Facebook posts proclaiming the existence of a free, government-provided commercial driver’s license course drew attention on social media this week.
Each post shared an image with words, “CDL Official Announcement” in all capital letters beside the U.S. State Department’s seal. Beneath that, the image included the following message:
“Starting from June 2024, the United States will provide a six-month free CDL course,” the image said, using the abbreviation for commercial driver’s license. “If you need a CDL driver’s license, you can apply for it for free with your citizenship, and foreigners can also apply for it for free with their residence permit.”
Three posts from June 23andJune 24 were collectively shared more than 11,000 times.
Many Facebook users in the comments asked for a link to apply; others users asked about the legitimacy of the posts’ claims.
“Do you think this is true?” one wrote.
Another questioned the timeline: “Y’all sure this legit? Getting a cdl doesn’t take anywhere near six months.”
The posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
We searched Google and news reports and found nothing to support the claim that the U.S. government is providing commercial driver’s license courses at no cost — which might explain why none of the posts included a link or application information.
(Screenshot from Facebook.)
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration considers the posts promoting free, government-provided commercial driver’s license courses false, agency spokesperson Cicely Waters said.
“Our agency does not offer grant funding directly to individuals nor do we enroll applicants into CDL training programs,” Waters said. “As such, our agency would not sponsor advertisements like” the images shared on Facebook.
Also, a State Department spokesperson told PolitiFact the department is not involved with a purported commercial driver’s license course.
People must have a commercial driver’s license if they operate in-state, between-state or foreign commerce and drive a commercial motor vehicle, according to the U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s website.
The website said people must meet knowledge, skill, medical and residency requirements to obtain a commercial driver’s license. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration encouraged people who want to get a commercial driver’s license to find a copy of their state’s commercial driver’s license manual.
The federal agency developed the standards for state testing and issuing commercial driver’s licenses, but it does not issue commercial driver’s licenses.
“State governments are responsible for issuing CDLs,” the website said.
Some states, including Arizona and Oregon, have used money from the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021, to help people afford commercial driver’s license training, news reports said.
Our ruling
Facebook posts claimed that the federal government will “provide a six-month free CDL course,” starting in June 2024. The posts included the State Department seal.
Spokespeople for the State Department and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said their agencies were not offering free commercial driver’s license courses.
A video being shared online in late June 2024 authentically showed the Florida State Guard firing surface-to-air missiles at migrant boats.
Rating:
On June 26, 2024, an X user posted a video appearing to show rockets being launched from the U.S. coast and claimed it showed the Florida State Guard firing missiles at migrant boats attempting to reach the island city of Key West (archived here).
“BREAKING: Governor Ron DeSantis orders the Florida State Guard to launch surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at migrant boats trying to land in Key West. Do you support this type of military action to prevent a migrant invasion?” the X user wrote.
(X account @MidnightMitch)
The post had amassed more than 170,000 views at the time of this writing.
Some X users replying to the video said they did support the use of missiles to prevent migrants reaching the U.S.
“Unironically yes, i do support this type of military action against an invasion,” one wrote.
Another said: “Yes, should have started some time ago.”
(X acconut @Easyofcourse)
However, the video was reversed, and therefore manipulated, and its creator has intimated was a joke, which is why we have rated it as “Originated as Satire.” It actually showed SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket boosters returning to Earth after NASA launched its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) weather satellite into space on June 25, 2024.
The original video was captured aboard a boat tour organized by Star Fleet Tours, a company that charters boats to give customers views of space launches from Cape Canaveral.
Star Fleet Tours’ post on its X account read: “Two Falcon Heavy side cores landing after NASA’s GOES-U launch.”
NASA posted a live stream video of the June 25 rocket launch on YouTube. Coverage of the landing could be seen from 1:20:27, where the presenter told viewers it was the first time a GOES satellite was launched using SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket boosters.
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In June 2024, posts wentviral on X (formerly Twitter), claiming that “Taylor Swift has decided to cancel all her tour dates in Florida, stating she considers the State to be ‘racist.'”
As of this writing, only one X post spreading the rumor gained over 688,500 views and 9,300 comments. “The truth maybe because she did not have many swifties there,” one comment on X read, while another X user wrote “I would not watch her if it were free.”
(X user @JDunlap1974)
The rumor stemmed from an article published by The Dunning-Kruger Times with the title “Taylor Swift Cancels All Tour Dates in ‘Racist’ Florida.” It read:
Musical artist Taylor Swift is flying at the height of her fame right now. With a top ten album destroying the charts across the country and a sold-out tour winding daily throughout giant arenas everywhere, she’s really running the proverbial table.
Except for the unfortunate population of the state of Florida, who’s table apparently doesn’t come with any cues, chalk, or Mike’s Hard Lemonade.
Swift has completely cancelled all of her touring dates in Florida after the announcement by governor Ron DeSantis that African American studies, a course tracing the history and current events regarding black people, be removed from curriculums. It’s a fairly astounding show of pure racism and ignorance by the modern GOP.
Assistant governor Joe Barron explained DeSantis’ reasoning behind the cancellation on the popular Florida morning show Wake Up And Smell the Meth.
“The thing is, DeSantis really doesn’t like black people at all. They’re his least favorite of all the colors. He feels that in a perfect world, they wouldn’t even be in a University setting in the first place. I mean, do you need to hear a reason? It speaks for itself. Republicans are racist. They just are.”
Swift made a brief comment about her tour erasure (…)
“It’s absolutely disgusting, but sadly, what I’d expect from DeSantis and his miserable half-dead state of Florida. I mean, it’s America’s trash heap. Why would I go there? Shitty pizza and metamucil milkshakes?”
However, this was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The rumor originated with a website that describes its output as being satirical in nature.
The website is part of the America’s Last Line of Defense network and describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. Its disclaimer reads as follows:
Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is a subsidiary of the “America’s Last Line of Defense” network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News.
Moreover, the website’s “About Us” section informs that:
Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
In recent weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Sen. Tim Scott offered seemingly contradictory claims when discussing the impact of inflation on the typical American’s wages and income.
During prepared testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee on April 30, Yellen claimed that “real wages and household median wealth have increased since before the pandemic.” Similarly, in a June 13 interview with CNBC, she said that “all Americans, both those who are well off and those who are near the bottom of the income distribution, are better off now. Their wages have risen more than prices.”
Conversely, during a June 16 interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Scott claimed that for the “working class coalition … under Joe Biden … their wages, frankly, have gone down. Costs have gone up. And they have less spending power.”
Both Scott and Yellen can cite economic data that support their claims. The difference between the two claims is that Scott analyzed changes in inflation-adjusted wages and incomes since President Joe Biden entered office in 2021, whereas Yellen began her analysis in 2019, arguing that the pandemic distorted evaluations that began when Biden entered office.
Measuring from the start of Biden’s term in office, both wages and incomes have not kept up with inflation. However, measuring from before the pandemic to the present, inflation-adjusted wages and incomes have slightly increased.
To analyze these claims, we asked multiple economists to evaluate whether it was more useful to measure changes in real wages and incomes under Biden by beginning in 2019 or 2021. The question elicited disagreement from the economists we interviewed.
Scott’s Timeline: 2021 to the Present
Since Biden entered office, three key macroeconomic metrics gauging the purchasing power of Americans through their wages and disposable income have each increased at a slower pace than inflation, supporting Scott’s claim.
First, our analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data found that real average hourly earnings for all private sector employees have decreased by 2.24% between January 2021 to May 2024. [Technical point: For our analysis, we adjusted nominal average hourly earnings for inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for all items, with 2018 as the base year. CPI-U covers 87% of U.S. consumers.]
Second, quarterly data from the BLS identifies that real median weekly earnings for full-time workers (using 1982-1984 CPI-adjusted dollars) have decreased by 2.14% from the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2024.
Third, the Bureau of Economic Analysis identifies that real per-capita disposable personal income (using chained 2017 dollars) has decreased by 9.04% between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2024.
