrate LBGTQ love. | Entailment | After U.S. President Donald Trump failed to condemn the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, interest in the hate group grew. During the debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked the president to disavow white supremacists, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden naming the Proud Boys' as one such group to condemn. Trump responded by telling the far-right group founded in 2016 to 'stand back and stand by,' thereby emboldening its members according to law enforcement, and resulting in the group posting the president's words on their logo. Although Trump condemned white supremacists - including the Proud Boys - two days after the debate, various LGBTQ groups decided to reclaim the term 'Proud Boys' and flooded social media with images and posts celebrating their love under the hashtag #ProudBoys. While we are not sure of the exact origin of the trend, many point to this Oct. 1 tweet from 'Star Trek' actor George Takei as the start: I wonder if the BTS and TikTok kids can help LGBTs with this. What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine - George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 1, 2020 This was followed by many more posts from men who identified as gay, sharing photographs celebrating their partners: Married my best friend. I'm so proud of you ❤️🌈 #proudboys 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/e4AOHAkFaq - Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 4, 2020 I heard y'all were looking for some #ProudBoys. 🌈🏳️🌈❤️💙🧡💚💛💜🖤 pic.twitter.com/nbxpp8Wr5B - Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) October 4, 2020 Excited for our wedding! 6 years of growth and love. Wouldn't have it any other way. #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/O4SOPXPSoD - Christopher Ubiadas (@TheRealUbiadas) October 5, 2020 .@JerickFL and I are joining thousands of gay men on social media to reclaim #ProudBoys from white supremacists and bigoted neo-nazis. Let's replace the hashtag with images of love, positivity, and true PRIDE! Your two favorite #ProudBoys are here standing by, ready to VOTE! 🏳️🌈🗳 pic.twitter.com/8k8iUlfFFx - Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) October 4, 2020 (We should note that the Proud Boys have no official presence on Twitter. They were removed from the platform in 2018 because they violated the social media organization's policies prohibiting violent extremist groups.) As of Oct. 5, 2020, Twitter mainly showed gay men celebrating their love, including photos of their partners, weddings, and other imagery - overshadowing the message of hate or divisiveness usually seen accompanied by the #ProudBoys hashtag. According to Forbes, members of Proud Boys reacted angrily to the takeover on Twitter by gay men by posting criticism and hate messages on Parler, another social media outlet. Given how widely the trend spread online featuring many posts by men who identified as gay, along with the ensuing media coverage, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
"12696-proof-02-Copy-of-Rating-Overlay-Horizontal.jpg"
] |
Gay men reclaimed the hashtag #ProudBoys from the white supremacist organization of the same name in order to celebrate LBGTQ love. | Entailment | After U.S. President Donald Trump failed to condemn the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, interest in the hate group grew. During the debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked the president to disavow white supremacists, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden naming the Proud Boys' as one such group to condemn. Trump responded by telling the far-right group founded in 2016 to 'stand back and stand by,' thereby emboldening its members according to law enforcement, and resulting in the group posting the president's words on their logo. Although Trump condemned white supremacists - including the Proud Boys - two days after the debate, various LGBTQ groups decided to reclaim the term 'Proud Boys' and flooded social media with images and posts celebrating their love under the hashtag #ProudBoys. While we are not sure of the exact origin of the trend, many point to this Oct. 1 tweet from 'Star Trek' actor George Takei as the start: I wonder if the BTS and TikTok kids can help LGBTs with this. What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine - George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 1, 2020 This was followed by many more posts from men who identified as gay, sharing photographs celebrating their partners: Married my best friend. I'm so proud of you ❤️🌈 #proudboys 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/e4AOHAkFaq - Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 4, 2020 I heard y'all were looking for some #ProudBoys. 🌈🏳️🌈❤️💙🧡💚💛💜🖤 pic.twitter.com/nbxpp8Wr5B - Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) October 4, 2020 Excited for our wedding! 6 years of growth and love. Wouldn't have it any other way. #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/O4SOPXPSoD - Christopher Ubiadas (@TheRealUbiadas) October 5, 2020 .@JerickFL and I are joining thousands of gay men on social media to reclaim #ProudBoys from white supremacists and bigoted neo-nazis. Let's replace the hashtag with images of love, positivity, and true PRIDE! Your two favorite #ProudBoys are here standing by, ready to VOTE! 🏳️🌈🗳 pic.twitter.com/8k8iUlfFFx - Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) October 4, 2020 (We should note that the Proud Boys have no official presence on Twitter. They were removed from the platform in 2018 because they violated the social media organization's policies prohibiting violent extremist groups.) As of Oct. 5, 2020, Twitter mainly showed gay men celebrating their love, including photos of their partners, weddings, and other imagery - overshadowing the message of hate or divisiveness usually seen accompanied by the #ProudBoys hashtag. According to Forbes, members of Proud Boys reacted angrily to the takeover on Twitter by gay men by posting criticism and hate messages on Parler, another social media outlet. Given how widely the trend spread online featuring many posts by men who identified as gay, along with the ensuing media coverage, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
"12696-proof-02-Copy-of-Rating-Overlay-Horizontal.jpg"
] |
Gay men reclaimed the hashtag #ProudBoys from the white supremacist organization of the same name in order to celebrate LBGTQ love. | Entailment | After U.S. President Donald Trump failed to condemn the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, interest in the hate group grew. During the debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked the president to disavow white supremacists, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden naming the Proud Boys' as one such group to condemn. Trump responded by telling the far-right group founded in 2016 to 'stand back and stand by,' thereby emboldening its members according to law enforcement, and resulting in the group posting the president's words on their logo. Although Trump condemned white supremacists - including the Proud Boys - two days after the debate, various LGBTQ groups decided to reclaim the term 'Proud Boys' and flooded social media with images and posts celebrating their love under the hashtag #ProudBoys. While we are not sure of the exact origin of the trend, many point to this Oct. 1 tweet from 'Star Trek' actor George Takei as the start: I wonder if the BTS and TikTok kids can help LGBTs with this. What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine - George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 1, 2020 This was followed by many more posts from men who identified as gay, sharing photographs celebrating their partners: Married my best friend. I'm so proud of you ❤️🌈 #proudboys 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/e4AOHAkFaq - Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 4, 2020 I heard y'all were looking for some #ProudBoys. 🌈🏳️🌈❤️💙🧡💚💛💜🖤 pic.twitter.com/nbxpp8Wr5B - Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) October 4, 2020 Excited for our wedding! 6 years of growth and love. Wouldn't have it any other way. #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/O4SOPXPSoD - Christopher Ubiadas (@TheRealUbiadas) October 5, 2020 .@JerickFL and I are joining thousands of gay men on social media to reclaim #ProudBoys from white supremacists and bigoted neo-nazis. Let's replace the hashtag with images of love, positivity, and true PRIDE! Your two favorite #ProudBoys are here standing by, ready to VOTE! 🏳️🌈🗳 pic.twitter.com/8k8iUlfFFx - Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) October 4, 2020 (We should note that the Proud Boys have no official presence on Twitter. They were removed from the platform in 2018 because they violated the social media organization's policies prohibiting violent extremist groups.) As of Oct. 5, 2020, Twitter mainly showed gay men celebrating their love, including photos of their partners, weddings, and other imagery - overshadowing the message of hate or divisiveness usually seen accompanied by the #ProudBoys hashtag. According to Forbes, members of Proud Boys reacted angrily to the takeover on Twitter by gay men by posting criticism and hate messages on Parler, another social media outlet. Given how widely the trend spread online featuring many posts by men who identified as gay, along with the ensuing media coverage, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
"12696-proof-02-Copy-of-Rating-Overlay-Horizontal.jpg"
] |
Gay men reclaimed the hashtag #ProudBoys from the white supremacist organization of the same name in order to celebrate LBGTQ love. | Entailment | After U.S. President Donald Trump failed to condemn the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, interest in the hate group grew. During the debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked the president to disavow white supremacists, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden naming the Proud Boys' as one such group to condemn. Trump responded by telling the far-right group founded in 2016 to 'stand back and stand by,' thereby emboldening its members according to law enforcement, and resulting in the group posting the president's words on their logo. Although Trump condemned white supremacists - including the Proud Boys - two days after the debate, various LGBTQ groups decided to reclaim the term 'Proud Boys' and flooded social media with images and posts celebrating their love under the hashtag #ProudBoys. While we are not sure of the exact origin of the trend, many point to this Oct. 1 tweet from 'Star Trek' actor George Takei as the start: I wonder if the BTS and TikTok kids can help LGBTs with this. What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine - George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 1, 2020 This was followed by many more posts from men who identified as gay, sharing photographs celebrating their partners: Married my best friend. I'm so proud of you ❤️🌈 #proudboys 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/e4AOHAkFaq - Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 4, 2020 I heard y'all were looking for some #ProudBoys. 🌈🏳️🌈❤️💙🧡💚💛💜🖤 pic.twitter.com/nbxpp8Wr5B - Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) October 4, 2020 Excited for our wedding! 6 years of growth and love. Wouldn't have it any other way. #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/O4SOPXPSoD - Christopher Ubiadas (@TheRealUbiadas) October 5, 2020 .@JerickFL and I are joining thousands of gay men on social media to reclaim #ProudBoys from white supremacists and bigoted neo-nazis. Let's replace the hashtag with images of love, positivity, and true PRIDE! Your two favorite #ProudBoys are here standing by, ready to VOTE! 🏳️🌈🗳 pic.twitter.com/8k8iUlfFFx - Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) October 4, 2020 (We should note that the Proud Boys have no official presence on Twitter. They were removed from the platform in 2018 because they violated the social media organization's policies prohibiting violent extremist groups.) As of Oct. 5, 2020, Twitter mainly showed gay men celebrating their love, including photos of their partners, weddings, and other imagery - overshadowing the message of hate or divisiveness usually seen accompanied by the #ProudBoys hashtag. According to Forbes, members of Proud Boys reacted angrily to the takeover on Twitter by gay men by posting criticism and hate messages on Parler, another social media outlet. Given how widely the trend spread online featuring many posts by men who identified as gay, along with the ensuing media coverage, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
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Gay men reclaimed the hashtag #ProudBoys from the white supremacist organization of the same name in order to celebrate LBGTQ love. | Entailment | After U.S. President Donald Trump failed to condemn the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, interest in the hate group grew. During the debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked the president to disavow white supremacists, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden naming the Proud Boys' as one such group to condemn. Trump responded by telling the far-right group founded in 2016 to 'stand back and stand by,' thereby emboldening its members according to law enforcement, and resulting in the group posting the president's words on their logo. Although Trump condemned white supremacists - including the Proud Boys - two days after the debate, various LGBTQ groups decided to reclaim the term 'Proud Boys' and flooded social media with images and posts celebrating their love under the hashtag #ProudBoys. While we are not sure of the exact origin of the trend, many point to this Oct. 1 tweet from 'Star Trek' actor George Takei as the start: I wonder if the BTS and TikTok kids can help LGBTs with this. What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine - George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 1, 2020 This was followed by many more posts from men who identified as gay, sharing photographs celebrating their partners: Married my best friend. I'm so proud of you ❤️🌈 #proudboys 🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/e4AOHAkFaq - Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 4, 2020 I heard y'all were looking for some #ProudBoys. 🌈🏳️🌈❤️💙🧡💚💛💜🖤 pic.twitter.com/nbxpp8Wr5B - Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) October 4, 2020 Excited for our wedding! 6 years of growth and love. Wouldn't have it any other way. #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/O4SOPXPSoD - Christopher Ubiadas (@TheRealUbiadas) October 5, 2020 .@JerickFL and I are joining thousands of gay men on social media to reclaim #ProudBoys from white supremacists and bigoted neo-nazis. Let's replace the hashtag with images of love, positivity, and true PRIDE! Your two favorite #ProudBoys are here standing by, ready to VOTE! 🏳️🌈🗳 pic.twitter.com/8k8iUlfFFx - Rep. Carlos G Smith (@CarlosGSmith) October 4, 2020 (We should note that the Proud Boys have no official presence on Twitter. They were removed from the platform in 2018 because they violated the social media organization's policies prohibiting violent extremist groups.) As of Oct. 5, 2020, Twitter mainly showed gay men celebrating their love, including photos of their partners, weddings, and other imagery - overshadowing the message of hate or divisiveness usually seen accompanied by the #ProudBoys hashtag. According to Forbes, members of Proud Boys reacted angrily to the takeover on Twitter by gay men by posting criticism and hate messages on Parler, another social media outlet. Given how widely the trend spread online featuring many posts by men who identified as gay, along with the ensuing media coverage, we rate this claim as 'True.' | nan | [
