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FMD3100 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered a halt to non-essential road, bridge and mass transit projects late Thursday after lawmakers failed to reauthorize the state fund that pays for them. Christie’s executive order calls for the state Department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit to devise a plan before midnight Saturday for the “orderly†shutdown of projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund. Federally funded projects will continue, Christie said in his executive order. The state expects to receive an estimated $906 million of federal transportation aid, according to the state treasurer’s annual report. New Jersey’s ability to borrow for new transportation projects ran out on Friday, the start of the new fiscal year. The trust fund already has about $16 billion of outstanding debt for existing road projects. The fund has roughly $80 million left, said Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski, who called Christie’s executive order “pure theater.†Without new appropriations or bond proceeds, the authority cannot pay vendors for construction. Projects at any stage | 1 | [
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FMD3101 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Was This House Saved from a Flood by an 'Inflatable Dam?' Claim summaries: A Texas homeowner did protect his house from flooding by using an "inflatable dam," but it was filled with water and not air.
contextual information: In August 2017, as a devastating hurricane hit Texas, a photograph taken the previous year of a Texas home that survived flooding through the use of a dam was recirculated online, along with the claim that the pictured dam was "inflatable": recirculated The timing of the posts caused some viewers to wonder whether the photograph showed flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in late August 2017: I don't know if this is from #harvey flood but wow: https://t.co/3f4gdpUlsp #harvey https://t.co/3f4gdpUlsp Jaimy Jones (@Jaimyjones) August 29, 2017 August 29, 2017 This picture was actually taken in June 2016 (more than a year before Hurricane Harvey), after thousands of homes were evacuated in Brazoria County, Texas, due to a severe flood. In an attempt to protect his home, local resident Randy Wagner purchased an "Aqua Dam" and installed it around his property, as a local television station reported at the time: reported Of the thousands of homes evacuated and damaged by flooding in Brazoria County, one familys home is high and dry on West FM 1462 in Rosharon. Randy Wagner decided to take a chance on something called an Aqua Dam, a product he discovered online. The product in question is not "inflatable" in the sense that it is filled with air; rather, the AquaDam encloses water: He filled up 400 feet of 30 inch high tubes made of plastic and fabric with water. I was the crazy guy. Everybody was kinda going by, laughing at me. But today they are really impressed with this AquaDam, said Wagner. He and his family stayed, waited and watched as the water rose to 27 inches, but never seeped through the barriers. The product cost him money, but he told KHOU 11 News it was well worth his sanity. $8,300 is to me a small investment on a house that could have two feet of water in it and cost me $150,000 in repairs. he said. Here's a video report from USA Today about Wagner and his house-saving AquaDam: AquaDam Crea, Jacqueline. "Rosharon Resident Uses AquaDam to Protect Home from Floodwaters."
KHOU. 9 June 2016. | 1 | [
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FMD3102 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did an AR Dragon Fly Over a Baseball Stadium? Claim summaries: Some viewers may be a little confused about what this video does and doesn't show.
contextual information: A video of a large, augmented-reality, fire-breathing dragon flying over a baseball stadium is frequently shared on social media. While viewers were undoubtedly aware that this footage didn't actually show a real mythical creature's visit to a ball game, some social media users seemed a bit confused about what this video actually depicted. Is it a hologram? CGI? Virtual reality? At the opening of the South Korean baseball championship, they used a 3D hologram powered by 5G technology. A realistic dragon flew over the stadium. Just unbelievable!!! pic.twitter.com/y3jR64aXXB pic.twitter.com/y3jR64aXXB Godfather IV (@godfatheriv) August 13, 2019. This video shows an augmented reality (AR) dragon. AR, which refers to technology that mixes the real world with computer-generated (CGI) images, is different from virtual reality (VR), which uses computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike a hologram, CGI objects can only be seen via some sort of screen. According to information from Live Science and The Franklin Institute, augmented reality is the result of using technology to superimpose information—sounds, images, and text—on the world we see. Picture the "Minority Report" or "Iron Man" style of interactivity. Augmented reality (AR) is one of the biggest technology trends right now, and it is only going to get bigger as AR-ready smartphones and other devices become more accessible around the world. AR allows us to see the real-life environment right in front of us—trees swaying in the park, dogs chasing balls, kids playing soccer—with a digital augmentation overlaid on it. For example, a pterodactyl might be seen landing in the trees, the dogs could be mingling with their cartoon counterparts, and the kids could be seen kicking past an alien spacecraft on their way to score a goal. In other words, this dragon didn't actually "fly over" the stadium; it was only viewable via a screen. This video was created by the company SK Telecom for the SK Wyverns' opening day (a wyvern is a "winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail") of the 2019 Korean Baseball Organization season. The dragon was visible on the stadium's large LED screen and home televisions. While the people at this game couldn't see the dragon with the naked eye, they were able to see this mythical beast via their phones. Korea.com reported that fans could also interact with the dragon by pressing the "cheer button" on a smartphone app. An augmented reality (AR) image of a wyvern, a mythical dragon-like creature, suddenly appeared on the opening day of the 2019 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season at Incheon's SK Happy Dream Park, home of the defending league champions SK Wyverns. An image of the team's mascot was shown on the world's largest LED baseball scoreboard at the stadium. In addition, the flying creature put on an interactive performance when fans pressed the cheer button on a smartphone app. Fans who watched the event on TV or their smartphones could also see this high-tech spectacle. For the wyvern's performance, SK used its self-developed AR and virtual reality (VR) technologies such as eSpace, a hyperspace platform for replicating the real world in cyberspace, and T real Platform, which enables AR content to be freely created and shared. The use of the latest 5G wireless technology also allowed large-scale AR streaming. A second video of this augmented reality dragon was posted to the SK Telecom YouTube page. That video shows fans downloading this app and interacting with the dragon via their phones. In November 2019, a similar video supposedly showing a "hologram" lion roaring at a stadium in Argentina went viral on social media: Estudiantes de La Plata celebrated reopening their stadium with the most incredible hologram show ?? pic.twitter.com/cKCsJAKwD3 pic.twitter.com/cKCsJAKwD3 ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 11, 2019. Again, this was not a hologram visible to the naked eye, but an augmented reality display that could only be seen on screens. Emspak, Jesse. "What is Augmented Reality? Live Science. 1 June 2018. The Franklin Institute. "What is Augmented Reality? Retrieved 15 August 2019. Landers, Chris. "Korea's SK Wyverns Used Augmented Reality to Bring a Fire-Breathing Dragon to Opening Day." MLB. 25 March 2019. Hwaya, Kim. "Augmented Reality Dragon Wows Baseball Fans on Opening Day." Korea.net. 27 March 2019. | 1 | [
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FMD3103 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: You are here: Home / *Articles of the Bound* / #TrumpProtest: Communists Mobilize To Disrupt President-Elect Trump’s Inauguration #TrumpProtest: Communists Mobilize To Disrupt President-Elect Trump’s Inauguration November 11, 2016, 6:35 am by Guest Author Leave a Comment 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Party for Socialism and Liberation, a “revolutionary Marxist organization” burns President-Elect Trump in effigy on November 9, 2016 outside L.A. City Hall. “Progressive people from all over the country will be descending on Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2017 to stage a massive demonstration along Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day.” – ANSWER Coalition The Party for Socialism and Liberation , along with many other Marxist groups, is aggressively organizing to disrupt President-Elect Donald Trump’s inauguration through mass mailings and social media. The ANSWER Coalition is a front group for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary Marxist organization in the United States that was formed in 2006 after splitting with the Workers World Party . The Party for Socialism and Liberation favors the revolutionary beliefs of Mao and Trotsky. They are Pro North Korea, pro-Cuba and pro-Iran. This author is old enough to remember a rodeo clown who wore an Obama mask getting nation-wide attention for being “racist” and being banned for life from the Missouri State Fair in 2012. Ponder that while considering the complete lack of mainstream media attention for this: “There will be casualties on both sides. People have to die to make a change in this world.”
The poor girl has no idea that she is a pawn to be used by communist thugs.
Or this:
— Marcus Yam (@yamphoto) November 10, 2016 Party of Socialism and Liberation via Yahoo
In a mass mailing (also on their website ), the Marxist group divulges their support for Communist Bernie Sanders and explains in part: This country needs a real political revolution. Millions of people feel entirely disenfranchised by a political system that delivered the least favorable and trusted candidates in U.S. history. Many hoped that the Bernie Sanders campaign would represent a new direction and opportunity to take on entrenched power and extreme inequality, for a higher minimum wage, to defend Social Security, rebuild the labor movement, provide universal health care and free tuition. That campaign was largely suppressed, but its end does not change the desires and aspirations of tens of millions of people, workers and youth in particular, who are demanding real change. On Inauguration Day, thousands will be in the streets to give voice to the millions of people in this country who are demanding systemic change.
Their presidential candidate was Gloria Estela La Riva , wants to “build a movement against capitalism !” #voteSocialist2016 ! Protest on Inauguration Day Jan 20th Against War, Racism & Inequality @GloriaLaRiva @pslweb https://t.co/Mkq7oddlvK
— La Riva 4 President (@VotePSL) November 8, 2016
Many other socialist organizations have been out protesting, such as the Socialist Alternative , a Trotskyist group that claims Seattle council woman Kshama Sawant as a member. Socialist #Seattle councilmember calls for massive protest, nationwide shutdown on Inauguration Day
— Ashli Blow (@AshliKIRO7) November 9, 2016 Paper on the ground at the #TrumpProtest in D.C. mentions another protest on Inauguration Day. pic.twitter.com/CISDo7bvXt
— Natalie DiBlasio (@ndiblasio) November 10, 2016 Already 10K people joining the #NotMyPresident protest on Inauguration day at the Capitol. Set up for a crazy scene | 0 | [
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FMD3104 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: The 'Merrylin Cryptid Museum' Claim summaries: A 'Cryptid Museum' supposedly showcasing specimens discovered by a mysterious cryptozoologist named Thomas Merrylin is actually the work of artist Alex CF.
contextual information: Photographs purportedly showing the skeletons of fairies, dragons, werewolves and other mythical creatures at the "Merrylin Cryptid Museum" were appeared in May 2016, featured on web sites such as Ufunk.net and Metro: Merrylin Cryptid Museum Ufunk.net Metro Creepy skeletons of winged humans, bodies of mythical creatures and even aliens have been unearthed in a London home. The ghastly relics were the collection of Thomas Merrylin, an 18th century aristocrat with a taste for the unusual. They were apparently found sealed in the basement of a London house in 2006, and the macabre findings might just change science as we know it. Now theyre being kept at the Merrylin Cryptid Museum, a bizarre collection of the artefacts that is almost guaranteed to creep you out. The "Merrylin Cryptid Museum" claims that its specimens were collected by famed "Crypto-naturalist" Thomas Merrylin in the 1800s. "Curator" Alex CF writes on the museum's web site that not only did Merrylin have a knack for uncovering imaginary creatures, but that he also resisted aging: web site A bizarre quality of Merrylin was his apparent permanent youthfulness. Even in his 80s, he still resembled a 40 year old, albeit of odd complexion, and his few bizarre forays into the eyes of the media only furthered his infamy. He was accused of practicing dark arts to prolong his life. Yet, eminent scholars secretly allied themselves with him, encouraging him to share his collection with the world. In 1899, he took a small portion of his specimens on tour across America. Conservative attitudes of the time condemned these creatures, calling them blasphemous. His reaction was severe and the tour was canceled before it reached California. A video that appeared to show the museum was published on Vimeo in 2014, deepening the mystery: Despite the claims made in this video, we found no record of an ageless cryptologist named "Professor Thomas Theodore Merrylin" that wasn't associated with this museum. Furthermore, in addition to his duties as "curator" at the "Merrylin Cryptid Museum," Alex CF is also an illustrator, artist, and sculptor who specializes in dark folklore and animal mythology: Alex CF Alex is a London based illustrator, writer and sculptor. His work is visceral and whimsical, creating elaborate detailed depictions of earthen ritual, dark folklore and forgotten horrors. His frenetic lines and beautiful depictions can be seen on band artwork, record labels and book covers alongside his own personal projects. His personal artwork is inspired by animal mythology, the concepts of imbuing non humans with cultural, religious and ritualistic practices, creating fantastical naturalist scenes, with much of his personal illustrations connected by stories within a single narrative. He writes and draws to create little worlds so that the drawings have a substance beyond the aesthetic, by incorporating ideology and symbology to encourage the viewer to consider the connections between humans and non humans. He has just finished writing his first novel, 'Seek the throat from which we sing.' The ageless cryptologist Thomas Merrylin is an intriguing, but fictional, character. The specimens he supposedly found do not showcase the skeletal structures of fairies, dragons, and other mythical creatures; the entire creation from the museum, to the backstory, to the video, to the skeletons themselves is the work of a particularly imaginative artist. | 0 | [
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FMD3105 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Even though this #BlackLivesMatter terrorist clearly calls for the killing of Whites and cops in her YouTube videos, Latausha Nedd denies it. No word yet from her mother yet on how she wouldn t harm anyone and doesn t have a racist bone in her body https://youtu.be/d3yWQLVqiOoA BlackLivesMatter activist in Clayton County, GA, was (finally) arrested after making threats against police officers on her YouTube channel.Latausha Nedd who calls herself Eye Empress Sekhmet was arrested for making threats against police officers and taken into custody. In the video of her arrest, she claims since her threats were on a YouTube channel, they were somehow innocuous. But Nedd has built up a pretty good resume of violent, racist and criminal calls to bloodshed.Here s the video where Nedd declares open season on the motherf*cking crackers, points a gun at the camera and shows images of white police officers.https://youtu.be/VMhrAmZPjJkWSB-TV is reporting Nedd denied advocating killing cops, even though that s precisely what she did. This is about a YouTube video? I ve seen worse on YouTube, Nedd said from the back of a police cruiser. All I said was defend yourself against people who want to kill us. That s all. I never said anything more than that. Nedd claims she s harmless. But according to police, her words are as dangerous as any weapon.Here she is protesting Stone Mountain with more racist, anti-American #BlackLivesMatter idiots: It s also the reaction she solicits or anyone solicits from people who may be listening, Register said.Nedd remains in the Clayton County Jail, charged with making terroristic threats and transmitting those threats through social media.Nedd has been involved with the BlackLivesMatter movement for some time. Here s a delightful image of the young lady standing on an American Flag on Memorial Day.Via: DowntrendH/t Weasel Zippers | 0 | [
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FMD3106 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: When Raj, a Sri Lankan fisherman, sought refuge in the United States in 2005, he had precisely the kind of fear of returning home that U.S. asylum laws require. In 2004, he was kidnapped by the separatist rebel group the Tamil Tigers and had to pay $500 to secure his release, according to Raj, his lawyer and court records reviewed by Reuters. The group then demanded more money, which he could not pay after a tsunami destroyed his house and fishing boat. Raj, 42, who asked that only his first name be used because of the sensitive nature of his situation, decided to flee. He boarded a plane using a false Canadian passport and requested asylum upon arriving in the United States. There was a catch, however. U.S. laws ban immigration by anyone who has provided "material support" to terrorists, and the Tamil Tigers are designated as a terrorist group by the United States. A judge ruled that Raj's ransom payment to them constituted material support. (Read an excerpt of the letter petitioning the U.S. government for a waiver in this case: tmsnrt.rs/2oPsqQM) Ultimately, Raj was granted asylum in 2011 because of rules that allow for waivers for people who provided aid to terrorists under duress. He now lives in San Diego, California, works in an Indian restaurant and hopes to become a citizen. (Read an excerpt of the letter from the U.S. government granting the waiver: tmsnrt.rs/2oPy7yx) Raj said it was “a big relief†when he finally received his green card around a year after receiving asylum. “I am not a terrorist,†he said. Now the Trump administration is debating whether to rescind the waivers that have allowed Raj, and tens of thousands of others, to immigrate to the United States in the past decade (See graphic on waivers: tmsnrt.rs/2oPssIo). Some immigration hardliners are concerned the exemptions could allow terrorists to slip into the country. U.S. President Donald Trump directed the secretaries of State and Homeland Security, in consultation with the attorney general, to consider abolishing the waivers in an executive order in March. That directive was overshadowed by the same order’s temporary ban on all refugees and on travelers from six mostly Muslim nations. The bans on refugees and travel were challenged in lawsuits, and their implementation has been suspended pending full hearings in court. But the waiver review was not included in the court rulings, so that part of the order remains in effect. Rules governing the waivers have been hammered out over the last decade with both Democratic and Republican support. But in recent years they have drawn fire from some conservative lawmakers, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was a senator. A State Department official said this week the department is working with DHS to review the waivers and is “looking at actually pulling them back in accordance with the executive order.†The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give details on the timing of the review or its likely outcome. The Department of Justice declined to comment. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Congress expanded the definition of who could be considered a terrorist and what constituted “material support†to terrorism in rules now known as the Terrorism Related Inadmissibility Grounds. Those changes ensnared people like Raj who were coerced or inadvertently provided support to terrorists, as well as members of persecuted ethnic groups that supported rebel organizations, and even U.S.-allied groups fighting against authoritarian regimes. Without an exemption, members of Kurdish groups that battled Saddam Hussein’s forces in Iraq, Hmong groups who fought alongside U.S. troops in Vietnam, or some Cubans who fought Fidel Castro’s regime would not be allowed to immigrate to the United States. Under the exemptions, U.S. authorities have the discretion to grant people residency in the United States after they have passed background checks and are found to pose no threat to national security. Congress initially passed waivers to the terrorism bars in 2007 with bipartisan support, and in the years that followed both the Bush and Obama administrations added additional groups and circumstances to the exemptions. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has granted nearly 22,000 TRIG exemptions in total over the last decade, according to the latest data available, which goes through September 2016. The State Department also grants TRIG exemptions, but a spokesman could not provide data on how many. Refugees from Myanmar are the largest single group of beneficiaries to date of TRIG exemptions granted by USCIS, with more than 6,700 waivers. The wave of Myanmar refugees dates to 2006, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ruled that thousands of members of the Karen ethnic group, then living in a camp in Thailand, could resettle in the United States, even if they had supported the political wing of an armed group that had fought the country’s military regime. One high-profile supporter of scrapping the waivers is House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia whose staffers were instrumental in drafting Trump’s travel ban. Goodlatte told Reuters he was “pleased that the Trump Administration is reviewing the dangerous policy.†Groups favoring stricter immigration laws have also applauded the review. Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations at NumbersUSA, called the waivers “a potential security risk.†“I personally don’t think that a bureaucrat should be deciding how much support for terrorism is enough to be barred,†she said. A USCIS spokeswoman, when asked if a recipient of an exemption had ever been involved in a terrorism-related case after arriving in the United States, referred Reuters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which said it was a question for the State Department to answer. “I don’t know of any cases where beneficiaries of exemptions have gotten into trouble after arriving,†the State Department official said, noting that the department does not typically track people after they arrive in the United States. Trump’s order to review the waivers “is another example of an attempt to address a non-existent phantom problem,†said Eric Schwartz, who served in the State Department during the Obama administration. Schwartz and immigration advocates say the waivers are granted after lengthy review and are extremely difficult to get. “These are case-by-case exemptions for people who represent no threat to the United States but rather have been caught in the most unfortunate of circumstances,†said Schwartz. For Raj, the initial ruling that his ransom payment supported a terrorist group led to more than two years in U.S. immigration detention, followed by more years of electronic monitoring. His waiver allowed him to bring his wife to the United States after nine years apart. She now studies nursing. | 1 | [
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FMD3107 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Email
Even as surveillance hawks such as FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and joint chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) continue to claim that terrorists and other criminals are using technology to “go dark,” so America needs an increased ability to perform civilian surveillance, the reality is that the hawks have more access to more data than ever before. And — as recent information confirms — many of the reasons for that increased surveillance ability are the supposed “reforms” that were sold to the American people as a way to curtail that surveillance.
Those in power — especially those who have built their careers in government by expanding the surveillance state — are not above using manipulation to increase their power by increasing that surveillance. The recent surveillance “reforms” — particularly the misnamed USA FREEDOM Act — prove that point perhaps better than anything else could. As this writer said last year: On Saturday, November 28, 2015, the NSA telephone surveillance program ended. Except that it didn't. The spying program — made famous when former NSA contractor Ed Snowden leaked a trove of secret documents to reporters — has simply continued under different authority. The "new and improved" surveillance may even be worse than before because the required warrants will be issued by a secret court. When the USA FREEDOM Act became law in June 2015, it was sold to the American people as a solution to the unwarranted surveillance Snowden had revealed. The law was set to take effect November 28, 2015 and "reform" that warrantless surveillance. The USA FREEDOM Act, like the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, is a misnomer. The name is a not-very-subtle manipulation, designed to hide from the American people the real nature of the law. The architects of the USA PATRIOT Act used the word "patriot" to persuade Americans that the "patriotic" way to confront the specter of terrorism was to trade liberty for security. It took the one but never delivered the other. Likewise, in the USA FREEDOM Act, the use of the word "freedom" is designed to convince Americans that their freedom is being returned to them by "reforming" the surveillance state. In fact, no such reform is taking place .
And while the surveillance hawks claim that the “war on terror” (another misnomer) depends on mass surveillance, there is more at stake here than just security. Liberty — and the privacy that must necessarily accompany it — falls in direct proportion to the rise of the surveillance state. In the digital age, there is no line of demarcation between digital privacy and any other privacy, between digital liberty and any other liberty. After all, if you have no choice about the data that is collected on you and who has access to it — including your phone calls, texts, e-mails, browsing history, calendar, and more — can you really be said to be free?
Mass surveillance, far from a solution, is itself a major part of the problem. Not only does it threaten privacy and liberty, it is counterproductive to the stated goal of finding and stopping terrorists. If one is trying to find a needle in a haystack, adding more hay is not the way to go about it; investigators should narrow their searches, not expand them.
The rise of the surveillance state in the 15 years since 9/11 has taken its toll on the American spirit. And yet, even while gathering data on more and more of the inhabitants of planet Earth at a greater and greater rate, the surveillance hawks still want more. Last December, Senator Burr wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal that was laden with errors, half-truths, and outright lies. The article claimed that encryption — used by millions of ordinary people every day — is a tool of terrorism which “allows criminals and terrorists, as the law enforcement community says, to 'go dark' and plot with abandon.” In an obvious attempt at giving lip service to the rights of individuals to protect their privacy and liberty, Burr wrote: Consumer information should be protected, and the development of stronger and more robust levels of encryption is necessary. Unfortunately, the protection that encryption provides law-abiding citizens is also available to criminals and terrorists. Today's messaging systems are often designed so that companies' own developers cannot gain access to encrypted content — and, alarmingly, not even when compelled by a court order. This allows criminals and terrorists, as the law enforcement community says, to "go dark" and plot with abandon.
But is Burr correct? Does modern technology allow “ criminals and terrorists, as the law enforcement community says, to ‘go dark’ and plot with abandon”? Not even close. The myth of “going dark” is little more than a bogey-man, used to scare people into sacrificing their rights for the hollow promise of safety. As this writer said in the article quoted above: When the final USA FREEDOM Act vote was counted in the Senate on June 2, 2015, The New American 's Warren Mass reported that the act, which was sold to the American people as a way to "reform the authorities of the Federal Government" to (among other things) conduct electronic surveillance for "foreign intelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal purposes," was both misleading and unnecessary. If true reform had been the goal, a large part of that goal had already been accomplished. On May 31 the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, which had been interpreted to allow much of the surveillance exposed by Snowden, expired: Many of those authorities — which the National Security Agency (NSA) has used to justify the collection of phone records — had been found in provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that expired at midnight Sunday night. Therefore, Congress could have eliminated those surveillance powers merely by doing nothing. Despite promises made by its supporters, the USA Freedom Act doesn't end government snooping. It merely shifts the responsibility for collecting communications metadata from the NSA to companies such as AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, which already keep customer records for as long as five years. The NSA or the FBI would simply need to obtain permission from the secret FISA Court to access that data — and the court nearly always grants it.
At the time The New American published that article and the previous article by Warren Mass (which is quoted in that article), the mainstream media was singing the praises of the USA FREEDOM Act. Recently, our dire predictions of greater surveillance resulting from the very law which promised to curtail that surveillance have been shown true. And the same mainstream media is now confirming that. ABC News recently reported that the “NSA can access more phone data than ever,” and said: One of the reforms designed to rein in the surveillance authorities of the National Security Agency has perhaps inadvertently solved a technical problem for the spy outfit and granted it potential access to much more data than before, a former top official told ABC News.
The article cites Chris Inglis, who served as the NSA's deputy director until January 2014. Inglis told ABC News that before the USA FREEDOM Act, the NSA had incomplete access to phone records because the agency had to pull the data from several different networks, reformat much of it and compile it “according to existing privacy policies.” Since the USA FREEDOM Act shifts much of that responsibility to the carriers — who are required under the law to maintain that data and make it available to the NSA — Inglis told ABC News that all the technical and compliance issues are now "somebody else's problem." The report also says: The USA Freedom Act ended the NSA's bulk collection of metadata but charged the telecommunications companies with keeping the data on hand. The NSA and other U.S. government agencies now must request information about specific phone numbers or other identifying elements from the telecommunications companies after going through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court and arguing that there is a "reasonable, articulable suspicion" that the number is associated with international terrorism. As a result, the NSA no longer has to worry about keeping up its own database and, according to Inglis, the percentage of available records has shot up from 30 percent to virtually 100. Rather than one internal, incomplete database, the NSA can now query any of several complete ones. The new system "guarantees that the NSA can have access to all of it," Inglis said.
Just let that marinate for a while: "The NSA can have access to all of it."
So the American people were sold a bill of goods. One thing was promised and another delivered. If the mainstream media had reported on this as The New American did, perhaps America could have been spared this increased surveillance. As it is, the mainstream media is catching on too little, too late.
As the surveillance hawks on the one side and privacy advocates on the other side continue to wage the battle for digital privacy, it is likely that some type of “compromise” will be offered to “solve the problem” of encryption.
Don’t fall for it. Photo of the White House: CC-BY-SA-3.0 / Matt H. Wade | 0 | [
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FMD3108 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: TAVEUNI ISLAND, Fiji — In Fiji, flowers can take on a spiritual, magical significance. They are strung together as garlands for ceremonies and festivals or worn as an ornament behind the ear on any given day. The South Pacific archipelago is home to about 800 species of plants found nowhere else in the world. But the most special is the tagimoucia, a crimson and white flower that hangs down in clusters like a chain of ruby raindrops. Because of its beauty and rarity, it has attained a kind of celebrity status. “Just to touch it and see it with my own eyes,†said Lina Sena, 41, her sentence trailing off as she held a clipping recently. “See how we are treating it? It is history. †Except for scattered sightings on a neighboring island, the flower grows only on a single mountain ridge on Taveuni, one of the northern islands. The tagimoucia is the unofficial floral emblem of Fiji and has a prime position on the nation’s $50 bill. But to Fijians, its significance stems from several legends of romance and heartbreak. Seeing the flower “was on my bucket list,†said Ravi Kumar, 31, who grew up in Fiji but later moved to Australia. Mr. Kumar spent a recent day on Taveuni, traipsing through the forest before finally sighting the flower atop its woody vine. Taveuni, known as the Garden Island for its rich volcanic soil and farming, is crowned with dense, dark rain forest that is often shrouded in mist. Mr. Kumar said he made the trek because the flower’s legend was “one of the tales you grew up with†in Fiji. Those tales can vary depending on whom you ask. The song “Tagimaucia ga†by Percy Bucknell, a traditional composer, describes how an outsider seized power on Taveuni and made the flower a symbol of his chieftainship. Another tells of a young girl whose tears became tagimoucia flowers when her parents scolded her for not doing her housework. According to Emori Tokalau, a governmental liaison to Taveuni’s clan leaders, only the flower’s custodian can tell the true legend. That is Ratu Viliame Mudu, the chief of Somosomo village on the island’s western side. Mr. Tokalau described the custodianship “as a form of copyright,†giving the holder authority to grant permission for outsiders to visit the flower or use its likeness. He had to get the chief’s approval before using the tagimoucia on his office letterhead, he said. To receive permission, one must arrive at the village with a sevusevu — a gift or offering — often the traditional root drink kava. A small ceremony is performed, with men in sarongs and women in long skirts gathered around. On a visit to the village in November, the chief’s son, Akuila Cavuilati, spoke about the flower’s history. “When I was growing up, it was the legend that my carried and gave to us,†he said. The tagimoucia already existed before the legend, but only as a simple white flower, Mr. Cavuilati said. That changed when a young princess fell in love with a man from another village, a union her parents vetoed. She ran away in despair. Village warriors searching for the princess could hear her crying in the forest (tagimoucia can be translated as “crying tears,†Mr. Cavuilati said). However, all they could see were tagimoucia flowers with a mysterious new addition: the ruby red petals. Those petals are the girl’s tears, Mr. Cavuilati said. As a boy, Mr. Cavuilati often climbed the mountain with his brothers to pick tagimoucia flowers, sometimes sending them into the capital, Suva, for display at festivals. “During that time there were so many flowers,†he said. “Nowadays, it is very hard to find. †Until about 30 years ago, access to the flower came only by foot. But then a cellphone tower went up on the mountain’s peak, along with a service road. Now people can drive the pass more easily. Mr. Cavuilati said rarely did anyone come to him to hear the legend or receive his blessing for their journey to the flower. The path up the mountain is a hike that starts near Somosomo. Along the way, it was easy to see why the forested mountain was the tagimoucia’s natural protector before the access road was built. The trail is littered with felled trees and craters from giant root systems that were ripped out of the ground by cyclones. After several hours of hiking, the grandson of Somosomo’s chief, Viliame Mudu, spied a small cluster of flowers halfway up a tree. That was the sole sighting of ruby red petals by our group that day. The tagimoucia’s peak flowering season of November and December coincides with school’s end, so the flower is a “hot commodity†for graduation garlands, said Lin, an anthropologist who completed his Ph. D. thesis on conservation in Taveuni. During that period, local hotels bring flowers down for their guests. One morning, Alfred Lewenilovo, 26, headed up the mountain carrying a sugar cane knife and an empty backpack. He said his sister in Suva requested tagimoucia flowers for her 21st birthday garland. The flower’s popularity worries some on Fiji. “People are going there to see it and put it around their necks, then they come down. After two days they throw it into the rubbish bins,†said Marika Tuiwawa, a botanist with the University of the South Pacific. The fragility of the flower’s existence has always been a concern because of the small areas, or microhabitats, where it grows. While the opinion that the flower is now overpicked is widely held, no research has been done to confirm that, said Dick Watling, from . The conservation group had investigated the possibility of a Taveuni National Park that would provide more protection to the tagimoucia as well as the forest it inhabits. But its Taveuni office closed in 2014, from a lack of interest and funding. The area where the flower is found is currently a forest reserve, but it is often encroached upon by farmers, Mr. Watling said. “The real issue is that we have this enormous area of almost pristine forest, the last in Fiji,†he said. Unless the government realizes the value of that “it will become increasingly fragmented. †For now, the tagimoucia continues to inspire Fijians. On a ferry that sails from Taveuni to Suva, I held a tagimoucia clipping given to me by the village chief of Tavuki. The flower turned heads. A young boy whispered “tagimoucia†as he walked past. A woman pointed and mouthed the flower’s name before breaking into a smile. And Ms. Sena indulged in a mini photo shoot. “Take another one — a good one,†she said as her daughter repositioned her camera to capture the flower, now perched behind Ms. Sena’s ear. | 1 | [
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FMD3109 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Atlantic, a publication that wouldn t know unbiased journalism if it bit them in the a$$ published what appears to be a reluctant piece on President Trump s outstanding accomplishments during his first 6 months in office. Most of the people reading this piece by The Atlantic are fans of their writing because they ve bought into the progressive, anti-American sentiment they were fed like crack cocaine in college. Almost like the patch that smokers wear to help them get through the withdrawal of nicotine while going through a cessation program, The Atlantic provides their readers with enough anti-Trump propaganda to keep them in business, while acting like a support group for their readers, who fear every anti-American piece of legislation Barack Obama worked so hard to implement, is all unraveling, thanks to this guy who foolishly wants Make America Great Again . Of course, in the eyes of The Atlantic reader, America was never great to begin with.The parts where The Atlantic talks about President Trump s accomplishments are italicized and the comments the writer makes to counter Trump s successes have been highlighted.The Atlantic starts out the article by giving credit to Trump s shadow government , as somehow being responsible for his amazing successes in his first 6 months. According to The Atlantic, the actual government is the fake news stories and the obsession with negative chatter surrounding Trump s presidency, while President Trump s accomplishments have been hidden in the shadows .The Atlantic Imagine, if you will, that there is a shadow government.The actual government, the administration of Donald Trump, is coming off the worst week of his presidency, although there haven t been any smooth weeks. Trump s top legislative priority, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, seems dead for the moment. (Tax reform? Forget it.) His administration has set a new standard for chaos and dysfunction, rolling through staffers the way other administrations run through, well, legislative initiatives. Trump s foreign policy remains inchoate and ineffective. Meanwhile, a special counsel investigation looms over the entire administration, threatening both its legitimacy and legal jeopardy for some of its members.Things are going considerably better for the shadow government. With the Trump administration s chaos sucking up all the attention, it s been able to move forward on a range of its priorities, which tend to be more focused on regulatory matters anyway. It is remaking the justice system, rewriting environmental rules, overhauling public-lands administration, and greenlighting major infrastructure projects. It is appointing figures who will guarantee the triumph of its ideological vision for decades to come. let s consider the Trump administration s accomplishments. Spoiler alert: like climate change, they re real.One of the two biggest victories has come on border security, which was one of Trump s top campaign priorities. Border crossings have already plummeted, suggesting that rhetoric making it clear to immigrants that they are not welcome is effective in its own right. Customs and Border Protections report that apprehensions of unauthorized people are down nearly 20 percent from the same time in 2016. (Trump continues to radically exaggerate these figures, though.) This decline has occurred despite Trump being foiled on his actual policy proposals at the border. Construction hasn t begun on his border wall yet, and federal courts have repeatedly smacked down his Muslim travel ban.That said, he did get one good result in courts and that points to a second area of success. The Supreme Court allowed parts of the travel ban to go forward, in a victory that would not have happened without Neil Gorsuch on the court, filling a seat that under all previous customs would have been filled by Barack Obama s appointee Merrick Garland. Given his legislative struggles, the most enduring Trump victories are likely to come in the judicial branch.Trump may get to appoint several more justices to the high court. And in the meantime, he s filling up lower courts with lifetime appointees. As the veteran Democratic official Ron Klain wrote recently, A massive transformation is underway in how our fundamental rights are defined by the federal judiciary. For while President Trump is incompetent at countless aspects of his job, he is proving wildly successful in one respect: naming youthful conservative nominees to the federal bench in record-setting numbers. There are the quiet, far-reaching changes. Getting back to Pruitt, the environment is one of the places where the Trump administration has had its largest impact. The most prominent move was Trump s June 1 announcement that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord. But the EPA is moving on other fronts as well. It s working to dismantle Barack Obama s Clean Power Plan, a signature policy aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. In June, following a February executive order from Trump, the EPA began the process of rescinding the 2015 Waters of the United States rule, which aimed at protecting smaller bodies of water and streams in the same way that larger ones had been. In December, in the closing weeks of his administration, Obama banned drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic Ocean; the Trump administration promptly set about undoing that ban. (How interested oil companies will be remains to be seen.)The New York Times found in June that Pruitt s EPA has moved to undo, delay or otherwise block more than 30 environmental rules, a regulatory rollback larger in scope than any other over so short a time in the agency s 47-year history. And it might have done more if not for constraints imposed by judges. EPA tried to abandon an Obama-era rule on methane emissions, but a court on Monday forced it to continue enforcing the rule.Other agencies are also in on the environmental deregulation act. The State Department reversed an Obama-era decision, clearing the way for the Keystone XL pipeline to begin construction. The Interior Department is considering reversing a rule on fracking on public lands, and might also reverse some equipment regulations on offshore drilling equipment implemented after the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The department has rolled back a ban on coal mining on public lands.Although the Justice Department had staunchly opposed a Texas voting law that has repeatedly been smacked down by courts as discriminatory, Sessions switched the department s position, and it has now told courts the law ought to be allowed to remain. The attorney general has also sought to cut off funding to so-called sanctuary cities, though his legal authority to do so is disputed.Curiously, since he campaigned as an atypically LGBT-friendly Republican, Trump has also made a range of changes on gay issues. Last week alone, the Justice Department announced that sexual orientation was not covered by Section VII, and the president said that transgender people would not be allowed to serve in the military. The administration has also rejected Obama-era protections for transgender students. | 0 | [
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FMD3110 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Today, property taxes are lower than they were in 2010.
contextual information: Many homeowners are currently receiving receipts stamped Paid in the mail for their 2018 property tax bills. Whether the bill goes up or down each year is of paramount importance to homeowners. So politicians are also eager to weigh in on the issue. Today, property taxes are lower than they were in 2010. Allowing taxpaying to keep more of their hard-earned money has been and will continue to be a top priority, state Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said Jan. 11, 2019 in atweet. Property taxesare levied on most types of real estate -- including homes, businesses, and parcels of land. The amount owed depends on the fair market value of the property, as determined by the local assessor. Is Nygren right? Are property taxes lower today than they were in 2010? The evidence The year 2010, of course, is not an arbitrary starting point. It marks the year Republican Scott Walker was elected governor and when the GOP won full control of the Legislature. Democrat Tony Evers is now in the governors office, after topping Walker in the 2018 election. When asked for backup to the claim, Nygrens chief of staff Nathan Schwanz pointed to a January 2019 report from theLegislative Fiscal Bureauon median property tax payments in the state. The nonpartisan fiscal bureau is considered the gold-standard on such financial and budget issues. Here is its breakdown for the years in question: 2010 - 2011-- $2,963 2011- 2012 -- $2,953 2012 - 2013 -- $2,943 2013 - 2014 -- $2,926 2014 - 2015 -- $2,831 2015 - 2016 -- $2,849 2016 - 2017 -- $2,852 2017 - 2018 -- $2,876 2018 - 2019 -- $2,870 (preliminary estimate) So, the 2018-19 total is, indeed, lower than the 2010-11 total. The fiscal bureau regularly does such estimates, and they are routinely cited by politicians of both stripes.But its important to note they are an illustration -- some people's property taxes went down, some went up. Even if your home value was right at the statewide average, your tax bill might have been higher due to various factors, including levies in individual communities. Past ratings Meanwhile, we have checked variations of this claim in the past: *July 15, 2015: Walker claimed that because of his actions, property taxes were lower than they were four years earlier. Walkers actions to limit the ability of local governments and school districts to raise levies played a major role. But we found the lower property taxes to that point were also due in part to declines in housing values. Our rating:Mostly True. *Jan. 13, 2017, Walker said property taxes -- as a percentage of personal income -- were the lowest that they've been since the end of World War II An analysis by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance showed that on the measure Walker cited, they were lowest since 1946. Our rating:True. *June 7, 2017, after a lower than 2010 claim from Walker, we wrote that fiscal bureau estimates of the hypothetical property tax on a median-valued home found the tax was indeed lower. That time we found the drop in residential property taxes was due to commercial and manufacturing properties rising at a faster rate -- not due to collecting less revenue. Our rating:Mostly True. Finally, we also used the Walk-O-Meter to monitor a promise by Walker to continue to reduce the tax burden on working families and seniors every year he was in office. This, of course, applied to all taxes -- not just property taxes. We rated the pledgePromise Kept. Are there any wrinkles this time? Yes. According to the fiscal bureau, the change over the latest two years -- from 2017-18 to 2018-19 -- is a net decrease for homeowners, even though the gross tax bill is projected to increase. Whats behind the difference? Funding for the lottery and gaming property tax credit increased by about $66 million, which contributed to the decrease in the median net tax bill. Where Wisconsin ranks To be sure, Wisconsin property taxes remain among the highest in the United States. Various property tax trackers place Wisconsin in the top 10, sometimes in the top five. The personal finance websiteWalletHubanalyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The website also used rates to obtain the dollar amount paid in real estate taxes on a median-valued home in each state. It ranked Wisconsin as the fifth worst state for property taxes. With the median home value sitting at $167,000, the typical tax bill comes to $3,257, according to WalletHub. Filling out the rest of thetop fivefor 2018 were: Median Home valueTaxes New Jersey: $316,400 $7,601 Illinois: $174,800 $4,058 New Hampshire: $239,700 $5,241 Connecticut: $269,300 $5,443 Wisconsin: $167,000 $3,257 But Nygrens claim was not about the states rank. So that does not factor into our rating. Our rating Nygren said today, property taxes are lower than they were in 2010. Data from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows the statement generally rings true. But there have long been wrinkles on these claims -- from declining property values driving the drop to an increase in commercial and manufacturing property values shifting the burden from homeowners. Those sorts of factors are still in play, this time with tax credits contributing to latest decrease. And the rating is still Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD3111 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Donald Trump has decided not to end the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has guided trade between the US. Mexico, and Canada since 1994. But even his position now — that the treaty needs to be renegotiatedhas caused protests from our northern neighbor. [“It has been a bad week for U. S. trade relations,†Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday: Last Monday, it became apparent that Canada intends to effectively cut off the last dairy products being exported from the United States. Today, in a different matter, the Department of Commerce determined a need to impose countervailing duties of roughly one billion dollars on Canadian softwood lumber exports to us. This is not our idea of a properly functioning Free Trade Agreement. On Thursday Rep. Claudia Tenney ( ) and a group of 70 bipartisan House members sent a letter to the president urging him to hold Canada accountable for its current trade commitments to the U. S. especially the dairy industry. “Until recently, Canada used a milk pricing system. However, in April, Canada revised its milk classification system, which has led to changes in the dairy market that have disproportionately hurt our farmers,†a press release announcing the letter said. “Unfair trade deals have disadvantaged American workers for far too long,†Tenney said, noting the dairy farms in upstate New York have been especially hard hit. “It’s time that we hold our trading partners accountable for their actions, especially in this case where the consequences equal lost jobs and closed farms. “When given an even playing field, our famers can produce and sell the highest quality dairy in the world,†Tenney said. “I urge the administration to defend our dairy farmers and hold Canada accountable. †Tenney also applauded President Trump’s Executive Order signed earlier this week, directing the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture to conduct a review to identify and eliminate unnecessary regulations that have put undue burdens on farmers and rural communities. Former American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman told Berns News Bureau that NAFTA renegotiations may have already started and that the U. S. should be “forceful†and “strong†in any reworking of the trade deal. | 1 | [
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FMD3112 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Candy Crush Saga Claim summaries: Brouhaha involving King Digital Entertainment, maker of Candy Crush Saga, over trademarks and similarities to the CandySwipe game.