Real personal disposable per-capita income offers a different picture of purchasing power by including income sources other than earnings, such as “Social Security and other government benefits, dividends and interest, [and] business ownership.” As a result, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative-leaning American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, told us in a phone interview that income offers “a broader measure of purchasing power” than wages. According to the BEA, disposable income denotes the income “residents have left to spend or save after paying taxes.”
While Scott is correct that average hourly earnings have grown at a slower pace than inflation over the last three years, nominal wages have still increased for the typical American. The BLS estimates that nominal average hourly earnings (measured in current dollars without adjusting for inflation) have increased by 16.64% between January 2021 and May 2024.
Nevertheless, in each of the three macroeconomic metrics we’re using to evaluate purchasing power, Scott is correct that the typical American’s income and wages have failed to keep pace with inflation since Biden entered the presidency.
Yellen’s Timeline: 2019 to 2023
When asked to support Yellen’s claim, the Treasury Department cited two reports published by the CBO and the Treasury Department, which both identify increases in the average American’s purchasing power by analyzing changes in adjusted market income and weekly earnings, respectively. Unlike Scott, these studies identified increases in real wages between late 2019 and late 2023.
Biden made a similar claim to Yellen’s in an interview with Time Magazine on May 28, arguing that “wage increases have exceeded what the cost of inflation, which you’re talking about as the prices that were pre-COVID prices.”
By all the three measures we’ve evaluated, Biden and Yellen are correct.
Real average hourly earnings (calculated by adjusting nominal average hourly earnings for inflation using the CPI-U) increased by 1.20% between February 2020 and May 2024, while disposable per-capita real personal income increased by 6.06% between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2024. Finally, real median weekly wages increased by 0.83% between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2024. These findings support Biden’s claim that the average consumer possesses more purchasing power today than before the pandemic.
Recent short-term changes in consumer purchasing power also support Biden’s argument. Between May 2023 and May 2024, average hourly earnings growth has outpaced price increases, growing at an inflation-adjusted rate of 0.81%. Additionally, between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, real disposable personal income per capita has increased by 1.11%. Finally, real median weekly wages increased by 0.55% between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
It’s worth noting that Yellen also addressed this issue during an interview on the same June 16 episode of “This Week” in which Scott argued that real wages decreased under Biden. During this show, Yellen attempted to repeat her earlier claim, but cited an incorrect timeframe — referring instead to the last three years.
“Well, it is true that, over the last roughly three years, there’s been a significant increase in the price level,” she said. “I would point out, of course, that wages have also gone up during this time, and government studies show that, for all — for households at all points in the income distribution wages have gone up somewhat more than prices.”
As we described earlier, from January 2021 to the present, the inflation-adjusted measures of average hourly earnings, median weekly earnings, and per-capita disposable personal income all decreased. Holtz-Eakin called Yellen’s claim from June 16 “demonstrably false.”
However, Yellen’s previous statement from April, and the evidence supporting her claim provided to us by the Treasury Department, all compare wage and income data from before the pandemic to the present and correctly identify an upward trend.
Impact of the Pandemic on Real Wage and Income
The different timeframes used by Scott and Yellen highlight the impact of the pandemic in altering measurements of the typical American’s purchasing power. In March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, all three of our reported metrics quickly spiked upward and subsequently declined in the following months.
When Yellen and Biden compare pre-pandemic real wage rates with present rates, they use a timeframe that predates the March 2020 spike. However, Scott’s timeframe begins at the start of 2021, after the peak of the spike.
Because of the distortionary effects of the pandemic, measurements of real wage and income growth starting from 2019 are significantly different from measurements beginning in 2021, as illustrated in the chart below.
Explaining the Disruptive Role of the Pandemic
Multiple economists’ explanations of these fluctuations in real wages and incomes during the pandemic focused on the exit and reentry of low-wage employees from the workforce. Biden’s CEA wrote in April 2021 that a “sharp, one-month increase in reported average wages” occurred early in the pandemic “because millions of relatively low-paid workers lost their jobs, while relatively high-paid workers remained employed.”
Holtz-Eakin corroborates that a “huge chunk” of the more than 20 million workers who lost their jobs early in the pandemic worked in “the leisure and hospitality and other sectors that have an abundance of low-skill, inexperienced workers.”
In a report by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, economists Chloe East, Wendy Edelberg, and Noadia Steinmetz-Silber write that “from February 2020 to April 2020, the unemployment rate increased by 15.4 percentage points for those with less than a high school education, compared to 6.5 percentage points for those with at least a bachelor’s degree.”
Dean Baker, senior economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a labor-focused think tank, told us in an email that these changes in the labor market at the beginning of the pandemic were “comparable to telling the five shortest people to leave a room. The average height of the people remaining is greater, even though no one has gotten any taller.” As a result, he argues that “the rise in real wages at the start of the pandemic was an illusion.”
Subsequently, the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank partly funded by labor unions, argues that the U.S.’s recovery from the pandemic in the following months reversed this trend, driving real average wage growth down as many of these low-wage workers rejoined the labor force.
In a February 2022 report on the real wage gains over the two years of the pandemic, the Dallas Federal Reserve explained the impacts of these “composition effects,” which it defined as the “average wages of individuals who leave the workforce, compared with those who enter it over the period.”
The report identified an abnormally large positive composition effect driving up average hourly wages at the beginning of the pandemic. Subsequently, it also identified a large negative composition effect driving down average wages in the second quarter of 2021, which the report said resulted from the rapid reentry of low-wage workers into the labor force. (See the chart below from the report.)
Baker offered another explanation for the fluctuations in per-capita disposable personal income. In a February article for CEPR, he asserted that real per-capita income spiked in 2020 “primarily due to the pandemic checks” included in the CARES Act passed under then-President Donald Trump and the “$1,400 a person” stimulus from “Biden’s recovery package.” Holtz-Eakin refers to this roughly $5 trillion in total stimulus spending during the pandemic as an “enormous transfer to households.”
However, Baker said that “these programs mostly went away after 2021, which explains most of the drop in 2022.” He pointed out that 2021 “was also a year of sharp inflation, which outpaced wage growth for most workers. That further lowered real income.”
Therefore, selecting a timeframe that begins when Biden entered office, as Scott did in his interview with ABC News, includes this sharp drop in real per-capita disposable income in the middle of 2021.
When Should the Analysis Begin?
We’ve established that while real wages have increased since 2019, they have not grown since the beginning of the Biden administration. But how to evaluate purchasing power and real wages under Biden stirs a debate among some economists.
In an email message, a Treasury spokesperson argued that “the 2021 Bureau Labor of Statistics data on earnings was skewed and should not be used as a comparison point” because “the people out of the labor force at that time were disproportionally low-income such that the people that were working then skewed higher income. This made it look artificially like wages spiked in 2020 and remained elevated in 2021.” Instead, the spokesperson argued that “the comparison point that is more reliable for wage measurement is in 2019, just before the pandemic, when there was near full employment as there is today.”
When asked whether she felt it was more useful to begin an analysis of real wage growth under Biden in 2019 or 2021, Chloe East, a University of Colorado Denver Economics Professor and nonresident fellow with the Hamilton Project at Brookings, told us in a phone interview that the decision was something she and her peers at Brookings “struggled with.” Ultimately, they decided to begin their analysis in 2019 because it offered “more stable” data. “There were still changes in 2021,” she argues, making wage data from that year more “volatile” than 2019.
However, Holtz-Eakin disagrees with this approach. He argues that by the time Biden entered office, the president “inherited an economy that was growing rapidly and had recovered from the recession,” and that many of these low-skill workers had already reentered the labor force. He points to the unemployment rate, which had decreased from a pandemic high of 14.8% in April 2020 to 6.4% by the time Biden took office in January 2021. For context, the unemployment rate has stayed within the 3.4%-4% range between December 2021 and the present, and was 3.5% in February 2020. Therefore, Holtz-Eakin said he believed it is reasonable to begin his analysis of changes in real wages under Biden in January 2021, and not before the pandemic.