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A video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon flying over a baseball stadium. | Entailment | A video of a large, augmented-reality, fire-breathing dragon flying over a baseball stadium is frequently shared on social media. While viewers were undoubtedly aware that this footage didn't actually show a real mythical creature's visit to a ball game, some social media users seemed a bit confused about what this video actually showed. Is it a hologram? CGI? Virtual reality? At the opening of the South Korean baseball championship they used a 3D hologram using 5G technology. Realistic Dragon flew over the stadium. Just unbelieveble!!! pic.twitter.com/y3jR64aXXB - Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) August 13, 2019 This video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon. AR, which refers to technology that mixes the real world with computer-generated (CGI) images, is different from virtual reality (VR), the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike a hologram, the CGI objects can only be seen via some sort of screen: According to information from Live Science and The Franklin Institute, respectively: Augmented reality is the result of using technology to superimpose information - sounds, images and text - on the world we see. Picture the 'Minority Report' or 'Iron Man' style of interactivity. Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest technology trends right now, and it's only going to get bigger as AR ready smartphones and other devices become more accessible around the world. AR let us see the real-life environment right in front of us - trees swaying in the park, dogs chasing balls, kids playing soccer - with a digital augmentation overlaid on it. For example, a pterodactyl might be seen landing in the trees, the dogs could be mingling with their cartoon counterparts, and the kids could be seen kicking past an alien spacecraft on their way to score a goal. In other words, this dragon didn't actually 'fly over' this stadium. It was only viewable via a screen. This video was created by the company SK Telecom for the SK Wyverns' opening day (a wyvern is a 'winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail') of the 2019 Korean Baseball Organization season. The dragon was visible on the stadium's large LED screen and home televisions. While the people at this game couldn't see this dragon with the naked eye, they were able to see this mythical beast via their phones. Korea.com reported that fans could also interact with the dragon by pressing the 'cheer button' on a smartphone app: An augmented reality (AR) image of a wyvern, a mythical dragon-like creature, on March 23 suddenly appeared on the opening day of the 2019 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season at Incheon's SK Happy Dream Park, home of the defending league champions SK Wyverns. An image of the team's mascot was shown on the world's largest LED baseball scoreboard at the stadium. In addition, the flying creature put on an interactive performance when fans pressed the cheer button on a smartphone app. Fans who watched the event on TV or their smartphones could also see this high-tech spectacle. For the wyvern's performance, SK used its self-developed AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies such as eSpace, a hyperspace platform for replicating the real world in cyberspace, and T real Platform, which enables AR content to be freely created and shared. The use of the latest 5G wireless technology also allowed large-scale AR streaming. A second video of this augmented reality dragon was posted to the SK Telecom YouTube page. That video shows fans downloading this app and interacting with the dragon via their phones: In November 2019, a similar video supposedly showing a 'hologram' lion roaring at stadium in Argentina went viral on social media: Estudiantes de La Plata celebrated reopening their stadium with the most incredible hologram show 🦁🔥 pic.twitter.com/cKCsJAKwD3 - ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 11, 2019 Again, this was not a hologram visible to the naked eye, but an augmented reality display that could only be seen on screens. | nan | [] |
A video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon flying over a baseball stadium. | Entailment | A video of a large, augmented-reality, fire-breathing dragon flying over a baseball stadium is frequently shared on social media. While viewers were undoubtedly aware that this footage didn't actually show a real mythical creature's visit to a ball game, some social media users seemed a bit confused about what this video actually showed. Is it a hologram? CGI? Virtual reality? At the opening of the South Korean baseball championship they used a 3D hologram using 5G technology. Realistic Dragon flew over the stadium. Just unbelieveble!!! pic.twitter.com/y3jR64aXXB - Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) August 13, 2019 This video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon. AR, which refers to technology that mixes the real world with computer-generated (CGI) images, is different from virtual reality (VR), the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike a hologram, the CGI objects can only be seen via some sort of screen: According to information from Live Science and The Franklin Institute, respectively: Augmented reality is the result of using technology to superimpose information - sounds, images and text - on the world we see. Picture the 'Minority Report' or 'Iron Man' style of interactivity. Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest technology trends right now, and it's only going to get bigger as AR ready smartphones and other devices become more accessible around the world. AR let us see the real-life environment right in front of us - trees swaying in the park, dogs chasing balls, kids playing soccer - with a digital augmentation overlaid on it. For example, a pterodactyl might be seen landing in the trees, the dogs could be mingling with their cartoon counterparts, and the kids could be seen kicking past an alien spacecraft on their way to score a goal. In other words, this dragon didn't actually 'fly over' this stadium. It was only viewable via a screen. This video was created by the company SK Telecom for the SK Wyverns' opening day (a wyvern is a 'winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail') of the 2019 Korean Baseball Organization season. The dragon was visible on the stadium's large LED screen and home televisions. While the people at this game couldn't see this dragon with the naked eye, they were able to see this mythical beast via their phones. Korea.com reported that fans could also interact with the dragon by pressing the 'cheer button' on a smartphone app: An augmented reality (AR) image of a wyvern, a mythical dragon-like creature, on March 23 suddenly appeared on the opening day of the 2019 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season at Incheon's SK Happy Dream Park, home of the defending league champions SK Wyverns. An image of the team's mascot was shown on the world's largest LED baseball scoreboard at the stadium. In addition, the flying creature put on an interactive performance when fans pressed the cheer button on a smartphone app. Fans who watched the event on TV or their smartphones could also see this high-tech spectacle. For the wyvern's performance, SK used its self-developed AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies such as eSpace, a hyperspace platform for replicating the real world in cyberspace, and T real Platform, which enables AR content to be freely created and shared. The use of the latest 5G wireless technology also allowed large-scale AR streaming. A second video of this augmented reality dragon was posted to the SK Telecom YouTube page. That video shows fans downloading this app and interacting with the dragon via their phones: In November 2019, a similar video supposedly showing a 'hologram' lion roaring at stadium in Argentina went viral on social media: Estudiantes de La Plata celebrated reopening their stadium with the most incredible hologram show 🦁🔥 pic.twitter.com/cKCsJAKwD3 - ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 11, 2019 Again, this was not a hologram visible to the naked eye, but an augmented reality display that could only be seen on screens. | nan | [] |
A video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon flying over a baseball stadium. | Entailment | A video of a large, augmented-reality, fire-breathing dragon flying over a baseball stadium is frequently shared on social media. While viewers were undoubtedly aware that this footage didn't actually show a real mythical creature's visit to a ball game, some social media users seemed a bit confused about what this video actually showed. Is it a hologram? CGI? Virtual reality? At the opening of the South Korean baseball championship they used a 3D hologram using 5G technology. Realistic Dragon flew over the stadium. Just unbelieveble!!! pic.twitter.com/y3jR64aXXB - Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) August 13, 2019 This video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon. AR, which refers to technology that mixes the real world with computer-generated (CGI) images, is different from virtual reality (VR), the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike a hologram, the CGI objects can only be seen via some sort of screen: According to information from Live Science and The Franklin Institute, respectively: Augmented reality is the result of using technology to superimpose information - sounds, images and text - on the world we see. Picture the 'Minority Report' or 'Iron Man' style of interactivity. Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest technology trends right now, and it's only going to get bigger as AR ready smartphones and other devices become more accessible around the world. AR let us see the real-life environment right in front of us - trees swaying in the park, dogs chasing balls, kids playing soccer - with a digital augmentation overlaid on it. For example, a pterodactyl might be seen landing in the trees, the dogs could be mingling with their cartoon counterparts, and the kids could be seen kicking past an alien spacecraft on their way to score a goal. In other words, this dragon didn't actually 'fly over' this stadium. It was only viewable via a screen. This video was created by the company SK Telecom for the SK Wyverns' opening day (a wyvern is a 'winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail') of the 2019 Korean Baseball Organization season. The dragon was visible on the stadium's large LED screen and home televisions. While the people at this game couldn't see this dragon with the naked eye, they were able to see this mythical beast via their phones. Korea.com reported that fans could also interact with the dragon by pressing the 'cheer button' on a smartphone app: An augmented reality (AR) image of a wyvern, a mythical dragon-like creature, on March 23 suddenly appeared on the opening day of the 2019 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season at Incheon's SK Happy Dream Park, home of the defending league champions SK Wyverns. An image of the team's mascot was shown on the world's largest LED baseball scoreboard at the stadium. In addition, the flying creature put on an interactive performance when fans pressed the cheer button on a smartphone app. Fans who watched the event on TV or their smartphones could also see this high-tech spectacle. For the wyvern's performance, SK used its self-developed AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies such as eSpace, a hyperspace platform for replicating the real world in cyberspace, and T real Platform, which enables AR content to be freely created and shared. The use of the latest 5G wireless technology also allowed large-scale AR streaming. A second video of this augmented reality dragon was posted to the SK Telecom YouTube page. That video shows fans downloading this app and interacting with the dragon via their phones: In November 2019, a similar video supposedly showing a 'hologram' lion roaring at stadium in Argentina went viral on social media: Estudiantes de La Plata celebrated reopening their stadium with the most incredible hologram show 🦁🔥 pic.twitter.com/cKCsJAKwD3 - ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 11, 2019 Again, this was not a hologram visible to the naked eye, but an augmented reality display that could only be seen on screens. | nan | [] |
A video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon flying over a baseball stadium. | Entailment | A video of a large, augmented-reality, fire-breathing dragon flying over a baseball stadium is frequently shared on social media. While viewers were undoubtedly aware that this footage didn't actually show a real mythical creature's visit to a ball game, some social media users seemed a bit confused about what this video actually showed. Is it a hologram? CGI? Virtual reality? At the opening of the South Korean baseball championship they used a 3D hologram using 5G technology. Realistic Dragon flew over the stadium. Just unbelieveble!!! pic.twitter.com/y3jR64aXXB - Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) August 13, 2019 This video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon. AR, which refers to technology that mixes the real world with computer-generated (CGI) images, is different from virtual reality (VR), the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike a hologram, the CGI objects can only be seen via some sort of screen: According to information from Live Science and The Franklin Institute, respectively: Augmented reality is the result of using technology to superimpose information - sounds, images and text - on the world we see. Picture the 'Minority Report' or 'Iron Man' style of interactivity. Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest technology trends right now, and it's only going to get bigger as AR ready smartphones and other devices become more accessible around the world. AR let us see the real-life environment right in front of us - trees swaying in the park, dogs chasing balls, kids playing soccer - with a digital augmentation overlaid on it. For example, a pterodactyl might be seen landing in the trees, the dogs could be mingling with their cartoon counterparts, and the kids could be seen kicking past an alien spacecraft on their way to score a goal. In other words, this dragon didn't actually 'fly over' this stadium. It was only viewable via a screen. This video was created by the company SK Telecom for the SK Wyverns' opening day (a wyvern is a 'winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail') of the 2019 Korean Baseball Organization season. The dragon was visible on the stadium's large LED screen and home televisions. While the people at this game couldn't see this dragon with the naked eye, they were able to see this mythical beast via their phones. Korea.com reported that fans could also interact with the dragon by pressing the 'cheer button' on a smartphone app: An augmented reality (AR) image of a wyvern, a mythical dragon-like creature, on March 23 suddenly appeared on the opening day of the 2019 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season at Incheon's SK Happy Dream Park, home of the defending league champions SK Wyverns. An image of the team's mascot was shown on the world's largest LED baseball scoreboard at the stadium. In addition, the flying creature put on an interactive performance when fans pressed the cheer button on a smartphone app. Fans who watched the event on TV or their smartphones could also see this high-tech spectacle. For the wyvern's performance, SK used its self-developed AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies such as eSpace, a hyperspace platform for replicating the real world in cyberspace, and T real Platform, which enables AR content to be freely created and shared. The use of the latest 5G wireless technology also allowed large-scale AR streaming. A second video of this augmented reality dragon was posted to the SK Telecom YouTube page. That video shows fans downloading this app and interacting with the dragon via their phones: In November 2019, a similar video supposedly showing a 'hologram' lion roaring at stadium in Argentina went viral on social media: Estudiantes de La Plata celebrated reopening their stadium with the most incredible hologram show 🦁🔥 pic.twitter.com/cKCsJAKwD3 - ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 11, 2019 Again, this was not a hologram visible to the naked eye, but an augmented reality display that could only be seen on screens. | nan | [] |
