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FMD4000 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The majority of Kyiv residents are against banning Russian social media sites and Russian films. According to a poll carried out for the Ukrainian Obozrevatel internet newspaper, the majority of Kyiv residents want the Russian social media network VKontakte back. | 0 | [
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FMD4001 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: If you listen to Republicans, we live in a post-racial society. The fact that we have a black President, they say, proves that there is no racism, and to claim otherwise is racist. Of course, they ignore the unprecedented disrespect the President has had to endure. They also ignore the fact that black people, whether armed or unarmed, guilty or innocent, are far more likely to end up dead at the hands of police. Tired of the shootings, pop star Beyonc is using her celebrity to speak out on the issue and on Black Lives Matter.The home page of Beyonc s website, which used to be standard for a musician a list of upcoming tour dates, a promotion of her latest album, etc now includes this simple but powerful message. She s fed up with the recent rash of police killings of innocent black men. Who can blame her? We are sick and tired of the killings of young men and women in our communities. It is up to us to take a stand and demand that they stop killing us. We don t need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives. We re going to stand up as a community and fight against anyone who believes that murder or any violent action by those who are sworn to protect us should consistently go unpunished. These robberies of lives make us feel helpless and hopeless but we have to believe that we are fighting for the rights of the next generation, for the next young men and women who believe in good. This is a human fight. No matter your race, gender, or sexual orientation. This is a fight for anyone who feels marginalized, who is struggling for freedom and human rights. This is not a plea to all police officers but toward any human being who fails to value life. The war on people of color and all minorities needs to be over. Fear is not an excuse. Hate will not win. We all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into action. We must use our voices to contact the politicians and legislators in our districts and demand social and judicial changes. While we pray for the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, we will also pray for an end to this plague of injustice in our communities. Click in to contact the politicians and legislators in your area. Your voice will be heard. Beyonc On Thursday, she also paused her concert in Glasgow, Scotland, for a moment of silence and a tribute over the killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile:Beyonc takes moment during her Glasgow show for those who lost their lives to police violence https://t.co/peilooh3hghttps://t.co/QXNcKMXKMb ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2016Hopefully, the powerful words of this wonderful musician and civil rights crusader are heard, along with those of others. It s time to stop the violence.Featured image via Mike Coppola with Getty Images. | 0 | [
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FMD4002 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Feminist Laci Green has faced backlash from activists, radical feminists, and former friends after she was revealed to be in a relationship with popular YouTuber Chris Ray Gun. [Though the community welcomed Green’s openness to engaging in more open debate with people who disagree with her views in a recent video, the feminist YouTuber revealed on Twitter that social justice warriors angry with her had allegedly doxed her and harassed her family. shoutout to whichever sjw asshole leaked my private info on facebook sent a torrent of people to harass me and my family for â€colonizingâ€. — Laci Green (@gogreen18) June 7, 2017, “Nobody has the right to tell you who you can date, who you can love, who to share your body with,†posted Green this week, after she was attacked for dating someone with different political beliefs. “Your body and your life belong to you. †nobody has the right to tell you who you can date, who you can love, who to share your body with. your body and your life belong to you. 💚 — Laci Green (@gogreen18) June 5, 2017, “My, how quickly some feminists who claim to be anti or anti turn around and do just that,†she continued. “Amazing. †my, how quickly some feminists who claim to be anti or anti turn around and do just that. amazing. — Laci Green (@gogreen18) June 6, 2017, In a video titled “Taking the red pill?†last month, Green revealed that she had started to talk to people of different opinions and was planning to host debates with . Green, who hosted MTV’s digital series Braless and was named by TIME as one of the “30 Most Influential People on the Internet†in 2016, was immediately attacked by leftist activists following the video, and a video titled “Caught between extremes†and has since generated even more backlash following the announcement of her relationship. sorry but I gotta ask: are you dating chris? I know you’re probably tired of seeing this but the uncert … — yup. â¤ï¸ https: . — Laci Green (@gogreen18) June 5, 2017, Oh holy shit, Laci Green completely lost it. Holy fucking hell. Peak white cis feminism. And the just LOVE it. — Grinsekatze (@Natanji) May 11, 2017, laci green is a (pardon my french) dumb white feminist and her claim to intersectionality is invalid and whack as fuck, — mia (@144px) May 12, 2017, anyway laci green is a perfect example of how white women can easily put aside the struggles of others to befriend racists, — mia (@144px) May 12, 2017, I don’t want to make friends with antifeminists. Far more productive to befriend someone at YouTube who could delete all their channels. — Steve Shives (@steve_shives) May 12, 2017, Don’t date . Don’t date gamergate. Don’t date white supremacist. No, not even if you like them. In their words: Fuck your feelings. — Zinnia Jones (@ZJemptv) June 5, 2017, Steve Shives, who is known online for the large amount of Twitter users he has blocked, claimed that Green’s embrace of open debate and discussion was the “embrace†of “white supremacy. †Mic drop from @theLLAG on Laci Green’s embrace of antifeminism and white supremacy. pic. twitter. — Steve Shives (@steve_shives) June 3, 2017, Actor Benjamin O’Keefe added that Green’s desire for civilized debate between both sides of the political spectrum equated to “not giving a fuck about: her friends, women, people of color, interacial [sic] couples, trans people, [and] Muslim people. †Not giving a fuck about: her friends, women, people of color, interacial couples, trans people, Muslim people. https: . — Benjamin O’Keefe (@benjaminokeefe) June 5, 2017, During a discussion with one Twitter user, Green declared that “people [with] very liberal values are being pegged ‘nazis’ and ‘white supremacists’ for [different] opinions. †in my view, it’s not listening. people w very liberal values are being pegged â€nazis†and â€white supremacists†for diff opinions. — Laci Green (@gogreen18) June 5, 2017, “To many people, this approach is profoundly alienating,†she continued. “It operates on fear, shame, and censorship rather than open dialogue room to grow. †to many people, this approach is profoundly alienating. it operates on fear, shame, and censorship rather than open dialogue room to grow. — Laci Green (@gogreen18) June 5, 2017, This is not the first time Green has been harassed for diverging from social justice dogma, having previously allegedly received death threats for using the word “tranny†in 2009, according to Daily Dot. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 | [
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FMD4003 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Attacks on China s legal or political system using the trial of Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che will prove futile, China s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday after Lee s wife and supporters rejected the authority of the court that tried him. Lee, a community college teacher known for his pro-democracy and rights activism, went missing on a trip to mainland China in March. Chinese authorities later confirmed that he was being investigated on suspicion of damaging national security. Lee confessed on Monday to attempting to subvert the Beijing government, according to videos of his hearing released by Chinese authorities. His wife and supporters said the trial was not fair and that they did not recognize the court s authority. An Fengshan, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs office, told a regular briefing that any attempts to use this case for political means, to influence or slander the mainland s handling of the case in accordance with the law, or to attack the mainland s political or legal systems will all be futile . The legal rights of Lee and his family had been upheld and guaranteed, he said. A meeting between Lee and his wife and mother had been arranged after the hearing at the request of his family, An said. The hearing process was broadcast by the court in videos and on social media website Weibo in what An said was an open trial. Activists who had traveled to Yueyang to support Lee said after the trial they had been barred from attending, saying that was proof the case was not truly open or fair. Releasing videos and transcripts of court hearings has become increasingly common in China as part of a push for greater judicial transparency and oversight. However, rights activists say that holding open trials in sensitive cases allows authorities to demonstrate state power as a deterrence, with statements and verdicts usually agreed in advance. Ties between Beijing and Taipei have been strained since President Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, took office last year. Tsai s refusal to say that Taiwan and China are part of one country has angered Beijing, as have her comments about human rights on the mainland. Beijing maintains that Taiwan is part of China and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Proudly democratic Taiwan has shown no interest in being governed by the Communist Party rulers in Beijing. | 1 | [
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FMD4004 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: He has got to go after him , he is the one causing al the trouble around the worl and is 100% proof that what Trump says about crooked and corruption is true . Conflict of interest ?? You bet it is funded by the state dept to run riot causing huge cost to USA with as Trump says ,wars they dont need amd shouldnt be involved in and making profit along the way . Have a look at his funding to all these non profits on the Gov site , its an outrage he is involved with the Voting machines . Soros Criminal Conviction Exposes "Human Rights" Scam Soros leverages "human rights" for personal gain - as does his global NGO empire. http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/surpise-soros-is-convicted-criminal.html | 0 | [
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FMD4005 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A Christian Conservative lawmaker in Kansas has used his position as a Senate Committee chairman to enforce a dress code for female witnesses in courts. The rules govern skirt length and cleavage allowance. There are no equivalent rules for men.Sen. Mitch Holmes is the Republican chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee in Kansas, and has included his new rules in an 11-point code of conduct. He argues that women in court, and in the Senate, dress provocatively to distract men and he wants to bring an end to this.Women will not be permitted to give testimony if they do not abide by the rules.He told the Topeka Capital Journal: It s one of those things that s hard to define. Put it out there and let people know we re really looking for you to be addressing the issue rather than trying to distract or bring eyes to yourself. His bizarre rules and comments have prompted withering condemnation from female members of the committee and the Kansas legislature. Topeka Democrat Senator Laura Kelly responded: Oh, for crying out loud, what century is this? Meanwhile, even Republican colleagues were unwilling to defend Holmes. GOP Senator Vicki Schmidt (Topeka) sighed: Who s going to define low-cut? Does it apply to senators? In total, four of Holmes female senatorial colleagues (two Republicans and two Democrats) have come forward to publicly condemn his comments, and stress that women should not be subjected to gender-specific dress codes.Another Republican Senator, Carolyn McGinn of Sedgwick, spoke to the fact that men and women in the Senate and our courts should be judged by their contribution, not their clothing, saying: I am more interested in what they have to say about the direction our state should go than what they re wearing that day, It is indeed hugely disappointing to see a lawmaker use his position to implement gender-specific dress codes that enforce his patriarchal religious codes onto the women of the state. This is the very reason the Founding Fathers separated church and state in the U.S. Constitution because freedom of religion is not merely about the right to practice our own religion (or none) in peace, but to avoid being forced to follow the whims of anyone else s. The women of Kansas just lost that right.Featured Image via Flickr Creative Commons | 0 | [
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FMD4006 | 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 a Dog Elected Mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky? Claim summaries: An unincorporated community in Kentucky has elected a dog as its mayor for the fourth time in a row.
contextual information: In June 2017, multiple news outlets reported that a small Kentucky town called Rabbit Hash had elected a dog as its mayor. As straightforward as this reporting may seem, there are multiple layers to the story. news reported We'll start with the most obvious question. Was a Dog Elected Mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky? Yes. Although this is more of a title-only sort of position that doesn't come with any mayoral powers. In November 2016, the town elected a two-year-old American pit bull terrier named Brynn (who also goes by the name Brynneth Pawltro) as its "unofficial" mayor: elected Brynn With barks and tail-wagging aplenty, the fourth canine mayor of Rabbit Hash surveys the city she will soon take charge of. In a landslide victory Brynn was chosen to guard the steps of the General Store. The 2-year-old pit bull won the election by more than 1,000 votes. Brynn will govern Rabbit Hash, a quaint historical district nestled on the shores of the Ohio River. She will take office after the i-dog-uration in February 2017, a year after a fire destroyed most of the Rabbit Hash General Store. How does a dog become mayor? Rabbit Hash is a small unincorporated area in Boone County, Kentucky. As such, it doesn't have much of a need for a formal mayor. There is a longstanding tradition of electing nonhuman mascots as the town's mayor, which started in 1998 when the Rabbit Hash Historical Society held an "election" in order to raise funds to restore a church. The Historical Society charged a dollar to vote in the election, which resulted in the election of a dog named "Goofy Borneman" as the town's very first mayor: election mayor Mayor Goofy Borneman was the first elected mayor of Rabbit Hash. Born of unknown parentage and adopted in 1985 by the Borneman/Calhoun family of Rabbit Hash, Goofy was raised as any local dog-resident of the town. His early years were happy ones, playing with the Bornemans son, Mike Calhoun. According to Mike, it was the standard boy-dog relationship with Goofy a constant companion for Mike as they traveled up and down Lower River Road. While Mike was in school, Goofy would still take the familiar path between his home and the Rabbit Hash General Store visiting neighbors and eating any scraps along the way. In his adolescence, Goofy ran into trouble. Lounging in the road proved to be a dangerous past-time as he was hit by cars more than once. He also had a stinky reputation and fell into trouble with his owner, Ed Borneman, when Goofy was allegedly found to be poaching town chickens. In his older years, Goofy settled down and was content to remain on the straight and narrow. In June 1998, upon Boone County, Kentuckys bicentennial celebration, the Rabbit Hash mayors race was announced. Although initially open to anyone in the area, only humans entered the race. After Jane and Randy Cochran entered their black Labrador Retriever, Herb, in the race, the Borneman family, finding that everyone in the town already held a relationship with their aging dog, Goofy, decided to enter him. The charisma of the Borneman family and the notorious reputation of Goofy led to a triumphant result as Goofy beat out famed woodcarver Crazy Clifford Pottorf and fellow four-legger Herb Cochran. Goofy died in office, and was succeeded by a black lab named Junior. When Junior died, the town elected a red and white border collie named Lucy Lou, who left office in 2015 to "embark" on a tongue-in-cheek run for United States President: Junior Lucy Lou embark The question Mayor Lucy Lou is most asked is, How does a DOG become mayor? Her answer: As with politics in every corner of the earth, the candidate with the most money wins. In Rabbit Hash, were just honest about it. Anyone of any age can vote, you can vote as many times as you like, and we encourage drinking at the polls. Lucy Lous executive staff have been heard to say on more than one occasion, We bought that election fair and square! Does Rabbit Hash elect other animals? The election in Rabbit Hash is largely a fundraiser for the Rabbit Hash Historical Society. Although the town has only elected canine mayors since its first election in 1998, it is not exclusive to dogs. Other animals, including humans, have entered the race: The competition was stiff. "There was a cat, the chicken, a donkey, a little boy," Bamforth said. Brynneth took them all down without much more than a bark. Believe it or not, the pooch is the fourth dog mayor to be unleashed on the city. Does Mayor Brynneth Pawltro have a staff? Although previous mayors of Rabbit Hash were the sole figures within their administrations, the Rabbit Hash Historical Society announced that two of this year's runner-ups, Bourbon and Lady, would serve as ambassadors for the town: BRYNN is the new Mayor of Rabbit Hash Kentucky!!! In an unprecedented move, the Rabbit Hash Historical Society has given official positions to the 1st and 2nd runner ups, Bourbon and Lady, as Ambassadors to Rabbit Hash. In the case that the official mayor is unavailable for an event or obligation, the Ambassadors will fill in. Here is the official tally: Brynn: 3367Bourbon: 2336Lady: 1621Higgins: 495Stella: 400Walter: 397Bossy: 216Louis: 76Izacc: 53 Mayor Lucy Lou said that she has has been honored to serve for the past 8 years. Through the course of a tense evening of voting she sniffed the butts of all the candidates and has given her approval to the Mayor elect, Brynn. She looks forward to working with the new mayor and the Ambassadors as Rabbit Hash strives to restore the General Store. Brynn also has an owner. 23-year-old Jordie Bamforth, who is studying to be a veterinarian, adopted Brynn as a puppy. She said that one of the reasons she wanted to enter to the race was to dispel rumors about pit bulls being aggressive: adopted Bamforth told reporters: Brynn has declared to be peaceful with any human or animal that comes through Rabbit Hash, especially the cats. Brynn does like to chase the cats around here, but has pledged to refrain from it as much as possible. How much money was raised during the election? The mayoral race in Rabbit Hash is used to raise funds for the town's Historical Society, which then uses the money on various projects around the town. This year, the money will be used to help rebuild and restock the town's general store, which was destroyed in a fire: store destroyed Bobbi Kayser, secretary of the Rabbit Hash Historical Society and mom of current Mayor Lucy Lou, said the election raised more than $8,900 for the historical society. The money will go toward the restoration of the Rabbit Hash General Store. Although we are so blessed to have had so many corporate donations and benefits in our name, we still have not reached the original estimated goal to complete the project, Kayser said. The General Store is looking nearly perfect, but that comes at a cost of nearly $400,000. The store should be open by September 2017. Brynneth Pawltro could not be immediately reached for comment. Rabbit Hash Historical Society. "Current Mayor - Brynn."
Retrieved 28 June 2017. Sutter, Chris. "For the Fourth Time, Small Kentucky Town Elects a Dog as Mayor."
WDRB. 23 June 2017. Hadley, Greg. "A Dog is Now the Mayor of a Small Kentucky Town. And Shes Not Even the First One."
Brandenton. 24 June 2017. Brookbank, Sarah. "Rabbit Hash Mayor-Elect Preaches Peace and Love."
Cincinnati.com 16 November 2016. | 1 | [
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FMD4007 | 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: Mistaken Dog Claim summaries: A hilarious tale about a badly behaved dog.
contextual information: A badly behaved dog wreaks havoc while two fellows stand by silently, each thinking it's the other guy's pooch. A woman is invited to visit the home of a woman who is wealthier than she is. From the moment she receives the invitation, the caller is unsure about how to behave—how to sit, how to take tea, etc. Matters are made worse when the time of the visit arrives. A large, lively, dirty beast of a dog is sitting in the front yard, and when the hostess welcomes the caller into the house, the dog follows her inside. While the caller tries to respect social amenities, that darn dog does not. It tracks mud around the room, sniffs the cookies, and paws the furniture. The caller makes small talk, but the conversation becomes strained. Still, both parties keep a stiff upper lip, observing proper etiquette. Finally, the visit comes to an end. As the caller rises to leave, the hostess, with one eye on the wreckage, remarks icily, "And don't forget to take your dog!" "My dog?" the caller says. "I thought it was yours!" In January 1946, Bigelow came down to Princeton for an interview with Von Neumann. He was a couple of hours late. Julian Bigelow got out of the car and walked up to the house. "Von Neumann lived in this elegant lodge house on Westcott Road in Princeton," Bigelow says. "As I parked my car and walked in, there was this very large Great Dane bouncing around on the front lawn. I knocked on the door, and Von Neumann, who was a small, quiet, modest kind of man, came to the door, bowed to me, and said, 'Bigelow, won't you come in,' and so forth, and this dog brushed between our legs and went into the living room. He proceeded to lie down on the rug in front of everybody, and we had the entire interview—whether I would come, what I knew, what the job was going to be like—and this lasted maybe forty minutes, with the dog wandering all around the house. Towards the end of it, Von Neumann asked me if I always traveled with the dog. But of course, it wasn't my dog, and it wasn't his either, but Von Neumann—being a diplomatic, middle-European type person—kindly avoided mentioning it until the end." In passing, I must mention a funny situation in which I became involved while visiting Field Marshal Lord Alexander and his wife at their home near London. I drove there to have lunch with them, and as I emerged from my car, a huge dog appeared in the driveway. Dogs always made a dead set for me, and I wasn't worried when it began jumping around and wagging its tail. However, I did feel some concern when it followed me to the doorway and walked in as if it owned the house. A family pet, I felt sure, as it settled down in a corner of the living room while Lord and Lady Alexander greeted me warmly. At lunch, the dog settled down at my feet, and the begging for food began. Lady Alexander's attention became riveted upon me: "Mr. Mahoney," she said charmingly, "I wish you would send your dog outside." It was only then that it dawned on me that they thought the stray dog was mine! Though this story has often been told as an actual event in an important person's life, its first appearance came in a 1924 Lucy Maud Montgomery book, Emily Climbs. In Chapter 12, Emily's call on socially superior Miss Janet Royal is interrupted by the antics of a very large muddy dog that follows her into the elegant parlor, where it proceeds to act up. According to the legend, only after the beast has made a shambles of things and Emily is about to leave does the subject of the dog's ownership arise, each girl thinking up until that time that the horrid thing belonged to the other. From those early beginnings, the "Not my dog" anecdote has gone on to reach a succession of new audiences, as new storytellers emerge and claim it as their own. Burt Reynolds is rumored to have told this story (starring himself as the embarrassed visitor) to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show in the 1980s. A common element in this story is the unequal status between the visitor and the visited. The one who comes calling feels inferior for reasons relating to social standing, comparative wealth, or the celebrated householder's achievements. Whatever the cause, he comes hat in hand, filled with a determination to make a good impression—a certain recipe for social disaster! The story is one of horrific embarrassment; the faux pas is perceived as being that much more flamboyant because it plays out before someone looked up to. That matters are straightened out before the visit ends by the caller blurting out, "My dog? I thought he was yours!" doesn't change the momentary flash of mortification experienced or the knowledge that the sought-after host had sat there for quite a while thinking decidedly evil thoughts about his guest. The story also pokes fun at the strictures of etiquette. Neither host nor guest feels it would be proper to comment negatively on the dog's behavior, so both endure the worsening state of affairs in stoic silence. The legend underscores common misperceptions about etiquette, suggesting that the rules of polite behavior are often impractical and that adherence to them results in ridiculous situations that a more direct approach would have avoided. Those who resent the genteelly voiced demands of Miss Manners and long for less structured, more direct forms of social interaction get to savor a moment of self-congratulation through this story because it proves right what they've been saying all along. As old as this story is (1924, remember?), it continues to pop up and even sometimes changes in dramatic ways. We picked up the following non-canine version of the tale during our Internet travels, again proving that no story can't stand a little improving: The story goes along the lines of a young Indo-Asian couple who, after a non-arranged marriage, decide to get a house together. A few weeks after they move in, the husband returns from work to find an older woman in the living room of the house. Knowing they have broken with tradition by having a non-arranged marriage, the husband greets his mother-in-law, only to receive a hard silent stare. She is evidently not happy about their recent union. That evening, the old woman joins the couple at the dinner table and continues to join them for every meal for the next month, never uttering a word. Eventually, the once-close couple becomes hostile to one another, unhappy that 'Mother' has been allowed to move in with them. They stop talking and avoid one another. A few days later, the situation escalates into an argument about the old woman. The creepy truth is revealed as the wife exclaims, "My mother? I thought she was yours!" | 1 | [
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FMD4008 | 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: Curved lines and movements in support of pro-life organizations. Claim summaries: Does Gary Heavin, founder and CEO of the fitness chain Curves, support pro-life causes?