It’s worth noting that our evaluations of macroeconomic metrics under Biden published in the Biden’s Numbers quarterly reports generally evaluate data beginning with the start of his administration in January 2021.
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In January 2024, a viral post on Facebook from the account SpaceX Fanclubclaimed that British chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay threw former NCAA swimmer Lia Thomas out of one of his restaurants. The story appeared to originate on the website esspots.com, which wrote:
Breaking: Gordon Ramsay Throws Lia Thomas Out Of His Restaurant, “No Place For You Here”
In a world that’s constantly cooking up controversies, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has supposedly added his own spice to the mix. In what can only be described as a culinary clash of titans, Ramsay, known for his fiery temperament and choice language, reportedly showed Lia Thomas, the famous trans swimmer, the exit door of his restaurant, allegedly exclaiming, “No place for you here!”
…
“It was all about the risotto,” confided an anonymous diner, sporting a napkin bib. “Lia sent back the risotto three times! And you know Gordon, he can handle criticism about as well as a soufflé handles a sledgehammer.”
But why would Ramsay, a chef known for his explosive reactions to undercooked scallops and overcooked beef Wellingtons, take such a drastic step? Sources close to the chef suggest it was a classic case of Ramsay’s ‘kitchen nightmare’. “Gordon saw the returned risotto as a personal affront,” shared a sous-chef, who preferred to remain unnamed. “It wasn’t Lia’s identity or fame. Had it been anyone else, he might’ve just thrown the risotto out instead!”
The SpaceX Fanclub post on Facebook received more than 11,000 comments, as of this writing, with many followers appearing to side with Ramsay.
(SpaceX Fanclub/Facebook)
“I’ve never seen so many ppl care so much about food sent back to the kitchen! 😂 but i love it! Lia Thomas sent a Risotto back 3x! 3 TIMES!!?! as a proud lifelong restaurant worker, i would’ve thrown em out on the 3rd strike as well 😂👏🏼,” wrote one follower, while another offered, “Gordans the goat this man is the king in the kitchen idc what anyone says read the actual article you do not disrespect that chefs work bringing that back three time like if its wrong lets see you do better than my boy Gordon 😤 I said what i said.”
However, the claim about Ramsay throwing Thomas out of his restaurant was not true. Reputable news outlets did not report the story and the article does not mention at which of Ramsay’s many restaurants the incident allegedly took place. The article originated from a website that describes its output as humorous or satirical in nature. According to the “About Us” section of the Esspots website:
Welcome to the US page of Esspots (A Subsidiary of SpaceXMania.com specializing in Satire and Parody News), your one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America. Our team of writers and editors is dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity, all with a healthy dose of humor and satire.
SpaceX Fanclub also displays a similar disclaimer. “We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real,” that page’s description states on its “Intro” section.
Additionally, the story was published on the SpaceXArena website, which tells readers in its “About Us” section, “We use parody and exaggeration to mock current events and trends and aim to provide entertainment and laughter to our readers. … We are not a reliable source of information, but rather a platform for fun and comedy. We do not intend to offend or harm anyone with our content, but rather to make them smile and think. We hope you enjoy our website as much as we enjoy creating it.”
Thomas, who is transgender, was in the news in early 2024 due to her legal battle against World Aquatics to allow her to compete in women’s events. Switzerland’s Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against the swimmer, upholding existing guidelines that require transgender athletes to meet specific criteria, which Thomas was unable to fulfill.
We’ve fact-checked a number of other rumors about both Ramsay and Thomas.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will take the stage June 27 for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election. But some conservative politicians, pundits and social media users are pushing unfounded claims it won’t actually be Biden behind the lectern — or if it is, it’ll be Biden in an altered state.
“The man on the stage that night will not be Joe Biden and clearly the podiums play an important roll in their plan,” a blue check X user posted June 21, misspelling “role” and referring to Biden winning CNN’s coin toss and deciding to pick lectern placement over speaking order.
The false conspiracy theory that Biden and other well-known figures use professional impersonators as stand-ins for public appearances has circulatedfor years. But in the lead-up to the debate, the body-double conspiracy theory is one of a number of claims that aim to paint Biden as incapable of debating Trump without the help of a stand-in or, as Trump suggested, being “jacked up” on drugs.
The narrative is in line with attacks from the popular conservative X account RNC Research and other Trump supporters who have spent weeks circulating video clips of Biden that seem to show him declining cognitively, but omit fuller context about Biden’s actions. This is also not the first time Trump has attacked his Democratic competitor before a debate.
Biden, 81, has dedicated the better part of a week to preparing for the debate, the first either candidate has participated in since 2020. Trump, 78, said holding rallies in the days ahead of the debate is his best debate prep strategy.
Experts on U.S. politics said historically presidential candidates have typically taken several days to prepare for a debate, which can be particularly important for incumbents.
Baseless ‘body double’ claim rooted in QAnon
Users on X and Instagram shared a video clip from the conservative podcast Valuetainment in which one co-host said body doubles have “progressed” so much that these stand-ins can now give speeches.
PolitiFact and other news outlets have repeatedlyfact-checkedfalseclaims that Biden employs a body double or that video footage shows a maskedimpersonatorinstead of the real Biden. Some believers of this conspiracy theory point to photos and videos of Biden that were taken years apart as evidence. But Biden’s aging and wrinkles aren’t proof he’s been replaced.
The fact-free notion that powerful leaders have body doubles was a frequent claim among QAnon conspiracy theorists who helped shape the 2020 election and believe that the world is controlled by a “deep state” with ties to pedophilia.
Biden has gathered with his team at Camp David in Maryland since the night of June 20, his calendar blocked off to other events as, according to news reports, he practiced for the 90-minute faceoff with Trump.
Trump supporters used the prep time as an opportunity to bolster Trump’s unsupported claims about Biden’s capacity to debate.
“Biden — on an intense doping regimen at Camp David — hasn’t been seen for days,” wrote RNC Research in a June 22 X post, resharing images of Trump on the campaign trail.
Another X post viewed more than 3.8 million times claimed June 23 Biden is being isolated “to not only dial in his medication, but they also shift his sleep cycle,” so that he can give a strong performance at the debate.
By June 24, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, wrote a letter calling on Biden to submit to a drug test before taking the stage in Atlanta for the CNN-moderated event. And Trump wrote the same day on Truth Social that he would “immediately” submit to one. A Trump adviser told The Washington Post Biden “will be highly prepared and alert on debate night” because of a “perfectly calibrated dosage.”
On June 25, Fox News host Sean Hannity polled viewers on which version of Biden they thought would appear at the debate: “jacked-up Joe” or “confused/cognitively impaired.”
None of them cited evidence that Biden is using medication to help him.
Biden’s campaign dismissed the claims as falsehoods. In a statement to The Washington Post, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said Trump and his allies “are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies.”
Prep time is common ahead of presidential debates
History shows presidential candidates commonly set aside time to prepare for debates, especially when they are incumbents.
Many presidential candidates seek to avoid the kind of fallout then-Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon experienced in 1960 following the first televised presidential debate, said Jon Marshall, a media historian and associate professor at Northwestern University. Kennedy entered the debate rested and prepared; Nixon continued campaigning and, on TV, “appeared tired and uncomfortable when the debate began.”
Kennedy’s performance is often lauded as being pivotal in helping him win.
In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton set aside “most of a week” for his first debate as an incumbent, former White House speechwriter Michael Waldman wrote in an article for the Brennan Center for Justice, where he serves as president.
Incumbent presidents often go into their first debates “rusty” and “cocooned,” Waldman wrote. Former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and even Trump gave underwhelming performances in their first presidential debates as incumbents, he said.