A form of strep infection is capable of affecting the nasal cavity and face. | Entailment | On 26 February 2019, an Idaho couple shared a cautionary tale on Facebook that had garnered over one million shares by the time of this reporting. The post detailed a strange mark on their son's face and the ultimate diagnosis of a form of strep throat that infects the sinuses: It is true that a form of strep throat is capable of infecting the nasal passage, sinuses, face, and even other organs. Clinically known as invasive Group A Streptococcal Disease, or iGAS, it occurs when the bacteria responsible for common strep throat infect other organ systems or the bloodstream, as described by the Middlesex-London Health Unit of London, Ontario, which experienced an outbreak of iGAS cases in 2017: Group A streptococcus (GAS) are common bacteria which can cause skin and throat infections, including strep throat and cellulitis ... While the majority of GAS infections cause relatively mild illnesses like strep throat and impetigo, sometimes the bacteria can become invasive and can cause more serious and potentially life-threatening infections when they get into muscles, blood and other organs. Symptoms of an iGAS infection depend on the site of the infection and may include fever, chills, sore throat, dizziness, confusion, severe pain, redness or swelling around a wound or injured area. In its most severe form iGAS can result in life-threatening conditions, including necrotizing fasciitis (commonly known as a 'flesh-eating disease'), myositis and myonecrosis (muscle inflammation and a 'muscle eating' disease, respectively) and Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome (StrepTSS), which can lead to total organ failure. Though it is extremely rare, when the latter occurs a person is at extreme risk and requires medical treatment immediately, as described by Canada's Globe and Mail in response to the 2017 outbreak: 'When strep A gets into tissue or bone - usually because a person has an open wound - it can turn deadly, and quickly. In a matter of hours, an infected person can go from having a mild fever to having flesh-eating bacteria spreading so relentlessly that the only way to stop the infection is by amputating limbs.' iGAS infections often occur in clusters and affect groups more likely to be immunocompromised, but more recent research suggests that adults and children of any age and in any medical condition can contract the disease. Nevertheless, severe iGAS infections remain quite rare, as described in the 2016 book Streptococcus Pyogenes: Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations: [iGAS outbreaks] were first described in the United States and Europe during the mid- to late 1980s. Since then, reports of StrepTSS in adults and children have emerged worldwide. Most cases have occurred sporadically, though some clusters have been reported. The highest incidence of invasive streptococcal disease occurred in a small Minnesota community, where 26 cases/100,000 population were recorded. In addition, outbreaks have occurred in closed environments, such as nursing homes and hospitals. ... Although many of the initial reports described StrepTSS in adults, children are also affected. In 2010, the incidence of invasive infection in children in Utah reached 14 cases/100,000 population. Thus, persons of all ages can be afflicted and, although some have underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and alcoholism many have no predisposing medical condition and are not immunocompromised. In the case of the Idaho family, iGAS was diagnosed in time, and the pictured boy was reportedly recovering well. | nan | [
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A form of strep infection is capable of affecting the nasal cavity and face. | Entailment | On 26 February 2019, an Idaho couple shared a cautionary tale on Facebook that had garnered over one million shares by the time of this reporting. The post detailed a strange mark on their son's face and the ultimate diagnosis of a form of strep throat that infects the sinuses: It is true that a form of strep throat is capable of infecting the nasal passage, sinuses, face, and even other organs. Clinically known as invasive Group A Streptococcal Disease, or iGAS, it occurs when the bacteria responsible for common strep throat infect other organ systems or the bloodstream, as described by the Middlesex-London Health Unit of London, Ontario, which experienced an outbreak of iGAS cases in 2017: Group A streptococcus (GAS) are common bacteria which can cause skin and throat infections, including strep throat and cellulitis ... While the majority of GAS infections cause relatively mild illnesses like strep throat and impetigo, sometimes the bacteria can become invasive and can cause more serious and potentially life-threatening infections when they get into muscles, blood and other organs. Symptoms of an iGAS infection depend on the site of the infection and may include fever, chills, sore throat, dizziness, confusion, severe pain, redness or swelling around a wound or injured area. In its most severe form iGAS can result in life-threatening conditions, including necrotizing fasciitis (commonly known as a 'flesh-eating disease'), myositis and myonecrosis (muscle inflammation and a 'muscle eating' disease, respectively) and Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome (StrepTSS), which can lead to total organ failure. Though it is extremely rare, when the latter occurs a person is at extreme risk and requires medical treatment immediately, as described by Canada's Globe and Mail in response to the 2017 outbreak: 'When strep A gets into tissue or bone - usually because a person has an open wound - it can turn deadly, and quickly. In a matter of hours, an infected person can go from having a mild fever to having flesh-eating bacteria spreading so relentlessly that the only way to stop the infection is by amputating limbs.' iGAS infections often occur in clusters and affect groups more likely to be immunocompromised, but more recent research suggests that adults and children of any age and in any medical condition can contract the disease. Nevertheless, severe iGAS infections remain quite rare, as described in the 2016 book Streptococcus Pyogenes: Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations: [iGAS outbreaks] were first described in the United States and Europe during the mid- to late 1980s. Since then, reports of StrepTSS in adults and children have emerged worldwide. Most cases have occurred sporadically, though some clusters have been reported. The highest incidence of invasive streptococcal disease occurred in a small Minnesota community, where 26 cases/100,000 population were recorded. In addition, outbreaks have occurred in closed environments, such as nursing homes and hospitals. ... Although many of the initial reports described StrepTSS in adults, children are also affected. In 2010, the incidence of invasive infection in children in Utah reached 14 cases/100,000 population. Thus, persons of all ages can be afflicted and, although some have underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and alcoholism many have no predisposing medical condition and are not immunocompromised. In the case of the Idaho family, iGAS was diagnosed in time, and the pictured boy was reportedly recovering well. | nan | [
"12731-proof-04-strep.jpg"
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams burned the Georgia state flag during a protest in 1992. | Entailment | One of the most high-profile and controversial elections campaigns in the autumn of 2018 was that for the governorship of Georgia, which pitted Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp against former Democratic State Representative Stacey Abrams - the latter of whom, if elected, would make history as the first black woman in U.S. history to become a state governor. The Abrams campaign accused Kemp of orchestrating voter suppression, a claim we previously investigated, while Kemp's campaign accused Abrams of manufacturing outrage, and President Donald Trump - of whom Kemp is a staunch supporter - weighed into the race by calling the Democratic candidate 'totally unqualified.' In the final days of the campaign, the two candidates were virtually inseparable in the polls, according to the web site FiveThirtyEight. On 22 October, the night before a crucial televised debate between the rivals, reports emerged about a protest staged 26 years earlier in which Abrams, then a college student, took part in a public burning of the then-current Georgia state flag, an event of which the New York Times wrote: At a protest on the steps of the Georgia Capitol in 1992, Stacey Abrams, now the Democratic candidate for governor, joined in the burning of the state flag, which at the time incorporated the Confederate battle flag design and was viewed by many as a lingering symbol of white supremacy. Ms. Abrams's role in the protest, which took place around the end of her freshman year at Spelman College in Atlanta, has begun to emerge on social media on the eve of her first debate Tuesday with her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp and his allies have sought to portray her as 'too extreme for Georgia.' One post, written by the conservative Georgia blogger and broadcaster Erick Erickson, created the potential for confusion by stating in its headline that Abrams had burned 'the flag,' only specifying in the body of the article itself that the flag was the 'Georgia state flag' and not that of the United States. In particular, social media users, especially conservative opponents of Abrams, began sharing a photograph which appeared to show Abrams (third from the left) taking part in the flag-burning: Georgia Democratic Candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams shown here on the front steps of the Georgia Capitol burning the Georgia State Flag. pic.twitter.com/eYaDKtJRLT - LDB (@GDAWG1958) October 22, 2018 The photograph is authentic. Abrams did indeed take part in a flag-burning protest in Atlanta in June 1992, a fact her campaign acknowledged and defended in October 2018. The widely-shared photograph was published in the Atlanta Constitution on 15 June 1992 alongside an article which reported that Abrams and several other members of the group Students for African-American Empowerment had burned the then Georgia state flag during a peaceful protest on the steps of the State Capitol, because the flag incorporated the Confederate battle symbol: 'When the Confederate flag flew in the Civil War, it stood for white dominance and slavery,' said 21-year-old SAAE member Kevin Donaldson. 'As a state flag, it still flies for white dominance and slavery.' In a later Atlanta Constitution article, Abrams' father Robert said his 18-year-old daughter, a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, had received abusive phone calls at home in the aftermath of the protest: 'Stacey is not going to stop what she's doing because of other people,' Mr. Abrams said, just days after his daughter received abusive phone calls because she helped lead the rally where Georgia's flag was burned. 'It's been unsettling,' Stacey Abrams said. 'I got a call from one woman who said her family died in the Civil War, and the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage. She said if black people didn't like the flag, get the hell out. It's really strange to have someone call your house, ask for you by name, and call you a nigger.' Students for African-American Empowerment was formed in May 1992 by members of the Atlanta University Center (an association of black students of four historically black colleges in Atlanta), after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the brutal, video-taped beating of Rodney King, an event which sparked protests and rioting in Los Angeles and other cities throughout the United States, including Atlanta. The 1956 Georgia state flag The flag that Abrams and her fellow activists burned was introduced in Georgia in 1956 and incorporated the Confederate battle flag, which is widely perceived by African Americans as a symbol of white supremacy and racism. The 1956 flag was designed by John Sammons Bell, an attorney, World War II veteran, former chairman of the Georgia Democratic party, and a fervent critic of federally-enforced racial integration (including the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education). According to an analysis commissioned by the Georgia State Senate in 2000, Bell was regarded in 1956 as 'one of the nation's staunchest pro-segregationist public officials.' The analysis concluded that, despite arguments to the contrary by those who supported changing the state flag, the incorporation of the Confederate battle flag into the new flag in 1956 was part of a backlash against the federal government's imposition of racial integration in public life during that decade: The 1956 General Assembly changed the state flag, in an atmosphere of preserving segregation and resentment toward the United States government, as a symbolic gesture to show Washington that Georgia's leaders intended to uphold what they 'stood for, will stand for, and will fight for.' The 1956 flag was replaced in 2001, but its successor proved unpopular, and the current Georgia state flag - which completely removed the Confederate battle flag - was definitively adopted after voters endorsed it in a March 2004 referendum. The Abrams campaign did not respond to our request for comment but gave a statement to the New York Times, acknowledging and defending the gubernatorial candidate's participation in the flag-burning protest: Ms. Abrams's campaign, in a statement Monday, said her actions in 1992 were part of a 'permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag' and part of a movement that was ultimately successful in changing the flag. 'During Stacey Abrams' college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,' the statement read. 'This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.' | nan | [
"12755-proof-05-abrams.jpg"
] |
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams burned the Georgia state flag during a protest in 1992. | Entailment | One of the most high-profile and controversial elections campaigns in the autumn of 2018 was that for the governorship of Georgia, which pitted Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp against former Democratic State Representative Stacey Abrams - the latter of whom, if elected, would make history as the first black woman in U.S. history to become a state governor. The Abrams campaign accused Kemp of orchestrating voter suppression, a claim we previously investigated, while Kemp's campaign accused Abrams of manufacturing outrage, and President Donald Trump - of whom Kemp is a staunch supporter - weighed into the race by calling the Democratic candidate 'totally unqualified.' In the final days of the campaign, the two candidates were virtually inseparable in the polls, according to the web site FiveThirtyEight. On 22 October, the night before a crucial televised debate between the rivals, reports emerged about a protest staged 26 years earlier in which Abrams, then a college student, took part in a public burning of the then-current Georgia state flag, an event of which the New York Times wrote: At a protest on the steps of the Georgia Capitol in 1992, Stacey Abrams, now the Democratic candidate for governor, joined in the burning of the state flag, which at the time incorporated the Confederate battle flag design and was viewed by many as a lingering symbol of white supremacy. Ms. Abrams's role in the protest, which took place around the end of her freshman year at Spelman College in Atlanta, has begun to emerge on social media on the eve of her first debate Tuesday with her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp and his allies have sought to portray her as 'too extreme for Georgia.' One post, written by the conservative Georgia blogger and broadcaster Erick Erickson, created the potential for confusion by stating in its headline that Abrams had burned 'the flag,' only specifying in the body of the article itself that the flag was the 'Georgia state flag' and not that of the United States. In particular, social media users, especially conservative opponents of Abrams, began sharing a photograph which appeared to show Abrams (third from the left) taking part in the flag-burning: Georgia Democratic Candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams shown here on the front steps of the Georgia Capitol burning the Georgia State Flag. pic.twitter.com/eYaDKtJRLT - LDB (@GDAWG1958) October 22, 2018 The photograph is authentic. Abrams did indeed take part in a flag-burning protest in Atlanta in June 1992, a fact her campaign acknowledged and defended in October 2018. The widely-shared photograph was published in the Atlanta Constitution on 15 June 1992 alongside an article which reported that Abrams and several other members of the group Students for African-American Empowerment had burned the then Georgia state flag during a peaceful protest on the steps of the State Capitol, because the flag incorporated the Confederate battle symbol: 'When the Confederate flag flew in the Civil War, it stood for white dominance and slavery,' said 21-year-old SAAE member Kevin Donaldson. 