Beyond the Truth-O-Meter
Checking on Background Checks
Checking an ad from Mayors Against Illegal Guns that accuses Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., of breaking a promise to strengthen background checks because he voted against a bill that would have expanded background checks.
Friday, May 24th, 2013
Bachmann’s absurd claim of a vast IRS health database of ‘sensitive, intimate’ information
With the Internal Revenue Service in the news, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has taken the opportunity to marry that scandal with her ongoing battle against the president’s health-care law, a.k.a. “Obamacare.” But how accurate are her claims?
Friday, May 24th, 2013
A False Claim of Blame in Mass. Senate Race
Republican Gabriel Gomez falsely claims his opponent in the Massachusetts Senate race blamed him for the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and compared him to Osama bin Laden.
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
How Arizona's land endowment compares in size to college endowments
State Treasurer Doug Ducey, a Republican, said that if Arizona's permanent land-endowment trust fund were a college endowment, it would rival the top college endowment funds in the country. Is that correct?
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Three Claims in Weiner’s Mayoral Announcement Video
To hear him tell it as a newly declared candidate for mayor, former Representative Anthony D. Weiner was a force to be reckoned with on three of the most important issues to New Yorkers: public safety, affordable health insurance and treatment for rescue workers sickened at the site of the World Trade Center attack. How accurate are some of the claims in his mayoral announcement video?
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
GOP lawmaker questions how Harry Reid ‘obtained’ false claims about Mitt Romney’s taxes
In a hearing about the Internal Revenue Service, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) brought up the question of Mitt Romney’s taxes after inquiring about two other cases involving alleged leaks. A deeper look.
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Has anyone been ‘fired’ because of the Benghazi attacks?
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, “Why does Benghazi go on? No one was ever fired? So, people made tragic errors. No one’s accepting responsibility and no one was fired.” Is he correct?
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
Is the Fort Hood shooter still being paid by the Army?
Has accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan continued to draw his Army salary while awaiting trial?
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
Gomez Claim On Markey’s Effectiveness Doesn’t Hold Up
Massachusetts Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez made headlines Monday for attacking his opponent, Democratic U.S Rep. Edward Markey, on national security. But do his claims hold up?
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
Republican Overreach on IRS
While there has been plenty to find fault with in the revelation that the IRS targeted some tea party groups seeking tax exempt status, some of the Republican rhetoric has been an overreach.
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
IRS Officials Misled Congress, Public
IRS officials gave false or misleading information on numerous occasions regarding its now discredited practice of targeting conservative groups that sought nonprofit status.
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
The White House claim of ‘doctored e-mails... to smear the president’
When a White House aide uses the same word — “doctored” — on three television shows, you know it is a carefully crafted talking point. On top of that, he says that this was done to “smear the president.” These are strong words concerning the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. But is this a case of the White House communications chief taking liberties with the facts?
Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
A bushel of Pinocchios for IRS’s Lois Lerner
In the days since the Internal Revenue Service first disclosed that it had targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, new information has emerged from both the Treasury Inspector General’s report and congressional testimony Friday that calls into question key statements made by Lois G. Lerner, the IRS’s director of the exempt organizations division.
Monday, May 20th, 2013
Fact check: Chicago school closings
Chicago is bracing for a critical vote by the Board of Education Wednesday: whether to shut down 54 schools. Conflicting figures are still flying, as they have through months of debate. WBEZ dug into these and other questions.
Saturday, May 18th, 2013
Holder’s incorrect claim on the ‘Fast and Furious’ criminal citation decision
fierce exchanges between Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday garnered a lot of attention, but there was also an interesting substantive point that was discussed: Did Ronald C. Machen Jr., the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, make his own decision regarding whether to prosecute Holder for criminal contempt of Congress? Holder said Machen “made the determination.” What does the evidence show?
Friday, May 17th, 2013
Eric Papenfuse's jobs creation claim: A fact check
Since the launch of his campaign for mayor of Harrisburg, Eric Papenfuse has said he has created more than 250 jobs in the last decade. How accurate is that?
Friday, May 17th, 2013
Harrisburg mayoral claims and promises
Harrisburg mayoral candidate Dan Miller has consistently characterized the proposed recovery plan for the City of Harrisburg as "Tom Corbett's plan" or the "Corbett/Thompson/Papenfuse" plan to include Linda Thompson and Eric Papenfuse's support for it - and, obviously, to align them with an unpopular Republican governor. Is this accurate?
Friday, May 17th, 2013
IRS Not So ‘Independent’
The Internal Revenue Service is not exactly an "independent agency" as President Obama claimed during a May 13 press conference. In fact, it is a bureau of the Treasury Department, an executive agency within the federal government. And it is the president who nominates the head.
Thursday, May 16th, 2013
Barbara Boxer’s claim that GOP budgets hampered Benghazi security
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif, tried to turn attention in the Benghazi controversy back to reductions in State Department funding. Do her claims hold up?
Thursday, May 16th, 2013
San Diego's Phantom Triple Border Fence
Checking that claim by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer that "the two border sections with triple fencing outside San Diego reduced infiltration by 92 percent."
Thursday, May 16th, 2013
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