Robert Rowland, a University of Kansas professor of communications studies, said what’s “more out-of-the-ordinary is that Trump is really not doing any kind of formal debate preparation.”
Incumbent presidents and challengers typically “take debates very seriously and allocate several days to the preparation process,” Rowland said.
Rowland said this tactical change to characterize Biden as formidable is part of a strategy to “lower expectations.”
“And at the same time, he’s trying to explain that if Biden does well, it’s because of some medication, etc., and still maintain his attack that Biden has lost his cognitive skill,” Rowland said.
Misleading claims about Biden unable to debate Trump on his own are not new
This election cycle is not the first time Trump and his supporters have sought to cast aspersions on Biden’s debate performance.
In 2020, Trump also called on Biden to take a drug test, which the Biden campaign laughed off. Trump also employed this tactic in 2016, when he suggested his then-Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, was taking drugs ahead of that year’s debates.
Also in 2020, Trump and his campaign said Biden sought the use of an earpiece ahead of the first presidential debate that year. Biden’s campaign dismissed the claim, saying the Trump team was “lying.”
The claim resurfaced after 2020’s first presidential debate: Social media users claimed video footage proved Biden wore a wire or earpiece at the debate. PolitiFact ratedthese claims Pants on Fire.
At least one other president also faced accusations of debate foul play.
In 2004, there was speculation that then-President George W. Bush received offstage help during that year’s presidential debate against Democratic nominee John Kerry because a photo showed a rectangular bulge on Bush’s back.
Although some people claimed Bush was wearing some kind of electronic device at the debate, Bush’s campaign said there was nothing under his suit jacket. Bush himself attributed the bulge to “a poorly tailored shirt.”
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
An ad by a liberal group says, “MAGA patriots listen to our president!” It includes clips of former President Donald Trump criticizing voting by mail.
The Trump clips are authentic and were taken from remarks he made this past February and in 2020. The ad concludes with text: “Stand Strong with President Trump against mail in voting!”
But that’s not what Trump has said this year. On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump has told Republicans it is acceptable to vote by mail. But he also said his goal is “one-day voting” which would likely preclude voting by mail.
Clips in the ad show Trump criticizing voting by mail
The ad includes three clips of Trump speaking against voting by mail.
“All of the things that are happening with votes by mail, I am not going to say which party does it, but thousands of votes are gathered and they are coming and they are dumped in a location and then all of a sudden you lose elections that you think you are going to win.” – April 8, 2020, coronavirus press briefing
Trump said that in response to a reporter’s question about his opposition to voting by mail. Trump also said, “If you’re a senior citizen and if you’re somebody that needs (mail-in voting), I’m all for it.”
At a press briefing the same week, Trump said that with voting by mail, “you get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody’s living room, signing ballots all over the place.” We rated that statement False. Credible studies have found that voter fraud is rare, whether through in-person voting or voting by mail.
“There’s fraud, they found them in creeks, they found some with the name Trump just the other day in a wastepaper basket.” — Sept. 29, 2020 debate.
Trump said that in response to a debate moderator’s question about how confident the public should be that the election would be fair. The moderator said that some mail-in ballots would be counted after Election Day.
Trump replied, “They’re sending millions of ballots all over the country. There’s fraud.” Trump said, “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen.”
We rated his statement about ballots found in creeks as False.
“Mail-in voting is totally corrupt — get that through your head, it has to be.” — Feb. 17 rally in Michigan.
Trump told the crowd the goal “will be one-day voting ” but also said “mail-in voting is totally corrupt — get that through your head, it has to be.”
Trump spoke more positively about voting by mail in recent months
In 2023, Trump recorded a message for the Republican National Committee’s 2024 early voting campaign. “Go to bankyourvote.com to sign up and commit to voting early,” Trump said.
In 2024, Trump has sometimes attacked voting by mail, but recently, he has promoted it.
“We have to get rid of mail-in ballots because once you have mail-in ballots, you have crooked elections,” Trump said in January after he won the Iowa caucus.
“These mail-in ballots are treacherous. They’re treacherous. These boxes, these locked boxes, are horrible. Horrible. And we’ll change it, but we have to win the election in order to change it,” Trump said in June in Detroit.
Voters can submit mail ballots at ballot drop boxes in multiple states.
Despite these caveats, Trump has also invited Republicans to cast mail ballots.
“Absentee voting, early voting, and Election Day voting are all good options. Republicans must make a plan, register, and vote!” Trump said in April on Truth Social. He repeated that in a May video.
In early June, the Trump campaign unveiled the Swamp the Vote USA website, which promotes the various options for voting. Trump said in a video message on the website: “We must use every appropriate tool available to beat the Democrats, they are destroying our country. Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person we are going to protect the vote.” He added, “Many Republicans like to vote on Election Day” and, “if you can’t make it, you need to make a plan, register and vote any way possible.”
Trump promoted the website and the various voting options at a June rally in Phoenix.
“Vote early, vote absentee, vote mail-in, vote in person. I don’t care how they vote, just get out and vote,” Trump said at a June rally in Philadelphia.
Republican strategists have shifted their stance on voting by mail
Republicans in many states have used voting by mail for years to win elections. After Trump lost in 2020, Republican strategists renewed efforts to promote voting by mail.
Republican groups in Pennsylvania promoted voting by mail this year and Trump’s son Donald Jr. recorded a message: “if you’re working a double shift or family responsibilities prevent you from voting on Election Day Joe Biden wins. Pennsylvania, I need you to join the mail-in voting list today. Visit skipthelinepa.vote.”
CBS News reported that one reason Trump now promotes voting by mail is that advisers showed him data showing they could broaden their outreach to swing voters in battlegrounds if their base was comfortable with early voting.
Our ruling
A liberal political action committee’s ad said Trump is “against mail in voting.”
The ad uses video clips of statements Trump made against voting by mail in 2020 and February.
Trump has spoken negatively about voting by mail at times in 2024 and said his goal is to create “one-day voting.” But Trump has also repeatedly told Republicans to simply vote — and has said they can choose to cast ballots by mail.
The first patented sports bra was invented by sewing together jockstraps.
Rating:
Gender equality in sports is a field historically rife with obstacles, even in the 21st century, from legal battles over equal pay to concerns over sexism and access. It wasn’t until the 1970s that federal legislation prohibited sex discrimination in some sports. Paving the way for female-identifying involvement in sports came with its own hurdles and hoops.
One such obstacle blocking women’s involvement in athletics was centered on anatomy: breasts. (As it turns out, this continues to be an issue for teenage girls.) Some social mediaposts and onlineclaimssuggested that inventors sought to remedy the issue by creating the first sports bra, which was made by “sewing two jock straps together,” including the below Reddit post, which had received more than 8,900 upvotes at the time of this writing.
One object on display is a prototype of the so-called “Jogbra” from the 1970s, which reflects the “fitness boom at a time when women had few athletic clothing options.”
The Jogbra was the first patented sports bra, invented by three women who sewed together jock straps. This claim is True.
Alison Oswald, an archivist at the National Museum of American History, also confirmed to Snopes that there is “primary source evidence that it was named “Jockbra” before being renamed ‘Jogbra.'”
A photograph of the prototype sports bra, shown below, described it as having been made by Hinda Milla and Lisa Lindahl, who “deconstructed two men’s athletic supporters and sewed the pieces” together in 1977. (ICYMI: Athletic supporters are another name for jockstraps, according to the Urology Care Foundation.)
Left: Prototype of the original Jogbra. Right: A late 1970s Jogbra advertisement features the two co-designers as models. (Jogbra, Inc. Records, 1977-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History)
The patent for the “athletic brassiere” was filed on Dec. 1, 1978, and published 11 months later. It credited three women inventors – Hinda Schreiber (later Miller), Eugenie Lindah, and Polly Smith – and described the product as follows:
An athletic brassiere, particularly suitable for women runners, holds the breasts comfortably and snugly to the body. A wide elastic rib band and elastic straps which cross in the back hold the brassiere firmly in place. Non-irritating material is used and all seams face the outside. All hardware is eliminated. The cups are not shaped but are preferably made of elastic material to pull the breasts in snugly against the body.