'As a state flag, it still flies for white dominance and slavery.' In a later Atlanta Constitution article, Abrams' father Robert said his 18-year-old daughter, a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, had received abusive phone calls at home in the aftermath of the protest: 'Stacey is not going to stop what she's doing because of other people,' Mr. Abrams said, just days after his daughter received abusive phone calls because she helped lead the rally where Georgia's flag was burned. 'It's been unsettling,' Stacey Abrams said. 'I got a call from one woman who said her family died in the Civil War, and the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage. She said if black people didn't like the flag, get the hell out. It's really strange to have someone call your house, ask for you by name, and call you a nigger.' Students for African-American Empowerment was formed in May 1992 by members of the Atlanta University Center (an association of black students of four historically black colleges in Atlanta), after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the brutal, video-taped beating of Rodney King, an event which sparked protests and rioting in Los Angeles and other cities throughout the United States, including Atlanta. The 1956 Georgia state flag The flag that Abrams and her fellow activists burned was introduced in Georgia in 1956 and incorporated the Confederate battle flag, which is widely perceived by African Americans as a symbol of white supremacy and racism. The 1956 flag was designed by John Sammons Bell, an attorney, World War II veteran, former chairman of the Georgia Democratic party, and a fervent critic of federally-enforced racial integration (including the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education). According to an analysis commissioned by the Georgia State Senate in 2000, Bell was regarded in 1956 as 'one of the nation's staunchest pro-segregationist public officials.' The analysis concluded that, despite arguments to the contrary by those who supported changing the state flag, the incorporation of the Confederate battle flag into the new flag in 1956 was part of a backlash against the federal government's imposition of racial integration in public life during that decade: The 1956 General Assembly changed the state flag, in an atmosphere of preserving segregation and resentment toward the United States government, as a symbolic gesture to show Washington that Georgia's leaders intended to uphold what they 'stood for, will stand for, and will fight for.' The 1956 flag was replaced in 2001, but its successor proved unpopular, and the current Georgia state flag - which completely removed the Confederate battle flag - was definitively adopted after voters endorsed it in a March 2004 referendum. The Abrams campaign did not respond to our request for comment but gave a statement to the New York Times, acknowledging and defending the gubernatorial candidate's participation in the flag-burning protest: Ms. Abrams's campaign, in a statement Monday, said her actions in 1992 were part of a 'permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag' and part of a movement that was ultimately successful in changing the flag. 'During Stacey Abrams' college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,' the statement read. 'This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.' | nan | [
"12755-proof-05-abrams.jpg"
] |
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams burned the Georgia state flag during a protest in 1992. | Entailment | One of the most high-profile and controversial elections campaigns in the autumn of 2018 was that for the governorship of Georgia, which pitted Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp against former Democratic State Representative Stacey Abrams - the latter of whom, if elected, would make history as the first black woman in U.S. history to become a state governor. The Abrams campaign accused Kemp of orchestrating voter suppression, a claim we previously investigated, while Kemp's campaign accused Abrams of manufacturing outrage, and President Donald Trump - of whom Kemp is a staunch supporter - weighed into the race by calling the Democratic candidate 'totally unqualified.' In the final days of the campaign, the two candidates were virtually inseparable in the polls, according to the web site FiveThirtyEight. On 22 October, the night before a crucial televised debate between the rivals, reports emerged about a protest staged 26 years earlier in which Abrams, then a college student, took part in a public burning of the then-current Georgia state flag, an event of which the New York Times wrote: At a protest on the steps of the Georgia Capitol in 1992, Stacey Abrams, now the Democratic candidate for governor, joined in the burning of the state flag, which at the time incorporated the Confederate battle flag design and was viewed by many as a lingering symbol of white supremacy. Ms. Abrams's role in the protest, which took place around the end of her freshman year at Spelman College in Atlanta, has begun to emerge on social media on the eve of her first debate Tuesday with her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp and his allies have sought to portray her as 'too extreme for Georgia.' One post, written by the conservative Georgia blogger and broadcaster Erick Erickson, created the potential for confusion by stating in its headline that Abrams had burned 'the flag,' only specifying in the body of the article itself that the flag was the 'Georgia state flag' and not that of the United States. In particular, social media users, especially conservative opponents of Abrams, began sharing a photograph which appeared to show Abrams (third from the left) taking part in the flag-burning: Georgia Democratic Candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams shown here on the front steps of the Georgia Capitol burning the Georgia State Flag. pic.twitter.com/eYaDKtJRLT - LDB (@GDAWG1958) October 22, 2018 The photograph is authentic. Abrams did indeed take part in a flag-burning protest in Atlanta in June 1992, a fact her campaign acknowledged and defended in October 2018. The widely-shared photograph was published in the Atlanta Constitution on 15 June 1992 alongside an article which reported that Abrams and several other members of the group Students for African-American Empowerment had burned the then Georgia state flag during a peaceful protest on the steps of the State Capitol, because the flag incorporated the Confederate battle symbol: 'When the Confederate flag flew in the Civil War, it stood for white dominance and slavery,' said 21-year-old SAAE member Kevin Donaldson. 'As a state flag, it still flies for white dominance and slavery.' In a later Atlanta Constitution article, Abrams' father Robert said his 18-year-old daughter, a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, had received abusive phone calls at home in the aftermath of the protest: 'Stacey is not going to stop what she's doing because of other people,' Mr. Abrams said, just days after his daughter received abusive phone calls because she helped lead the rally where Georgia's flag was burned. 'It's been unsettling,' Stacey Abrams said. 'I got a call from one woman who said her family died in the Civil War, and the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage. She said if black people didn't like the flag, get the hell out. It's really strange to have someone call your house, ask for you by name, and call you a nigger.' Students for African-American Empowerment was formed in May 1992 by members of the Atlanta University Center (an association of black students of four historically black colleges in Atlanta), after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the brutal, video-taped beating of Rodney King, an event which sparked protests and rioting in Los Angeles and other cities throughout the United States, including Atlanta. The 1956 Georgia state flag The flag that Abrams and her fellow activists burned was introduced in Georgia in 1956 and incorporated the Confederate battle flag, which is widely perceived by African Americans as a symbol of white supremacy and racism. The 1956 flag was designed by John Sammons Bell, an attorney, World War II veteran, former chairman of the Georgia Democratic party, and a fervent critic of federally-enforced racial integration (including the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education). According to an analysis commissioned by the Georgia State Senate in 2000, Bell was regarded in 1956 as 'one of the nation's staunchest pro-segregationist public officials.' The analysis concluded that, despite arguments to the contrary by those who supported changing the state flag, the incorporation of the Confederate battle flag into the new flag in 1956 was part of a backlash against the federal government's imposition of racial integration in public life during that decade: The 1956 General Assembly changed the state flag, in an atmosphere of preserving segregation and resentment toward the United States government, as a symbolic gesture to show Washington that Georgia's leaders intended to uphold what they 'stood for, will stand for, and will fight for.' The 1956 flag was replaced in 2001, but its successor proved unpopular, and the current Georgia state flag - which completely removed the Confederate battle flag - was definitively adopted after voters endorsed it in a March 2004 referendum. The Abrams campaign did not respond to our request for comment but gave a statement to the New York Times, acknowledging and defending the gubernatorial candidate's participation in the flag-burning protest: Ms. Abrams's campaign, in a statement Monday, said her actions in 1992 were part of a 'permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag' and part of a movement that was ultimately successful in changing the flag. 'During Stacey Abrams' college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,' the statement read. 'This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.' | nan | [
"12755-proof-05-abrams.jpg"
] |
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams burned the Georgia state flag during a protest in 1992. | Entailment | One of the most high-profile and controversial elections campaigns in the autumn of 2018 was that for the governorship of Georgia, which pitted Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp against former Democratic State Representative Stacey Abrams - the latter of whom, if elected, would make history as the first black woman in U.S. history to become a state governor. The Abrams campaign accused Kemp of orchestrating voter suppression, a claim we previously investigated, while Kemp's campaign accused Abrams of manufacturing outrage, and President Donald Trump - of whom Kemp is a staunch supporter - weighed into the race by calling the Democratic candidate 'totally unqualified.' In the final days of the campaign, the two candidates were virtually inseparable in the polls, according to the web site FiveThirtyEight. On 22 October, the night before a crucial televised debate between the rivals, reports emerged about a protest staged 26 years earlier in which Abrams, then a college student, took part in a public burning of the then-current Georgia state flag, an event of which the New York Times wrote: At a protest on the steps of the Georgia Capitol in 1992, Stacey Abrams, now the Democratic candidate for governor, joined in the burning of the state flag, which at the time incorporated the Confederate battle flag design and was viewed by many as a lingering symbol of white supremacy. Ms. Abrams's role in the protest, which took place around the end of her freshman year at Spelman College in Atlanta, has begun to emerge on social media on the eve of her first debate Tuesday with her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp and his allies have sought to portray her as 'too extreme for Georgia.' One post, written by the conservative Georgia blogger and broadcaster Erick Erickson, created the potential for confusion by stating in its headline that Abrams had burned 'the flag,' only specifying in the body of the article itself that the flag was the 'Georgia state flag' and not that of the United States. In particular, social media users, especially conservative opponents of Abrams, began sharing a photograph which appeared to show Abrams (third from the left) taking part in the flag-burning: Georgia Democratic Candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams shown here on the front steps of the Georgia Capitol burning the Georgia State Flag. pic.twitter.com/eYaDKtJRLT - LDB (@GDAWG1958) October 22, 2018 The photograph is authentic. Abrams did indeed take part in a flag-burning protest in Atlanta in June 1992, a fact her campaign acknowledged and defended in October 2018. The widely-shared photograph was published in the Atlanta Constitution on 15 June 1992 alongside an article which reported that Abrams and several other members of the group Students for African-American Empowerment had burned the then Georgia state flag during a peaceful protest on the steps of the State Capitol, because the flag incorporated the Confederate battle symbol: 'When the Confederate flag flew in the Civil War, it stood for white dominance and slavery,' said 21-year-old SAAE member Kevin Donaldson. 'As a state flag, it still flies for white dominance and slavery.' In a later Atlanta Constitution article, Abrams' father Robert said his 18-year-old daughter, a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, had received abusive phone calls at home in the aftermath of the protest: 'Stacey is not going to stop what she's doing because of other people,' Mr. Abrams said, just days after his daughter received abusive phone calls because she helped lead the rally where Georgia's flag was burned. 'It's been unsettling,' Stacey Abrams said. 'I got a call from one woman who said her family died in the Civil War, and the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage. She said if black people didn't like the flag, get the hell out. It's really strange to have someone call your house, ask for you by name, and call you a nigger.' Students for African-American Empowerment was formed in May 1992 by members of the Atlanta University Center (an association of black students of four historically black colleges in Atlanta), after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the brutal, video-taped beating of Rodney King, an event which sparked protests and rioting in Los Angeles and other cities throughout the United States, including Atlanta. The 1956 Georgia state flag The flag that Abrams and her fellow activists burned was introduced in Georgia in 1956 and incorporated the Confederate battle flag, which is widely perceived by African Americans as a symbol of white supremacy and racism. The 1956 flag was designed by John Sammons Bell, an attorney, World War II veteran, former chairman of the Georgia Democratic party, and a fervent critic of federally-enforced racial integration (including the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education). According to an analysis commissioned by the Georgia State Senate in 2000, Bell was regarded in 1956 as 'one of the nation's staunchest pro-segregationist public officials.' The analysis concluded that, despite arguments to the contrary by those who supported changing the state flag, the incorporation of the Confederate battle flag into the new flag in 1956 was part of a backlash against the federal government's imposition of racial integration in public life during that decade: The 1956 General Assembly changed the state flag, in an atmosphere of preserving segregation and resentment toward the United States government, as a symbolic gesture to show Washington that Georgia's leaders intended to uphold what they 'stood for, will stand for, and will fight for.' The 1956 flag was replaced in 2001, but its successor proved unpopular, and the current Georgia state flag - which completely removed the Confederate battle flag - was definitively adopted after voters endorsed it in a March 2004 referendum. The Abrams campaign did not respond to our request for comment but gave a statement to the New York Times, acknowledging and defending the gubernatorial candidate's participation in the flag-burning protest: Ms. Abrams's campaign, in a statement Monday, said her actions in 1992 were part of a 'permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag' and part of a movement that was ultimately successful in changing the flag. 'During Stacey Abrams' college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,' the statement read. 'This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.' | nan | [
