Fact Check: Did Barack Obama Admit He Has A Husband Named Michael Who He Holds Hands With
Former President Barack Obama found himself in some hot water when a viral video surfaced that showed him mentioning his husband, Michael.
Of note, prior to this video surfacing, Obama has been well-chronicled to have been in a heterosexual marriage with his wife, Michelle.
The video from 2015 involves comments he made at the Catholic Health Association Conference.
In a moment that some might expect from the current gaffe-prone Democrat president, many flocked to the video as some sort of proof that Barack Obama was gay, or that his wife Michelle was secretly a man.
The video, which has already been slapped with a False information label by Facebook, quickly garnered attention.
One common line of attack against Michelle Obama has typically involved her appearance and physique. Michelle, who by all accounts appears to be a fit, healthy woman, has been maligned for having manly features, based on things such as certain facial features or her back.
Those who enjoy perpetuating those unfair attacks obviously had a field day with this viral video. While the actual content of the remarks is largely unedited, the video is missing some wildly crucial pieces of context.
The Western Journal Fact Check: Missing Context
First, and most importantly, Obamas remarks were quoting something a woman had written to him in thanks for his health care policies.
Taking Action Against Repeat Offenders
Pages, Groups, Profiles, websites, and Instagram accounts that repeatedly share content rated False or Altered will be put under some restrictions for a given time period. This includes removing them from the recommendations we show people, reducing their distribution, removing their ability to monetize and advertise and removing their ability to register as a news Page.
How To Become A Fact Checker
If you’re interested in becoming a fact checker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We’ve determined that 77.6% of fact checkers have a bachelor’s degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.6% of fact checkers have master’s degrees. Even though most fact checkers have a college degree, it’s impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
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Fact Check: Which Fetterman Oz Debate Claims Ring True
The limited time frame and rapid-fire questions at Tuesdays debate between Pennsylvania Senate Democratic candidate John Fetterman and Republican challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz made it hard to decipher fact from fiction.
NewsNation followed up on claims regarding several key issues and fact-checked them below.
Health care
Claim: Oz would support cutting Medicare.
Finding: False. In the past, Oz has said he wants to strengthen Social Security without taking away benefits. He has also pledged to AARP that if elected, he would oppose cuts to programs like Social Security. Further, Oz has said he wants to expand Medicare Advantage plans.
Fettermans comment might be a reference to Oz praising a plan from Sen. Rick Scott that would sunset federal programs in five years unless Congress reauthorized them.
Claim: Fetterman supports socialized medicine
Finding: Mostly true. In the past, Fetterman has called health care a right and said he supports any plan that would lead to universal health care. He also voiced support for Medicare for All plans and has said that if he is elected, he hopes to cast the deciding vote in the Senate for a single-payer system.
Crime
Claim: Oz has done nothing to fight crime.
Claim: Crime in Braddock, Pennsylvania increased when Fetterman was mayor.
Immigration and personal property
Claim: Fetterman supports open borders.
Claim: Oz has 10 mansions.
Ensuring Fewer People See Misinformation
Once a fact-checker rates a piece of content as False, Altered, or Partly False, or we detect it as near identical, it appears lower in Feed on Facebook. We dramatically reduce the distribution of False and Altered posts, and reduce the distribution of Partly False to a lesser extent. On Instagram, this content it gets filtered out of Explore and is featured less prominently in feed and stories. This significantly reduces the number of people who see it. For Missing Context, we focus on surfacing more information from fact checkers.
We also reject ads with content that has been rated by fact-checkers as False, Altered, Partly False, or Missing Context and we do not recommend this content.
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What Is The Purpose Of Anti
Antisnake Venom is a specialized countermeasure to the effects of snake venom. Remarkably, it is still applied empirically to handle poisonous cases. The most prominent and highly prized ASV is prepared by capturing or parking snakes, milking snakes in a lab, and immunizing horses with venom.
Please be aware that snake venom is a complex mixture of many components. These mainly include non-toxic proteins, carbohydrates, metals, and enzymatic and non-enzymatic components. However, circulating venom is the only one that the antivenom neutralizes. It should be made clear that no amount of ASV will be able to neutralize or combine with venom once it has adhered to or been absorbed by the target organs. Thus, the prevention of organ damage depends on early venom detection and antidote administration.
Palestine Mentioned In Antiquity
The claim that Arafat was the first to mention the ancient land of Palestine is “certainly not true,” Jodi Magness, an archaeologist specializing in ancient Palestine and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told USA TODAY.
For instance, a Roman emperor changed the name of a Roman province from Judea to Palestine in the second century A.D., she said.