During the 1970s, more women than ever before were participating in sports and fitness activities. In 1977, Lindahl, who was a runner, asked Smith, a costume designer, to help fashion an undergarment to minimize the discomfort she experienced on runs. That summer, Miller was working with Smith as an assistant designer for a Shakespeare festival in Burlington, Vermont. As someone who had been physically active since childhood, she joined the project to develop an athletic brassiere. When Smith sewed two jockstraps together and Lindahl tested them on a run, they produced a working prototype.
Miller and Lindahl commercialized the invention as the Jogbra®, co-founding their company, Jogbra Inc. — later renamed JBI — in 1977 with Miller in charge of future product design, manufacturing, collaborating on marketing strategies and serving as company president. The Jogbra launched a multi-billion-dollar industry.
According to the National Museum of American History, Playtex Apparel bought the Jogbra brand in 1990 before selling it to Sara Lee Corporation in 1991. The museum wrote:
The Jogbra was the first example of the garments now known generally as sports bras, an industry that has grown in direct proportion to the increased participation of women in athletics generally since 1977. Lisa Lindahl originally wanted to solve the problem of having sore breasts after running, resulting in the invention of the jog bra which has evolved into the sports bra as we know it today.
Museum archivist Cathy Keen wrote in a 2014 column titled, “Jogbra: Providing essential support for Title Nine and women athletes,” that the “introduction of the sports bra did more than improve athletes’ performances. It represented a revolution in ready-to-wear clothing, and for many women athletes, past, present, and future, it actually made sports possible.”
The invention of the sports bra came a half-decade after Title Nine of the Civil Rights Act, which was signed into law on June 23, 1972. The amendment prohibited sex discrimination in any educational program or activity that received any type of federal financial aid, according to the advocacy group, Women’s Sports Foundation. For more on the history of women’s involvement in sports, check out this brief history written by the Georgia State University Library.
Snopes has examined other claims related to fashion inventions, including a vintage photo that supposedly showed women in the 1930s wearing plastic, cone-shaped face masks to protect their faces in a snowstorm. We also looked into this 1923 picture of men demonstrating a bulletproof vest and the origins of “Murmanski fur.”
Sources
A Brief History of Women’s Sports – Equal Playing Fields. https://exhibits.library.gsu.edu/equal-playing-fields/a-brief-history/. Accessed 24 June 2024.
About Us | National Inventors Hall of Fame®. 24 June 2024, https://www.invent.org/about-us.
Archive, View Author, and Get author RSS feed. The First Sports Bra Was Two Jockstraps Sewn Together. 14 Aug. 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/08/14/the-first-sports-bra-was-two-jockstraps-sewn-together/.
Ask a Urologist – Athletic Cups and Supporters – Urology Care Foundation. https://www.urologyhealth.org/healthy-living/urologyhealth-extra/magazine-archives/spring-2014/ask-a-urologist-athletic-cups-and-supporters. Accessed 24 June 2024.
“Do You Know the Factors Influencing Girls’ Participation in Sports?” Women’s Sports Foundation, https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/do-you-know-the-factors-influencing-girls-participation-in-sports/. Accessed 24 June 2024.
“Gender Inequality in Sport: The Challenges Facing Female Athletes.” Euronews, 27 July 2023, https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/27/gender-inequality-in-sport-the-challenges-facing-female-athletes.
Hinda Miller | The National Inventors Hall of Fame. 24 June 2024, https://www.invent.org/inductees/hinda-miller.
“Historic Win for Women’s Equality in Sports | Equal Pay for Equal Play Coming to Team USA as Cantwell-Capito Bill Heads to President’s Desk.” U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, 21 Dec. 2022, https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2022/12/historic-win-for-women-s-equality-in-sports.
“History of Title IX.” Women’s Sports Foundation, https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/advocacy/history-of-title-ix/. Accessed 24 June 2024.
Hoffman, Jan. “Breast and Body Changes Are Driving Teen Girls Out of Sports.” Well, 1462212715, https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/bodily-changes-are-driving-girls-out-of-sports/.
“In Focus: Women and Girls in Sport.” UN Women – Headquarters, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-sport. Accessed 24 June 2024.
Lindahl, Lisa Z. Unleash the Girls: The Untold Story of the Invention of the Sports Bra and How It Changed the World. Bublish, Incorporated, 2019.
Lisa Lindahl | National Inventors Hall of Fame® Inductee. 24 June 2024, https://www.invent.org/inductees/lisa-lindahl.
Polly Smith | National Inventors Hall of Fame® Inductee. 24 June 2024, https://www.invent.org/inductees/polly-smith.
Smithsonian Profiles. https://profiles.si.edu/display/nkeenc1102006. Accessed 24 June 2024.
The 14th Amendment and the Evolution of Title IX | United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/14th-amendment-and-evolution-title-ix. Accessed 24 June 2024.
TikTok – Make Your Day. https://www.tiktok.com/@nowthis/video/7361842165330431278. Accessed 24 June 2024.
The Nation of Islam (NOI), an organization founded in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad in Detroit, Michigan, aims to improve conditions for African Americans through black empowerment and self-sufficiency. Under the leadership of Minister Louis Farrakhan since the late 1970s, the NOI is headquartered in Chicago and publishes The Final Call, which often features speeches and articles promoting their teachings. Despite its role in the civil rights movement, the NOI has been criticized for promoting conspiracy theories, particularly regarding vaccines and antisemitic rhetoric.
Funded through donations, sales, and various businesses, the NOI operates several ministries, though specific details are not widely publicized. The organization has been labeled a conspiracy-pseudoscience source due to its dissemination of unverified claims and divisive statements. Critics, including the Anti-Defamation League, have highlighted the NOI’s history of promoting pseudoscientific theories and anti-LGBTQ+ views, contributing to its low credibility and mixed factual rating. While the NOI has not failed any fact checks in the past five years, its ongoing promotion of controversial and unverified content indicates the need to evaluate its publications critically.
Media Bias Fact Check selects and publishes fact checks from around the world. We only utilize fact-checkers who are either a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) or have been verified as credible by MBFC. Further, we review each fact check for accuracy before publishing. We fact-check the fact-checkers and let you know their bias. When appropriate, we explain the rating and/or offer our own rating if we disagree with the fact-checker. (D. Van Zandt)
Claim Codes: Red= Fact Check on a Right Claim, Blue = Fact Check on a Left Claim, Black = Not Political/Conspiracy/Pseudoscience/Other
Fact Checker bias rating Codes: Red = Right-Leaning, Green = Least Biased, Blue = Left-Leaning, Black = Unrated by MBFC
Disclaimer: We are providing links to fact-checks by third-party fact-checkers. If you do not agree with a fact check, please directly contact the source of that fact check.
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The ranch dressing recipe was created by Steve and Gayle Henson when they lived in Alaska. The Hensons later moved to California and opened what became the Hidden Valley Ranch, then started a mail-order dressing business that eventually led to the product now sold in grocery stores.
With its smooth, dill-infused buttermilk decadence, Hidden Valley Ranch dressing has been at the heart of Snopes’ fact checks throughout the years. In 2023, we determined whether there would be a limited edition candy-corn-flavored ranch dressing. Before that, we dug into claims that Kellogg’s had released a “Ranch Pop-Tart.“
This time around, we’re examining whether the American favorite was invented by a plumber in Anchorage, Alaska, as some posts on social media, like the one below (archive), have claimed:
(Facebook/Tim Hatfield)
To get to the bottom of this rumor, Snopes consulted a historical expert and dug through decades of archived newspapers.
We found that the ranch dressing recipe was created by Steve and Gayle Henson, who lived in Anchorage, Alaska, for a time. Historical accounts corroborated that the couple created the recipe while living in the Last Frontier. The Hensons opened their ranch — later named Hidden Valley Ranch — in Santa Barbara, California, in 1954.