contextual information: Claim: Gary Heavin, founder and CEO of the fitness chain Curves, supports pro-life causes. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2004] Just so you know: Gary Heavin, the founder of the Waco, Texas-based chain of exercise studios called Curves, is a heavy contributor to several organizations allied with Operation Save America, the rather more muscular successor to Operation Rescue, the anti-choice group. The organizations he funds are spreading the lie that abortions lead to an increased risk of breast cancer. Planned Parenthood says its operations in Texas are being threatened by Heavin-funded clinics based on the old therapeutic model "you must carry your child to term." In an article in Christianity Today, Heavin expressed pride in his involvement with anti-choice groups, to which he donates 10 percent of Curves' profits. You may do with this information what you will. Origins: With more than 7,000 fitness and weight loss centers around the globe, Curves is the largest fitness franchise in the world. One in four health clubs in the U.S. is a Curves, a stupendous feat given that the company has only been around since 1992. Yet, for the utterly amazing, consider this: Prior to January 2004, Curves didn't have a national ad campaign. Almost all of its customers found out about the chain through word of mouth. You wouldn't think one exercise club could be that different from any other, but Curves are, and that difference accounts for the success of the chain. Curves exercise clubs are strictly for women. Their stripped-down no-frills look will likely come as a shock to those who have been conditioned to believe proper fitness palaces should be fashioned of glass and gleaming chrome and populated by herds of designer-garbed hard-bodied 20-somethings setting new land speed records on treadmills and exercise bikes. At Curves, there are no lockers or showers, and the clientele is predominently middle-aged and overweight. The equipment members use is set up in a circle. Every 30 seconds those working out are told to move to the next station, which is either another machine that works different muscle groups or a space between two machines where exercisers run or walk in place. A typical Curves workout regimen is 30 minutes a day, three times a week. Because the equipment is hydraulic, it adapts to each user's level of fitness, making these workouts suitable for anyone regardless of physical conditioning. Women like the Curves program for its "30 minutes and you're on your way" aspect, but also for the camaraderie that comes from exercising with others, which appears to be spurred on by the arrangement of the workout stations in a circle. Friendships form. Encouragement is given. A sense of "We're all in this together" pervades. More than 7,000 outlets since 1992. Obviously, they're doing something right. This highly successful chain is the brainchild of Gary Heavin, a Texas businessman who earlier in his life had a 17-location fitness center chain before filing bankruptcy, divorcing, losing custody of his two children, and serving a six-month jail sentence for failure to pay child support. Although a Christian from his teen years, he re-committed his life to Christ while in jail, after which he and his new wife (whom he married just before his incarceration) opened the first Curves in Harlingen, Texas, in 1992. The text of the e-mail quoted above was written by Jon Carroll, a columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle. It appeared in that paper on 20 April 2004. The statements made by Carroll in those three short paragraphs about Gary Heavin, the founder and CEO of Curves, hold water for the most part. Heavin (pronounced "Haven"), is a born-again Christian who is strongly pro-life and, according to an Operation Save America's web site (a pro-life group of a more radical orientation than Operation Rescue, and one that asserts there is a connection between abortion and increased risk of breast cancer), is one of their supporters: Operation Save America Operation Rescue We then contacted Mr. Gary Heavin, Founder and CEO of Curves International. Mr. Heavin is a wealthy man who is a committed Pro-life Christian. He is the premier customer of the bank that sponsors Komen. He graciously returned our phone call and promised to use his influence to convince the bank to give some of the funding to Carenet, so they could take care of the women, instead of Planned Parenthood. Several months passed and, lo and behold, on Tuesday, September 23rd, in the year of our Lord 2003, Carenet, our local CPC, held their annual banquet. It was the most attended, and as far as I was concerned, the best one to date. At the end, a major announcement and press statement was issued for Central Texas. Gary Heavin made a five million dollar grant to Family Practice, Carenet, and McCap. These groups and ministries would receive one million dollars a year for the next five years. Granted, some shortcuts were taken by Jon Carroll in his heads-up about Heavin. If Heavin does support Operation Save America, his "support" is of a non-financial nature. The "article in Christianity Today" was actually published in Today's Christian (formerly Christian Reader), a magazine put out by Christianity Today. Also, the "donates 10 percent of Curves' profits" is a misleading way of saying Heavin gave away that much money in 2003 the wording implies he donates that percentage of Curves' profits on an ongoing basis, yet the source material this information was drawn from speaks only to one particular year (2003), not to any year before it, and not to any plans by Heavin to gift at a similar level in future years. Moreover, the Today's Christian article stated that Heavin donated an amount equal to 10 percent of Curves' profits to "charities," which Jon Carroll has represented solely as "anti-choice groups" though Heavin does financially support pro-life organizations and might well give only to them, he might also donate to other manner of charitable groups as well, with the 10 percent figure representing the total of what he doled out in charitable contributions in 2003 to various causes, both pro-life and otherwise. Ergo, either Carroll mischaracterized or misunderstood what he read, or he based his statement on information outside that Today's Christian article: Servanthood may not be today's normal model for business success, but that hasn't stopped the Heavins. In 2003, the couple gave away $10 million 10 percent of their company's gross revenues and 80 percent of Gary's net income to charities. Heavin matches the first $1,000 that each franchise raises for community causes such as walkathons to benefit pro-life pregnancy-care centers. Such controversial stances have led to criticism, but Heavin is unfazed. "There's nothing healthy about abortion," he says. "I'm not afraid to tell the truth." In a correction published 4 May 2004, The San Francisco Chronicle said: "A Ruth Rosen column Thursday 'What's wrong with curves?' stated that three 'pregnancy crisis centers' that received $5 million from Curves owner Gary Heavin were 'supported by Operation Save America.' The column was referring to Operation Save America's verbal endorsement of the centers, not financial support." On 13 May 2004, The San Francisco Chronicle published a further correction to information contained in both the Rosen and Carroll pieces: Two recent columns contained errors involving contributions made by Gary Heavin, founder and CEO of Curves, the women's fitness chain. Ruth Rosen's April 29 opinion-page column stated that Heavin "has given at least $5 million of his profits to some of the most militant anti-abortion groups in the country." That characterization is not accurate. The column specified that the money went to "three Texas organizations to fund 'pregnancy crisis centers.'" Only one of the recipients, Care Net, operates pregnancy crisis centers that are designed to dissuade pregnant women from having abortions while offering other support services to encourage adoption. Heavin has pledged to give Care Net $1 million over the next five years, according to a Curves spokeswoman. The largest of the pledges $3.75 million over five years goes to the Family Practice Center of McLennan County, which provides a variety of health-care services to Central Texas residents, many of whom are uninsured, according to the Curves spokeswoman. The Catholic-run center does not provide abortions but is not actively involved in the anti-abortion movement, the center's CEO said. The other recipient of Heavin's pledge, $250,000 over five years, was the McLennan County Collaborative Abstinence Project, which promotes sexual abstinence among teens. Its director said that, as a matter of policy, its staff would not discuss abortion when making presentations. The column presented the contributions as a percentage of the company's annual gross revenues. But the Curves spokeswoman said that those pledges, as well as millions of dollars in donations to a wide range of charities, came from Heavin's personal wealth. The column also referred to Heavin's comments in a "recent Christianity Today" article that he "is proud to support these organizations." In fact, the interview was published in the January-February issue of Today's Christian, a magazine affiliated with Christianity Today. In it, Heavin expressed his anti-abortion views but did not talk about his support for any specific organization. In addition, Jon Carroll, in his April 20 Datebook column, erred in referring to Heavin's comments as appearing in "Christianity Today" and by stating that Heavin "donates 10 percent of Curves profits" to "anti-choice groups." He also wrote that Heavin's recipients were allied with Operation Save America, a radical anti-abortion group. As stated in a May 4 clarification on Rosen's column, Operation Save America has praised those recipients on its Web site but does not provide financial support, nor does it have a formal alliance with them. The Chronicle regrets the errors. Gary Heavin is far from the first successful businessman to underwrite reproductive causes Tom Monaghan of Domino's Pizza and Carl Karcher, founder of the California-based hamburger chain Carl's Jr., have been very open and public regarding their support of the pro-life philosophy, just as Warren Buffett, ranked by Forbes magazine as the second-richest man in the world, has been forthcoming about his backing of pro-choice programs. In each instance, these men are acting as private citizens who choose to bestow parts of their fortunes on the causes they believe in, not as officers of their corporations. The money is theirs to do with as they please, just as anyone's paycheck belongs to the person who earns it and stops being the employer's money at the moment it is paid out. That a spendthrift employee might choose to gamble away his earnings doesn't mean the company he works for supports gambling; likewise, that a wealthy man financially supports particular causes doesn't mean the corporation that paid him the money favors those movements. Domino's Pizza Warren Buffett All this is by way of saying that while it's correct to identify Gary Heavin as a patron of pro-life endeavors, it would not be right to point to Curves as a supporter of those same causes. Barbara "cause and effect" Mikkelson Additional information: Curves International web site Last updated: 19 November 2006 Sources: Carroll, Jon. "Jon Carroll." The San Francisco Chronicle. 20 April 2004 (p. E12). Chan, Vera H-C. "Gary Heavin Creates Sanctuaries for Women." San Jose Mercury News. 16 April 2004. Kennedy, John W. "Rolling with the Curves." Today's Christian. January 2004 (p. 30). Lawrence, Elana. "Curves, Without Frills." The Washington Post. 27 May 2003 (p. F1). Reimer, Susan. "The Mature Are Ready to Go Around These Curves." The Baltimore Sun. 8 February 2004 (p. N1). Rosen, Ruth. "What's Wrong With Curves?" The San Francisco Chronicle. 29 April 2004 (p. B9). The San Francisco Chronicle. "Corrections." 4 May 2004 (p. A2). The San Francisco Chronicle. "Corrections." 13 May 2004 (p. A2). | 1 | [
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FMD4009 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Republican Donald Trump put aside the celebrations and focused on Wednesday on his 73-day transition to the White House as rival Hillary Clinton promised to bury the bitterness of their long presidential race and work to unify a divided country. After Trump’s stunning upset of the heavily favored Clinton, Democratic President Barack Obama and leading figures in the Republican Party who had struggled to make peace with Trump all vowed to move past the campaign ugliness. “Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,†Clinton, the Democratic nominee, said in a concession speech in New York, joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea. While her loss was painful “and it will be for a long time,†she had offered to work with Trump as he prepares to begin his four-year term on Jan. 20, Clinton told supporters. A wealthy New York real estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to win Tuesday’s election against Clinton. A former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state, Clinton also ran for president in 2008. Obama, who campaigned hard against Trump, invited him to the White House for a meeting on Thursday after a brutal night for the Democratic Party, which also fell short of recapturing majorities in both chambers of Congress. “We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country,†Obama said at the White House, adding he and his staff would work with Trump to ensure a successful transition. “We are not Democrats first, we are not Republicans first, we are Americans first.†But reflecting the bitterness of a long election campaign that often focused more on character than on policy, scattered anti-Trump protests broke out across the country, including in New York and Chicago, with demonstrators denouncing Trump’s campaign rhetoric about immigrants, Muslims and other groups. Thousands of protesters thronged Midtown Manhattan and marched toward Trump Tower on Wednesday evening, while at a park farther downtown, hundreds of people shouted: “Not my president.†In Chicago, thousands gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower downtown while chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA.†Trump and his senior aides met at Trump Tower in New York to begin the transition. “They are hunkered down in meetings, plotting the next steps, the transition, the first 100 days, key staff positions,†said a source close to Trump’s campaign. Potential choices for his administration included Republican figures who eagerly supported Trump even when he faced opprobrium from other senior Republicans. Possible names included Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus as White House chief of staff, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer as White House spokesman, U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions and Bob Corker in possible roles as secretary of state or defense secretary, and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich as secretary of state, a source close to the campaign said. Trump will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress that could help him implement his legislative agenda and appoint a Supreme Court justice to fill the vacancy created by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. In the Senate, Democrats secured a second gain on Wednesday, when Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte conceded defeat in New Hampshire to challenger Maggie Hassan, the state’s Democratic governor. But the Republicans retained their majority. “Now, Donald Trump will lead a unified Republican government and we will work hand-in-hand on a positive agenda to tackle this country’s big challenges,†House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who had a strained relationship with Trump, told reporters, saying Trump had earned a mandate in the election. In an Oct. 25 Reuters interview, Trump said his top priorities when he took office would be building stronger borders, repealing Obama’s national healthcare plan, aiding military veterans and working to create more jobs. In his victory speech early on Wednesday, he also promised to embark on a project to rebuild American infrastructure and to double U.S. economic growth. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that repealing the healthcare plan known as Obamacare would be a “pretty high item†on the agenda. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that she spoke to Trump about passing a “robust†jobs bill. Worried that a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors initially fled stocks worldwide, but Wall Street made a dramatic turnaround and the U.S. dollar hit its highest level against the Japanese yen in nearly four months. The Mexican peso recouped some losses after falling to a record low. The currency has been vulnerable to Trump’s threats to rip up a free trade agreement with Mexico and to tax money sent home by migrants to pay to build a border wall. Speaking to cheering supporters after his victory, Trump said it was time to heal divisions. “It is time for us to come together as one united people,†Trump said. “I will be president for all Americans,†he said, praising Clinton for her service. His comments departed sharply from his campaign rhetoric in which he repeatedly branded Clinton as “Crooked Hillary†amid supporters’ chants of “lock her up.†Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, did not rule out on Wednesday the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s past conduct, a threat Trump made in an election debate last month. Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House hoped the tradition of not using the criminal justice system to exact revenge on political opponents would continue under Trump. Senior House Republican Jason Chaffetz plans to continue investigating Clinton’s use of a private rather than government email server while she was secretary of state, a Chaffetz aide said. FBI Director James Comey has said a year-long probe by the agency into the setup revealed nothing to merit criminal charges. Despite losing the state-by-state electoral battle that determines the U.S. presidency, Clinton narrowly led Trump in the nationwide popular vote, according to U.S. media tallies. Fueling his upset win was Trump’s avid support among white non-college educated workers. He ran up big leads in rural areas, beating Clinton by 27 percentage points among voters outside of urban areas, a Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll found. While Clinton, 69, won Hispanics and black and young voters, she did not win those groups by greater margins than Obama did in 2012. Younger blacks did not support Clinton like they did Obama. She won eight of 10 black voters between the ages of 35 and 54. Obama won almost 100 percent of those voters in 2012. At 70, Trump will be the oldest first-term U.S. president. The presidency will be Trump’s first elected office, and it remains to be seen how he will work with Congress. During the campaign, Trump was the target of sharp disapproval, not just from Democrats but from many in his own party. Foreign leaders pledged to work with Trump, but some officials expressed alarm the vote could mark the end of an era in which Washington promoted democratic values and was seen by its allies as a guarantor of peace. During the campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned central tenets of the NATO military alliance and suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons to shoulder their own defense burden. Russia and Putin appeared to be winners from Trump’s victory. Defying years of U.S. foreign policy orthodoxy, the Republican had promised much warmer relations with Moscow, despite Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war and its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region. Russia’s parliament erupted in applause after a lawmaker announced that Trump had been elected, and Putin told foreign ambassadors he was ready to fully restore ties with Washington. Russia is hoping that improved relations could yield an elusive prize: the lifting or easing of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union to punish Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who sparred with Obama, spoke by phone to Trump, who proposed they meet “at the first opportunity,†Netanyahu’s office said. Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing and Washington shared responsibility for promoting global development and prosperity. Iran urged Trump to stay committed to the nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers, which Trump has sharply criticized. Several authoritarian and right-wing leaders hailed Trump’s victory. Other officials abroad, some with senior roles in government, took the unusual step of denouncing the outcome, calling it a worrying signal for liberal democracy and tolerance in the world. “Trump is the pioneer of a new authoritarian and chauvinist international movement. He is also a warning for us,†German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group. U.S. neighbor Mexico was pitched into deep uncertainty by the victory for Trump, who has often accused it of stealing U.S. jobs and sending criminals across the U.S. border. Trump campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more isolationist, protectionist “America First†path. He wants to rewrite international trade deals to reduce trade deficits and has taken positions that raise the possibility of damaging relations with America’s most trusted allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. | 1 | [
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FMD4010 | 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 Reality Regarding ANWR Claim summaries: E-mail reports the truth about the environmental impact of drilling for oil in ANWR.
contextual information: Claim: E-mail reports the truth about the environmental impact of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) OF AND INFORMATION Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2008] First, do you know what ANWR is? ANWR = Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now, a comparison: And some perspective ... NOTE WHERE THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AREA IS ... (its in the "ANWR Coastal Plain") THIS IS WHAT THE TV People and others "GREENS" SHOW YOU WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT ANWR ... and they are right ... these ARE photographs of ANWR Isn't ANWR beautiful? Why should we drill here (and destroy) this beautiful place? Well, thats not exactly the truth. Do you remember the map? The map showed that the proposed drilling area is in the ANWR Coastal Plain. Do those photographs look like a coastal plain to you? What's going on here? The answer is simple. That is NOT where they are wanting to drill! This is what the proposed exploration area ACTUALLY looks like in the winter: And this is what it ACTUALLY looks like in the summer: HERE ARE A COUPLE SCREEN SHOTS FROM GOOGLE EARTH As you can see, the area where they are talking about drilling is a barren wasteland. Oh, and they say that they are concerned about the effect on the local wildlife. Here is a photo (shot during the summer) of the 'depleted wildlife' situation created by drilling around Prudhoe Bay. Don't you think that the Caribou really hate that drilling? Here's that same spot during the winter: Hey, this bear seems to really hate the pipeline near Prudhoe Bay, which accounts for 17% of U.S. domestic oil production. Now, why do you think that the Democrats are LYING about ANWR? Remember when Al Gore said that the government should work to ARTIFICIALLY raise gas prices to $5 a gallon? Well, Al Gore and his fellow Democrats have almost reached their goal! Now that you know that the Democrats have been lying, what are you going to do about it? You can start by forwarding this to everyone you know, so that they will know the truth. P.S.: Drilling does not "destroy." It creates jobs, resources and strengthens our economy all while protecting our environment. Everyone benefits, even caribou. Origins: As the price of oil continues to rise with no predictable end in sight, debates over whether the U.S. can and should be producing more oil from domestic sources have been renewed. A primary focus of such debates has been the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an area which encompasses 19 million acres in the northeast corner of Alaska. The ANWR issue is now a political hot potato batted back and forth between proponents of exploration and development in ANWR's Coastal Plain who assert that the area could become a valuable source of domestic oil production with minimal impact on the environment, and opponents who maintain that the potential advantages to be gained from drilling for oil in ANWR are far too small to offset the despoiling (and potential devastation) of a protected wildlife area.The issue has been complicated by the uncertainty of many factors involved in the opening of ANWR to U.S. oil production, such as the total amount of oil underlying the area, the size of the oil fields that might be found in ANWR, the quality of the oil that might be found in ANWR, the potential production capacity of ANWR drilling operations, how long it would take before ANWR operations began providing significant amounts of oil for the U.S. market, what effects the oil extracted from ANWR would have on world oil supply and prices, and the environmental impacts of oil exploration and development in ANWR. factors The e-mailed slide show reproduced above might serve a useful function in prompting the public to take a greater interest in all the issues surrounding the potential opening of ANWR to oil exploration, but the information it presents is scant and one-sided. Since the ANWR issue is far too extensive and complex to cover in detail here, we'll just provide a brief summary of both sides' arguments regarding points mentioned by the e-mailed slide show, with links to sites (on both sides of the issue) that provide greater detail: Although the ANWR is small in size compared to the entirety of Alaska, at 19 million acres it is larger than ten other states. (As the third graphic shows, ANWR is about the size of the state of South Carolina.) Proponents point out that the proposed development area within the ANWR Coastal Plain is a relatively small patch of 2,000 acres, an area which constitutes roughly1/10,000 of the total acreage of the ANWR. Opponents maintain that a similar drilling operation in Alaska at Prudhoe Bay was originally designated to encompass only 2,100 acres but has since expanded to a total drilling footprint of 12,000 acres spread over 640,000 acres of the North Slope. size expanded Proponents maintain that wildlife continues to flourish amid drilling and other oil production activities in other Arctic regions and would fare just as well near ANWR exploration facilities. Opponents assert that other North Slope oil development activities have caused an average of 504 spills per year since 1996, including "4,532 spills between 1996 and 2004 totaling more than 1.9 million gallons of toxic substances." flourish spills Proponents maintain that the proposed ANWR Coastal Plain development area is primarily a featureless, barren expanse that is frozen and windswept for most of the year, and therefore exploration and drilling activities would have minimal impact on wildlife in the immediate area (or in the greater ANWR). Opponents assert that environmental accidents can have devastating effects far outside the limited areas in which they originally occur. Last updated: 2 July 2008 | 2 | [
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FMD4011 | 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: Leaked E-mails Show John Podesta Discussed Alien Technology with Former NASA Astronaut Claim summaries: A retired astronaut with some eccentric views did attempt to set up a meeting with Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, but that's about as far as it got.