"12755-proof-05-abrams.jpg"
] |
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams burned the Georgia state flag during a protest in 1992. | Entailment | One of the most high-profile and controversial elections campaigns in the autumn of 2018 was that for the governorship of Georgia, which pitted Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp against former Democratic State Representative Stacey Abrams - the latter of whom, if elected, would make history as the first black woman in U.S. history to become a state governor. The Abrams campaign accused Kemp of orchestrating voter suppression, a claim we previously investigated, while Kemp's campaign accused Abrams of manufacturing outrage, and President Donald Trump - of whom Kemp is a staunch supporter - weighed into the race by calling the Democratic candidate 'totally unqualified.' In the final days of the campaign, the two candidates were virtually inseparable in the polls, according to the web site FiveThirtyEight. On 22 October, the night before a crucial televised debate between the rivals, reports emerged about a protest staged 26 years earlier in which Abrams, then a college student, took part in a public burning of the then-current Georgia state flag, an event of which the New York Times wrote: At a protest on the steps of the Georgia Capitol in 1992, Stacey Abrams, now the Democratic candidate for governor, joined in the burning of the state flag, which at the time incorporated the Confederate battle flag design and was viewed by many as a lingering symbol of white supremacy. Ms. Abrams's role in the protest, which took place around the end of her freshman year at Spelman College in Atlanta, has begun to emerge on social media on the eve of her first debate Tuesday with her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp and his allies have sought to portray her as 'too extreme for Georgia.' One post, written by the conservative Georgia blogger and broadcaster Erick Erickson, created the potential for confusion by stating in its headline that Abrams had burned 'the flag,' only specifying in the body of the article itself that the flag was the 'Georgia state flag' and not that of the United States. In particular, social media users, especially conservative opponents of Abrams, began sharing a photograph which appeared to show Abrams (third from the left) taking part in the flag-burning: Georgia Democratic Candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams shown here on the front steps of the Georgia Capitol burning the Georgia State Flag. pic.twitter.com/eYaDKtJRLT - LDB (@GDAWG1958) October 22, 2018 The photograph is authentic. Abrams did indeed take part in a flag-burning protest in Atlanta in June 1992, a fact her campaign acknowledged and defended in October 2018. The widely-shared photograph was published in the Atlanta Constitution on 15 June 1992 alongside an article which reported that Abrams and several other members of the group Students for African-American Empowerment had burned the then Georgia state flag during a peaceful protest on the steps of the State Capitol, because the flag incorporated the Confederate battle symbol: 'When the Confederate flag flew in the Civil War, it stood for white dominance and slavery,' said 21-year-old SAAE member Kevin Donaldson. 'As a state flag, it still flies for white dominance and slavery.' In a later Atlanta Constitution article, Abrams' father Robert said his 18-year-old daughter, a freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, had received abusive phone calls at home in the aftermath of the protest: 'Stacey is not going to stop what she's doing because of other people,' Mr. Abrams said, just days after his daughter received abusive phone calls because she helped lead the rally where Georgia's flag was burned. 'It's been unsettling,' Stacey Abrams said. 'I got a call from one woman who said her family died in the Civil War, and the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage. She said if black people didn't like the flag, get the hell out. It's really strange to have someone call your house, ask for you by name, and call you a nigger.' Students for African-American Empowerment was formed in May 1992 by members of the Atlanta University Center (an association of black students of four historically black colleges in Atlanta), after the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the brutal, video-taped beating of Rodney King, an event which sparked protests and rioting in Los Angeles and other cities throughout the United States, including Atlanta. The 1956 Georgia state flag The flag that Abrams and her fellow activists burned was introduced in Georgia in 1956 and incorporated the Confederate battle flag, which is widely perceived by African Americans as a symbol of white supremacy and racism. The 1956 flag was designed by John Sammons Bell, an attorney, World War II veteran, former chairman of the Georgia Democratic party, and a fervent critic of federally-enforced racial integration (including the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. the Board of Education). According to an analysis commissioned by the Georgia State Senate in 2000, Bell was regarded in 1956 as 'one of the nation's staunchest pro-segregationist public officials.' The analysis concluded that, despite arguments to the contrary by those who supported changing the state flag, the incorporation of the Confederate battle flag into the new flag in 1956 was part of a backlash against the federal government's imposition of racial integration in public life during that decade: The 1956 General Assembly changed the state flag, in an atmosphere of preserving segregation and resentment toward the United States government, as a symbolic gesture to show Washington that Georgia's leaders intended to uphold what they 'stood for, will stand for, and will fight for.' The 1956 flag was replaced in 2001, but its successor proved unpopular, and the current Georgia state flag - which completely removed the Confederate battle flag - was definitively adopted after voters endorsed it in a March 2004 referendum. The Abrams campaign did not respond to our request for comment but gave a statement to the New York Times, acknowledging and defending the gubernatorial candidate's participation in the flag-burning protest: Ms. Abrams's campaign, in a statement Monday, said her actions in 1992 were part of a 'permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag' and part of a movement that was ultimately successful in changing the flag. 'During Stacey Abrams' college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag,' the statement read. 'This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag.' | nan | [
"12755-proof-05-abrams.jpg"
] |
A billionaire avoided jail despite raping his infant daughter, while another man was sentenced to 50 years in jail for stealing a rack of ribs. | Entailment | Racial disparity in sentencing has long been a subject of controversy in the United States, and a meme posted to Facebook in November 2017 appeared to capture a particularly egregious example. On 20 November 2017, the Army Anonymous page posted a graphic showing two mugshots of two different men - one white, one black - with the following text: A billionaire raped his own 3-year-old daughter - got probation. A homeless man stole $35 rack of ribs - was sentenced to 50 years in prison. While the two crimes in these examples are very different, statistics show that there exists a marked discrepancy in the sentences given to white and black people, even if they're convicted of the same or similar crimes. The Sentencing Project, a non-profit group that campaigns for fairness and equality in the criminal justice system, outlines how these racial disparities work: Once arrested, people of color are also likely to be charged more harshly than whites; once charged, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences - all after accounting for relevant legal differences such as crime severity and criminal history. The type of crimes that black people are more commonly convicted of are also crimes that are more likely to carry harsher sentences, the group explains. And while the basic facts outlined in this meme are mostly accurate and follow a deeply unfortunate trend, it's worth giving some context for both cases. The man shown on the left of the meme is Robert H. Richards, the wealthy great-grandson of Irenee du Pont, and an heir to the Du Pont chemical fortune. In February 2009, Delaware Superior Court judge Jan Jurden gave Richards an eight-year sentence for raping his three-year-old daughter. Richards had initially been charged with second degree rape but later pleaded guilty to fourth degree rape, of which he was convicted. Judge Jurden suspended the eight-year jail sentence, imposing probation on Richards and ordering him to perform 50 hours of community service, avoid all contact with children under the age of 16, and undergo sex offender treatment and mental health evaluations. In her sentence order, Jurden noted that Richards had 'significant treatment needs' and 'would not fare well in [a] Level 5 setting' (i.e. jail.) The News Journal in Delaware reported in 2014 that Richards' ex-wife had accused him of also sexually abusing their son, when the boy was 19 months old. Tracy Richards' lawsuit against her ex-husband was settled out of court. The man shown on the right of the meme is Willie Smith Ward. In May 2013, a jury in Waco, Texas convicted him of robbery after he stole a rack of ribs from a grocery store, two years earlier. A clerk at the grocery store had told the court Ward threatened him and told him he had a knife in his possession. We found no record of Ward having an address at the time of the robbery in 2011, or his conviction two years later, but we also did not find find evidence that he was homeless. According to the Waco Tribune, Ward had five previous felony convictions including burglary, aggravated assault and attempted robbery, and four previous misdemeanor convictions. Under Texas' 'habitual offender' law, the jury took Ward's criminal history into account, and enhanced the sentence for his robbery conviction to 50 years. According to prison records, Ward was denied parole in January 2017, and is still incarcerated at the William G. McConnell Unit state prison in Beeville, Texas. His next parole hearing is set for January 2019. Ward is scheduled for release in September 2061, by which time he would be 91 years old. | nan | [
"12800-proof-09-23722688_1023248961164383_5314921752717954671_n.jpg",
"12800-proof-12-probation_child_rape_50_years_prison_stealing_ribs_meme_fb.jpg"
] |
A billionaire avoided jail despite raping his infant daughter, while another man was sentenced to 50 years in jail for stealing a rack of ribs. | Entailment | Racial disparity in sentencing has long been a subject of controversy in the United States, and a meme posted to Facebook in November 2017 appeared to capture a particularly egregious example. On 20 November 2017, the Army Anonymous page posted a graphic showing two mugshots of two different men - one white, one black - with the following text: A billionaire raped his own 3-year-old daughter - got probation. A homeless man stole $35 rack of ribs - was sentenced to 50 years in prison. While the two crimes in these examples are very different, statistics show that there exists a marked discrepancy in the sentences given to white and black people, even if they're convicted of the same or similar crimes. The Sentencing Project, a non-profit group that campaigns for fairness and equality in the criminal justice system, outlines how these racial disparities work: Once arrested, people of color are also likely to be charged more harshly than whites; once charged, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences - all after accounting for relevant legal differences such as crime severity and criminal history. The type of crimes that black people are more commonly convicted of are also crimes that are more likely to carry harsher sentences, the group explains. And while the basic facts outlined in this meme are mostly accurate and follow a deeply unfortunate trend, it's worth giving some context for both cases. The man shown on the left of the meme is Robert H. Richards, the wealthy great-grandson of Irenee du Pont, and an heir to the Du Pont chemical fortune. In February 2009, Delaware Superior Court judge Jan Jurden gave Richards an eight-year sentence for raping his three-year-old daughter. Richards had initially been charged with second degree rape but later pleaded guilty to fourth degree rape, of which he was convicted. Judge Jurden suspended the eight-year jail sentence, imposing probation on Richards and ordering him to perform 50 hours of community service, avoid all contact with children under the age of 16, and undergo sex offender treatment and mental health evaluations. In her sentence order, Jurden noted that Richards had 'significant treatment needs' and 'would not fare well in [a] Level 5 setting' (i.e. jail.) The News Journal in Delaware reported in 2014 that Richards' ex-wife had accused him of also sexually abusing their son, when the boy was 19 months old. Tracy Richards' lawsuit against her ex-husband was settled out of court. The man shown on the right of the meme is Willie Smith Ward. In May 2013, a jury in Waco, Texas convicted him of robbery after he stole a rack of ribs from a grocery store, two years earlier. A clerk at the grocery store had told the court Ward threatened him and told him he had a knife in his possession. We found no record of Ward having an address at the time of the robbery in 2011, or his conviction two years later, but we also did not find find evidence that he was homeless. According to the Waco Tribune, Ward had five previous felony convictions including burglary, aggravated assault and attempted robbery, and four previous misdemeanor convictions. Under Texas' 'habitual offender' law, the jury took Ward's criminal history into account, and enhanced the sentence for his robbery conviction to 50 years. According to prison records, Ward was denied parole in January 2017, and is still incarcerated at the William G. McConnell Unit state prison in Beeville, Texas. His next parole hearing is set for January 2019. Ward is scheduled for release in September 2061, by which time he would be 91 years old. | nan | [
"12800-proof-09-23722688_1023248961164383_5314921752717954671_n.jpg",
"12800-proof-12-probation_child_rape_50_years_prison_stealing_ribs_meme_fb.jpg"
] |
