FACT CHECK thread

[butters]

Social media posts share a video that purportedly shows a wind turbine shattering in heavy winds during a storm. This is false; the clip is a years-old digital creation from a US-based artist.​

"#ClimateScam," says an August 2, 2022 tweet sharing a video viewed more than 56,000 times. "More 'Wind Fail' porn."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...sedgntp&cvid=7fb3ea46e75743ec9cac8f46561010dc

 

[Kindfarmer]

You should realize that using Snopes as a reputable "fact-checker" is laughable to knowledgeable people.

From the person who uses the federalist? Oh my fucking God

 

[butters]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...dd14a7784c2095471aebeff8f3d1#image=AA10whb5|8

"Ted Cruz erupts as FBI Director tries to defend Biden over Mar-a-Lago raid," reads the caption of an Aug. 16 Facebook post featuring the video.

except, of course, it doesn't. Instead it's a blend of 2 different clips predating mar-a-lago

ted cruz pay someone to try and make him look alpha? lol


Bias Rating: LEFT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MOSTLY FACTUAL
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

 

[butters]

claim: 87,000 new IRS agents, armed, coming for YOU

“There are about 3,000 employees in CI, 2,100 of which are special agents and the remaining professional staff,” Cole said. “Only special agents carry firearms.” For context, there were 81,600 total IRS employees in fiscal year 2021 (here).

Cole said that a majority of IRS’s tax administration is done by civilian auditors and revenue collectors and that in fiscal year 2021, the efforts of the criminal investigation unit resulted in the identification of more than $10 billion in tax fraud and other financial crimes.

“In terms of hiring, CI hopes to be able to hire 300-350 Special Agents during the course of this entire fiscal year – and we lose between 150-175 agents every year to retirement and attrition,” Cole said. “So even 350 agents would only net us a gain of 150-175 agents over the course of an entire year.”

The IRS CI is also not a new IRS branch created with the budget from the Inflation Reduction Act. It has been around since 1919, originally called the Intelligence Unit, and modeled after the role of Post Office Inspectors (here). Examples of high profile cases can be seen (here).

VERDICT​

False. The Internal Revenue Service will not be hiring 87,000 armed agents. Job adverts posted on social media are for special agents in the IRS’s Criminal Investigation unit. There are currently about 2,100 special agents in this unit, and there were 81,600 total IRS employees in fiscal year 2021.

https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-irs-armed-idUSL1N2ZT296

 

[butters]

viral image of 'half man, half dog' creature...well, surprisingly enough, isn't

A combined reverse image search and keyword search found a photo of the sculpture published on the website for the Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois art gallery in the French capital Paris.

According to a press release on the same page, the photo is from a 2022 exhibition by Iranian artists Peyman Barabadi and Babak Alebrahim Dehkordi -- also known as Peybak.

Responding to the false posts, the artists told AFP their artwork is "just a sculpture of an imaginary creature."

"It's made of sponge and robotic parts for its movement of breathing," they said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...pc=U531&cvid=7f2547ba9e6148e9802c48177231b6e8

 

[butters]

republicans do they ever stop lying? big, bigest, bigliest, biggest in the world evahhhhhhhhhhhhhh crowd sizes. duh.

the claim: an image shared in an Aug. 6 Facebook post shows an image from a rally on Aug. 5 Waukesha where tim michels had trump there to support him. The post accrued more than 1,600 shares in three weeks.

The caption of the post reads, "This is from last night in Wisconsin. MASSIVE!"

The photo also spread on Twitter, with multiple users claiming the image was from Trump's rally in Waukesha.
But the image is not from a Wisconsin rally earlier this month; it's from a Nov. 2, 2020, Wisconsin rally

Kenosha Regional Airport

The image in the Aug. 6 post is a slightly cropped version of a photo that Dan Scavino Jr., then a deputy chief of staff to Trump, originally shared on Twitter on Nov. 2, 2020.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...26b8f57b42bc648dd91a15527d8b#image=AA10whb5|8

not only were they all in long-sleeves for November, there are slogan placards with "THE BEST IS YET TO COME"and "WISCONSIN WELCOMES DONALD J. TRUMP 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES" and "SAVE AMERICA!"

so many stupids lapping up trump-based propaganda

oh, yeah, so there's a big old FALSE rating on this one.

 

[butters]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/ot...A11qVCs?cvid=fe16826310cb4dbf98f988bcc6b1eecb

claims being made online and tv about 'gov't quietly adding ivermectin to covid medications list', getting retweeted and picked up by bigger media

The most recent findings from a large-scale NIH-funded test of ivermectin as a COVID treatment were published in June and found that the drug was seemingly not significantly effective. Among over 1,500 participants, with 47 percent of them receiving at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, those who received ivermectin recovered from COVID in an average of 11 days. By comparison, those who were given the placebo recovered in an average of 11.5 days.

The NIH treatment guidelines website also says that other studies have suggested that sufficient efficacy in treating the virus with ivermectin would require 100 times the dosage amount recommended for humans.

so maybe 12 hours' potential help over no help from the placebo, but in doses 100 times recommended for humans. yup... that's a pass, then

False.

While approved for use in clinical trials, ivermectin has not been approved as a general use for COVID-19 treatment. The NIH still recommends against its use in that regard.

Furthermore, significant trials have found little evidence that the drug has any notable effect on recovery time from COVID-19.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/ot...A11qVCs?cvid=fe16826310cb4dbf98f988bcc6b1eecb