contextual information: Claim: King Digital Entertainment, maker of Candy Crush Saga, copied their game from CandySwipe and is attempting to cancel the latter's trademark. OUTDATED Example: [Collected via e-mail, February 2014] There is an "open letter" being circulated that is supposed to have been written by an Albert Ransom from Runsome Apps, Inc, that states that he trademarked a game called CandySwipe prior to King.com creating CandyCrush and that King.com is trying to take over his trademark. Is this true? Synopsis: As of 16 April 2014, the parties in the dispute discussed below have announced the withdrawal of their claims against each other, so this item is no longer current: announced I am happy to announce that I have amicably resolved my dispute with King over my CandySwipe trademark and that I am withdrawing my opposition to their mark and they are withdrawing their counterclaim against mine. I have learned that they picked the CANDY CRUSH name before I released my game and that they were never trying to take my game away. Both our games can continue to coexist without confusing players. Origins: In February 2014, King Digital Entertainment, the company behind the massively popular Candy Crush Saga game, announced they had filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of stock. King said they expected to raise $500 million in capital, with some analysts predicting that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) could value the company as high as $5.5 billion based largely on the strength of Candy Crush Saga: filed The game, which involves matching brightly coloured sweets on a grid to solve various puzzles, was played over 1 billion times a day in December [2013], according to the filing. Candy Crush is free but players pay for options within the game. It has proved a lucrative combination. King's profits grew over 7,000% last year, according to the filing. In 2012 the company's revenues were $164.4 million and its net profit $7.8 million, in 2013 those figures rose to $1.88 billion and $567.6 million respectively. But the filing also reveals that King's fortunes are currently closely tied to the continued success of Candy Crush. The game accounts for 78% of King's total gross bookings, according to the filing. Its second most popular game, Pet Rescue Saga, had 15 million daily active users in December, a fraction of Candy Crush's 93 million. King noted in its filing that "a small number of games currently generate a substantial majority of our revenue." However, King has been the subject of controversy due to similarities between Candy Crush Saga and CandySwipe, the latter being an earlier iteration of a comparable game concept and visual design which its creator, independent developer Albert Ransom, maintains King copied from him. Ransom posted an open letter to King on the CandySwipe web site, criticizing the company for attempting to wrest theCandySwipe trademark away from him: CandySwipe open letter Dear King, Congratulations! You win! I created my game CandySwipe in memory of my late mother who passed away at an early age of 62 of leukemia. I released CandySwipe in 2010 five months after she passed and I made it because she always liked these sorts of games. In fact, if you beat the full version of the android game, you will still get the message saying "... the game was made in memory of my mother, Layla ..." I created this game for warmhearted people like her and to help support my family, wife and two boys 10 and 4. Two years after I released CandySwipe, you released Candy Crush Saga on mobile; the app icon, candy pieces, and even the rewarding, "Sweet!" are nearly identical. So much so, that I have hundreds of instances of actual confusion from users who think CandySwipe is Candy Crush Saga, or that CandySwipe is a Candy Crush Saga knockoff. So when you attempted to register your trademark in 2012, I opposed it for "likelihood of confusion" (which is within my legal right) given I filed for my registered trademark back in 2010 (two years before Candy Crush Saga existed). Now, after quietly battling this trademark opposition for a year, I have learned that you now want to cancel my CandySwipe trademark so that I don't have the right to use my own game's name. You are able to do this because only within the last month you purchased the rights to a game named Candy Crusher (which is nothing like CandySwipe or even Candy Crush Saga). Good for you, you win. I hope you're happy taking the food out of my family's mouth when CandySwipe clearly existed well before Candy Crush Saga. I have spent over three years working on this game as an independent app developer. I learned how to code on my own after my mother passed and CandySwipe was my first and most successful game; it's my livelihood, and you are now attempting to take that away from me. You have taken away the possibility of CandySwipe blossoming into what it has the potential of becoming. I have been quiet, not to exploit the situation, hoping that both sides could agree on a peaceful resolution. However, your move to buy a trademark for the sole purpose of getting away with infringing on the CandySwipe trademark and goodwill just sickens me. This also contradicts your recent quote by Riccardo in "An open letter on intellectual property" posted on your website which states, "We believe in a thriving game development community, and believe that good game developers both small and large have every right to protect the hard work they do and the games they create." I myself was only trying to protect my hard work. I wanted to take this moment to write you this letter so that you know who I am. Because I now know exactly what you are. Congratulations on your success! Ransom's statement was penned in response to King's own open letter on the trademark issue, in which the company maintained that they were simply acquiring "Candy"-related trademarks in order to ensure that their "hard work is not simply copied elsewhere" and to defend their product against "games with similar sounding titles and similar looking graphics" (without commenting on the claim that the similar CandySwipe game antedated Candy Crush Saga by about two years and therefore could not have been copied from the latter): open letter There has been a vigorous debate both inside and outside King about how we protect our intellectual property. I want to set the record straight about where we stand on these issues, and clarify our philosophy on intellectual property. At its simplest, our policy is to protect our IP and to also respect the IP of others. We believe in a thriving game development community, and believe that good game developers both small and large have every right to protect the hard work they do and the games they create. Like any responsible company, we take appropriate steps to protect our IP, including our look-and-feel and trademarks. Our goals are simple: to ensure that our employees' hard work is not simply copied elsewhere, that we avoid player confusion and that the integrity of our brands remains. Lets talk about trademarks, and the use of the words "Candy" and "Saga" in casual gaming. Let's start with the fact that Candy Crush Saga has become one of the most successful casual games in history. Millions of people play the game every day. Not surprisingly, some developers have seen an opportunity to take advantage of the game's popularity, and have published games with similar sounding titles and similar looking graphics. We believe it is right and reasonable to defend ourselves from such copycats. To protect our IP, last year we acquired the trademark in the EU for "Candy" from a company that was in bankruptcy and we have filed for a similar trademark in the U.S. We've been the subject of no little scorn for our actions on this front, but the truth is that there is nothing very unusual about trademarking a common word for specific uses. Think of "Time", "Money" "Fortune", "Apple", and "Sun", to name a few. We are not trying to control the world's use of the word "Candy"; having a trade mark doesn't allow us to do that anyway. We're just trying to prevent others from creating games that unfairly capitalise on our success. As Metro chimed in, however, even though King may appear to be the villain in this story, neither side may be correct in claiming the high ground since both CandySwipe and Candy Crush Saga are notably similar to other games dating from the mid-1990s, and what is being disputed is merely the name that each side is using for their version of the game rather than a claim to the original idea itself (i.e., this is a tussle over trademarks, not copyright): Part legal drama, part time travel story, this one has it all. Candy Crush developer King have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately, as they continue their attempts to trademark the words 'candy' and 'saga' which led to them threatening to sue Viking game 'The Banner Saga.' For an encore it later transpired that King had purposefully cloned somebody else's game when a publishing deal fell through. Which was sadly ironic considering how paranoid they are about other people copying them. And now they're responding with legal action of their own, against the makers of CandySwipe, by claiming that it's a clone. Despite the fact that Candy Swipe came out two years before Candy Crush. In fact it's worse than that, as Kings attempts to have CandySwipe's trademark cancelled revolves around them buying the rights to an even earlier game called Candy Crusher. This, they hope, will allow them to claim that they are the original trademark holders of everything video game and candy-related. Although it's hard not to side with Ransom in all this, the idea of all these developers suing each other over who cloned who seems slightly absurd considering they're all just copies of Bejeweled anyway. Indeed, the modern match-three style puzzler has barely changed at all since the days of Nintendo's Panel De Pon/Tetris Attack in 1995. Although the true originator of the concept is little known PC title Shariki, from a year earlier. Shariki Metro also reported an attempt by developers to challenge King's trademark maneuvering by creating "as many games with the word candy in them as possible": Indie developers have fought back against developer King's increasingly bizarre legal actions with a game jam called 'Candy Jam'. To the uninitiated it may look like just another Bejeweled clone, but Candy Crush Saga is currently one of the most popular video games in the world. This means British developer King suddenly has a lot of power and influence, which naturally it's already started to abuse. It's the slightly unhinged nature of the abuse which is unexpected though, with the company currently trying to trademark the word 'candy' so that nobody else can use it. But King's plans don't stop there, as they're also suing Kickstarter game 'The Banner Saga' because it has the word 'saga' in its name. Ignoring the fact that most people omit the word Saga when saying Candy Crush's name, 'The Banner Saga' is an adult-themed tactical role-playing game with a notably morose atmosphere. Although it does contain lots of angry vikings, at no point in the game are you invited to match together three-similarly coloured sweets. Even so Kings legal filing insists that: "The use and registration by Applicant of the mark The Banner Saga for Applicant's goods is likely to cause confusion or to cause mistake or deception in the trade, and among purchasers and potential purchasers, with Opposer's Saga Marks, again resulting in damage to Opposer." We're trying to keep upbeat but frankly the whole business is deeply depressing in its unbridled corporate greed. The only positive element to the story is that indie developers have organised an event called Candy Jam to protest King's actions and to make as many games with the word candy in them as possible. The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has also weighed in on the issue, describing King's trademark efforts as "overreaching" and "predatory": weighed As an advocacy organization for game developers, the IGDA diligently monitors issues that may restrict a developer's ability to create and distribute his or her work. After reviewing the Trademark filing and subsequent conduct by King Inc. in relation to its popular game, 'Candy Crush Saga,' we feel we should comment. While we understand and respect the appropriate exercise of Trademark rights, King's overreaching filing in its application for the Trademark for its game "Candy Crush Saga," and its predatory efforts to apply that mark to each separate word contained in that name, are in opposition to the values of openness and cooperation we support industry wide, and directly contradict the statement King's CEO, Riccardo Zacconi, made on 27 January. Our Business and Legal Special Interest Group will be providing a more comprehensive analysis of this issue from its perspective soon. Last updated: 17 April 2014 Rushe, Dominic and Stuart Dredge. "Candy Crush Game Maker Aims to Raise $500M in IPO." The Guardian. 18 February 2014. Agence France-Presse. "Candy Crush Developer Defends Trademarking 'Candy' After Backlash." 28 January 2014. Metro. "Candy Crush Makers Sue The Banner Saga, Trademark the Word 'Candy'." 22 January 2014. Metro. "Candy Crush Saga Makers to Sue Game They Copied." 13 February 2014. Reuters. "Candy Crush Saga Developer King Trademarks the Word "Candy.'" 22 January 2014. | 1 | [
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FMD3113 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Once again, Bette Midler has outdone herself in her lambasting of the insane Right Wing. From conservatives embrace of firearms admid a gun violence epidemic, to Donald Trump s strange ability to bring out the worst in the absolute worst people, to a number of hilarious and brutal jabs aimed at Fox News, Benghazi truthers, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and other right-wing icons, whenever the need is there, she is ready to blast the hell out of whatever is the current wrong in society.Recently, Donald Trump has been embarrassing himself on a regular basis. The billionaire s campaign staff recently misspelled Oklahoma while announcing a campaign stop in the state (and Oklahoma City when they corrected it). Trump himself managed in a single night to misspell honor , choker , and lightweight. His staffers even failed to spell Sarah Palin s name correctly on their website when listing her as someone who has endorsed the 2016 hopeful.Rubio tried and failed miserably to capitalize on these flubs, telling a crowd that Trump is learning how to spell, ending with what, to him, probably seemed like an epic one-liner: Donald Trump likes to sue people; he should sue whoever did that to his face. After Rubio s pathetic attempt to bring down the hammer, The Divine Miss M couldn t resist having a bit of fun with the situation. Rubio attacks Trump for his incoherent, poorly-spelled tweets, she tweeted Saturday night. What a showdown: the grammar Fascist versus the ACTUAL uh . Once again, a brilliant observation by Midler and another humiliating blow struck to the Stupid Part of America. This observation is, of course, accurate. Trump has endorsed some fairly horrific ideas like Muslim concentration camps and nation database registries, bans on Muslims entering the country, a f*cking wall to keep brown people out, and other horrific policies adored by Adolf Hitler. And Rubio well, he s Rubio.Featured image via screengrab | 0 | [
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FMD3114 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Are Wombats Inviting Animals Into Their Burrows to Escape Australia Fires? Claim summaries: Gather 'round to hear the tale of the wombat hero ... or at least the wombat's big burrow.
contextual information: As wildfires raged across Australia at the start of 2020, an interesting claim about wombats, a short-legged marsupial, began to circulate on social media. According to this rumor, wombats were braving the fires to find lost animals and leading them back to their burrows for safety. Reports from Australia indicated that countless small animals had escaped death because wombats, unusually, opted to share their massive, complex burrows. There were even reports of wombats exhibiting "shepherding behavior." While this social media post claimed to be based on "reports from Australia," no documentation of these supposed hero wombats has been found. In fact, several Australian experts have expressed skepticism about the claims. Jackie French, author and director of The Wombat Foundation, told IFLScience, "Wombats are extremely short-sighted. They focus mostly on food and dirt. It would be hard for them to see well enough to shepherd, nor have I seen one do so." Scott Carver, a senior lecturer in wildlife ecology at the University of Tasmania, informed the Associated Press that no evidence exists that wombats were "sharing or encouraging other animals" to take refuge in their burrows. While wombats may not actively seek out animals in need, it is quite possible that distressed creatures have found their way into wombat burrows on their own. Wombats are efficient diggers and can create burrows stretching up to 650 feet. Associate Professor Steve Johnston from the University of Queensland also noted that wombats may abandon these underground tunnels to dig new ones, leaving opportunities for other animals to seek shelter. Johnston told the Brisbane Times, "A lot of those wombat burrows could be empty, so animals could easily make their way into those burrows to escape the fire ... Wombats will often make a burrow system and then move on, so those empty burrows become open [to other animals]." Wombats are typically very territorial and will even charge and chase away animals that invade their space. However, students at the University of Melbourne set up cameras near one wombat burrow in 2019 and found other animals, including koalas and bunnies, venturing inside these underground tunnels. Kath Handasyde, an expert in native mammal ecology and physiology, stated that the wombat was likely sleeping or in another chamber when these other animals explored the burrow. In short, wombats are not actively shepherding animals into their burrows for safety. However, it is certainly possible that animals fleeing the fires have taken refuge in the wombats' underground tunnels. In fact, the Center for Biological Diversity shared a video taken during the Australian fires in 2020 showing how one animal, the common brown butterfly, was using wombat holes to survive the flames. Greenpeace Australia, the social media account that posted the viral message recounted in this story's introduction, later updated its Instagram post to remove the "shepherding" part of the claim. | 2 | [
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FMD3115 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Region: USA in the World As the voices demanding to bring the sitting US administration to justice are getting l ouder, Washington is literally in panic, since it may soon be held responsible for hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. These concerns have recently been intensified by Hillary Clinton’s electoral defeat, since it was obvious for the members of the Obama administration that would have been covering up those influential criminals along with the crimes they’ve committed. Since Hillary herself was heavily involved in the destruction of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, she’s has a deep personal interest in obstructing justice. The “panicky mood” in the White House was intensified even further by the announcement of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda , who stated that the ICC would start investigating US war crimes in Afghanistan. Under these circumstances the White House has started pushing its corporate propaganda machine to vilify Moscow and Damascus, to divert the attention from the damage the US inflicted upon the countries of the region, including Iraq and Syria. Western journalists have been “recommended” to go down hard on Russia, Iran, Syria so that a regular reader would assume that the humanitarian catastrophe and the exodus of migrants from the Middle East is someone else’s fault. An extensive amount of attention has been drawn to the situation in Aleppo, as virtually all Western leafless would feature pictures of a Syrian girl allegedly rescued from the rubble “after the inhumane bombing” of Aleppo. However, a number of French-speaking sites, in particular, the Réseau international, Antipresse or Arrêt Sur Info have already declared those pictures a blatant manipulation, since the gild has been photographed in several places being carried by three different militants of the “white helmets” that are pretending to be rescuers during the day only to transform into Islamist insurgents as soon as the darkness falls. At the same time the Pentagon tried to downplay the amount of “collateral damage” that the the US Air Force inflicts in Iraq and Syria. In particular, according to the statement by the representative of the Central Command of the US Armed Forces, Colonel John Thomas, during the period from November 2015 to September 2016 a total of 64 civilians was killed by American air strikes in Syria and Iraq. However, one could hardly call this number “inaccurate”, since it’s a blatant lie. Last January a single US air strike in the Aleppo region resulted in 24 civilians killed and more than 40 injured. Later on a air strike against the Kurdish village of Sulsana resulted in 19 civilian deaths, among which one may find 3 minors. In July, the village of Tokhars was burying 45 adults and 11 children after a bombardment carried out by the US Air Force. Finally, the village of Hamir lost 9 people to American bombs, including 4 minors. The US Air Force claimed the lives of 167 civilians, including 17 women and 44 minors in the Syrian city of Manbij in the period from May to July. As for the Mosul assault, that is being heralded in the West as the greatest achievement of “allied forces” to date, it’s been a massacre. On March 20, as the result of a direct hit on the local University, American pilots left 92 civilians dead and 135 more injured. On April 18, the US Air Force destroyed a local tank farm , killing 150 civilians in the process. Finally, on October 21 a funeral procession came under fire in Daquq, leaving behind 21 dead bodies. The incredibly modest evaluation of the “collateral damage” that US Air Force inflicts upon the Middle Eastern population has been heavily criticized by the Amnesty International along with a number of various experts. The charts that White House present them with show one civilian is being killed in Iraq and Syria per 200 US air strikes… At the same time the Pentagon admits that in Afghanistan there was at least one civilian victim per every 15 air strikes, while the latest report from the White House shows that civilians are being killed each 5 flight against possible terrorist targets in such countries such as Pakistan and Yemen. If these figures are to be applied to the number of air strikes that the US carried out in Iraq and Syria, it will mean that during the US-led air strikes resulted in at least more than 300 civilians killed, while 2,750 civilians looks like a much more accurate number. The Amnesty International has analyzed the data provided by Syrian human rights activists and local monitoring organizations only to come to the conclusion that a total of 11 air strikes that the Pentagon would launch a total of 300 civilians is to be killed, while Washington would only acknowledge a single death, if any. In total, according to various estimates, in the Syrian conflict has already claimed the lives of more than 300 thousand people. Therefore, the White House strongly spins the hysteria about the alleged guilt of Russia and Damascus in the deaths of civilians Aleppo, without presenting any evidence, which brings us to the conclusion that this is nothing but a cheap trick used to shift the focus of the public attention from the unbelievable amount of “collateral damage” Washington has been inflicting on Syria illegally, since nobody has invited it. But, as the announcement about the International Criminal Court investigation shows, the war criminals are to be established and brought to justice, no matter how hard they may try to avoid the responsibility for their war crimes. Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.” Popular Articles | 0 | [
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FMD3116 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Chicago City Council on Wednesday approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s fiscal 2017 budget which calls for a tax on plastic bags and the first phase of hiring more than 900 police officers. The council voted 48-0 for the budget which begins on Jan. 1. Emanuel last month unveiled his $9.8 billion all-funds spending plan, which includes $3.7 billion for operations. The budget relies on $82.3 million in revenue growth, savings from efficiencies, and a few one-time measures | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD3117 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Fraudulent Email Impersonating Whole Foods Market Research Secret Shopper Program Claim summaries: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission first warned about this scam in 2020.
contextual information: In October 2022, we received reader mail about a "Whole Foods Market Research" scam. The scam arrives in the form of an email, text, or mailed letter, claiming that the recipient has been chosen to be a secret shopper for Whole Foods Market. The goal of the scammer is to get the recipient to deposit a check into their bank account. However, unbeknownst to the recipient, the check is fake. The scammer quickly tasks the recipient with buying gift cards and then providing the identifying details on the front and back. Alternatively, the scammer might ask the recipient to initiate a wire transfer or money order to send back a partial amount of the funds from the check. The scammer claims that the recipient can keep a portion of the funds for their work. However, again, the check is fake, so recipients are spending their own money to buy gift cards for the scammers. We reviewed one example of this scam that arrived as an email. It came from [email protected], which was not an official Whole Foods email address. It claimed to come from a person named Jerry A. Wallace, a purported human resources (HR) representative. A previous version of this scam named Wallace as a "project manager," according to scampulse.com. We found no evidence of a person with this name being a real employee of Whole Foods. The original email, which contained several misspellings of store names, read as follows: [email protected] wrote: Attn: (name removed) You submitted your information to one of our recruitment agencies to work as a Whole Foods Market Research representative. Your details have been verified, and you have been shortlisted as one of our representatives. Here is your unique I.D. number MS6953; your details have been stored in our database. Our company has recently been contracted to conduct a quality survey on Target, King Soopers, Walmart Stores, Best Buy, Post Office, CVS, Rite Aid, eBay, Kmart, Pizza Hut, Kroger, Walgreen, Dillons, or 7-Eleven, etc. We have shortlisted a few representatives from various states and cities to visit any of the stores listed above randomly, to buy merchandise and share their experience via our feedback Checklist/Assessment form. You will receive an envelope containing a Cashier's Check and the Instructions Letter. The Checklist/Assessment Form will be sent/attached to your mail. Please signify your interest with a Yes, I'm Ready. Thank you. Best Regards, Whole Foods Market Research HR Personnel: Jerry A. Wallace Cell: (216) 239-2582 We called the phone number listed in the email. After several rings, a voice message was played that said, "The TextNow subscriber you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave your message after the tone." The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) previously published a full report on this scam back in 2020. People spotted signs of a fake check scam in the bogus Whole Foods secret shopper offer (which was from a scammer, not really Whole Foods). That's when someone sends you a check and convinces you to deposit it and quickly send them money. In this scam, the recruiter would send shoppers a check for more than $2,000, and they would: 1. Cash or deposit the check immediately. 2. Buy gift cards with most of the money. 3. Keep about $450 as their pay. 4. Scratch the coating off the gift cards to show the PIN codes. 5. Send pictures of the cards' front and back (with the codes) to the recruiter. If anyone ever tells you to deposit a check, withdraw money, and send it to someone, that's a scam. When the check later turns out to be fake, the bank will want the money back. And if anyone tells you to go buy gift cards and share the PIN numbers, that's a scam, too. Once the scammer has the PIN, they also have all the money from the cards. The FTC said this scam can be reported at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. They also added, "If you already cashed a fake check and sent money to a scammer, find out how to report to gift card, wire transfer, and money order businesses." In sum, both we and the FTC advise consumers not to respond to any emails, texts, or mailed letters that invite recipients to work as a secret shopper for "Whole Foods Market Research." | 0 | [
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"2"
] | 0 |
FMD3118 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Donald Trump Donated Play-Doh, Other Items to Louisiana Flood Victims? Claim summaries: Presidential candidate Donald Trump was criticized for donating Play-Doh to flood victims in need of food and water, but that wasn't the only item among his donations.
contextual information: Example: [Collected via Twitter, August 2016] Origins: On 19 August 2016, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump traveled to Louisiana to survey property damaged by recent flood waters. While Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned Trump that this visit should not be turned into a campaign photo-op, the news media managed to snap at least one photograph of Trump unloading a box of Play-Doh brand modeling clay from a truck at the Church International in St. Amant. photo-op The picture was widely spread on social media and gave many the impression that Trump had donated nothing but Play-Doh to help those who had lost homes to the floods in Louisiana: The GOP nominee did not at the time issue a press release detailing what items he donated, nor how those donations were funded. (Were these personal donations? Did he collect items from supporters? Did the campaign pay for them?) Regardless, although Trump did donate Play-Doh modeling clay to flood victims in Louisiana, that was not his only donation to those in need, as a video of his helping to unload a truck clearly shows that the donations included much more than just Play-Doh: Play-Doh, diapers, baby formula, various toys, cleaning supplies and socks can be seen in the above-displayed video. A CNN report also noted that Trump had donated blankets and school supplies. noted In addition to questioning the contents of Trump's donation, some were skeptical that the candidate had donated anything at all, claiming that Trump merely helped to unload a truck of supplies donated by another organization. However, CNN and The Creole, the latter an online news source for Ascension Parish in Louisiana, reported that Trump himself had "donated" an 18-wheeler full of supplies: reported Trump spent approximately 20-25 minutes inside the command center and asked a lot of questions, according to [St. Amant Fire Chief James E.] LeBlanc. He also donated a 18-wheeler full of supplies and expressed concern for residents, damage to homes, how much water was in the area and if any assistance had been given by the federal government. A church spokesperson also confirmed that the supplies were donated by Donald Trump: We are responding to your email inquiring about the video showing Donald Trump unloading supplies at our church. These supplies were donated by Donald Trump. Although a specific list of donated items was not available, the candidate clearly assisted in providing more than just Play-Doh to the people of Louisiana. In August 2017, interest in this item was re-ignited amid debate about the President Trump's response to Houston flood victims following Hurricane Harvey. response Hurricane Harvey | 2 | [
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"2"
] | 2 |
FMD3119 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Amazon Pay No Federal Income Taxes in 2017? Claim summaries: By the companys own accounting, Amazon actually received a $137 million federal tax credit in the same year they earned over $5.6 billion in profit.
contextual information: Amid national debates about income inequality and tax cuts for the ultra-rich, one talking point is frequently highlighted in online memes and by political figures such as Bernie Sanders is that online retailing giant Amazon.com, despite taking in $5.6 billion in profit in 2017, paid no federal corporate income taxes for that year: Bernie Sanders (With respect to the claim about Amazon employees on welfare, see our fact check on that topic here.) here In regards to U.S. federal income taxes, the claim that Amazon paid none in 2017 is almost certainly factual. While Amazons tax filings are not public, their SEC filing for the year 2017 illustrates that the company used the tax code expertly (and legally) to their advantage, so well that the company anticipated a $137 million tax refund from the federal government (numbers are in millions of dollars): SEC filing Amazon did pay taxes to individual U.S. states ($211 million) and to international jurisdictions ($724 million), but their federal income tax burden was (less than) zero. The filings indicate that two factors provided the lion share of Amazons reduced federal tax liability: $220 million worth of tax credits, and $917 million in tax-deductible executive pay derived from the sale of stocks: The third negative item in the SEC filing, $789 million in reduced tax burden as a result of the 2017 Tax Act, will be applied to future tax years, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. report SEC filings do not require a company to list the specific credits they utilize, but there are several avenues Amazon would likely have pursued. Annette Nellen, a professor and director of the Master of Science in Taxation program at San Jose University, said that Amazons write-offs likely include credits for research and development, domestic production, and equipment depreciation. And according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, Amazon receives myriad tax incentives from state and local governments as well: said report The expansion of Amazons physical distribution network has coincided with a strategic business plan of negotiating millions in tax abatements, credits, exemptions, and infrastructure assistance from state and local governments in the name of regional economic development. By the end of 2016, Amazon had likely received over $1 billion in state and local subsidies for its facilities, which would include not only fulfillment centers but sortation centers that only sort packages, mailing centers, and other facilities. Publicly-traded corporations can list the stock options they grant to employees as a business cost in their accounting, and if an option-receiving employee makes over $1 million a year in salary, the profits from the sale of those stocks can be then counted as a federal income tax deduction for the corporation (primarily due to a Clinton-era compromise over how to cap executive pay). Stock options allow an employee to purchase stock in their employers company at a set price, regardless of its current market value: list Options give executives and investors the right to buy shares of a company at a later date and at specific prices. For example, if a chief executive joins a media company when its stock is trading at $55 a share, but years later, the share price has skyrocketed to $100, that chief executive can still buy the shares at $55, pocketing the massive difference. In the cases of their highest paid employees, Amazon and other companies are able to deduct the massive difference employees make when they sell that stock at a profit. According to the Center for Tax Justice, because companies typically low-ball the estimated values, they usually end up with much bigger tax write-offs than the amounts they deduct as a 'cost' in computing the profits they report to shareholders. The $917 million in stock-based compensation listed in Amazon's SEC filing likely stems from their top employees' cashing in on their stock options for a large profit. deduct While it is impossible to know the exact amount of money Amazon did or did not pay to the federal government in 2017, their own accounting suggests that they expected their federal corporate income tax burden to be negative that year. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Amazon.com Inc. Form 10-K"
2 February 2018.
Gardner, Mathew. "Amazon Inc. Paid Zero in Federal Taxes in 2017, Gets $789 Million Windfall from New Tax Law."
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. 13 February 2018.
Tobias, Manuela. "Bernie Sanders Says Amazon Paid No Federal Income Tax in 2017. He's Right."
Politifact. 3 May 2018.
Jones, Janell and Ben Zipperer. "Unfulfilled Promises."
Economic Policy Institute. 1 February 2018.
Gunjan, Banerji. "Potential Loser in Tax Overhaul: Executive Stock Options."
The Wall Street Journal. 19 December 2017.
Citizens for Tax Justice. Fortune 500 Corporations Used Stock Option Loophole to Avoid $64.6 Billion in Taxes Over the Past Five Years."
9 June 2016.
| 1 | [
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FMD3120 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell revealed distaste for both U.S. presidential candidates, but leveled his most pointed criticism at Republican Donald Trump in hacked emails leaked by a group American intelligence officials suspect is linked to Russia. In an email to Reuters on Wednesday, Powell confirmed the authenticity of the thousands of hacked messages but declined further comment. In one of the leaked emails, Powell, a Republican, called Trump “a national disgrace†and an “international pariah†who allied himself with racists questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States. “When Trump couldn’t keep that up,†Powell wrote in the hacked message, “he said he also wanted to see if the (birth) certificate noted that he was a Muslim. As I have said before, ‘What if he was?†Muslims are born as Americans everyday.†As for Clinton, Powell said in another email that the Democratic former secretary of state was “greedy†and had “unbridled ambition.†The new batch of leaked messages, some from as recent as late August, has renewed concern in Washington about hackers meddling on behalf of Russia in the Nov. 8 election and U.S. politics. The White House so far has refrained from publicly blaming the attacks on Russia. “The United States has not made a formal determination in public about who may or may not be responsible,†White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters during a daily briefing. The head of the Democratic National Committee said on Tuesday the organization had been hacked by Russian state-sponsored agents who were trying to influence the U.S. presidential election. Some committee documents were leaked in July. In one of the newly leaked messages, from Aug. 21, Powell, the first black U.S. secretary of state, derided Trump’s attempt to attract African-American voters. Powell wrote to a friend: “There is nothing he can say that will sway black voters so he might as well say it to white folks. He is at 1% black voters and will drop. He takes us for idiots. He can never overcome what he tried to do to Obama with his search for the birth certificate hoping to force Obama out of the Presidency. Or, demanding his school transcripts to see how he got into Harvard—-(eg, affirmative action).â€In the same message, Powell called Trump’s claim that “within four years he would have 95 percent of blacks voting for him a schizo fantasy.†In a July 24, 2014, email, however, Powell made clear his discomfort with Clinton, writing: “I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect. A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational†Clinton launched her second bid for the presidency in 2015. In another email, Aug. 18, 2015, he wrote, using her initials, that: “Everything HRC touches she kind of screws up with hubris.†In some of the thousands of messages posted on the website DCLeaks.com, which include several exchanges with Reuters reporters, the former top diplomat and retired four-star Army general also expressed his displeasure with the Clinton campaign’s efforts to equate his use of an AOL email address with her installation of a private server in her home.After it was reported that Clinton had told FBI investigators that Powell had advised her to use a personal address, he lamented that what he called her “minions†were “making a mistake trying to drag me in.†Former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who served with Powell in Republican George W. Bush’s administration, agreed, writing to Powell that: “I don’t think Hillary’s ‘everyone did it,’ is flying.â€Powell was harsher in an Aug. 21 message to a friend and former aide, writing: “Well, their email ploy this week didn’t work and she once again looks shifty if not a liar. Trump folks having fun with her.†A Clinton campaign spokesperson declined to comment. Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The Association of State Democratic Chairs sent a message, obtained by Politico, to its members on Wednesday warning that hackers are targeting state party officials and have successfully breached and impersonated some of them. | 1 | [
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FMD3121 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Somehow we don t think this is what the Queen of the Clinton Crime Syndicate expected at this stage of her campaign The latest Q-poll numbers have dropped and there aren t really a lot of surprises in the top lines. (Well there are a couple of exceptions but we ll get to those in a minute.) What was really startling, though, was the results of the open ended questions about several of the candidates. Most specifically, the massively leading, top of the list responses for Hillary Clinton have to be giving her team nightmares. (Connecticut Post emphasis added)Clinton leads the Democratic field with 45 percent, down from 55 percent July 30, with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 22 percent and Biden at 18 percent. No other candidate tops 1 percent with 11 percent undecided. This is Sanders highest tally and closest margin.Clinton tops the Democrats no way list with 11 percent. Liar is the first word that comes to mind more than others in an open-ended question when voters think of Clinton. Arrogant is the word for Trump and voters say Bush when they think of Bush. Here s the high end of the list.Holy cow. You get 394 responses just by combining the top three results of Liar, Dishonest and Untrustworthy. You pretty much have to add up all of the other words on the list to catch up with those three. And this isn t just a list of responses by Republicans that s everyone. What s truly amazing is that this is clearly the prevailing American perception at this point and yet, Clinton is still the Democrat frontrunner. I m not sure if that says more about her or the party. Via: HotAir | 0 | [
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FMD3122 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: 'So Far No One Has Found Another Number' Walmart Gift Card Facebook Scam Claim summaries: Legitimate gift card giveaways from Walmart are not hosted by random users in Facebook groups.
contextual information: In late July 2023, readers directed our attention to several posts made within Facebook groups. The users who created these posts, whose profiles all suggested they might be from Bangladesh, claimed to be offering Walmart gift cards to anyone who could find a special number in an image. For example, one post read, "So far, no one has found another number apart from 86. No winners yet (Walmart gift card). We still have 24 more wins." The only other number visible in the image was 96. Users who commented with "96" received replies from the post's creator containing a link that eventually led to a survey scam website. Survey scam websites typically promise cash prizes, expensive electronics, and other enticing purported "rewards," all supposedly in exchange for a few minutes of the user's time to answer some questions. However, as we have reported for the last two decades, survey scam websites have historically proven to be a waste of time. They often ask users to provide personal and financial information on various websites and to sign up for trials of unfamiliar streaming services. All of this appeared to be an attempt to receive affiliate marketing commissions based on the amount of information given away when users provide personal and financial data to these websites. Sometimes, these scammers might instead provide a link directing users to hidden subscription scams that supposedly offer "free" prizes. However, such scams conceal monthly fees in the fine print, much like a Cash App scam we once reported. These types of scammers might also sometimes direct users to phishing websites that claim a gift card or other prize could be ordered for "free," only requiring a small shipping and handling charge. Of course, there would be no real gift card or other prize. This would simply be an attempt to obtain a victim's financial information for criminal activities, such as a credit card number or PayPal login. This type of scam was similar to another one we previously reported concerning the U.S. Postal Service. If readers are looking for legitimate promotions for Walmart gift cards, we recommend our previous reporting that found the company truly does give away $80,000 in prizes every three months. Such promotions are offered by the company in official email correspondence and on receipts handed out in its brick-and-mortar stores. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD3123 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Michelle Obama at Soup Kitchen Claim summaries: Photograph shows Michelle Obama serving a government funded soup kitchen meal to a person with an expensive cell phone?
contextual information: Claim: Photograph shows Michelle Obama serving a government funded soup kitchen meal to a person with an expensive cell phone. REAL PHOTOGRAPH; INACCURATE DESCRIPTION Examples: [Collected via e-mail, June 2009] Recently Michelle Obama went to serve food to the homeless at a government funded soup kitchen. Cost of a bowl of soup at homeless shelter: $0.00 dollars Having Michelle Obama Serve you your soup: $0.00 dollars Snapping a picture of a homeless person who is receiving a government funded meal while taking a picture of the first lady using his $500 Black Berry cell phone and $100.00 per month cellular service: Priceless Origins: The above-displayed photograph is genuine, a snapshot taken on an occasion in March 2009 when Michelle Obama spent some time serving lunch to men and women at Miriam's Kitchen, a social service agency in Washington D.C., as part of the First Lady's effort to "spotlight local organizations, connect with the city and help those in need amid the economic crisis." However, all the assumptions and implications of the text accompanying this picture are incorrect or unsubstantiated. To wit: The photograph does not depict anyone "receiving a government funded meal": Miriam's Kitchen is a privately funded organization with the goal of "providing individualized services that address the causes andconsequences of homelessness in an atmosphere of dignity and respect"; it is not government run or taxpayer funded. Miriam's Kitchen A cell phone capable of capturing images (even a BlackBerry Pearl) is not necessarily a "$500 phone" with a "$100 per month cellular service." Many much more affordable options are available, including cellular providers who give free phones to low-income customers under the Lifeline assistance program. So a homeless person might very well carry a cell phone, as Scott Schenkelberg, the Executive Director of Miriam's Kitchen, observed when questioned about this photograph during an interview: BlackBerry Pearl affordable Lifeline interview Q: Since the First Lady's visit, both your guests and your food have been the subject of some criticism within the blogosphere. For example, some critics noted thatone of your guests had a cell phone and suggested that it was inappropriate to serve free food to someone who could afford a cell phone. A: I suspect some people don't understand how inexpensive cell phones are, or how critical they are to this population. These days, you can purchase a cell phone at 7-11 for $10, then pay for minutes as you go. Our clients have a very fragile safety net. Many of them don't have shelter and are extremely vulnerable. For them, cell phones could literally be a lifeline. If they're looking for a job, the cell phone would also be incredibly important can you even imagine trying to apply for a job without a phone number? Cell phones simply aren't luxuries anymore. If a guest can scrape together some money to purchase a cell phone, I think that's wonderful. The assumption that a truly homeless person wouldn't have (or couldn't afford) a cell phone is also a mistaken one. As Scott Schenkelberg noted, the ranks of the homeless served by organizations such as Miriam's Kitchen include not just the long-term, chronically homeless, but also the "newly homeless": those who had recently been getting by economically until a sudden job loss or other reversal left them with nowhere to go: Until recently, we served mostly the chronically homeless, people who had fallen out of the economy long ago. More recently, we've been seeing more new faces, people who just fell into homelessness or other hard times. These people are generally high-functioning individuals who were hurt by the poor economy. It's very troubling to see previously self-sufficient people coming to Miriam's Kitchen in such high numbers. Last updated: 16 June 2009 Sweet, Lynn. "Can Michelle Influence what We Eat, Too?" Chicago Sun-Times. 6 March 2009 (p. C10). Associated Press. "First Lady Puts Service on the Menu." The Australian. 7 March 2009. | 2 | [
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FMD3124 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: posted by Eddie When it comes to brute force, law enforcement and private security currently have the upper hand on the ground in Standing Rock, North Dakota. They’re employing armored vehicles, riot gear, tasers, rubber bullets, pepper spray, sound cannons, and other shows of force against peaceful opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. But unlike most of the corporate media, the Internet is taking note of the struggle at Standing Rock and is trying to do its part to contribute to the protests. Over the weekend, unconfirmed reports emerged that police were using Facebook check-ins at Standing Rock to track individuals who arrived at the location to join water protectors. As word spread of the apparent news, the Internet stepped up to neutralize the power of the police-surveillance state.
Shortly after, Facebook users from around the country and world began checking into Standing Rock, which registers as Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in an effort to confuse police. According to a statement many posters are copying and pasting: “ The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps. SO Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them. This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes. “ Others merely checked in while still others added their own commentary. “ If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor ,” wrote Patrick Quinn below his check-in. Shortly after, Facebook users from around the country and world began checking into Standing Rock, which registers as Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in an effort to confuse police. According to a statement many posters are copying and pasting: “ The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps. SO Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them. This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes. “ Others merely checked in while still others added their own commentary. “ If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor ,” wrote Patrick Quinn below his check-in. “ Messing with fascists ,” Luba Petrusha commented. While the troll effort is exciting, it’s unclear whether the efforts are having an effect. According to Snopes, a self-described fact-checking blog whose conclusions are generally reliable , police claim they are not using Facebook to track protesters. Snopes reported “ [a Morton County] officer explained not only that they were not using Facebook check-ins as a gauge of anything, but that the metric presented no intelligence value to them. The rumor suggested that protesters cited Facebook check-ins as a manner in which police could target them, but check-ins were voluntary — and if police were using geolocation tools based on mobile devices, remote check-ins would not confuse or overwhelm them.” Snopes also claimed it spoke to protesters within a large camp at Standing Rock who said they did not issue a call to Internet users to check in. Nevertheless, they reportedly said they appreciated the show of solidarity. Regardless of whether or not the online check-ins have any effect, the Internet has played a decisive role in the developing events in North Dakota. Livestreams have documented serious violations of free speech and the right to protest, and Facebook was accused of blocking such footage on at least one occasion. Amid the ongoing lack of mainstream coverage , the independent media has successfully drawn attention to the Standing Rock protests. Considering the establishment has come out in full force in North Dakota, from their use of surveillance to their haphazard employment of heavily armed police, the increasing number of check-ins at Standing Rock shows just how much technology empowers people. Even if police aren’t scouring social media and the check-ins fail to produce any tangible result, the rapid mobilization of efforts highlights a growing sense of opposition to unjust and exploitative power — and thanks to the Internet, the world is watching. source: | 0 | [
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FMD3125 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: It has been a very, very long election season. But we will soon know the result. Hillary Clinton enters Election Day with a clear if not insurmountable advantage over Donald J. Trump. If the polls and conventional wisdom are correct, we might know the result fairly quickly. If not, it could be a long night. The final national polls give Mrs. Clinton a lead, and her path to the presidency is straightforward: win the states carried by John Kerry in 2004, in addition to New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Virginia. She has led in nearly every live interview survey of those states so far this year, though the large number of white voters in many of these states gives Mr. Trump a shot at an upset. Mrs. Clinton is also competitive in North Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Arizona. If she won all four, she would have a sizable victory in the Electoral College. The Upshot’s model gives Mr. Trump a 16 percent chance of winning the presidency. It would certainly be a big upset, but it would not even be the most stunning electoral surprise of the last few cycles when you consider races, from the standpoint of the data. Anything from a narrow victory for Mr. Trump to a decisive victory for Mrs. Clinton seems fairly easy to imagine. We’ll be tracking the results live after the polls close, using early returns to try to infer how the rest of the country might vote. There are two basic paths for how the evening might proceed. Here’s what we’ll know, and when. Mrs. Clinton will probably win the presidency if she can win Florida or North Carolina, states worth 29 and 15 votes in the Electoral College. (The magic number is 270.) A win in Florida would probably allow Mrs. Clinton to survive losses in both Michigan and Pennsylvania, where she’s favored but vulnerable enough to merit late campaign stops. A North Carolina win would let Mrs. Clinton survive the loss of one but probably not both. The polls show a tight race in Florida and North Carolina, as they have for most of the year. The two states are deeply polarized along racial lines, and the result will hinge as much on turnout as on anything else. The early vote has given Democrats a lot of hope in Florida, where Hispanic turnout has shattered previous baselines. North Carolina’s early voting has been more mixed for Democrats. We will know very quickly whether Mrs. Clinton is poised to deliver a knockout blow in either state. The polls close in most of Florida at 7 p. m. and early vote results — which could represent 65 percent of the final vote — will come in fast. In 2012, half of the vote was counted by 8 p. m. The early vote will be fairly representative of the eventual outcome: If Mrs. Clinton holds a comfortable lead, it will be hard for Mr. Trump to mount a comeback. North Carolina polls close at 7:30 p. m. and the vote is counted quickly there as well. It’s a little less clear whether the early North Carolina results will be representative of the outcome. In the 2014 midterm, the early vote dropped first, and the Democratic senator Kay Hagan had a big early lead that slowly eroded as the Election Day vote came in. The 2012 election was different in North Carolina: Democrats had a big advantage in the early vote, and yet President Obama didn’t take an early lead, suggesting that the early votes were not counted first, or that Election Day votes from the rural part of the state were counted fast enough to cancel it out. Either way, we’ll have a good sense by 9 p. m of whether Mrs. Clinton is poised for a clear win. If Mr. Trump can avoid a knockout blow in the Southeast, his chances will then come down to whether he can break through Mrs. Clinton’s firewall: states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and New Hampshire. If these states are close and end up deciding the election, it might take a while. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota — three states that lean blue, but perhaps not so overwhelmingly as to allow an early call — can take a very long time to count their votes. In 2004, it was well after midnight Eastern before the networks projected that Mr. Kerry would win Minnesota and Michigan. The big Democratic cities in Wisconsin and Michigan usually take a long time to report. Obviously, a more comfortable victory for Mrs. Clinton could permit an earlier call. Michigan, for instance, was called when the polls closed in 2012. Mrs. Clinton’s chances in the “firewall†will depend on how much she improves among white voters compared with how much she loses among less educated white voters. The situation is different in these states than the brute turnout contests of the racially polarized Southeast, which raises the possibility that these states could go in a different direction: A weak black turnout, for instance, may doom Mrs. Clinton in North Carolina, but she might still win Michigan if she holds up a little better than expected among white Democrats. Similarly, it’s imaginable that Mr. Trump could stay in striking distance in these states with a surge among white Democrats, without being able to hold off a big Hispanic vote in Florida. Pennsylvania, where polls close at 8 p. m. Eastern, could be a somewhat faster call. The state counts its vote pretty quickly. And the most Democratic parts of the state tend to report first, in contrast with many states. If Mrs. Clinton wins Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump’s path to victory starts getting very narrow. If Mrs. Clinton wins the presidency, she might not take the lead in the national popular vote for hours. If she barely wins the popular vote, it could be weeks before she retakes the lead. The vote count in the West Coast and the big urban centers of the Northeast and Midwest usually proceeds far more slowly than the vote count in the rural East and South. In 2012, President Obama didn’t take the popular vote lead until long after he had won the Electoral College. It led Mr. Trump to tweet that Mr. Obama had won while losing the popular vote, and say that “we should have a revolution in this country. †A little while after that tweet, Mr. Obama took the lead, for good. He would ultimately win by almost four percentage points. A similar pattern could unfold this year, especially with the huge Democratic margin expected in California. Here’s a simple rule of thumb: if Mrs. Clinton is even within four or five points in the popular vote between 9 p. m. and 11 p. m. she’s probably going to win it. If Mrs. Clinton has carried her firewall states, or either Florida or North Carolina, she could win the presidency around 11 p. m. in the East, when polls close on the West Coast. | 1 | [
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FMD3126 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: 'I Live in Sweden': Facts About Swedish Society and Health Care Claim summaries: A popular meme outlines the purported benefits of living in Sweden.
contextual information: Sweden is often the subject of fierce political debate, with some championing it as an example of a well-run, successful social democracy, while others point to what they see as endemic problems throughout the country. It has also long been the target of misinformation and confusion regarding its integration and assimilation of immigrants, a topic we have explored in detail in the past. In the spring of 2018, a meme went viral that highlighted some of the positive aspects of Swedish society, particularly its health care system. On April 25, the "Medicare for All" Facebook page shared this meme: "I live in Sweden. We have social security, affordable health care, strict gun laws, five weeks of paid annual leave, and one year of maternity leave. A stay at the hospital for one night costs about $10. Prescription drugs have an annual cap of $210. We're not a communist country, or even strictly socialist. We're socio-democratic, and our freedoms are not inhibited."