In January 2021, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver added 'A-Woman' after the traditional 'Amen' in a prayer to open the 117th Congress. | Entailment | In January 2021, as the 117th Congress convened for the first time, right-leaning observers and politicians responded with a mixture of outrage and bemusement, claiming that a Democratic Congressman had added 'A-Woman' to the traditional 'Amen' at the end of a prayer to open the first session of the new House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pennsylvania, tweeted a short clip from the prayer, which was given by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, adding: The prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with 'amen and a-women.' Amen is Latin for 'so be it.' It's not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable. Similar tweets were posted by Newt Gingrich, former Republican Congressman and presidential primary candidate; Donald Trump Jr., son of outgoing President Donald Trump and former Trump campaign surrogate; the conservative social media page Reagan Battalion; and the right-leaning online commentator Breanna Morello. Those tweets accurately described Cleaver's use of the phrase 'A-Woman' during the prayer at the opening of the new session of Congress, and the video footage that showed the relevant section from the prayer, although obviously cut from a longer set of remarks, was not digitally altered and did fairly represent what Cleaver said. Analysis Cleaver, who is a United Methodist Church pastor, made the remarks during the opening session of the 117th Congress, on Jan. 3, 2021. The full prayer can be viewed below. In the relevant section, toward the end of the prayer, Cleaver said: Now may the God who created the world and everything in it bless us and keep us. May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace - peace in our families, peace across this land and, dare I ask, oh Lord - peace even in this chamber, now and ever more. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and A-Woman. [Emphasis is added]. Snopes asked Cleaver why he had chosen to add the non-traditional sign-off to his prayer. In a statement, Cleaver said his use of 'A-Woman' was a 'light-hearted pun' that had been 'misconstrued': I am deeply disappointed that my prayer has been misinterpreted and misconstrued by some to fit a narrative that stokes resentment and greater division among portions of our population. I believe prayers to be a personal conversation between El Shaddai and the invocator. With this conversation, in the presence of the 117th House of Representatives, I concluded with a light-hearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female Chaplain of the House of Representatives whose service commenced this week. I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful. Rather than reflecting on my faithful requests for community healing and reversion from our increasingly tribal tendencies, it appears that some have latched on to the final word of this conversation in an attempt to twist my message to God and demean me personally. In doing so, they have proven one point of my greater message-that we are all 'soiled by selfishness, perverted by prejudice and inveigled by ideology ...' | nan | [] |
In January 2021, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver added 'A-Woman' after the traditional 'Amen' in a prayer to open the 117th Congress. | Entailment | In January 2021, as the 117th Congress convened for the first time, right-leaning observers and politicians responded with a mixture of outrage and bemusement, claiming that a Democratic Congressman had added 'A-Woman' to the traditional 'Amen' at the end of a prayer to open the first session of the new House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pennsylvania, tweeted a short clip from the prayer, which was given by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, adding: The prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with 'amen and a-women.' Amen is Latin for 'so be it.' It's not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable. Similar tweets were posted by Newt Gingrich, former Republican Congressman and presidential primary candidate; Donald Trump Jr., son of outgoing President Donald Trump and former Trump campaign surrogate; the conservative social media page Reagan Battalion; and the right-leaning online commentator Breanna Morello. Those tweets accurately described Cleaver's use of the phrase 'A-Woman' during the prayer at the opening of the new session of Congress, and the video footage that showed the relevant section from the prayer, although obviously cut from a longer set of remarks, was not digitally altered and did fairly represent what Cleaver said. Analysis Cleaver, who is a United Methodist Church pastor, made the remarks during the opening session of the 117th Congress, on Jan. 3, 2021. The full prayer can be viewed below. In the relevant section, toward the end of the prayer, Cleaver said: Now may the God who created the world and everything in it bless us and keep us. May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace - peace in our families, peace across this land and, dare I ask, oh Lord - peace even in this chamber, now and ever more. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and A-Woman. [Emphasis is added]. Snopes asked Cleaver why he had chosen to add the non-traditional sign-off to his prayer. In a statement, Cleaver said his use of 'A-Woman' was a 'light-hearted pun' that had been 'misconstrued': I am deeply disappointed that my prayer has been misinterpreted and misconstrued by some to fit a narrative that stokes resentment and greater division among portions of our population. I believe prayers to be a personal conversation between El Shaddai and the invocator. With this conversation, in the presence of the 117th House of Representatives, I concluded with a light-hearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female Chaplain of the House of Representatives whose service commenced this week. I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful. Rather than reflecting on my faithful requests for community healing and reversion from our increasingly tribal tendencies, it appears that some have latched on to the final word of this conversation in an attempt to twist my message to God and demean me personally. In doing so, they have proven one point of my greater message-that we are all 'soiled by selfishness, perverted by prejudice and inveigled by ideology ...' | nan | [] |
In January 2021, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver added 'A-Woman' after the traditional 'Amen' in a prayer to open the 117th Congress. | Entailment | In January 2021, as the 117th Congress convened for the first time, right-leaning observers and politicians responded with a mixture of outrage and bemusement, claiming that a Democratic Congressman had added 'A-Woman' to the traditional 'Amen' at the end of a prayer to open the first session of the new House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pennsylvania, tweeted a short clip from the prayer, which was given by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, adding: The prayer to open the 117th Congress ended with 'amen and a-women.' Amen is Latin for 'so be it.' It's not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable. Similar tweets were posted by Newt Gingrich, former Republican Congressman and presidential primary candidate; Donald Trump Jr., son of outgoing President Donald Trump and former Trump campaign surrogate; the conservative social media page Reagan Battalion; and the right-leaning online commentator Breanna Morello. Those tweets accurately described Cleaver's use of the phrase 'A-Woman' during the prayer at the opening of the new session of Congress, and the video footage that showed the relevant section from the prayer, although obviously cut from a longer set of remarks, was not digitally altered and did fairly represent what Cleaver said. Analysis Cleaver, who is a United Methodist Church pastor, made the remarks during the opening session of the 117th Congress, on Jan. 3, 2021. The full prayer can be viewed below. In the relevant section, toward the end of the prayer, Cleaver said: Now may the God who created the world and everything in it bless us and keep us. May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace - peace in our families, peace across this land and, dare I ask, oh Lord - peace even in this chamber, now and ever more. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and A-Woman. [Emphasis is added]. Snopes asked Cleaver why he had chosen to add the non-traditional sign-off to his prayer. In a statement, Cleaver said his use of 'A-Woman' was a 'light-hearted pun' that had been 'misconstrued': I am deeply disappointed that my prayer has been misinterpreted and misconstrued by some to fit a narrative that stokes resentment and greater division among portions of our population. I believe prayers to be a personal conversation between El Shaddai and the invocator. With this conversation, in the presence of the 117th House of Representatives, I concluded with a light-hearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female Chaplain of the House of Representatives whose service commenced this week. I personally find these historic occasions to be blessings from God for which I am grateful. Rather than reflecting on my faithful requests for community healing and reversion from our increasingly tribal tendencies, it appears that some have latched on to the final word of this conversation in an attempt to twist my message to God and demean me personally. In doing so, they have proven one point of my greater message-that we are all 'soiled by selfishness, perverted by prejudice and inveigled by ideology ...' | nan | [] |
A transgender boy won a state title in girls' high school wrestling. | Entailment | A Texas transgender teenager made headlines again for capturing his second consecutive high school wrestling championship in a girls' division, despite his efforts to compete according to his gender identity. Mack Beggs, who a few years ago began the process of transitioning from female to male, repeated as the state girls' Class 6A champion for the 110-pound division on 24 February 2018. He has asked to compete in the boys' division but because of a rule passed in 2016 by the University Interscholastic League, which governs high school athletics in the state, he is required to wrestle against girls. The rule states: Gender shall be determined based on a student's birth certificate. In cases where a student's birth certificate is unavailable, other similar government documents used for the purpose of identification may be substituted. Numerous legitimate media outlets covered Beggs's latest win, including the Associated Press - a wire service with reporters all over the world. Although none of these outlets have been known to invent false stories, readers wrote in to question the veracity of the reports. The teen first entered the national spotlight after winning the 2017 Class 6A tournament, when he criticized President Donald Trump's administration for withdrawing a guidance to schools directing them to allow students to use restrooms according to their gender identity. Beggs said in February 2017: It's ridiculous and dangerous. Trump is leaving so many variables out. Who is going to protect these kids in school who have to watch their back every single day? Beggs was also critical of the rule barring him from competing against other boys, saying: I'm not wrestling on a girl's team to wrestle girls, I'm doing it because I'm not allowed to wrestle boys. I'm not out here to cheat. I worked my tail off and it finally paid off. People hear testosterone and think it's the same as what a body builder uses. I'm using very minimal (dosage) because it's what has been medically prescribed. If a male has testicular cancer and needs testosterone, are they going to try to ban him too?Arturo Garcia Sources Associated Press. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs Wins Texas Girls Title Again.' Accessed via The Guardian. 25 February 2018. Boren, Cindy. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs Wins Second Texas State Girls' Championship.' Washington Post. 25 February 2018. Dawson, Peter. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs is Booed After Second Straight State Title Win.' Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 24 February 2018. de Vogue, Ariane et al. 'Trump Administration Withdraws Federal Protections for Transgender Students.' CNN. 23 February 2017. | nan | [
"12965-proof-02-mack_beggs_feature.jpg"
] |
A transgender boy won a state title in girls' high school wrestling. | Entailment | A Texas transgender teenager made headlines again for capturing his second consecutive high school wrestling championship in a girls' division, despite his efforts to compete according to his gender identity. Mack Beggs, who a few years ago began the process of transitioning from female to male, repeated as the state girls' Class 6A champion for the 110-pound division on 24 February 2018. He has asked to compete in the boys' division but because of a rule passed in 2016 by the University Interscholastic League, which governs high school athletics in the state, he is required to wrestle against girls. The rule states: Gender shall be determined based on a student's birth certificate. In cases where a student's birth certificate is unavailable, other similar government documents used for the purpose of identification may be substituted. Numerous legitimate media outlets covered Beggs's latest win, including the Associated Press - a wire service with reporters all over the world. Although none of these outlets have been known to invent false stories, readers wrote in to question the veracity of the reports. The teen first entered the national spotlight after winning the 2017 Class 6A tournament, when he criticized President Donald Trump's administration for withdrawing a guidance to schools directing them to allow students to use restrooms according to their gender identity. Beggs said in February 2017: It's ridiculous and dangerous. Trump is leaving so many variables out. Who is going to protect these kids in school who have to watch their back every single day? Beggs was also critical of the rule barring him from competing against other boys, saying: I'm not wrestling on a girl's team to wrestle girls, I'm doing it because I'm not allowed to wrestle boys. I'm not out here to cheat. I worked my tail off and it finally paid off. People hear testosterone and think it's the same as what a body builder uses. I'm using very minimal (dosage) because it's what has been medically prescribed. If a male has testicular cancer and needs testosterone, are they going to try to ban him too?Arturo Garcia Sources Associated Press. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs Wins Texas Girls Title Again.' Accessed via The Guardian. 25 February 2018. Boren, Cindy. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs Wins Second Texas State Girls' Championship.' Washington Post. 25 February 2018. Dawson, Peter. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs is Booed After Second Straight State Title Win.' Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 24 February 2018. de Vogue, Ariane et al. 'Trump Administration Withdraws Federal Protections for Transgender Students.' CNN. 23 February 2017. | nan | [
"12965-proof-02-mack_beggs_feature.jpg"
] |
A transgender boy won a state title in girls' high school wrestling. | Entailment | A Texas transgender teenager made headlines again for capturing his second consecutive high school wrestling championship in a girls' division, despite his efforts to compete according to his gender identity. Mack Beggs, who a few years ago began the process of transitioning from female to male, repeated as the state girls' Class 6A champion for the 110-pound division on 24 February 2018. He has asked to compete in the boys' division but because of a rule passed in 2016 by the University Interscholastic League, which governs high school athletics in the state, he is required to wrestle against girls. The rule states: Gender shall be determined based on a student's birth certificate. In cases where a student's birth certificate is unavailable, other similar government documents used for the purpose of identification may be substituted. Numerous legitimate media outlets covered Beggs's latest win, including the Associated Press - a wire service with reporters all over the world. Although none of these outlets have been known to invent false stories, readers wrote in to question the veracity of the reports. The teen first entered the national spotlight after winning the 2017 Class 6A tournament, when he criticized President Donald Trump's administration for withdrawing a guidance to schools directing them to allow students to use restrooms according to their gender identity. Beggs said in February 2017: It's ridiculous and dangerous. Trump is leaving so many variables out. Who is going to protect these kids in school who have to watch their back every single day? Beggs was also critical of the rule barring him from competing against other boys, saying: I'm not wrestling on a girl's team to wrestle girls, I'm doing it because I'm not allowed to wrestle boys. I'm not out here to cheat. I worked my tail off and it finally paid off. People hear testosterone and think it's the same as what a body builder uses. I'm using very minimal (dosage) because it's what has been medically prescribed. If a male has testicular cancer and needs testosterone, are they going to try to ban him too?Arturo Garcia Sources Associated Press. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs Wins Texas Girls Title Again.' Accessed via The Guardian. 25 February 2018. Boren, Cindy. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs Wins Second Texas State Girls' Championship.' Washington Post. 25 February 2018. Dawson, Peter. 'Transgender Wrestler Mack Beggs is Booed After Second Straight State Title Win.' Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 24 February 2018. de Vogue, Ariane et al. 'Trump Administration Withdraws Federal Protections for Transgender Students.' CNN. 23 February 2017. | nan | [