For these reasons, we have rated this claim as “True.”
Snopes first reached out directly toHidden Valley Ranch, who referred our newsroom to the company’s “About Us” page. It read:
HIDDEN VALLEY RANCH STARTED IN 1954
That’s when Steve Henson and his wife, Gayle, purchased 120 acres of sprawling land nestled in the mountains outside of Santa Barbara, California, and started a dude ranch. Over the years, Steve had been perfecting his signature salad dressing, a tangy blend of buttermilk, savory herbs and spices. His ranch guests couldn’t get enough of the stuff, and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing was invented.
It wasn’t long before guests were hounding Steve for jars of his ranch dressing to bring home. Word spread quickly, and pretty soon Steve was sending little packets of his original ranch all over the country. Eventually, we purchased the mail-order business so we could bring that bold, tangy flavor to even more ranch-loving fans.
There was no mention there of the Alaska origination story, leaving us hungry for more knowledge.
Through a Google News search, Snopes found an Oct. 4, 1987, Los Angeles Times article titled, “Back at the Ranch: Saga of a Dressing Continues.” Its author, Colman Andrews, wrote that he had received a letter from “Alan Barker of Los Angeles, who lived and worked at the ranch from 1959 to 1963.”
Barker wrote that the dressing “was invented in the mid-’50s” by Steve Henson, “who opened Hidden Valley as a sort of country club, nightclub, dude ranch in the mountains.” The letter continued:
[Henson] and his wife Gayle built it from a much smaller existing ranch with money they had made in Alaska in the plumbing business. The ranch was not received well and promptly went broke. During my stay, we lived on peanut butter sandwiches and leftovers from parties thrown there by UCSB fraternities and sororities.
…
The dressing, which was originally mixed with buttermilk and mayonnaise, had no name at first. We ate it on everything from steaks to, in a comical moment, ice cream. The guests at the ranch first began asking for jars of it to take home for themselves, and then wanted larger quantities for their friends. They took it in liquid form in mayonnaise jars. The impracticality of this led to packaging the mix as a powder.
Next, Snopes contacted Chris Ervin, an archivist with the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, who told us “the story of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing is our most asked question.” Ervin sent our newsroom historical documents that confirmed the details on the Hidden Valley Ranch website and explained the dressing’s Alaskan origins. For starters, a 1971 clipping from the Santa Barbara News-Press, titled “Salad Dressing– A Big Business,” read:
The creation of salad dressing 20 years ago as a hobby in Alaska has been continued and developed into an international business here that last year grossed over a million dollars for Kenneth B. (Steve) Henson.
…
Henson, a native of Nebraska, was a plumbing contractor in Anchorage, Alaska for some time, during which the contract with his men required him to feed them. “I always enjoyed working with seasonings,” he said, “and it was then that the liquid salad dressing came into being.”
The article describes the Hensons’ move to California in 1952 with their two children. In preparing meals at what was then called the Hidden Valley Guest Ranch, the couple served salad with a dressing that became a well-known “item to take home.” Henson later developed the liquid dressing into a dry mix and began to package it. He launched a sales campaign 1969 selling a “39-cent twin pack making two pints and a 75-cent twin pack making two quarts.”
At the time, the salad dressing mix was “tested and blended in great batches” near San Jose, California, before being trucked to Los Angeles for bagging and distribution.
In 1991, a publication called The Independent also wrote about the dressing’s Alaskan roots, reporting that guests at the Hensons’ ranch were “particularly taken by the unique dressing that graced the salads” made of a recipe Steve Henson had invented “while trying to keep his work crews happy in Alaska.”
In 1972, The Clorox Co. bought the small mail-order dressing business, according to the company website, leading to the Hidden Valley Ranch now available at grocery stores.
(Ranch Dressing packaging throughout the decades beginning in the 1960s (far left) and ending in the 2000s (far right). The Clorox Company)
“Star Wars” villain Darth Vader looks foreboding in an image newly spreading on social media, with light saber drawn and the specter of destruction surrounding him.
“Fall 2024,” it says at the top of the image. Below, the logo for Disney+.
It gives the appearance of a poster for a new show or movie called “Vader.”
“BREAKING NEWS!!!” a June 18 Facebook post sharing the image said. “Join the hunt next Fall 2024, exclusively on Disney+, as secrets unfold, alliances shatter, and the galaxy is forever changed. May the Force be with you as you witness the rise of darkness and the hunt for Jedi in ‘VADER.’”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
We reached out to Disney+ about the post but didn’t immediately hear back.
However, this image has been online since at least November, when someone shared it on Instagram, albeit with a caveat: “I’m not too sure this is real.”
We found no evidence that it is.
A reverse-image search for the supposed poster turned up lots of social media posts, but nothing authoritative such as an announcement from, say, Disney+.
Such a show doesn’t appear on Disney+’s website, which has a section dedicated to shows and movies in which Darth Vader appears.
We also found no credible news reports about such an upcoming movie or series, though plenty of rumors that Disney is developing a Darth Vader-focused show.
For now, however, this poster appears to be inauthentic.
We rate claims it’s from Disney+ advertising “Vader” False.
A recent Threads post stirs the pot of discontent over basketball phenom Caitlin Clark’s exclusion from rosters for the U.S. women’s basketball teams for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris.
“Brittney Griner asked Angel Reese instead of Caitlin Clark to compete in the 3×3 Olympics after Cameron Brink suffered an injury,” the June 23 post said. “I think ‘Angel Reese is better than Caitlin Clark.’”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Griner, a center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, is one of 12 players on the roster for the U.S. women’s 5×5 basketball team at the 2024 Olympics.
Cameron Brink, a forward for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, was one of four players named to the roster for the U.S. women’s 3×3 basketball team for the Olympics. But on June 18, she tore her ACL in her left knee during a game against the Connecticut Sun and will miss both the rest of her WNBA season and the Olympics.
She was replaced by another Los Angeles Sparks forward, Dearica Hamby.
Neither Clark, a guard for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, nor Reese, a forward for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, were named to either roster.
USA Basketball committees selected the rosters, and CBS Sports reported that “it’s not as simple as picking any player they want as there are specific rules regarding 3×3 eligibility.”
Clark and Reese couldn’t play on the 3×3 team even if the committee wanted them to, the outlet said.
“Despite being two of the biggest rising stars in the WNBA, neither Caitlin Clark nor Angel Reese are eligible,” CBS Sports said.
The four-player rosters for each country must feature two players ranked within the top 10 in their country, according to CBS Sports, and two players ranked within the top 50 in their country or have the minimum number of ranking points, which are calculated based on results in recent International Basketball Federation-endorsed events.
So, it would be unusual for Griner, an experienced player with more than a decade on the Mercury, to ask Reese to join the 3×3 team instead of Clark.
Neither Reese nor Clark are eligible, Griner isn’t on the 3×3 team, and she has no power to appoint someone to the team.
We found no evidence that she said this, or that she pronounced Reese better than Clark.
Rather, TMZ sports reported June 2 that Griner said about rookies Reese, Clark and Brink: “I think it’s amazing for women’s sports with these rookies — I think it’s amazing.”
We rate claims Griner asked Reese to replace Brink over Clark False.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens has been critical of singer Taylor Swift, but claims she’s trying to bar Swift from the NFL originated on fake news pages.
“BREAKING: Candace Owens vows to have Taylor Swift banned from the next NFL season, ‘she’s awfully woke,’” a June 18 Facebook post said.
It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
We found a nearly identical post — same words, different pictures of Owens and Swift — from Feb. 15, when the SpaceX Fanclub account posted it on Facebook.
The catch, as the account says on its page: “We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real.”
We looked for other sources to corroborate the claim, such as credible news reporting or public statements from Owens, but found none.
In May, Owens said on X that former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce had been “brainwashed by radical feminists (like the one your brother is dating).”