The meme cites the Twitter handle @SweResistance as its source. In March 2018, that Twitter user posted a series of tweets making the case for Swedish health care. For example, health care can cost a maximum of around $130 per year for visits to health care centers, while hospital nights cost $12 per night with a $175 cap per month. Prescription drugs have a yearly cap of $250. It appears that "Medicare for All" actually changed some of the details in its meme for reasons unknown. We have fact-checked the claims made in the meme, rather than in @SweResistance's Twitter thread.
While there is no objective definition of "strict," Sweden does stringently regulate gun ownership and usage compared to the United States. According to an analysis by GunPolicy.org, a research project hosted at the University of Sydney, Australia, employees are legally entitled to 25 days of paid leave each year, as stated in Section 4 of the Annual Leave Act.
This is not quite right. Sweden doesn't have maternity leave in the traditional sense; instead, it offers its inhabitants exceptionally generous parental leave. Parents of a newborn or adopted child are entitled to 480 combined days of parental leave, which they can split between themselves in whatever way they choose, regardless of gender. In 2017, fathers claimed 28 percent of all parental leave days, according to government statistics. For 390 of the 480 days available, parents are paid at a rate of almost 80 percent of their normal salary, according to Swedish government figures. The parental leave doesn't need to be taken right away; parents in Sweden can continue to take days off until their child turns eight years old.
The claim of one year of maternity leave ignores the reality of how the Swedish system works, but it is absolutely possible that a new mother, depending on the agreement she has with the child's other parent, could claim 365 days or more of paid leave. This is true. According to official government figures published on the Sweden.se website, the maximum fee for a hospital visit is 100 Kronor (SEK). Based on the exchange rate on April 26, 2018, that's $11.56, which is closer to the $12 stated by @SweResistance.
This is also basically true, although the dollar amount again depends on the exchange rate. According to Swedish government figures, "nobody pays more than SEK 2,200 in a given 12-month period" for prescription medication. (That's the equivalent of $254 as of April 2018.) Again, that's very close to the $250 figure provided by @SweResistance. It's not clear where the figure of $210 originates.
Overall, the meme accurately states some of the details of Sweden's social democratic institutions. However, like most politically charged social media content, it leaves out important context. The most obvious thing to know about Sweden's famous "cradle to grave" social safety net and good working conditions is that they are largely funded by Sweden's equally famous high taxes. Nonetheless, polling shows that Swedes are largely satisfied with the public services they receive in return. | 2 | [
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FMD3127 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A photographer for Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, was the victim of an attack by rioters at the notorious Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby. [The continued riots in the densely Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby has seen multiple cars set on fire and a photographer from Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter was attacked. The photographer said the attack occurred just after 10:00 pm at night and said, “I was met with a lot of punches and kicks on both the body and the head. I have spent the night in the hospital,†Dagens Nyheter reports. The photographer says he arrived in the troubled suburb by car and parked away from the riots. After walking to Rinkeby square where the riots were occurring, he claims he was attacked by up to fifteen men. According to the photographer, he hid his camera under his coat though the attackers discovered it and stole it from him. Journalists have been attacked in Rinkeby before in broad daylight. A television crew from Australia were attacked by several masked men last year and were even rammed by a car. After the attack, the photographer managed to escape to a nearby petrol station where he called the police. Police told the man that no patrols were available to help him and that he would have to get to the hospital on his own. “I was shocked for hours afterwards. The police eventually came and I made a complaint about the assault and aggravated theft. They said that the chances of the perpetrators or the camera is found is small. †he said. Police have also been attacked in Rinkeby multiple times and as recently as just over a week ago. Stockholm police spokesman Eva Nilsson said that officers were beaten by a mob of between 20 and 30 people who kicked and punched them while they were doing a routine check on an individual. “Of course, it’s a serious thing when police officers who are just acting in their official capacity are attacked in this way. It is a reality which, unfortunately, exists as something which happens now and again for colleagues who work there,†Nilsson said. U. S. President Donald Trump commented on the fracturing of Swedish society due to mass migration only days before the Rinkeby riots broke out. The Swedish establishment mocked the president assuring the foreign public that Sweden was fine. | 1 | [
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FMD3128 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Is Stacey Abrams obligated to pay back taxes exceeding $50,000? Claim summaries: A graphic criticizing the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate was not inaccurate, but neither was it a "gotcha" moment.
contextual information: A graphic circulated online about 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams owing a substantial amount in back taxes was technically accurate, but it omitted several key details in an attempt to frame her as irresponsible or dishonest. The meme showed a photograph of Abrams along with a caption reading, "This is Stacy [sic] Abrams, the Democrat on the ticket for Georgia governor. She owes the IRS $50,000 in back taxes." Abrams publicly revealed that she owed a $54,000 debt to the Internal Revenue Service when she released her personal financial disclosure documents in March 2018. However, although she is in debt, she is not delinquent in her taxes, as documents show she is on a payment plan after deferring payments for the tax years 2015 and 2016. The candidate elaborated on her situation in an op-ed published by Fortune magazine on April 24, 2018, stating that even though she earned $95,000 a year at her first job after graduating college, the cost of her education left her with more than $100,000 in debt before she had to take on additional financial responsibilities. She wrote, "I'd love to say that was the end of my financial troubles, but life had other plans. In 2006, my youngest brother and his girlfriend had a child they could not care for due to their drug addictions. Instead, my parents took custody when my niece was five days old. Underpaid, raising an infant, and battling their own illnesses, my parents' bills piled up. I took on much of the financial responsibility to support them, and even today I remain their main source of financial support. Paying the bills for two households has taken its toll. Nearly twenty years after graduating, I am still paying down student loans and am on a payment plan to settle my debt to the IRS. I have made money mistakes, but I have never ignored my responsibilities; I will meet my obligations—however slowly but surely." Abrams' opponent in the 2018 gubernatorial race (which she lost), Republican Brian Kemp, was reportedly also in heavy debt. He was sued by an investment company in June 2018 after allegedly failing to repay a $500,000 loan he guaranteed for an agricultural company in which he invested, Hart AgStrong LLC. Kemp has claimed that he is not responsible for paying the loan, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in September 2018 that, according to court documents, Kemp also promised to cover around $10 million in other loans for the company. | 1 | [
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FMD3129 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: “WE ARE THE FUTURE.” — Kevin MacDonald
This is an amazing victory. The stars were aligned. First, the very long shot of Trump being nominated. Then he gets to run against the most corrupt, least charismatic candidate in history (I think Joe Biden would have beaten Trump, and maybe even Bernie Sanders) at a time when Americans naturally want change after 8 years of Obama.
Fundamentally, it is a victory of White Americans over the oligarchic, hostile elites what have run this country for decades. Trump accomplished a hostile takeover of the Republican Party and won without the support or with only lukewarm and vacillating support from much of the GOP elite.
In May of 2015 I was very despondent about our prospects. It just didn’t seem like we could break through the elite consensus dominating all the high ground—and all the moral high ground—of the U.S., including the media (print, television, and the Hollywood movie industry), the academic world, politics, Wall St., and the CEOs of major corporations. We were systematically shut out and it was obvious that the powers that be were not going to let the Alt Right get a seat at the table. Then Trump announced, it was hard to take it seriously, but his comments on immigration, American nationalism, political correctness and trade certainly struck a chord. My immediate reaction (July 10, 2015), however, was that he had two things going for him that were absolutely unique — he is a celebrity and he is very, very rich (“ How it could happen “). Such a person is in a position to be heard; he can’t be shut out of the media, and he doesn’t need the money of the corrupt donor class. In fact, the media, eager for ratings, gave him countless opportunities to get his message out. Anyone on the Alt Right could have said the exact same things, but we would be speaking into our closets.
Even back in July of 2015, it was obvious Trump was not your usual GOP candidate:
[Trump] certainly did not fall in my estimation when he attacked two prominent operatives of the Republican Party/Israel Lobby nexus hostile to his candidacy, Charles Krauthammer and Jonah Goldberg. Then there’s the Twitter incident : “I promise you that I’m much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz — I mean Jon Stewart @TheDailyShow,” tweeted Trump , adding, “Who, by the way, is totally overrated.” It is, of course, considered “anti-Semitic” to ever call attention to the fact that someone is Jewish because of the absolutely outrageous suggestion that the Jewish identity of someone like Stewart/Leibowitz might influence his opinions. As we all know, Jews are just like everybody else.
And it quickly turned out that he understood the anger in White America far better than anyone else and he was willing to say what they wanted to hear — most of all the White working class (72-23!), but also White women(53-43), and his deficit among White educated women was only 51-45 ( CBS exit polls ). Looks like quite a few college-educated women ignored what they heard in their gender studies courses and those mandatory credits in Black Studies.
While obviously a lot of work needs to be done, this is a glorious day.
The following is an expanded version of my article in Radix Journal’s series on the meaning of Trump.
The Alt Right has gravitated to Trump’s candidacy, and for good reason. Much of what the Alt Right wants will be difficult or impossible to bring about even with a president who is entirely on board with the idea that America should start thinking about the interests of its traditional White majority. But win or lose, Trump has already had a huge effect on American politics in a way that benefits the Alt Right, and his victory will be even more so: Trump has made statements on immigration that have been banned from polite society for 50 years — deport illegals, seal the border, end birthright citizenship, place a moratorium on Muslim immigration, and make immigration serve actual labor needs rather than a moral imperative (ideally with guest workers not given citizenship). He has deplored Angela Merkel’s policies in Germany and has made statements indicating he opposes the transformation of Western societies via immigration and multiculturalism (“ Paris isn’t Paris anymore .”) Trump’s victory will encourage and energize the right in Europe. It is Brexit on steroids — a scream by voters to stop the way things are going. To stop the destruction of their traditional ways of life. If nothing else, it is throwing a monkey wrench into the system. Tear it down! We can’t keep going on like this! Voters want an end to meaningless wars, an end to importing people who hate us and will never assimilate to our way of life. Trump has unmasked the neocons. The neocons have dominated the intellectual and foreign policy establishment of the Republican Party since the 1980s. From the beginning of Trump’s candidacy, neocons have been leading the #NeverTrump movement, despite the catastrophic effects of a Hillary Clinton presidency on the GOP. A Clinton presidency would ensure a liberal/left voting majority into the foreseeable future given that she would amnesty millions of illegals and dramatically raise total numbers of immigrants and refugees. Clinton Supreme Court appointments would likely gut the First Amendment by enabling “hate speech” laws and they would gut the Second Amendment as well. No one on the right, from traditional “limited government” conservatives to the Alt Right, would want this, and it’s difficult to believe that the Jewish identities and pro-Israel commitments of the most important neocons are lost on non-Jewish Republicans. The treason of the neocons will be long remembered in GOP circles and will compromise their influence in the future.
I notice on Twitter that Bill Kristol says that the #NeverTrumpers should be magnanimous in losing, but I would be shocked if neocons were given any role in the GOP. This is Trump’s party now. It is incredibly heartening that he wants a good relationship with Russia at a time when neocons and NATO have been clamoring for confrontation and aggression. It is incredibly heartening that he supports the legitimate Assad government in Syria. I have no doubt that he will act in concert with Russia to end the rebellion and bring peace and stability to the region. Trump has highlighted the chasm between the overwhelmingly White Republican voting base and the GOP donor class intent on globalist policies of mass immigration, free trade, and a bellicose pro-Israel, anti-Russian foreign policy. The pre-Trump GOP was dominated by a neocon foreign policy establishment and a pro-Chamber of Commerce, pro-big business economic policy. This party did not represent the interests of GOP voters and can’t be resurrected. Even if Trump had lost, his energized supporters would be a new and important force within the GOP. His victory will ensure that the GOP will be a populist party for the foreseeable future. Trump has unmasked the media. The media have always been liberal, but this time around, even much of the usual pro-Republican media has been hostile to Trump, and a survey by the Media Research Center found an astounding 91% of media coverage hostile to his candidacy. Who can forget the hostility from mainstream conservative media like National Review , The Weekly Standard , and other neocon outlets? This feeds into the narrative that there has been a unified establishment from the far left to the neoconservative right that has opposed Trump’s populist policies favoring the middle class and the traditional White majority.
The media is a pillar of the establishment, and it is heartening indeed that people ignored the deluge of talk of Trump being a racist, a bigot, and a misogynist. The media is a huge loser in Trump’s victory.
As we have commented many times, the media is under very powerful Jewish influence. Trump’s victory is a blow to the entire Jewish power structure. I have written 6 articles on Jewish hostility toward Trump, much of this hostility bordering on the clinically paranoid. Jews understand that they do indeed have a great deal of power in the U.S. and throughout the West and that they have used that power to destroy the traditional homogeneity of these societies and to do all they can to make Whites minorities in societies they have dominated for hundreds and, in the case of Europe, many thousands of years. We are a long way from really putting a dent in that power structure, but Trump’s victory is a great first step. Trump has put the Alt Right on the map. There have been numerous articles and commentary on the Alt Right because of Trump’s candidacy. The Alt Right has been the only identifiable intellectual perspective supporting Trump, although we understand that he is not one of us and would not attempt to do much what we would like to see in our ideal world. We are the only intellectual perspective that takes race seriously and accepts the social science research not only on race but on the disastrous costs of imposed multiculturalism for White majorities and the horrifying future awaiting Whites if indeed they do become hated, despised minorities. Traditional conservative intellectuals simply cannot explain what is happening with their usual intellectual toolkit. They can’t explain the anger and the very legitimate fears of the White majority. They can’t understand the racialization of politics. We understand it and are able to analyze it in very sophisticated ways that are entirely within the scientific mainstream.
Much of the media coverage of the Alt Right was motivated by attempting to tar Trump as a “racist,” and after the election, win or lose, the media will likely attempt to put the toothpaste back in the tube by ceasing coverage. However, a Trump victory makes that all but impossible. Our increased visibility has meant a very large surge in support for the Alt Right. Meeting attendance is way up, and readership on Alt Right sites is skyrocketing. The future is bright, and a very large amount of the credit for that has to go to Donald Trump.
We are the future. | 0 | [
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FMD3130 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Check Fraud by Manipulating Routing Numbers Claim summaries: Forger steals money by manipulating ABA symbols on checks.
contextual information: Claim: Forger steals money by manipulating ABA symbols on checks. LEGEND Origins: One of the ways paperhangers were supposedly able to pass bad checks easily once upon a time was by manipulating the American Bankers Association (ABA) numbers encoded on nearly all checks with magnetic ink. Although the American banking system relies heavily upon this information for the automated sorting and routing of checks, many bank personnel are unfamiliar with or pay little attention to these numbers. ABA The system has changed a little bit over the years, but nowadays checks typically bear a nine-digit ABA routing number printed in the bottom left-hand corner (indicated as #5 in the above diagram). In general, the first four digits are a Federal Reserve routing symbol, identifying which of the twelve Federal Reserve districts the check was printed in (and a city within that district). The next four digits are an ABA institution identifier which designates the bank on which the check is drawn, and the last number is a check digit. Federal Reserve Check forgers manipulated the banking system by altering the ABA routing numbers on the bad checks they passed so that the numbers identified different banks than the ones whose information was printed on the face of those checks. For example, a forger attempting to pass a bad check in Boston might present a check whose printed information indicated it was drawn on a Philadelphia bank, but whose routing number had been altered to indicate that it came from a bank in the 12th Federal Reserve district (which encompasses the western United States). The Boston bank would expect a check drawn on a Philadelphia bank to clear within two or three days and assume that if it hadn't been kicked back to them by the end of the third day, it was good. However, the altered routing number would cause the automated sorting machinery to send the check on to a San Francisco clearing house for processing. Once the check arrived in San Francisco, a computer there would kick it out because the routing number didn't match the other information encoded on the check, and the check would be mailed back to the Philadelphia bank for processing. This whole process could take several days, but because the Boston bank assumed the check was good after the third day, the forger could withdraw his funds and leave town long before they discovered his check was phony. Con man Frank Abagnale (of Catch Me If You Can fame) claims in his memoirs that he "was the first check swindler to use the routing numbers racket" in the late 1960s. One of Thomas Whiteside's 1977 New Yorker articles included an example of what supposedly happened when a forger altered checks drawn on the Chemical Bank in New York so that their routing numbers identified them as coming from a Los Angeles bank: Although the check bore the name and address of the Chemical Bank in New York, the Federal Reserve data-processing system scanned only the magnetic-ink code on it, identified it as a Bank of America check, and routed it to Los Angeles. The check remained in transit for perhaps two days. At the end of that time, it was run through the computer mechanism at the Bank of America. The computer, instantly searching its memory for a Bank of America account number matching that of the magnetic-ink strip on the check, rejected the check, which then went into a clerical pool for manual handling. Since the printed logotype on the check clearly identified it as a check that belonged in the Chemical Bank in New York, the clerk handling the machine-rejected check sent it back to the Chemical Bank by mail, assuming that a simple routing error had been made. The check was then in transit for another two days. Back at the Chemical Bank, the check was put into the computerized sorting system for final clearance. But instead of that, it went into motion again: the Chemical Bank computing system passed it on to the Federal Reserve System, which routed it out to the Los Angeles bank again, which routinely sent it back to New York, and so on. The fraud was uncovered only when checks issued by the depositor became so frayed from mechanical handling in the computer system that they could no longer be read automatically ... [b]y that time, according to an auditor who told me of the affair, the depositor had disappeared with more than $1 million in cash. Last updated: 1 July 2014 Whiteside, Thomas. Computer Capers. New York: Mentor, 1978. ISBN 0-451-62173-5 (pp. 31-33). | 1 | [
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FMD3131 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: When a state has legislated themselves into an unrecoverable financial crisis, and they re offering health care to 170,000 illegal immigrants the only solution is to find a way to start eliminating costs. While most people would turn to cutting unnecessary government programs, compassionate Californians instead, turn to finding ways to eliminate humans who are a drain on the system.The Democrats appear to have found a solution to the massive costs of caring for humans. If you re living outside of the womb (we already know you have no rights if you re living inside the womb in CA) and are a burden on society, you might want to consider packing your bags and making a quick exit out of Communist California Democrats in California might have found a solution for the burgeoning costs of Medi-Cal which still doesn t provide any palliative care and offers only one in every three a chance of getting cancer treatments. The solution they ve come up with is doctor-assisted suicide also known as euthanasia. That s right, they re going to end the lives of some people on the program.They are willing to put their money where their mouths are and Governor Moonbeam Brown, in addition to putting it in the budget, will allow this expansion to take place before the new proposed law even takes effect.It s hard to remember a case where they were this enthusiastic and worked this fast.The lethal drugs will cost $5400 per patient but it s a lot cheaper than keeping them alive and providing care.The proponents claim it has nothing to do with saving costs but they said it during the session called to address the ever-growing deficit in Medi-Cal.Enthusiastically, Governor Moonbeam put $2.3 million into the budget to off 443 Medi-Cal patients. The doctor of death only has to visit twice and only nine of the planned 443 targeted patients will be sent for mental health evaluations.The proponents want another quarter million to hire staff to help with the Euthanasia regulations and DHCS wants another $323,000 to set up a database.One of the original authors of the bill, Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel), has proposed a toll-free number for the public to find out how to arrange suicide with the help of a doctor.No effort will be too small to get this sure-fire deficit buster going. Liberals love this sort of thing.Leftist Robert Reich on assisted suicide:Dr. Kevorkian once went to jail for this.California just extended Medi-Cal to 170,000 illegal immigrant children and they want to extend it to all illegal immigrants. They will have to end a lot of lives to cover the costs. Liberals don t worry about costs until after the program is implemented. Now that Daddy Government is in charge of your healthcare, he s also in charge of your death. Weasel Zippers Via: Independent Sentinel | 0 | [
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FMD3132 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Robert Mugabe on Friday said Zimbabwe will begin compiling a new voter register next week ahead of the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections, in which the 93-year-old is seeking to extend his 37-year hold on power. Mugabe said in an official government notice that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would start registering voters on Sept. 14 and would end the process on Jan. 15. Opposition parties have been demanding a new roll for voters and have previously accused Mugabe s ruling ZANU-PF party of manipulating the existing register. ZANU-PF denies these accusations. Mugabe also told the central committee of his ZANU-PF on Friday that his party should galvanize supporters to register anew. He said Western powers were behind the last month s reunification of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change but added that the opposition would still be defeated by ZANU-PF in next year s votes. We know of course they are creatures of the West whose sole purpose is to dislodge ZANU-PF from power. But really, they come together as a bundle then one blow against a bundle will set the bundle in pieces, Mugabe said to applause from ZANU-PF members. | 1 | [
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FMD3133 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: shorty Dispatches from Eric Zuesse
O n November 1st, The Intercept headlined “HERE’S THE PROBLEM WITH THE STORY CONNECTING RUSSIA TO DONALD TRUMP’S EMAIL SERVER” , and the reporting team of Sam Biddle, Lee Fang, Micah Lee, and Morgan Marquis-Boire, revealed that: “Slate’s Franklin Foer published a story that’s been circulating through the dark web and various newsrooms since summertime, an enormous, eyebrow-raising claim that Donald Trump uses a secret server to communicate with Russia. That claim resulted in an explosive night of Twitter confusion and misinformation. The gist of the Slate article is dramatic — incredible, even: Cybersecurity researchers found that the Trump Organization used a secret box configured to communicate exclusively with Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest commercial bank. This is a story that any reporter in our election cycle would drool over, and drool Foer did.”
The Intercept team concluded their detailed analysis of the evidence by saying: Franklin Foer is an American warmonger and p.r. agent, a Democrat, and former editor of The [scurrilous Neocon] New Republic. Foer was a 2012 Bernard L. Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation. “Could it be that Donald Trump used one of his shoddy empire’s spam marketing machines, one with his last name built right into the domain name, to secretly collaborate with a Moscow bank? Sure. At this moment, there’s literally no way to disprove that. But there’s also literally no way to prove it, and such a grand claim carries a high burden of proof. Without more evidence it would be safer (and saner) to assume that this is exactly what it looks like: A company that Trump has used since 2007 to outsource his hotel spam is doing exactly that. Otherwise, we’re all making the exact same speculation about the unknown that’s caused untold millions of voters to believe Hillary’s deleted emails might have contained Benghazi cover-up PDFs. Given equal evidence for both, go with the less wacky story.”
However, they failed to dig deeper to explain what could have motivated this smear of Trump: was it just sloppiness on the part of Slate, and of Foer? Hardly — it was anything but unintentional: A core part of the Democratic Party’s campaign for Hillary Clinton consists of her claim that Donald Trump is secretly a Russian agent. This is an updated version of the Republican Joseph R. McCarthy’s campaign to “root communists out of the federal government,” and of the John Birch Society’s accusation even against the Republican President Dwight Eisenhower that, “With regard to … Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason.”
Neoconservatives — in both Parties — are the heirs of the Republican Party’s hard-right, which now, even decades after the 1991 end of communism and the Soviet Union, hate Russia above all of their other passions. Neoconservatism has emerged as today’s Republican Party’s Establishment, and (like with the Democratic Party’s original neocon, U.S. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, the “Senator from Boeing”) they’ve always viewed Russia to be America’s chief enemy, and they have favored the overthrow of any nation’s leader who is friendly toward Russia, such as Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Viktor Yanukovych, and Bashar al-Assad. Hatred and demonization of Russia is the common core of neoconservatism — the post-Cold-War extension of Joseph R. McCarthy and the John Birch Society. Neoconservatives — in both Parties — are the heirs of the Republican Party’s hard-right, which now, even decades after the 1991 end of communism and the Soviet Union, hate Russia above all of their other passions.
Both Slate and especially Foer have long pedigrees as Democratic Party neoconservatives — champions of U.S. invasions, otherwise called PR agents (‘journalists’) promoting the products and services that a few giant and exclusive military corporations such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Dyncorp, and the Carlyle Group, offer to the U.S. federal government. I’ll deal here only with Foer, not with his latest employer (in a string, all of which are neocon Democratic ‘news’ media). Foer wrote in The New York Times , on 10 October 2004, against ‘isolationist’ Republicans, who regretted having supported George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and he headlined about them there, “Once Again, America First” , equating non -neoconservative Republicans with, essentially, the pro-fascist isolationists of the 1930s. He concluded that they would come to regret their regret: “Conservatives could soon find themselves retracing Buckley’s steps, wrestling all over again with their isolationist instincts.” That’s how far-right Franklin Foer is: he’s to the right of those Republicans. .. On 7 June 2004, Foer, in a tediously long, badly written and argued, article in New York Magazine , “The Source of the Trouble” , described the downfall of The New York Times’s leading stenographer for George W. Bush’s lies to invade Iraq, their reporter Judith Miller. He closed by concluding that “the source of the trouble” was that Miller was simply too earnest and tried too hard — not that she was a stenographer to power: .. “People like Miller, with her outsize journalistic temperament of ambition, obsession, and competitive fervor, relying on people like Ahmad Chalabi, with his smooth, affable exterior retailing false information for his own motives, for the benefit of people reading a newspaper, trying to get at the truth of what’s what. ” .. (She was anything but “trying to get at the truth of what’s what.” She was the opposite: a mere stenographer to George W. Bush and to the Administration’s chosen mouthpieces, such as the anti-Saddam exiled Iraqi Ahmad Chalaby.) O n 20 December 2004, when the question of whether to bomb Iran was being debated by neoconservatives, Foer, who then was the Editor of the leading Democratic Party neoconservative magazine, The New Republic , headlined in his magazine, “Identity Crisis: Neocon v. Neocon on Iran” , and he introduced a supposed non-neocon from the supposedly non-neocon Brookings Institution, Kenneth Pollack, to comment upon the conflict among ( the other Party’s ) neocons: “In part, the lack of neocon consensus [on whether to, as John McCain was to so poetically put it, ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran’ ] can be attributed to the nature of the problem. Nobody — not the Council on Foreign Relations, not John Kerry’s brain trust — has designed a plausible policy to walk Iran back from the nuclear brink. Or, as Kenneth M. Pollack concludes in his new book, The Persian Puzzle, this is a ‘problem from Hell’ with no good solution.” But, actually, both Pollack and Brookings are Democratic Party neocons themselves; and among the leading proponents of invading Iraq had been not only Pollack but Brookings’s Michael O’Hanlon . Brookings had no prominent opponent of invading Iraq. (Brookings has a long history of neoconservatism , and routinely leads the Democratic Party’s contingent of neocon thinking, even urging a Democratic administration to have its stooge-regimes violate international laws .) The real reason why neocons (being the heirs of the far-right extremists’ Cold-War demonization of Russia, even after communism is gone) wanted to conquer both Iraq and Iran, was that both countries’ leaders were friendly towards Russia, and were opposed by the Saud family who own Saudi Arabia, which family quietly worked not only with the U.S. government but with Israel’s government, against both Iraq and Iran, as well as against Syria — those three nations (Iraq, Iran, and Syria) all being friendly toward Russia, which both the Saudi aristocracy, and not only the U.S. aristocracy, hate. It’s not just the conservative ‘news’ media that are neoconservative now. The so-called ‘liberal’ media are so neoconservative that, for example, Salon can condemn Donald Trump for his having condemned Hillary and Obama’s bombing of Libya. Salon condemned Trump’s having said “We would be so much better off if Qaddafi were in charge right now” — as if Trump weren’t correct, and as if what happened after our overthrow and killing of Qaddafi weren’t far worse for both Libyans and the world than what now exists in Libya. (But, of course, for Lockheed Martin etc., it is far better). CBS News and Mother Jones condemned the Trilateralist Joseph Nye for having veered temporarily away from his normal neoconservatism. Then, Nye wrote in the neocon Huffington Post saying that David Corn of Mother Jones and Franklin Foer of The New Republic had misrepresented what he had said, and that he was actually a good neocon after all. Nye closed: “In any case, I have never supported Gaddafi and am on record wishing him gone, and also on record supporting Obama’s actions in recent weeks. We now know that Gaddafi’s departure is the only change that will work in Libya.” Sure, it did. Oh, really? It’s Trump who is crazy here? More recently, Foer headlined at Slate, “Putin’s Puppet: If the Russian president could design a candidate to undermine American interests — and advance his own — he’d look a lot like Donald Trump.” Foer proceeded to present the view of Trump that subsequently became parroted by the Hillary Clinton campaign (that Trump=traitor). Wikipedia has a 450-person ”List of Republicans opposing Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016″ , and it’s almost entirely comprised of well-known neoconservatives — the farthest-right of all Republicans, the people closest to Joseph R. McCarthy and the John Birch Society. Foer cited many neoconservative sources that are not commonly thought of as Republican, such as Buzzfeed; and he even had the gall to blame the Russian government for having made public its best evidence behind its charge (which was true ) that the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 was no authentic ‘democratic revolution’ such as the U.S. government and its ‘news’ media said, but was instead a very bloody U.S. coup d’etat in Ukraine , which was organized from the U.S. Embassy there, starting by no later than 1 March 2013 , a year beforehand. Foer wrote: “The Russians have made an art of publicizing the material they have filched to injure their adversaries. The locus classicus of this method was a recording of a blunt call between State Department official Toria [that’s actually ‘Victoria’] Nuland [a close friend of both Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney] and the American ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt. The Russians allegedly planted the recording on YouTube and then tweeted a link to it — and from there it became international news. Though they never claimed credit for the leak, few doubted the White House’s contention that Russia was the source.” To a neoconservative, even defensive measures (such as Russia’s there exposing the lies that America uses to ‘justify’ economic sanctions and other hostile acts against Russia) — indeed, anything that Russia does against America’s aggressions against Russia, and against Russia’s allies (such as Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar al-Assad, and Viktor Yanukovych) — anything that Russia does, is somehow evil and blameworthy. And, of course, America’s aggressions are not. The U.S. government and its neocon propagandists are outraged that some people are trying to expose — instead of to spread — their lies. The American government isn’t yet neocon enough, in the view of such liars. About the author =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS Print this post if you want. Share This: | 0 | [
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FMD3134 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: What in the world is it with Obama and criminals? He releases them early and acts as if they were wrongly accused. Perhaps, in his eyes they were wrongly accused but he s not judge, jury and executioner. He s said he feels like African American males have been wronged in the criminal justice system when it comes to drug charges. In other words, they are the victims! About one in every 35 African American men, one in every 88 Latino men is serving time African Americans are more likely to be arrested. ObamaA new federal audit just came out and it looks like Obama favors criminals over just about everyone in the military and our senior citizens too! President Obama has repeatedly demonstrated that there s an extra special place in his heart for incarcerated criminals, but this is a bit much. The administration spends a lot more money on the medical care of jailed convicts than retired seniors on Medicare, active U.S. military personnel or veterans, including an extra $100 million in one year alone, according to a federal audit released this month.The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) consistently pays outside doctors and hospitals more to treat inmates than Medicare or other federal agencies would pay for the same services, according to the report which is the result of a Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General investigation. We found that the BOP is the only federal agency that pays for medical care that is not covered under a statute or regulation under which the government sets the agency s reimbursement rates, usually at the Medicare rate, the report states. Instead, the BOP solicits and awards a comprehensive medical services contract for each BOP institution to obtain outside medical services. This means the BOP negotiates its own rates for medical services, which is outrageous and ends up costing American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually. Without the cost regulations that apply to all other federal agencies, the BOP pays a premium above applicable Medicare rates for medical care. In fiscal year 2014, for instance, the BOP spent at least $100 million more for medical care than it would have if it had paid Medicare rates. Other law enforcement agencies, including those within the DOJ like the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), stay within the Medicare rates to provide outside medical services for individuals in their custody. So does the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Indian Health Service to treat members of the military and their dependents, veterans and Native Americans.In many cases the same medical providers that work for other federal agencies, charge the BOP a premium above the Medicare rate when treating inmates, the DOJ watchdog reveals. From fiscal year 2010 to 2014, BOP spending for outside medical services increased 24%, from $263 million to $327 million and the figure is only going to increase. Medical spending constitutes a significant and increasing portion of the BOP s budget, the IG found. Specifically, the agency spent $905 million of its $6.2 billion budget on inmate medical care in one year alone, according to the figures provided in the report. This includes salaried BOP medical staff, prescription drugs, medical supplies and outside providers. In all, the agency purchases outside medical care at inflated rates for more than 170,000 inmates nationwide at a cost of more than $300 million annually. The contracts have reimbursement rates at least 15% above the Medicare benchmark rate, the report says.Read more: Judicial Watch | 0 | [
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FMD3135 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: One of the top candidates for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in this month s election walked out of a live television debate on Tuesday night after being accused of failing to distance herself from right-wingers. The right-wing AfD has gained support by slamming Chancellor Angela Merkel s 2015 decision to open the borders to refugees and is set to enter the national parliament for the first time after the Sept. 24 election. Polls put it on 7-11 percent. Alice Weidel, 38, collected her papers and rushed out of public broadcaster ZDF s studio during a debate with Germany s six other major parties after Andreas Scheuer, a member of Merkel s conservative bloc, said she should distance herself from far-right figures in the AfD. Scheuer said Alexander Gauland, the AfD s other top candidate, was a radical right-winger . Gauland has described Bjoern Hoecke, who in January called for a 180 degree turnaround in the way Germany seeks to atone for Nazi crimes, as part of the soul of the AfD . Weidel, who styles herself as an economic expert and critic of the euro, has gradually shifted to the right since being chosen as one of the party s chancellor candidates in April. She has called for Hoecke to be expelled from the party. In a statement published shortly after her exit, Weidel accused ZDF moderator Marietta Slomka of being biased and unprofessional: Ms Slomka shouldn t act out her personal animosities in the television show, she wrote. The AfD wants to abolish the license fees that finance Germany s public broadcasters. Weidel s statement ended with the comment that Slomka s behavior was another reason to refuse to pay the license fee . It did not mention the dispute with Scheuer or a preceding fiery discussion on immigration. Some media speculated that Weidel s exit was set up, with Stern magazine s editor in chief Andreas Petzold writing on Twitter: Alice Weidel s dramatically staged exit was certainly not spontaneous. This is how the AfD cultivates its role as a victim. | 1 | [
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FMD3136 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act Claim summaries: A popular screenshot of a purported Facebook argument over Obamacare versus the ACA is of indeterminate origin.
contextual information: In January 2017, screenshots circulated appearing to show a Facebook dispute which involved a man who both opposed Obamacare and unwittingly relied on it as a health care plan. The image was rather large, and documented a friends-locked Facebook dispute between three individuals: "Red," "Black," and "Blue." It began when "Black" posted a C-SPAN link to their personal timeline, along with the following commentary: image One step closer to fixing this mistake, and only a couple more weeks left of Barry's regime. 2017 is already looking up. The usual social media debate ensued in the comments. "Black," the original poster, eventually responded: I'm not on Obamacare. My insurance is through the ACA (Affordable Care Act), which is what they had to come up with after Obamacare crashed and burned as bad as it did. So I'm gonna be fine. This is, of course, untrue, as Obamacare is another name for the Affordable Care Act. "Obamacare" was originally intended as a pejorative but quickly was adopted as its informal name. The screenshot quickly went viral. However, it is virtually impossible to authenticate whether or not it is real without anyone party to it stepping forward with additional screenshots. All images we were able to locate obscured the names of all parties, and it does not appear that any friends of the conversation's participants have released alternate screenshots. Here is the conversation in its entirety: | 2 | [
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FMD3137 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Hillary Clinton's Premature Victory Celebration Claim summaries: A video purportedly showing Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea Clinton prematurely celebrating an election victory was likely taken after the first presidential debate.
contextual information: A video purportedly showing Chelsea, Bill, and Hillary Clinton prematurely celebrating a presidential election victory was widely shared on the internet in the wake of the Democratic nominee's loss on 8 November 2016: While this video was distributed by several web sites along with the assertion that it showed the Clintons prematurely celebrating a victory on election night that proved to be unrealized, little evidence was provided to back up this claim. The video contains no audio, is only a few seconds long, and as of this writing the sourceis still unknown. The earliest version we could uncover was published by LiveLeak on 16 November 2016, but that video was also lacking context. The Gateway Pundit attempted to prove to their readers (or possibly to mislead them into believing) that the video was takenon election night by providing a photograph ofBill, Chelsea, and Hillary Clinton in similar clothing at an 8 November 2016 campaign event: Although that photograph was taken on Election Day 2016, there were some obvious differences between the clothes the Clintons were wearing in that image and the ones they are seen wearing in the video. Mainly, Chelsea Clinton was garbed a sort of aqua sleeveless dress in the still photograph, but she sports a dark blue long-sleeved dress in the video: photograph Perhaps more telling is the change in Bill Clinton's attire. Photographs from Election Day 2016 show that Bill Clinton was wearing a light blue shirt with a dark blue and white tie, but in the video he is seen clothed in a white shirt with a salmon-colored tie: In addition to the optical discrepancies, the narrative behind the claim doesn't quite add up. Clinton was likely confident heading into the election since most polls showed her with a large advantage, so it's hard to fathom a moment which would have elicited such an act of jubilation in the course of an election night in which she lost. So when was this video taken? Bill, Hillaryand Chelsea Clinton were wearing outfits that match those shown in the video at the first presidential debate of 2016 at Hofsfra University: Embed from Getty Images It's plausible that the Clintons would have engaged a short but jubilant celebration after this event, as many observed felt that Clinton had won the debate. won The "premature celebration" video is frequently shared in close proximity to a similar claim holding that Clinton threw a tantrum following her election night loss. This rumor, too, is largelyunfounded. unfounded The Economist. "A Win for Hillary Clinton: The First Presidential Debate."