"12965-proof-02-mack_beggs_feature.jpg"
] |
A zeppelin airship flew over Giza in Egypt in 1931. | Entailment | A viral photograph supposedly showing a zeppelin airship flying above the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt is frequently circulated on social media: We have not been able to locate the original source of this image, but the story relayed in this tweet does reference an actual event that we could corroborate via news stories and genuine photographs. The image shown above likely depicts the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, an airship built in Germany in 1928. That dirigible's most famous flight occurred in 1929, when it circumnavigated the globe in 21 days, and this representation probably depicts a flight from a few years later when the airship traveled across the Middle East in April 1931. Karl Henry von Wiegand, a journalist who was aboard the Graf Zeppelin during its flight over Egypt, described the journey in an article published by the San Francisco Examiner in June 1931. In addition to documenting the airship's journey, von Wiegand's article is of note because it argued that airships were 'steadily convincing a hard-headed and skeptical world of the practicability and safety of dirigibles as an outstanding factor in long-distance air transportation.' While this sentiment may have been true at the time, airship travel was all but grounded a few years later after the infamous Hindenberg disaster of 1937. We've transcribed a few relevant portions of that 1931 news article below: Sun, Jul 12, 1931 - 41 · The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com The appalling disaster to the British R-101 - which I claim was avoidable and in the main due to three things: national pride, certain details of design and construction and inexperience in handling such ships - has been used to renew, even intensify, skepticism and opposition to airships. Nevertheless, the Graf Zeppelin, in all probability the last of hydrogen-filled airships, has just demonstrated again the commercial practicability of dirigibles. With sixty-six persons on board, including twenty-five passengers and a quantity of mail, we flew from Friedrichshafen to Alexandria, Egypt in thirty hours and forty-five minutes. Southward into the teeth of a stiff wind we turned and flew over the Nile delta, probably the richest soil in teh world. Below us soon the Nile, like a ribbon, with scores of picturesque lateen-sailed feluccas. Sailing boats, donkeys, camels, motor-cars, railway trains, slow plodding natives - every mode of transportation was represented there. 'The Pyramids in sight!' came a shout from the bridge. A rush to the windows. In the distance, silhouette-like against the sun, loomed the world's most ancient monuments. We circled them and the Sphinx and twice over the city of Cairo with the domes and needle-like minarets of the many mosques. The image popularized on social media might be a symbolic representation created by manipulating pictures after the fact rather than an actual photograph of the event, but even if so it's a reasonably accurate depiction. We located a number of real photographs showing the Graf Zeppelin over the pyramids in Egypt, along with one additional image of the airship specifically journeying over the Great Spinx of Giza. The following photograph, available via the Library of Congress and attributed to the Keystone View Company, shows three men watching the Graf Zeppelin as it approached the pyramids: Title: The Graf Zeppelin's rendezvous with the eternal desert and the more than 4,000 year old pyramids of Gizeh, Egypt Summary: Three men sitting on a hill near one of the great pyramids with desert in background and the Graf Zeppelin in the sky. The Giza Project at Harvard University has collected several additional photographs of the airship above the pyramids in Egypt, and a photograph showing an airship flying over the Sphinx of Giza is available via Getty Images: The German airship Zeppelin flies over the Sphinx and Giza pyramids, Egypt, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, year LVIII, n 19, May 10, 1931. | nan | [
"13112-proof-06-airship_egypt.jpg",
"13112-proof-12-zeppelin-giza.jpg"
] |
A zeppelin airship flew over Giza in Egypt in 1931. | Entailment | A viral photograph supposedly showing a zeppelin airship flying above the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt is frequently circulated on social media: We have not been able to locate the original source of this image, but the story relayed in this tweet does reference an actual event that we could corroborate via news stories and genuine photographs. The image shown above likely depicts the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, an airship built in Germany in 1928. That dirigible's most famous flight occurred in 1929, when it circumnavigated the globe in 21 days, and this representation probably depicts a flight from a few years later when the airship traveled across the Middle East in April 1931. Karl Henry von Wiegand, a journalist who was aboard the Graf Zeppelin during its flight over Egypt, described the journey in an article published by the San Francisco Examiner in June 1931. In addition to documenting the airship's journey, von Wiegand's article is of note because it argued that airships were 'steadily convincing a hard-headed and skeptical world of the practicability and safety of dirigibles as an outstanding factor in long-distance air transportation.' While this sentiment may have been true at the time, airship travel was all but grounded a few years later after the infamous Hindenberg disaster of 1937. We've transcribed a few relevant portions of that 1931 news article below: Sun, Jul 12, 1931 - 41 · The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com The appalling disaster to the British R-101 - which I claim was avoidable and in the main due to three things: national pride, certain details of design and construction and inexperience in handling such ships - has been used to renew, even intensify, skepticism and opposition to airships. Nevertheless, the Graf Zeppelin, in all probability the last of hydrogen-filled airships, has just demonstrated again the commercial practicability of dirigibles. With sixty-six persons on board, including twenty-five passengers and a quantity of mail, we flew from Friedrichshafen to Alexandria, Egypt in thirty hours and forty-five minutes. Southward into the teeth of a stiff wind we turned and flew over the Nile delta, probably the richest soil in teh world. Below us soon the Nile, like a ribbon, with scores of picturesque lateen-sailed feluccas. Sailing boats, donkeys, camels, motor-cars, railway trains, slow plodding natives - every mode of transportation was represented there. 'The Pyramids in sight!' came a shout from the bridge. A rush to the windows. In the distance, silhouette-like against the sun, loomed the world's most ancient monuments. We circled them and the Sphinx and twice over the city of Cairo with the domes and needle-like minarets of the many mosques. The image popularized on social media might be a symbolic representation created by manipulating pictures after the fact rather than an actual photograph of the event, but even if so it's a reasonably accurate depiction. We located a number of real photographs showing the Graf Zeppelin over the pyramids in Egypt, along with one additional image of the airship specifically journeying over the Great Spinx of Giza. The following photograph, available via the Library of Congress and attributed to the Keystone View Company, shows three men watching the Graf Zeppelin as it approached the pyramids: Title: The Graf Zeppelin's rendezvous with the eternal desert and the more than 4,000 year old pyramids of Gizeh, Egypt Summary: Three men sitting on a hill near one of the great pyramids with desert in background and the Graf Zeppelin in the sky. The Giza Project at Harvard University has collected several additional photographs of the airship above the pyramids in Egypt, and a photograph showing an airship flying over the Sphinx of Giza is available via Getty Images: The German airship Zeppelin flies over the Sphinx and Giza pyramids, Egypt, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, year LVIII, n 19, May 10, 1931. | nan | [
"13112-proof-06-airship_egypt.jpg",
"13112-proof-12-zeppelin-giza.jpg"
] |
In March 2021, staff at a Walgreens pharmacy in Monroe, North Carolina, inadvertently injected some individuals with saline instead of a COVID-19 vaccine. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. In April 2021, local and national news outlets reported that an unfortunate mix-up had taken place at a Walgreens pharmacy in Monroe, North Carolina, whereby a number of individuals received a saline injection instead of a COVID-19 vaccination. On April 18, WCCB reported that: A local woman says she and her husband were among those involved in a vaccine mix-up at a local Walgreens. The company admits some people who were supposed to get a COVID shot were accidently injected with a saline solution instead. 'You question how could that even happen?' asks Marshville resident Lisa Strawn. She says she and her husband walked into the Walgreens on Fincher Street in Monroe on March 20th and got what they thought was the Pfizer vaccine. 'About 5:30 they called us and told us we needed to come back the next day, that there had been a mix-up with our shot,' Strawn says. She says she was told the pharmacist had forgotten to mix the vaccine and they had only gotten a saline shot. Similar reports were published by local channels WXII, WCNC, WRAL and WTVD, as well as The Charlotte Observer and Newsweek. Those accounts were accurate. A spokesperson for Walgreens told Snopes that a total of 22 individuals had been affected by the mix-up, which took place on March 20, at only one Walgreens location on Fincher Street in Monroe. According to the company spokesperson, all 22 individuals have been contacted by the pharmacy to notify them, and all of them were scheduled to have received a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine over the weekend of April 17-18. The company statement added: We recently learned of a limited number of patients who did not receive the vaccine at one of our Monroe, North Carolina locations and instead received an injection of saline, the diluent used to prepare Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. In alignment with CDC recommendations, immediate corrective actions were taken. We reached out to all impacted patients and administered a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as the impacted patients were available to return to the pharmacy. ...We have safely administered millions of vaccine doses. We have taken immediate steps to review our detailed procedures with the location to prevent this from occurring again. It's also very important to note there is no reason to believe there is harm to any of these patients. We continue to strengthen our operating procedures and are committed to this not occurring again. Saline is used as a diluent for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and it appears that staff at the Monroe Walgreens had, on March 20, neglected to add the vaccine to the saline before administering it to the 22 individuals affected. | nan | [
"13116-proof-03-50744965182_8a773e2183_o.jpg"
] |
In March 2021, staff at a Walgreens pharmacy in Monroe, North Carolina, inadvertently injected some individuals with saline instead of a COVID-19 vaccine. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. In April 2021, local and national news outlets reported that an unfortunate mix-up had taken place at a Walgreens pharmacy in Monroe, North Carolina, whereby a number of individuals received a saline injection instead of a COVID-19 vaccination. On April 18, WCCB reported that: A local woman says she and her husband were among those involved in a vaccine mix-up at a local Walgreens. The company admits some people who were supposed to get a COVID shot were accidently injected with a saline solution instead. 'You question how could that even happen?' asks Marshville resident Lisa Strawn. She says she and her husband walked into the Walgreens on Fincher Street in Monroe on March 20th and got what they thought was the Pfizer vaccine. 'About 5:30 they called us and told us we needed to come back the next day, that there had been a mix-up with our shot,' Strawn says. She says she was told the pharmacist had forgotten to mix the vaccine and they had only gotten a saline shot. Similar reports were published by local channels WXII, WCNC, WRAL and WTVD, as well as The Charlotte Observer and Newsweek. Those accounts were accurate. A spokesperson for Walgreens told Snopes that a total of 22 individuals had been affected by the mix-up, which took place on March 20, at only one Walgreens location on Fincher Street in Monroe. According to the company spokesperson, all 22 individuals have been contacted by the pharmacy to notify them, and all of them were scheduled to have received a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine over the weekend of April 17-18. The company statement added: We recently learned of a limited number of patients who did not receive the vaccine at one of our Monroe, North Carolina locations and instead received an injection of saline, the diluent used to prepare Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. In alignment with CDC recommendations, immediate corrective actions were taken. We reached out to all impacted patients and administered a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as the impacted patients were available to return to the pharmacy. ...We have safely administered millions of vaccine doses. We have taken immediate steps to review our detailed procedures with the location to prevent this from occurring again. It's also very important to note there is no reason to believe there is harm to any of these patients. We continue to strengthen our operating procedures and are committed to this not occurring again. Saline is used as a diluent for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and it appears that staff at the Monroe Walgreens had, on March 20, neglected to add the vaccine to the saline before administering it to the 22 individuals affected. | nan | [
"13116-proof-03-50744965182_8a773e2183_o.jpg"
] |
A photograph shows a library parking facade lined with giant-sized representations of books. | Entailment | Our first impulse on viewing a picture like the one displayed below was to check to see whether Worth1000 (now DesignCrowd) was holding a photo editing contest in which entrants are challenged to create images of buildings that visually represent their functions: However, no such search was necessary, as background information about this photograph was easily located on the website of the Kansas City Public Library. As noted on that site, these 25-foot-high representations of 22 different books (set between glass-enclosed stairwells made to look like bookends) are known as the 'Community Bookshelf' and do indeed line one wall of Central Library's parking garage in downtown Kansas City: The Community Bookshelf is a striking feature of Kansas City's downtown. It runs along the south wall of the Central Library's parking garage on 10th Street between Wyandotte Street and Baltimore Avenue. The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet by 9 feet, are made of signboard mylar. The shelf showcases 22 titles reflecting a wide variety of reading interests as suggested by Kansas City readers and then selected by The Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees. For those curious types who can't make out the all of the titles displayed on Community Bookshelf, we note that they are: Kansas City Stories Catch-22 Children's Stories Silent Spring O Pioneers! 100 Years of Solitude Their Eyes Were Watching God Fahrenheit 451 The Republic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tao Te Ching The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes Black Elk Speaks Invisible Man To Kill a Mockingbird Journals of the Expedition (Lewis and Clark) Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West Lord of the Rings A Tale of Two Cities Charlotte's Web Romeo and Juliet | nan | [