Swift is in a relationship with Jason Kelce’s brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Her regular presence at Chiefs games after they started dating drew some of her fans to watch the Chiefs, and attracted some detractors critical of the superstar’s airtime during games.
But we rate claims Owens is trying to ban Swift from the league False.
This claim, which is false, is not new. In 2016, Google was accused of removing Palestine after a glitch made the Gaza strip and the West Bank disappear. The Guardian covered the story and gave more context:
A Google spokeswoman said: “There has never been a ‘Palestine’ label on Google Maps, however we discovered a bug that removed the labels for ‘West Bank’ and ‘Gaza Strip’. We’re working quickly to bring these labels back to the area.”
Yet a search on Google Maps with the word “Palestine” creates an animation on the map that goes straight to Israel.
Status of Palestine
In reality, Google Maps does not include “Palestine” because while most of the countries of South America, Africa and Asia recognize it as a state, most of the West countries, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Panamá, Australia and others Ido not. The latter group in their majority favor a two-state solution, which would lead to an eventual recognition of Palestine, but their condition is that a Palestinian state should be the result of direct negotiations between Israel and a national Palestinian Authority.
In consequence, Google treats the Palestinian territories — Gaza and the West Bank — the same way it does other disputed territories: with labels and dashed gray borders:
(Google Maps)
Those disputed territories include the Golan Heights at the north of Israel and to the west of Syria (see map above). Israel seized this area in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. While the U.S. and Israel recognize it as Israeli territory, the rest of the world considers it Syrian territory under military occupation.
Other Disputed Territories
Another disputed territory that appears as such in Google Maps is the Crimean Peninsula, south of Ukraine, which Russia took from Ukraine in 2014 and has occupied since then:
(Google Maps)
In 2020, Google was accused of changing the borders of Jammu and Kashmir, a territory in dispute between Pakistan and India. From Pakistan, the territory appeared as disputed. From India, it appeared as Indian. According to The Washington Post (archived):
Both sides claim the Himalayan outpost as their own, but Web surfers in India could be forgiven for thinking the dispute is all but settled: The borders on Google’s online maps there display Kashmir as fully under Indian control. Elsewhere, users see the region’s snaking outlines as a dotted line, acknowledging the dispute.
These various examples show that maps are inherently political. Far from being merely descriptive, they can shape our understanding of the world.
In 2021, we debunked a rumor that claimed Google Maps was holding a vote on whether to identify Israel or Palestine.
Sources
Bensinger, Greg. ‘Google Redraws the Borders on Maps Depending on Who’s Looking’. Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2020. www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/14/google-maps-political-borders/.
Countries That Recognize Palestine 2024. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-recognize-palestine. Accessed 25 June 2024.
Cresci, Elena. ‘Google Maps Accused of Deleting Palestine – but the Truth Is More Complicated’. The Guardian, 10 Aug. 2016. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/10/google-maps-accused-remove-palestine.
Heritage, Timothy, and Darya Korsunskaya. ‘Russia Rules out Handing Back Crimea, Expands War Games’. Reuters, 17 Mar. 2015. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/article/world/russia-rules-out-handing-back-crimea-expands-war-games-idUSKBN0MD0Z9/.
Understand Country Borders and Names – Google Maps Help. https://support.google.com/maps/answer/3145721?hl=en#:~:text=Disputed%20boundaries%20are%20displayed%20as,t%20agree%20on%20a%20boundary. Accessed 25 June 2024.
Mikkelson, David. ‘Is Google Maps Voting on Whether to Identify Israel or Palestine?’ Snopes, 3 Aug. 2014, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/get-out-the-vote-2/.
The trustee overseeing Alex Jones’s bankruptcy has announced plans to shut down Infowars and liquidate Jones’s business assets to repay the families of Sandy Hook victims. Trustee Christopher Murray filed an “emergency” motion to wind down Infowars and sell its assets.
This follows a federal judge’s decision to liquidate Jones’s personal assets, which didn’t initially address Infowars’s fate. Jones, who called the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting a hoax, faces a $1.5 billion judgment, forcing his bankruptcy. Victims’ families also seek control of Jones’s social media accounts.
Jones has continued broadcasting on Infowars but anticipates its shutdown soon. He plans to continue his show elsewhere, though details are unclear. “This is probably the end of Infowars… But it’s just the beginning of my fight against tyranny,” Jones said.
Murray requested Judge Christopher Lopez to pause Texas families’ efforts to collect funds during the sale, arguing it could disrupt the process. The Connecticut families support Murray’s approach, expressing disappointment over the separate collection attempts by the Texas family.
Jones, with assets under $12 million, will still owe significant legal debt after the asset sales.
Do you appreciate our work? Please consider one of the following ways to sustain us.
Media Bias Fact Check selects and publishes fact checks from around the world. We only utilize fact-checkers who are either a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) or have been verified as credible by MBFC. Further, we review each fact check for accuracy before publishing. We fact-check the fact-checkers and let you know their bias. When appropriate, we explain the rating and/or offer our own rating if we disagree with the fact-checker. (D. Van Zandt)
Claim Codes: Red= Fact Check on a Right Claim, Blue = Fact Check on a Left Claim, Black = Not Political/Conspiracy/Pseudoscience/Other
Fact Checker bias rating Codes: Red = Right-Leaning, Green = Least Biased, Blue = Left-Leaning, Black = Unrated by MBFC
FALSE
Claim by Donald Trump (R): Trump claimed the U.S. left $85 billion worth of brand-new military equipment in Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal
Check Your Fact rating: False (Multiple sources and experts indicate that Trump conflated the $88.61 billion the U.S. spent on security in Afghanistan with the value of the equipment left behind. Two reports from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan (SIGAR), released in 2019 and 2021, respectively, state the U.S. spent $18 billion on equipment.)
Claim via Social Media: Biden said he’s running to ‘reduce the prospect of war in Vietnam’
USA Today rating: False (The post misquotes Biden, who in an answer to a question about his legacy, said one reason he first ran for office was to reduce the prospect of war “because of” Vietnam – not “in” the southeast Asian country. He also makes clearer in the interview that he is referencing his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in 1972 – during the Vietnam War – not the presidency in 2024.)
Claim by Cortney Campbell (Anti-Cancer Mom): Diet and lifestyle changes, rather than standard treatments like chemotherapy or radiation, can cause spontaneous remission of cancer
Health Feedback rating: Unsupported (There is extremely limited evidence explaining the potential mechanisms for spontaneous remission of cancer. While a lifestyle choice like eating a balanced diet can have a net positive impact on health, there isn’t scientific evidence to support the notion that it can cure cancer.)
Claim by Ritchie Torres (D): “The loss of SALT deductibility cost our state $15 billion in revenue. So New Yorkers are paying more in taxes and receiving fewer services because of Donald Trump.”
Politifact rating: Mostly False (Claims that New Yorkers lose out on $15 billion because of the cap on state and local tax deductions are at odds with IRS data that show that New Yorkers actually paid less total federal taxes.)
(International: Australia): Claim by Shooters Union Australia: Proposed laws will allow Queensland authorities to order social media users to remove any content they don’t like.
Australian Associated Press rating: False (The bill would only allow police to order social media platforms to remove content depicting certain criminal acts, posted for specific purposes.)
Disclaimer: We are providing links to fact-checks by third-party fact-checkers. If you do not agree with a fact check, please directly contact the source of that fact check.
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Rather than saying “It’s-a-me, Mario,” Nintendo character Super Mario says “Itsumi Mario,” which means “Super Mario” in Japanese.
Rating:
On June 19, 2024, an X user claimed Nintendo character Mario’s catchphrase was “Itsumi Mario,” not “It’s-a-me, Mario” (archived here). The user said “Itsumi” meant “super” in Japanese, and therefore the animated Italian plumber was saying “Super Mario,” the name of the iconic platform game series.