27 September 2016. | 2 | [
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FMD3138 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: 'Diesel Brothers' Facebook Giveaway Scam Targets Users After Rittenhouse Acquittal Claim summaries: The real Diesel Brothers, whose likeness was used without permission, had nothing to do with the scam.
contextual information: In mid-November 2021, scammers targeted social media users who shared a popular post from 2020. The Facebook scam improperly used the names and faces of Diesel Power Gear and "Diesel Brothers," a Discovery Channel television show. Their likenesses were used without permission in posts that promised thousands of dollars to entrants who followed certain steps and simply showed that they had downloaded the Stash finance app. On June 26, 2020, Kevin Passons, a pastor at Cornerstone Pentecostal Church in Grand Saline, Texas, and his wife, Kim, shared a meme on Facebook. It was posted in the aftermath of demonstrations that followed the murder of George Floyd. The meme read: "We need to establish a new law. Anybody caught rioting and looting, who is also on welfare, will forfeit their benefits for life. Instead, we'll redirect that money to the businesses that suffered a loss." The post from 2020 received a wave of new shares in November 2021. The meme had been shared thousands of times in the summer of 2020 and continued to receive shares throughout 2021. According to The New York Times, the picture was captured around August 16, 2014. It showed Mustafa Alshalabi cleaning up damage at Sams Meat Market after his store was looted during unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. The violent demonstrations occurred in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a Black man who was gunned down by a white police officer. Around November 19, 2021, the months-old Facebook post saw a sizable spike in shares following the verdict that acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse was on trial after being accused of shooting and killing two people and wounding another in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2020. After the Rittenhouse acquittal, the June 2020 Facebook post from the Passons was shared at least an additional 100,000 times over the course of just four days. As of November 23, it had a total of 326,000 shares. Within the new shares were a seemingly countless number of comments from scammers named N'k Santri Nalangsa, Akang Erik Terterter, Arra Razqisyaai HarimNna Mull, Ella Sisca, and likely many others. (The Passons had nothing to do with the scam.) The comments often read either "check my profile you win" or "you win check my profile." Other messages included: "Visit my profile, do it with faith. You have become the winner, which I specifically chose." We also noticed: "I chose you specifically, please visit my profile and fill out the registration form." Comments like these were added to posts as soon as Facebook users shared the meme. On the Facebook profiles, the scammers falsely claimed to be affiliated with Diesel Brothers and Diesel Power Gear. They stated that all users needed to do was follow several steps and install the Stash finance app to be entered to win $10,000. The steps also involved visiting a sites.google.com website for registration, as these kinds of scams often do. The scammers' posts included messages like: "DAVE SPARKS OFFICIAL GIVEAWAY FOR ALL COUNTRIES FOR LUCKY EVERYONE TODAY! I will pick random people to get a $10,000 prize for the 20 chosen winners!!! Congratulations to the people I commented 'YOU WIN,' and all you have to do now is follow the prompts and complete the registration according to the procedure; STEP 1: 'LIKE and SHARE this post and send a private message (HELLO)'; STEP 2: 'REGISTER immediately here (The registration link is in the comments)'; STEP 3: 'Please install the STASH application. After it is installed, please open it and complete your personal data correctly. Send proof of registration in the form (screenshot) in the comments column or message when it's finished & say it is done. Wait a few minutes to receive a gift from me because it has to be processed. Prizes will be sent after you have successfully registered the data correctly, and you will each receive a cash prize of $10,000.' This program is sponsored by several films. I hope this is useful because not everyone is as lucky as you. God bless you." To be clear, there was no evidence that Stash Finance, the company behind the app, had anything to do with the scam. Furthermore, it's true that the real Diesel Brothers and Diesel Power Gear Facebook pages have posted about legitimate giveaways in the past. However, this scam from accounts that asked users to visit their profiles should be avoided. Scams like these could lead to phishing, theft of financial or personal information, or other negative outcomes. A glance at the scammers' profiles showed that they likely originated from Indonesia. While some longtime readers might believe that it should be obvious that these offers are not legitimate, it's important to keep in mind that not all Facebook users are alike. The Akang Erik Terterter scammer profile alone had been followed nearly 2,000 times. It's likely that at least a handful of those followers went through the steps in an attempt to sign up for the Diesel Brothers Facebook scam or another one in the past. This one profile alone had nearly 2,000 followers, perhaps showing how many Facebook users fell for this scam or others in the past. Aside from the four accounts we found, there were likely other profiles used for the scam. Facebook limits the number of comments that a user can make in a short period of time. It was evident that the scammers had a stack of accounts that they used in rotation to keep the ruse going. In summary, neither Diesel Brothers nor Diesel Power Gear were giving away thousands of dollars on Facebook to entrants who followed steps and downloaded the Stash finance app. It was simply a scam that appeared to be run from Indonesia. | 0 | [
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FMD3139 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: John Roberts and the Obamacare Decision Claim summaries: Opinion piece expresses Charles Krauthammer's thoughts on Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court's decision on Obamacare?
contextual information: I would like to know if the following email attributed to Charles Krauthammer has been correctly attributed. Circulated under the subject line: Health Care Decision: From Charles Krauthammer. To all my friends, particularly those conservatives who are despondent over the searing betrayal by Chief Justice John Roberts and the pending demise of our beloved country, I offer this perspective to convey some profound hope and evidence of the Almighty's hand in the affairs of men in relation to the Supreme Court's decision on Obamacare. I initially thought we had cause for despondency when I only heard the results of the decision and not the reasoning or the makeup of the sides. I have now read a large portion of the decision, and I believe that it was precisely the result that Scalia, Alito, Thomas, Roberts, and even Kennedy wanted, and not a defeat for conservatism or the rule of law. I believe the conservatives on the court have outmaneuvered the liberals and demonstrated that the liberals are patently unqualified to be on the Supreme Court. Let me explain. First, let me assure you that John Roberts is a conservative, and he is not dumb, mentally unstable, diabolical, a turncoat, a Souter, or even just trying to be too nice. He is a genius, along with the members of the Court in the dissent. The more of the decision I read, the more remarkable it became. It is not obvious, and it requires a passable understanding of constitutional law, but if it is explained, anyone can see the beauty of it. The decision was going to be a 5-4 decision no matter what, so the allegation that the decision was a partisan political decision was going to be made by the losing side and their supporters. If the bill had been struck down completely with Roberts on the other side, there would have been a national and media backlash against conservatives and probably strong motivation for Obama supporters to come out and vote in November. With today's decision, that dynamic is reversed, and there is a groundswell of support for Romney and Republicans, even from people who were formerly lukewarm toward Romney before today; additionally, Romney raised more than 3 million dollars today. Next, merely striking the law without the support of Democrats and liberals would have left the fight over the commerce clause and the "necessary and proper" clause and the federal government's role in general festering and heading the wrong way, as it has since 1942. As a result of the decision, the liberals are saying great things about Roberts; how wise, fair, and reasonable he is. They would never have said that without this decision, even after the Arizona immigration decision on Monday. In the future, when Roberts rules conservatively, it will be harder for the left and the media to complain about the Roberts Court's fairness. That's why he, as Chief Justice, went to the other side for this decision, not Scalia, Alito, Thomas, or Kennedy, all of whom I believe would have been willing to do it. Next, let's look at the decision itself. Thankfully, Roberts got to write it as Chief Justice, and it is a masterpiece. (As I write this, the liberals don't even know what has happened; they just think Roberts is great and that they won, and we are all going to have free, unlimited healthcare services, and we are all going to live happily ever after.) He first emphatically states that Obamacare is unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause, saying you cannot make people buy stuff. Then he emphatically states that it is unconstitutional under the "necessary and proper" clause, which only applies to "enumerated powers" in the U.S. Constitution. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan all went along with these statements. They never would have gone along with that sentiment if that had been the basis for striking the law in total. This is huge because it means that the Court ruled 9-0 that Obamacare was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause, which was Obama's whole defense of the bill. They also ruled 9-0 on the "necessary and proper" clause. Even better, both of these rulings were unnecessary to the decision, so it is a bonus that we got the liberals to concede this, and it will make it easier to pare away at both theories in the future, which we must do. Well done. Roberts, through very tortured reasoning, goes on to find that the taxing law provides the constitutionality for the law. Virtually everyone agrees that the federal government has the power to do this, as it does with the mortgage deduction for federal income taxes. This too is huge because Obama assiduously avoided using the term "tax," and now he has to admit this law is a tax, and it is on everyone, even the poor. That will hurt him significantly in the polls and will help Romney. More importantly, though, is the fact that this makes it a budgetary issue that can be voted on in the Senate by a mere majority instead of the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster. That means that if the Republicans can gain a majority in the Senate, they can vote to repeal Obamacare in total. Finally, the Court voted 7-2 to strike down the punitive rules that take away money from states that do not expand Medicaid as required in Obamacare. This too is huge because we got Kagan and Breyer to join this decision, and it can easily be applied to many other cases of extortion the federal government uses to force states to do things they don't want to. This is also amazing because Obamacare has no severability clause, so by striking the Medicaid mandate portion as unconstitutional, the whole bill should have been struck. If that had happened, none of these other benefits would have been accomplished. I haven't read far enough to know how he did it, but I am sure it is brilliant. So to recap, the Roberts Court, through a brilliant tactical maneuver, has: strengthened the limitations of the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause by a unanimous decision, made Obama raise taxes on the poor and middle classes, converted Obamacare into a tax program repealable with 51 votes in the Senate, enhanced Romney's and Republicans' fundraising and likelihood of being elected in November, weakened federal extortion, and got the left to love Roberts and sing his praises, all without anyone even noticing. Even Obama is now espousing the rule of law just two weeks after violating it with his deportation executive order. What a day. | 1 | [
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FMD3140 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Another successful cleansing of our history like it or not what s next?Just a reminder of something Michelle Obama said in 2008 on the campaign trail in Puerto Rico: MICHELLE OBAMA: Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we re going to have to move into a different place as a nation. Change our traditions and change our history. What did she mean by that?Changing history means not just telling the same old tall tales of the free market system and the Founders. No, it s the history according to progressives. And it s not merely spinning the old facts; it s taking current events and molding them to fit the progressive agenda and, in this case, completely ignoring history. HERE S A BACKWARDS TIMELINE OF WHAT HAPPENED TODAY VIA THE POST AND COURIER:Members of the South Carolina Senate have voted 37-3 to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds.Sen. Lee Bright, R-Roebuck, objected to giving the bill automatic third reading, which is usually a procedural vote, on Tuesday. For the bill to be sent to the House, it will need a two-thirds vote.Monday s three nay votes were from Bright, and Sens. Harvey Peeler and Danny Verdin. Plus, for the bill to be amended on third reading, it would need a three-fifths vote.Senate is scheduled to return Tuesday at 10 a.m.3:20 p.m. update: The senate has voted to table amendments that would have pushed the vote on the Confederate flag issue to a statewide referendum (36-3), allow the flag to flown on Statehouse grounds on Confederate Memorial Day (22-17) or replace the current flag with the First National Flag of the Confederate States of America (34-6). Now, various senators are taking turns speaking about the issue. No one has yet made a motion to vote on the bill that would remove the Confederate battle from the Statehouse grounds.1:50 p.m. update: After a short break, the Senate returned to debate the fate of the Statehouse s Confederate battle flag just after 1:15 p.m.Roebuck Republican Sen. Lee Bright s amendment has already died on a 36-3 vote. It would have placed the fate of the flag in the hands of voters.The Senate has now moved to discuss an amendment by Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens. It would allow for the flag to be flown at the Confederate Soldier Monument on Confederate Memorial Day, which is May 10. Verdin has the floor.COLUMBIA It s been a morning of impassioned speeches in the South Carolina Senate, as lawmakers brace for discussion on a bill that will determine the fate of the Confederate battle flag on the Statehouse s grounds.The Senate is on recess until 1 p.m. Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman said the heads of both the GOP and Democratic Caucus asked for body to break for a recess so that the caucuses could meet. But lawmakers are still planning on discussing the bill today. My intent is to give it second reading today and my intent would be to give it third reading tomorrow, Leatherman said. Will the Senate do that? Don t know. But we ll try to head in that direction. If the bill follows Leatherman s planned track, it ll be before the House for a vote on Wednesday. Only one amendment has been proposed in the Senate so far.Roebuck Republican Sen. Lee Bright s amendment would place the fate of the banner in the hands of voters. When the bill crosses the hall, it ll likely be met with an amendment by Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, who said he d like to see the battle flag replaced with Bonnie Blue.Meanwhile, members from both sides of the aisle have made speeches calling for the flag s removal this morning, including Pickens Republican Sen. Larry Martin, who said his view on the flag changed after the shooting that took the lives of nine churchgoers in Charleston on June 17.Martin said he looked at the flag as if it was given some sort of official status, because it flies on the capitol s grounds. That doesn t represent all of the people of South Carolina, Martin said. It isn t part of our future. It s part of our past. A two-thirds vote in each chamber is needed to do anything with any monument on the capitol s grounds, including the battle flag which is part of the Confederate Soldier Monument. That vote threshold has been met, according to a survey by The Post and Courier.Outside the Statehouse, dozens of protesters began to arrive Monday morning. Some called for the flag to come down. Others, such as Nelson Waller in his rebel flag tie, said the state was giving in to Northern liberals and civil rights activists. Waller carried a sign that read Keep the flag. Dump Nikki! Two decades ago, he carried a Dump Beasley sign after then-Gov. David Beasley made an unsuccessful attempt to get the Confederate flag off the Statehouse dome. | 0 | [
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FMD3141 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: JERUSALEM — He is president of the American arm for a yeshiva in a settlement deep in the West Bank headed by a militant rabbi who has called for Israeli soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlers. He writes a column for a Israeli news site in which he has accused President Obama of “blatant †dismissed the solution to the conflict, likened a liberal group to “kapos†who cooperated with the Nazis, and said American Jewish leaders “failed†Israel on the Iran nuclear deal. He also supports United Hatzalah, an Israeli emergency medical services group that prides itself on integrating Arab and Druze volunteers helped build a $42 million village for disabled children — Bedouin and Jewish — in the Negev Desert and is known as an affable host of large holiday meals at the penthouse apartment he owns in a Jerusalem neighborhood. Now, David M. Friedman, an Orthodox Jewish bankruptcy lawyer from Long Island, is Donald J. Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel, despite his lack of diplomatic experience and frequent statements that flout decades of bipartisan American policy. “Bankruptcy law and involvement with settlements are not normally seen as an appropriate qualifications for the job,†one of its former occupants, Martin S. Indyk, said on Friday. “But then these are not normal times. †Mr. Friedman, 58, has done legal work for Mr. Trump since at least 2001, when he handled negotiations with bondholders on Mr. Trump’s struggling casinos in Atlantic City. Mr. Friedman represented Mr. Trump’s personal interests in the bankruptcies of the casinos in 2004, 2009 and 2014. Their relationship was cemented in 2005, friends said, when Mr. Trump traveled three hours in a snowstorm to pay a condolence call on Mr. Friedman after the death of his father, a prominent Long Island rabbi. “He was very taken by Trump spending almost all day just to pay the shiva,†said Yossi Kahana, one of the two friends who described the visit, using the Hebrew term for the week of mourning. “Barely any people came, and here is Trump, coming and sitting with him and talking about things that are important to both of them, their values, their fathers and their legacies. †Mr. Friedman did not respond to an interview request made to his office. A person close to the Trump transition who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the ambassadorship had been negotiated directly between the two men over many months. Mr. Friedman, who donated a total of $50, 000 to the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2016, according to federal election records, had been openly saying even before the election that the job — one of the most sensitive and high profile in the diplomatic corps — would be his, according to friends. Israel’s conservative settlement supporters and their American backers rejoiced at the selection, while believers in a Palestinian state and the peace process were perplexed and close to despair. Mr. Friedman is a staunch opponent of basic tenets of Washington’s longstanding approach to much of the ambassadorial portfolio. He refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, something hard to imagine his predecessors doing publicly. Upon being nominated Thursday night, he said he looked forward to working “from the U. S. Embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem,†rather than Tel Aviv, where the American Embassy has been for decades, under the State Department’s insistence that the holy city’s status be determined as part of a broader deal between Israel and the Palestinians. The State Department has not allowed its ambassadors to set foot in West Bank settlements. Tax forms list Mr. Friedman as president of the American Friends of Bet El Yeshiva, which has raised about $2 million a year in recent years. He is also described as president of Bet El Institutions, which supports, among other things, the news site for which Mr. Friedman wrote columns, IsraelNationalNews. com, known as Arutz 7. Beit El, as the settlement is more usually spelled, was founded in 1977 and is now home to about 7, 000 religious residents. It was a hotbed of controversy in 2012 when the Israeli authorities followed a court order to evacuate 30 families from five buildings built illegally on private Palestinian land. According to an investigation by The Seventh Eye, an Israeli magazine, the contested neighborhood was built by a company linked to the one registered in the Marshall Islands that controls Arutz 7. Baruch Gordon, the director of development for Bet El Institutions, told Arutz 7 on Friday that it was “proud to be closely associated with Mr. Friedman,†calling him “a pioneer philanthropist and builder of Jewish institutions and housing projects in Judea and Samaria (a. k. a. the ‘West Bank’) and throughout the country. †Mr. Friedman, whose middle name is Melech — Hebrew for king — grew up in North Woodmere, N. Y. one of four children of Rabbi Morris S. Friedman, who held the pulpit at Temple Hillel there for 46 years. In October 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited the synagogue and went to the Friedman family home for lunch, perhaps an early political influence on the . He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1981, and has worked since 1994 at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres Friedman L. L. P. where he is a partner. The firm represented Mr. Trump in his unsuccessful libel lawsuit against a former New York Times reporter, Timothy L. O’Brien, and its founding partner, Marc E. Kasowitz, twice this year threatened to sue The Times in relation to articles it was preparing regarding Mr. Trump’s treatment of women and income tax returns. Mr. Friedman’s connections to Israel date back to his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall. Friends describe him as a strong Zionist who spends many Jewish holidays and most of his summers in his Jerusalem apartment. He and his wife are renowned for gathering people for dinners in their sukkah, a hut observant Jews build on their balconies during a fall harvest festival. “His whole life, he’s been focused and extremely thoughtful about Israel and about the political situation there,†said Philip Rosen, whose friendship with Mr. Friedman began in law school. Anon Geva, the founder of an Israeli winery in which Mr. Friedman’s son’s company invested, said Mr. Freidman had invited everyone connected with the winery — about 30 people — for dinner one year in the sukkah. Mr. Geva recalled Mr. Friedman saying that he decided to buy a home in Jerusalem on the day in 2002 that a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at Café Moment, a popular bar in the city, killing 11 Israelis. Mr. Kahana, who directs a task force on disabilities for the Jewish National Fund, said Mr. Friedman and some friends raised and donated several hundred thousand dollars to help build Aleh Negev, the village for disabled people, a joint project of the fund and the Israeli government. “He visited, and I must say, he was very concerned that this village is not only for Jewish kids, that it is also for Bedouin kids,†Mr. Kahana said. He called Mr. Friedman “very generous, very caring for needy people and especially people with disabilities. †Mr. Rosen, who was of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012 and Senator Marco Rubio’s 2016 bid, said Mr. Friedman had developed a strong rapport with Mr. Trump that would allow him to be effective as his envoy. “They’ve worked together closely for a very long time, and he knows what Donald is thinking, and what Donald wants to accomplish,†Mr. Rosen said. Many of Mr. Friedman’s views are far to the right of the stated positions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has endorsed the principle of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Mr. Netanyahu did not respond to Mr. Friedman’s selection, nor did Israel’s Foreign Ministry. But the deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely, who hails from the right flank of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party, rushed to praise it, saying, “His positions reflect the desire to strengthen the standing of Israel’s capital Jerusalem at this time and to underscore that the settlements have never been the true problem in the area. †A senior Palestinian cleric, Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, said during Friday Prayers that if Mr. Friedman managed to move the embassy to Jerusalem, “the U. S. is declaring a new war on the Palestinians and all Muslim Arabs. †Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told reporters in the West Bank on Friday that Mr. Trump’s appointments were “his business,†but that it was “not up to Trump or anybody else†to take steps like moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Daniel C. Kurtzer, who served President George W. Bush as ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005, was alarmed by the appointment. “He has made clear that he will appeal to a small minority of Israeli — and American — extremists, ignoring the majority of Israelis who continue to seek peace,†Mr. Kurtzer, now a professor at Princeton, said in an interview. “Friedman’s appointment as ambassador runs directly contrary to Mr. Trump’s professed desire to make the ‘ultimate deal’ between Israelis and Palestinians. †| 1 | [
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FMD3142 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Putin Acknowledge Biden's Win Before Mitch McConnell? Claim summaries: Some onlookers attempted to read between the lines of the two leaders' remarks.
contextual information: Voting in the 2020 U.S. Election may be over, but the misinformation keeps on ticking. Never stop fact-checking. Follow our post-election coverage here. here On Dec. 15, 2020 the day after the U.S. Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden as America's 46th President the tweet displayed below alleged Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Biden's victory over President Donald Trump before U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did. U.S. Electoral College Joe Biden tweet Donald Trump The claim was accurate, and we unpack why below. It followed weeks of both leaders' remaining quiet on the election's outcome amid court battles and an aggressive misinformation campaign by Trump to try to overturn his loss. misinformation campaign Let us lay out the timeline. At 10:20 a.m. Moscow standard time, which is 2:20 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) in the U.S., on Dec. 15, the Kremlin released a statement in which Putin congratulated Biden on winning the presidential race and wished him "every success." The statement read: released a statement In his message, Vladimir Putin wished the President-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the United States, which bear special responsibility for global security and stability, can, despite their differences, effectively contribute to solving many problems and meeting challenges that the world is facing today. The President of Russia noted that with this in mind, Russian-American cooperation, based on the principles of equality and mutual respect, would meet the interests of both nations and the entire international community. 'For my part, I am ready for interaction and contacts with you,' Russias Head of State stressed. Hours later, McConnell, a Republican, acknowledged the victory for Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for the first time in a prepared speech on the Senate floor. Kamala Harris According to a video of the remarks on the Majority Leader's YouTube channel footage that was uploaded to the video platform around 11 a.m. EST and also appeared on his official website as a Kentucky senator McConnell said: official website as a Kentucky senator The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The President-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years. I also congratulate the Vice President-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris. Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female Vice President-elect for the first time. News outlets, including MSNBC, first reported on McConnell's remarks around 10:20 a.m. (ET). A tweet from McConnell's press team with a link to the YouTube video posted less than 30 minutes later, at 10:47 a.m. tweet Some onlookers on social media speculated McConnell purposefully waited for Putin's statement on the election before making his own. "It has always been Putin pulling their strings, not Trump," one Twitter user alleged, referring to Republican leadership. Twitter user But there was no evidence to explicitly explain why or under what rationale the senator made his comments on the Senate floor, congratulating Biden more than a month after he was announced the next head of the White House. Also unknown was if or to what extent he at all considered Putin's statement hours prior signifying a new chapter in U.S.-Russia relations. All of that said, the Kentucky Republican recognized a Biden presidency roughly eight hours after the Russian leader. For that reason, we rate this claim | 1 | [
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FMD3143 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: AIG Quadruples Limits for Terrorism Insurance to $1 Billion
26 October 2016 , by Sonali Basak (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-26/aig-quadruples-limits-for-terrorism-to-1-billion-as-fear-climbs
- AIG seeks to respond to terrorist attacks worldwide
- Insurer has hired more than 600 engineers to manage risk | 0 | [
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FMD3144 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proposed a $34.8 billion fiscal 2017 state budget on Tuesday that relies on a modest 3.1 percent revenue growth and no tax hikes. It was Christie’s first major address to New Jerseyans since he returned home after ending his run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination last week. He thanked residents for that “great privilege.†“While the result was not what I had hoped for, and maybe some of you too, the experience has made me a better governor, a better American and it’s made me a better person,†he said. Christie spent more than half of 2015 out of state, much of it campaigning, and in a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll on Tuesday just 29 percent of registered New Jersey voters had a favorable opinion of him, his lowest level yet. Gone from Christie’s address was the broad national tone that dominated so many of his recent speeches. Instead he spoke, albeit briefly, about the need to fund transportation projects, a key state issue. Christie’s spending plan, which he said was built on “fiscal restraint,†included $250 million in savings from yet-to-come cost reductions in health benefits for public employees. The cost cuts could come through required use of generic drugs and increased co-pays, examples from a Treasury briefing for reporters before Christie’s address to lawmakers in the statehouse. Christie’s budget could find favor with Wall Street credit rating agencies. Since he took office in January 2010, New Jersey has been hit with nine downgrades in part because of overly optimistic revenue projections and the use of non-recurring revenue sources. The governor’s latest spending plan addressed both issues, with estimated revenue growth of just 3.1 percent. The proposed plan overall is just 2.2 percent larger than the $34 billion of appropriations for fiscal 2016, which ends on June 30. It also slashes reliance on one-shot revenues, to 0.7 percent of the total budget from 2.9 percent this fiscal year. The state’s underfunded public pension system is another sore spot for rating agencies. The governor proposed a $1.86 billion contribution in 2017, the biggest amount ever for New Jersey, but still less than half of what the state should be contributing to keep the system healthy, according to actuaries. Democrats, who control the legislature, said Christie skirted real proposals for healthcare savings or transportation funding, which they have said could be paid for with a state gasoline tax hike. | 1 | [
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FMD3145 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Description advertising racist wear from Facebook: White folk or those who see themselves as white are given said power inherently regardless of socioeconomic class, education etc. This is why white men created race in the first place to maintain power. Racism gave birth to the idea of race. This is a [sic] oversimplified definition Fast forward to today, where the student government at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said on Wednesday that black students should be offered free tuition and housing because blacks were legally barred from education during slavery and university remains out of reach for black students today.The Associated Students of Madison said in a resolution that suburban high school students are over-represented. The group said consideration of ACT and SAT scores in applications upholds white supremacy because it restricts opportunities for the poor.The college has proposed measures aimed at improving diversity.So what about Native Americans? What about Asians, Hispanics, refugees, Eskimos, European immigrants, descendants of the holocaust who died before we entered the fight? And what about the Irish who were treated horribly by other immigrants right here in America, after fleeing their homeland to escape the potato famine? What about descendants of Salem Witch trials? What about families who lost their primary bread winner fighting for our nation overseas, or as a first responder? Are they not worthy of a FREE education? What about poor white people? You know, there is such a thing. Despite what these snowflakes and their radical leftist educators would like you to believe, there are actually white families who struggle to make ends meet and live in ghettos or dirt-poor rural areas. Where does it stop? And who gets to decide that the only protected and special group who deserves a FREE college education are blacks? The proposal calls for 10 percent of donations from the college to bolster financial aid and study the feasibility of test-optional and geographically weighted admissions.Madison enrollment is currently made up of about two-percent of black students.University spokeswoman Meredith McGlone noted that the proportion of students of color has grown from 11 percent to 15 percent over the last decade.McGlone said the Chancellor proposed giving first-generation transfers from two-year schools free tuition for a year, contingent on funding in state budget, and a recent $10 million donation will be invested in expanding the Chancellor s Scholarship Program.-FOX News | 0 | [
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FMD3146 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Saudi authorities are striking agreements with some of those detained in an anti-corruption crackdown, asking them to hand over assets and cash in return for their freedom, sources familiar with the matter said. The deals involve separating cash from assets like property and shares, and looking at bank accounts to assess cash values, one of the sources told Reuters. Dozens of princes, senior officials and businessmen, including cabinet ministers and billionaires, have been detained in the graft inquiry at least partly aimed at strengthening the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. These include billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the kingdom s most prominent businessmen. One businessman had tens of millions of Saudi riyals withdrawn from his account after he signed. In another case, a former senior official consented to hand over ownership of four billion riyals worth of shares, the source said. The Saudi government earlier this week moved from freezing accounts to issuing instructions for expropriation of unencumbered assets or seizure of assets, said a second source familiar with the situation. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government on the deals and the sources declined to be identified because these agreements are not public. Analysts said the deals may help end uncertainty about the anti-corruption crackdown but could have an impact on Saudi Arabia s risk perception among investors. Eliminating uncertainty about what the Saudi authorities are going to do goes a long way toward giving the market comfort that the regime is getting its house in order, and plugging its deficit, said Louis Gargour, founder and senior portfolio manager at London-based hedge fund LNG Capital. Riyadh has been cutting spending while raising taxes and fees to curb a state budget deficit caused by low oil prices. The deficit, which hit $98 billion in 2015, is shrinking but at a high cost to the economy | 1 | [
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FMD3147 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Old Navy posted a completely innocent photo of an interracial family to Twitter over the weekend. Despite the fact that is 2016, racists almost instantly began attacking Old Navy for helping to support white genocide. This just proves once again that any type of inclusion in society terrifies racists.Here is the photo that ruined every racists day. The photo simply shows an interracial family standing together, in the way almost every family seems to pose for an Old Navy advertisement.Oh, happy day! Our #ThankYouEvent is finally here. Take 30% off your entire purchase: https://t.co/nGQ9Pji1pN pic.twitter.com/vq4mIczm6A Old Navy Official (@OldNavy) April 29, 2016White genocide is a racist conspiracy theory. Those who believe in it think that racial equality is a covert attempt to exterminate the white race. They view any display of racial diversity as a part of a giant brainwashing scheme cooked up by people who hate white people. Of course, displays of racial diversity are really just showing the reality of the world. Reality being something these racist trolls seem to have completely distanced themselves from.My family and I will never step into an @OldNavy store again. This miscegenation junk is rammed down our throats from every direction. Cultural Combat (@CulturalCombat) April 29, 2016What's this? A sick joke where the white guy doesn't realize it's not his kid? A commercial for cuckoldry?#WhiteGenocide@OldNavy Viva Europa (@realVivaEuropa) May 2, 2016Open Borders + Forced Integration + Multiracial everything 24/7 + Mixed future for WHITES = #WhiteGenocide. @OldNavy pic.twitter.com/oLoRA1u6wT Ann Kelly (@LadyAodh) May 1, 2016Fortunately, the racist trolls received more condemnation than they could throw out. Many people, angry at the racist attacks being launched at Old Navy, began to post photos of their multi-racial families in response. The images speak volumes as to just how absolutely ridiculous and hate filled these racist trolls actually are.Hey @OldNavy, my family and I thank you for the diversity in this ad! #LoveWins, no matter the color pic.twitter.com/TjgYUPMGu4 KHARY PENEBAKER (@kharyp) May 1, 2016.@kharyp @OldNavy Thank You Old Navy! Interracial families are beautiful and we appreciate the representation! pic.twitter.com/kVNuGHfAB9 Noelle Devoe (@Noelle_CD) May 2, 2016.@OldNavy Props on this ad! My family and I appreciate it. #RepresentationMatters pic.twitter.com/ZXQ8YbT0QS Austin Null (@thenivenulls) May 2, 2016@thenivenulls @OldNavy yes it does!! pic.twitter.com/i9oiyq0fUX Tiara Henderson (@Disneymommy22) May 2, 2016It s sad that these racist clowns exist in the first place but they do have a tendency to bring out some of the most beautiful responses to their ignorance. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously said Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. What could possibly be more beautiful than family?Thank you once again social media. You re the only thing that can both destroy a person s faith in humanity and restore it in just a few minutes.Featured image from Twitter | 0 | [
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FMD3148 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: South Sudan s President Salva Kiir has ordered that humanitarian aid convoys be allowed to move freely, unhindered and unimpeded around the country, two weeks after the United States said it had lost trust in his government and threatened to pull support. The Nov. 9 order, seen by Reuters, directs that all roadblocks should be removed, all levels of government must assist aid groups, and anyone who obstructs aid or imposes taxes on aid convoys shall be held accountable. The move came two weeks after U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley met with Kiir in Juba. She was the first member of President Donald Trump s cabinet to visit South Sudan, which spiraled into civil war in late 2013, two years after gaining independence from Sudan. Haley said Washington had lost trust in Kiir s government for fueling the civil war, and demanded that Kiir allow full and consistent humanitarian aid access. This is a good sign, but we must see actions | 1 | [
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FMD3149 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: German Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz said that, if elected chancellor, he would push for the EU to cut subsidies to countries that do not take in refugees. With me as chancellor we won t accept that solidarity as a principle is questioned, Schulz said on Tuesday at a conference of a business lobbying group with ties to his party.On Monday, Orb n told the Hungarian parliament that his country will not give in to blackmail from Brussels and we reject the mandatory relocation quota. Schulz shot back swiftly at Orb n in his speech on Tuesday.His comments came as the European Commission voted to launch infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary for not taking in refugees under a mandatory 2015 quota system advocated by Germany that aimed to relocate 160,000 refugees across the Continent.Hungary s badass Prime Minister Viktor Orb n has consistently stood up to leftist EU bullies who are demanding that all EU nations take their fair share of the mass influx of mostly Muslim refugees. We shall not allow others to tell us whom we can let into our home and country, whom we can live alongside. Prime Minister Viktor Orb nWatch Prime Minister Viktor Orb n s historic speech in March, 2016, where he demands other European leaders find their backbone and save Europe before it s too late. His speech will make you want to stand up and cheer! Mr.Orb n says That s a German problem, Schulz said. Let me make this perfectly clear: When it comes to agricultural policy, it s all Yes, please. When it comes to subsidies, it s all Yes, please. And when it comes to solidarity in refugee policy, it s No, thank you that s not acceptable. German Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz said that, if elected chancellor, he would push for the EU to cut subsidies to countries that do not take in refugees. With me as chancellor we won t accept that solidarity as a principle is questioned, Schulz said on Tuesday at a conference of a business lobbying group with ties to his party.His comments came as the European Commission voted to launch infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary for not taking in refugees under a mandatory 2015 quota system advocated by Germany that aimed to relocate 160,000 refugees across the Continent.East European leaders, particularly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb n, have repeatedly railed against the EU resettlement plan. Politico | 0 | [
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FMD3150 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: One Uber vehicle and two other taxis were torched in South Africa s main business district on Thursday night in a feud over fares, but no one was injured, Uber and police said on Friday. The vehicles were set alight in the wealthy Sandton district near the Gautrain station, a popular pick-up point for taxis where previous attacks on Uber vehicles have taken place. It was not clear who torched the vehicles. Uber [UBER.UL] drivers around the world have faced threats and protests from regular taxi operators, who say cheap fares from Uber drivers are forcing them out of business. All the drivers of the cars escaped unharmed. It is suspected that the incident is related to the ongoing fight between the metered taxis and the Ubers, police spokesman Captain Mavela Masondo said. A fourth car had its back window smashed in, he said. On Friday, police officers patrolled the street outside the Gautrain station, which is opposite the Reuters offices. Samantha Allenberg, Uber s communications head for Africa, said only one of the torched vehicles belonged to Uber. One of the torched vehicles was likely from a different ride-hailing service, Allenberg said. We really need the government to do more here. The violence and intimidation is simply unacceptable, she said. Uber has met the minister of transport and law enforcement agencies several times over similar incidents, she said. Footage of the burning vehicles circulated on social media. Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi said those behind the violence and intimidation would face the law. More than 6,000 vehicles use the e-hailing Uber application to find customers in South Africa, where the service has grown swiftly as public transport has not kept up with the rising population in sprawling cities. Uber operates in more than 600 cities and has faced protests in France, Brazil and Hungary, and Uber drivers have been threatened or attacked in Kenya, Costa Rica, and Australia. | 1 | [
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FMD3151 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Australia is trying to move asylum seekers held in one of its two remote Pacific detention centers to the second camp, a notice seen by Reuters shows, as Canberra seeks a way to close one down. Men held on Papua New Guinea s Manus Island can move to the center on the tiny island nation of Nauru if they have been awarded refugee status and are being considered for U.S. resettlement, the letter posted in the camp and seen by Reuters shows. Refugees in the United States process can now apply for transfer to Nauru, the letter read. The Manus camp only holds men. The letter marks Australia s latest attempt to empty the Manus center, which is scheduled to close on Oct. 31. Under Canberra s hardline immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia are sent for processing at the Manus and Nauru camps. They are told they will never be settled in Australia. More than 20 men left to be resettled in the United States last month, the first part of a refugee swap between the Washington and Canberra which U.S. President Donald Trump has branded a dumb deal . But nearly 800 remain in the Manus camp and nearly all are refusing to move to a nearby transit center, citing fears for their safety. The refugees have not left the detention center despite the government s efforts to push them out in the past few months, said Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish journalist held on Manus. Many have been awarded refugee status and are eligible for U.S resettlement under the deal Australia secured with former U.S. president Barack Obama late last year. The United States will resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held on PNG and Nauru. In exchange, Australia agreed to take several dozen Central American refugees. Australia will begin resettling several dozen Central American refugees within weeks. Any transfer will further strain conditions on Nauru, where more than 1,200 men, women and children have been for four years in a camp widely criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups for abuses, including sexual abuse, and self-harming. | 1 | [
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FMD3152 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Russian journalists and media outlets are regularly attacked and oppressed by Baltic states' authorities. Websites of Sputnik Lithuania and Sputnik Latvia were blocked for some time, recently Estonian authorities made Sputnik Estonia payments problematic claiming that the money is terroristic. Given that no Media Law exists in Estonia, there is no such thing as official accreditation, hence who will be considered a propagandist depends on what will be on the mind of a certain bureaucrat. It looks like a consecutive sanction wave against Russia is coming. WADA statement to ban Russia from the Olympics, events around Sputnik offices in the Baltic countries, and Zelenskyy's visit to the Baltics are all parts of one chain. | 0 | [
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FMD3153 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: There are 3.6 million jobs sitting vacant, in part because there arent enough qualified applicants to fill them.
contextual information: Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., recently took to the House floor to tout abillshes sponsoring that would change the structure of job training programs. She warned that the economy faces a paradox -- despite historically high unemployment rates, many jobs are going vacant.There are 3.6 million jobs sitting vacant, in part because there arent enough qualified applicants to fill them, Foxx said in the March 12, 2013,speech.To check Foxxs claim, we turned to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal governments scorekeeper on employment data.We easily found the source of her 3.6 million figure. It comes from a monthly survey called the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS. Themost recent seasonally adjusted dataat the time of Foxxs speech covered January 2013. It showed that there were just under 3.7 million job openings in January, which was up slightly from 3.6 million in December 2012.So Foxx essentially got the number right. However, her use of the term sitting vacant and her warning about a shortage of qualified applicants suggests that employers are having trouble filling these 3.6 million jobs. A close look at the survey reveals it doesnt actually support that thesis.The bureaus official definition of a job opening is a specific position of employment to be filled at an establishment that satisfy these conditions: there is work available for that position, the job could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting for the position.But there are always job openings -- even in a healthy economy. In a phenomenon known as churn, people change jobs. Just because their old job is unoccupied when the BLS takes its monthly data snapshot doesnt necessarily mean that the employer is having trouble filling the job. Rather, the employer could simply be going through the process of hiring, with the job filled a month later.The data from this survey has important limitations, said Steven J. Davis, an economist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, because it provides little information about the distribution of vacancy durations and no direct information about the reason why some job openings take a long time to fill.In some ways, vacancies are actually a hallmark of a healthy economy. Job openings often arise either because someone leaves one job for a better one, or because a company is hiring new workers. Both are positive signs. If you look at the monthly December job opening totals going back a decade, the years just prior to the recession had the most job openings, while the years during and immediately after the recession hit had the least job vacancies:2012:3.6 million2011:3.5 million2010:2.9 million2009:2.5 million2008:3.2 million2007:4.0 million2006:4.4 million2005:3.9 million2004:3.5 million2003:2.9 millionBut while the number Foxx used doesnt provide much support for her claim, other evidence, both anecdotal and statistical, suggests that she has a point that theres a problem with unfilled jobs today.The most solid evidence for a lengthening of job vacancies comes from astudyby Davis, R. Jason Faberman and John C. Haltiwanger. It found that the time before a vacancy is filled has expanded from 15 days in 2009 to 23 today. As a result, the job vacancy rate and the unemployment rate, which historically have moved in tandem,began to divergeduring the most recent recession and have not yet returned to their historical pattern.Why is this happening? Foxxs office provided links to avarietyofnewsreportsthatsuggesta mismatch between applicants job skills and the ones employers are seeking. Economists agree that that is part of the issue, particularly with high-skill jobs. But its probably not the only reason.For instance, there appears to be a hiring paralysis among employers who are acting with unusual caution because they are uncertain whether the economy will remain strong rather than stagnating, according to economists and hiring professionals quoted in theNew York Timesearlier this year. This has sometimes led to employers piling on extra tests and rounds of interviews as a way of stalling, experts told theTimes.Our rulingFoxx said, There are 3.6 million jobs sitting vacant, in part because there arent enough qualified applicants to fill them. Shes right that there are 3.6 million vacancies and she's right that there aren't enough qualified job applicants, but she wrong to link the two because that statistic doesnt take into account how long a job has been open. Still, there is strong evidence that the duration of job vacancies has grown since the onset of the most recent recession, and the skills mismatch Foxx cites is likely part of the reason. We rate her claim Mostly True. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD3154 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Today, for the first time in fifteen years, Master Locks unionized plant in Milwaukee is running at full capacity.
contextual information: President Barack Obama hailed the return of manufacturing jobs that had been shipped overseas during his State of the Union speech on Jan. 24, 2012. The president discussed companies that have brought back production after labor problems in China, economic issues and higher shipping rates added to costs.Obama said: We cant bring every job back thats left our shore. But right now, its getting more expensive to do business in places like China. Meanwhile, America is more productive.He added: A few weeks ago, the CEO of Master Lock told me that it now makes business sense for him to bring jobs back home. Today, for the first time in 15 years, Master Locks unionized plant in Milwaukee is running at full capacity.Master Lock hasnt had this much publicity since it ran those Tough Under FireSuper Bowl adsshowing their product surviving a sharpshooters bullet. Those ads ran for 20 years, starting in the mid-1970s.So whats the latest at the companys huge central city plant?The lock maker, a division of Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc., was founded in Milwaukee in 1921.Fifteen years ago, Master Lock had about 1,154 workers at its Milwaukee plant, 2600 N. 32nd Street, a sprawling facility thats been described as the size of seven football fields. That year, Master Lock announced that it would begin importing locks from China, a move that began a string of large job reductions in Milwaukee.Two years later, the company announced that it would open a lock assembly factory in Nogales, Mexico. Because of the outsourcing and competition from those cheaper locks made elsewhere, employment in the Milwaukee plant fell to about 270 employees in 2003, the company said.The cost advantages of overseas production began to decline in the late 2000s. By the end of 2010, the company said, several dozen jobs were moved back to Milwaukee. Employment grew to 379,news reportssaid.In early 2011, company executives used the full capacity description of production in a Journal Sentinel story about the return of the outsourced jobs. That message returned at a White House meeting in January 2012, and again in the State of the Union address.The White House meeting was a in-sourcing forum. At that event, the presidentsingled outMaster Lock for praise.The company says employment in Milwaukee is now 412. Master Lock still operates factories in China and Mexico.So what does it mean when the company and Obama say that the plant is operating at full capacity? After all, there are nearly 750 fewer people working there than 15 years ago.Without providing specifics or revenue figures, Master Lock said in a written statement that the Milwaukee plant is a far different operation than it was in 1997.The Milwaukee plant is producing parts and components at a much higher volume than in 1997, reflecting our regained market share and Master Lock's overall revenue growth, which is approximately double 1997 revenues, the company said. Moreover, Milwaukee-made production is now being sold directly to Master Lock customers in China, reflecting its new competitiveness.Master Lock said it decided to re-size and convert Milwaukee into a more automated and highly efficient manufacturer of parts and components regardless of final assembly destination.Such lean manufacturing efforts have paid off for many companies, said Nick Hayes, a partner with FiveTwelve Group Ltd., a business research and consulting firm in Milwaukee.Manufacturers can become far more efficient by using automation, high-tech equipment and streamlining the way they move supplies and inventory around a factory, he said.Hayes offered an example of a factory he worked with that adopted lean manufacturing. The company downsized from a 60,000 square foot factory and 100 workers to one that was two-thirds smaller, with half the work force. Production increased 10-fold.The question I would have for Master Lock is how primitive were they before? Hayes said.Consumer demand for the product is another critical factor, he said. And Master Lock indicated that sales had increased.Without providing specifics, Master Lock said it hoped to continue to add jobs in Milwaukee.We plan to invest in the plant this year to add capacity as we in-source more work. We are also investing in training and working with area technical colleges and universities to find and equip skilled workers.Our conclusionObama singled out Master Lock saying the company brought back outsourced jobs and is operating at capacity for the first time in 15 years. Thats the same thing Master Lock executives said more than a year ago, and theyve continued to add jobs and said they would continue to do so. It also tracks with their efforts to attract a more highly skilled work force to run an updated operation.We rate Obamas statement True. | 1 | [
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FMD3155 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe s wife Grace has sued a Belgium-based businessman for failing to deliver a $1.35 million ring she ordered for a wedding anniversary, state media reported on Wednesday. Grace, 52, an influential figure in Mugabe s ruling ZANU-PF party and seen as a potential successor to her husband, is nicknamed Gucci Grace for her reputed dedication to shopping. But she and her 93-year-old husband have kept their assets under wraps despite frequent local private media reports on Grace buying properties in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The Herald, a government-controlled newspaper, reported that Grace was suing businessman Jamal Hamed after a deal to have Hamed supply the First Lady with a diamond ring turned sour. Grace s spokeswoman Olga Bungu could not be reached for comment on Wednesday while her lawyer Wilson Manase, who filed the papers at the High Court, was said to be attending court. In court papers seen by the Herald, Grace said she had in 2015 ordered the ring for her 20-year wedding anniversary last year but Hamed failed to deliver and refunded her only $120,000. The First Lady asked the High Court to attach properties and three companies owned by Hamed in Harare, the Herald said. Hamed told Reuters from Belgium that he had not been served with the court papers. His Harare-based lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said she had not seen the papers. We have not received anything at all and I am not in Harare to be served any claim or false allegations, Hamed said. In Zimbabwe, at least 8 out of 10 potential workers are unemployed. The average national monthly income is $200 and news of the million-dollar ring was immediately greeted with scorn on social media. Mugabe, who says he leads a frugal life, and Grace own a dairy company and several farms near Harare. The two have never responded to media reports that they own several properties. Last year, Hamed accused Grace of seizing his Harare properties following the dispute and asked the High Court to intervene. He then said Grace had threatened her if he ever returned to Zimbabwe. Grace, through her lawyer Manase, denied all the accusations. | 1 | [
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FMD3156 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A Tennessee state lawmaker was accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with 22 women over a four-year period in a state attorney general’s report released on Wednesday. Republican Representative Jeremy Durham repeatedly made unwelcomed advances toward female legislative staff, interns and lobbyists since being elected in 2012, according to a report issued to a legislative committee investigating his conduct. Durham declined to be interviewed by investigators, the report said, and he was not immediately available for comment. “The investigation has been a politically motivated, unfair and unconstitutional process,†said Durham’s attorney Bill Harbison in a statement to the Nashville CBS affiliate News Channel 5. The report details interviews with 22 unnamed women who described numerous occasions when the married legislator flirted and made suggestive sexual comments or physical advances toward them. In one case, Durham had sex with an 20-year-old campaign worker in his legislative office and again in his home. On several occasions, he sent text messages or used social media to make “inappropriate†comments to several women. One of the women described the messages as “terribly inappropriate†while another said his behavior “creeped her out.†A lobbyist told investigators that Durham suggested he would vote for a bill she was promoting if she entertained his advances. “I’m for your bill but I’m going to expect something in return,†he told her according to the report. In a memo attached to the report, the committee said it will leave Durham’s fate to the voters as he is up for re-election in November. | 1 | [
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FMD3157 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: For the first time since a cholera epidemic believed to be imported by United Nations peacekeepers began killing thousands of Haitians nearly six years ago, the office of Secretary General Ban has acknowledged that the United Nations played a role in the initial outbreak and that a “significant new set of U. N. actions†will be needed to respond to the crisis. The deputy spokesman for the secretary general, Farhan Haq, said in an email this week that “over the past year, the U. N. has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera. †He added that a “new response will be presented publicly within the next two months, once it has been fully elaborated, agreed with the Haitian authorities and discussed with member states. †The statement comes on the heels of a confidential report sent to Mr. Ban by a longtime United Nations adviser on Aug. 8. Written by Philip Alston, a New York University law professor who serves as one of a few dozen experts, known as special rapporteurs, who advise the organization on human rights issues, the draft language stated plainly that the epidemic “would not have broken out but for the actions of the United Nations. †The secretary general’s acknowledgment, by contrast, stopped short of saying that the United Nations specifically caused the epidemic. Nor does it indicate a change in the organization’s legal position that it is absolutely immune from legal actions, including a federal lawsuit brought in the United States on behalf of cholera victims seeking billions in damages stemming from the Haiti crisis. But it represents a significant shift after more than five years of denial of any involvement or responsibility of the United Nations in the outbreak, which has killed at least 10, 000 people and sickened hundreds of thousands. Cholera victims suffer from dehydration caused by severe diarrhea or vomiting. Special rapporteurs’ reports are technically independent guidance, which the United Nations can accept or reject. United Nations officials have until the end of this week to respond to the report, which will then go through revisions, but the statement suggests a new receptivity to its criticism. In the report, obtained from an official who had access to it, Mr. Alston took issue with the United Nations’ public handling of the outbreak, which was first documented in 2010, shortly after people living along the Meille River began dying from the disease. The first victims lived near a base housing 454 United Nations peacekeepers freshly arrived from Nepal, where a cholera outbreak was underway, and waste from the base often leaked into the river. Numerous scientists have since argued that the base was the only plausible source of the outbreak — whose real death toll, one study found, could be much higher than the official numbers state — but United Nations officials have consistently insisted that its origins remain up for debate. Mr. Alston wrote that the United Nations’ Haiti cholera policy “is morally unconscionable, legally indefensible and politically . †He added, “It is also entirely unnecessary. †The organization’s continuing denial and refusal to make reparations to the victims, he argued, “upholds a double standard according to which the U. N. insists that member states respect human rights, while rejecting any such responsibility for itself. †He said, “It provides highly combustible fuel for those who claim that U. N. peacekeeping operations trample on the rights of those being protected, and it undermines both the U. N.’s overall credibility and the integrity of the Office of the . †Mr. Alston went beyond criticizing the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to blame the entire United Nations system. “As the magnitude of the disaster became known, key international officials carefully avoided acknowledging that the outbreak had resulted from discharges from the camp,†he noted. His most severe criticism was reserved for the organization’s Office of Legal Affairs, whose advice, he wrote, “has been permitted to override all of the other considerations that militate so powerfully in favor of seeking a constructive and just solution. †Its interpretations, he said, have “trumped the rule of law. †Mr. Alston also argued in his report that, as The New York Times has reported, the United Nations’ cholera eradication program has failed. Infection rates have been rising every year in Haiti since 2014, as the organization struggles to raise the $2. 27 billion it says is needed to eradicate the disease from member states. No major water or sanitation projects have been completed in Haiti two pilot wastewater processing plants built there in the wake of the epidemic quickly closed because of a lack of donor funds. In a separate internal report released days ago after being withheld for nearly a year, United Nations auditors said a quarter of the sites run by the peacekeepers with the organization’s Stabilization Mission in Haiti, or Minustah, that they had visited were still discharging their waste into public canals as late as 2014, four years after the epidemic began. “Victims are living in fear because the disease is still out there,†Mario Joseph, a prominent Haitian human rights lawyer representing cholera victims, told demonstrators in last month. He added, “If the Nepalese contingent returns to defecate in the water again, they will get the disease again, only worse. †In 2011, when families of 5, 000 Haitian cholera victims petitioned the United Nations for redress, its Office of Legal Affairs simply declared their claims “not receivable. †(Mr. Alston called that argument “wholly unconvincing in legal terms. â€) Those families and others then sued the United Nations, including Mr. Ban and the former Minustah chief Edmond Mulet, in federal court in New York. (In November, Mr. Ban promoted Mr. Mulet to be his chief of staff.) The United Nations refused to appear in court, claiming diplomatic immunity under its charter, leaving Justice Department lawyers to defend it instead. That case is now pending a decision from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The redress demanded by families of the 10, 000 people killed and 800, 000 affected would reach $40 billion, Mr. Alston wrote — and that figure does not take into account “those certain to die and be infected in the years ahead. †“Since this is almost five times the total annual budget for peacekeeping worldwide, it is a figure that is understandably seen as prohibitive and unrealistic,†he said. Still, he argued: “The figure of $40 billion should stand as a warning of the consequences that could follow if national courts become convinced that the abdication policy is not just unconscionable but also legally unjustified. The best way to avoid that happening is for the United Nations to offer an appropriate remedy. †Mr. Alston, who declined to comment for this article, will present the final report at the opening of the General Assembly in September, when presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from nearly every country gather at United Nations headquarters in New York. Mr. Haq said the secretary general’s office “wanted to take this opportunity to welcome this vital report,†which he added “will be a valuable contribution to the U. N. as we work towards a significant new set of U. N. actions. †| 1 | [
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FMD3158 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Trump Say This About His Plans for a Second Term? Claim summaries: The president "has strained to define what his second-term agenda would be."
contextual information: During the build-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, President Donald Trump was often criticized for his inability to articulate any goals that he expected or hoped to accomplish during a second term in office if he were reelected. criticized A quote meme from late August 2020 reflected that criticism, putatively quoting the president as saying nothing concrete about his plans for the next four years other than that he would continue doing what he was already doing and would have "other things on [his] plate": This meme accurately reproduced a statement from Trump, although the meme's presenting it without any context made it sound like the statement was the only thing the president said about his plans for the next for years, which was not the case. On Aug. 26, The New York Times conducted a 40-minute interview with Trump over the telephone, covering his past three-plus years in office and the upcoming election. The Times' resulting article noted that the president had "strained lately to define what his second-term agenda would be" and quoted him as uttering the words reproduced in the above meme, but it also referenced Trump's offering "a list of what he has done and would continue to do," so the president did in fact provide some specifics about what he had, and wanted to, accomplish: article Beyond more of the same, [Trump] has strained lately to define what his second-term agenda would be. Asked at various points, even by friendly interviewers on Fox News, he has offered meandering answers. His fellow Republicans seem no more certain. They therefore dispensed with a party platform altogether, opting instead for a simple resolution of loyalty to the president. In the interview, Mr. Trump rattled off a list of what he has done and would continue to do, like increasing military spending, cutting taxes, eliminating regulations, reinforcing the border and appointing conservative judges. But so I think, I think it would be, I think it would be very, very, I think wed have a very, very solid, we would continue what were doing, wed solidify what weve done, and we have other things on our plate that we want to get done, he said. Baker, Peter. "Instead of Evolving as President, Trump Has Bent the Job to His Will."