contextual information: On October 9th, 2016, WikiLeaks disclosed thousands of e-mails from the personal account of Hillary Clinton campaign director John Podesta, also a former counselor to President Barack Obama. Among those files were two e-mails signed by former NASA astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell from the e-mail address [email protected]. The first message, dated 18 January 2015, read: message Subject: email for John Podesta (c/o Eryn) from Edgar Mitchel re meeting ASAP Dear John, As 2015 unfolds, I understand you are leaving the Administration in February. It is urgent that we agree on a date and time to meet to discuss Disclosure and Zero Point Energy, at your earliest available after your departure. My Catholic colleague Terri Mansfield will be there too, to bring us up to date on the Vaticans awareness of ETI [extraterrestrial intelligence]. Another colleague is working on a new Space Treaty, citing involvement with Russia and China. However with Russias extreme interference in Ukraine, I believe we must pursue another route for peace in space and ZPE on Earth. I met with President Obamas Honolulu childhood friend, US Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto on July 4 at the US Mission in Geneva, when I was able to tell her briefly about zero point energy. I believe we can enlist her as a confidante and resource in our presentation for President Obama. I appreciate Eryns assistance in working with Terri to set up our meeting. Best regards,Edgar D. Mitchell, ScDChief Science Officer & Founder, QuantrekApollo 14 astronaut6th man to walk on the Moon The second message, dated 18 August 2015, included a brief introduction and a series of links to articles that primarily discussed the militarization of space. It bore the same signature as the first e-mail: message Subject: email for John Podesta c/o Eryn re Space Treaty (attached) Dear John, Because the War in Space race is heating up, I felt you should be aware of several factors as you and I schedule our Skype talk. Remember, our nonviolent ETI from the contiguous universe are helping us bring zero point energy to Earth. They will not tolerate any forms of military violence on Earth or in space. The following information in italics was shared with me by my colleague Carol Rosin, who worked closely for several years with Wernher von Braun before his death. Carol and I have worked on the Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, attached for your convenience. Best regards,Edgar Edgar D. Mitchell, ScDChief Science Officer & Founder, QuantrekApollo 14 astronaut6th man to walk on the Moon Before diving into the content of these two e-mails, we should identify the players involved. Dr. Edgar Mitchell (who passed away in 2016) was a NASA astronaut who traveled to (and walked on) the moon as part of the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. A Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, he once completed a record-breaking nine-hour, 24-minute EVA on the surface of the moon. In addition to his distinguished scientific career with NASA, he was a strong believer in metaphysical phenomena. He claimed, for example, that a Toronto-based healer named Adam Dreamhealer had cured him of kidney cancer remotely while the two men were separated by thousands of miles. He also was a strong believer in the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and claimed Earth had frequently been visited by aliens. Among the many times he made these assertions was in a 2009 interview with the Guardian: recipient record-breaking Adam Dreamhealer interview "We are being visited," [Mitchell] said. "It is now time to put away this embargo of truth about the alien presence. I call upon our government to open up ... and become a part of this planetary community that is now trying to take our proper role as a spacefaring civilisation." Though Mitchell signed the messages, the e-mail address from which they originated belonged to Terri Mansfield (Mitchells Catholic colleague), who runs a nonprofit that focuses on metaphysical concepts including consciousness, god, extraterrestrial intelligence, and the development of technology that could harness zero point energy (a pseudoscientific concept discussed below). belonged nonprofit Carol Rosin, whom Mitchell mentions as having helped to collect the links listed in the second e-mail, states on her web site that she is the founder of the Institute for Security and Cooperation in Outer Space. On the same site, she describes her role as advis[ing] decision makers and others about applications of technology and information services for human needs, environment, new energy, and peace and security, health and prosperity for all on earth and in space. web site Mansfield and Rosin's connection to Mitchell does not necessarily imply influence or authorship of these emails, as the content is consistent with causes he championed. In fact, Rebecca Hardcastle Wright, a former employee of Mitchell's, wrote a post attesting to their authenticity, confirming that a Skype meeting with Podesta had been requested by Mitchell but never ended up taking place. former employee post As far as the content of the e-mails, there are two (very) loosely connected threads at play. The more straightforward thread (and what ultimately seems to be the primary premise for a Skype meeting, based on the subject lines) is the discussion of adding the United States as a signatory to an amended version of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, an international agreement dating back to the 1960s that prevents governments, essentially, from putting nukes or weapons of mass destruction in orbit or from putting military bases on the moon or on other objects in space. agreement Mitchell and Rosin were arguing for the United States to sign onto an even more restrictive treaty originally proposed by China and Russia in 2008, which would ban weapons in space outright. The list of links provided by Rosin (primarily news articles and blog posts) all related to international space collaboration and various warnings about countries currently involved in, or planning to be involved in, putting weapons in space. treaty Its the material in the first e-mail that is a bit more convoluted. That missive opens with an urgent request to discuss zero point energy and disclosure. Disclosure refers to the release of any and all information the U.S. government might have on UFOs. This is, in fact, a topic for which John Podesta openly advocated well before any WikiLeaks referenced the subject, as the Washington Post reported in April of 2016: reported "In 2002," [Leslie] Kean and co-author [of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record] Ralph Blumenthal wrote, "Podesta began publicly supporting what became a landmark Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Freedom of Information, an independent advocacy group. NASA had been stonewalling and refusing to release its records concerning a significant 1965 UFO incident in Kecksburg, PA." Documents were released, but they "did not include one iota of information relating to the Kecksburg case, despite an earnest and thorough effort by NASA staff." It's apparently those documents to which Podesta was referring when, after a brief stint working in the Obama White House, he tweeted that failing to secure the release of UFO files was his "biggest failure of 2014." Zero point energy is a concept in quantum physics that refers to the amount of energy a given quantum system has at its lowest quantum state or ground state. The fact that systems at this zero point actually still possess some energy has lead to myriad science fiction or pseudoscientific claims of being able to tap into that energy to achieve things currently known to be physically impossible. concept Mitchell ran a company, listed in his email signature, called Quantrek, which sought, among other things, to harness this zero point energy, according to Terri Mansfield (the woman from whom the e-mails to Podesta originated): [Mitchell] and his science team researched the application of the quantum hologram as well as zero point energy, the most powerful, cleanest, cheapest, safest, most ubiquitous form of energy for the planet. ZPE will power cars, trains, planes, sea-going vessels, space ships, as well as our homes and buildings. The connection between the zero point energy topic and the space treaty, while not completely articulated in the e-mails, appears to be based on Mansfields (and presumably Mitchells) belief that as a species humans need to show our obedience to God and embrace extraterrestrial beings by abandoning free will and embracing peace, at which point the aliens will allow us to understand and implement zero point energy. Mansfield explains that connection on her web site: connection The ETI (Extraterrestrial Intelligence) with whom Suzanne and Terri work are peaceful, nonviolent and obedient to God. They are NOT from our universe but from a CONTIGUOUS universe. They are the highest form of intelligence working directly with God. Their purpose is to assist us humans who are eager to bring powerful, safe, clean, cheap, sustainable, ubiquitous, infinite ZERO POINT ENERGY application as THE energy source to our viable Earth. This ZPE energy is centered on the Tau neutrino. When ETI want to make themselves known, they do so with specific colors, sound, touch, scent, taste and manipulation of matter. Examples abound. They frequently turn on lights in our homes when they want our attention. ETI want only what is best for humanity to evolve spiritually, demand obedience given by free will choice, respond with compassion and / or justice, when required. The implication appears to be that extraterrestrials are willing to help us with our zero point energy problems so long as we can demonstrate our peaceful nature. This is presumably what Mitchell is referring to in the second e-mail when he wrote: Remember, our nonviolent ETI from the contiguous universe are helping us bring zero point energy to Earth. They will not tolerate any forms of military violence on Earth or in space. Though we cannot say for certain, it appears likely that the reference to God and the Vatican stems from Mansfield's belief system revolving around obedience to God and her Catholicism. Ultimately, though, what has emerged from these messages is a picture of a decorated astronaut with a history of eccentric views attempting, unsuccessfully, to set up a meeting with a high ranking and potentially sympathetic government official with either the help of (or influence from) both a metaphysicist and an advocate for a demilitarized space. In Mitchells and Mansfield's view, there is a straight line connection between signing a stronger space treaty and receiving information from aliens about how to create a form of energy that will save our civilization. What does not emerge, however, is any evidence supporting the quasi-scientific claims made by Mitchell or Mansfield, or that the United States Government is privy to any information regarding those claims. | 2 | [
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FMD4012 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: By now, everyone is used to the rank ignorance and unabashed bigotry that is regularly displayed by Rep. Steve King (R-IA). After all, this is a man who has accused DREAMERS of being drug mules with no evidence, has tweeted overtly white nationalist sentiments, and has suggested that only white people have ever contributed to what he calls western civilization. Here is video of that stunning statement:Now, he is at it again, and this time his target is an especially vulnerable group: Transgender soldiers.Taking to the floor of the House of Representatives during their General Speeches forum a time in which people can apparently say whatever they like, no matter how outrageous King ranted about transgender people in the military, compared gender reassignment to the castration of slaves in the Ottoman Empire, and generally made an ignorant ass of himself like always. After this lengthy and deeply offensive speech, King wound the whole thing up by ranting about how the only reason people will become Navy SEALS now is to get free gender reassignment surgery. He said: And we are thinking that we are going to make the military better while people lining up at the recruitment center who have planned to do sexual assignment surgery and know if I can get into the Navy, army, air force and Marines and become a Navy SEAL and submit to sexual reassignment surgery and go from a man to a woman. By the way, it doesn t look like there will be any women becoming men after going through SEAL training. So let me get this straight. Someone would go through the hell that is SEAL training just to get gender reassignment for free? Why would they do that? Any military member can get treatment under their health insurance provided to them for their brave and selfless service to our great nation.Rep. King, please educate yourself. You are an embarrassment to the people of your state and to the United States of America. Hopefully, one day the folks in your district will wake up and stop re-electing you.Watch video of the latest outrage below:Rep. Steve King promotes conspiracy that trans ppl join military for "free surgery" to "cut 'em up and remake 'em into something different." pic.twitter.com/Ym6v7BUAeX Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 14, 2017GOP Rep. Steve King compares transgender troops to Ottoman empire eunuchs who wouldn't fight, says trans people will enlist just for surgery pic.twitter.com/kxoRsBdi7I Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 14, 2017Featured image via Darren McCollester/Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD4013 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry defended a 12-nation Pacific trade agreement on Tuesday against what he suggested was fear-mongering by the leading U.S. presidential candidates. Without mentioning Trump by name, Kerry argued that the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal that the Obama administration negotiated would be good for the U.S. economy even as he acknowledged U.S. workers’ fears about free trade agreements. “Many Americans still feel a sense of anxiety about TPP and T-TIP. In fact, they’ve been revved up to have some anxiety about anything related to trade,†Kerry said in a speech in Los Angeles, also referring to a trade deal with Europe called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Some of workers’ mistrust of trade agreements “comes from politicians who play to fears,†he added. “It comes also from legitimate anger about the economic status of millions of our fellow citizens who have not gained from trade.†Voter anxiety and anger over international trade and the trade pact have helped propel Trump, the Republican front-runner, whose main opponent for the Republican nomination, Senator Ted Cruz, also opposes the deal. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton worked on TTP as President Barack Obama’s first secretary of state, calling it the “gold standard†of such deals, but is now against it, saying it does not adequately protect U.S. workers. Senator Bernie Sanders, her main Democratic rival, also opposes it. Given the criticism of TPP in the presidential campaign, prospects for it receiving a vote before the Nov. 8 election are diminishing, and some lawmakers have said it would be better to consider it during the “lame duck “ session after the vote. Still, Obama administration officials have been stepping up their campaign to promote TPP, especially emphasizing the deal’s geopolitical benefits of strengthening ties with Asian allies in the face of an increasingly aggressive China. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4014 | 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: More Texans have new jobs today than the entire population of Fort Worth.
contextual information: Republican Gov. Rick Perry frequently talks up the Texas economy, focusing in recent TV ads on the state's job gains since he took office almost 10 years ago. Texas added more than 850,000 new jobs, Perry says in a New Jobs spot that debuted online Oct. 13. More Texans have new jobs today than the entire population of Fort Worth. For an article published Sept. 23, we put the 850,000 number to the Truth-O-Meter, rating itTrue. On Oct. 11, Katy Bacon, spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White, wrote us an e-mail suggesting that the jobs picture might have changed since our first pass, making the claim inaccurate. We put our pencils to her point, though in this article we'll be rating whether Perry's comparison of job gains to Fort Worth's population holds water. In an Oct. 19 news release about the New Jobs ad, the Perry campaign points to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on state employment to show the change in the number of nonfarm jobs in Texas between January 2001, shortly after Perry became governor, and June 2010. During that time, the state experienced a net gain of 853,400 jobs. Of course, Texas was also growing during that time; according to projections from the Texas State Data Center, the population increased by about 4 million people between 2001 and 2010. Texas, the second-largest state, is among the 20 states that had net job gains during the 9.5-year span from January 2001 to June 2010. Texas ranked No. 1, followed by Arizona (132,700 jobs) and Utah (113,200 jobs). Yet as White's camp nudged June's numbers are no longer the most recent. By July 2010, Texas' net job gain had dropped to 848,000. In August, it fell even further, to 818,500, although that month's job numbers were preliminary until Friday, after Perry's ad was released. The August information makes Perry's figure off by 31,500 jobs. Bottom line? Perry's statement that Texas added more than 850,000 jobs is correct when considering a particular time period (that he doesn't mention in the ad): between January 2001 and June 2010. By August, that statement was no longer accurate, but that information wasn't final until after Perry's ad came out. Next, how do the job gains compare with the population of Cowtown, the state's fifth-largest city? For its head count, the governor's team uses a population estimate from the City of Fort Worth's website: 736,200 people as of Jan. 1, 2010. The U.S. Census Bureau's most recent estimate for July 1, 2009 is 727,577. We asked Ed Friedman, a director at Moody's Analytics who covers the Texas economy, about the validity of Perry's comparison of statewide job gains over time with Fort Worth's population in 2010. He called the comparison a reasonable way for Perry to give you an idea of the size of the gain. Either way, the Fort Worth comparison stands up because no matter which final month is chosen, the number of Texas jobs has gone up more than the population of Fort Worth. We rate Perry's statement as True. | 1 | [
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FMD4015 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: There will be no peace in America until whites begin to hate their whiteness -Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Barack Hussein Obama s pastor for over 20 yearsWhen the organization known as Black Lives Matter (BLM) was first formed right after George Zimmerman s acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin on July 13, 2013, most overlooked the true intentions of the group beyond their calls for justice . Fast forward to today and it can no longer be overlooked that their calls for justice now result in retaliatory violence against those whom they believe are the oppressors, namely those being white people in general and police officers specifically. By tracing the origins of the organization back to its philosophical formation in the 1960 s, we can begin to see how BLM is rooted in the radical ideological beliefs espoused by none other than President Barack Obama.Before we get to that point though, it is crucial for us to understand that BLM was founded by three militant feminists by the name of Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opel Tometi.While each played their part in contributing to the creation of the group, Garza is the driving force as she detailed the philosophy behind BLM in her October 2014 article titled A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. Garza writes the following in regards to BLM s philosophy: Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes. It goes beyond the narrow nationalism that can be prevalent within some Black communities, which merely call on Black people to love Black, live Black and buy Black, keeping straight cis Black men in the front of the movement while our sisters, queer and trans and disabled folk take up roles in the background or not at all. Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, Black-undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. It centers those that have been marginalized within Black liberation movements. It is a tactic to (re)build the Black liberation movement. The key takeaway from Garza s statement is found in the last two sentences primarily as she notes that BLM was created with the intention to (re)build the Black liberation movement. The reason this statement is of utter importance is because it ties directly to the idea of Black Liberation theology, which was the doctrine taught to Obama for over twenty years at his church in Chicago made famous by Obama s pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Black Liberation theology was first formed on July 31, 1966. In an article published by NPR it is noted that: Black liberation theology originated on July 31, 1966, when 51 black pastors bought a full page ad in the New York Times and demanded a more aggressive approach to eradicating racism echo[ing] the demands of the black power movement. What is often overlooked in the formation of the group is the linkage between the Nation of Islam and Black Liberation theology as Wright s mentor and founder of Black Liberation theology James Cone credited Malcolm X with shaking him out of his theological complacency. Stanley Kurtz of National Review highlighted this synergy in noting that according to Cone, The black intellectual s goal is to aid in the destruction of America as he knows it. Such destruction requires both black anger and white guilt. The black-power theologian s goal is to tell the story of American oppression so powerfully and precisely that white men will tremble, curse, and go mad, because they will be drenched with the filth of their evil , wrote Cone.In an excerpt from Stanley Kurtz s piece drawing on the influence of Malcom X on Black Liberation theology, Kurtz states:So what exactly is black power ? Echoing Malcolm X, Cone defines it as complete emancipation of black people from white oppression by whatever means black people deem necessary. Open, violent rebellion is very much included in whatever means ; like the radical anti-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon, on whom he sometimes draws, Cone sees violent rebellion as a transformative expression of the humanity of the oppressed Theologically, Cone affirms, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man the devil. The false Christianity of the white-devil oppressor must be replaced. Couple these words to Obama s pastor Jeremiah Wright s statement that there will be no peace in America until whites begin to hate their whiteness and you can begin to understand that the rhetoric behind Black Lives Matter that blames white privilege for virtually everything is rooted in Black Liberation theology. However Wright was radicalized , notes Bud White of NoQuarterUSA, it is clear that he consciously appropriated the language and tenor of the Nation of Islam. White documents the following:Wright s statement that 9/11 was deserved retribution ( We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans America s chickens are coming home to roost ) is a perfect echo of Malcolm X s statement that The assassination of Kennedy is a result of that way of life and thinking. The chickens came home to roost. Although it appears that Wright began his focus on Black Liberation Theology sometime after 1966, his racial attitudes and rhetoric have imitated that of NOI since at least 1970. Wright s blaming the United States for creating AIDS to kill minorities is but just one example of his thinking being in lockstep with NOI.The Nation of Islam and Black Liberation Theology are two doors to the same room.Black Liberation Theology is a palatable form of Christian black nationalism. The fiery anti-American, race-baiting words of Wright, Cone, and others behind the theology of Black Liberation are from the same philosophical cauldron as the Nation of Islam , concludes White.From the beliefs that served as Obama s bedrock foundation for his ideology, is it any wonder that today that the radicals behind Black Lives Matter and the Nation of Islam are allowed a free pass to incite as much hatred and retaliation against those they deem are the oppressors? As violence has ramped up in the first half of 2015 in targeted assassinations against police officers, little to no coverage by the media is given to a meeting that was hosted by the White House on December 1st.On December 1, 2014, Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder met with seven Black and Latino organizers from Ferguson, Mo.; Columbus, Ohio; Miami, Florida; and New York City, who had been leading the ongoing actions to disrupt the status quo. In an article posted by the website FergusonAction, it is explained that during this meeting activists such as Ashley Yates were given the platform by the White House in order to reaffirm their belief that most violence in our (their) community is coming from the police departments, and something needs to be done about it. On December 20th something was done about it as two uniformed NYPD officers were assassinated in their marked car by Ismaaiyl Brinsley in what Brinsley himself boasted as an act of retaliation for the death of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York at the hands of the police.Ashley Yates, BLM Organizer who created t-shirt praising cop killer, Assata ShakurThe reason Yates is emphasized here is because she, like BlackLivesMatter founder Alicia Garza, praise cop killer and former Black Liberation member Assata Shakur as a martyr for their cause.Alicia Garza, BLM founderYates even created T-shirts and hoodies that read ASSATA TAUGHT ME in a reference to Shakur that has become part of BLM s iconography. The fact that the president would even entertain the thought of meeting with those like Yates and other activists who hold cop killers as icons for their movement further goes to show how Obama s belief in Black Liberation theology, primarily that retaliation and violence should be used to further their cause, has never left him. Why else would Obama have met with these activists unless he was sympathetic to their plight, which given the fact that Obama spent over twenty years of his life listening to Jeremiah Wright s sermons, he very much is. Since this meeting though, what cannot be dismissed is the fact that violence in the form of targeted assassinations of both white people and police officers, have ramped up.And it will only get worse the longer we continue to allow Obama s Department of Justice to remain idly complicit.Via: Politically Short | 0 | [
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FMD4016 | 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: Do banks need to disclose all transactions exceeding $600 to the IRS as part of the Biden proposal? Claim summaries: The American Families Plan has a reporting requirement for banks that has infuriated some.
