Beyond the Truth-O-Meter
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
Joe Biden’s Productivity Piffle
Vice President Joe Biden falsely claimed that U.S. workers "are three times as productive as any worker in the world." He's not even close. By the standard measure for productivity, American workers ranked third in the world behind Norway and Ireland in 2011.
Thursday, May 16th, 2013
How many pages of regulations for ‘Obamacare’?
Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., offered such an astonishing figure — 33,000 pages of “Obamacare” regulations! — that we immediately wanted to know more.
Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
Rep. Bachmann, Minnesota and same-sex marriage
Did Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., announce that she would leave Minnesota if the state legalized gay marriage?
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Benghazi Attack, Revisited
President Obama says the May 8 House hearing on Benghazi and subsequent reporting about it produced no new information. That's largely the case, but the president misrepresented some facts at his May 13 press conference in dismissing the House investigation as a "political circus."
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Obama’s claim he called Benghazi an ‘act of terrorism’
Once again, it appears that we must parse a few presidential words.
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Checking the Harrisburg, Pa., mayor's claims on business growth
Since the campaign season began, Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson has made some startling claims about the growth of businesses and jobs in the capital city during her tenure. Many simply don't believe them.
Monday, May 13th, 2013
Is Obama threatening to arrest governors?
Has President Obama threatened 14 state governors with arrest for forming State Defense Forces?
Monday, May 13th, 2013
The claim that Senate Democrats have produced a ‘balanced budget’
Is the Democratic-crafted budget plan “a balanced budget,” as Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said?
Monday, May 13th, 2013
Gun deaths in Arizona vs. troop deaths in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama said that twice as many people were murdered with guns in Arizona from 2001 to 2010 than were killed in combat in Afghanistan. Is that correct?
Sunday, May 12th, 2013
Arizona's governor and the deficit
Gov. Jan Brewer said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that she inherited -- and resolved -- the largest budget deficit in the country. Is that correct?
Sunday, May 12th, 2013
9/11 Hijackers and Student Visas
Lawmakers on both sides of the immigration debate have falsely claimed that “some” or “all” of the 9/11 hijackers were in the U.S. on student visas. Only one of the 19 hijackers came to the U.S. on a student visa. The rest arrived here on tourist or business visas.
Friday, May 10th, 2013
Court-Martialed for Sharing Religious Faith?
Q: Has the Pentagon recently declared that sharing one's faith is punishable by court-martial? A: No. The Pentagon merely restated its long-held policy that military members can "share their faith (evangelize)" but "not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others to one’s beliefs (proselytization)."
Friday, May 10th, 2013
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