The New York Times. 27 August 2020. | 1 | [
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FMD3159 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Nothing to see here just Obama evening the playing field by giving an ad hoc international tribunal the ability to overrule US laws and allow them to levy fines against the US the American taxpayer would be responsible for paying. It is really worrisome, said top House Ways and Means Committee Democrat Rep. Sandy Levin. Countries do not want to give away their jurisdiction away to some arbitrary panel, he added.At issue is the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty and a provision called Investor-State Dispute Settlement, or ISDS, that would let foreign firms challenge U.S. laws, potentially overruling those laws and resulting in fines to be paid by taxpayers. The provisions are becoming common in some trade deals between other nations.Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has warned that it would undermine U.S. sovereignty.Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions has also raised a concern about another phase in the legislation, living agreement. He and other experts say that phrase means that the treaty can be changed after Congress approves it.The Asia trade deal would be up first if Congress OK s the pending Trade Promotion Authority, which fast-tracks trade agreements. Levin said it is in trouble over concerns about the secret TPP.Is anyone else feeling exhausted by watching Josh the liar Earnest explain the corrupt Obama administration?At a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Levin appeared with Jeffrey Sachs, prominent international economist at Columbia University, who panned the provision as a bid by foreign companies to make an end run around tough U.S. laws and regulations. Essentially, ISDS allows companies to sue states in a special ad hoc tribunal that is outside the court systems and outside of the legal systems of the host countries, he warned. U.S. law, U.S. court findings, could be set aside by this ad hoc process really designed and pushed by the corporate sector which sees this as an end run around national law, he added.Levin also joined in Sessions demand that the Asia trade pact be opened to the public. Currently, it is being kept in secret and only those cleared to see it are allowed to. Levin said, for example, that he was barred from discussing some TPP provision with Sachs.The White House has dismissed the secrecy claims, but Sachs said, It is secret. I haven t seen it. I can t see it. Levin also said that the treaty would include communist Vietnam which has far different worker rights laws than the U.S. He recalled recently meeting with a Vietnamese woman who was thrown in jail for trying to form a union. There has to be changes, he demanded.Via: Washington Examiner | 0 | [
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FMD3160 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: We Are Change
On the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, its hypocrisy is exposed
November 2013 : Berkeley student government unanimously passes a bill to ban the term “illegal alien” from campus discourse.
September 2013 : After several Mexican-American members of the campus fraternity Delta Chi suggest hosting a quinceanera-themed party, the student government condemns the frat for “appropriating the culture” of Mexican-Americans.
December 2012 : Citing their “disapproval” of the viewpoints espoused by the second largest charity in the Unites States, the Berkeley student government passes a bill to boot Salvation Army donation boxes from campus, arguing the charity’s presence on campus creates a hostile and uncomfortable environment.
September 2011 : Berkeley’s student government unanimously passes a bill condemning disrespectful speech.
And on Friday, as UC Berkeley students and faculty wrapped up a week-long celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of its Free Speech Movement, the UC Berkeley College Republicans illustrated to our peers how the university has actually turned its back on the First Amendment.
To that end, club members stood in front of Sproul Hall holding a large banner that read “Free Speech [does not equal] Comfortable Speech” – and it got students’ attention, as the positive platitudes they’d heard all week about the movement were vehemently challenged.
According to the Berkeley College Republicans, the true essence of the Free Speech Movement has been lost in recent decades. The ideals of the movement have been discarded, replaced with notions such as tolerance and civility.
In the 1960s, students broke out from within the constraints of the status quo. They said the things parents and professors and peers were telling them not to. Today, and especially on the Berkeley campus, conservative students are the ones taking a stand, and yet we’re maligned and ostracized for it.
In the aftermath of the Berkeley College Republicans’ 2011 “Diversity Bake Sale,” the student government attempted to have the club de-funded due to the argument that the speech the club engaged in was disrespectful and uncomfortable.
Free speech, huh?
Our display on Friday intended to bring to light the many breaches of free speech that have taken place on campus, sponsored by organizations such as the student-body government at UC Berkeley.
Alongside the banner, club members passed out fliers containing a list of incidents in which campus leaders limited various students’ right to exercise their personal liberties.
The flier also attacked the campus for its recent movement to discontinue the exchange of academe between the UC system and Israeli universities, another example of UC Berkeley silencing any communication and discourse that may offend or upset some individuals.
There is a strange perversion of free speech taking place on this campus. It’s perfectly acceptable to occupy campus buildings and create pinatas out of the UC president’s image, but that’s only because the individuals in question fall under one school of thought. As soon as someone different comes along, and stirs the pot, they’re pointedly silenced.
Throughout the day, our club passed out hundreds of fliers and displayed our sign from the morning until late into the afternoon. Students came up and asked questions, and many seemed interested in the cause. Others were shocked to learn about the many times their campus – the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement – had overtly suppressed open dialogue.
“The people I talked to seemed to agree with the point our message was trying to get across,” said Edward Saenz, a member of the Berkeley College Republicans. “No one I talked to believed that free speech should have stipulations tied to it.”
College Fix contributor Claire Chiara is a student at UC Berkeley and president of the Berkeley College Republicans.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
IMAGES: Courtesy of Berkeley College Republicans
RELATED:
Student protesters at the University of California-Berkeley gathered in front of a bridge on campus and forcibly prevented white people from crossing it. Students of color were allowed to pass.
The massive human wall was conceived as a pro-safe space demonstration. Activists wanted the university administration to designate additional safe spaces for trans students, gay students, and students of color. They were apparently incensed that one of their official safe spaces had been moved from the fifth floor of a building to the basement.
According to video footage of the protest, demonstrators blocked off the bridge completely. Students who needed to get to class had no choice but to cross the stream by jumping from rock to rock. Dozens of people can be seen doing so.
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FMD3161 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Sabih al Masri, a Palestinian billionaire and Jordan s most influential businessman, was released after several days of detention in Saudi Arabia, the latest in a series of events marking the worst crackdown on the rich and powerful in the country s modern history. Masri, the chairman of Amman-based Arab Bank, the country s largest lender, was detained last Tuesday hours before he was planning to leave after chairing meetings of companies he owns, sources said. He said on Sunday Saudi authorities had given him all respect . The authorities have not commented on his detention, which came after his confidants had warned him against traveling to the Saudi capital following a series of mass arrests in early November, the sources said. Sources familiar with the case said he was questioned about his links to Saudi partners among the royals, ministers and officials who were rounded up in last month s crackdown. His case carried echoes of that of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who announced his resignation from Riyadh, drawing accusations from Lebanese officials that he had been coerced by the Saudis. Both the Saudis and Hariri denied that, but Hariri later rescinded his resignation. Masri s detention sent shockwaves through business circles in Jordan and the Palestinian territories. Masri s multi-billion- dollar investments in hotels and banking in Jordan are a cornerstone of the economy of the kingdom and he is by far the biggest investor in Palestinian territories. Arab Bank shares, which account for almost a quarter of the $24 billion market capitalization of the Amman exchange, ended just 1.44 percent lower at start of weekly trade as investor fears ebbed with news of his release. Officials and businessmen had warned of the reverberations of the crisis on an aid-strapped Jordanian economy already plagued by high debts. Saudi Arabia is a major donor. Masri has since taking the helm at Arab Bank in 2012 helped boost confidence in one of the Arab world s largest private financial institutions. The bank, which was first established in Jerusalem in 1930, has a balance sheet of over $45 billion and has earned a reputation of resilience in the face of regional political turmoil. Masri said on Sunday that he would be returning to Jordan after finishing business meetings in Riyadh in the next two days. All is well and am happy (to be released) and I was given all respect by everyone here, a Saudi citizen of Palestinian origin, told Reuters from his home in Riyadh. A member of a prominent merchant family from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Masri amassed a fortune by partnering with influential Saudis in a catering business to supply troops during the U.S.-led military operation to retake Kuwait from Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Masri is the founder of Saudi Astra Group, which has wide interests in diversified industries ranging from agro-industry to telecommunications, construction and mining across the region. Reasons for Masri s detention were not clear, but political sources said the Saudis might have used him to put pressure on Jordan s King Abdullah not to attend a Muslim summit last week to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital. The Jordanian monarch attended the Istanbul summit, however. He is a custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem and has been vocal in criticizing Trump over his decision on Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia, whose relations with the United States have warmed with Trump taking a harder line against its arch-rival Iran than his predecessor, appears to have taken a softer line on the decision on Jerusalem than in the past, according to analysts. Riyadh sent a junior minister to the Istanbul meeting. | 1 | [
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FMD3162 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Wow! The arrogance is beyond the pale Tony Podesta s lawyer sent a threat to Tucker Carlson!Tonight, Tucker Carlson spoke about his insight into the Podesta Group and the lobbying activity on behalf of Russian interests.THEN THIS:Tucker drops a bomb when he reveals he s had legal threats from lawyers representing Tony and John Podesta and the DC Lobbying Group they founded:Next, Democrat lawyer, Jonathan Turley, discusses Special Counsel Robert Mueller and where he s heading from here. Turley is always fair and is a brilliant lawyer who has great insight.OUR PREVIOUS REPORT ON THE PODESTA BROTHERS:Could this be what Tony Podesta is referring to? Tucker Carlson had bombshell announcements tonight that he even seemed shocked by. The biggest one was that the Podesta brothers and Paul Manafort are central figures in the Russia investigation NOT Trump:.@TuckerCarlson: Source Says Podesta Brothers & Manafort, Not #Trump, 'Central Figures' in Russia Probe https://t.co/A5XLV46ovw | #Tucker pic.twitter.com/IL5u7QtiOK Fox News (@FoxNews) October 25, 2017Fox News reported:A thus-far-reliable source who used to be involved with Clinton allies John and Tony Podesta told Tucker Carlson that press reports appearing to implicate President Trump in Russian collusion are exaggerated.The source, who Carlson said he would not yet name, said he worked for the brothers Podesta Group and was privy to some information from Robert Mueller s special investigation.While media reports describe former Black, Manafort & Stone principal Paul Manafort as Trump s main tie to the investigation, the source said it is Manafort s role as a liaison between Russia and the Podesta Group that is drawing the scrutiny.The vehicle Manafort worked for was what Carlson called a sham company with a headquarters listed in Belgium but whose contact information was linked to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.Manafort was, at the time, representing Russian business and political interests during the Obama era.The source said the Podesta Group was in regular contact with Manafort while Hillary Clinton was America s chief diplomat. | 0 | [
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FMD3163 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Hollywood’s biggest stars took to social media Wednesday to respond harshly to news that President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw the U. S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. [President Trump seemed to affirm the reports, tweeting Wednesday that his announcement was imminent. “I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days,†he wrote. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!†I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017, Actor and climate change activist Mark Ruffalo said Trump “will have the death of whole nations on his hands†if he decides to pull the U. S. out of the agreement. If this is true he will have the death of whole nations on his hands. People will be looking to the USA for retribution for what they loose. https: . — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) May 31, 2017, Actor Don Cheadle used the breaking news to attack the president’s son, Barron. “If you care about your kids maybe reconsider your #ParisAgreement decision. Barron will thank you when he sees you, whenever that is,†the Avengers actor wrote Wednesday. If you care about your kids maybe reconsider your #ParisAgreement decision. Barron will thank you when he sees you, whenever that is. https: . — Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) May 31, 2017, Other stars, including Beauty and the Beast star Josh Gad and talk show host Chelsea Handler†referenced children and their future on Earth as the reason President Trump should consider keeping the U. S. in the Paris agreement. Our children our grandchildren have all just been handed a dark future because of a man who tweets at 3:00 AM doesn’t â€trust†science 😉👌 https: . — Josh Gad (@joshgad) May 31, 2017, Yeah, who cares about climate change? Only every single person with a child. Republicans in congress need to end this childish mayhem. — Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) May 31, 2017, Below is a roundup of the reaction to the news of Trump’s decision from some of the entertainment would’s biggest stars. 2 Ppl of The🌎. Pls Know There R â€MILLIONSâ€Of Us ðŸing Held Hostage By Insane DICTATOR‼ï¸He Trashes🇺🇸’n Values Admires Killers #ParisAccordNOW, — Cher (@cher) May 31, 2017, What a huge step backward. We should be leading the world on this. #ActOnClimate https: . — Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) May 31, 2017, what is diabolical about this is that these leaders know better. They know science is real. They know climate change isn’t a hoax. — Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) May 31, 2017, @AGSchneiderman! Wish you could make #Trump reverse his decision to pullout of #ParisAgreement #climatechange. https: . — Rosie Perez (@rosieperezbklyn) May 31, 2017, @XavierBecerra @AGSchneiderman Global scientific consensus on Climate Change is solid. If We pull out of Paris accord sue 4 negligence . — Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) May 31, 2017, I agree @Alyssa_Milano https: . — Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) May 31, 2017, i’m trying to figure out the meaning of backing out the #ParisAgreement 😞 https: . — Questlove Gomez (@questlove) May 31, 2017, Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson | 1 | [
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FMD3164 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Is the CDC considered a 'Private Nonprofit Corporation'? Claim summaries: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC Foundation are two separate entities.
contextual information: Since November 2020, an identically worded piece of text alleging that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "is a private nonprofit corporation" has been shared across multiple social media platforms. The claim originated on the website Armstrong Economics, which sells a variety of self-published conspiracy books by the titular Martin Armstrong, and has become a widely shared piece of "copypasta," reproduced in part below: "Did you know the CDC is a private nonprofit corporation? [...] The CDC is quasi-government under the Department of Health and Human Services, which strangely has sources of funding that are predicated on the fact that it also has a private 501(c)(3) public charity, like the Clinton Foundation." The CDC Foundation receives charitable contributions and philanthropic grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, universities, NGOs, and other organizations to advance the work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is NOT a government-funded organization. It is not exclusively government-funded, which is very curious. Natural News, which boasts a massive audience of conspiracy theorists, republished it in December 2020. At the time of this writing, versions of this copypasta still appear on various social media platforms. On May 3, 2021, a Facebook account named The Daily Callout published it along with a picture of purported CDC funding sources. Commenters on that post were evidently confused. The allegations leveled against the CDC are not all that coherent in these posts. The copypasta suggests the CDC is both a non-profit and a "quasi-government" agency. Further, those issues are tangled up in the separate issue of corporate donations to the CDC. The title of the post, however, provides Snopes with a clearly stated contention: "Did you know the CDC is a private nonprofit corporation?" You most likely did not know this because it is, in fact, not true. The CDC is a federal agency housed in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The confusion stems from the fact that, in 1992, Congress mandated the creation of a non-profit foundation—the CDC Foundation—that would "not be an agency or instrumentality of the Federal Government" and whose purpose would be "to support and carry out activities for the prevention and control of diseases, disorders, injuries, and disabilities, and for the promotion of public health." As part of that goal, the foundation has an endowment and accepts charitable gifts from a variety of entities, including corporations, which are forwarded to the CDC to support specific initiatives. "The government has unique capacities as well as limitations. The same is true for the private and philanthropic sectors," the CDC Foundation argues on its website. "We believe that people, groups, and organizations have greater positive impact and can accomplish more collectively than individually." Funds raised by the CDC Foundation are donated to various programs and initiatives within the CDC. The CDC Foundation is one of two ways corporations can legally provide funds to the CDC. Donations to the CDC Foundation are an indirect route, as, by law, "officers, employees, and members of the board of the Foundation shall not be officers or employees of the Federal Government." Direct gifts by corporations to the CDC are also allowed under a portion of the U.S. Code that authorizes the secretary of HHS "to accept on behalf of the United States gifts made ... for the benefit of the Service or for the carrying out of any of its functions." For both direct gifts to the CDC and gifts made via the CDC Foundation, conditional funding is allowed as long as those requirements are not, as outlined in CDC policy documents. The acceptance of corporate donations earmarked for specific causes—both to the CDC Foundation and to the CDC itself—has caused apparent conflicts of interest. In 2015, the medical journal BMJ published an editorial outlining several examples of potential conflicts, including these examples: In 2010, the CDC, in conjunction with the CDC Foundation, formed the Viral Hepatitis Action Coalition, which supports research and promotes expanded testing and treatment of hepatitis C in the United States and globally. Industry has donated over $26 million to the coalition through the CDC Foundation since 2010. Corporate members of the coalition include Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie, Gilead, Janssen, Merck, OraSure Technologies, Quest Diagnostics, and Siemens—each of which produces products to test for or treat hepatitis C infection. In 2012, [a company named] Genentech earmarked $600,000 in donations to the CDC Foundation for the CDC's efforts to promote expanded testing and treatment of viral hepatitis. Genentech and its parent company, Roche, manufacture test kits and treatments for hepatitis C. The CDC argues that it has policies in place to prevent such conflicts. Its website states that "when we engage with the private sector, we maintain our scientific integrity by participating in a gift review process that is rigorous and transparent. The CDC's gift acceptance policy requires a comprehensive gift review prior to accepting a gift. This includes CDC Foundation (CDCF) gifts and gifts given directly to [the] CDC, whether they are monetary or non-monetary." These processes have been refined and standardized several times since 2014. While the issue of potential corporate influence over public health policy merits scrutiny, it is also important to consider the scale of private funding compared to the overall congressionally appropriated budget of the CDC. In the 2020 fiscal year, the CDC received $13 million in conditional gifts from the CDC Foundation and $10 million in conditional and unconditional direct contributions from the private sector. This is a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly $8 billion in funding the CDC receives from Congress. Even from a rhetorical standpoint, it would be a stretch to argue that the CDC is proportionally awash in corporate funding. Narrowly speaking, however, the assertion that the CDC is a non-profit, non-government organization is incorrect because that claim conflates the CDC (a federal agency) and the CDC Foundation (a 501(c)(3) charity). | 0 | [
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FMD3165 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: By Justin Gardner
The Colorado cannabis industry has quickly gone from bud to full flower, as indicated by a new in-depth data analysis by the Marijuana Policy Group.
Using a new “Marijuana Impact Model” they say is the first to “accurately characterize how this industry impacts the overall state economy,” the researchers confirmed the astounding positive impact that legalization has brought upon Colorado.
Legal cannabis activities generated an output of $2.39 billion in 2015, with almost $1 billion in sales for the year. The sales represent a 42.4 percent increase from the previous year, translating into a staggering 112 metric tons of buds and 132 metric tons of “flower-equivalent” products (edibles, concentrates, etc.).
Cannabis now ranks number six in terms of product sales, following closely behind cigarette sales. It beats gold mining by a large margin, and even performing arts and sports venues as well as all non-grain crop farming.
However, the real impact is seen when put in terms of “output and employment per dollar spent,” where spending in the cannabis industry outperforms all private industries in Colorado – including coal and other mining, oil and gas, casinos, business services, general manufacturing and retail trade (incl. alcohol).
Each dollar spent on retail cannabis generates $2.40 in state output, while cannabis manufacturing follows with $2.34 and cannabis cultivation comes in at a close $2.13. Combining the three, cannabis is generating far more than any other entity, including federal government spending.
Much of this has to do with the fact that the Colorado cannabis industry operates almost entirely within the state, due to continuing prohibition in other states.
There is equally impressive news in the jobs sector, where legal cannabis created more than 18,000 jobs in a year .
“Legalization of marijuana created 18,005 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in 2015. Among those jobs, 12,591 were employees directly involved with the marijuana business — either in stores and dispensaries, cultivations, or infused product manufacturing operations. The remaining 5,414 full-time equivalent positions were generated by intermediate input purchases made by the cannabis industry for general business goods and services, and through general spending by marijuana industry employees and proprietors.”
Security guards comprise a significant portion of these indirect jobs, due in large part to the fact that the industry is still being forced to operate on a cash basis — because of asinine banking prohibitions by the federal government and the Federal Reserve .
This isn’t stopping entrepreneurs and other productive individuals from taking advantage of the new, wildly popular market. Legal cannabis is having profound effects in many other industries, including commercial real estate, construction, and a raft of business services.
The cannabis industry itself is growing at a faster pace than any other sector, at an astonishing 42.4 percent. Colorado’s general economic growth is at 3.5 percent and the U.S. average is 1.75 percent.
The growth analysis found a very interesting result that supports a primary argument for ending prohibition. 36.2 percent of the economic growth was the result of the disappearance of the black market.
When people are free to indulge in the personal behavior of ingesting a substance – as they can with alcohol – they will naturally choose to do so through the legal market, even if it means having to pay exorbitant taxes.
And Colorado is gladly raking in this tax revenue.
“In 2015, marijuana taxes were the second largest revenue source among excise products in the state (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, and gaming).
Combined marijuana excise and sales tax revenues were $63.4 million in 2014, and $121.2 million in 2015. 5 For 2015, they were 14 percent larger than casino/gaming revenues, 6 about 5 percent less than lottery revenues, and almost three times larger than alcohol revenues.”
The huge increase in tax revenue is primarily caused by the rapid increase in recreational use sales since legalization in 2014, and the fact that recreational products are taxed at a much higher rate than medical cannabis products.
Interestingly, the report noted that a significant portion of the cannabis industry growth is coming from visitors who go to Colorado on cannabis vacations, rather than some other reason like skiing or hiking.
“This visitor demand segment is poised to grow from 14 metric tons in 2015, to 55.1 metric tons by 2020, based upon these new, sole-purpose visitors choosing Colorado as a marijuana destination.”
If there is one negative aspect to the report, it is that small cannabusinesses are struggling to stay alive as the industry becomes dominated by larger companies. While some of this is the natural result of competition, it appears that many of them are being regulated out of business by the state.
“Private industry owners purport that consolidation is not being caused purely by price competition, but instead by high compliance costs. For example, the owner of one of Colorado’s largest retailers recently stated that many small operations are unable to properly comply with the state’s complex regulations, leading them to exit the market.”
There lies the hidden barb of legalization. There’s no question that ending prohibition is the right thing to do, but government tends to place needless, cumbersome burdens on free enterprise which favors larger conglomerates and smothers the little guy. This ultimately leads to less competition and the tendency for monopolies to develop, which makes it easier for government to siphon their taxes.
All in all, though, the analysis by the Marijuana Policy Group is heartening, and it shows other states how incredibly beneficial it is when people regain freedom and a new market is born. The report is especially timely, as nine states will be voting in less than a week to expand legal access to cannabis through recreational and medicinal means. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ).
Contributed by The Free Thought Project of thefreethoughtproject.com .
The Free Thought Project is dedicated to holding those who claim authority over our lives accountable. | 0 | [
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FMD3166 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Facebook Car Giveaway can be rephrased as "Car giveaway hosted on Facebook." Claim summaries: You cannot win a new Audi, Mercedes, Range Rover, Camaro, or other car by liking a Facebook page or post and sharing it with friends.
contextual information: In December 2014, several Facebook pages using car brand names such as Audi, Range Rover, Mercedes, and Camaro (among others) posted directives similar to the messages quoted above. The pages claimed that Facebook was giving away cars. Among the cars offered in the giveaways were Audi R8s, Range Rovers, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs, and Chevrolet Camaro SS models. Almost all the scams followed the same format: they instructed users to like a separate page, like the original post, and share the post on their own Timeline (thereby validating its legitimacy and enticing others to do the same). Users were eligible to win one of two available vehicles in the winner's choice of color simply by liking a separate Facebook page, liking and sharing a post, and waiting for an inbox message confirming the winners. In April 2016, the scam reappeared, this time with a Range Rover as the car offered in the giveaway. The first clue that the giveaways following this format were not legitimate was the pages to which Facebook users were directed, pages that had been created just days before the giveaway posts began to appear. Not only were the secondary Facebook pages involved always new, but they were also not linked with car companies or other interests one might reasonably expect to offer a car in exchange for social media advertising (such as automobile dealerships, insurance companies, or large retailers). Were a legitimate company to engage in such a high-ticket contest giveaway, the incentive would be exposure; however, no corresponding promotional return on advertising investment was discernible in these Facebook giveaway claims. The tactics were similar to recent scams involving Costco, Kroger, and Amazon gift cards, but the six-figure price tag attached to some of the vehicles involved in the Facebook car giveaway posts proved to be a far more difficult-to-resist enticement for some users, not all of whom questioned whether sharing a page presented any negative consequences should it later turn out to be a prank, hoax, or other false promise. The pages to which users were directed carried all the hallmarks of "like farming" operations intended to quickly build and sell popular Facebook pages. Even if the page creators' intent were only to build an audience, users participating in the scam created a larger incentive for employing future fakery of the same description to crowd Facebook feeds. Scammers could also exploit a large audience by mining varying levels of personal data from those who have liked a page of dubious origin. Thus, Facebook users who participate in such fake giveaways not only unwittingly help spammers pollute the social network with scams, but they may also risk being exposed to malware, clickjacking, or other unpleasantries (such as finding their names and identities endorsing a scam, hate page, or other undesirable activity). Giveaways, particularly of high-value merchandise, are generally rare and almost always conducted through brands' official channels or the social media accounts of related large companies. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD3167 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Is This Photo of a Baby Albino Bat Real? Claim summaries: It's time for another round of "Toy or Animal?"
contextual information: In May 2021, a set of photographs supposedly showing a baby albino bat was widely circulated on social media. set of photographs The "animal" seen here isn't an animal at all. This is actually a small plush doll. This doll appears to have been made by Anna Yastrezhembovskya, an artist from Russia who sells similar figurines on her Etsy page. We haven't been able to find a listing for this specific item, but Yastrezhembovskya did share several photos of this plush albino baby bat doll to her Instagram in October 2019. Etsy page In June 2020, Yastrezhembovskya posted a message on her Instagram explaining that some fraudulent websites were claiming that they were selling the doll. Yastrezhembovskya's work, however, is only available via her Etsy page: Again!!! ? Scammers still cant calm down and again steal my photos. Now they are selling the white bat. They use my photos, but theyre sending to buyers another things. Scroll through the photo to see an example of what they are sending. I want to warn everyone, I sell my works ONLY in the store on Etsy - a link in the profile, or in the instagram. All other stores and stuff are SCAMMERS!!! Please be careful. Do not be fooled. Yastrezhembovskya talked to MyModernMet.com about her work in 2019. The Russian artist said that she primarily works in felt and that these figurines typically take 12-14 hours to make: MyModernMet.com Yastrezhembovskya said: My first toy wasnt nearly as pretty, it was rather funny but I enjoyed the process so much that I kept trying. I was felting during my free time, even at night, and I got better with each toy I made ... I am flattered that my bats won the hearts of so many people, but the amount of orders I got was terrifying ... Of course, I will keep felting as many bats as I can, but I want people to understand that these toys are fully handmade, so its a fairly lengthy process. The internet has a relatively difficult time determining the difference between dolls and genuine real-world animals, apparently. Photographs of figurines featuring albino tarantulas, four-eyed goats, tiny birds, giant moths, and adorable bunnies have all been shared on social media as if they were real animals. albino tarantulas four-eyed goats tiny birds giant moths adorable bunnies | 0 | [
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FMD3168 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Does Germany Require You To Be Fully Vaccinated Before Receiving Assisted Suicide? Claim summaries: An out-of-date story with a factually deficient headline continues to go viral years after its relevance passed.
contextual information: On August 22, 2023, a photo of a November 2021 headline from the National Review went viral on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The headline asserted that "In Germany, you must be fully vaxxed before your death by assisted suicide." The headline was never accurate, and the underlying story, at the time the tweet went viral in August 2023, was outdated. In late November 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a German euthanasia association, Verein Sterbehilfe, issued a news release mandating compliance with so-called 2G regulations. As described by the BBC, "2G stands for genesen (recovered in the past six months) or geimpft (vaccinated)." Many predominantly right-wing publications highlighted this press release as an example of COVID-19 regulations gone too far. The Spectator, for example, wrote on November 28, 2021, that irony has been declared many times during this pandemic, but now, from COVID-riddled Germany comes the final proof: you can't kill yourself now unless you've been vaccinated. As European countries battle to limit the spread of the virus, Verein Sterbehilfe has issued a new directive, declaring it will now only help those who have been vaccinated or recovered from the disease. Several important pieces of context are missing from both the headline claim that Germany mandated this compliance and the notion that this organization mandated these health regulations for the safety of the person ending their life. Neither implication is true. Verein Sterbehilfe is not a German governmental agency; it is, instead, a not-for-profit membership-based club that offers assistance and planning for people and their loved ones looking to exercise their right to self-determination in their death: that is, to end their life instead of progressing through a painful or incurable illness. It was on behalf of this latter population that the COVID policies were mandated, per Sterbehilfe's news release: euthanasia and the preparatory examination of the personal responsibility of our members willing to die require human closeness. However, human closeness is a prerequisite and breeding ground for the transmission of the coronavirus. As of today, the 2G rule applies in our club, supplemented by situation-related measures, such as quick tests before encounters in closed rooms. Snopes reached out to Verein Sterbehilfe to ask if any COVID-19 restrictions remained in place at the organization at the time of this reporting, but we did not receive a response. Because Germany made no such regulation regarding assisted suicide, because Verein Sterbehilfe is a nongovernmental organization, and because the story at issue was multiple years out of date, the assertion was false. | 0 | [
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FMD3169 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Brides who once may have looked forward to walking down the aisle dressed to the nines are now bouncing down it dressed to the eights, or maybe a seven and a half (narrow). Many wedding guests this summer may glimpse sneakers under traditional gowns. And not just plain white tennis shoes. Some are brightly colored, others are embroidered with names and dates, or decorated with beading or lace to match the dress. Ronnie Rothstein, an owner of Kleinfeld Bridal in New York, thinks the bridal sneaker is not so much a fashion statement as a lifestyle statement, with fashion in general being more casual these days. And pairing sneakers with wedding dresses fits with the overall easing of dress codes, at work and at leisure. Millennial women in particular are about comfort. “If a girl wears jeans to work, she’s wearing sneakers to the wedding,†Mr. Rothstein said. The fashion industry is helping by making sneakers as glamorous as possible. At a Karl Lagerfeld 2014 haute couture collection, a model wore white running shoes with a bridal gown. Now brides have an expanding choice of comfortable yet stylish sneakers from sources like Etsy, Bill Blass online, Keds and Converse. Tory Burch is also showing sneakers, and there are Chuck Taylors, if the bride is looking for height, said Cathy Schroeckenstein, the editor in chief of weddingbee. com. “You have to assume you’ll be on your feet for 12 to 15 hours on your wedding day,†Ms. Schroeckenstein said, and “most women are not comfortable in high heels. †Mr. Rothstein said that in his workrooms, 17 people bead dresses and now also embellish many pairs of sneakers each week with beads or lace to match the gowns. “If the dress is heavily embellished, the sneakers get the same embellishment,†he said. In 2012, when Cassandra Arellano was married in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. “I really thought I would wear gorgeous heels, and since I was engaged for two years I had plenty of time to search for them,†she said. “But I couldn’t find the right ones, and then I thought anyway they would kill my feet. So I said, forget it. How cute would it be if I wore purple Converse sneakers?†Mrs. Arellano ordered her shoes online from Converse. She said that the 100 guests couldn’t see them under her long dress until she got onto the dance floor and showed off her footwear. Jennifer Contreras was wearing customized Converse sneakers when she was married in June 2014 in San Diego. “I wanted to be comfortable,†she said, something her mother was all for. The shoes were hidden under her dress at first. “No one sees your shoes until you show them off,†she said. â€The back of my shoes was embroidered with ‘Mrs. Contreras. ’†All of her bridesmaids wore gray Converses. And the groom wore sneakers from Vans. “My husband isn’t super tall, and in heels I am taller than he is,†she said. But for Randy Fenoli, a host on the TLC show “Say Yes to The Dress,†a pair of sneakers with a wedding dress is appalling. “They depreciate your look and the look of the gown,†he said. “Wedding gowns are not for comfort. PJs are for comfort, sweatsuits are for comfort. Sneakers are a . †“Walking in heels is so much sexier,†he said. “Sneakers make you walk flat. Call me . I’m a traditionalist. At some point you just have to say no. †Marshall Cohen, the chief retail market research analyst with the NPD Group, disagreed. “It’s about, ‘This is my day,’†Mr. Cohen said, speaking for the brides. Lisa Blanck wore heels down the aisle when she was married two years ago in Detroit, just to feel like a lady, she said. But right after the ceremony, she changed into blue Nike sneakers that her husband, Peter Ehrlich, had bought for her. The invitation called for black tie, but she wasn’t the only one dancing in comfortable shoes. Her mother, her father, his groomsmen and even their cantor all wore sneakers at the insistence of the bridal couple. Before the wedding, Mr. Ehrlich, who collects Nike sneakers as a hobby, had sent an email to their friends that read, “Nikes welcome. †Converse, Keds or Nikes are reasonably priced, but there are few limits on what a bride can choose to spend on personalized sneakers. At Kleinfeld Bridal, customized sneakers that coordinate with a Mark Zunino gown can cost up to $800. But, Mr. Rothstein said, if the dress costs thousands of dollars, spending hundreds on the shoes is just part of the package. Mr. Zunino, who has a line of dresses at Kleinfeld, said, “Girls are used to wearing sneakers all the time now. †Keds offers two lines of bridal sneakers. “We launched the lines because of customer interest,†said Emily Culp, the chief marketing officer at Keds. “Our custom line can be personalized with initials and dates. †Some women are ordering complete sets of custom shoes for themselves and their bridesmaids, Ms. Culp said. And sometimes the sneakers are coordinated with the color of the flowers. “It’s one of those moments when people want to show their individuality and moxie,†Ms. Culp said. “It gives them a feeling of empowerment. It’s about expressing who you are. †Mothers of some brides are not on board with this look. When Chantalle Crolly, a kindergarten teacher and graphic designer in Ontario, Canada, was married in a backyard there in July 2015, she said, her own mother had a hard time with the nontraditional elements of the wedding — like her shoes. “I wore a big custom ball gown with sneakers,†she said. She had her married name embroidered on the back of her fluorescent pink Converses. “They were bright and happy and comfortable,†Ms. Crolly said. She admitted to being influenced by a lot of what she sees on Pinterest and other websites, and agreed that there is a generational shift at work here. “I rely 100 percent on social media,†she said, referring to her personal style. Sandra Corona has an Etsy shop called NewBrideCo, where she sells embellished sneakers. “It’s usually the and they want to enjoy every moment,†Ms. Corona said, pointing out that brides don’t want their day ruined by sore feet. Darcy Miller, an editor at large of Martha Stewart Weddings, said: “Some brides don’t necessarily want to be wearing stilettos on the beach or on soft grass. They want to be comfortable for all that running around — and dancing, of course. Brides are always wanting to put their personal stamp on their wedding and showing their personal style, so here’s an opportunity to do that. †Ms. Miller said that sometimes brides use the sneakers to tie a theme together by having the rest of the wedding party wear pairs in a certain color while hers are white or a bright color to flash under her dress. And, scenario, if the bride is of the runaway variety, at least she’ll have the aprropriate footwear. | 1 | [
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FMD3170 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 21st Century Wire says In this age of hyper-politicized mass media, it s becoming harder to differentiate between those who are acting for the cameras, and genuine political protesters. Considering the FBI s own documented history of infiltrating left-wing activists groups in America, is it possible we are witness to some staged performances again?Fox New s Tucker Carlson interviews Yvette Felarca, a self-described middle school teacher from Berkley and leader of the radical socialist Anti-Fascist flash mob mobilization organization known as By Any Means Necessary or BAMN. In this interview, Felarca can be seen openly advocating for physical violence against anyone, or any speech, whom she or her activist group deems as a fascist. Earlier this month, Felarca was one of the media faces of the UC Berkeley unrest which sprung up over an event hosted by gay conservative personality Milo Yiannopoulos. According to Felarca, Alt-Right speaker Yiannopoulos should not be allowed to speak in public. Watch her adroit, and intense performance from last night here: Yvette Felarca first gained media exposure after previously leading an alleged counter-protest against a Fascist Rally at what was branded by the mainstream media as the Battle of Sacramento in July 2016. On its face, this protest looked very much a staged media event, perfectly scheduled ahead of time, and with activist actor Felarca playing the part of agent provocateur for the cameras. At the Sacramento event, supposed protesters on both sides were holding what appeared to be light weight wooden props, apparently meant to be fighting sticks. Felarca s leftist group were wearing face masks and balaclavas to conceal their identities, another strong indication that these are not real protesters, and could very well be activist actors playing for the cameras. What is perhaps the biggest give-away of the staged performance was the fact that the scores of police who were on site just stood back while what appeared to be violence and heavy fighting broke out, allowing it to carry on for quite some time which means that either they were not actually policing but supervising, or they were there as part of the backdrop for the media. It was a bizarre scene to say the least. Certainly, FBI programs like COINTELPRO which began in 1956, come to mind here.Watch the following montage of this media event: Watch what appears to be a well rehearsed, albeit overly dramatic, and borderline sociopathic TV performance here: Despite the comparatively small size of both the CP and the American SWP by the late 1950s and early 1960s, their members implantation in industrial workplaces, independent electoral campaigns, desegregation, and antiwar activities, as well as the bureau s fanatical obsession with communism, made them targets. New Left activists who were not only hampering the ability of the U.S. to fight in Vietnam, but also challenging ideological assumptions about women s roles, sexuality, and segregation garnered attention and harassment by the state as well. But the most disruptive and violent COINTELPRO operations in the period from the late 1960s into the mid-1970s were directed against the Black and Native American struggles.It was a general rule throughout the 1960s, that local police departments would devote at least 1 percent of their resources to surveillance and infiltration.13 These local agents, acting in cahoots with the feds, read the left-wing press and became familiar with the fact that organized leftists were involved in liberal and pacifist groups and that individuals were often radicalized by these ideas as well as by their own experiences of struggle. Media Lightning Rods As far as the FBI are concerned, traditionally their justification for managing radical rightwing persons as is with the FBI s PATCON program, or leftwing personalities as confidential informants as with the Weather Underground and other groups has always been that these colorful personalities were effective in attracting or recruiting the worst of the worst and therefore by attracting the most radical activists, the FBI would then be able to ensnare them in a sting operation in order to root out what the agency sees as potential threats by taking this dangerous person off the street or to avert a future domestic terrorist incident. This is also the same rationale applied to the use of informants to stir-up radical activity in Islamic mosques, and to entrap and convict future terrorists in the US.Certainly, Felarca plays a very unique dual protagonist-antagonist role in this very public political drama as a recruitment tool for the radical left into her political front organization, but also as a media object of scorn for the Alt Right and for conservative media outlets like FOX and others. Hers is an active role in increasing political tension and polarization in the US. In this tenuous post-election environment, her scathing rhetoric calls for violence will appeal the most extreme leftwing activists, while simultaneously giving some media (mainstream cultural) legitimacy to the most radical elements of the extreme left.Here agitator Felarca is allowed to start a physical fight which led to men kicking someone on the ground, and then police seem to recognize her before allowing her to leave the scene quietly: READ MORE COINTELPRO AT: 21st Century Wire COINTELPRO Files | 0 | [
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FMD3171 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did the Mayor of Minneapolis Cancel 4th of July Fireworks But Allow a Muslim Animal Sacrifice at Vikings Stadium? Claim summaries: A pinch of fake news, a smidgen of flawed reading comprehension, and a dash of Islamophobic fear-mongering resulted in overblown accusations against the mayor of Minneapolis.
contextual information: In August 2018, a bit of Islamophobic copypasta started making its way around social media, asserting that the mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota had canceled a 4th of July city fireworks display but allowed "Muslim animal sacrifice" to be held in the city's U.S. Bank Stadium (home of the Minnesota Vikings football team) the following month: copypasta This copypasta was based on a bit of fake news, a fear-mongering report about the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, and a misreading of two genuine news reports. Fake News On 10 June 2018, the Last Line of Defense web site published an article positing that the Muslim mayor of Minneapolis had "canceled the 4th of July": article Mayor Ahneid al Ahmed of Haskentot, Minnesota has done the unthinkable and canceled the 4th of July. According to his office, the city has no desire to spend money on something so frivolous. Muslim spokesman Art Tubolls said: This city elected our mayor to do what is best. We dont hink buying a bunch of flags and fireworks and spending a day celebrating nationalism like nazis is a good idea. This was not a genuine news story about the mayor of Minneapolis, who is neither named "Ahneid al Ahmed" nor a Muslim. (The city's actual mayor is Jacob Frey.) The Last Line of Defense is part of a network of sites that engages in political trolling under the guise of proffering "satire." Jacob Frey This junk news piece may have prompted some confusion, as it resembled a genuine news story about a nearby Minnesota city. The mayor of St. Paul did cancel the city's Independence Day firework show due to budgetary concerns: cancel St. Paul will go without the rockets red glare on Independence Day this year. Mayor Melvin Carter announced that the city wont hold a Fourth of July fireworks event. The cancellation may foreshadow of what could be a difficult budget season. Carters announcement, posted to Facebook, cited concerns about the citys budget climate. Minneapolis, on the other hand, hosted multiple firework shows on July 4th. multiple firework shows Fear-Mongering Reports About Eid al-Adha The Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha is also referred to as the "Feast of Sacrifice." The holiday, which honors Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son at God's command, is celebrated by Muslims around the world. In many places, Muslims observe that holiday by sacrificing an animal and then sharing its meat with the poor: sacrificing To commemorate God's test of Ibrahim, many Muslim families sacrifice an animal and share the meat with the poor. They also are required to donate to charities that benefit the poor. Muslims also routinely exchange presents during the holiday. When it was announced that U.S. Bank Stadium would be hosting a Eid al-Adha festival, the Islamophobic web site "Bare Naked Islam" published an article about the upcoming event imploring readers to "imagine" 50,000 Muslims at the stadium and displaying various photographs and videos of animal sacrifices from around the world. article The following photograph, for instance, was taken in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2008: taken These photographs led many readers to mistakenly believe that the "Super EID" festival at U.S. Bank Stadium would also feature animal sacrifices, but that wasn't the case. Ahmed Anshur, executive director of Masjid Al-Ihsan Islamic Center in St. Paul and one of the organizers of "Super EID," attempted to quell these fears, telling Minnesota Public Radio that no animal sacrifices would take place at the event: Minnesota Public Radio Eid Al-Adha, the second Muslim holiday of the year, comes at the end of the pilgrimage. Its name in Arabic means the "festival of sacrifice." Muslims celebrate by sacrificing animals and donating meat to charity. But Ahmed Anshur, executive director of Masjid Al-Ihsan Islamic Center in St. Paul and one of the organizers, wants to be clear: The actual ritual will not take place at U.S. Bank Stadium. "Nobody is going to sacrifice an animal, or nobody is going to slaughter an animal in that field," he said. "I can assure you that, 100 percent." The Minneapolis Star Tribune filed a report after the 21 August 2018 celebration on which stated that in fact no animal sacrifices had taken place at the stadium during the EID celebration: report The holiday honors the prophet Ibrahim, also known as Abraham in Judaism and Christianity, and his willingness to sacrifice his son for God. It comes at the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage. It is one of the holiest days of the year for Muslims, who celebrate with prayer, shared meals and gifts. In some places, families who can afford it slaughter an animal and share the meat with family and charities. No animals were sacrificed at the stadium Tuesday. Bowling, Chris. "Thousands Join in 'Super Eid' Celebration at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis."