contextual information: Announced in April 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden's American Families Plan is an ambitious proposal that aims to expand Americans' access to childcare and education and increase the number of women in the workforce. The plan intends to fund all of this through higher taxes on income earners and increased reporting requirements for banks that could potentially yield more tax revenue. These reporting requirements have drawn the ire of several banks that took issue with this less widely known section of the plan. A Facebook post by FNB Community Bank claimed: "The Biden administration has proposed requiring all community banks and other financial institutions to report to the IRS on all deposits and withdrawals through business and personal accounts worth more than $600, regardless of tax liability. This indiscriminate, comprehensive bank account reporting to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could soon be enacted in Congress and will create an unacceptable invasion of privacy for our customers." Another screenshot shared by our readers expressed similar concerns: "The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) even began a campaign, calling on communities to send a letter to Biden to prevent this so-called intrusive proposal: 'Tell Congress: Don't Let IRS Invade My Privacy.' The Biden administration is proposing requiring financial institutions to report to the IRS all transactions of all business and personal accounts worth more than $600. This is an unprecedented invasion of privacy. In order to oppose this intrusive proposal, please send this letter to your representative and senators immediately." We looked up the proposal itself, and it does require more robust reporting of transactions across business and personal accounts. The proposal, which aims to go into effect after December 31, 2022, states: "This proposal would create a comprehensive financial account information reporting regime. Financial institutions would report data on financial accounts in an information return. The annual return will report gross inflows and outflows with a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with a foreign account, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner." This requirement would apply to all business and personal accounts from financial institutions, including bank, loan, and investment accounts, with the exception of accounts below a low de minimis gross flow threshold of $600 or fair market value of $600. We begin by explaining some of the more technical terms in this proposal. A "de minimis threshold" is broadly defined as the amount of a transaction that has such a small value that accounting for it would be unreasonable. We spoke to Visiting Assistant Professor of Tax Law at New York University, Nyamagaga Gondwe, who explained, "It is the amount below which the IRS would argue isn't worth investigating. It's the difference between your company giving you a $5 card to Subway versus traveling on a private jet on your company's dime. The latter is worth reporting." In this case, "gross flow" refers to the aggregate inflows and outflows of cash from bank accounts. In sum, the current proposal stipulates that an aggregate amount of less than $600 worth of cash flowing into and out of accounts is not worth reporting. The "fair market value" refers to the amount people are willing to pay for an asset in the open market. In this case, Gondwe argued, the use of the term could possibly refer to the changing market value of transactions exceeding $600 that may occur in foreign currency transactions. The ICBA claims that the proposal will make banks report "all transactions" above the limit, but this is misleading. While it is true that the IRS will have more information on cash flows above $600, that doesn't mean they will have all the information pertaining to all transactions. The Center for American Progress (CAP) points out that banks will only be providing aggregate numbers to the IRS after each year—gross inflow and gross outflow—and not individualized transaction information. This reporting requirement would also extend to peer-to-peer payment services like Venmo, but wouldn't require people to report any additional information to the government. According to The Wall Street Journal, financial institutions must already report interest, dividends, and investment incomes to the IRS, and the IRS can obtain other information through audits. According to Marie Sapirie of Tax Notes, a publication focused on tax news, a parenthetical to the proposal indicates that there is some flexibility in raising the minimum account balance/inflow/outflow above $600. The Tax Notes report also states that the Treasury Department estimated this form of reporting would raise $463 billion over the 10-year budget window, making it the third-largest revenue raiser proposed in the budget. The aim is to target businesses outside of large corporations that carry out gross underreporting of their income, amounting to $166 billion per year. According to the proposal: "Requiring comprehensive information reporting on the inflows and outflows of financial accounts will increase the visibility of gross receipts and deductible expenses to the IRS. Increased visibility of business income will enhance the effectiveness of IRS enforcement measures and encourage voluntary compliance." Banks claim this would be an invasion of consumer privacy, with the ICBA saying it would allow the government to monitor account information. However, CAP analysts Seth Hanlon and Galen Hendricks argue, "Only the prior year's total inflow and total outflow would be reported on annual forms. No one would say that the IRS monitors you on your job because it receives a W-2 from your employer with your total wages every January." Another challenge not mentioned in the ICBA's consumer alert is the higher costs this reporting proposal may impose on banks. In May 2021, a coalition of banking associations wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, arguing that they already provide a lot of data to the IRS, and that this would impose additional costs on their systems. The costs and other burdens imposed to collect and report account flow information would surpass the potential benefits from such a reporting scheme. New reporting would appear to require material development costs and process additions for financial institutions, as well as significant reconciliation and compliance burdens on impacted taxpayers. For example, reporting total gross receipts and disbursements would require a new reporting paradigm for depository institutions, necessitating system changes to collect the information. On the flipside, Sapirie wrote for Tax Notes, the benefits of such a reporting proposal may be difficult to realize: "Increasing the amount of information flowing into the IRS would not in itself lead to increased enforcement, and it might come with added challenges." Former IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti acknowledged that the IRS today cannot use all the information it already receives, and significant areas of noncompliance are barely addressed, so more reporting alone will not solve the problem. It would almost certainly have a deterrent effect for taxpayers contemplating evasion, but the extent of that effect is unclear, and it might be insufficient to justify the costs to financial institutions and the federal government of implementing such a large new reporting regime. However, CAP's analysis argues that this will help prevent tax evasion while also providing more funding to enhance data security for consumers. Additional funding would go to enhancing data security. Even at present, the IRS's data security is already much better than that of the financial industry, with only very rare and limited breaches compared to the exponentially larger data breaches from financial institutions. Second, the reporting of information flows only from financial institutions to the IRS and not in the other direction, as some earlier proposals had called for. The Biden administration's bank reporting proposal is a critical element of the Build Back Better agenda. It gives the IRS some visibility into opaque forms of income that disproportionately accrue to high-income individuals. Despite fearmongering from bank lobbies, the proposal protects taxpayers' privacy while simply requiring banks to provide basic, aggregated information about flows. That enables the IRS to select audits in a more efficient and equitable way so that the vast majority of taxpayers will be less likely to be audited. By deterring and helping catch tax cheats, the proposal raises substantial revenue for the Build Back Better agenda, which provides critical investments to increase economic opportunities for American families and communities. On October 12, 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the proposal in response to a question from a reporter, who said, "[Banks] are concerned about the tracking of transactions that are greater than $600; Americans are starting to get worried about this. Do you think [this] is going to stay in the Reconciliation Bill?" "With all due respect, the plural of anecdote is not data," Pelosi said. "Yes, there are concerns that some people have. But if people are breaking the law and not paying their taxes, one way to track them is through the banking measure. I think $600—that's a negotiation that will go on as to what the amount is. But yes." Whatever the impact of this proposal is, it does require additional reporting of certain bank transactions, just not in the way the banks are portraying it. | 2 | [
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FMD4017 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump probably did not enjoy watching Fox News this time around.Because when Neil Cavuto went on the air on Tuesday he addressed Trump s angry rant against the media and will likely be labeled fake news in retaliation for the way he did it.Earlier in the day, Trump attacked the media instead of honoring the 29,000 American soldiers who died on D-Day 73 years ago.The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media. They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017Sorry folks, but if I would have relied on the Fake News of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, washpost or nytimes, I would have had ZERO chance winning WH Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017Of course, Fox News was not included on that list.But Cavuto decided to sort of speak out against Trump s rant anyway, and he not only informed Trump that he is the problem, he accused Trump of scapegoating. Mr. President, it s not the fake news media that s your problem, Cavuto said. It s you. It s not just your tweeting, it s your scapegoating. It s your refusal to see that sometimes you re the one who s feeding your own beast and acting beastly with your own guys. Cavuto pointed out that Trump focuses too much on settling endless scores and that the people around him want him to stop shooting himself in the foot all the time.By lashing out on social media and going on these ridiculous rants, Trump is only embarrassing himself. If Trump really wants the media to stop reporting on his tweets, he should stop tweeting stupid things like attacks on the media and insulting London s mayor in the wake of a terrorist attack. Look at the critiques you re now hearing from usually friendly and supportive allies as sort of like an intervention, Cavuto concluded. Because firing off these angry missives and tweets risks your political destruction. Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump just got called out by Fox News. Will he listen or will he put them on his enemies list, too?Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 | [
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FMD4018 | 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: Drilling Rig Tornado Claim summaries: Photograph taken in west Texas shows a tornado funnel and lightning bolt alongside an oil rig?
contextual information: Claim: A photograph taken in West Texas shows a tornado funnel and lightning bolt alongside a drilling rig. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2008] Drilling Rig Talk about your one-in-a-million photo. Imagine this... You are working the night shift on a drilling rig in West Texas, south of the small town of Ft. Stockton. It is very dark, and there have been thunderstorms in the area. The only lights in the vicinity are those on the drilling rig and some faint red glows from a nearby radio tower. You begin to wonder where that freight train sound is coming from since there are no tracks near the rig. A friendly bolt of lightning gives you the answer... one you may not have wanted to know. Remember that these monsters frequently happen at night. Origins: The photograph displayed above began circulating in mid-2008 with text claiming that it was taken in the West Texas town of Fort Stockton. However, although elements of the image are real, the underlying photograph was neither snapped in 2008 nor in Texas, and the image itself has been digitally manipulated to add a drilling rig that was not present in the original. The original image was forwarded around the Internet in the wake of a series of violent storms that hit Missouri in March 2006, with 44 different tornadoes touching down in the state on March 11-12, leaving 10 people dead and more than 100 injured, and destroying or damaging over 1,000 homes. Shortly afterward, the striking tornado funnel and lightning bolt photograph began to circulate, accompanied by text claiming it had been taken in Sedalia, Missouri, during that series of storms: "This photo was taken in Sedalia, Missouri, on 3/12/06 when over 113 tornadoes were reported. This was an excellent shot. This was posted in one of my weather groups, and as long as we give full credit where credit is due, credit is really due on this shot... Amazing... But it does make you wonder... Look at our logo... Mother Nature imitating art..." Although this version of the image was genuine, it was not snapped in Sedalia, Missouri, and it long antedates the series of storms that hit that state in March 2006. As recorded by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Melbourne, Florida, the tornado funnel/lightning bolt photograph was taken near Lake Okeechobee, Florida, on June 15, 1991. It has been available for purchase (in poster form) through the Tornado Project's online store since at least mid-2001. Photograph purchase Last updated: May 20, 2009. | 0 | [
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FMD4019 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Wait until you read this woman s biography and past quotes about conservatives! Popular myth-busting website Snopes originally gained recognition for being the go-to site for disproving outlandish urban legends -such as the presence of UFOs in Haiti or the existence of human-animal hybrids in the Amazon jungle.Recently, however, the site has tried to pose as a political fact-checker. But Snopes fact-checking looks more like playing defense for prominent Democrats like Hillary Clinton and it s political fact-checker describes herself as a liberal and has called Republicans regressive and afraid of female agency. Snopes main political fact-checker is a writer named Kim Lacapria. Before writing for Snopes, Lacapria wrote for Inquisitr, a blog that oddly enough is known for publishing fake quotes and even downright hoaxes as much as anything else.While at Inquisitr, the future fact-checker consistently displayed clear partisanship.She described herself as openly left-leaning and a liberal. She trashed the Tea Party as teahadists. She called Bill Clinton one of our greatest presidents. She claimed that conservatives only criticized Lena Dunham s comparison of voting to sex because they fear female agency. She once wrote: Like many GOP ideas about the poor, the panic about using food stamps for alcohol, pornography or guns seems to have been cut from whole cloth or more likely, the ideas many have about the fantasy of poverty. (A simple fact-check would show that food stamp fraud does occur and costs taxpayers tens of millions.)Lacapria even accused the Bush administration of being at least guilty of criminal negligience in the September 11 attacks. (The future fact-checker offered no evidence to support her accusation.)Her columns apparently failed to impress her readership, oftentimes failing to get more than 10-20 shares.After blogging the Inquisitr, Lacapria joined Snopes, where she regularly plays defense for her fellow liberals.She wrote a fact check article about Jimmy Carter s unilateral ban of Iranian nationals from entering the country that looks more like an opinion column arguing against Donald Trump s proposed Muslim ban.Similarly, Lacapria in another fact check article argued Hillary Clinton hadn t included Benghazi at all in her infamous we didn t lose a single person in Libya gaffe. Lacapria claimed Clinton only meant to refer to the 2011 invasion of Libya (but not the 2012 Benghazi attack) but offered little fact-based evidence to support her claim.After the Orlando terror attack, Lacapria claimed that just because Omar Mateen was a registered Democrat with an active voter registration status didn t mean he was actually a Democrat. Her fact check argued that he might have chosen a random political affiliation when he initially registered. Lacapria even tried to contradict the former Facebook workers who admitted that Facebook regularly censors conservative news, dismissing the news as rumors. In that fact check article, Lacapria argued that Facebook Trending s blacklisting of junk topics was not only not a scandalous development, but to be expected following the social network s crackdown on fake news sites. The opinion-heavy article was mockingly titled: The Algorithm Is Gonna Get You.Lacapria again played defense for Clinton in a fact check article when she claimed: Outrage over an expensive Armani jacket worn by Hillary Clinton was peppered with inaccurate details. One of the inaccurate details cited by Lacapria was that, The cost of men s suits worn by fellow politicians didn t appear in the article for contrast. She also argued the speech Clinton gave while wearing the $12,495 jacket, which discussed raising wages and reducing inequality, wasn t actually about income inequality.Read more: Daily Caller | 0 | [
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FMD4020 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Washington Post – by Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger
When top Bill Clinton aide Douglas Band wrote the memo, he was a central player at the Clinton Foundation and president of his own corporate consulting firm. Over the course of 13 pages, he made a case that his multiple roles had served the interests of the Clinton family and its charity.
In doing so, Band also detailed a circle of enrichment in which he raised money for the Clinton Foundation from top-tier corporations such as Dow Chemical and Coca-Cola that were clients of his firm, Teneo, while pressing many of those same donors to provide personal income to the former president.
The system has drawn scrutiny from Republicans, who say it allowed corporations and other wealthy supporters to pay for entree to a popular former president and a onetime secretary of state who is now the Democratic presidential nominee.
Band wrote the memo in 2011 to foundation lawyers conducting a review of the organization amid a brewing feud with the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea Clinton, who was taking a stronger role in leading the foundation and had expressed concerns about Teneo’s operations.
The memo, made public Wednesday by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, lays out the aggressive strategy behind lining up the consulting contracts and paid speaking engagements for Bill Clinton that added tens of millions of dollars to the family’s fortune, including during the years that Hillary Clinton led the State Department. It describes how Band helped run what he called “Bill Clinton Inc.,” obtaining “in-kind services for the President and his family — for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like.” Band and his Teneo co-founder, former Hillary Clinton fundraiser Declan Kelly, declined to comment. But Teneo issued a statement saying that “as the memo demonstrates, Teneo worked to encourage clients, where appropriate, to support the Clinton Foundation because of the good work that it does around the world. It also clearly shows that Teneo never received any financial benefit or benefit of any kind from doing so.”
Spokesmen for Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton and the foundation declined to comment.
Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Glen Caplin declined to comment on the memo, calling the material “hacked by the Russian government and weaponized by WikiLeaks.” Caplin declined to authenticate the memo, but he also did not dispute it. Band, who grew close to Bill Clinton two decades ago as his personal aide in the White House and became the architect of his post-presidential activities, argued in the memo that he and his firm had benefited the former president and his foundation.
“We have dedicated ourselves to helping the President secure and engage in for-profit activities,” Band wrote. He also said he had “sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo, to support and to raise funds for the foundation.”
Band’s memo provided data showing how much money each of Teneo’s 20 clients at the time had given to the Clinton Foundation, how much they had paid Bill Clinton and, in some cases, how he or Kelly had personally forged the relationships that resulted in the payments.
Band wrote that Teneo partners had raised in excess of $8 million for the foundation and $3 million in paid speaking fees for Bill Clinton. He said he had secured contracts for the former president that would pay out $66 million over the subsequent nine years if the deals remained in place.
For instance, Band wrote that Kelly arranged for the former president to meet the chief executive of Coca-Cola in January 2009 at the Clintons’ home in Washington. In all, according to Band’s memo, Coke had contributed $4.33 million to the foundation between 2004 and 2010.
A Coca-Cola spokesman said the company had supported the Clinton Foundation because it believed “in the great work that can be done when businesses, civil society and governments come together to solve problems.” He said Teneo had been hired to provide “business and communications” consulting.
Band also described how Kelly helped expand a fruitful relationship with UBS Global Wealth Management, introducing Bill Clinton to a top executive at a 2009 charity dinner. In the ensuing years, UBS upped its giving to the foundation, signed on as a Teneo client and agreed to pay Bill Clinton for speeches, Band wrote. Records show UBS paid Clinton about $2 million in speaking fees between 2011 and 2015 for a series of appearances, generally alongside former president George W. Bush. The company also paid Hillary Clinton $225,000 for a 2013 speech.
UBS declined to comment.
Another achievement cited by Band: Laureate International Universities, a chain of for-profit international colleges, which donated to the foundation and agreed to pay Bill Clinton $3.5 million a year to serve as honorary chancellor.
Clinton has credited Band with conceiving of the Clinton Global Initiative, the glitzy annual meeting where corporate, government and nonprofit leaders gathered annually to talk about the world’s problems. Started in 2005, CGI became the best-known arm of the Clinton Foundation, which also operated education, environmental and health programs around the world. The final CGI meeting took place last month .
By 2011, the longtime Clinton aide was ready to strike out on his own.
That’s when Band and Kelly joined forces to form Teneo. At first, the firm remained closely linked to the Clinton network.
Band described in the memo how he combined his work for CGI and Teneo. He wrote that he had used a hotel room upstairs from the 2011 CGI gathering to meet with Teneo clients. He also acknowledged giving free CGI memberships to “target Teneo clients” being cultivated as potential foundation donors. Memberships generally cost $20,000 a year.
Teneo, meanwhile, named Bill Clinton its “honorary chairman.” Clinton had been initially tapped for a three-year arrangement in which he would provide advice to Teneo “regarding geopolitical, economic and social trends,” according to a separate June 2011 memo that Band wrote to the State Department seeking ethics approval for the former president’s employment.
Bill Clinton was initially paid $2 million by Teneo, according to “Man of the World,” a book written with the former president’s participation by author Joe Conason.
But Chelsea Clinton grew concerned when news leaked in late 2011 that MF Global, the hedge fund owned by former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, had been paying the Clinton-tied firm $125,000 a month just before MF Global went bankrupt. According to emails released by WikiLeaks, Chelsea Clinton complained in December 2011 to longtime Clinton aide John Podesta, who at the time was serving as an adviser to the Clinton Foundation, that she had been informed that a member of her father’s office staff who answered to Band had been making calls to British lawmakers “on behalf of President Clinton” for Teneo clients, particularly for the chief executive of Dow Chemical.