Judea had been settled by Jewish people, who referred to it as Judah, prior to the Roman Empire’s takeover, she explained. After a major Jewish revolt, Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the area to Syria-Palestina, or Palestine, to punish and demoralize its inhabitants.
“The province from this point on becomes known as Palestine,” said Magness. “It remained the name of the province … right up until the 20th century.”
Thus, Palestine is mentioned in many perhaps hundreds of thousands of historical documents spanning the centuries since that time, she said.
Palestine is also mentioned in the League of Nations’ British Mandate of Palestine, which granted control of the area to the British after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Ian Lustick, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, told USA TODAY.
Palestine is mentioned numerous times in the text of the mandate, which was approved by the League of Nations in 1922, before Arafat was born.
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Egyptian Slab References People Called ‘israel’ Not An Ancient Land
The meme’s claim about the Egyptian reference to an “ancient land called Israel” also isn’t quite right.
There is a reference to “Israel” on the Merneptah Stele, an engraved stone slab dating to the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh, Merneptah, around 1200 B.C. However, the slab references a people or population called Israel, not a land or nation called Israel, according to Cline.
Clearly Labeling Misinformation And Informing People About It
When content has been rated by fact-checkers, we add a notice to it so people can read additional context. We apply our strongest warning labels for content rated False or Altered and lighter labels for Partly False and Missing Context. Content rated Satire or True wont be labeled but a fact-check article will be appended to the post on Facebook. We also notify people before they try to share this content or if they shared it in the past.
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We use our technology to detect content that is the same or almost exactly the same as that rated by fact checkers, and add notices to that content as well.
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We generally do not add notices to content that makes a similar claim rated by fact checkers, if the content is not identical. This is because small differences in how a claim is phrased might change whether it is true or false.
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Meta Refuses To Intervene
Meta directed The BMJ to its advice page, which said that publishers can appeal a rating directly with the relevant fact checking organisation within a week of being notified of it. Fact checkers are responsible for reviewing content and applying ratings, and this process is independent from Meta, it said. This means that, as in The BMJs case, if the fact checking organisation declines to change a rating after an appeal from a publisher, the publisher has little recourse.
The lack of an independent appeals process raises concerns, given that fact checking organisations have been accused of bias. I worry about the amount of power placed in the hands of these third party groups, says Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organisation that promotes civil liberties in the digital world. Theres no accountability structure. Theres no democratic process to this. And so, while I do see a role for fact checking and think its far superior to the alternativewhich is Facebook just taking down contentI still worry about the effect that it can have on legitimate sources.
In December Lead Stories wrote a response to The BMJs open letter to Mark Zuckerberg that implied that whistleblower Jackson was not a credible source.11
Facebook Versus The Bmj: When Fact Checking Goes Wrong
The BMJ has locked horns with Facebook and the gatekeepers of international fact checking after one of its investigations was wrongly labelled with missing context and censored on the worlds largest social network. Rebecca Coombes and Madlen Davies report
On 3 November Howard Kaplan, a retired dentist from Israel, posted a link to a BMJ investigation article in a private Facebook group.1 The investigation reported poor clinical trial research practices occurring at Ventavia, a contract research company helping to carry out the main Pfizer covid-19 vaccine trial.2
The article brought in record traffic to bmj.com and was widely shared on Twitter, helping it achieve the second highest Altmetric score of all time across all biomedical publications.3 But a week after his posting Kaplan woke up to a message from Facebook .
Clockwise from top left: Facebooks missing context notice administrators of a private group were warned of a partly false post Facebooks warning on Howard Kaplans original post Cochranes tweet after being shadowbanned by Instagram
The experience has highlighted serious concerns about the fact checking being undertaken by third party providers on behalf of Facebook, specifically the lack of accountability and oversight of their actions, and the resulting censorship of information.
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Can Herbal Remedies Be Used As Efficient Antidotes For Snake Venom
No, not for now. According to the World Health Organization, antivenom is the only standardized, targeted treatment for addressing the medically relevant consequences of snake venom toxins. Even so, several herbal treatments, including Touch Me not, Indian sarsaparilla, Turmeric, Amla, and Cashew Fruit, have been described as having antivenomous properties. Their use as efficient antivenomous antidotes is, however, restricted by the lack of supporting data.
Disclaimer: Medical Science is an ever evolving field. We strive to keep this page updated. In case you notice any discrepancy in the content, please inform us at . You can futher read our Correction Policy here. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on or accessed through this website or it’s social media channels. Read our Full Disclaimer Here for further information.
Disclaimer Medical Science is an ever evolving field. We strive to keep this page updated. In case you notice any discrepancy in the content, please inform us at . You can further read our Correction Policy here. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on or accessed through this website or it’s social media channels. Read our Full Disclaimer Here for further information.
