Sen. Bernie Sanders wrongly claimed that voter turnout in 2016 was “the lowest … in 20 years.” In fact, turnout was higher than it was in 2012.
Sanders Wrong on Voter Turnout
Beer, a Cure for Gin Addiction?
Sen. Bill Cassidy said William Wilberforce, a late 18th century British politician, “pushed the sale of beer” to successfully combat “drunkenness related to gin” in England. But Wilberforce wasn’t born until after the so-called gin epidemic had ended in the early 1750s, and its conclusion wasn’t due to beer.
Trump Takes More Undue Credit
President Donald Trump wrongly boasted that Toyota’s plan to invest over $1 billion in its largest manufacturing plant in Kentucky would “not have been made if we didn’t win the election.” A Toyota spokesman told us the car company had long been planning to make the investment.
Hitler and Chemical Weapons
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has apologized profusely for his much-criticized comparison of Syria’s Bashar Assad to Adolf Hitler, but his clarification that he meant Hitler did not drop chemical bombs from airplanes requires some historical context.
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Video: Trump’s Line on Syria
In this video, CNN’s Jake Tapper looks at President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of President Barack Obama’s response in 2013 to a chemical weapons attack in Syria.
McConnell Revises History on Syria
Sen. Mitch McConnell revised history when explaining why he supported President Trump’s missile strike on Syria but opposed President Obama’s call for a targeted strike against Syria after a chemical weapons incident in 2013.
The Facts on Fracking Chemical Disclosure
Q: Are the chemicals in fracking solution protected from being made public by a law passed while Dick Cheney was vice president?
A: Yes. A 2005 law bans the federal government from requiring companies to disclose fracking chemicals. But 28 states do require disclosure of some fracking fluids.
Gorsuch’s ‘Mainstream’ Measurement
Supporters of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination describe him as a “mainstream judge.” Their evidence: He has voted nearly 99 percent with the majority on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and 97 percent of the court’s rulings were unanimous. But what do those statistics tell us? Not much.
Steve King on ‘Criminal Aliens’
Rep. Steve King wrongly suggested that “28 percent of the inmates in our federal penitentiaries” are immigrants in the country illegally. About 21 percent of federal inmates are non-U.S. citizens, but that includes those who came to the U.S. both legally and illegally.