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Viral Spiral
FactCheck Mailbag
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of March 19-25.
See letters from previous weeks“ Criticizing the Democrats for citing the only available study on gun purchases for its age seems wide of the target. ” -
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2012 Players Guide
Tag Archives: chain e-mail
That Patriotic Bikini Shot
By now you’ve probably seen it – the purported pic of Sarah Palin wearing a red, white and blue bikini and toting a gun. At first glance, we suspected it was fake and someone’s idea of a joke. And guess what? It is. We tracked down the guy who took …
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Letter by a Florida Teacher
Q: Is a letter from an anonymous teacher about illegal immigrants getting school grants true? A: No. It cobbles together misleading statements to give the impression that illegal immigrants are receiving perks from taxpayers, when, in fact, they are not.
The Democratic Congress Did All That?
Q: Did electing a Democratic Congress in 2006 really lead to increased unemployment, higher gas prices and more home foreclosures? A: No, and most of the figures in a widely-circulated e-mail are made up. In fact, the entire premise of the e-mail is a logical fallacy.
Posted in Ask FactCheck
Tagged chain e-mail, Congress, foreclosures, gas prices, unemployment
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That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.
I’ve noticed that chain e-mails, particularly those about politics, have a lot of things in common: urgent and frightening messages; spelling errors; a tendency to blame mainstream media for not telling the real story; and false, misleading, utterly bogus, and completely off-base claims. If there was ever a case where …
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Congressional Pensions
Q: Does a United States senator receive his full pay upon retiring? A: No. A member of Congress can’t receive more than 80 percent of his or her final salary upon retirement, and the average is much less.
Refugees Don’t Get $1,800 Per Month
Q: Does the U.S. pay $1,800 a month to refugees? A: No. A false claim about Canada is being recycled in a bogus e-mail to "American taxpayers."