“I was today years old when I found out he doesn’t say ‘It’s me Mario’ … he actually says ‘Itsumi Mario’. Itsumi being the Japanese word for ‘Super’…,” the X user wrote.
In fact, Snopes found examples of the claim in July and August 2023, and two examples in October 2021. Together, they had amassed more than 5.6 million views at the time of this writing.
However, Nintendo’s website always referred to the catchphrase as “It’s-a me, Mario,” and never as “Itsumi Mario,” which is why we have rated this claim as “False.”
Snopes even found a Mario figurine called “It’s-A Me, Mario™! Figure” on the Japanese video game company’s online store. The product description read:
Kids of all ages will have endless fun with the 12-inch tall Mario™, packed with over 30 phrases and sound effects from the games. Includes the voice of Mario with iconic phrases like “woo-hoo”, “it’s-a-me” and many others!
In contrast, we found no examples of the video game company referring to the catchphrase as “Itsumi Mario.”
Mario voice actor Charles Martinet also wrote “It’s a me” in his Instagram bio, and his account name, charlesmartinetitsame also referenced the catchphrase. Likewise, Martinet appeared in a Guinness World Records YouTube video titled, “Charles Martinet: It’s-A Me, Mario! – Guinness World Records,” on Dec. 19, 2018.
Charles Martinet’s Instagram bio and account name referenced the “It’s a me” catchphrase. (Instagram account @charlesmartinetitsame)
Super Mario simply translated to “Sūpāmario (スーパーマリオ)” in Japanese.
Snopes contacted Nintendo for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
Sources
‘2x Gold Points for MAR10 Day!’ Nintendo of Europe AG, https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/News/2019/March/2x-Gold-Points-for-MAR10-Day–1527635.html. Accessed 19 June 2024.
admin. ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) | Transcript’. Scraps from the Loft, 1 Feb. 2024, https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/super-mario-bros-movie-transcript/.
English to Japanese – Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=english+to+japanese&oq=english+to+japanese&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyDwgAEEUYORiDARixAxiABDIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiPAtIBCDM0ODlqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed 19 June 2024.
Figurine It’s-A Me, MarioTM! – Site Officiel Nintendo pour Canada. https://www.nintendo.com/fr-ca/store/products/its-a-me-mario-figure-119091/. Accessed 19 June 2024.
Guinness World Records. Charles Martinet: It’s-A Me, Mario! – Guinness World Records. 2018. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-XUZE–qU8.
Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fcharlesmartinetitsame%2F%3Fhl%3Den&is_from_rle. Accessed 19 June 2024.
It’s-A Me, MarioTM! Figure – Nintendo Official Site. https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/its-a-me-mario-figure-119091/. Accessed 19 June 2024.
‘Itsumi’. Wikipedia, 13 June 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Itsumi&oldid=1159984922.
‘Itsumi Mario’ ‘Nintendo.Com’ – Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Itsumi+mario%22+%22nintendo.com%22&oq=%22Itsumi+mario%22+%22nintendo.com%22&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIKCAEQABiABBiiBDIKCAIQABiABBiiBDIKCAMQABiABBiiBNIBCDg5MjFqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed 19 June 2024.
‘Itsumi Mario’ ‘Nintendo.Co.Uk’ – Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Itsumi+mario%22+%22nintendo.co.uk%22&sca_esv=cbb07cb897603c0c&ei=DiFzZqrhMLm7hbIP-a63qAI&ved=0ahUKEwiqoLDZo-iGAxW5XUEAHXnXDSUQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=%22Itsumi+mario%22+%22nintendo.co.uk%22&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiHyJJdHN1bWkgbWFyaW8iICJuaW50ZW5kby5jby51ayIyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUjRDFCYAliDCnABeACQAQCYAYUBoAGYA6oBAzMuMbgBA8gBAPgBAZgCA6AC2wKYAwCIBgGSBwMxLjKgB7sH&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#ip=1. Accessed 19 June 2024.
‘Jump into Nintendo’s Super Mario Hub!’ Nintendo of Europe AG, https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Characters-hub/Super-Mario-Hub/Super-Mario-Bros-Hub-Mario-Games-627604.html. Accessed 19 June 2024.
Meet Mario and His Friends! – News – Nintendo Official Site. https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/meet-mario-and-his-friends/. Accessed 19 June 2024.
‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie/Transcript’. Moviepedia, https://movies.fandom.com/wiki/The_Super_Mario_Bros._Movie/Transcript. Accessed 19 June 2024.
‘The Super Mario Bros Movie/Transcript’. Illumination Entertainment Wikia, https://illumination.fandom.com/wiki/The_Super_Mario_Bros_Movie/Transcript. Accessed 19 June 2024.
https://store-queue.nintendo.co.uk/?c=nintendostoreuk&e=lrwrv2&ver=javascript-4.0.0&cver=60&man=store.nintendo.co.uk&t=https%3A%2F%2Fstore.nintendo.co.uk%2Fen%2Fsuper-mario. Accessed 19 June 2024.
Democrats have been batting down rumors that President Joe Biden will be replaced on the Democratic ticket before the November election by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore or others.
Now, social media posts falsely say there’s confirmation of a plan to replace Biden.
“Congresswoman Luna confirms that Biden will be replaced on 2024 ballot,” a June 20 Instagram post’s caption said.
The Instagram post shared a video clip from a June 17 episode of the “Redacted” podcast, hosted by Clayton and Natali Morris.
In the clip, Clayton Morris said, “We now have confirmation that, yes, President Biden will be replaced on the Democratic ticket before the November election. Congresswoman Luna confirmed to Fox News that this was the case.”
The video cut to a clip from a June 13 episode of Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, where U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., appeared.
Luna, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, told Watters, “What’s coming out of the White House, a lot of people realize that Joe Biden’s likely not going to be the nominee.”
Without providing evidence, Luna said, “We’re hearing on Capitol Hill” that Vice President Kamala Harris is considering a run for California governor because of it. Luna credited Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., whom she said “reported” the Harris news.
Kiley had posted May 16 on X about a Politico report that said Harris had joked to friends about running for governor in 2026 should Democrats lose in November. A Harris spokesperson, however, told Politico that Harris had not joked about running, saying, “That did not happen.” The article did not say she was considering running because she and Biden were going to be removed from the ticket.
Asked by Watters about the Biden claim, Luna said, “It appears that our colleagues are trying to put guardrails on a 2024 presidential election with President Trump.”
After showing the clip of the exchange between Watters and Luna, Clayton Morris then cited the British tabloid The Daily Mail, saying a story in it is “confirming reporting that yes, this is going to happen, that Biden will be replaced on the ticket.”
The headline on the June 17 article said, “Secret Democrat plot to replace Biden revealed: How Clinton, Obama, Pelosi and Schumer would topple the aging President… and when they’d do it.”
The story quoted an unnamed Democratic strategist who said the only people who could force Biden off the ticket “would be Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. It would have to be the four of them collectively.”
Despite the article’s headline, the strategist appeared to be speaking speculatively, not describing a plot already in motion.
Biden has given no indication he will exit the presidential race.
In the Watters’ interview, Luna used language such as “likely” and “we’re hearing” when talking about Biden’s status on the ticket. She also said “it appears” Democrats are trying to set up guardrails.
We rate the claim that Luna “confirms that Biden will be replaced on 2024 ballot” False.
(X account @MidnightMitch)
(X acconut @Easyofcourse)
Left: Prototype of the original Jogbra. Right: A late 1970s Jogbra advertisement features the two co-designers as models. (Jogbra, Inc. Records, 1977-1990, Archives Center, National Museum of American History)
(Google Patents)
(Facebook/Tim Hatfield)
(Ranch Dressing packaging throughout the decades beginning in the 1960s (far left) and ending in the 2000s (far right). The Clorox Company)
Charles Martinet’s Instagram bio and account name referenced the “It’s a me” catchphrase. (Instagram account @charlesmartinetitsame)