[Minneapolis] Star Tribune. 21 August 2018. Feshir, Riham. "Thousands Expected for 'Super Eid' in Downtown Minneapolis."
MPR News. 20 August 2018. CNN. "5 Things to Know About the Muslim Holiday Eid al-Adha."
21 August 2018. The Current. "Fourth of July 2018: Where to See Fireworks in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Beyond."
26 June 2018. Melo, Frederick. "St. Paul Mayor Cancels July 4 Fireworks, Cites Budget Concerns."
TwinCities.com. 27 June 2018. | 0 | [
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FMD3172 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Rep. Jared Huffman ( ) has announced that he will boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration next Friday, becoming the third U. S. representative to do so. [In a Facebook post on Saturday, Huffman announced that he wanted to protest the start of a “dark and dangerous chapter†for America: Ordinarily, on Inauguration Day I would take my place above the west steps of the Capitol and join colleagues and dignitaries in honoring a great and solemn American tradition: the peaceful transfer of power which must always transcend partisan differences. Ordinarily, I would do that without hesitation for any President, regardless of their politics or personality, as a show of respect for the institution and the will of the voters — and as a gesture of goodwill to foster reconciliation and collaboration as we put the election behind us and prepare to work with the new administration. However, there is nothing ordinary about this inauguration or the man that will be as our next President. I do accept the election results and support the peaceful transfer of power, but it is abundantly clear to me that with Donald Trump as our President, the United States is entering a dark and very dangerous political chapter. I will do everything I can to limit the damage and the duration of this chapter, and I believe we can get through it. But I will not sit passively and politely applaud as it begins. Instead of attending the inauguration, Huffman said that he would spend the day in his district “doing positive things. †Huffman represents the second congressional district of California, a coastal district that includes liberal Humboldt County, the state’s most celebrated marijuana cultivation region. As Breitbart News reported last year, Huffman, a Democratic Party “†defied the views of many of his constituents by supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders ( ). Huffman joins Reps. Luis Gutierrez ( ) and Katherine Clark ( ) in boycotting what has traditionally been a bipartisan event, where the country comes together for at least one moment to honor the democratic transition of power. The California Democrat said that he had received support from the district, and that “people are really resonating†with his decision to boycott, although he complained about opposition from “these Republicans from Alabama, Indiana and Oklahoma. †Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential†people in news media in 2016. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 1 | [
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FMD3173 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Oregon State Senate has just approved a bill that would increase the state s minimum wage over the next six years in incremental steps.Democrats can be thanked for pushing the measure through on a margin of 16-12, saying that it was necessary to help lift residents out of poverty and handle increasing costs of living. One lone sellout, Democratic Senator Betsy Johnson, voted no along with all Republicans. The bill will raise the minimum wage to $14.75 in Portland, $13.50 in other urban counties, and $12.50 in rural counties to prevent harming business in lower cost of living areas. The current minimum wage in the state is $9.25, which is higher than the federal minimum. However, it still is inadequate, especially in urban areas.The bill passed after a floor debate that lasted six hours. It was introduced by Democratic Senator Michael Dembrow, of Portland. Gradual increases will take place yearly, leading up to the maximum numbers in 2022. The measure is set to move to the State House next, with expectations of approval by Governor Kate Brown.As usual, wealthy wanna-be plutocrats have come out threatening doom and gloom over the attempt to make sure Oregonians are not living in grinding poverty. Jason Brandt, CEO of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association released the following statement: It will kill jobs, harm consumers, force school and government service cuts and hurt Oregon farms and small businesses. We urge the House to defeat this plan that puts election year politics ahead of Oregon s economy. Source: oregonlive.comAll that anyone needs to do is refer to Seattle Seatac, who raised its minimum wage to $15/hour. The results are amazingly good, with an unemployment rate of only 3.3 percent a rate not seen since 2008. Seatac is also one of the fastest growing airport hubs in the United States, which destroys the myth that a living wage will stifle growth and explode unemployment.One of the most basic concepts of capitalism is lost on literally every Republican who claims to LOVE the system the fact that more money in the hands of consumers equals higher demand which increases the need for employment. Everywhere a minimum wage goes up, unemployment tends to trend down, and the anecdotal accounts of it weeding out already-failed businesses or spiteful greedy owners can t counter the right-wing propaganda anymore. It s happening, and the positive results are not going to stop.Featured image from Twitter | 0 | [
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FMD3174 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Now, numerous studies have concluded that milk doesn’t actually build bone and provide the same amount of calcium that we thought. A study published in the British Medical Journal , for example, followed more than 100,000 people in Sweden over periods of 20 to 30 years, with shocking results: The people who drank milk were more likely to die from heart disease and cancer. The women suffered more overall fractures and hip fractures as well. Different studies have also shown that higher dairy intake is linked to higher risks of prostate and ovarian cancer and can trigger type 1 diabetes. It is also linked to forms of acne, just to name a few effects. There is also the disturbing side of the dairy industry, where animals are abused to produce the milk we drink. A lot of dairy products are filled with the hormones that were given to female cows to keep them perpetually lactating so they produce an endless flow of milk. This doctor describes it perfectly when he says “cow’s milk is for baby calfs, just like human milk is for babies.” It is a substance we need while in crucial stages of development, but past a certain age, it becomes obsolete. While there are many alternatives to dairy milk, some are much better than others. Here are some of the better “milk” products out there. Almond Milk Raw organic almond milk is a great choice when you know where it’s coming from. As with many mass produced products, even some almond milks aren’t the best for us. An analysis of a UK almond milk brand showed that nuts make up only 2% of the drink itself. A single serving of almond milk has almost no protein. Compared with plain old almonds, it fares even worse. There is one place where almond milk comes out on top, of course: It has more potassium and more of the vitamins A and D. But almond milk is fortified with these nutrients — they’ve been added during the production process. Making almond milk yourself, however, is a fantastic option, and allows you to control exactly what goes inside it, ensuring there are no additives, preservatives, or substances you’ve never even heard of before. Rice Milk Rice milk is another good choice that works well as a dairy substitute, if you don’t mind the taste. It’s higher in carbohydrates than other milk choices and contains around the same amount of calcium as cow’s milk. Yet it contains almost no protein, so it needs to be balanced with other protein rich foods. During processing, the carbs break down into sugars and give the milk a sweet taste. It is filled with more sugar, around 10 grams for one serving, which is a lot more than something like coconut milk, which has around 3 grams. If you’re trying to have as little sugar as possible, rice milk may not be the best choice, but it’s certainly better than plain old dairy milk. Coconut Milk Coconut milk is definitely one of the healthier options here. When this milk is all natural, meaning there’s no added sugars, natural flavours, or preservatives, it is incredibly healthy for us. “ Coconuts are highly nutritious and rich in fibre, vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5 and B6 and minerals including iron, selenium, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous.” The things that makes coconuts so good is the type of fat they contain. They have a form of medium-chain fatty acids rather than long-chain fatty acids, which are stored in our tissue for much longer. One of the beneficial acids within coconuts is called lauric acid. This gets converted inside the body into a beneficial substance called monolaurin acid, which acts as an antiviral agent. But unlike other milks, if you have access, you can go right up to a coconut tree and drink the milk straight from the coconut without the need for processing. This is one of the most pure and fresh ways to get some milk in you! Hemp Milk Ah, hemp; one of the most versatile plants on our planet. Hemp milk has a wide range of health benefits that a lot of other milks don’t. Some companies make fully organic, non-GMO, and unsweetened hemp milk, but it’s always good to check exactly where you’re getting your products from. Hemp milk has a more bean-like and nutty flavor to it, which still tastes great in many drinks or foods. It’s also packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which help with our heart health. In a single 8-ounce glass of hemp milk you can find the following nutrients: Vitamin A | 0 | [
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FMD3175 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The White House will take a lead role in crafting legislation to overhaul the U.S. tax code, eyeing an August target date as President Donald Trump seeks his first legislative victory following the failure last week of a long-promised bill to undo Obamacare. Trump’s pledge to cut taxes, including a lowering of the rates paid by corporations, was a pillar of his 2016 presidential campaign and provided much of the fuel for the heady stock market rally that followed his Nov. 8 victory. The White House said on Monday it was moving ahead with tax reform, calling it a “huge priority†for the Republican president and “something that he feels very strongly about.†“Obviously, we’re driving the train on this,†White House spokesman Sean Spicer said during a briefing, adding, “We’re going to work with Congress on this.†Spicer noted that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has talked about August as a target date for tax legislation, but said the timetable could slip depending on how quickly a consensus could be reached. Getting a broad tax bill passed by Congress and on Trump’s desk to be signed into law will not be easy, especially after intra-party differences torpedoed the healthcare legislation, after the Trump administration fiercely lobbied for it. Republicans for seven years had promised to dismantle Democratic former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, and the Trump administration made it its top priority when Trump took office in January. But the effort collapsed on Friday when members of the Freedom Caucus, the most conservative lawmakers of the House of Representatives, refused to support the bill, which was also backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan. The stinging defeat alarmed investors who began reassessing the chances for passage of the tax agenda this year. Major U.S. stock indexes opened sharply lower on Monday before paring losses, with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 ending only moderately down. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, the top House Republican tasked with tax reform, said over the weekend that the White House should start with proposals already in the House instead of crafting a separate bill. “My point is that the Trump tax plan and the House Republican plan started at 80 percent the same. It think it’s grown to 90 percent or better,†Brady told reporters on Monday. “I think it’s critical for the White House and Republicans in Congress to agree on pro-growth tax reform together and move forward together as well,†he added. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch predicted in a research note that a tax bill, “if passed at all, could be a very watered-down version of current proposals.†The White House over the weekend dangled the idea of a compromise tax restructuring that could win support from moderate Democrats. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus on Sunday said such a package could include middle-class tax cuts. Spicer on Monday remained vague on how much Trump would allow the federal deficit to grow as a result of the tax cuts. “It’s a really early question to be asking at this point,†Spicer said. The U.S. tax code has not undergone a major overhaul since 1986, during the administration of Republican President Ronald Reagan. Democratic Senator Christopher Coons signaled his party would be open to discussing tax legislation if it was not merely a giveaway to the rich. Democrats had fought former President George W. Bush’s tax policies for that reason. “If we have a move toward tax reform that could strengthen manufacturing, strengthen our exports and provide tax relief to the middle-class | 1 | [
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FMD3176 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The divorce deal agreed by London and Brussels on Friday is a boost to the British economy, finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday, as he urged both sides to now move on to a trade deal that supports jobs and prosperity. Delighted a deal agreed in Brussels that paves way for further progress on talks about future UK/EU relationship, he said on Twitter. A positive step. Congratulations @theresa_may Today s announcement in Brussels is a boost for Britain s economy. Now let s conclude a trade deal that supports Britain s jobs, businesses and prosperity. | 1 | [
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FMD3177 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: This story has been updated.
Hillary Rodham Clinton will formally enter the presidential race with an announcement on Sunday followed by appearances on the campaign trail next week, three people familiar with her plans said on Friday, ending months of anticipation surrounding the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination.
Clinton plans to launch her campaign via social media and with a video on Sunday articulating her rationale for seeking the White House. She'll then travel to the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa early next week for campaign events, these people said. She is expected to hold mostly small discussion events with voters designed to help the former secretary of state connect with ordinary Americans and listen to their concerns, forgoing the large rallies and traditional announcement speeches of some of her Republican rivals.
Behind the scenes, meanwhile, Clinton's fundraising machine is revving up. Her top bundlers are plotting aggressive outreach to thousands of Democratic donors over the weekend and into next week urging them to immediately send checks and make donations online as soon as the Clinton campaign's Web site goes live.
Democratic strategists, advisers and fundraisers described Clinton's plans only on the condition of anonymity because she and her team have not yet finalized all aspects of her campaign rollout. Her official spokespeople declined to comment.
Clinton's Sunday announcement would come one day before the expected campaign launch of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is planning a major speech to supporters on Monday afternoon at Miami's iconic Freedom Tower. Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) are the only two major Republican candidates who already have officially entered the race.
For months, Clinton, like many Republican contenders, has been assembling a campaign-in-waiting. Widely considered by Democrats to be the heir apparent to President Obama, Clinton has hired several of Obama's top campaign strategists to work on her 2016 bid and dozens of staffers, including in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Last week, the Clinton team signed a lease on office space in Brooklyn, N.Y., as her national campaign headquarters.
Ahead of the campaign launch, Clinton released a new epilogue on Friday for "Hard Choices," her State Department memoir that is coming out this month in paperback. The chapter touches on an array of issues, from her relationship with Obama to economic mobility to childhood education. She writes about her desire for every American in the 21st century to have an equal and fair shot at economic success, a theme she has highlighted in her public speeches over the past year.
Clinton ends the epilogue by ruminating about a "memory quilt" she received as a gift after her granddaughter's birth: "I wondered for a moment what a quilt of my own life would look like. . . . There was so much more to do. So many more panels waiting to be filled in. I folded up the quilt and got back to work.â€
[A new campaign slogan for Hillary Rodham Clinton: Think small]
Using a social media launch for her campaign, rather than a boisterous and celebratory rally, is a deliberate attempt by Clinton and her advisers to avoid the pitfalls that tripped her up in her 2008 presidential campaign, when she was heavily favored at the outset but ultimately defeated by Obama. Clinton suffered from criticism then that she appeared as if she felt entitled to the nomination and often came off as flat and uninspired on the stump in front of large crowds.
The go-slow, go-small strategy, Democratic advisers say, plays to her strengths, allowing her to meet voters in intimate settings where her humor, humility and policy expertise can show through.
That approach is modeled on the listening tour she conducted across New York state at the start of her successful 2000 Senate race. Longtime advisers and allies said Clinton wants to reestablish the connection with voters and regular people she had in that campaign, when she traveled into diners and people’s living rooms and kitchens to listen to their concerns.
Jay Jacobs, a former New York Democratic Party chairman and longtime Clinton friend and supporter, said the 2000 listening tour became “a two-way conversation that impressed voters not by just what she said, but by how intently she listened. I think that’s Hillary. That’s something that has worked before, and it’ll work again.â€
Jacobs, who recently met privately with Clinton when she addressed his group of the American Camp Association in Atlantic City, N.J., said Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign will not be “reactive.â€
“It will be one that really presents Hillary Clinton to the voters as she is known by people who are close to her: as a very warm, genuine, thoughtful, certainly intelligent, regular person,†Jacobs said. “There’s been so much that we’ve seen that seems to create an image, by the press and by others, those who are looking to derail her, but now the voters are going to hear from Hillary and they’re going to see Hillary.â€
Within hours of news reports Friday morning that Clinton would launch her campaign this weekend, the Republican National Committee announced an online ad as part of its "#StopHillary" campaign to highlight scandals over her use of private e-mail at the State Department and foreign donations to her family's charitable foundation.
“From the East Wing to the State Department, Hillary Clinton has left a trail of secrecy, scandal and failed liberal policies that no image consultant can erase,†RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. “Voters want to elect someone they can trust and Hillary's record proves that she cannot be trusted. We must 'Stop Hillary.'â€
Clinton's fundraising team is standing by for the launch of her Web site, when the campaign can begin accepting donations online. One priority is creating a robust small-donor network similar to the Obama campaign's vaunted list from his 2008 and 2012 campaigns, and Clinton advisers see her announcement period as a ripe opportunity.
“We’re going to have to raise as much money as possible,†said one Clinton fundraiser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal plans. “We’re not going to take it slow. The announcement is a good time to raise money, and we’ll have everyone out there asking people to support her candidacy.â€
Several Clinton fundraisers described a rush of major donors wanting to get checks in the door on Day One of the campaign.
“All the horses are in the gate just waiting for those gates to open,†said John Morgan, a prominent Florida donor and Clinton fundraiser. “That’s how I describe the fundraising efforts. There’s really nothing to do until the gate opens. But the gate could open Sunday, and it could be the flood gate. The only issue they’ll have is how fast can they raise the money, because the money is pent up. And if they start holding events, the line will be around the block to host an event.â€
Clinton's fundraising efforts are being directed by Dennis Cheng, who had been finance director at the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. But the campaign is not expected to give titles to top bundlers or announce a list of finance committee chairs or members, according to Democrats with knowledge of the Clinton strategy.
Clinton’s focus for now will be on raising money just for the primary – with a cap of $2,700 a donor – through Internet appeals. That will free her up to spend time on the trail, talking to voters, rather than wooing wealthy donors at high-priced fundraisers.
“I don’t think the first thing out of the gate she should be doing is a bunch of big fundraising events,†said one senior party strategist.
This is a notable contrast to former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has spent the better part of four months crisscrossing the country holding closed-door finance events for his Right to Rise political action committee and super PAC with tickets costing as much as $100,000 each.
“I think she’ll be in Iowa eating corn on the cob instead of clinking champagne flutes with donors,†Morgan said. “She can do this much quicker, much more efficiently because she’s not fighting for donors. Rubio, Bush, that whole crowd is in mortal combat for dollars. She’s not. That’s her advantage.â€
Without a strong Democratic challenger on the horizon, Clinton does not feel the pressure to match the kind of “shock and awe†fundraising effort that Bush has been undertaking to scare off other Republican hopefuls. “They have the luxury of doing this the right way, and not trying to just see how much money they can hoover up,†the senior party strategist said.
In fact, Clinton’s team is wary of raising too much money too quickly -- creating a bulging war chest that could play to the inevitability theme she wants to avoid this time around.
Clinton will not be able to seed her new campaign with a major cash infusion as she did at the start of her 2008 campaign, when she transferred $10 million from her Senate reelection committee. That helped her post a record $36 million haul for her first fundraising quarter. Her 2008 presidential committee is shut down, and her Senate committee has just $158,000 left in reserves.
But her campaign this time will be able to build on the efforts of Ready for Hillary, an outside group started in 2013 to lay the groundwork for Clinton's campaign, which has held more than 1,000 grass-roots events across all 50 states in the past two years. In the process, the group amassed a donor pool of more than 135,000 people, the vast majority of whom gave contributions of $100 or less, according to super-PAC officials. Ready for Hillary also has cultivated a network of local organizers who could sign on for similar roles with the official campaign.
That could give Clinton a sizable head start over some of her Republican rivals in building a small-donor operation. Ready for Hillary will not be able to coordinate with Clinton once she announces, but it could share its list of supporters with her campaign through a list swap, campaign finance lawyers said.
But the group may not even have to take that step. Once Clinton declares her candidacy, the super PAC can simply direct its supporters to her Web site, allowing her campaign to quickly build a small-donor list.
And once she’s officially in, Ready for Hillary plans to post online the names of hundreds of donors who have given or raised more than $5,000, according to a person familiar with the plans. That list — which includes at least 222 donors who gave $25,000 — would be valuable not just for Clinton’s campaign but for Priorities USA, the high-dollar super PAC planning to finance a pro-Clinton television advertising campaign and now faces pressure to kick-start its fundraising.
Dan Balz and Matea Gold contributed to this report. | 1 | [
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FMD3178 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A dispatch from RT.com ABOVE: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) and Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks © Reuters / Darthmouth Films Hillary Clinton sparked an FBI backlash, which is now surfacing, when she stonewalled the Feds, who were trying to investigate her private server, Julian Assange said during the John Pilger Special, courtesy of Dartmouth Films, which is now available in full on RT. “If you go to history of the FBI, it has become effectively America’s political police. And the FBI demonstrated with taking down the former head of the CIA [David Petraeus in 2012] over classified information given to his mistress that almost no one was untouchable. The FBI is always trying to demonstrate that. ‘No one can resist us,’” Assange told the Australian journalist during the 25-minute interview. ‘This is treason’: Clinton’s email server reportedly exposed to hackers of 5 spy agencies “But Hillary Clinton very conspicuously resisted the FBI’s investigation. So, there is anger within the FBI because it made the FBI look weak.” FBI director James B. Comey threw a spanner into the presidential race that threatened to become a Clinton procession last week, when he claimed that the agency had potentially obtained new information pertaining to Clinton’s use of a personal email server, set up shortly after she became Secretary of State in 2009, when they obtained the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the ex-husband of close Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner was being investigated for an unrelated sexting offense. Clinton has categorically denied mishandling classified information by using a vulnerable personal email address for State Department business. Fox News has alleged that the FBI has obtained new evidence from Weiner’s computer that shows that Clinton was “very likely hacked.” The right-wing network has also claimed that there is a “high priority” FBI investigation into whether favors were exchanged by Clinton for donations to her husband’s foundation, though other media have refuted these claims, saying that an earlier investigation into the Clinton Foundation, which cleared the power couple, remained closed. Assange: Clinton & ISIS funded by same money, Trump won’t be allowed to win (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE) Assange, whose WikiLeaks website has over the last ten months released three sizable batches of emails, relating to Clinton herself, the Democratic National Committee, and her campaign manager John Podesta, said the FBI has cause to investigate Clinton. “There’s a thread that runs through all of these emails. There is quite a lot of “pay-to-play,” as they call it – taking… giving access in exchange for money for many individual states, individuals and corporations. Combined with the cover-up of Hillary Clinton’s emails while she was Secretary of State this has led to an environment where the pressure on the FBI [to investigate] increases,” Assange said. Regardless of whether Clinton ever faces charges, Assange asserted that Clinton was beholden to corporate and political entities that have been hidden from the electorate during the race to the White House. “She’s this centralizing cog, so that you’ve got a lot of different gears in operation from the big banks like Goldman Sachs, and major elements of Wall Street, and intelligence, and people in the State Department, and the Saudis, and so on. She’s is the, if you like, the centralizer that interconnects all these different cogs. She’s smooth central representation of all that, and all that is more or less what is in power now in the United States,” stated Assange, who said that the leaked emails presented a clear picture of this nexus of influences. Assange also insisted that despite his image, projecting hope and change, President Barack Obama became “very close to banking interests” during his own initial White House campaign in 2008. “In fact, one of the most significant Podesta emails that we released was about how the Obama cabinet was formed – and half the [first] Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from Citibank. It is quite amazing,” Assange said. ‘Libya was Hillary’s war’ According to Assange, Clinton’s emails reveal a masterplan, hatched months before the West’s intervention in Libya in March 2011, to make it the signature conflict of her tenure as secretary of state, and a podium from which to realize her presidential dreams. Assange: WikiLeaks did not receive Clinton emails from Russian govt (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE) “Libya more than anyone else’s war was Hillary Clinton’s war. Barack Obama initially opposed it. Who was the person who was championing it? Hillary Clinton. That’s documented throughout her emails,” Assange said. “There’s more than 1,700 emails out of the 33,000 of Hillary Clinton’s emails we published just about Libya. It’s not about that Libya has cheap oil. She perceived the removal of Gaddafi and the overthrow of the Libyan state something that she would use to run in the general election for president. So late 2011, there’s an internal document called the “Libya Tick Tock” that is produced for Hillary Clinton, and it’s all the… it’s a chronological description of how Hillary Clinton was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state.” But the scheme not only failed on a personal level, after Clinton was largely blamed for allowing a jihadist ransacking of a US compound in Benghazi in 2012, but also continues to haunt the country, which remains in a state of civil war, and Europe. “As a result, there [have been] around 40,000 deaths within Libya. Jihadists moved in, ISIS moved in. That led to the European refugee and migrant crisis, because not only did you have people fleeing Libya, people then fleeing Syria, destabilization of other African countries as a result of arms flows,” said Assange. Over the course of the interview, Assange also expounded on his views on Donald Trump, the relationship between WikiLeaks and Russia, and his plan to leave the Ecuadorian embassy, where he has lived as a legal fugitive since 2012. The full transcript of the interview is available below. Assange: Clinton is a cog for Goldman Sachs & the Saudis (JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT) Published time: 5 Nov, 2016 05:59 Edited time: 5 Nov, 2016 21:53 Australian journalist and documentary maker John Pilger (L) and Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks © Reuters / Dartmouth Films Whistleblower Julian Assange has given one of his most incendiary interviews ever in a John Pilger Special, courtesy of Dartmouth Films, in which he summarizes what can be gleaned from the tens of thousands of Clinton emails released by WikiLeaks this year. John Pilger, another Australian émigré, conducted the 25-minute interview at the Ecuadorian Embassy, where Assange has been trapped since 2012 for fear of extradition to the US. Last month, Assange had his internet access cut off for alleged “interference” in the American presidential election through the work of his website. ‘Clinton made FBI look weak, now there is anger’ John Pilger: What’s the significance of the FBI’s intervention in these last days of the U.S. election campaign, in the case against Hillary Clinton? Julian Assange : If you look at the history of the FBI, it has become effectively America’s political police. The FBI demonstrated this by taking down the former head of the CIA [General David Petraeus] over classified information given to his mistress. Almost no-one is untouchable. The FBI is always trying to demonstrate that no-one can resist us. But Hillary Clinton very conspicuously resisted the FBI’s investigation, so there’s anger within the FBI because it made the FBI look weak. We’ve published about 33,000 of Clinton’s emails when she was Secretary of State. They come from a batch of just over 60,000 emails, [of which] Clinton has kept about half – 30,000 — to herself, and we’ve published about half. BREAKING: #Assange : #Clinton resisted #FBI , and now they’re out for payback (WATCH FULL JOHN PILGER EXCLUSIVE ON RT) Then there are the Podesta emails we’ve been publishing. [John] Podesta is Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign manager, so there’s a thread that runs through all these emails; there are quite a lot of pay-for-play, as they call it, giving access in exchange for money to states, individuals and corporations. [These emails are] combined with the cover up of the Hillary Clinton emails when she was Secretary of State, [which] has led to an environment where the pressure on the FBI increases. ‘Russian government not the source of Clinton leaks’ JP: The Clinton campaign has said that Russia is behind all of this, that Russia has manipulated the campaign and is the source for WikiLeaks and its emails. JA: The Clinton camp has been able to project that kind of neo-McCarthy hysteria: that Russia is responsible for everything. Hilary Clinton stated multiple times, falsely, that seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That is false; we can say that the Russian government is not the source. WikiLeaks has been publishing for ten years, and in those ten years, we have published ten million documents, several thousand individual publications, several thousand different sources, and we have never got it wrong. ‘Saudi Arabia & Qatar funding ISIS and Clinton’ JP: The emails that give evidence of access for money and how Hillary Clinton herself benefited from this and how she is benefitting politically, are quite extraordinary. I’m thinking of when the Qatari representative was given five minutes with Bill Clinton for a million dollar cheque. JA: And twelve million dollars from Morocco … JP: Twelve million from Morocco yeah. JA: For Hillary Clinton to attend [a party]. JP: In terms of the foreign policy of the United States, that’s where the emails are most revealing, where they show the direct connection between Hillary Clinton and the foundation of jihadism, of ISIL, in the Middle East. Can you talk about how the emails demonstrate the connection between those who are meant to be fighting the jihadists of ISIL, are actually those who have helped create it. JA: There’s an early 2014 email from Hillary Clinton, not so long after she left the State Department, to her campaign manager John Podesta that states ISIL is funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Now this is the most significant email in the whole collection, and perhaps because Saudi and Qatari money is spread all over the Clinton Foundation. Even the U.S. government agrees that some Saudi figures have been supporting ISIL, or ISIS. But the dodge has always been that, well it’s just some rogue Princes, using their cut of the oil money to do whatever they like, but actually the government disapproves. But that email says that no, it is the governments of Saudi and Qatar that have been funding ISIS. JP: The Saudis, the Qataris, the Moroccans, the Bahrainis, particularly the Saudis and the Qataris, are giving all this money to the Clinton Foundation while Hilary Clinton is Secretary of State and the State Department is approving massive arms sales, particularly to Saudi Arabia. JA: Under Hillary Clinton, the world’s largest ever arms deal was made with Saudi Arabia, [worth] more than $80 billion. In fact, during her tenure as Secretary of State, total arms exports from the United States in terms of the dollar value, doubled. JP: Of course the consequence of that is that the notorious terrorist group called ISIl or ISIS is created largely with money from the very people who are giving money to the Clinton Foundation. JA: Yes. JP: That’s extraordinary. ‘Clinton has been eaten alive by her ambition’ JA: I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick; they faint as a result of [the reaction] to their ambitions. She represents a whole network of people and a network of relationships with particular states. The question is how does Hilary Clinton fit in this broader network? She’s a centralising cog. You’ve got a lot of different gears in operation from the big banks like Goldman Sachs and major elements of Wall Street, and Intelligence and people in the State Department and the Saudis. WikiLeaks emails shows Citigroup’s major role in shaping Obama administration’s cabinet She’s the centraliser that inter-connects all these different cogs. She’s the smooth central representation of all that, and ‘all that’ is more or less what is in power now in the United States. It’s what we call the establishment or the DC consensus. One of the more significant Podesta emails that we released was about how the Obama cabinet was formed and how half the Obama cabinet was basically nominated by a representative from City Bank. This is quite amazing. JP: Didn’t Citybank supply a list …. ? JA: Yes. JP: … which turned out to be most of the Obama cabinet. JA : Yes. JP: So Wall Street decides the cabinet of the President of the United States? JA: If you were following the Obama campaign back then, closely, you could see it had become very close to banking interests. Assange ‘sorry for Clinton as a personality’ (John Pilger exclusive, courtesy of Dartmouth films) JA: So I think you can’t properly understand Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy without understanding Saudi Arabia. The connections with Saudi Arabia are so intimate. ‘Libya is Hillary Clinton’s war’ JP: Why was she so demonstrably enthusiastic about the destruction of Libya? Can you talk a little about just what the emails have told us – told you – about what happened there? Because Libya is such a source for so much of the mayhem now in Syria: the ISIL, jihadism, and so on. And it was almost Hillary Clinton’s invasion. What do the emails tell us about that? ‘A very different kind of warfare’: Clinton team on Benghazi committee leaks in #PodestaEmails JA: Libya, more than anyone else’s war, was Hillary Clinton’s war. Barak Obama initially opposed it. Who was the person championing it? Hillary Clinton. That’s documented throughout her emails. She had put her favoured agent, Sidney Blumenthal, on to that; there’s more than 1700 emails out of the thirty three thousand Hillary Clinton emails that we’ve published, just about Libya. It’s not that Libya has cheap oil. She perceived the removal of Gaddafi and the overthrow of the Libyan state — something that she would use in her run-up to the general election for President. So in late 2011 there is an internal document called the Libya Tick Tock that was produced for Hillary Clinton, and it’s the chronological description of how she was the central figure in the destruction of the Libyan state, which resulted in around 40,000 deaths within Libya; jihadists moved in, ISIS moved in, leading to the European refugee and migrant crisis. Not only did you have people fleeing Libya, people fleeing Syria, the destabilisation of other African countries as a result of arms flows, but the Libyan state itself err was no longer able to control the movement of people through it. Libya faces along to the Mediterranean and had been effectively the cork in the bottle of Africa. So all problems, economic problems and civil war in Africa — previously people fleeing those problems didn’t end up in Europe because Libya policed the Mediterranean. That was said explicitly at the time, back in early 2011 by Gaddafi: ‘What do these Europeans think they’re doing, trying to bomb and destroy the Libyan State? There’s going to be floods of migrants out of Africa and jihadists into Europe, and this is exactly what happened. ‘Trump won’t be permitted to win’ JP: You get complaints from people saying, ‘What is WikiLeaks doing? Are they trying to put Trump in the Whitehouse?’ Assange, Comey & Clinton: The Assange Twilight Zone (E354) JA: My answer is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he’s had every establishment off side; Trump doesn’t have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment, but banks, intelligence [agencies], arms companies… big foreign money … are all united behind Hillary Clinton, and the media as well, media owners and even journalists themselves. JP: There is the accusation that WikiLeaks is in league with the Russians. Some people say, ‘Well, why doesn’t WikiLeaks investigate and publish emails on Russia?’ JA: We have published about 800,000 documents of various kinds that relate to Russia. Most of those are critical; and a great many books have come out of our publications about Russia, most of which are critical. Our [Russia]documents have gone on to be used in quite a number of court cases: refugee cases of people fleeing some kind of claimed political persecution in Russia, which they use our documents to back up. JP: Do you yourself take a view of the U.S. election? Do you have a preference for Clinton or Trump? JA: [Let’s talk about] Donald Trump. What does he represent in the American mind and in the European mind? He represents American white trash, [which Hillary Clinton called] ‘deplorable and irredeemable’. It means from an establishment or educated cosmopolitan, urbane perspective, these people are like the red necks, and you can never deal with them. Because he so clearly — through his words and actions and the type of people that turn up at his rallies — represents people who are not the middle, not the upper middle educated class, there is a fear of seeming to be associated in any way with them, a social fear that lowers the class status of anyone who can be accused of somehow assisting Trump in any way, including any criticism of Hillary Clinton. If you look at how the middle class gains its economic and social power, that makes absolute sense. ‘US attempting to squeeze WikiLeaks through my refugee status’ JP: I’d like to talk about Ecuador, the small country that has given you refuge and [political asylum] in this embassy in London. Now Ecuador has cut off the internet from here where we’re doing this interview, in the Embassy, for the clearly obvious reason that they are concerned about appearing to intervene in the U.S. election campaign. Can you talk about why they would take that action and your own views on Ecuador’s support for you? Pro-Hillary US State Dept ‘behind Assange internet cutoff’ – WikiLeaks activist to RT JA: Let’s let go back four years. I made an asylum application to Ecuador in this embassy, because of the U.S. extradition case, and the result was that after a month, I was successful in my asylum application. The embassy since then has been surrounded by police: quite an expensive police operation which the British government admits to spending more than £12.6 million. They admitted that over a year ago. Now there’s undercover police and there are robot surveillance cameras of various kinds — so that there has been quite a serious conflict right here in the heart of London between Ecuador, a country of sixteen million people, and the United Kingdom, and the Americans who have been helping on the side. So that was a brave and principled thing for Ecuador to do. Now we have the U.S. election [campaign], the Ecuadorian election is in February next year, and you have the White House feeling the political heat as a result of the true information that we have been publishing. WikiLeaks does not publish from the jurisdiction of Ecuador, from this embassy or in the territory of Ecuador; we publish from France, we publish from, from Germany, we publish from The Netherlands and from a number of other countries, so that the attempted squeeze on WikiLeaks is through my refugee status; and this is, this is really intolerable. [It means] that [they] are trying to get at a publishing organisation; [they] try and prevent it from publishing true information that is of intense interest to the American people and others about an election. JP: Tell us what would happen if you walked out of this embassy. JA: I would be immediately arrested by the British police and I would then be extradited either immediately to the United States or to Sweden. In Sweden I am not charged, I have already been previously cleared [by the Senior Stockholm Prosecutor Eva Finne]. We were not certain exactly what would happen there, but then we know that the Swedish government has refused to say that they will not extradite me to the United States we know they have extradited 100 per cent of people whom the U.S. has requested since at least 2000. So over the last fifteen years, every single person the U.S. has tried to extradite from Sweden has been extradited, and they refuse to provide a guarantee [that won’t happen]. JP: People often ask me how you cope with the isolation in here. JA: Look, one of the best attributes of human beings is that they’re adaptable; one of the worst attributes of human beings is they are adaptable. They adapt and start to tolerate abuses, they adapt to being involved themselves in abuses, they adapt to adversity and they continue on. So in my situation, frankly, I’m a bit institutionalised — this [the embassy] is the world .. it’s visually the world [for me]. JP: It’s the world without sunlight, for one thing, isn’t it? JA: It’s the world without sunlight, but I haven’t seen sunlight in so long, I don’t remember it. JP: Yes. JA: So , yes, you adapt. The one real irritant is that my young children — they also adapt. They adapt to being without their father. That’s a hard, hard adaption which they didn’t ask for. JP: Do you worry about them? JA: Yes, I worry about them; I worry about their mother. ‘I am innocent and in arbitrary detention’ JP: Some people would say, ‘Well, why don’t you end it and simply walk out the door and allow yourself to be extradited to Sweden?’ JA: The U.N. [the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention] has looked into this whole situation. They spent eighteen months in formal, adversarial litigation. [So it’s] me and the U.N. versus Sweden and the U.K. Who’s right? The U.N. made a conclusion that I am being arbitrarily detained illegally, deprived of my freedom and that what has occurred has not occurred within the laws that the United Kingdom and Sweden, and that [those countries] must obey. It is an illegal abuse. It is the United Nations formally asking, ‘What’s going on here? What is your legal explanation for this? [Assange] says that you should recognise his asylum.’ [And here is] Sweden formally writing back to the United Nations to say, ‘No, we’re not going to [recognise the UN ruling], so leaving open their ability to extradite. I just find it absolutely amazing that the narrative about this situation is not put out publically in the press, because it doesn’t suit the Western establishment narrative – that yes, the West has political prisoners, it’s a reality, it’s not just me, there’s a bunch of other people as well. The West has political prisoners. Of course, no state accepts [that it should call] the people it is imprisoning or detaining for political reasons, political prisoners. They don’t call them political prisoners in China, they don’t call them political prisoners in Azerbaijan and they don’t call them political prisoners in the United States, U.K. or Sweden; it is absolutely intolerable to have that kind of self-perception. JA: Here we have a case, the Swedish case, where I have never been charged with a crime, where I have already been cleared [by the Stockholm prosecutor] and found to be innocent, where the woman herself said that the police made it up, where the United Nations formally said the whole thing is illegal, where the State of Ecuador also investigated and found that I should be given asylum. Those are the facts, but what is the rhetoric? JP: Yes, it’s different. JA: The rhetoric is pretending, constantly pretending that I have been charged with a crime, and never mentioning that I have been already previously cleared, never mentioning that the woman herself says that the police made it up. [The rhetoric] is trying to avoid [the truth that ] the U.N. formally found that the whole thing is illegal, never even mentioning that Ecuador made a formal assessment through its formal processes and found that yes, I am subject to persecution by the United States. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS | 0 | [
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FMD3179 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Donald Trump faces his biggest test as a world leader when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday and Friday for a summit that will set the tone for perhaps the most consequential of U.S. foreign relationships. The two leaders are expected to struggle to find common ground on the main issues that divide them when they meet at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The main agenda items are: North Korea is perhaps Trump’s most pressing national security challenge. Pyongyang has been working to develop nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. Trump is expected to repeat his call for China to do more to rein in its ally and neighbor and has warned that Washington might deal with Pyongyang’s weapons programs alone if need be. China says it is doing all it can and has said it is up to the United States to de-escalate with Pyongyang. A White House strategy review focuses on options for pressuring Pyongyang economically and militarily. Among measures under consideration are “secondary sanctions†against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang. A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but the review “de-emphasizes direct military action,†a senior U.S. official said. Any military action would likely provoke severe North Korean retaliation and massive casualties in South Korea and Japan and among U.S. troops stationed there. TRADE Trade is one of the biggest hot-button issues, given Trump’s charges in his presidential campaign that Chinese trade practices were killing U.S. jobs and his vow to impose 45 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. The administration has not acted on unilateral tariffs but is targeting a reduction in China’s $347 billion goods trade surplus through tougher enforcement of trade laws and anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties.     Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has also demanded “reciprocity†in the U.S.-China economic relationship, saying that U.S. companies do not enjoy the same access to China’s vast market as Chinese firms get in the United States.  China says Washington should create better conditions for Chinese investment in the United States if it wants to correct the imbalance. Neither side wants a trade war, but it may be hard to do much more than lower the temperature in Mar-a-Lago. Some analysts believe Xi may bring a package of job-creating Chinese investments and the prospect of a more open services sector that Trump could tweet as tangible achievements.     Relations are also clouded by China’s expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands and installing military facilities on them. U.S. officials see this as part of a long-term Chinese bid to deny U.S. forces access to the strategic sea, a key global trade route. They say Washington plans more robust naval operations to challenge Chinese claims and assert the right to freedom of navigation, though months have passed since the last one in October under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. The situation in North Korea has appeared to push the South China Sea issue onto the back burner for now, but Trump is expected to air U.S. concerns. Trump has repeatedly charged that China manipulates its yuan currency to keep its exports cheap, and he is likely to raise the issue with Xi. But Trump did not make good on his promises to formally declare China a currency manipulator on the first day of his presidency.    While economists believe China pushed down the value of the yuan in the past, China’s central bank for much of the past two years has been working to prop up the yuan amid capital outflow pressures, spending more than $1 trillion in the process.    This would make it very hard to justify a manipulator designation under the U.S. Treasury’s current foreign exchange analysis, due one week after Xi’s visit. The summit would not be happening if Trump had not reaffirmed the “one China†policy that has underpinned bilateral relations for decades. Trump infuriated Beijing when, as president-elect, he took a call from Taiwan’s president and suggested he might not abide by the policy. He backtracked in a call with Xi in February. Xi may now be looking to head off a big new weapons package to Taiwan that U.S. officials have told Reuters is being crafted. For its part, Taiwan will be watching anxiously for any sign that Trump is using it as a bargaining chip. | 1 | [
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FMD3180 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Federal authorities have granted China the power of eminent domain. Claim summaries: The U.S. government has agreed to allow China to exercise 'eminent domain' as collateral for American debt.?
contextual information: The United States of America has tendered to China a written agreement that grants the People's Republic of China an option to exercise eminent domain within the USA as collateral for China's continued purchase of US Treasury Notes and existing US currency reserves. On February 11, Bloomberg Business News reported that China was seeking "guarantees" for its US government debt, and it now appears they got it. Well-placed senior sources at the US Embassy in Beijing confirm that the formal written agreement was delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent trip to China. This means that in the event the US government defaults on its financial obligations to China, the Communist government of China would be permitted to physically take land, buildings, factories, and perhaps even entire cities inside the USA to satisfy the financial obligations of the US government.