Chelsea Clinton wrote that the calls were occurring without her father’s knowledge and that the reactions she was hearing to them would “horrify” Bill Clinton. In another email, she wrote she feared Teneo was “hustling business at CGI.” Chelsea Clinton’s concerns helped spark efforts at the foundation to adopt new policies governing outside consulting agreements designed to erect a more solid wall between Bill Clinton’s private and charitable activities. Emails show that Cheryl Mills, who at the time was serving as Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff at the State Department, was deeply involved in the foundation’s proceedings.
Bill Clinton also separated from Teneo, returning to the company all but $100,000 of the money he had been paid, tax returns show.
Emails show how the dispute between Chelsea Clinton and her father’s longtime aide led to personal hostility.
“I don’t deserve this from her and deserve a tad more respect or at least a direct dialogue for me to explain these things,” Band wrote to Podesta at the time. “She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what she’s doing because she, as she has said, hasn’t found her way and has a lack of focus in her life.”
Band complained that no similar scrutiny was being applied to Bill Clinton himself. Band noted that he had previously signed a conflict of interest document for CGI.
“Oddly, WJC does not have to sign such a document even though he is personally paid by 3 cgi sponsors, gets many expensive gifts from them, some that are at home etc.,” he wrote.
The Band memo disclosed by WikiLeaks on Wednesday made no direct reference to Hillary Clinton.
But Band outlined that Kelly, his Teneo co-founder, had served simultaneously between 2009 and 2011 as an unpaid economic envoy to Northern Ireland appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and as head of a separate consulting company whose clients included Coke, UBS and Dow. Band wrote that the arrangement was consistent with Kelly’s State Department ethics agreement.
Kelly’s multiple roles came together during one State Department event in 2010, when then-Secretary Clinton recognized Dow, among other companies, for creating jobs in Northern Ireland and thanked Kelly for his work on the issue.
Dow became one of Teneo’s first major clients. According to Band’s memo, Dow chief executive Andrew Liveris had been introduced to Bill Clinton over a round of golf with Kelly in August 2009.
The company then increased its Clinton Foundation support, contributing $705,000 in 2010 and 2011. A Dow spokeswoman said that the company’s participation in the foundation dated to 2007 and that the charity was “aligned to core business and citizenship strategies that have positively leveraged the resources and capabilities of our company.”
Dow paid Teneo $2.8 million in 2011, payments that then jumped to $19.4 million in 2012, according to internal Dow documents made public as part of a whistleblower complaint. The company later said in public filings that the increase reflected a cost-saving decision to consolidate several consulting contracts with one firm. But the spike raised red flags for an internal company fraud investigator, who expressed alarm that it may be linked to Bill Clinton’s work with a charity founded by Liveris — a charge the company denied.
“It appears Dow is paying Teneo for connections with Clinton,” the investigator wrote.
Anu Narayanswamy and Alice Crites contributed to this report. | 0 | [
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FMD4021 | 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: Just about everyone everywhere is spending more hours on the job, less time with their families, bringing home smaller and smaller paychecks, while they're paying more and more at the gas pump and the grocery stores.
contextual information: Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald formally announced his candidacy for governor last month, kicking off his campaign with speeches in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. The Democrat, aiming to unseat Republican Gov. John Kasich next year, portrayed him as a politician whose policies hurt middle-class Ohioans. "Just about everyone everywhere is spending more hours on the job, less time with their families, bringing home smaller and smaller paychecks, while they're paying more and more at the gas pump and the grocery stores," FitzGerald told supporters. PolitiFact Ohio questioned the basis for this statement and asked for sources. For the claim about more hours on the job and less time with their families, FitzGerald's staff cited data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to its American Time Use Survey, the average employed American spent 7.6 hours per day working on days they worked in 2011, the most recent year available. That's an increase from 7.48 hours in 2010. They also referenced an article from the news service The Fiscal Times that reported Americans are logging in more time at work, skipping vacation time, and increasingly handling work-related email during vacations and weekends. Regarding the smaller paychecks, FitzGerald's camp stated that the real hourly wages of Ohio workers have failed to keep pace with inflation since 2010, decreasing the salaries of workers in inflation-adjusted dollars. Their source was the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its data show that the mean and median hourly wages of Ohioans rose from $19.66 and $15.45 in 2010 to $20.52 and $16.03 in 2012. However, when adjusted for inflation and measured in current dollars using the CPI inflation calculator, mean and median hourly wages fell from $20.99 and $16.49 in 2010 to $20.52 and $16.25 in 2012. PolitiFact has always stipulated that the ability of an individual governor to influence the economy is limited. Determining how credit or blame should be apportioned is seldom clear. We did not assign credit to Kasich for his statement in March that Ohioans' wages have risen by more than $10 billion since 2010, but we rated the statement as True. We can't rate FitzGerald's linking of Kasich to his statement about people spending more hours on the job and bringing home smaller paychecks. However, his statement is accurate, with the clarification that smaller paychecks are in inflation-adjusted current dollars. Because that additional information is needed, we rate the statement as Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4022 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Email
The various communities in the state of J & K – Kashmiri Muslims, Kashmiri Pandits, Dogras and Ladakhis – have tried time and again to form a national consciousness in order to name a cultural alterity through the nation. The construction of “Kashmiriyat,” or a syncretic cultural ethos, by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his comrades involved culling selected cultural fragments from an imagined past that would enfold both the Pandits and the Muslims. But due to the regional sentiments that are so well entrenched in the psyche of the people, this attempt is still in a volatile stage.
The notion of “Kashmiriyat,” forged by my maternal grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was not handed down to me as an unachievable and abstract construct; on the contrary, it was crystallized for me as the eradication of a feudal structure and its insidious ramifications; the right of the tiller to the land he worked on; the unacceptability of any political solution that did not take the aspirations and demands of the Kashmiri people into consideration; the right of Kashmiris to high offices in education, the bureaucracy and government; the availability of medical and educational facilities in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh; the preservation of literatures, shrines and historical artifacts that defined an important aspect of “Kashmiriyat”; formation of the Constituent Assembly of J & K to institutionalize the constitution of the state in 1951, which was an enormous leap toward the process of democratization; the fundamental right of both women and men to free education up to the university level; equal opportunities afforded to both sexes in the workplace; the nurturing of a contact zone in social, political and intellectual ideologies and institutions; pride in a cultural identity that was generated in a space created by multiple perspectives.
The notion of ‘Kashmiriyat’, or of the syncretism of Kashmir, as I mentioned earlier, was the secular credo of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s All Jammu and Kashmir NC, popularized in the 1940s and 50s to defeat the centralizing strategies of the successive regimes of independent India. This significant concept does not attempt to simplify the ambiguity and complexity of religious, social and cultural identities. It neither attempts to assert a fixed identity nor reinforce the idea of purity of culture. I would veer away from adopting an image of this secular credo that is created by the unitary discourses it deplores. On the contrary, “Kashmiriyat” brings about a metamorphosis in the determinate concept of the Indian state, and creates a situation in which the nation-states of India and Pakistan are forced to confront an alternative epistemology. At a time of political and social upheaval in the state, this notion engendered a consciousness of place that offered a critical perspective from which to formulate alternatives. Without negating the historicity of the notion, this theoretical fiction was deployed by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his colleagues in order to forge a strategic essentialism that would enable the creation of a sovereign Kashmiri identity. It certainly was not a flawless notion. Professor R. L. Hangloo, eminent historian of Kashmiri Pandit descent provided a complex and concise definition of “ Kashmiriyat ”:
“ Kashmiriyat is a far wider concept than the harmonious relationship cutting across religious and sectarian divisions. Kashmiriyat is the externally endowed and internally evolved phenomenon of co-existence at the social, religious, political, spatial, cultural and other institutional levels among Kashmirees of all shades that inhabited Kashmir. Kashmiriyat has evolved as a result of special circumstances that are rooted in Kashmir‘s topographical centrality that entitled Kashmir to imbibing, interacting and assimilating a variety of world cultures in consonance with Kashmiri sensibilities that reflect a nuanced and sophisticated approach that did not disturb the patterns of production and cultural manners reflecting the Kashmiri genius. This specificity has stemmed from the historical processes that the region of Kashmir has embraced both in peace and turmoil for centuries. Kashmir has always been surrounded by some of the world’s greatest civilizations such as China, Persia/Iran, Central Asia and India. Kashmir and Kashmirees were always at the center of this world and not on the periphery which is reflected in the assimilation of their residual practices of religions. Note that while Kashmir maybe on a fairly marginal point on the map of the state of India, Kashmir as a region was historically at the epicenter of a much larger world space and world civilization. This centrality endowed the region with a superiority and self identity that has assimilated the social and religious-cultural traditions of this greater region and traits of greater cultures throughout history to evolve and strengthen what came to constitute Kashmiriyat . This sense of superior self identity has grown over centuries as Kashmiriyat among Kashmirees both within and out side Kashmir.
Living together, untroubled by diversities of religion, racial, cultural, material, and political and other identities, the notion of Kashmiriyat became the bedrock of identity which consolidated itself increasingly when Islam entered into the Valley. Before the thirteenth century, even though there were plural religious sects, they neither saw eye to eye with each other nor were they external to Kashmir in totality. Shaivites facilitated the decline of Buddhists in Kashmir; the Vaishnavas had to keep their identity concealed to escape the wrath of the Shaivites. The pre-Islamic history is replete with religious, ethnic, racial and other conflicts. The battles of Dammaras, Ekangas, Tantrins, Khasas and others were perpetual features of pre-Islamic Kashmiri society. There was a long drawn conflict and contestation within Islamic society before rapprochement took place between the orthodox Muslims and heterodox sects. The entrance of Islam in Kashmir coincided with the end of this struggle. It was this rapprochement that disallowed Kashmirees from seeing any contradiction between the preaching of Islam and the practice of upholding the Heretical tradition (that is, acknowledging the divine power of the local, the Rishi) in Kashmir. Therefore the kind of Islam that entered Kashmir was devoid of any orthodoxy. It was only after the arrival of Islam that Lalleshwari and Sheikh Noor –ud-din (Nund Reshi) interacted to produce the atmosphere and philosophy of co-existence and tolerance at popular level. This interaction entailed massive changes in the world view of Kashmirees that reflected a truly remarkable and world encompassing shift in every aspect of their sensibility as well.”
Uncertainty about the status of the former princely state has loomed large since 1947. In an atmosphere of unpredictability, in the frightening darkness of political intrigue, in the paranoia of political deception, the fungi of undemocratic policies and methods continue to grow unabated. The unresolved Kashmir dispute poses a danger of monstrous proportions to the stability of the Indian subcontinent. Is the former princely state of J & K a postcolonial state? Postcolonialism refers to a phase undergone after the decline and dismantling of the European empires by the mid-twentieth century, when the peoples of many Asian, African and Caribbean countries were left to create new governments and forge national identities. The ideology that has been propounded by the governments of India and Pakistan reflects and produces the interests of state-sponsored agencies and institutionson both sides of the Line of Control (LOC). These institutions have couched the debased discourse of exploitation in the language of culture and religion, a strategy that has led to the relegation of the subjectivity, historical understanding and traditions of the Kashmiri populace. As the eminent Palestinian–American scholar Edward Said (1991: 29) noted, “All human activity depends on controlling a radically unstable reality to which words approximate only by will or convention.” Representatives of the privileged centre of power silence the voices that are on the margins of mainstream society and politics. These privileged centres have always constrained reality by imposing their ideological schema, which underpins their powerful positionality, on it. Their ability to conjure images and re-stretch boundaries that serve their set of beliefs has rendered them a force to reckon with. These ideas expounded by the powers-that-be portray Kashmiris as a stereotypical and predictable entity.
This delineation of the Kashmiri subject was foregrounded by an imperial agent of the British Raj, Sir Walter Lawrence, Settlement Commissioner of J & K, in his The Vale of Kashmir ([1895] 2005). This politically and culturally misleading portrayal of the Kashmiri subject has been underscored by the policies of the governments of India and Pakistan vis-à-vis Jammu and Kashmir, which is why the authority of democratically elected representatives in that region has always been curbed. The policies of the two governments follow the much-trodden path of totalitarianism and spell a pattern of doom for Kashmir. The unnecessary and unjustified postponement of the resolution of the Kashmir conflict has insidiously gnawed at the tenuous relations between India and Pakistan. The issue has also, for better or worse, been thrust on to the stage of global politics, and its volatility has contributed to the destabilization of the Indian subcontinent. Josef Korbel (2002: 304) wrote with foresight that “whatever the future may have in store, the free world shares with India and Pakistan common responsibility for the fate of democracy and it awaits with trepidation the solution of the Kashmir problem. Its own security may depend on such a settlement.” | 0 | [
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FMD4023 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: On March 6, newly-minted Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Dr. Ben Carson, gave a speech before employees of the organization. During the speech, he made a controversial remark, referring to African slaves as immigrants. Here are a few of the vile tweets celebrities posted for everyone to seen Twitter:Actor, radical leftist and Obama cheerleader Samuel L. Jackson apparently had not yet gotten the memo that Obama said almost the exact same thing only one year ago. There s always the very real possibility that Jackson was just too ignorant to understand what Dr. Carson was saying Here s Jackson s vile tweet:OK!! Ben Carson .I can't! Immigrants ? In the bottom of SLAVE SHIPS??!! MUTHAFUKKA PLEASE!!!#dickheadedtom Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) March 6, 2017There s nothing like a has been rapper calling the most brilliant pediatric neurosurgeon in America a DumbF*ck LOL! Christopher Jackson played George Washington in Hamilton. Being an actor in Hamilton apparently makes him the authority on all things black, including the meaning behind the comments made by Dr. Ben Carson. Our Ancestors didn't have a "CHOICE" you IDIOT!!!! Ben Carson, you are Hopelessly Ignorant. Again, Kids look the other way Please. Christopher Jackson (@ChrisisSingin) March 7, 2017Jackson has this tweet pinned to the top of his Twitter account. Apparently telling other people to love your neighbor makes you somehow a better person. And it also apparently gives you immunity when you act like a bully when you tell others to, Stand up to the bully. Love your Neighbor. Make your cause known to them. Stand up to the bully. Speak for those with no voice. This work is JUST Beginning. Christopher Jackson (@ChrisisSingin) November 9, 2016These people are such utter phonies and have no idea what it means to be tolerant of anyone who hold a view that is in opposition to theirs.On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon published a side-by-side video featuring Ben Carson s remarks alongside those made during a 2015 speech by then-President Barack Obama and they were eerily similar:Watch: Daily WireInstead of apologizing for his ignorant remarks, ICE T makes lame attempt at blaming Trump for his hateful and racist remarks:In the past Year or so of Politics.. Twitter and all of Social Media has shown the true Divide of the people.. It s sad But its REAL. ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) March 8, 2017 | 0 | [
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FMD4024 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: American Thinker October 27, 2016
You’re probably appalled at the American media’s shameless whoring for Hillary Clinton, asking yourself why they would so thoroughly debase their much-touted journalistic ethics. President Obama has answered that question.
As reported by Agence France Presse, during a recent speech in Pittsburgh he postulated:
“We are going to have to rebuild within this wild-wild-west-of-information flow some sort of curating function that people agree to.
“There has to be, I think, some sort of way in which we can sort through information that passes some basic truthiness tests and those that we have to discard, because they just don’t have any basis in anything that’s actually happening in the world.”
Set aside the outrageous, un-American gall in proposing that any central authority should “curate” information put out to the public, and walk with me for a minute down a meandering path of speculation.
It is, or course, the World Wide Web in which Obama’s informational “wild-wild west” exists. This is the realm of Breitbart, Cybercast News Service, the Drudge Report , World Net Daily , American Thinker , and other non-establishment outlets that persist in making the president uncomfortable.
And what has happened recently to affect the World Wide Web? The U.S. government has handed over control to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the nonprofit agency that assigns website domain names.
Is it in the president’s mind that ICANN might someday assume the “curating function” he sees as necessary to insure “truthiness” in web-based news reporting?
Well, according to ICANN Board Chair Stephen D. Crocker, diverse membership in the organization makes such a thing unthinkable. Quoted by the tech site C/NET, Crocker said:
“This community validated the multistakeholder model of internet governance. It has shown that a governance model defined by the inclusion of all voices, including business, academics, technical experts, civil society, governments and many others is the best way to assure that the internet of tomorrow remains as free, open and accessible as the internet of today.”
His confidence is echoed by the Internet Governance Coalition, a group of technology firms that includes Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Verizon, among others. They issued a statement that lauds ICANN’s “strong accountability measures” and upholds “the bottom-up approach that embodies the very nature of the open internet we experience today.…”
Pardon the skepticism to which I’ve become increasingly prone, but this sounds very much like the “collaborative” concept of governance that prevails in the academic world.
If you’ve ever applied for a position at a college or university, you know that what a search committee wants most urgently to know about you is whether you have a “collaborative style” of working.
What exactly is a “collaborative style,” as understood in today’s academic world? It means that you won’t do anything to contradict the orthodoxy in thought and procedure reigning on campus — in other words, that you are “politically correct” in your outlook. | 0 | [
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FMD4025 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Share This
Last July, the Palestinian Authority took the unexpected, although belated step of seeking Arab backing in suing Britain over the Balfour Declaration. That "declaration" was the first ever explicit commitment made by Britain, and the West in general, to establish a Jewish homeland atop an existing Palestinian homeland.
It is too early to tell whether the Arab League would heed the Palestinian call , or if the PA would even follow through, especially considering that the latter has the habit of making too many proclamations backed by little or no action.
However, it seems that the next year will witness a significant tug of war regarding the Balfour Declaration, the 100 th anniversary of which will be commemorated on November 02, 2017.
But who is Balfour, what is the Balfour Declaration and why does all of this matters today?
Britain’s Foreign Secretary from late 1916, Arthur James Balfour, had pledged Palestine to another people. That promise was made on November 02, 1917 on behalf of the British government in the form of a letter sent to the leader of the Jewish community in Britain, Walter Rothschild.
At the time, Britain was not even in control of Palestine, which was still part of the Ottoman Empire. Either way, Palestine was never Balfour’s to so casually transfer to anyone else. His letter read:
"His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
He concluded, "I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation."
Balfour was hardly acting on his own. True, the Declaration bears his name, yet, in reality, he was a loyal agent of an Empire with massive geopolitical designs, not only concerning Palestine alone, but with Palestine as part of a larger Arab landscape.
Only a year earlier, another sinister document was introduced, albeit secretly. It was endorsed by another top British diplomat, Mark Sykes and, on behalf of France, by François Georges-Picot. The Russians were informed of the agreement, as they too had received a piece of the Ottoman cake.
The document indicated that, once the Ottomans were soundly defeated, their territories, including Palestine, would be split among the prospective victorious parties.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement , also known as the "Asia Minor Agreement", was signed in secret one hundred years ago, two years into World War I. It signified the brutal nature of colonial powers that rarely associated land and resources with people who lived upon or owned them.
The centerpiece of the agreement was a map that was marked with straight lines by a China graph pencil. The map largely determined the fate of the Arabs, dividing them in accordance with various haphazard assumptions of tribal and sectarian lines.
The improvised map consisted not only of lines but also colors , along with language that attested to the fact that the two countries viewed the Arab region purely on materialistic terms, without paying the slightest attention to the possible repercussions of slicing up entire civilizations with a multifarious history of cooperation and conflict.
The Sykes-Picot negotiations were completed in March 1916 and, although official, was secretly signed on May 19, 1916.
WWI concluded on November 11, 1918, after which the division of the Ottoman Empire began in earnest.
British and French mandates were extended over divided Arab entities, while Palestine was granted to the Zionist movement a year later, when Balfour conveyed the British government’s promise, sealing the fate of Palestinians to a life of perpetual war and turmoil.
Rarely was British-Western hypocrisy and complete disregard for the national aspiration of any other nation on full display as in the case of Palestine. Beginning with the first wave of Zionist Jewish migration to Palestine in 1882, European countries helped facilitate the movement of illegal settlers and resources, where the establishment of many colonies, large and small, was afoot.
So when Balfour sent his letter to Rothschild, the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was very much plausible.
Still, many supercilious promises were being made to the Arabs during the Great War years, as the Arab leadership sided with the British in their war against the Ottoman Empire. Arabs were promised instant independence, including that of the Palestinians.
When the intentions of the British and their rapport with the Zionists became too apparent, Palestinians rebelled , marking a rebellion that has never ceased 99 years later, and highlighting the horrific consequences of British colonialism and the eventual complete Zionist takeover of Palestine which is still felt after all of these years.