Fact Check: Is Kyle Rittenhouse Transgender
The Kyle Rittenhouse trial remains among the most divisive and controversial cases in the U.S. justice system’s recent history.
Rittenhouse, 19, killed two men and injured a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2019. He was acquitted of multiple charges including first-degree homicide at trial in 2021, a verdict that was both, slammed as an injustice for those who died, and hailed as a “moment of sanity.”
Since his trial, Rittenhouse has become a poster child of right-wing media, further deepening the animosity felt by his detractors.
Such prominent and divisive figures, however, are particularly vulnerable to targeted misinformation campaigns, which can trick social media users no matter how fanciful or hollow the underlying claims may be.
The Claim
A , archived here, was posted on October 21, 2022, and claims that Kyle Rittenhouse’s real name is “Wendy Rittenhouse Lewis” and that “she is not 18 but 26 y.o. female to male transgender.”
” aka Wendy is a police officer, In real life. The whole courtroom was a stage.” it adds.
The tweet includes photos of Kyle in police and fire service uniform with the caption “‘HE’S’ A SHE”.
Kyles’s real name is Wendy Rittenhouse Lewis, and she is not 18 but 26 y.o. female to male transgender.
aka Wendy is a police officer, In real life. The whole courtroom was a stage.
Same with Alex jones’s staged “trial” ordered to pay 1 bln for talking about Sandy Hook
Tranquilizer
The Facts
The Ruling
False.
FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK
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What Is Snake Venom
Snake bite toxins could lead to fatal conditions notably in rural areas of the tropical developing nations. Snake venoms are tissue-specific, protein-rich toxins. And can be divided into three major classes, making them both clinically challenging and scientifically significant, especially for the development of antivenoms. Toxins from snake bites can come in three primary varieties. These rely on the kind or subtype of snakes. A venom can be either hemotoxic, cytotoxic, or neurotoxic. The cardiovascular system is impacted by hemotoxic venoms. In contrast, cytotoxic venoms target certain cellular locations, and neuro-toxic venoms injure the human bodys nervous system.
What Is A Fact Checker
Overview
Just the facts. When you’re a fact checker, finding the facts, and just the facts, is what your job is all about. Fact checkers typically work in the research departments of magazines, digital publications, book publishers, or television news shows. They go over each story with a fine tooth comb to confirm all the facts contained within it. They play an important role in preventing lawsuits and maintaining the reputation of a media organization. Fact checkers need to be able to confirm the details of a source without watering it down. As part of their research, they may need to confirm dates of events, identities of quoted sources, or that the results of referenced studies or surveys are expressed accurately.Although fact checker is generally considered an entry-level job, it is an important one. Often, fact checkers work under tight deadlines. To be good at fact checking, you’ll need to be fair and neutral, have strong research skills, and be extremely detail-oriented. Some employers may require fact checkers to have a Bachelor’s degree in journalism, English, or communications. However, internships may also be available if you have a high school diploma.
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The Claim: The Ancient Land Of Palestine Was First Referenced By Yasser Arafat 57 Years Ago
Yasser Arafat served as the first president of the Palestinian National Authority, a governing body established by the Oslo Accords to grant partial sovereignty to Palestinian inhabitants in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Some social media users are sharing a meme that claims Arafat was the first person to ever reference the land of Palestine.
“The first ever mention of an ancient land called Israel was by an Egyptian Pharoah , Merneptah, 3429 years ago,” reads the meme in a . “The first ever mention of an ancient land called Palestine was by an Egyptian opportunist, Yasser Arafat, 57 years ago.
The post garnered nearly 1,400 interactions in six weeks.
But the meme is wrong. The meme places his purported “mention” of Palestine in the mid-1960s, but Palestine existed and was referenced long before that, according to scholars.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment.
Fact Check: Dixon Ad Uses Nessels Joke About Drag Queens In Whitmer Attack
D’Angelo Gore, FactCheck.org
This article was first published by FactCheck.Org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
Michigans Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said she was joking when she said in a June speech that there should be a drag queen for every school.
During the speech, Nessel talked about her frustration with politicians who focus on wedge issues that divide us, such as whether children should attend events with drag performers.
But a TV ad from a super PAC supporting Republican Tudor Dixon is using a version of Nessels quote out of context in a misleading attack against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who Dixon is challenging in the states gubernatorial election.
Under Gretchen Whitmer, the radicals want a drag queen in every classroom, indoctrinating our children, says the narrator of the ad, which began airing Sept. 27, according to Kantar Media. However, that is not a proposal being pushed by Whitmer, and Nessel hassaid that she was not being serious when she made her statement earlier this year.
Drag Queens Joke
Dixon, who was not amused, responded to Nessels speech on Twitter.
Transgender Student-Athletes
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