The large amount of U.S. debt held by foreign countries such as China has long concerned many Americans, especially in the current climate of economic turmoil. As the Washington Post noted, China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt, which helped finance the spending binge the United States undertook before the current economic crisis. Some experts have expressed concern that China's substantial holding of U.S. debt gives it increased leverage in dealings with Washington because any halt in Chinese purchases would make it more difficult to finance government bailouts and stimulus packages. Likewise, as Bloomberg News reported, some Chinese officials have opined that China should ask the U.S. for some economic guarantees as a prerequisite for additional purchases of U.S. securities. "China will ask for a guarantee that the U.S. will support the dollar's exchange rate and ensure that China's dollar-denominated assets are safe," said He Zhicheng, an economist at the Agricultural Bank of China.
However, the notion that the U.S. has agreed to guarantee its foreign debt by granting China permission to enact "eminent domain" and "physically take land, buildings, factories, perhaps even entire cities" from the U.S. is not a sensible claim. The concept of "eminent domain" in the United States refers to the right of the government to seize private property for public use in exchange for payment of fair market value. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution mandates that "private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation." Thus, the idea of enacting eminent domain as a form of debt repayment or guarantee is illogical: It's akin to a debtor offering to settle a $5,000 debt by agreeing to sell his creditor $5,000 worth of jewelry for $5,000. At the end of the day, the debtor hasn't given up anything, and his creditor still hasn't collected anything on the original loan amount.
Moreover, Executive Order 13406 ("Protecting the Property Rights of the American People") states that the federal government must limit its use of the taking of private property "to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation" and "not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken." Aside from functional arguments, the common-sense test applies: If the U.S. government had actually guaranteed, in writing, that China could seize private property within the U.S. to satisfy the financial obligations of the U.S. government, that information would be the biggest news story of the day. So who is reporting this news? Not any legitimate news outlet; the story appears only in the blog of former radio host Hal Turner, who has previously presented fictitious tales of politically outrageous subjects as actual occurrences, such as proffering fake Amero coins as proof of a secret conspiracy to merge the U.S., Mexico, and Canada into a single entity. | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD3181 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Photograph Shows President Obama with His Feet on Oval Office Desk? Claim summaries: A photograph of President Obama with his feet on his Oval Office desk is genuine, but the act it captures is neither "desecration" nor unprecedented.
contextual information: The above-displayed image is a genuine photograph of President Obama conversing with some of his staff in the Oval Office, with his feet up on his desk. However, most of the accompanying text that was reproduced with this image was contrived and subjective invective intended to stir up partisan outrage. It is true that in some parts of the world, showing the bottom of one's shoes (even accidentally) is considered rude, but this is not the case in American culture. Furthermore, the areas where it is considered rude—primarily the Middle East, Korea, Thailand, and some parts of Africa—do not comprise anything close to "over half of the cultures of the world." While this posture may not be the norm, it is far from "absolutely never done." For example, consider this anecdote from a book about one of America's most prominent business executives, Apple's late co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs: Bill Curley, a middle-aged Apple marketing manager, recalls an incident from his very first week on the job at Apple. "I was at a meeting with [Apple CEO Steve] Jobs and several other managers, and he was in shorts, running shoes, and no socks. He was disagreeing with a guy, so he kicked off his shoes and put his bare feet on the table. He framed the guy's face with his feet." An executive's act of putting his feet up on a desk or table can be interpreted quite differently depending on the context: Doing so in the middle of a staff meeting might be seen as demonstrating rudeness, arrogance, or disrespect; conversely, doing so at the end of a long workday while engaging in friendly chit-chat with a few subordinates might be perceived as showing oneself to be a warm, folksy, regular guy. If a U.S. President putting his feet up on the Oval Office desk is seen as an indication that "he thinks of himself as a king" and should be "inundated" with mail "demanding he stop desecrating his office," then we seem to have missed the boat on that issue. Identical actions by President Obama's predecessors in the White House provoked no such outrage, as demonstrated by the following unremarked-upon photographs of Presidents George W. Bush and Gerald Ford. This photograph became the subject of renewed interest after President Trump's adviser Kellyanne Conway was photographed kneeling with her feet on an Oval Office couch. | 2 | [
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] | 2 |
FMD3182 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Video of a confrontation between a news photographer and protesters at the University of Missouri on Monday led to a dispute between journalists and the activists’ sympathizers beyond the campus walls. In response to a series of racial issues at the university, a circle of arm-linked students sought to designate a “safe space†around an encampment on the campus quad. When they blocked journalist Tim Tai from photographing the encampment, reporters complained that media were denied access to a public space.
Certainly, Tai – like any journalist – had a legal right to enter the space, given that it was in a public area. But that shouldn’t be the end of this story. We in the media have something important to learn from this unfortunate exchange. The protesters had a legitimate gripe: The black community distrusts the news media because it has failed to cover black pain fairly.
As a journalist, I understand how frustrating it is to be denied access to a person or place that’s essential to my story. I appeared with other journalists on local media in New York City to discuss our frustration over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s sometimes standoffish attitude towards the press. He is a public figure whose salary is paid with tax dollars. He is obligated to be accessible to us.
[Campus racism makes minorities drop out of college. Mizzou students had to act.]
The student protesters Tai encountered, though, didn’t owe him anything. They did not represent a government entity stonewalling access to public information. They were not public officials hiding from media questions. They were young people trying to build a community free not only of the racism that has recently wracked Mizzou’s campus but also of the insensitivity they encounter in the news media: Newspapers, Web sites and TV commentary had already been filled by punditry telling black students to “toughen up†and “grow a pair.†Then, in the noisy conversation about First Amendment rights that Tai elicited, journalists compounded the insult by drowning out the very message of the students Tai was covering.
As journalists, we should strive to understand the motivations of the people we cover. In this case, black students at the University of Missouri have had a string of racist encounters on campus: The president of the students’ association was called the n-word and other black students have been racially harassed while participating in campus activities. A Missouri journalism professor wrote in the Huffington Post that she has been called the n-word “too many times to count†during her 18 years at the university. In February 2010, black students woke up to cotton balls strewn over on the lawn of the black culture center on campus. The crime, carried out by white students, was designed to invoke plantation slavery. University president Tim Wolfe resigned Monday after graduate student Jonathan Butler went on a hunger strike and the school’s football players boycotted team activities to protest the very public racism he and many black students believe the school did little to address.
Establishing a “safe space†was about much more than denying the media access; it was about securing a zone where students’ blackness could not be violated. Yes, the hunger strike, the safe space and other demonstrations were protests, and protests should be covered. But what was fueling those protests was black pain. In most circumstances, when covering people who are in pain, journalists offer extra space and empathy. That didn’t happen in this case; these young people weren’t treated as hurting victims. Instead, after the confrontation with Tai, aggrieved journalists responded with a ferocity usually reserved for powerful entities with the means to inflict lasting damage on their First Amendment rights.
This wasn’t a problem with Tai’s character or his journalistic integrity; he was doing his job, and his past outstanding work speaks for itself. But in this conversation over “public space,†we’ve overlooked the protesters’ message — that conditions on campus make it an unbearable environment for black students to live and learn in. Their approach to creating a safe space should have been better conceived, but reporters should also feel a responsibility to try to understand and respect their pain, instead of rushing to judge them and panicking about an imagined assault on press freedoms.
[Shooters of color are called ‘terrorists’ and ‘thugs.’ Why are white shooters called ‘mentally ill’?]
Further, as reporters, we have to drop our sense of entitlement and understand that not everyone wants to be subjects of our journalism. Our press passes don’t give us the license to bully ourselves into any and all spaces where our presence is not appreciated. It’s one thing to demand access to public lands; it’s another to demand access to people’s grieving.
In many communities that historically have been marginalized and unfairly portrayed by the media, there’s good reason people do not trust journalists: They often criminalize black people’s pain and resistance to racial oppression. We saw it in coverage of Ferguson and Baltimore, when news stations seemed more concerned with the property damage than with the emotional damage that prompted it. Though peaceful protests in Ferguson had been going on for days, reporters didn’t descend on the town in large numbers until there were clashes with police. Suddenly, coverage spiked, but most of it was about “cars vandalized†and “buildings burned.†On Fox News, the channel most watched for Ferguson coverage at the height of the unrest, protesters were called “thugs.†Reporting from the protests, CNN’s Don Lemon noted, “Obviously, there’s a smell of marijuana in the air.†We heard comparatively little about the residents’ long-held grievances about police harassment and brutality.
The unfair portrayal of black people in the news media is well documented. One study analyzing news coverage by 26 local television stations, black people were rarely portrayed unless they had committed a crime. A 2015 University of Houston study found that this imbalanced coverage may lead viewers to develop racial bias against black people because it often over-represents them in crime rates. Recognizing this kind of bias in news media, black Twitter users started the #IfTheyGunnedMeDown hashtag to call out news images of Mike Brown that many felt criminalized him in his death.
That black students would be skeptical of media is understandable. We’ve already seen the kind of headlines they undoubtedly feared. In an Atlantic piece headlined “Campus Activists Weaponize ‘Safe Space’,†Conor Friedersdorf calls the protesters a mob and insists they are “twisting the concept of ‘safe space.’†Again, a journalist criminalizes black people for expressing their pain. It was another piece centering the reporter’s privilege over the students’ trauma. Friederdorf’s piece completely ignores the intolerable racial climate that forced the students to establish a safe space in the first place.
[Black college football and basketball players are the most powerful people of color on campus]
There were other ways to cover these students’ protest without breaching their safe space and without criminalizing them.The human chain students formed provided ample b-roll and still photos. Students could have been interviewed outside of that space. I would have pitched a story to my editors with the headline, “Why Black Students Were Forced To Secure A Safe Space On A Public Campus.† But to do that requires self-reflection and not a condescending, self-absorbed soliloquy about the First Amendment.
For journalists, the Missouri protests are a big news story. For the black students we’re covering, however, it’s a fight for their humanity and liberation. Tai is correct: he was doing his job. But in that stressful moment he may have failed to realize that the space he wanted to enter was a healing one that black people had worked to secure.
Black pain is not an easy subject to cover, but the lesson we can take from this encounter at Missouri is that our presence as journalists, with the long legacy of criminalizing blackness that comes with it, may trigger the same harmful emotions that led to the students’ protests in the first place.
We used to count black Americans as 3/5 of a person. For reparations, give us 5/3 of a vote.
Don’t criticize Black Lives Matter for provoking violence. The civil rights movement did, too.
This is what white people can do to support #BlackLivesMatter | 1 | [
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FMD3183 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: If you listen to Republicans, the Affordable Care Act is the worst thing since Caillou first aired on television or, something to that effect. While Ted Cruz may claim that millions of Americans are hurting because of the jobs that have been destroyed since the passage of Obamacare, Marco Rubio says that We have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, and Carly Fiorina ignorantly asserts that Obamacare is crushing small businesses, none of that seems to be happening.Not only do we enjoy the lowest uninsured rate in history, but 2014 the first full year of implementation of the Affordable Care Act treated us to a 15-year high in job growth. 2015 wasn t too shabby either, with the two full years in which Obamacare has been up and running being the best back-to-back years since there were new episodes of Full House.As Forbes Dan Diamond noted last week, since Obamacare was signed into law in March 2010 (or Armageddon as conservatives call it) the private sector hasn t lost any jobs. In fact, Obama is the worst job-killing President in recent history, if that is actually his goal.MSNBC took Diamond s graph and made some alterations showing job growth under George W. Bush compared to under President Obama. Clearly, after inheriting the dismal economy left to us by the Bush administration, the President and his evil socialist cohorts attempted to destroy America by putting people back to work: But whenever this or related topics come up, I hear from conservatives who insist that the data is deceptive because most of the new jobs are part-time, not full-time, Maddow blog s Steve Benen notes. This pesky detail makes the seemingly good news appear far more discouraging. This would, of course, be heavily disconcerting, he notes if it were true. Vox s Sarah Kliff reported on Monday that the part-time theory is complete and utter bullsh*t:[N]ew research in the journal Health Affairs suggests they weren t the norm: The data shows no national trend toward more part-time employment under the Affordable Care Act even if you drill into the type of people you d expect to get hit hardest.Is Obamacare hurting the economy or the job market? All signs point to no but that won t stop Republicans from trying to figure out a way. Or, of course, they might just make some stuff up. They re good at that.Featured image via MSNBC | 0 | [
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FMD3184 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Porton Down Laboratory was involved in the poisoning and attempted murder of Sergey Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. It is worth remembering that the famous Porton Down laboratory, specialised in the study, development and countering of chemical and bacteriological weapons, is located near Salisbury.
Western media are silent about the involvement of the Porton Down laboratory in the Skripal poisoning and about the Novichok that could be hidden in this laboratory. Instead of serious investigative journalism, Western media have published an increasing number of Russophobic and fantasy-based “spy novels” and “detective stories” about the Skripal case. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD3185 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Crimean budget revenue has doubled since Russia annexed it. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD3186 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Congress allocate $50 billion in 2006 specifically for the development of border fencing? Claim summaries: When some leading Democrats voted for the Secure Fence Act, were they agreeing to 10 times more funding than President Donald Trump requested for his border wall in 2018?
contextual information: During the U.S. federal government shutdown that began in December 2018, President Donald Trump and many of his supporters blamed Congressional Democrats for the budgetary impasse. As part of that rhetorical battle, Trump and others accused Democrats of hypocrisy and political opportunism, alleging that their current opposition to providing funding for the president's long-promised border wall was in stark contrast to their past support for border security infrastructure. In his 8 January 2019 Oval Office address, President Trump alluded to this notion by taking a swipe at Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate Minority Leader, who, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was scheduled to offer a response to the president's primetime immigration speech: "Senator Chuck Schumer, who you will be hearing from later tonight, has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past, along with many other Democrats. They changed their mind only after I was elected President." In a similar vein, around the beginning of 2019, a widely shared meme posed a rhetorical question about $50 billion in funding for border infrastructure that was supposedly part of the 2006 Secure Fence Act, implying that Democratic Congressional leaders had somehow been involved in misappropriating the money: "Schumer, Pelosi, and the Dems may have wished they had just given POTUS the $5 billion for the wall ... rather than having to answer this question!!! ... or is this the bigger picture??? Where is the $50 billion set aside for the 2006 Secure Fence Act? Bush signed it, and Obama was supposed to oversee its construction? Where is the money?" A 12 January post on the website of conspiracy theorist Jeff Rense contained this graphic version of the meme. The figure of $50 billion was especially significant because it was a far greater sum than the $5 billion for border wall construction that President Trump demanded be included in the 2019 federal budget, which formed the crux of the partisan standoff and ensuing government shutdown. The "$50 billion" message was shared widely on Twitter and Facebook, prompting inquiries from readers about its veracity. In reality, $50 billion was not set aside for border security infrastructure as part of the 2006 Secure Fence Act, and therefore no misappropriation of such funding occurred. One analysis, which predated the Secure Fence Act by seven years, predicted that building and maintaining the type of border fencing provided for in that legislation might cost up to $49 billion over the course of 25 years, but that analysis did not play a significant role in Congressional deliberations before the passing of the Secure Fence Act. The Secure Fence Act was a law introduced by Republican Congressman Peter King of New York in September 2006 and signed by President George W. Bush on 26 October 2006. Among other provisions, the law required the Secretary of Homeland Security to begin (within 18 months) the construction of at least two layers of fencing, along with barriers, cameras, and sensors, along five sections of the United States border with Mexico. In the context of the 2018-19 controversy over President Trump's proposed border wall, Republicans made claims about the effectiveness of that border fencing in reducing illegal border crossings into the United States. In a previous fact check, we found such claims to be vague and flawed. Some Democrats supported the bill, while others did not. In the House of Representatives, the Secure Fence Act passed by 283 votes to 138, with 64 Democrats voting in favor and 131, including Nancy Pelosi, voting against it. In the U.S. Senate, the bill passed 80-19. Some 26 Democrats supported it, including future president and vice president Barack Obama and Joe Biden, 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and future Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, while 17 Democrats, including future Secretary of State John Kerry and future Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, opposed it. The claim that Congress "set aside" $50 billion for border fencing in 2006 appears to have been derived from a 1999 study conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In a 2 January 2019 column for Fox News, Republican U.S. Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana used the figure in accusing Congressional Democrats of "playing games with America's safety." The bill before us would certainly do some good. It would authorize some badly needed funding for better fences and better security along our borders that should help stem some of the tide of illegal immigration in this country. No, that statement wasn't made by a Republican. It was a speech given by then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in 2006, when 26 Senate Democrats -- including Obama and Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer of New York -- voted for the Secure Fence Act, which allocated $50 billion over 25 years for 700 miles of fencing along the border. That's right. Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer voted for ten times more funding than President Trump is requesting now to secure our border. What has changed Democrats' recognition that our southern border needs to be secured? Two words: President Trump. In a 2017 Boston Globe column, Annie Linskey wrote of the Secure Fence Act that "Congress put aside $1.4 billion for the fence, but the whole cost, including maintenance, was pegged at $50 billion over 25 years, according to analyses at the time." Several articles from early 2007 and 2008 referred to the $50 billion claim. For example, in September 2008, then-Democratic U.S. Representative Silvestre Reyes of Texas wrote in opposition to the border fencing envisioned in the Secure Fence Act: "With construction expected to exceed $1.2 billion and lifetime maintenance of up to $50 billion, the exorbitant cost of this border fence would be better invested in additional Border Patrol agents, equipment, and technology." In January 2007, the Migration Policy Institute cited a report by the Congressional Research Service as its source for the $50 billion figure, writing: "The 700 miles of double-layer border fencing called for in the Secure Fence Act of [2006] could cost more than $50 billion over 25 years, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) ... The report cites a Corps of Engineers study that estimates construction of the fencing would cost about $1.2 to $1.3 million a mile, in addition to costs for labor and for purchasing the required property. Further, the Corps of Engineers estimates that maintenance of the fence over its 25-year lifespan would cost between $16.4 million to $70 million per mile, depending on the frequency and strength of attempts to cross it." The CRS report was dated 21 September 2006, seven days after the House of Representatives passed the Secure Fence Act, and eight days before the Senate did likewise. Because border fencing is a relatively new and limited phenomenon along the U.S.-Mexico border, there is a dearth of information concerning its overall costs and benefits. The Corps of Engineers study predicted that the costs of constructing a double-layer fence consisting of primary fencing and Sandia fencing would range from $1.2 million to $1.3 million a mile. The Corps of Engineers also predicted that the 25-year life cycle cost of the fence would range from $16.4 million to $70 million per mile, depending on the amount of damage sustained by the fencing. If significant portions of the border were to be fenced, reducing the areas along which individuals could cross the border, it may stand to reason that the fencing will be subjected to more breaches and other attempts to compromise than the fencing that has already been constructed. This may mean that the costs of maintaining border fencing that is widely deployed in the future will be higher than they have been thus far for the limited deployment. The double-layer fencing envisioned in the Secure Fence Act was expected to stretch for a total of around 700 miles. If the "25-year life cycle cost" of the fence was between $16.4 million and $70 million per mile, that would equate to a 25-year cost of between $11.5 billion and $49 billion. That "worst case" estimate of $49 billion over 25 years is the source of the "$50 billion" claim which was promulgated in 2007 and 2008, and then again in 2017 and 2019, amid the controversy over President Trump's border wall proposals and Democratic opposition to them. Because the original Corps of Engineers study was seven years old by 2006, the CRS adjusted the original figures presented in the 1999 report for inflation. The Corps of Engineers recommended using landing mat fencing for a primary fence and Sandia fencing for a secondary fence. Those figures were as follows: The existence of the 1999 Corps of Engineers study shows that, at the time lawmakers voted through the Secure Fence Act in 2006, one analysis from a reliable source included estimates that indicated the 25-year cost of a 700-mile double-layer fence along the southern border (such as that envisioned in the Secure Fence Act) could range from $11.5 billion to $49 billion. Furthermore, a Congressional Research Service report which reiterated those findings was published on 21 September 2006, too late to be taken into consideration by U.S. Representatives, but before their Senate counterparts cast their votes. However, these estimates (the source of the "$50 billion" figure) only appear to have attracted attention and gained traction after the passing of the Secure Fence Act (for example, in the January 2007 Migration Policy Institute analysis), rather than beforehand. In a debate about the bill on 29 September 2006, for example, several U.S. Senators offered varying estimates of the likely cost of the fencing envisioned in the Secure Fence Act. None of them mentioned a figure of $50 billion, or even close to that. In fact, no member of either house of Congress mentioned either the figure of $50 billion nor the original 1999 Army Corps of Engineers study during any debate about the Secure Fence Act. On 25 September 2006, the Washington Post reported that confusion existed over how much the construction of the fencing would cost, although again, none of the estimates listed in the article came anywhere close to $50 billion: "The House has passed and the Senate is debating legislation to build 700 miles of fence on the U.S.-Mexico border with no certain idea of how much it would cost. Estimates range from $2 billion, cited by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the appropriations subcommittee for homeland security, to $7 billion, the figure used by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Homeland Security officials told congressional aides it would cost about $5 billion. The department would not confirm that figure nor address the cost of the 107 miles of fencing already up along the nearly 2,000-mile border. The cost can vary depending on whether the government or a private contractor builds the fence." So while it's true that the Army Corps of Engineers study was publicly available when Congress passed the Secure Fence Act in 2006 and could have proved instructive to the debate around the planned construction of border fencing, no evidence suggests that either document played a part in the considerations or deliberations of lawmakers before they cast their votes. This is worth bearing in mind when evaluating any claim that lawmakers (particularly Democrats now hostile to President Trump's border wall plans) passed the Secure Fence Act despite estimates which placed its 25-year cost at $50 billion. Finally, the more specific claim made in the meme and by Rep. Scalise, that the Secure Fence Act "allocated" or "set aside" $50 billion over 25 years, is false. In fact, the Secure Fence Act did not authorize, allocate, or "set aside" any funding. In 2017, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) had spent $2.3 billion on building 654 miles of border fencing between 2007 and 2015, and that CBP had projected in 2009 that the cost of maintaining its border fencing for 20 years would be $1 billion. | 0 | [
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FMD3187 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Was there any instance of Donald Trump suggesting that the current president should be impeached if the Dow Jones declines by 1,000 points within a span of two days? Claim summaries: We found a few reasons to be skeptical of this tweet.
contextual information: Editor's note: Fact-checking whether Trump tweeted about 'Dow Jones' and presidents being shot out of a cannon? That's over here. Between 10 and 11 October 2018, the Dow Jones Industrial Index dropped 1,378 points in value. Along with significant losses in other market indices (such as the S&P 500), this decline prompted sober and informed analysis, but also partisan criticism of President Donald Trump, who has set a precedent of claiming credit for positive stock market trends. Against that background, critics of the president shared what appeared to be a screenshot of a tweet from 2012 in which Trump supposedly proclaimed, "If the Dow drops 1,000 points in two days the President should be impeached immediately!" RETWEET AND LIKE TO SPREAD THIS OLD TRUMP TWEET! pic.twitter.com/GwsJl189pn Travis Allen ? (@TravisAllen02) October 11, 2018 Since the Dow Jones had indeed dropped by more than 1,000 points in two days, the argument went, President Trump, in accordance with his own pronouncement, ought to be removed from office or even resign. This was advocated with great gusto on Twitter in the aftermath of the October 2018 loss: The Dow has dropped 1,377 points in the last two days. Oh @realDonaldTrump, your self from six years ago would like a word with you. Alternatively, you could save us all a lot of time and money and just resign immediately. pic.twitter.com/x1mw31pvMR @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/x1mw31pvMR Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) October 12, 2018 Sooo, @realDonaldTrump..... For a 2-day slump of minus-1,300 to the Dow, by your "logic," you should be impeached immediately AND thrown in jail! #Sad pic.twitter.com/qLJUuctGvD @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/qLJUuctGvD BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) October 12, 2018 @realDonaldTrump impeach Trump .. Dow is down 1,300 points https://t.co/31MNdEkePB @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/31MNdEkePB alex taye (@ChakluTaye) October 12, 2018 But there is no record of Trump having posted such a tweet on 6 November 2012, or on any other date. Since it's conceivable that he published it and then deleted it, we can't reach a definitive conclusion as to whether or not it is genuine. However, there are good reasons to doubt its authenticity. Firstly, it is strikingly similar to another tweet that was revealed to have been a hoax in February 2018, after another massive loss for the Dow Jones. On that occasion, Shaun Usher -- who runs the popular "Letters of Note" blog -- admitted to having fabricated an "old Trump tweet" from 2015, in which the presidential candidate was supposed to have proclaimed: If the Dow Jones ever falls more than 1,000 "points" in a single day, the sitting president should be "loaded" into a very big cannon and shot into the sun at tremendous speed! No excuses! Secondly, there is no record of the 2012 tweet existing before 11 October 2018. The earliest instance we could find was the purported screenshot posted on that date by Twitter user Travis Allen. Despite searching Twitter and online news archives from 2012 onward, we did not find a single reference to Trump advocating the impeachment of the U.S. president in the event of a significant stock market drop. Nobody made reference to such a tweet despite almost six years passing -- not even when the Dow Jones dropped 1,175 points on 5 February 2018. Also, we could find no variances in screenshots of the purported tweet. Every instance shows the same number of retweets and likes, and the same set of thumbnail avatars. Additional screenshots displaying variations in the number of retweets and likes, and/or different avatars, would at least suggest that someone besides Travis Allen had taken note of the tweet and kept a record of it (although that, in itself, would not amount to definitive corroboration). As it stands, the case for the tweet's authenticity rests entirely on a sole Twitter user (out of hundreds of millions) having taken a screenshot of it between 6 November 2012 and 11 October 2018, before it could have been deleted. Finally, the person who posted the earliest known instance of the tweet has a history of posting anti-Trump "sharebait," a fact that casts even more reasonable doubt on its authenticity. Allen's own 11 October tweet implores readers to "retweet and like to spread this old Trump tweet." This effort to garner shares and engagement is a common feature of his Twitter account. In the week leading up to the "Dow Jones" screenshot, Allen published nine tweets that included requests for readers to share and like his content. For example: Remember when Trump said he was going to build the Wall and make Mexico pay for it? ??? RT and like if you remember! Travis Allen ? (@TravisAllen02) October 9, 2018 Many people are saying that Brett Kavanaugh is the worst Supreme Court nominee in the history of the universe! Retweet and like if you agree! Travis Allen ? (@TravisAllen02) October 4, 2018 The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two leading figures in the movement to end sexual violence as a weapon of war. Remember when #MAGA thought Trump was going to get the Nobel Peace Prize for getting a picture with Kim Jong Un? ??? #MAGA RT if you remember! pic.twitter.com/lChHDFAwMj Travis Allen ? (@TravisAllen02) October 5, 2018 A pattern of posting partisan sharebait does not prove that Allen's "Dow Jones" tweet was fake, but it justifies further skepticism about its authenticity. We sent Allen a message asking him whether he fabricated the tweet, and, if not, whether he could provide the date on which he captured a screenshot of it, its URL, or an archive link to it. We did not receive a response. Chang, Sue; Vlastelica, Ryan. "U.S. Stocks Close Lower as Dow Drops Nearly 1,400 Points in 2 Days." Marketwatch. 11 October 2018. Rampell, Catherine. "The Stock Market Under Trump vs. Obama." The Washington Post. 1 May 2018. Palma, Bethania. "Did Trump Tweet That the President Should Be Shot Out of a Cannon If the Stock Market Tanked?" Snopes.com. 5 February 2018. Phipps, Claire; Wearden, Graeme; Fletcher, Nick. "Australian and Asian Stock Markets Slide After Dow Suffers Biggest One-Day Points Fall -- As It Happened." The Guardian. 6 February 2018. | 2 | [
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FMD3188 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that Senate Democrats should "get off their ass" and stop blocking a $40 billion Homeland Security bill that would derail President Obama's immigration programs.
Boehner's comments came a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate has reached a stalemate and "the next move obviously is up to the House." Senate Democrats voted three times last week to block the DHS funding bill from moving forward. They object to House-passed provisions that would cut off all funds to carry out Obama's executive orders on immigration.
The two Republican leaders seem to be each placing responsibility on the other chamber for what happens next on the funding bill. Unless Congress acts, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will expire on Feb. 27 and the agency will face a partial shutdown.
Boehner said the House will not take up a revised bill despite the Senate impasse.
"The House has done its job," Boehner, R-Ohio, said at a news conference after meeting with House Republicans. "Why don't you go ask the Senate Democrats when they're going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote 'no'?"
Obama announced in November that he would protect about 4 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work legally in the U.S. His program would help the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens. It also would expand his 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which gives temporary legal status and work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to the USA as children.
The House-passed bill would cut off all funding for the 2012 DACA program as well as blocking funds for Obama's latest immigration orders. Senate Democrats say they will only support the DHS funding bill if the immigration provisions are scrapped.
"If Congress wants stronger border security and immigration enforcement, a clean funding bill for DHS is what we should be rallying around," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., the senior Democrat on the Senate homeland security committee. "I hope that Congress can come together to do the right thing — support the passage of a clean, full-year appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security by Feb. 27 — and then get to work to pass a thoughtful, comprehensive immigration reform bill."
Republicans see Obama's immigration orders as an unconstitutional power grab and view the DHS funding bill as the best leverage they have to stop them. But Senate Republicans, who have a 54-vote majority, need 60 votes to advance the DHS funding bill and they have been unable to attract any Democrats to their side.
Boehner and McConnell have both said they don't want a shutdown of Homeland Security, but their options are running out.
There has been talk in both chambers of the possibility of passing a continuing resolution that would keep DHS open and funded at 2014 levels. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has spoken out against that option because it would not allow DHS to hire new Secret Service agents, buy new surveillance equipment for the Southwest border or send certain security grants to states and local governments. | 1 | [
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FMD3189 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Does President Trump Have Financial Interests in Saudi Arabia? Claim summaries: In response to Trump's tweet claiming that he has no such financial interests, social media users shared a Fox News Research tweet highlighting Trump's business dealings with the Saudis.
contextual information: On 2 October 2018, journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared during a visit to Saudi Arabia's consulate in Instanbul, Turkey. Although foul play was suspected, the Saudi government at first denied that any harm had been done to the journalist. Then they began releasing conflicting accounts, beginning with the claim that Khashoggi died accidentally in a "fistfight." Ultimately, the Saudis acknowledged that evidence provided by Turkish investigators pointed to his being slain in a "premeditated" attack, which they said was undertaken in a "rogue operation" not authorized by the Saudi royal family. Two senior government officials were dismissed, and 18 Saudi nationals allegedly involved in the murder were arrested. President Trump was criticized in the immediate aftermath of Khashoggi's disappearance for his apparent reluctance to hold the Saudis responsible for the incident. "We want to find out what happened," he said. But he also maintained that the United States' relations with the kingdom were "excellent" and he would not consider stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite calls from members of Congress to do so. Various commentators, including Washington Post contributor Brian Klaas, suggested that Trump's official dealings with Saudi Arabia are "compromised by deep financial conflicts of interest": suggested His business interests -- past, present, and future -- make it impossible for him to contemplate the kind of consequences that the Saudis deserve. In 1991, when Trump was $900 million in debt, he was bailed out by a member of the Saudi royal family, who purchased his 281-foot yacht, Trump Princess. Trumps other princess, Ivanka, is married to Jared Kushner, who has deep ties to the crown prince. In 2015, when asked about his relationship with the Saudis, Trump said: I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much. As recently as December 2016, Trump owned companies in Saudi Arabia, as he sought to build a hotel there. Three days after Trumps inauguration, lobbyists working for the Saudi government funneled $270,000 directly to the Trump Organization by booking rooms at his Washington hotel. More recently, Trumps flagging Manhattan hotel got bailed out thanks to a lucrative visit from none other than the Saudi crown prince. It raises the disturbing possibility that Saudi Arabia will get away with abduction or murder because the president is beholden to Saudi money. Trump responded by tweeting that he has no financial interests in Saudi Arabia: tweeting For the record, I have no financial interests in Saudi Arabia (or Russia, for that matter). Any suggestion that I have is just more FAKE NEWS (of which there is plenty)! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018 October 16, 2018 That same day, Fox News Research (a Fox News Twitter account that regularly posts newsworthy data) tweeted a list highlighting some of Trump's business relationships with the Saudis: tweeted Trump & Saudi Business:1991: Sold yacht to Saudi Prince2001: Sold 45th floor of Trump World Tower to SaudisJun 2015: I love the Saudis...many in Trump TowerAug 2015: "They buy apartments from me...Spend $40M-$50M"2017: Saudi lobbyists spent $270K at Trump DC hotel Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) October 16, 2018 October 16, 2018 Shortly afterward, Trump's tweet and the Fox News tweet were combined into a meme and unleashed on Facebook: The meme presented the Fox News tweet as a refutation of Trump's, but although each of the former's statements can be confirmed via reliable sources, they don't necessarily disprove President Trump's claim that he has no financial interests in Saudi Arabia. The sticking point (and the reason we're rating the claim a mixture of true and false) is that the term "financial interests" usually denotes the ownership of property or investments in a given place, company, or industry. We have found no evidence that either Trump or Trump Organization (the umbrella company operated by Trump's sons, Donald Jr. and Eric), currently owns property or investments in Saudi Arabia. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, the Trump Organization was pursuing plans to open businesses in Saudi Arabia as recently as 2016, but the Associated Press reported in October 2018 that the companies had been shut down by the time Trump took office: reported Shortly after he announced his run for president, Trump began laying the groundwork for possible new business in the kingdom. He registered eight companies with names tied to the country, such as "THC Jeddah Hotel Advisor LLC" and "DT Jeddah Technical Services," according to a 2016 financial disclosure report to the federal government. Jeddah is a major city in the country. "Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million," Trump told a crowd at an Alabama rally on Aug. 21, 2015, the same day he created four of the entities. "Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much." The president's company, the Trump Organization, said shortly after his 2016 election that it had shut down those Saudi companies. The president later pledged to pursue no new foreign deals while in office. In a statement this week, the company said it has explored business opportunities in many countries but that it does "not have any plans for expansion into Saudi Arabia." There is no question that Trump has profited from business dealings with the Saudis, however. Let's take the items in the Fox News Research list one by one: Fortune reported in 2017 that Trump, facing financial difficulties in 1991, sold a yacht he purchased from the Sultan of Brunei in the 1980s to Saudi Arabia's Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. reported The Associated Press reported that the Kingdom of Saudi purchased the entire 45th floor of Trump World Tower in New York City in 2001, "the biggest purchase in that building to that point." reported During a 16 June 2015 speech at Trump Tower announcing his presidential candidacy, Trump said: "Saudi Arabia, they make $1 billion a day. $1 billion a day. I love the Saudis. Many are in this building." At a campaign rally one month later, he said: "I like the Saudis; they are very nice. I make a lot of money with them. They buy all sorts of my stuff -- all kinds of toys from Trump. They pay me millions and hundreds of millions." speech said At a campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama in August 2015, Trump said: "Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much." said The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2017 that Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., received payments amounting to roughly $270,000 for services provided to lobbyists working for the Saudi government. Although Trump had announced earlier in the year that any Trump Organization profits from foreign governments would be donated to the U.S. Treasury, the company did not respond to the Journal's questions about what would be done with the Saudi payments, which were made through a third party. reported Despite his not owning businesses, properties, or investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Trump has clearly, and by his own admission, profited to the tune of tens of millions of dollars from business dealings with the Saudis, and over a long period of time. We reached out to the Trump Organization for comment but received no reply. Beavers, Olivia. "Saudis Spent $270K at Trump Hotel Amid Lobbying Efforts: Report."
The Hill. 5 August 2017. Condon, Bernard et al. "'I Love the Saudis': Trump Business Ties to Kingdom Run Deep."
Associated Press. 16 October 2018. Fahrenthold, David A. and Jonathan O'Connell. "'I Like Them Very Much:' Trump Has Longstanding Business Ties with Saudis, Who Have Boosted His Hotels Since He Took Office."
The Washington Post. 11 October 2018. Kirkpatrick, David D. "Trump's Business Ties in the Gulf Raise Questions About His Allegiances."
The New York Times. 17 June 2017. Klaas, Brian. "Jamal Khashoggi's Fate Casts a Harsh Light on Trump's Friendship with Saudi Arabia."
The Washington Post. 10 October 2018. Mangan, Dan. "Trump Claims He Has 'No Financial Interests in Saudi Arabia' --- But He Makes Lots of Money from It."
CNBC. 16 October 2018. Myre, Greg. "The Big Overlap Between Trump's Global Holdings and U.S. Foreign Policy."
NPR. 22 November 2016. Orden, Erica. "Saudi Disappearance Puts Spotlight on Trump's Business Ties."
CNN. 12 October 2018. Smith, Geoffrey. "This Is the 420-Foot Yacht Donald Trump Wanted -- Before He Filed for Bankruptcy."
Fortune. 13 February 2017. Tau, Byron and Rebecca Ballhaus. "Trump Hotel Received $270,000 from Lobbying Campaign Tied to Saudis."
The Wall Street Journal. 6 June 2017. Watson, Kathryn. "What's at Stake in the Trump Administration's Ties to the Saudis."
CBS News. 12 October 2018. Wong, Edward et al. "Trump Calls Relations with Saudi Arabia 'Excellent,' While Congress Is Incensed."
The New York Times. 11 October 2018. Associated Press. "A Timeline of Events in the Khashoggi Case."