Paltry attempts to pacify Palestinian anger were to no avail, especially after the League of Nations Council in July 1922 approved the terms of the British Mandate over Palestine – which was originally granted to Britain in April 1920 – without consulting the Palestinians at all. In fact, Palestinians would disappear from the British and international radar, only to reappear as negligible rioters, troublemakers, and obstacles to the joint British-Zionist colonial concoctions.
Despite occasional assurances to the contrary, the British intention of ensuring the establishment of an exclusively Jewish state in Palestine was becoming clearer with time. The Balfour Declaration was not merely an aberration, but had, indeed, set the stage for the full-scale ethnic cleansing that followed, three decades later.
In fact, that history remains in constant replay: the Zionists claimed Palestine and renamed it "Israel"; the British continue to support them, although never ceasing to pay lip-service to the Arabs; and the Palestinian people remain a nation that is geographically fragmented between refugee camps, in the Diaspora, militarily occupied, or treated as second class citizens in a country upon which their ancestors dwelt since time immemorial.
While Balfour cannot be blamed for all the misfortunates that have befallen Palestinians since he communicated his brief, but infamous letter, the notion that his "promise" embodied – that of complete disregard of the aspirations and rights of the Palestinian Arab people – that very letter is handed from one generation of British diplomats to the next, in the same way that Palestinian resistance to colonialism has and continues to spread across generations.
That injustice continues, thus the perpetuation of the conflict. What the British, the early Zionists, the Americans and subsequent Israeli governments failed to understand, and continue to ignore at their own peril, is that there can be no peace without justice and equality in Palestine; and that Palestinians will continue to resist, as long as the reasons that inspired their rebellion nearly a century ago, remain in place.
Ramzy Baroud ( www.ramzybaroud.net ) is a media consultant, an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com . His latest book is My Father was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press). Read more by Ramzy Baroud | 0 | [
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FMD4026 | 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 Texas Have Its Own Power Grid? Claim summaries: And if so, who sets its energy rates?
contextual information: The Lone Star state is home to its very own state-regulated power grid known as the Texas Interconnection. The question of whether Texas produces its own power is one that the Snopes team has seen time and again. We often see this trend during times of power crisis, as was the case in 2021, when the states power grid failed, or when energy politics and prices are making the headlines. This was the case in June 2022 when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican representing Texas, tweeted that the impact of President Biden being beholden to the Green New Deal radicals in his party has electricity costs through the roof in Texas. failed June 2022 Green New Deal Yes, it is true that Texas has its own power grid. The Texas Interconnection (TIS) is one of five alternating current (AC) power grids known in north America as interconnections, according to the U.S. Office of Electricity. TIS spans most of the state and covers all of the electric utilities maintained under the system, each of which is electrically tied together and operates at a synchronized frequency of a 60-hertz average during normal system conditions. U.S. Office of Electricity Public Domain Texas ownership over its power grid is not necessarily for technical reasons, but more for political ones, reported the Texas Tribune in 2011: namely, to avoid the feds. Power grids that cross state lines are managed by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is responsible for the national energy program, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates the sale and transmission of electricity in interstate commerce. reported But because TIS does not cross state lines, the system can avoid regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and is instead managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Some 26 million Texans and 90% of the electrical load rely on over 52,700 miles of transmission lines contained within the TIS. As a nonprofit, ERCOT is subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature. ERCOT 90% 52,700 miles Public Utility Commission of Texas Its no secret that Texas is rich in energy. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that Texas produces more electricity than any other state, and nearly twice as much as Florida, which comes in at second place. Energy rates are typically determined by a combination of fuel costs, power plant availability, variations in demand, and availability of generation sources, notes the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This cost varies from minute to minute, and in hot climates like Texas, prices are highest in the summer when total demand for air conditioning increases. reports U.S. Energy Information Administration In the Lone Star State, those prices are set by ERCOT. To understand the history of ERCOT, we should also take a quick look back at the U.S. power grid through the 20th century. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which gave the Federal Power Commission the power to oversee interstate electricity sales. But Texas wanted to remain out of federal oversight, particularly as its grid did not cross state lines. signed The establishment of TIS can trace its history back to World War II, when 10 independent power grids across the state connected to send excess power to the coast for manufacturing, according to ERCOT. Similarly, utility companies across the nation began to tie themselves together to be more productive, organized, and responsive both in the event of an emergency and to more efficiently manufacture and export goods to troops overseas. ERCOT tie themselves together Following a blackout on Nov. 9, 1965, when 30 million people in the Northeastern U.S. lost power, legislators created the National Electric Reliability Council, now known as the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC). Five years later, ERCOT was founded to manage the Texas grid in accordance with national standards but still out of the way of federal fingers. (For more ERCOT history, see this explainer published by NBC Austin affiliate KXAN.) founded this explainer We should also note that the Texas power supply is neither totally independent nor does it cover the entire state. El Paso is on its own grid, as are parts of northeastern and southeastern Texas. In 2011 following rolling blackouts, Texas also imported some power from Mexico, as well as two ties to the Eastern U.S. grid.) imported Sources Archive.Ph. https://archive.ph/oiee1. Accessed 7 June 2022. Cohn, Julie. When the Grid Was the Grid: The History of North Americas Brief Coast-to-Coast Interconnected Machine [Scanning Our Past]. Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 107, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 23243. IEEE Xplore, https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2018.2880938. DG - Distributed Generation. https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/electric/business/dg/dg.aspx. Accessed 7 June 2022. Does Biden Support the Green New Deal? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/does-biden-support-green-new-deal/. Accessed 7 June 2022. Electric Reliability Council of Texas. https://www.ercot.com/. Accessed 7 June 2022. ERCOT Organization Backgrounder. https://www.ercot.com/news/mediakit/backgrounder#:~:text=Founded%20in%201970%2C%20ERCOT%20is,grid%20serving%20most%20of%20Texas. Accessed 7 June 2022. EXPLAINER: Why the Power Grid Failed in Texas and Beyond. Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/ap/2021/02/17/why-the-power-grid-failed-in-texas-and-beyond/. Accessed 7 June 2022. Galbraith, Kate. Texplainer: Why Does Texas Have Its Own Power Grid? The Texas Tribune, 8 Feb. 2011, https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/08/texplainer-why-does-texas-have-its-own-power-grid/. Helman, Christopher. Rolling Blackouts Force Texas To Import Power From Mexico. Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/02/03/rolling-blackouts-force-texas-to-import-power-from-mexico/. Accessed 7 June 2022. Learn More About Interconnections. Energy.Gov, https://www.energy.gov/oe/services/electricity-policy-coordination-and-implementation/transmission-planning/recovery-act-0. Accessed 7 June 2022. OAKTrust Home. https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/. Accessed 7 June 2022. Prices and Factors Affecting Prices - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/prices-and-factors-affecting-prices.php#:~:text=Changes%20in%20prices%20generally%20reflect,to%20meet%20the%20increased%20demand. Accessed 7 June 2022. The History of ERCOT: How Texas Became the Only State with Its Own Power Grid. KXAN Austin, 24 Feb. 2021, https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/the-history-of-ercot-how-texas-became-the-only-state-with-its-own-power-grid/. | 1 | [
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FMD4027 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: I walked out of Tokyo Station, the big commuter hub in the city’s Chiyoda district, and turned to look up at its gorgeous brick facade. I was lost. I couldn’t find the Tokyo Station Hotel — a luxury property that was renovated in 2012. My mistake, it turned out, was leaving the train station at all. The hotel and the train station coexist in one long, outstretched building, which was completed in 1914 and offers a refreshing prewar architectural counterpoint to the glittering skyscrapers Tokyo is now known for. I looped back in and found the hotel’s lobby, as well as its chief concierge, Marie Antoinette Mori, who greeted me at her desk. Originally from the Philippines, Ms. Mori became fascinated with Japan during its big 1980s economic boom. She studied international tourism in Japan, married a Japanese man and began working in the hospitality industry, where her career took off. “I became one of the favorites of Mr. Stringer†— the former Sony chairman Howard Stringer. “I was the only one who wasn’t afraid of him,†she said with a laugh. Ms. Mori had prepared an itinerary for a fictitious guest, spending $1, 000 (about 110, 000 yen) over the course of a day in this city. My goal was to remake the itinerary on a budget of $100 — necessarily cutting a few corners, but hoping to retain the spirit of the original. HIGH Ms. Mori escorted me to the top floor of her hotel, into a huge room where sunlight flooded in through large skylights. Guests grazed on a large, comprehensive morning buffet. Ms. Mori recommended the Tokyo Station Hotel breakfast (3, 800 yen) where they could enjoy standard Western fare (eggs made to order, coffee, pastries) or regional Japanese staples, where the Tokyo Station really excels: (hot pot from the northern Hokkaido region) traditional rice porridge, soybean milk skin, and boiled rape blossoms. Ms. Mori said many luxury hotels in the area had comparable buffets. The she said, specializes in pastries. “Over there they have a, uh … what do you call it?†she asked. “A Cronut. †LOW From one buffet in a huge train station to another, I went to the considerably cheaper Bar Marche Kodama in the Shinagawa train station in the Minato ward. It’s also a little tricky to find: Don’t exit the station once you get off at the Shinagawa stop. Go into the Ecute department store and you’ll find the small restaurant in the back corner. Once there, I feasted on an eclectic, mostly buffet of prosciutto, green salad, fresh corn, pasta Bolognese, crispy fried rice and, for dessert, Italian wedding cookies. The inclusion of the salad was particularly nice — Japanese cuisine is healthy, but not necessarily heavy on raw, leafy greens. Total cost: 620 yen. HIGH Ms. Mori quoted a price of roughly 15, 000 yen to have a private sedan with a driver for three hours to ferry our faux around the city. The Tokyo Station Hotel goes so far as to meet guests at train platforms and escort them to the hotel — a service that comes only with staying at the hotel, of course, which can run over $1, 000 per night. LOW Logistics are tricky for those unfamiliar with the city. Get to know and love the train, because you’ll be spending quite a bit of time with it. Tokyo’s system is expansive and can be, in a word, daunting. There are over 100 different railway lines in Tokyo, and most of them are privately held by competing companies. The two big ones you’ll need to know are JR East, the largest railway system in Japan, and the Tokyo Metro, the city’s busiest subway system. If you’re planning to use only the subway or JR lines, there are passes for that. A combination ticket, though (which can be purchased in JR stations) is the better way to go. For 1, 590 yen, you’ll be able to use several lines for one day, including all of Tokyo’s JR lines and the Tokyo Metro. Another option is to buy a Suica or Pasmo card (available at ticket vending machines in major train stations) reusable cards on which you load money you touch them to the turnstile each time you ride. There is a deposit to pick up one of those cards, but it’s worth it — you won’t have to deal with individual tickets, you’ll get a small discount on rides and you can even use it to make purchases in some stores and at the city’s ubiquitous vending machines. Related pro tip Get a SIM card for your phone — data only. You won’t want to be without a maps app when you’re walking around. Cards in the $15 to $20 range are widely available. (Make sure you get the right size: the iPhones, for example, use nano SIM cards, not micro SIM.) HIGH The Asakusa neighborhood is known for its Sensoji Buddhist temple, Tokyo’s oldest. Ms. Mori recommended a rickshaw tour of the neighborhood, passing along Sumida Park, one of the many places in Tokyo to see sakura, or cherry blossoms, in the early spring. A tour costs 16, 250 yen. LOW I set out to do some exploring on my own, and see some sakura in the process. A follower of the Frugal Traveler Twitter account recommended the Nezu Museum in the Minato district. While the Nezu’s collection of Buddhist art and Chinese bronzes was interesting, I was most impressed with the lush garden out back. The garden — about four acres — is shockingly big in a place where space is so precious. It truly feels like an escape from the city. Admission was 1, 000 yen. From there, I hopped a couple of trains over to the Korakuen station and walked up to the University of Tokyo’s Koishikawa Botanical Gardens. After paying admission (400 yen) I headed from the southeast entrance to a huge open expanse in the center of the garden. I found families picnicking, children playing and people lining up for coffee and tea from the ramshackle snack bar called Coffee Time (a coffee is 300 yen). All were enjoying the budding cherry blossoms and cool spring weather. HIGH Ms. Mori recommended the omakase tasting menu at — where else? — Sukiyabashi Jiro. The sushi master Jiro Ono’s already formidable status was made outright legendary with the release of the 2012 documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi. †The restaurant is difficult to get into, but Ms. Mori can make the arrangements. “We can get you into Jiro,†she said, “but then you have to go. You have to. We can’t have at Jiro. †The price for lunch (or dinner) is 30, 000 yen. LOW Jiro received three Michelin stars Tsuta received one. It was the first Japanese ramen shop ever to receive such an honor. The small, unassuming space, close to the Sugamo station on the JR Yamanote line, is difficult to get into for different reasons: They take no reservations and operate on a ticket system. I went early one morning, around 7:30 a. m. and waited outside the restaurant with a handful of other people. Eventually the door slid open and a man came out with a handful of small, laminated tickets. He handed me one: “Come back,†he said. “Between 12 and 1 p. m. †He took a bill as a deposit, then went back inside and closed the door. When I returned at noon, I was treated to the best bowl of shoyu (soy ) ramen I’d ever eaten. The broth was deep, intense and slightly sweet. The accompaniments — egg, bamboo shoots and pork slices — were done perfectly. The basic ramen bowl at Tsuta is 950 yen — I paid a total of 1, 250 for three extra slices of pork. HIGH Who doesn’t like a little costume play built into their vacations? Ms. Mori recommended something called a “kimono experience and photo shoot,†wherein the patron pays for elaborate kimono dress (in one of several styles: oiran, maiko or geisha) as well as hair and makeup. A photo shoot follows. Men, don’t think you’re getting out of this: There’s a samurai option for you. The oiran set with two kimonos costs 27, 000 yen. LOW I found a different way to incorporate both ceremonial clothing (of sorts) and culture into my visit: taking in a Japanese baseball game. I bought my ticket at one of the many in Japan. ( is owned by a Japanese company.) It was a complicated process, one that involved a helpful clerk trying to spell my name in the Japanese alphabet — buying at the stadium probably would have been easier. It also involved deciding what “cheering section†I wanted to sit in. I decided on an outfield ticket on the side of the home team, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. The game was positively raucous — at one point, everyone in my section produced tiny umbrellas and began thrusting them up and down and chanting (a chant, I assumed) while a small brass band backed them up. The stadium grub selection was great, too — a big bowl of ramen could be had for 750 yen, yakitori for 100 yen, and a whiskey and melon soda for 600 yen. My ticket cost a reasonable 1, 800 yen. HIGH Seiji Yamamoto is the chef at Nihonryori RyuGin, a modern kaiseki restaurant that was awarded three Michelin stars. Mr. Yamamoto is known for incorporating modern culinary techniques with the refined, traditional kaiseki dinner. The descriptions of RyuGin’s courses are wonderfully abstract: Dishes have names like “Coolness Warmth Playfulness Nostalgia and Temptation†and “A Message From the Coast of Japan. †Dinner costs 27, 000 yen. LOW I was also in search of a taste of the coast of Japan, in the form of a sushi dinner. I met up with my friend Mayumi, a Tokyo native, and presented her with my annoyingly specific parameters: something good but not that good cheap but definitely not poor quality. She took me to a small place near the Kyodo train station in her neighborhood, about a ride from Shinjuku: Midori Sushi, an unpretentious restaurant next to a KFC. The chef Ken Hosono’s omakase menu featured an exceptionally squid, along with barracuda, fatty tuna, uni and a wonderfully buttery scallop, among other pieces. The cost was 3, 000 yen per person. Not only was it one of best sushi dinners I’ve had in recent memory, but it was among the cheapest — a sweet spot that every frugal traveler seeks out. | 1 | [
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FMD4028 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Remember last fall, when pundits and politicians were trying to talk themselves into Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House because he would lay down the law with the hard-right wing of the Republican caucus? When he was the man who could bring some much-needed order to the ranks? Who could maybe end this habit of careening from crisis to crisis that Congress has fallen into because the two parties are unable to agree on anything, down to whether toilet paper should be rolled over or under in Capitol Hill bathrooms, let alone a budget to fund the basic functions of government?
As the kids like to say, LOL:
“The release of President Obama’s eighth and final budget on Tuesday has forced into the open the seething tensions that never really went away after a spending agreement was reached last year, in part to ease Mr. Ryan’s transition into the speaker’s suite. That deal set spending until the end of October of this year, at levels that the president adhered to and Senate Republicans hope to make stick. But a core group of House Republicans who gave Mr. Ryan a pass back then now say they want to toss those numbers out like so much flotsam and pass their own budget with far tighter spending restrictions.â€
That “core group of House Republicans†is the House Freedom Caucus, the band of 40 or so feral meerkats who did much of the heavy lifting in driving John Boehner into retirement. But they aren’t the only Republicans who look like infants here. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), the chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees, last week announced they will not even let the director of the Office of Management and Budget present the proposed budget to the Congress. This practice is a common courtesy extended to presidential administrations for the last 40 years or so.
No one would expect any Congress to rubber-stamp a president’s budget proposal, of course. Not even if the same party controlled both chambers and the White House. But what’s notable here is this quote from one member of the Freedom Caucus:
Right, except you’re not passing a Republican budget any more than President Obama expects you to pass a Democratic budget. The president’s proposal is the opening to a negotiation, to be hashed out between two parties. Is anyone available who can explain the job of legislating to these legislators?
But like so many other legislative norms that the Republicans in Congress have tossed out the window during the Obama era, the practice of two co-equal branches of government openly and fairly debating genuine issues that will affect the American people has been given the heave-ho. Yet I’d bet cash money some of these legislators like Mulvaney and Price are also just astonished that bullying idiot Donald Trump is stomping their party’s candidates for the Republican nomination.