"13173-proof-09-kclibrary1.jpg"
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A photograph shows a 'Your Health Is Not More Important Than My Liberties!' message displayed on an automobile window at a protest calling for the loosening of COVID-19 social-distancing restrictions. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. Over the weekend of April 17-20, 2020, protesters in cities across the U.S. turned out to demonstrate for the loosening of social-distancing restrictions enacted to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, holding that that restrictions were unnecessary or had continued for too long. Those protests encompassed the display of numerous signs and messages that seemed so outrageous in their sentiments as to leave many viewers who encountered them afterwards on social media wondering whether they were real. (Most were in fact real, although a few were fake.) One such example of this phenomenon was the following, an image of an automobile displaying a message on its rear window reading 'Your health is not more important than my liberties!' The license plate on the car appears to be the 'Keep Kids Safe' variant of vehicle plates issued in Connecticut, and the state capital of Hartford was the scene of a 'Rally to Reopen' protest on April 20, as reported by the Hartford Courant: Hundreds of Connecticut residents paraded around the state Capitol [on the afternoon of April 20] in their cars, honking horns, flying American flags and displaying signs demanding the state reopen businesses and services that have been shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. The long line of protesting drivers snaked around the Capitol grounds and Frog Hollow neighborhood shortly after Gov. Ned Lamont announced deaths associated with the virus have topped 1,300 and that restrictive measures, including a new order to wear masks in public, should continue for weeks. The loud but socially distant protest in Hartford followed similar large, in-person rallies in state capitals around the country, including in Pennsylvania earlier Monday and in Michigan, Virginia and Texas over the past few days. The protesters nationwide claim Lamont and other governors' unprecedented orders to shut down businesses, close schools and order millions to stay at home to stem the spread of the virus infringe on civil liberties and do more harm than good for society at large, said Dan Reale, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, which organized the rally. One slightly different aspect of the Hartford protest was that it primarily comprised demonstrators driving around in their automobiles rather than gathering in person: This Hartford rally has been a very different affair than those we've seen in other states, including Pennsylvania earlier today, where large groups congregated in person. This has been almost exclusively in cars and therefore within the social distancing rules they're protesting https://t.co/XaInuKby4x - Zach Murdock (@zach_murdock) April 20, 2020 The vehicle bearing the 'Your health is not more important than my liberties!' message was in fact part of that 'Rally to Reopen' procession in Hartford, having been captured in pictures by photojournalist Brad Horrigan that appeared in both the Courant's reporting on the demonstration and in an separate opinion piece about the protest: [While I lay in a hospital bed in Manhattan, forcing myself to breathe], in Connecticut - my home state - hundreds of people gathered in the capital city. American flags were billowing. Signs were flailing. Red hats were everywhere. I had no idea this was happening, but by the time I got home from the hospital, the photos were all over the Internet. 'Your health is not more important than my liberties,' someone had scribbled on a car window. The pain in my chest - which had persisted and grown throughout the last eight days - was now compounded by something else. I couldn't believe the state of my country. I couldn't believe what my fellow Americans were doing to one another and not only how easily but how savagely they wanted to tear each other down. | nan | [
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A photograph shows a 'Your Health Is Not More Important Than My Liberties!' message displayed on an automobile window at a protest calling for the loosening of COVID-19 social-distancing restrictions. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. Over the weekend of April 17-20, 2020, protesters in cities across the U.S. turned out to demonstrate for the loosening of social-distancing restrictions enacted to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, holding that that restrictions were unnecessary or had continued for too long. Those protests encompassed the display of numerous signs and messages that seemed so outrageous in their sentiments as to leave many viewers who encountered them afterwards on social media wondering whether they were real. (Most were in fact real, although a few were fake.) One such example of this phenomenon was the following, an image of an automobile displaying a message on its rear window reading 'Your health is not more important than my liberties!' The license plate on the car appears to be the 'Keep Kids Safe' variant of vehicle plates issued in Connecticut, and the state capital of Hartford was the scene of a 'Rally to Reopen' protest on April 20, as reported by the Hartford Courant: Hundreds of Connecticut residents paraded around the state Capitol [on the afternoon of April 20] in their cars, honking horns, flying American flags and displaying signs demanding the state reopen businesses and services that have been shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. The long line of protesting drivers snaked around the Capitol grounds and Frog Hollow neighborhood shortly after Gov. Ned Lamont announced deaths associated with the virus have topped 1,300 and that restrictive measures, including a new order to wear masks in public, should continue for weeks. The loud but socially distant protest in Hartford followed similar large, in-person rallies in state capitals around the country, including in Pennsylvania earlier Monday and in Michigan, Virginia and Texas over the past few days. The protesters nationwide claim Lamont and other governors' unprecedented orders to shut down businesses, close schools and order millions to stay at home to stem the spread of the virus infringe on civil liberties and do more harm than good for society at large, said Dan Reale, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, which organized the rally. One slightly different aspect of the Hartford protest was that it primarily comprised demonstrators driving around in their automobiles rather than gathering in person: This Hartford rally has been a very different affair than those we've seen in other states, including Pennsylvania earlier today, where large groups congregated in person. This has been almost exclusively in cars and therefore within the social distancing rules they're protesting https://t.co/XaInuKby4x - Zach Murdock (@zach_murdock) April 20, 2020 The vehicle bearing the 'Your health is not more important than my liberties!' message was in fact part of that 'Rally to Reopen' procession in Hartford, having been captured in pictures by photojournalist Brad Horrigan that appeared in both the Courant's reporting on the demonstration and in an separate opinion piece about the protest: [While I lay in a hospital bed in Manhattan, forcing myself to breathe], in Connecticut - my home state - hundreds of people gathered in the capital city. American flags were billowing. Signs were flailing. Red hats were everywhere. I had no idea this was happening, but by the time I got home from the hospital, the photos were all over the Internet. 'Your health is not more important than my liberties,' someone had scribbled on a car window. The pain in my chest - which had persisted and grown throughout the last eight days - was now compounded by something else. I couldn't believe the state of my country. I couldn't believe what my fellow Americans were doing to one another and not only how easily but how savagely they wanted to tear each other down. | nan | [
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A photograph shows a 'Your Health Is Not More Important Than My Liberties!' message displayed on an automobile window at a protest calling for the loosening of COVID-19 social-distancing restrictions. | Entailment | Snopes is still fighting an 'infodemic' of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and 'advice' you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. Over the weekend of April 17-20, 2020, protesters in cities across the U.S. turned out to demonstrate for the loosening of social-distancing restrictions enacted to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, holding that that restrictions were unnecessary or had continued for too long. Those protests encompassed the display of numerous signs and messages that seemed so outrageous in their sentiments as to leave many viewers who encountered them afterwards on social media wondering whether they were real. (Most were in fact real, although a few were fake.) One such example of this phenomenon was the following, an image of an automobile displaying a message on its rear window reading 'Your health is not more important than my liberties!' The license plate on the car appears to be the 'Keep Kids Safe' variant of vehicle plates issued in Connecticut, and the state capital of Hartford was the scene of a 'Rally to Reopen' protest on April 20, as reported by the Hartford Courant: Hundreds of Connecticut residents paraded around the state Capitol [on the afternoon of April 20] in their cars, honking horns, flying American flags and displaying signs demanding the state reopen businesses and services that have been shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. The long line of protesting drivers snaked around the Capitol grounds and Frog Hollow neighborhood shortly after Gov. Ned Lamont announced deaths associated with the virus have topped 1,300 and that restrictive measures, including a new order to wear masks in public, should continue for weeks. The loud but socially distant protest in Hartford followed similar large, in-person rallies in state capitals around the country, including in Pennsylvania earlier Monday and in Michigan, Virginia and Texas over the past few days. The protesters nationwide claim Lamont and other governors' unprecedented orders to shut down businesses, close schools and order millions to stay at home to stem the spread of the virus infringe on civil liberties and do more harm than good for society at large, said Dan Reale, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut, which organized the rally. One slightly different aspect of the Hartford protest was that it primarily comprised demonstrators driving around in their automobiles rather than gathering in person: This Hartford rally has been a very different affair than those we've seen in other states, including Pennsylvania earlier today, where large groups congregated in person. This has been almost exclusively in cars and therefore within the social distancing rules they're protesting https://t.co/XaInuKby4x - Zach Murdock (@zach_murdock) April 20, 2020 The vehicle bearing the 'Your health is not more important than my liberties!' message was in fact part of that 'Rally to Reopen' procession in Hartford, having been captured in pictures by photojournalist Brad Horrigan that appeared in both the Courant's reporting on the demonstration and in an separate opinion piece about the protest: [While I lay in a hospital bed in Manhattan, forcing myself to breathe], in Connecticut - my home state - hundreds of people gathered in the capital city. American flags were billowing. Signs were flailing. Red hats were everywhere. I had no idea this was happening, but by the time I got home from the hospital, the photos were all over the Internet. 'Your health is not more important than my liberties,' someone had scribbled on a car window. The pain in my chest - which had persisted and grown throughout the last eight days - was now compounded by something else. I couldn't believe the state of my country. I couldn't believe what my fellow Americans were doing to one another and not only how easily but how savagely they wanted to tear each other down. | nan | [
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Donald Trump's Kentucky and Oklahoma 2016 campaign chairs are in jail for child sex trafficking. | Entailment | Following widespread coverage of politically well-connected financier Jeffrey Epstein's July 2019 arrest for crimes including the sex trafficking of minors, claims of similar crimes committed by members of Trump's 2016 campaign went viral: It is true that two prominent Trump 2016 campaign workers, Ralph Shortey and Tim Nolan, are currently in jail for crimes related to the sex trafficking of minors, but it would be incorrect to say that Nolan was the Kentucky state campaign chair. Ralph Shortey Ralph Shortey is a former Oklahoma state senator who served as the Oklahoma campaign chair for Donald Trump's 2016 Presidential Campaign. On November 30, 2017, as part of a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to one count of child sex trafficking: Shortey, a 35-year-old married father of three, resigned from the state Legislature in March after being charged with several felonies, including engaging in child prostitution, after police found him in a hotel room with a 17-year-old male. Shortey's attorney, Ed Blau, confirmed that his client will plead guilty to a charge of child sex trafficking in exchange for U.S. prosecutors' dropping three child pornography charges against him. [...] While the age of consent in Oklahoma is 16, child prostitution statutes apply to anyone under 18. On September 17, 2018, Shortey was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He had faced a sentence of up to life in prison. Tim Nolan Tim Nolan is a former Kentucky judge and conservative activist who volunteered with Trump's 2016 campaign in multiple capacities, including as a state-level Trump delegate and ballot observer, and who described himself as Campbell County, Kentucky's Trump 2016 election chair. The latter claim, though repeated in multiple news reports, has been disputed by local Republicans following Nolan's arrest for multiple sex crimes. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, 'Nolan's brash style made him one of the more visible campaigners for President Trump in Northern Kentucky, though since his arrest many in the campaign publicly questioned his claim of heading the campaign in Campbell County.' In April 2016, Nolan was charged with forcing a minor to engage in commercial sex, an accusation that came from a 16-year-old student at Campbell County High School who, with her mother, lived on a rented trailer on Nolan's property. In the United States, sex trafficking is defined as commercial sex induced by force, fraud or coercion, or involving a minor under the age of 18. The accusation lead to the discovery of a host of other sex crimes that spanned over a decade: The charges against Nolan involved 19 women, seven of which were under 18, and go back as far as 2004. All but two were addicted to opioids, [Assistant Attorney General Barbara] Whaley said. He would often visit a local woman's shelter ... and 'was a frequent volunteer at drug court,' to meet women addicted to opioids, said [Whaley, who served as the special prosecutor in the case]. In February 2018, Nolan accepted a plea deal that stipulated 20 years in prison. In May, he was sentenced and is currently in jail. | nan | [] |
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