25 October 2018. CBS News. "Transcript: Donald Trump Announces His Presidential Candidacy."
16 June 2015. | 2 | [
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FMD3190 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Stella Awards Claim summaries: A bouquet of outrageous lawsuits demonstrates the need for tort reform?
contextual information: Claim: Six outrageous-but-real lawsuits showcase the need for tort reform. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2001] This is what's wrong with the world: 1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded $780,000.00 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running amuck inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving tyke was Ms. Robertson's son. 2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000.00 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran his hand over with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice someone was at the wheel of the car whose hubcap he was trying to steal. 3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol Pennsylvania was exiting a house he finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up, because the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, so Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. This upset Mr. Dickson, so he sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars and change. 4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock Arkansas was awarded $14,500.00 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced-in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The award was less than sought after because the jury felt the dog may have been provoked by Mr. Williams who, at the time, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun. 5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500.00 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her coccyx. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. 6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000.00 and dental expenses. Origins: This "and you wonder what's wrong with the world today?" whinge appeared on the Internet in May 2001. All of the entries in the list are fabrications: a search for news stories about each of these cases failed to turn up anything, as did a search for each law case. The earliest version concluded with a seventh item that has since been snipped away, likely after someone noticed it was the venerable microwaved poodle legend. Its inclusion would have immediately called into question the truthfulness of the other six cases for any number of folks familiar with urban legends. The remaining six were still false, but they weren't as obviously false as the following poodle tale and thus wouldn't have set the alarm bells ringing: microwaved 7. And just so you know that cooler heads do occasionally prevail: Kenmore Inc., the makers of Dorothy Johnson's microwave, were found not liable for the death of Mrs. Johnson's poodle after she gave it a bath and attempted to dry it by putting the poor creature in her microwave for, "just a few minutes, on low," The case was quickly dismissed. A version of the list that began circulating in the spring of 2002 has yet another urban legend included as its final item, the venerable cruise control legend: cruise control In November 2000, Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he could not actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago. Some versions bear the following footer, although many omit it: PLEASE ASSIST OUR LAW OFFICES IN A TORT REFORM PROGRAM. WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO PUT A STOP TO THESE INSANE JURY AWARDS BY SENDING THIS E-MAIL OUT TO THE PUBLIC IN THE HOPES OF SWAYING PUBLIC OPINION. PLEASE FORWARD IT TO EVERY EMAIL ADDRESS YOU KNOW.Mary R. Hogelmen, Esq.Law Offices of Hogelmen, Hogelmen, and ThomasDayton Ohio Mary R. Hogelmen, Esq.Law Offices of Hogelmen, Hogelmen, and ThomasDayton Ohio There is no law firm of Hogelmen, Hogelmen, and Thomas in Dayton, Ohio, as a call to directory assistance quickly confirmed. This detail was included to give the mailing credibility in the eyes of those who received it: if a law firm had pulled this list together to build grassroots support for its tort reform program, then it went without saying a pack of lawyers had properly researched each item and were guaranteeing the information provided. But of course this detail was as false as everything else in the e-mail. Speaking about implied credibility, we note that the "outrageous lawsuits" list has made it into the newspapers at times, which only works to add to the perception that the information given in it is reliable. In June 2002, the New York Daily News presented it solely as an e-mail it had received, making no statements as to its likeliness to be real or detailing any attempts that publication might have made to verify any of the entries. (Had such attempts been made, the Daily News would have quickly found the article you're now reading, which originally appeared on this site a full ten months prior to the Daily News piece.) Fake or not, a list of outrageous awards bestowed upon those whose actions nay, misbehaviors had brought them to grief would fall upon very receptive ears because current feeling is very much against large jury awards for frivolous claims. This e-mail preaches to the choir in that it "confirms" what is already deeply believed. Numerous states have enacted measures to reform their civil law systems in response to the problem of frivolous lawsuits and runaway jury awards. Tort reform usually amounts to placing a cap on punitive damage awards, making the state's joint-and-several liability law more equitable, and limiting judge and court shopping (which means cases are tried in front of whomever they've been assigned to rather than the judge the plaintiff figures will be most sympathetic). Though the cases described in the e-mail are fake, real lawsuits of equal silliness can be found in abundance. An equally impressive list could easily have been compiled by anyone with access to a news database and a few moments to spare. For instance: In March 1995, a San Diego man unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city and Jack Murphy Stadium for $5.4 million over something that can only be described as a wee problem: Robert Glaser claimed the stadium's unisex bathroom policy at a Billy Joel and Elton John concert caused him embarrassment and emotional distress thanks to the sight of a woman using a urinal in front of him. He subsequently tried "six or seven" other bathrooms in the stadium only to find women in all of them. He asserted he "had to hold it in for four hours" because he was too embarrassed to share the public bathrooms with women. A San Carlos, California, man sued the Escondido Public Library for $1.5 million. His dog, a 50-pound Labrador mix, was attacked November 2000 by the library's 12-pound feline mascot, L.C., (also known as Library Cat). The case was heard in January 2004, with the jury finding for the defendant. In a further case which was resolved in July 2004, the plaintiff in the previous suit was ordered to pay the city $29,362.50, which amounted to 75% of its legal fees associated with that case. In 1994, a student at the University of Idaho unsuccessfully sued that institution over his fall from a third-floor dorm window. He'd been mooning other students when the window gave way. It was contended the University failed to provide a safe environment for students or to properly warn them of the dangers inherent to upper-story windows. In 1993, McDonald's was unsuccessfully sued over a car accident in New Jersey. While driving, a man who had placed a milkshake between his legs, leaned over to reach into his bag of food and squeezed the milkshake container in the process. When the lid popped off and spilled half the drink in his lap, this driver became distracted and ran into another man's car. That man in turn tried to sue McDonald's for causing the accident, saying the restaurant should have cautioned the man who had hit him against eating while driving. Although the cases cited above were all eventually dismissed, they still managed to work their way at least partway through our court system. When we hear such stories, it's hard not to be rabidly in favor of tort reform these kinds of cases make it appear that the idiots have taken over the asylum and only the rapid institution of some rules is going to bring things back into a semblance of sanity. Yet this solution is not all skittles and beer; many see such changes as potentially denying those in need of legal remedy their day in court and refusing them their right to be heard. The cap on jury awards is also viewed by some as unfair to the seriously injured, who may well require a large sum to afford the cost of living with whatever disability someone else's negligence or recklessness left them with. Capped awards are also scant deterrent to large corporations who could easily afford the judgments against them and therefore have little reason to mend their ways. Big Business is poised to benefit under tort reform in that it will no longer need to fear the courts. It can also be argued that the need for tort reform is overblown. Only rarely do ridiculous lawsuits result in windfalls for the plaintiff; these cases are almost always either thrown out or the judgment goes for the defendant. Some celebrated "outrageous" suits wherein judgment went for the plaintiff prove upon closer examination to be far less "outrageous" than originally presented in the media. (For example, the "woman scalded by hot coffee" suit, which at first blush looked like the height of frivolity proved to be a perfectly legitimate action taken against a corporation that knew, thanks to a string of similar scaldings it had quietly been paying off, that its coffee was not just hot, but dangerously hot. The Consumer Attorneys of California provides a good description of this case). this case Tort reform thus has both its advocates and its adversaries. On the one hand, we bridle at the thought of the terminally clueless being rewarded for their folly that strikes us as just plain wrong. We also fear for the continued wellbeing of the small- to mid-sized business which can ill afford to fend off one frivolous lawsuit after another and thus stands in danger of being litigated to death. Also, even when litigants do not prevail, costs associated with their suits rain down onto the average citizen through his taxes (some of which underwrite the judicial system) and through increased prices for goods produced by firms who had to mount legal defenses. Yet on the other hand, we don't want to see those who have legitimate cause denied their right to sue (or in the case of the seriously injured, their right to sue for an appropriate amount). We also don't want to see corporations run unchecked, free to turn out whatever dangerous product they like because the combination of capped awards and their deep pockets render them bulletproof. It's a complicated issue, one not made any easier to make sense of by lists of fake cases of horrendous miscarriages of justice. One has to wonder why someone is so busy trying to stir up outrage and who or what that outrage would ultimately benefit. Additional information: George W. Bush's first act upon becoming the Governor of Texas was to reform that state's civil justice system. In January 1995, just after being sworn in, he convened a session of the Legislature to tackle tort reform. Within weeks he signed bills to limit punitive damages to $750,000, cut down on "venue shopping" for favorable judges and juries, and made it easier for judges to impose sanctions on plaintiffs who file frivolous suits. Sightings: The "woman in a store trips over a toddler, then sues the store" fiction was incorporated into an episode of the television drama Boston Legal ("Tabloid Nation," original air date 8 April 2008). Last updated: 11 April 2008 Sources: Associated Press. "Men's Room Invasion Prompts Suit." The Fresno Bee. 1 April 1995 (p. F8). Coile, Zachary. "Bush's Formula to Win Over Business." The San Francisco Examiner. 2 October 2000 (p. A1). Elias, Paul. "So What's a Little Litigation Between Friends?" The Recorder. 14 December 1999 (Court Watch; p. 4). Heller, Jonathan. "Man Seeks $1.5 Million from City; Says Library Cat Attacked His Dog." The San Diego Union-Tribune. 5 May 2001 (p. B2). Littlefield, Dana. "Suit Over Library Cat's Attack Bites Back at disabled Dog Owner." The San Diego Union-Tribune. 31 July 2004 (p. NC3). Perkins, Joseph. "We All Pay When Others File Frivolous Lawsuits." The San Diego Union-Tribune. 18 May 2001 (p. B7). Perry, Tony. "A One-Man Campaign for More Women's Restrooms." Los Angeles Times. 18 August 1995 (p. A3). Riffel, James. "Jury Rejects Claims of Disabled Man Against City for Cat Attack." City News Service. 30 January 2004. Vogt, Andrea. "Ludicrous Lawsuit Against University of Idaho Rears Its Ugly Head." Lewiston Morning Tribune. 2 August 1994 (p. A1). New Jersey Lawyer. "Moral of a Burger Suit: Don't Eat and Drive." 15 November 1993 (p. 3). [New York] Daily News. "Mighty Quinn." 25 June 2002 (Sports, p. 63). | 0 | [
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FMD3191 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did Dr. Oz Endorse Keto Weight Loss Gummies? Claim summaries: According to scammy websites, the former host of the "Dr. Oz" talk show once called keto gummies the "holy grail" of weight loss.
contextual information: Despite what online scammers might have you believe, Dr. Mehmet Oz of the former "Dr. Oz" talk show has never endorsed apple cider vinegar (ACV) weight loss gummies or any sort of CBD or keto diet gummies. According to scammy websites where customers can purchase many of these kinds of products, Oz once called keto gummies the "holy grail" of weight loss. However, he never said anything of the sort. A seemingly countless number of product websites falsely claim that Oz gave his endorsement of weight loss gummies. A few recent examples of the Oz scam appearing on order pages included the product namesRetroFit Keto + ACV Gummies, XtremeFit Keto + ACV Gummies, Optimal Keto + ACV Gummies, Speedy Keto + ACV Gummies, Transform Keto + ACV Gummies, and Ketoviva Keto + ACV Gummies. RetroFit Keto + ACV Gummies XtremeFit Keto + ACV Gummies Optimal Keto + ACV Gummies Speedy Keto + ACV Gummies Transform Keto + ACV Gummies Ketoviva Keto + ACV Gummies While some of the websites for these products have since disappeared, we were able to confirm that they all originally promoted Oz's name. Again, these were just a few recent examples. Going back to 2022, it's possible hundreds of more keto gummy product names falsely mentioned that Oz endorsed them. The websites for these purported weight loss products promised that the candy-like gummies can "melt fat fast without diet or exercise." Always remember with online offers that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. These websites alsofalsely claimed that CBS News, NBC, CNN, Women's Health, Honolulu Magazine, Woman's World, and theDiabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Journal all endorsed, reviewed, or mentioned the products. In truth, none of them ever did. Parent company information for many keto diet weight loss gummies products is often hard to find. Phone numbers for customer support, if they haven't been omitted from the websites, route to call centers that greet customers in a general sense without announcing any company names. Most of them simply begin with, "Thank you for calling customer service." We previously asked one of the call center agents to reveal parent company information or anything about the whereabouts of the people behind the gummy websites. The person provided no details. In our research, we found that many customers who received these products at their doorstep and found a charge on their credit card said that they had no recollection of ever ordering them. Other commenters said that, in addition to not remembering ordering the keto gummies, they also found no charge on their credit card. It's possible that this could have occurred because ofcard-skimming scams, when a criminal places a device on top of a credit card reader at a place of business, all to secretly capture the card's sensitive data. card-skimming scams Customers who shared their experiences also said that the return address for these weight loss gummy products that bore Oz's name was a nameless "fulfillment center" with a P.O. Box in Smyrna, Tennessee, or Las Vegas, Nevada. Many others also said that Tampa, Florida, was the city mentioned on their packages. Oz While a package at the door is the last step of some of these scams, the first step oftentimes involves an alluring paid ad. This kind of an ad might appear next to an article on a website or on Facebook or Instagram. Clicking on the ad leads to the second step: a fake article that scammers designed to fool readers into believing they're reading from Fox News, CNN, ABC, or other big-name news organizations. While these kinds of fake articles might look like the website for one of those companies, the address bar at the top of the browser reveals the truth that the user is not, in fact, on cnn.com, for example, but instead on a strange scam website that's simply pretending to be CNN simply by featuring its logo and article page design. Within the fake articles are links to the third step in the scam: the aforementioned product order pages that misleadingly mention Oz's name. On these pages people fill out their credit card information, a move that, apparently unbeknownst to the customers, enrolls them in recurring charges of hundreds of dollars per month. As we've done in the past, we'll continue to provide more reporting about these dangerous and costly scams in the future. in the past Note: In the past, Ozfaced allegations of promoting a "magic weight-loss cure" for "green coffee extract." However, this had nothing to do with weight loss gummies. allegations Gabriel, Trip. "'Magic' Weight-Loss Pills and Covid Cures: Dr. Oz Under the Microscope." The New York Times, 26 Dec. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/26/us/politics/dr-oz-medical-advice.html. Liles, Jordan. "Did Oprah Winfrey Suffer a 'Tragedy' and Endorse Keto Weight Loss Gummies?" Snopes, 12 May 2022, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/oprah-winfrey-tragedy-keto-gummies/. ---. "Oprah Winfrey 'Allegations' Facebook Ads Are False, Nor Did She Ever Endorse 'Weight Loss Gummies.'" Snopes, 13 Jan. 2023, https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/13/oprah-winfrey-allegations-weight-loss-gummies/. Smith, Daeshen. "Better Business Bureau Warns Customers to Be Mindful of Card Skimming Schemes." Fox10TV.com, 25 Apr. 2023, https://www.fox10tv.com/2023/04/25/better-business-bureau-warns-customers-be-mindful-card-skimming-schemes/. | 0 | [
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FMD3192 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Marine Corps' Pearl Harbor Memorial Flags Removed at President Obama's Request Claim summaries: A story about a flagpole that was removed from a Pearl Harbor memorial was blamed on President Obama nearly ten years later.
contextual information: On 30 April 2016, the web siteDeparted.copublished a clickbait article claiming that American flags were removed from a Pearl Harbor memorial at President Obama's request. The piece had no context beyonda series of photographs of what they said was the flag being taken down. While Departed.copublished several photographs of the memorial some of which included a flagpole, whileothers were taken after the flagpole wasremoved they provided little information about the memorial or the flag's removal. No photographs showed any proof, even by inference, that President Obama was either present or responsible for the order: published As it turns out, there's also a good reason that President Obama was not shown in any photographs: this didn't eventake placeduring Barack Obama's presidential term.The images were first posted in 2007 by the web siteCapVeterans.com. CapVeterans.com A couple of years previously, the Honolulu Advertiserhad reported that Pearl Harbor was undergoing major renovations and that some veterans were worried about potential changes: changes The memorial's visitor center is overburdened the lines to bathrooms there are the stuff of legend and the National Park Service would like to expand its facilities. (Hawai'i entrepreneur Patrick) Brent said he transformed "a filthy parking lot with broken glass and a high crime rate" into a respite for visitors. "Every time we put out a chair, someone sits down," Brent said. But aging survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor have frequently complained to Brent about his for-profit organization. One veteran told him that the sailors entombed in the USS Arizona are crying because he is selling cola, Brent said. "They attack us because of the respect thing.There is no one in this neighborhood more respectful than myself and my people." We have reached out to the National Park Service for details about this incident, but it's clear that the flagpole's removal had more to do with renovations than politics. Regardless of why it was removed, the flagpole was not taken down on the orders of President Barack Obama. CapVeterans.com. "The National Park Service Wants To Remove The Marine Corps PEARL HARBOR Remembrance Memorial."
2007.
Gordon, Mike. "Navy's $84M development deal is changing the face of Pearl Harbor."
Honolulu Advertiser. 21 February 2005.
| 0 | [
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FMD3193 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged Catalans to turn out in force in a December election to restore normality to a region buffeted by attempts to split from Spain. In his first visit to Barcelona since Madrid imposed direct rule on Catalonia and sacked its separatist leaders, Rajoy said the Dec. 21 election would safeguard the economy and stop companies moving out of the economically important region. We want a massive turnout to begin a new political era of tranquillity, normality, coexistence and respect, Rajoy told the Catalan wing of his conservative People s Party (PP). We must urgently bring back normality to Catalonia ... to reduce social tension and stop damage to the economy. Despite opposition to the early election imposed by Madrid as a way to resolve the impasse, the two leading pro-independence parties, PDeCAT of deposed leader Carles Puigdemont, and the ERC, have said they will participate. However, they failed to agree to run on a united ticket, potentially harming the separatist camp s chances of winning a majority in the regional parliament. The far-left pro-independence CUP party, whose support was key to Puigdemont s government, decided on Sunday to run in the upcoming election. Madrid s imposition of direct rule on Catalonia has widened a rift between political parties both in regional politics and at the municipal level. On Sunday, the party of Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau voted to break its pact to govern with the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), citing the latter s support for the application of direct rule. Some 54 percent of Spaniards evaluate positively Madrid s handling of the Catalan crisis, but only 28 percent of Catalans share this view, according to a poll for newspaper El Pais. On Saturday, 750,000 people marched in Barcelona to call for the release of separatist leaders from pre-trial detention. | 1 | [
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FMD3194 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Almost 10 percent of Canadians came to visit Florida last year ... (Canadians) buy 7.4 percent of our homes in the state.
contextual information: Fresh off a five-day trade mission to Canada, Florida Gov. Rick Scott was eager to share a few tidbits about the country's relationship with the Sunshine State. In a news conference with the Capitol press corps on June 16, 2011, Scott showcased his Florida-Canada knowledge, claiming that almost 10 percent of Canadians visited Florida last year and that they purchased 7.4 percent of our homes in the state. Interesting claims, right? But are they true? The number of Canadians visiting Florida each year is collected by Visit Florida, the state's official tourism marketing corporation. Visit Florida bases its data on credit card information and statistics supplied by the Canadian government. The agency found that about 3.05 million Canadians visited Florida in 2010, which is approximately 9 percent of the country's total population of about 34 million. The Toronto Star noted in a recent story—based on the Visit Florida data—that the Canadian boost to Florida's tourism occurred even as oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster threatened Gulf of Mexico beaches. So Scott is correct about the tourists. But what about Canadian homeowners? Scott's press office directed us to a 2010 study on Florida's international home buyers. The study was conducted by the National Association of Realtors, which creates an annual report on the country's housing market and additional reports for states with a high rate of sales to foreign buyers. The national group surveys Florida members each year, including a question about foreign clients. Florida has the strongest international home sales market in the country. In 2010, foreign clients were responsible for 22 percent of existing home purchases in the state, according to the study. Florida has consistently been the No. 1 destination among foreign buyers, said Lawrence Yun, a National Association of Realtors economist. Canadians are a significant part of that distinction, having out-bought all international buyers in 2010, accounting for 36 percent of Florida's foreign sales that year. Residents of the United Kingdom are the next-best buyers at 15 percent. Indeed, residents of the Great White North love the state's beaches and warm climate. Furthermore, Yun noted that these slices of paradise don't cost nearly as much as they used to, and the Canadian dollar is stronger than its weakened U.S. counterpart. There's greater consumer confidence among Canadians, which is beneficial for Florida. "It's absolutely helpful," Yun said. "Anytime the market is down, one way to help alleviate the pain or aid the healing process is for buyers to come into the market and absorb the inventory." We wanted to find the percentage of Canadians who bought homes in Florida in 2010. So we multiplied 0.22 (the portion of Florida home sales to foreign buyers in 2010) by 0.36 (Canada's share of international sales among foreign buyers) to get 0.0792, or 7.92 percent. Scott's office did not specify how he arrived at 7.4 percent, but he's close enough. He is correct that there's a clear Canadian infatuation with Florida. As one Canadian-turned-Floridian real estate agent joked in a National Public Radio report on the housing phenomenon, "If there ever was an 11th (Canadian) province, it probably would be Florida." Scott has his Canada trivia down cold, and we were unable to find any statistics that contradict him. | 1 | [
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FMD3195 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Was President Trump accused of pressuring Qatar to financially assist Jared Kushner? Claim summaries: The president's son-in-law reportedly owes a $1 billion-plus mortgage on a building he purchased on Fifth Avenue in 2007.
contextual information: In October 2018, social media users shared a meme posted by the liberal Facebook page Occupy Democrats reporting a series of events involving Gulf states were the result of President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner "using American foreign policy to enrich themselves": Although the sequence of events referenced in the meme is described accurately according to reputable news reports, the motives, connections, and causality the meme ascribes to those events have not been proved. It is true that Jared Kushner, who is married to President Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka, was in need of over a billion dollars to cover the mortgage on 666 Fifth Avenue, a 41-story Manhattan building he purchased for $1.8 billion in 2007, as the New Yorker reported on 2 March 2018: reported Kushner Companies co-owns 666 Fifth Avenue with another developer, Vornado Realty. In 2007, at Jared Kushners urging, the company paid $1.8 billion for the building -- at the time, the highest price ever paid for a New York office tower. The property occupies a prime spot between Fifty-second and Fifty-third streets, but it was built in 1957 and needed extensive upgrades. It still has many vacancies, and the $1.2 billion mortgage, which reportedly has ballooned to almost $1.5 billion, is due in February, 2019. Right now, it is not entirely clear whether Kushner Companies is in a position to repay or refinance the loan. The company hoped to knock the building down and put up another, twice as tall and far more luxurious, in its place, Bloomberg reported. It sought funds from investors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China, South Korea, Israel and France. No investors were announced for the plan, described by many as prohibitively expensive. That same day, The Intercept reported that in April 2017, Kushner's father Charles, who runs the family's real estate firm Kushner Companies, had made a direct appeal for financing to Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi, which was followed shortly afterwards by the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar: reported The 30-minute meeting, according to two sources in the financial industry who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the potential transaction, included aides to both parties, and was held at a suite at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. A follow-up meeting was held the next day in a glass-walled conference room at the Kushner property itself, though Al Emadi did not attend the second gathering in person. The failure to broker the deal would be followed only a month later by a Middle Eastern diplomatic row in which Jared Kushner provided critical support to Qatars neighbors. Led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a group of Middle Eastern countries, with Kushners backing, led a diplomatic assault that culminated in a blockade of Qatar. Kushner, according to reports at the time, subsequently undermined efforts by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to bring an end to the standoff. Middle Eastern diplomatic row subsequently undermined In May 2017, Qatar's Gulf neighbors commenced a blockade of that country, and within days President Trump tweeted his support of the blockage despite the fact that Qatar is home to Al Udeid Air Base, a key U.S. military installation: commenced tweeted During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017 June 6, 2017 In May 2018, the New York Times reported that the Kushner family was close to reaching a bailout deal for 666 Fifth Avenue with a company possessing Qatari government ties: reported Charles Kushner, head of the Kushner Companies, is in advanced talks with Brookfield Asset Management over a partnership to take control of the 41-story aluminum-clad tower in Midtown Manhattan, 666 Fifth Avenue, according to two real estate executives who have been briefed on the pending deal but were not authorized to discuss it. Brookfield is a publicly traded company, and its real estate arm, Brookfield Property Partners, is partly owned by the Qatari government, through the Qatar Investment Authority. And, the Trump administration around that time reversed course with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling the Saudis in April 2018 that it was time to end the blockade against Qatar. telling It's likely the meme gained momentum on social media in October 2018 due to scrutiny over Kushner and Trump's relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in light of the gruesome murder of Jamal Kashoggi. scrutiny Kashoggi, a Saudi national and columnist for the Washington Post, went missing on 2 October 2018 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul seeking documents he needed to get married. According to reports citing Turkish government and U.S. intelligence sources, the Virginia resident never left the consulate, where he was ambushed by Saudi agents, tortured and murdered, and his body dismembered. ambushed Trump has resisted calls by U.S. lawmakers to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the journalist's apparent death, comparing global condemnation of the Gulf kingdom to accusations of sexual misconduct leveled against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Trump told the Associated Press: "Here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent. I don't like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I'm concerned." calls told Cassidy, John. "Jared Kushners Conflicts of Interest Reach a Crisis Point."
The New Yorker. 2 March 2018. Swisher, Clayton and Ryan Grim. "Jared Kushner's Real Estate Firm Sought Money Directly from Qatar Government Weeks Before Blockade."
The Intercept. 2 March 2018. Bagli, Charles V. and Jesse Drucker. "Kushners Near Deal with Qatar-Linked Company for Troubled Tower."
The New York Times. 17 May 2018. Kirkpatrick, David D. and Carlotta Gall. "Audio Offers Gruesome Details of Jamal Khashoggi Killing, Turkish Official Says."
The New York Times. 17 October 2018. | 2 | [
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FMD3196 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: From the day we are born into this world, we are being taught what our parents have been taught, and what their parents have taught them, without asking many questions such as who we are, why we are here, and why things are the way they are. Existential questions are simply perceived as irrelevant in a left-brained society; in which money and career performance seem to be the primary focus. For those who seek a reason, countless financed religious institutions claim to provide the ultimate answers and a securing spiritual identity. From cradle to grave, we are following the guidelines of what authority defines as a state-of-the-art system, in which “success” seems to begin and end within the running wheel of education, career performance, debt management and retirement. A vibrant economy is the ultimate priority of our global hierarchy. However, a vibrant planet, the respect of all life forms, healthy foods, peaceful ways and conscious actions seem to remain a mere subject of conversation, often turned into a few fundraising campaigns with very little or no impact at all. After all, living consciously and in perfect harmony with nature certainly goes against the principles of industrialism. Generations have passed, trends have changed, technologies have emerged and a better communication has opened doors for alternative information and ideas that are pushing the envelope on society’s boundaries. Yet they all seem to remain in the “fantasy” section of our industrialist system, for in the good old ways of a governing establishment we ought to trust. “Authority knows best” is the slogan of our conventional wisdom, and we meanwhile can mind our own business, go on with our lives, get our needs met and attempt to live happily ever after as long as we conform to the expected norms of society. We then pass on this set of unquestioned beliefs and habits to our children, encouraging then to perpetuate the same cycle, because after all, it is all we’ve ever known. Is this all there is to life? Is this way of life forever sustainable?· Do we have to live this way? What is the purpose of our existence? Such questions are well worth asking, because to realize that there is more to us than what we’ve been led to believe is the first step towards uncovering answers. “The search implies that there is something more to life than what is presently the case.” – Jeff Foster Human Nature or Human Conditioning We have been told that the state of our world is purely the result of our inherent human nature. Some even say we are born ill intended, and learn the “good values” through stringent parental, educational or religious discipline. Even though this version of the story has been adopted and repeated by many, we are going to take the road less travelled. Instead of qualifying our true nature as predetermined and unchangeable, could it be that the current state of humanity is the result of a second nature? By definition, a “second nature” is an acquired behaviour that has been so long practiced to the point where it seems innate. It is a conditioning of consciousness, rather than a fundamental characteristic of consciousness. Considering the fact that humanity’s consciousness has been externally influenced for a very long time, shouldn’t this lead us to question how much of our behaviours and aspirations are actually ours? Without a doubt, our society is programmed to sell us on competing belief systems, political views, brands and products, and the list could go on forever. After all, maintaining the trend of such mindsets is what is profitable to the system. Whether it is a cream that promises beauty, a substance that promises relief, a car that promises attention, a career that promises prestige, or a luxurious lifestyle that promises eternal happiness, this system is an expert at creating billions of needs only to sell us on ideas and products that promises to satisfy them. The Mainstream media is the best example of a great influence on the human mind. TV shows, magazines, the news, politics, education, or organised religion all tend to either implement a sense of patriotism, materialism, idolism, conformism, or any compliant mindset that seem to fit the bill of an authority figure. We have been slowly yet surely trained to avoid critical questioning, and to allow what we call our “leaders” to decide of our individual and collective destiny. When it comes to the word “conspiracy” -or the simple thought that the ones in power may not have the benefit of the whole at heart -ridicule is a very popular reaction and is often the treatment that whistleblowers, experts or ex-government officials/employees receive when trying share such simple information. The word has even been paired with “theory”, because people in general have better things to do than to research information that is being labeled as theoretical. Yet the question that we should begin to ask ourselves is: Why would authority would give any credibility to those who challenge and question authority? In this article, we are going to bypass the scrutiny of information and the need to prove opinions or facts, because after all, it is no one else’s job to think for ourselves but ourselves. All information emerging from both sides of the coin in regards to our economic system, our governments or even events such as 9/11 is already out there for us to evaluate. It is therefore up to the individual to switch off the tendency to filter information out of acquired preconceptions, to step aside from “chain reactions” and to research throughly and intuitively. Then again, no matter how much data our brain may take in, it is not necessarily more information that shall make us more “enlightened”. As Einstein once said, “Information is not knowledge.” The point I am making is that constantly thinking in accord to the beliefs we cherish or the information we advocate is certainly not the extent of what knowledge and understanding is. In order to move forward, we have to look beyond competing beliefs and conceptual answers. Whether we are speaking of individuals who proclaim themselves as awake and aware, teachers, religious people or intellectuals; segregation will always cause us to fail to see the bigger picture -as long as we let ourselves be run by our egoic mind *. The Ego vs. The Observer Self The truth is, aside from all of the concepts, belief systems, patterns and behaviours we may have acquired since birth, we all possess a profound awareness that does not relate with our egoic mind. It is a pure awareness that does not filter information with acquired beliefs, and therefore does not have a clouded perception. This consciousness is what some call the intuition, the inner-knowing, the heart, the gut feeling or the soul, yet the word that shall be employed for the moment is the observer self While a teacher teaches what they have been taught, a priest preaches the bible’s teachings, and a politician reiterates the same system, the observer self is the awareness that is not manipulated by anyone or anything, for it does not depend on external factors to build up an identity. It only observes with a clear lens, and therefore see’s things as they truly are.
“Your original unconditioned consciousness exists only in you, so going elsewhere can never give you access to your essential nature, to who you really are.” – Byron Brown For example, a young child would naturally perceive a hierarchical government creating wars and the destruction of our planet for economical purposes, as utter nonsense. Yet generations who have been conditioned to believe and teach that war ends war, or that pieces of paper and digits on a computer are the only thing that can make the world go round, are more likely to ignore the self-destruction it implies and “run with the money”. “As things are interpreted or labeled by the mind they slowly cease to be what they are and start to become what is thought about them.”– John Greven Let’s bring forth our observer self for a moment an answer these following questions: Would an awake and aware population allow the damaging and destruction of our home -the Earth- for the sake of the economy? Would it perpetuate the use of petrol -despite the alternatives- for the sake of the economy? Would it allow war profiteering for the sake of the economy? Would it in-debt the poor for the sake of the economy? Would its thoughts be consumed by the obsession of material goods and superficial values? And finally, would an awake and aware population believe in waiting for world leaders to make the world a more harmonious place, when the priorities above are specifically what empower them? Simple observations are really all that is required to blatantly see and feel the imbalance of such a disconnected state of consciousness. However, this is exactly what we are collectively enabling while we keep ourselves busy and distracted over competing with each other’s social statuses, beliefs, race, identities, opinions, and so forth. All of which are often stances that we take on from the very system profiting from all of the priorities mentioned above. A sense of separation from each other, the earth and all other life forms is an obvious characteristic of our system, which has consequently reinforced humanity’s own sense of separation from everyone and everything. We willingly go at war and kill each other, passively accept poverty and famine as being normal while others over consume, and continue to obsess over financial profit despite the consequences. This sense of separation has gotten to the point where parts of the western world knowingly dump their toxic waste in developing countries, as if sending pollution farther away will hide the fact that we all live on the same earth. Yet despite our belief in being separated from the environment, from each other, and by imaginary borders, we all possess an inner knowing that remains unhampered by external indoctrination. This knowing -earlier referred to as the observer self -see’s all life as a whole. Instead of thinking in terms of what can serve or harm ME, it naturally thinks in terms of what can serve or harm US. Take for example a child who did not yet take on a patriotic identity that gives importance to illusory borders, who does not yet comprehend the “ownership” and price tagging of nature, and who does not hold any form of cultural belief system or prejudice. Would this child go to war with another earthling, destroy the planet in the name of pieces of paper and digits on a computer, or be too greedy to desire a world in which we all share the planet’s resources equally? Just like this child, the observer self too perceives purely, with no concept that taints its vision.
Many of our ideas and beliefs about ourselves and the world are so deeply ingrained that we are unaware that they are beliefs, and take them, without question, for the absolute truth. – Rupert Spira When we consciously choose to expand our awareness and to simply observe what our system stands for, we realize it does not have to be this way. It is simply erroneous to presume that it endorses a forever-sustainable way of living. It has no concern for respecting nature, or even human lives. It only profits through the promotion of unconsciousness . The simple act of turning on the TV or observing the magazines they sell us at the cashier’s waiting line should make the preceding statement very clear. We may think that an intellectual society offering a stringent education system -which has brought many individuals to a state of esteemed expertise- would naturally lead us to the peak of our human evolution. Yet when we look at the wars we still engage in, the increasing rate of health deterioration, the repetitive oil leaks in our oceans, and the amount of corrupted government regulations that won’t budge, shouldn’t that lead us to ask ourselves: What exactly are we learning? Will we need to experience the shutting down of the earth’s eco-system before we finally set aside our differences and awaken to our interconnectedness and equality with each other, the earth and all life forms? A Shift In Consciousness: Awakening to Oneness
“To me, spirituality is about two things: The liberation of consciousness from all illusion, so that the true nature can shine, and an embodiment in life that is an alternative to the patterns of manipulation and greed that dominate our current culture.” –Christian Opitz “ Oneness ” simply means the awareness of our inherent interconnectedness with each other, the earth, the animal kingdom, and essentially the entire universe. It is the profound understanding -beyond opinionated beliefs- that we are all equal facets of the same underlying consciousness in which all life arises. Some physicists call this consciousness “The Unified Field”, some call it a Universal Consciousness, others name it “God”, yet the word that shall be employed in this article is Source. Source is not a separate, superior and judgmental entity as our society’s endorsed religious institutions want us to believe, but is in fact the core essence of who we truly are beyond the experience of separation. Click here to watch the video ‘An Answer To Existential Questions’ For a long period of time, human consciousness has remained caught up within in a very limited archaic programming, which led us to perpetually seeing ourselves as separate from each other, from all lifeforms and from the earth. Hence why we have ended up passively enabling such ill-treatment between each other and the environment. The reality we have created for ourselves is the result of living our lives with our egoic minds in the driver’s seat. We are experiencing the projection of a strictly left-brained consciousness, where we believe there is nothing more to us than the individual physicality, mind, thoughts and emotions. Our society -which is a reflection of this state of consciousness- exclusively honors the ego-driven cleverness of the mind, instead of encouraging the reunification with our heart/soul consciousness. In this state, we have allowed division, fear, and control to keep us from taking responsibility for ourselves and awaken to our true nature, all while waiting for “saviors” or political dictators to outline our individual and collective destiny. Such a disconnected state of consciousness is unsustainable and if not shifted, would lead humanity to its own demise.
“Our species is far too clever to survive without wisdom.”– E.F.Schumacker Planet earth is currently undergoing a shift in consciousness. This awakening is leading an increasing amount of individuals to reconnect with their observer self, which is enabling them to perceive the world from a wider, more unified perspective. More are beginning to not only question the ego-driven structures controlling humanity, but to question the very purpose of their existence and of life itself. Such an existential crisis has purposefully guided many towards remembering to who they truly are beyond the mind and the physicality: Souls (the observer self) having a human experience . Because of a past collective soul agreement, we initially incarnated on earth into what is called the “experiential realm”. The purpose was of experiencing and evolving as souls, lifetime after lifetime, while being overruled by a thicker sense of individual identity, mind and ego, and having no direct remembrance of our essence of Oneness/Source. Our souls basically agreed for the experience of feeling what it is like to have a sense of total separation from each other and from Source, to the extent where even the concept of a separation from “God” was later believed as factual. This altogether created a rich and highly polarized sensorial experience. With the intention of certain beings, our experience was later altered with an additional challenge, which was to experience the limitation of a hierarchical structure ruled by separation and egoistical purposes. The elitist group of individuals at the very top of this hierarchy is often referred to as the “Illuminati”, and are pushing forward their agenda for global control with an intellectual “New World Order” (Totalitarian world government and one world currency) -all while being aware of this threatening shift in consciousness. Humanity has experienced and remained caught up in this dormant state for a long while. This undergoing shift in consciousness stems from the fact that we have collectively agreed -at the soul level- to move beyond this collective amnesia to create a new, more conscious, harmonious and expansive experience, all while uncovering our natural state of creative limitlessness , love and peace . This is not a matter of blaming an elitist group for where we are at. We have agreed to overcome such a challenge as souls having a human experience, for us to learn and “grow up” from it. It is simply about finally taking responsibility for what we have created, and move on.
“We are not called to fight the bad guy, harm it, or fear it. We are just called to dig within and find our sacred ground. To stand in full love by our bottom line. And as we do, the bad guy will very quickly scuttle away or drop its mask. Because it was never about the bad guy, but about us all along, about finding that essence inside, embracing all of who we are, when faced with any challenge. It is one of the ways in which we can honor the bad guy in his role of carrier of lessons, who is volunteering to wear a dark mask, so we may reach for more and find what was lost.”– Katie Gallanti Letting Go of the Old, Making Room for the New : A Shift of Vibration In the midst of these unique times of social upheaval and spiritual awakening, many individuals find themselves at a crossroad in their personal lives. Challenging situations are arising, and a discomfort in old routines is intensifying. Why is this happening? New energies of a higher consciousness are entering the earth plane, while our world is purging its energetic densities of a lower consciousness. This process is being sensed in our personal lives as well, bringing forth old emotional baggages or situations that challenge our traditional ways of thinking. Such emotions and discomforts will build up as long as we keep on missing the point of our soul’s call, which is to let go of the prevailing thoughts and beliefs that keep us from expanding towards the wholeness , love and infinite potential of who we truly are. As much as collective and personal challenges may feel like turmoil at first, it is merely a sign of old and unsustainable structures/comfort zones breaking down to make room for the new. If it is not about blaming and fighting this insanity and corruption, then where do we go from here?
“Peace cannot be kept by force ; it can only be achieved by understanding.”– Albert Einstein When we shift our awareness towards the quantum construct of reality, we understand that everything we can possibly feel and think of is essentially a form and rate of vibration. Quantum physicists accurately describe the fundamental particles of reality as “ wave functions” . The reason for this abstract description is precisely because fundamental particles behave in a most abstract manner. Their existence emerge in waves in which lies only the potentiality for measurable outcomes. The word potentiality is key, because we now know through a number of scientific experiments (such as the double-slit experiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7YBmOk1nQw ) that the very presence of a conscious mind observing and/or intending to measure a particle, consequently determines the aspect and location in which it takes form. This quantum decoherence is scientifically known as “the measurement problem”. In other words, the fundamental nature of reality -the “Unified field”, consciousness, “God” or Source- is originally “open” to all potential outcomes. Yet our very consciousness is intimately hooked to the one that shall be experienced. As the physicist Dr. York Dobyns stated, “ Without us, (conscious beings) there would just be this expanding superposition of possibilities with nothing definite ever actually happening.” “Peace in ourselves, peace in the world.” -Thich Nhat Hanh That being said, everything in the universe and on earth vibrates at certain frequencies, including our thoughts, beliefs and emotions. We are literally molding our experienced reality via the power of our personal and collective perceptions, and our inner-state is reflected outwards. As Einstein said, we cannot solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it. This shift in consciousness is but a leap beyond the old dualistic consciousness we chose to experience as souls, towards the consciousness of Oneness, which is of a higher vibrational frequency -one of unconditional Love and understanding of who we really are beyond this physical realm. The angry, judgmental and reactive “egoic mind” actually attracts and emanates through it the same lower frequencies that keep humanity boxed in this low vibrational “matrix” of control.
“It’s just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one.” – Bill Hicks Resuming It All In One Simple Analogy It is as if each and everyone of us are projectors responsible for the projections on our own blank walls. Most of us are unconsciously choosing to project a tape of violence, of hate, of segregation, of being powerless, and even of blame of the other 3 projectors for playing their hostile tape. Here lies the silliness, the ironicalness of justifying our own projection through blame. And this is where humanity is at: playing the same tape, over and over again, while most individuals are still blaming the projection instead of changing their own tape that is too playing a role in this projection. As much as we end up pointing fingers at the powers that be, they are no more or less powerful than we are. The only power they grant themselves, is through influencing our choice of the tapes we shall fill our projectors with. Yet we’ve always had the choice, despite us not being aware of it and taking responsibility for ourselves. This is the reason why Humanity is so slow in igniting true change. No one decides to look at their own tape. We seem to rather enjoy the comfort of holding on to the same stories and put them in “repeat” instead of transcending them; instead of BEING the change. The ego doesn’t want to know that it begins with ourselves, it doesn’t want us to dig into our own personal belief systems and let go of certain self-limitative mindsets or emotional baggages we carry. The ego is afraid of what can liberate us, and what can liberate us is ultimately ourselves.
“First realize that your world is only a reflection of Yourself and then stop finding fault with the reflection.”– Nisargadatta. This is the illusion so many are still buying into. It is the belief that we have no influence over others and the world. We even think we have no influence over our own lives, no influence as the very projector of our own “blank wall”. This belief stems from the fact that we do not see ourselves at one with the world, at one with the people, and at one with ourselves. We see ourselves as a tiny little separated specs of dust with no power whatsoever through the emanation of our own state of being. Yet we are indeed all interconnected, we are all one. Our own consciousness directly impacts the collective consciousness, which is literally the motor of our experienced reality, it is the “projector” of it. Just as we can change our tape and project harmony on our own blank wall, we can choose to be who we truly are -our unconditioned self- and therefore reflect Peace, Love, Awareness, and all that which uplifts and unveils a more conscious understanding. Or… we can play the tape of blame, anger, hatred, victimization, pointing fingers, and never, ever looking at our own projections. We ultimately have the choice, right here, and right now.
“Remember, you are constantly in the act of creating yourself. You are in every moment deciding who and what you are.” – Neale Donald Walsch Elina
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 0 | [
"0",
"1",
"2"
] | 0 |
FMD3197 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A North Dakota man was arrested Wednesday after having driven to Washington, DC with one goal in mind getting himself a new dog. But the crazed ammosexual didn t want just any dog he wanted Bo, the First Dog of the United States. Responding to a tip from the Secret Service, police tracked the would-be dog-napper down at a Hampton Inn near the Washington Convention Center.Scott D. Stockert, 49, of Dickinson, N.D., told police that he was armed, directing them to his pickup truck where he kept a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a bolt-action .22-caliber rifle. In addition, police found a billy club, a machete with a 12-inch blade, and 350 rounds of ammunition. He was arrested and charged with carrying a rifle or shotgun outside his home or business, which is illegal in the District of Columbia.After his arrest, Stockert told police that he was Jesus Christ, that he was the son of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, and expressed displeasure with the Affordable Care Act. Stockert or Jesus, depending on whether or not you believe him says that he was in town to a.) kidnap Bo and b.) to announce his planned run for President and a $99 per month insurance plan. You picked the wrong person to mess with, he told agents as he was arrested. I will f*ck your world up. On Friday at Jesus preliminary hearing, a judge ordered him released into a high-intensity supervision program pending a court date to be set later. Stockert is not permitted to possess any weapons real or imitation or to go near the White House or Capitol.Court documents don t specify why he wanted to kidnap the dog, but one thing is for certain Bo is safe for another day. As for Stockert s presidential campaign Well, he s already had more ideas than the entire Republican field combined. Maybe he can be the man to oust Trump as the frontrunner. After all, has The Donald tried to kidnap Obama s dog? Think about it, Trump fans.Featured image via JustJared | 0 | [
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FMD3198 | Task: Please determine whether the claim is 0. False, 1. True, or 2. Not Enough Information (NEI) based on contextual information, and provide an appropriate explanation.
The answer need to use the following format:
Prediction: [0. False, 1. True, or 2. NEI]
Explanation: [Explain why the above prediction was made]
Claim: Did William Phelps Eno, the 'Father of Traffic Safety,' Never Learn to Drive? Claim summaries: William Phelps Eno was the man who penned some of the first traffic laws.
contextual information: We stop for red lights and go on green lights almost by instinct, so deeply steeped into us are our traffic rules. Just as we rarely give thought to the possibility of meeting a car traveling the wrong way on a one-way street, so too do we rarely pause to wonder where our traffic laws came from or who invented the crosswalk. Meet William Phelps Eno (1858-1945), an innovator who long ago earned the sobriquet "the Father of Traffic Safety." William Phelps Eno Born in New York City, this forward-thinking man observed the massive traffic jams of his era and from those observations formulated solutions that carried over from the days of horses and carriages into the automotive age. In 1900 he penned the treatise "Reform in Our Street Traffic Urgently Needed," which immediately established him as a traffic safety expert, a mantle he was to wholeheartedly embrace. In 1903 he developed the world's first city traffic code (for New York City) and the first traffic plans for New York City, London, and Paris. It was William Phelps Eno who invented stop signs and who envisioned one-way streets, taxi stands, traffic circles, and pedestrian safety islands. He wrote the first manual of police traffic regulations, and it was he who designed the circular traffic pattern that courses around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. stop signs In 1921 he established the Eno Transportation Foundation, a non-profit study center located in Washington, D.C. The Foundation is dedicated to improving all modes of transportation ground, air, and water. Eno was always a great fan of horseback riding but did not place all that much faith in the automobile, thinking it but a fad. He never learned to drive, and when events in his life necessitated car travel, he relied on a chauffeur. William Phelps Eno's penchant for peculiarity outlived him. In 1996 his old home in Westport, Connecticut, came under the steady assault of determined bargain hunters who misunderstood the "bargain" they so intently pursued. Eno's 32-room mansion and the land it stood on had been sold for $1.5 million, but the buyer wanted the choice waterfront land for the purpose of subdividing it, not for the 119-year-old building that stood upon it. The old manse was to be razed to make way for new housing. Rather than see old building torn down, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation stepped in and offered it for $1 to anyone who would cart William Phelps Eno's home away and give it a good home elsewhere. The costs of barging the mansion to a new site and restoring it were estimated at $500,000 and $1.7 million, respectively. The Today Show helped publicize the scheme, but unfortunately people heard only what they wanted to hear: that they could have a mansion for $1. Everything about the land not coming with it and the building having to be carted away and set up elsewhere went in one ear and out the other. The property was overrun by folks determined to look it over, and they showed up at all hours of day and night, often necessitating calls to the police to have them removed. The previous owner (who was living in its carriage house) was driven to distraction by the never-ending stream of phone calls and letters pleading for the house. "Keep Out" signs had to be posted, and the road leading to the mansion had to be chained off to keep dollar-waving people out. Meanwhile, the Trust's office was also fielding hundreds of calls and letters, some coming from those who thought this was a lottery, and one from a gal who thought the mansion was a prize offered for an essay-writing contest. Even utter chaos eventually dies down. Hundreds upon hundreds of inquiries later, no one really wanted the house. It was ultimately demolished in July 1997. Meyers, Kendra. Will a Mansion Find a Home Before All the Doorknobs Are Gone?
The New York Times. 4 February 1996 (13CN; p. 2).
Wallace, Irving. Significa.
New York: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1983 (pp. 22-23). | 1 | [
"0",
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] | 1 |
FMD3199 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Donald Trump on Wednesday again raised the possibility of a U.S. government shutdown | 1 | [
"0",
"1",
"2"
] | 1 |
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