Paul Ryan knows how this is supposed to work. He was, after all, the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee for the four years the Democrats controlled the House from 2007 to 2011. Then, when the GOP regained the majority in the chamber, he chaired the committee for another four years, until 2015. If anyone in the House knows how the budget sausage gets made, knows all the little compromises over appropriations levels and priorities that go into funding the government, it’s Ryan. But as part of his deal to earn his Republican colleagues’ votes for Speaker, Ryan devolved a fair amount of power for setting legislative agendas back to the committee chairmen. This took away one of the tools that past Speakers like Boehner could use as leverage to get bills they favored taken up by individual committees. With that gone, a weak Speaker is practically a helpless bystander to this sort of spectacle. Sure, maybe he can still yank the chairmanship away from Price, but that will just raise howls of protest from the other chairs who thought they had freedom to run things as they see fit. And though Price isn’t a member of the Freedom Caucus, you can bet that group approves of what he’s doing. If Ryan punishes him, he gets an even louder revolt on his right flank, in the middle of an election year. But beyond all this inside-baseball stuff is a point that many pundits have hammered on over and over during the primary campaign. Which is that this partisan infection of the House is not going away after the 2016 election, or even after 2018 and likely not until sometime after the next census in 2020, if it happens at all. So even if Democrats still hold the White House next year, either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton will spend much of his or her time negotiating and fighting these budget fights just to keep the government’s lights on, let alone pushing through major changes to healthcare or financial industry regulations. Plus, there’s a good chance he or she will be saddled with Paul Ryan as Speaker, and he’s about as solid as helium. By the end of 2017, we may all be longing for the halcyon days when John Boehner ran things. | 1 | [
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FMD4029 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The ‘Anglo-Saxons’ – the US and the UK - successfully conducted a hybrid war against Ukraine with the help of social media. | 0 | [
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FMD4030 | 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: Passing Fancy Claim summaries: Article contrasts observances of the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.
contextual information: Claim: Article contrasts observances of the passings of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2009] Ed McMahon died this week. He was a great entertainer, but prior to his stage accomplishments he was a distinguished Marine Corps fighter pilot in WWII earning six Air Medals and attaining the rank of Colonel. He was discharged in 1946 and was later promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the CA Air National Guard. Farrah Fawcett died this week after a long career in Hollywood as an actress. After she was diagnosed with cancer, she became an activist for cancer treatment and devoted her last remaining years encouraging people to seek treatment. She documented her plight on film and used it to encourage others to stay positive and upbeat despite their diagnosis and suffering. Michael Jackson died this week. He was perhaps one of the greatest singers of modern time. He will also be remembered for his eccentric lifestyle that included sleeping with a chimpanzee, living in a carnival-like atmosphere at Neverland, his fascination with Peter Pan, and his numerous masks and costumes. He also admitted to finding pleasure sleeping with young boys and paying out millions of dollars in settlements to the families of these boys despite being acquitted by a court on one allegation of sexual molestation. QUESTION - Which of the above did the House of Representatives declare a moment of silence for today? (Hint - It wasn't the first two.) QUESTION - Which of the above's family received a personal note of condolence from President Obama? (Hint - It wasn't the first two.) Need we say more? Variations: A later version of this item included the following bit about actor Karl Malden (who died on 1 July 2009): Karl Malden died this week after a long career in Hollywood as an actor. He also served in the US Air Force during WWII and also served on the US Postal Service committee to review and recommend commemorative stamps. In 2005, the US House of Representatives authorized the US Postal Service to rename a Los Angeles post office the Karl Malden Postal Station. Origins: The entertainment world suffered a triple shock at the end of June 2009, when television personality Ed McMahon passed away on the 23rd of that month, a loss followed two days later by the deaths of both actress Farrah Fawcett and singer Michael Jackson. It is true that Ed McMahon was a veteran, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps pilot who served his country during both World War II and the Korean War. It is also true that after Farrah Fawcett was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, she became "an outspoken advocate for early detection and treatment of cancer" and "worked tirelessly to raise the profile of this disease," bravely allowing herself to be filmed for the harrowing Farrah's Story, a documentary that chronicled her grim fight against cancer in order to "make viewers aware of the need for testing and research." Farrah's Story It is also true that neither of these celebrities was honored in their passing with the observance of a moment of silence in the U.S. Congress, and that (as far as we know) neither's family was the recipient of a personal note of condolence from the President. In contrast, the day after Michael Jackson's death, the House of Representatives observed a moment of silence in the entertainer's honor, and a few days later senior presidential adviser David Axelrod stated that President Obama had written to the Jackson family and "shared his feelings" with them. observed stated However, many would take exception to the implication that Michael Jackson was merely an eccentric entertainer who, unlike Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, did nothing (outside of his art) to benefit society and make him (as) worthy of the honors and recognition he received at his passing. Michael Jackson left behind a substantial philanthropic legacy, having contributed for over twenty-five years to a long, long list of charities through donations of his time, money, and other forms of support. As the Los Angeles Times Michael Jackson left a philanthropic legacy almost as large as his cultural one. In all the financial and personal turmoil that characterized his latter years, it was easy to lose sight of the fact that he was a pioneer not only in popular music but also in charitable fundraising within the entertainment industry. Jackson, like his close friend Elizabeth Taylor, was one of the first entertainers to enlist in the fight against AIDS/HIV, and he went on to contribute and raise hundreds of millions of dollars to help sick children, set up scholarship funds, and to find new ways for entertainers to raise money and awareness for causes. He also helped set the standard of generosity for other entertainers, particularly pop stars. His song "We Are the World," which he co-wrote with Lionel Richie in 1985 to help combat famine in Africa, was instrumental in changing the way rock stars generate funds for the causes to which they're devoted. Before the financial woes that haunted him in recent years, Jackson was one of the industry's most formidable philanthropists. Jackson's estate is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars more over the years to come. If the will currently being treated by the courts as valid is sustained, it appears that at least 20% of the income on the trust that Jackson directed his executors establish will go to charity. A detailed list of Michael Jackson's many charitable efforts can be found here. here Last updated: 9 July 2009 Gerstein, Josh. "Obama Sends Condolence Letter to Jackson Family." Politico. 28 June 2009. Koppelman, Alex. "On House Floor, A Moment of Silence for Michael Jackson." Salon. 26 June 2009. O'Neil, Tom. "Farrah Fawcett's TV Cancer Confession May Be Emmy-Worthy." Los Angeles Times. 7 May 2009. Ventre, Michael. "'Farrah's Story' a Tale of Inner Strength." msnbc.com. 22 May 2009. | 0 | [
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FMD4031 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump once again bullied NBC correspondent Katy Tur during a rally and put her safety at risk, prompting Nicole Wallace to blast the Republican nominee in response.During a Florida rally on Wednesday, boos and jeers were aimed at Katy Tur by a crowd of thousands after Trump accused her of not showing the size of the audience on camera as some sort of scheme by the media to rig the election.Here s footage of the rally via YouTube: It is a unique experience to have an entire crowd of people, whether it is an open-air venue, like we were today, or a stadium with 10,000+ people booing you, Tur told Brian Williams after the event.Tur explained that Trump knows he is full of shit because he jokes in private to reporters that he knows how television works and that while one camera is trained on the candidate to get his speech on tape, there are plenty of other cameras filming crowd shots. This is a schtick that he does to rile up his base, it s to give them an excuse for polls that might not be in his favor, it s to give them an excuse to berate someone other than Donald Trump and to blame somebody for something that doesn t look as good as they want it to look, Tur said.But while Tur braved the storm and stood her ground against Trump, GOP strategist Nicole Wallace reacted with shock that a presidential candidate would engage in such bullying. It s bullying, it s bullying a woman, Wallace began when asked about her thoughts on Trump attacking Tur. It s bullying a journalist who covers him. It s not only odd in politics, it s odd in public life. It s something that if any of our kids did in school they probably would get kicked out He has normalized cyber-bullying, he has normalized the sort of bullying of a woman in a huge chanting crowd, he has normalized behavior that maybe had its seed in standing up to what a lot of Republicans think is a biased media, but it has taken on a life of its own that is dangerous and sinister. In the end, it will not help him win it will be part of the reason that he loses. Here s the video via YouTube:Trump s attack on Tur is especially dangerous because his deplorable supporters are bloodthirsty right now and have threatened Democrats and the media with violence if Trump doesn t win the election. Tur even had to have Secret Service protection earlier this year because Trump singled her out at a rally and caused his supporters to put her safety in serious jeopardy. Such behavior by a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter, is unacceptable.Donald Trump is a bully and America does not need a bully in the White House, especially since he is a thin-skinned bully who would have control of the military and our nuclear arsenal, a dangerous combination since Trump is easily provoked by even the smallest of slights.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 | [
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FMD4032 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s efforts to remove Planned Parenthood, a U.S. women’s healthcare and abortion provider, from a government health insurance program for the poor in the state. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson issued the 54-page order for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, ruling the state could not cancel Medicaid provider agreements with Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, or PPKM, and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, or PPSLR. “It is uncontroverted that PPKM and PPSLR serve hundreds of underprivileged women in the State of Kansas,†Robinson said in the order. “It is in the public interest to allow these individuals to be treated by the qualified provider of their choice, and to have that provider reimbursed under Medicaid pending a trial on the merits in this case.†The Republican governor ordered state officials to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and its affiliates through the state Medicaid program in January, saying the state would not fund an industry that disrespected life. A spokeswoman for Brownback said in a statement on Tuesday: “The governor will continue the fight to make Kansas a pro-life state. We will review today’s preliminary ruling and move forward with the litigation.†The state sought to cut funding after the release of videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group that activists said showed that Planned Parenthood officials in some states had discussed the sale of aborted fetal tissue. Neither of the Planned Parenthood affiliates involved in the case participates in fetal tissue donation or sale, court records show. “We are thrilled with the judge’s ruling. We felt strongly that we were going into this on the right side of the law,†said Laura McQuade, chief executive of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, formerly Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. The two organizations, along with three of their patients who are on Medicaid, sued the state in May, arguing Brownback’s order would break federal law and violate the U.S. Constitution. Planned Parenthood has denied taking any illegal payments, calling the videos distortions of fetal-tissue donations. The organization has said it has received only reimbursements for its costs, which are legal under U.S. law. Planned Parenthood said in May that at least two dozen states had cut or tried to slash funding to its clinics since the mid-2015 release of the undercover videos. | 1 | [
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FMD4033 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Reflections on US Political Tragedies November 14, 2016
Two very unpopular candidates made the 2016 presidential campaign an embarrassment for American democracy. Now, the outcome could become one more tragedy for U.S. politics, observes David Marks.
By David Marks
Mourning seems a strange response to election results; as I consider my feelings after the presidential election, I’ve realized it’s another chapter in a sequence of tragedies throughout my life.
I was eleven when the news of President Kennedy’s assassination came over the loudspeaker in our sixth-grade classroom. Our tough, yet inspirational teacher wept at her desk in front of us. Her tears taught me more than any explanation of those events could ever reveal.
Not many years later, I suffered the shock of the killings of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and wondered at how these horrific events would shape the future.
I had wanted to be an astronaut, but soon realized that going to the moon as a U.S. Air Force pilot might have the prerequisite of bombing Vietnam. I began understanding the damage the U.S. was doing with its military interventions, and made a conscious decision to stay away from space and politics. It seemed you could only improve yourself to make a better world. Politics was not for the peaceful.
By 1973, the stench of Watergate drifted across the country. I was fascinated; a “smoking gun” is not needed in a murder prosecution, but somehow had become a necessity in political crime. But Nixon’s defenders could not counter undeniable evidence of illegal activity by both the President and his aides that was found in White House audiotapes. Most of the political “nobility” escaped the consequences while Nixon and a few accomplices took the fall.
We knew Nixon was a war criminal years before, but Watergate set a precedent that our leaders must be caught in the act of some far narrower and less consequential crime to prove they are scoundrels. We do know that Nixon feared and obsessed on the revelations of worse crimes in his past. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “ The Heinous Crime Behind Watergate. ”]
Retreating from Politics
Ever more convinced of the darkness in U.S. politics, I retreated further, convinced that only personal actions and relationships could shape the world. Ronald Reagan and his 1980 vice-presidential running mate George H.W. Bush.
There was a glimmer of hope during Jimmy Carter’s presidency; he was a seemingly honest leader, supporting alternative energy and a cleaner environment, and allowing investigations into foreign and domestic assassinations of the previous decade. But few were moved or surprised by the contradiction of the Warren Commission’s findings and the Congressional pronouncement that JFK had been killed by a conspiracy.
In 1980, my first daughter was born during the northern California Indian summer. Even the election of Ronald Reagan two months later couldn’t eclipse my elation. I recall thinking about how the world might be different when she became a woman. I could only attempt to be a good enough father so that she would be kind and strong, and brave and bright enough to gain her equanimity.
It was only a month after the 1980 election that John Lennon died. It was then I mourned his murder and Reagan’s rise as a converged event. Lennon had been hounded by the junta that had taken over the country. He had once observed, “Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that.”
I recovered with the knowledge that the power of John’s music would stay with us, and knew his spirit would give perspective and strength to my daughter and the many children whose lives were just beginning. Despite his passing, John Lennon’s open-eyed idealism had been magnified.
The combination of Reagan’s rise and Lennon’s death in 1980, with the background of earlier assassinations of political leaders, continued to shape my world. Disgusted and repulsed by the “Reagan era,” it was a time for further retreat and the nurturing of ideas for a better future.
My second daughter’s joyful arrival in February of 1984, coincided with the U.S. “stabilizing” the Middle East, firing shells into Lebanon. Our “ally” Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi people were fighting a horrific ground war with Iran. The conflict was far away, though I knew U.S. interests in oil resources in the region would eventually turn around to impact our lives directly.
Despite the violence perpetrated by our country, I was still resolved to make a better world for both daughters in my own small way. Although very young, I knew they were part of a generation of gifted, empowered women who might be able to change the course of the planet.
Hypocrisy of Reagan
In 1986-87, revelations of the hypocrisy of Reagan and his gang emerged during the Iran Contra investigation and hearings. I was fascinated that Reagan had sent a bible and cake (along with weapons, of course) to Iranian leaders when he had publicly invoked Iran as America’s greatest enemy. By helping Iran with sophisticated U.S. weapons for cash, Reagan and his team could secretly fund the Nicaraguan Contras in a dirty war outside the scope of Congress. Then-Vice President George H.W. Bush with CIA Director William Casey at the White House on Feb. 11, 1981. (Photo credit: Reagan Library)
The issue of foiling Congress seemed to distract from what was an important question: why was Reagan helping the strongest voices for Islamic Jihad in the region? I recall thinking how any Democratic president would have been impeached, drawn and quartered for such a betrayal to the country. Reagan came away from the “affair” largely unscathed; he wasn’t protected by Teflon, as the press claimed, he was surrounded by organized criminals of the highest order.
I could no longer bear just watching events unfold. The crimes of Washington pushed me to where I had to get involved. I offered my support and assisted with the work of a handful of dedicated journalists investigating the 1980 “October Surprise,” i.e., tracing back Reagan’s secret arms sales to Iran in the mid-1980s to an earlier arrangement in which Reagan secretly approved arms sales via Israel to Iran immediately after taking office in 1981.
The evidence pointed to Reagan’s presidential campaign having secretly made a deal with Iranian leaders to delay the release of the hostages until after the U.S. presidential election. Polls had shown that if the hostages were released before Election Day, Jimmy Carter would have won reelection. And, indeed, the Iranians held the hostages until Reagan had taken the oath of office on Jan. 20, 1981.
But the statements and testimony of a couple of dozen witnesses including officials in Iran, Israel, Europe and the United States – along with important documentary evidence – failed to shake off Reagan’s Teflon.
In 1991-1992, I watched as a modern version of The Emperor’s New Clothes played before us. When faced with the possibility that an election would be revealed as a complete sham, Republicans and Democrats stood shoulder to shoulder to deny the possibility and limit the damage. No matter how much evidence emerged (smoking cannons), the truth did not matter when Washington’s status quo was threatened. I mourned for our loss of truth.
(To this day, mainstream media outlets refuse to question the October Surprise conventional wisdom that Reagan must be innocent, although even the chairman of the congressional whitewashing investigation has now admitted to having second thoughts. )
However, as the special prosecutor’s Iran-Contra investigation and the congressional October Surprise inquiry extended into 1992, they did cast enough doubt on the Reagan administration’s relationship with Iran (and the role of Reagan’s Vice President – and then President – George H.W. Bush, a former CIA director) that they affected the presidential election results of 1992.
Along with his approval ratings falling steadily due to the economy, incumbent George H.W. Bush lost the false gloss of being an honest politician. The end of 12 years of Republican presidents came to an end as Bush lost to moderate “New Democrat” Bill Clinton.
The Parties Blur
Fast forward through the Clinton years when the blur between Republican and Democrats became a thick haze. The Republicans, although vaguely different from President Clinton in some social policies and economic preferences, found they could only demonize him for his handling of sexual indiscretions. His real crime was winning a second term in office, which no Democrat had done since Franklin Roosevelt. Meanwhile, U.S. foreign policy only became more firmly aligned with international corporate priorities. President Bill Clinton
And then quickly (please) through the eight years of George W. Bush. Although the list is long, the penultimate disgrace of his presidency was the mis-applied vengeance over the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11 by using the tragedy to justify the unjustifiable invasion of Iraq.
Bush’s horrific administration, staffed heavily with arrogant and incompetent cronies, conducted a war that gave foundation to a generation of angry young people in the Middle East who will always see the United States as a terrorist state. I realized at the beginning of the Iraq invasion that violence is not about politics; I thought, there’s a child in Iraq who in 20 years will say: “The U.S. killed my father, I’ll gladly walk into Washington with a nuclear backpack.”
There was a reprieve of sorts and certainly some refreshing changes with the Obama presidency. But the recognition that Barack Obama would continue the U.S. military enterprises in the Middle East overshadowed any of his more enlightened policies. Yes, his adversaries tried to foil him at every turn, but the priorities of the wealthiest Americans were rarely in question. Washington politics and its ugly international footprint are a continuing tragedy.
And then there is Trump. It took a few days to realize that I was in mourning again, as much as I mourned when leaders were killed or when Reagan came to power; I mourn particularly for my daughters and the younger generations of women and men who deserve better. My mother, born in 1925, president of her college class, a beloved teacher and still a strong bright woman, feels that the event horizon with Trump gives her more anxiety and fear than she experienced in all of her life, including World War II. She may not see a woman as president of the United States. I mourn for her loss.
Hope for Hillary
I recognize that in many ways Hillary Clinton represented a status quo that has worn on me, but I had some hope that her ascendance to the presidency might change her, and as the first woman in that office, she might take on a leadership role that embraced pacifism; or at least might be influenced by those who feel peace is the priority. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
There is much concern for what Trump will do, but the greater pain and loss is about what he won’t do. Mourning is always about loss; in this instance, the possibilities of progress that have been taken away for the near future, assuming that Trump continues to align himself with reactionary pols – the likes of Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pence – who stuck with him Many Republicans see Trump as little more than a signature-writing machine who will sign whatever right-wing bills they send him.
So, we will mourn for a while, but a better world can still be realized. My mom and my daughters are no less powerful; and we all can be empowered by the blatant hypocrisy of this election – as we also recognize the hidden history that gave this travesty its foundation.
Political events may influence how we feel; but more importantly, who we are, and what we are willing to do for each other, determines our personal and political future.
David Marks is a veteran documentary filmmaker and investigative reporter. His work includes films for the BBC and PBS, including Nazi Gold , on the role of Switzerland in WWII and Jimi Hendrix: The Man they made God . He is writing a film screenplay, Extreme Ignorance , highlighting the need to turn electronic media into a creative force. | 0 | [
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FMD4034 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Many Republicans in Congressional leadership are touting their idiotic repeal and delay plan as the perfect way to repeal the ACA without kicking millions off their insurance plans. People like Mitch McConnell are already acting like it s done deal. People like Paul Ryan think things like tax-free health savings accounts are the answer to our healthcare woes. Trump himself has said he wants the repeal to happen as soon as possible. So it should be a foregone conclusion that all of this is happening in the very near future.Except it might not.Republicans need 50 votes in the Senate to pass their repeal. They have 52 seats. If they lose three votes, they ll have 49.With just 49 votes, the repeal effort fails.But which three? The truth is that not every Republican is happy with the idea of repealing the law now and working on a replacement later. They ve had six years to come up with a replacement, as Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) acknowledges. They haven t done so. The idea that they can now come up with a good replacement before millions lose their healthcare coverage is laughable at best, but really, it s cold-blooded fuckery.Corker, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), strongly oppose passing any repeals without simultaneously passing their replacement plan.These are the three who are likely to derail the repeal effort.Even better (worse?) is that Corker, along with Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have introduced an amendment to the repeal bill that would push the vote back a month:Five GOP senators offer an amendment to extend the Obamacare repeal reconciliation deadline by more than a MONTH. pic.twitter.com/8MPlAy50mR Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 9, 2017That goes directly against Mitch McConnell s insistence that they ll repeal the law soon, and then come up with a replacement rapidly, which happened over the weekend in an interview on CBS Face the Nation. However, he couldn t give us anything like a timetable for the replacement, even though he was pressed hard.Let s also not forget all the Republican governors who are currently trying to pressure Congress into holding off repealing the ACA. These are governors who ve seen massive benefits to their states from the Medicaid expansion in the ACA. A full repeal means all states that expanded Medicaid will lose their federal funding for it. Governors, regardless of party, hate that.Democrats will block repeal efforts as best they can not just because they oppose Republicans, but because what paltry fragments of plans the Republicans do have rob from the poor to give to the rich. For instance, they want to greatly expand the use of health savings accounts, which helps absolutely no one who can t afford to put any money away for anything (like retirement, their children s college, their own savings, etc.). Sure, the accounts are tax-free, but they re a way to force us to pay even more for our healthcare than we already do.Neither McConnell nor Ryan will be happy with their own turning against them on something they and their handlers insist must be done now, and fuck the people who will end up as collateral damage while they dicker over a full replacement plan. But it s true that if Corker, Paul and Alexander block the repeal bill because there s no replacement to go with it, then the effort fails.Featured image by Drew Angerer via Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD4035 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: November 8, 2016 Kurdish forces enter town near Mosul as Iraqi troops find mass grave
Iraqi Kurdish fighters have exchanged heavy fire with militants as they entered a town held by Islamic State east of Mosul, while troops advancing south of the city discovered a mass grave containing an estimated 100 or so decapitated bodies.
The offensive to reclaim the town of Bashiqa is part of the broader push to drive Isis out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, relieving those living under its brutal occupation, which has included mass killings.
Email (will not be published) (required) Website Sow a seed to help the Jewish people Follow Endtime Copyright © 2016 All Rights Reserved Endtime Ministries | End of the Age | Irvin Baxter Endtime Ministries, Inc. PO Box 940729 Plano, TX 75094 Toll Free: 1.800.363.8463 DON'T JUST READ THE NEWS... understand it from a biblical perspective. Your Information will never be shared with any third party. Get a 2-year subscription, normally $29, now just $20.15. ONLY 500 deals are still available. Offer available while supplies last or it expires on December 31, 2015. close We are a small non-profit that runs a high-traffic website, a daily TV and radio program, a bi-monthly magazine, the prophecy college in Jerusalem, and more. Although we only have 35 team members, we are able to serve tens of millions of people each month; and have costs like other world-wide organizations. We have very few third-party ads and we don’t receive government funding. We survive on the goodness of God, product sales, and donations from our wonderful partners. Dear Readers, X close We have experienced tremendous growth in our web presence over the last five years. In fact, in 2010 we averaged 228,000 pageviews per month. Last year we averaged just over 2,000,000 pageviews per month. That’s an increase of 777% in five years! However, our servers and software are outdated, which causes downtime on occasion for many of you and additional work hours and finances to maintain for us at Endtime. Updating our servers and software as well as maintaining service for a year will cost us $42,000. If each person reading this gave at least $10, our bill to provide FREE broadcasting and resources to the world via our website would be covered for over a year! Learn more - Click Here ► Dear Readers, | 0 | [
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FMD4036 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Politics British Prime Minister Theresa May waits for the arrival of the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa outside 10 Downing Street in London on October 26, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing growing criticism over her comments about Brexit at a leaked private speech to Goldman Sachs.
The premier, who has publicly made the case for a hard Brexit following a June referendum, speaks of the “benefits” of being an EU member in the hour-long session, whose audio file was leaked to the Guardian on Tuesday night, drawing harsh criticism on Wednesday.
“I think the economic arguments are clear. I think being part of a 500 million [population] trading bloc is significant for us. I think, as I was saying to you a little earlier, that one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the UK because it is the UK in Europe,” she is heard saying. “If we were not in Europe, I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a UK presence? So I think there are definite benefits for us in economic terms.”
The leader of the rival Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, attacked the prime minister for having failed to address her own concerns about leaving the European Union.
Corbyn has previously been calling on the Tory-held government for a clear plan to exit the bloc. A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (R) as he responds during Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons in London on October 12, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
“The prime minister has given her private views on Brexit to Goldman Sachs bankers, but refuses to give the British people a clear plan for negotiations,” said the Labour leader. “It shouldn’t take a leaked tape for the public to find out what she really thinks.”
The former Labour leader and leading member of the Open Britain campaign group, Ed Miliband, also reacted to the comments, saying, the leaked comments prove that May shares the concerns of all the Britons on Brexit.
“If private warnings are to be matched by proper public debate, it is essential that the government is not allowed to hoard vital analysis of the impact on our economy of leaving the single market. This work is being done in government and it must now be published,” he said, asserting that May’s comments “demonstrated that the prime minister was just as worried privately as the rest of us are publicly about the economic impact of the hard, destructive Brexit her government seems set on.”
According to the Guardian , the audio file was leaked as May was “prioritizing cutting immigration over staying in the single market, while refusing to elaborate any further on her plans for taking the UK out of the EU.” British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on October 25, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
In an unpublished newspaper column written before the June 23 referendum for the Telegraph , UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson, who is another Leave campaigner in the public, also defended remaining an EU member.
“This is a market on our doorstep, ready for further exploitation by British firms. The membership fee seems rather small for all that access. Why are we so determined to turn our back on it?” he wrote, calling the EU a “boon for the world and for Europe.” Loading ... | 0 | [
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FMD4037 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Vice President Joe Biden has nothing but glowing praise for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Biden, who contemplated a run for the presidency but decided to opt out, said of Sanders: Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real. And he has credibility on it. And that is the absolute enormous concentration of wealth of a small group of people, with a middle class now being left out. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkFFh2M8rAc]Biden was referring to Sanders consistent record of speaking out on and pushing initiatives about income inequality throughout his career. Sanders has made the issue a central theme of his campaign. Biden also believes the issue of income inequality is of vital importance to the country. He said: There used to be a basic bargain. If you contributed to the profitability of an enterprise, you share in that profit, and that s been broken. Productivity is up and wages are stagnant. Sanders strength is with young voters, with polls showing that he leads in double digits in that demographic. Many millennials, for example, have enormous college debt and they continue to have a tough time in the job market. Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, an organization that encourages young people to get involved in politics, said: Part of it is really sort of the age that they grew up in. If you think about the millennials, that age group, they turned 18 as President George W Bush took office. That s the world they grew up in: their country is at war, it seemed to have lost purpose. And then as they were graduating from college the recession hit. So the social contrast that people generally have that you invest in your education and you get paid off was a myth for them. One thing is his genuineness. He s been consistent warrior against economic inequality since the 60s, and he hasn t changed a bit. Although Biden has not officially made an endorsement, he did meet with Sanders last October to discuss campaign finance reform.Bernie Sanders campaign is moving in the right direction, gaining momentum at the right time more than any other candidate despite the fact that the media has not paid attention to him. If the current polls are indicative of things to come, the Republicans better look out. Polls show him trouncing all Republican candidates, including Donald Trump by a wide margin.Featured Image: Marc Nozell (flickr) | 0 | [
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FMD4038 | 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 Obama Award Presidential Medal of Freedom to Weinstein, Weiner, Clinton, and Cosby? Claim summaries: So many awards, so few genuine recipients.
contextual information: After numerous women came forward to accuse powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault, and rape in October 2017, social media users circulated photographs of Weinstein with various politicians in an apparent attempt to smear their characters. One meme went even further, purportedly showing President Obama bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Weinstein, President Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, and Bill Cosby, joking that it should be renamed the "sexual predator award." Three women have accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment, rape, or sexual assault—charges that he denies. Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison for exchanging sexual messages with a 15-year-old girl. Dozens of women accused Bill Cosby of drugging, raping, and assaulting them. The only genuine image included in this meme is that of President Obama awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to President Bill Clinton during a ceremony in November 2013. The Washington Post reported at the time that it was a ceremony rich in pageantry and politics: President Obama, at the nadir of his presidency, bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on a Democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton. Obama uttered fewer than 300 words about Clinton, but his remarks paid tribute to the sweep of his public life—from transforming education as governor of Arkansas to growing the economy as the 42nd president to leading relief efforts in the wake of global natural disasters. Obama said Clinton's charitable foundation has saved literally hundreds of millions of people. He still remembers as a child waving goodbye to his mom, tears in her eyes, as she went off to nursing school so she could provide for her family, Obama said of Clinton. And I think lifting up families like his own became the story of Bill Clinton's life. All three of the other images were created by taking a genuine photograph of a different recipient and then using digital manipulation to add the heads of Weinstein, Weiner, and Cosby. The photograph purportedly showing Obama with Weinstein, for instance, originally featured an image of Vice President Joe Biden: Obama surprised Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in January 2017. The image purportedly showing Obama with Anthony Weiner was created using an image that originally featured actor Tom Hanks: Hanks received his award in November 2016. The image of Bill Cosby was also fake. The original image featured President Obama bestowing the Medal of Freedom on musician Bruce Springsteen: although the image of Bill Cosby with President Obama is fake, the comedian truly did receive the award in 2002—from President George W. Bush. Neither Weinstein nor Weiner has received a Presidential Medal of Freedom. | 0 | [
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FMD4039 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: MINNEAPOLIS — Three friends were found guilty on Friday of federal charges that they tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, a plan that prosecutors said unfolded through propaganda videos and social media exchanges, and while they played basketball and paintball. The verdicts against the three men — Guled Omar, 21 Abdirahman Daud, 22 and Mohamed Farah, 22 — came after an emotional trial in which onetime friends from Minnesota’s large Somali community testified against one another, family members squabbled in the hallways and spectators were occasionally ejected from the courtroom. On Friday, the three defendants — who had all pleaded not guilty — sat impassively in dark suits as a court clerk began to read a litany of “guilty†verdicts, the most serious being conspiracy to commit murder overseas. They were also convicted of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization. The sobs of family members broke the silence. One woman, weeping, rushed from the courtroom, and others used their colorful head scarves to wipe their eyes and cover their faces. As the three men were led from the courtroom, Mr. Farah waved to the relatives and supporters in the gallery. The convictions capped an investigation that began in 2014 and has led to six other young men pleading guilty to terrorism charges, and once again shined a harsh light on radicalization among young men in the country’s largest Somali community. authorities have said that more than 20 young men from Minnesota have left to join the Shabab militant group in Somalia and that more than 15 have tried or succeeded in leaving to join the Islamic State. At a news conference, United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger called the case “one of the most important trials†in recent years, one that illuminated the problem of terrorism recruiting “in our own backyard. †“They were not misled by a friend or tricked into becoming terrorists,†Mr. Luger said. “Rather, they made a deeply personal decision. They wanted to fight for a brutal terrorist organization, kill innocent people and destroy their families in the process. †Federal officials also rejected criticisms of one of their witnesses, a friend of the men named Abdirahman Bashir, who worked as a paid informant for federal investigators and provided hours of audio recordings of the defendants. At one point, when they were planning to reach Syria by first crossing into Mexico, one defendant said he wanted to “spit on America†at the border crossing, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Some Somali community members and relatives of the defendants have criticized Mr. Bashir’s role, suggesting the defendants were entrapped. Prosecutors rejected that claim. “This conspiracy began back in 2014,†Mr. Luger said. “The informant Bashir did not work with the government until early 2015. These people have been long involved with this conspiracy. †Prosecutors accused the men of being part of a larger group who met to plot ways to get to Syria. In his closing arguments, the assistant United States attorney, John Docherty, said the three were “exceptionally persistent†and “exceptionally violent. †A lawyer for Mr. Daud, Bruce Nestor, suggested that an appeal could be filed. The verdict was not much of a surprise to Burhan Mohumed, 26, a friend of the defendants who had been banned from the courthouse by the judge. He called the process “purely political. †“I left a little hope that they wouldn’t be convicted on a conspiracy to murder charge,†he said. “I didn’t think they had enough evidence to convict them on that. I think that was an overreach. †During the trial, the defense argued that the three young men had been manipulated by the F. B. I. ’s informant, and attacked the credibility of the members of the group who earlier pleaded guilty and testified for the government. In addition to the six who have pleaded guilty to various charges, a seventh man charged is believed to be in Syria. Outside the courtroom, Omar Jamal, a Somali community activist, worried that the Somali community would find little solace or justice in guilty verdicts handed down by an jury that was shown violent Islamic State propaganda videos. “This decision will reinforce the perception in the community that the system is rigged,†Mr. Jamal said. But after the verdicts were read, Judge Michael J. Davis thanked the jury, saying, “You have come back with a fair and just verdict. †As the jurors left the courtroom, the three young men looked toward the gallery at a row of female relatives. He laid out the details for sentencing, engaging in a brief colloquy with each defendant. They would be able to read reports, he said, before being sentenced. “Do you understand what the verdicts were?†Judge Davis asked Mr. Farah. “Yes sir,†Mr. Farah responded quietly. “Do you have any questions of me?†“Not at this time sir. †| 1 | [
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FMD4040 | 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 Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Development Funded by Trump Administration? Claim summaries: Agreeing to a buy a vaccine once approved is not the same as funding its research and development.
contextual information: Snopes is still fighting an infodemic of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Submit any questionable rumors and advice you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease. fighting Find out Read Submit Become a Founding Member CDC WHO In the final months of 2020, scientists around the world raced to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, which at that point had reached more than 50 million cases and resulted in the deaths of at least 1.2 million people. reached On Nov. 9, the biopharmaceutical company Pfizer announced in a news release not a peer-reviewed journal that interim results testing the efficacy of vaccine candidate BNT162b2 showed a 90% success rate in protecting against COVID-19 infection, making it one of the first and most promising immunization potentials to date. news release And politicians were quick to weigh in. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said in a tweet that the public-private partnership between U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and Pfizer led to the success of the vaccine: While former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, whose policies closely align with Trump, furthered the notion that the vaccine was a part of the presidents Operation Warp Speed (OWS), an effort led by the Trump Administration to accelerate the testing of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics: These claims are half-truths and misrepresent the role that OWS played in developing this particular vaccine candidate. Although the very preliminary findings of the vaccine look promising, a detailed look at the reported findings revealed that there is cause to be cautious about its availability and timeliness. A deal between OWS and Pfizer was announced in a July news release that outlined a bid by the U.S. government to receive 100 million doses (with the option to acquire up to 500 million more doses) of a vaccine pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for $1.95 billion. news release Today is a great day for science and humanity. The first set of results from our Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccines ability to prevent COVID-19, said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO. We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen. With todays news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis." OWS is a joint effort by the Trump administration and the U.S. departments of Defense (DOD) and Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, launched on May 15 to accelerate the testing, supply, development, and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics by January 2021. Part of its mission is to also accelerate the vaccine approval process from the typical 73 months to just 13 months. Generally, receiving approval for a new drug or therapy is a long and tenuous process that can sometimes last years. Department of Defense Department of Defense OWS offered $456 million to vaccine research and development projects by Johnson & Johnson for its Phase 1 clinical trials, as well as a total of $955 million to Moderna for late-stage clinical testing. However, the $1.95 billion allocated to Pfizer was for large-scale manufacturing and nationwide distribution. In short, the government intended to buy doses of a vaccine from Pfizer once an effective vaccine was made available, but it did not fund the research and development of Pfizer's vaccine. offered Johnson & Johnson Moderna Pfizer is proud to be one of various vaccine manufacturers participating in Operation Warp Speed as a supplier of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, Sharon Castillo, a Pfizer spokesperson, told Snopes in an email. While Pfizer did reach an advanced purchase agreement with the U.S. government, the company did not accept the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) funding for the research and development process. All the investment for R&D and manufacturing has been made by Pfizer at risk. Technically, the work conducted by Pfizer and its partner, German drugmaker BioNTech, is an expansion of OWS and was operating under an agreement to meet the goal of OWS to deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine in 2021. As part of the agreement, the U.S. government would receive 100 million doses after the successful manufacturing of the vaccine and its approval by the FDA. However, that is not to say that the government had any hand in the research or development of the vaccine. Rather, it just agreed to buy the vaccines from the companies once they had gone through final approval. We made the early decision to begin clinical work and large-scale manufacturing at our own risk to ensure that product would be available immediately if our clinical trials prove successful and an Emergency Use Authorization is granted. We are honored to be a part of this effort to provide Americans access to protection from this deadly virus, said Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and CEO, at the time. Pfizer and BioNTech have similar agreements with the European Union. European Union The specific details about the Pfizer vaccine are not readily available. What we do know is that BNT162b2 is an mRNA-based vaccine that contained SARS-CoV-2 spike protein the same protein that nearly all vaccination studies are targeting that allows the virus to enter human cells and elicits an immune response from its host. The first doses administered to U.S. study participants, half of whom received the vaccine and the other half a placebo, were done so in May via intramuscular injection, which is similar to the flu shot. As part of a randomized placebo trial, two doses were each given three weeks apart with the vaccine not taking full effect until at least a week after the final dose. That means that a person couldnt expect protection until about a month after they were immunized. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein administered A three-dimensional simulation of the coronavirus spike protein just before binding to the human cell receptor. University of Arkansas University of Arkansas An analysis of the interim results suggested that the vaccine is 90% effective in preventing the disease in study volunteers who did not have evidence of a prior COVID-19 infection a rate that is similar to the measles vaccine administered in early childhood. No safety concerns were observed, but as the trial continues those findings could change. measles vaccine Thats because the results are based on limited data from an early clinical trial, and its unclear whether the vaccine prevents infection or just reduces symptoms. This is a very timely and encouraging development in the race to get an effective vaccine. It is difficult to fully evaluate the interim data without more information but it appears that the vaccine is able to protect against COVID-19 disease, said Lawrence Young, a professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School. The big question is whether the vaccine can block virus infection and subsequent transmission. This additional data will be generated as further confirmed cases are identified and analyzed. said The promising results were met with both encouragement and skepticism by the broader scientific community, which by and large said that it remains cautiously optimistic. First and foremost, the results are interim and still await full trial results, meaning that these are non-peer-reviewed findings that were published midway through the clinical trial. Releasing the findings in the middle of a trial may further influence the integrity of the study, potentially biasing how future study participants respond or how their observations are reported. That could in turn make long-term follow-up with adequate randomization more challenging. There are other important limitations to the research that must be considered. Snopes read through the a 123-page study protocol document and found that while researchers describe the more than 43,000 participants as ethnically diverse," they do not specify other characteristics that may make an individuals infection more extreme, such as age or co-morbidities. And while it is written that study participants were between the ages of 18 and 85, their exact demographics were not known. Furthermore, individuals with a high risk of severe infection were excluded from the first phase of testing and the preliminary findings did not determine how long the vaccination lasts. protocol document NurPhoto / Contributor NurPhoto / Contributor Even after addressing the limitations, the results of an effective vaccine will not be felt immediately. With the best will in the world, this vaccine or any other vaccine currently in trials isnt going to change things for the majority of us this winter, said Elenor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh. said So, we all need to accept that the current public health measures are going to remain in place at least until the end of the winter, possibly longer. But if this vaccine lives up to this early promise, and other vaccines work equally well, we may be able to look forward to a much better summer and autumn in 2021. If the vaccine is proven to be robustly effective at the wider community level, experts warn that there must still be public trust and buy-in a challenge given some political leaders have been quick to dismiss the severity of the outbreak. Then there is the logistical challenge of manufacturing and distributing vaccines globally. First doses must be prioritized for health care workers and vulnerable populations. And a logistical challenge lies in manufacturing and rolling out a vaccine that needs to be stored and maintained at very low temperatures (-94 to -112 degrees Fahrenheit). As the world waits, experts warn that the promise of a vaccine cannot allow the findings to seed complacency and cause people to shy away from public health guidance. On the cusp of the vaccine candidate announcement, most nations in the world saw massive upticks in new coronavirus cases reported each day in October and November, according to data published by Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. On Nov. 4, 5, and 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 100,000 new coronavirus cases each day data reported Pfizer applied for an emergency use authorization (EUA) of the two-dose vaccine with the FDA on Nov. 20. At this point, researchers had collected two months of safety data required to use the drug in some cases. However, that does not constitute full approval of the drug. At the time of this writing, just 94 of the nearly 44,000 trial participants had contracted COVID-19 and the study is expected to continue until at least 164 people test positive. applied EUA Though the long-term safety and efficacy data remains to be seen, it is estimated that the manufacturers could produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021 to be distributed on an as-needed basis if a EUA is granted. The Pfizer study is estimated to be completed by Dec. 11, 2022. estimated Update [Nov. 20, 2020]: This article was updated to reflect Pfizers official filing of a EUA on Nov. 20. | 0 | [
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FMD4041 | 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: Says his views on reparations for slavery are the same as Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's.
contextual information: From single-payer health care to free college tuition for all, Bernie Sanders' policy proposals have been both dismissed and lauded as radical. However, when it comes to reparations for slavery, some criticize the Vermont senator and presidential candidate for holding a more conventional view. Sanders' opposition to reparations has been the subject of controversy after Ta-Nehisi Coates called him out in The Atlantic, writing, "Unfortunately, Sanders's radicalism has failed in the ancient fight against white supremacy." What he proposes in lieu of reparations—job creation, investment in cities, and free higher education—is well within the Overton window, and his platform on race echoes Democratic orthodoxy. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd followed up with Sanders about Coates' column on Jan. 24, asking, "Why aren't you for reparations because of slavery for African Americans when you're calling for economic justice on so many other levels? Why do you stop short on that issue?" Sanders responded, "Well, for the same reason that Barack Obama has and the same reason, I believe, that Hillary Clinton has. And that is, it is absolutely wrong and unacceptable that we have so much poverty in this country, and it is even worse in the African American community." Todd chided Sanders for not answering the question, but Sanders again deflected, stating it was for the same reasons as Obama and Clinton. Is it true that his position against reparations is the same as Clinton and Obama's views? Sanders is correct that Obama's opposition echoes his own. (Coates calls this the conventional Democratic philosophy of a rising tide lifts all boats.) Clinton's stance is less direct but largely follows the same rationale.
First, let's explain why Sanders is opposed to reparations for African Americans. When first asked about the issue by Fusion at the Jan. 11 Iowa Brown & Black Democratic Forum, Sanders stressed the political impracticability and polarizing nature of the proposal, suggesting prioritizing current economic inequality instead of compensating for past injustices. "First of all, its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil. Second of all, I think it would be very divisive. The real issue is when we look at the poverty rate among the African American community, when we look at the high unemployment rate within the African American community, we have a lot of work to do. So I think what we should be talking about is making massive investments in rebuilding our cities, in creating millions of decent-paying jobs, in making public colleges and universities tuition-free, basically targeting our federal resources to the areas where it is needed the most, and where it is needed the most is in impoverished communities, often African American and Latino." On Meet the Press, Sanders largely dropped the pragmatism argument (though he pushed back on the notion that his economic proposals are politically impossible) and focused instead on the second part of his rationale about improving economic conditions and schools for minorities.
So how does this mirror, if at all, the approach by Obama and Clinton? In 2007 and 2008, then-presidential candidate Obama voiced his opposition to reparations, arguing that the best way to amend for the past is to focus on the present and future. "I think the reparations we need right here in South Carolina is investment, for example, in our schools," Obama said in a July 2007 CNN debate. Obama couched his opposition somewhat differently in a 2007 NAACP presidential questionnaire. He stated that nothing, including reparations, can fully compensate for the stain of slavery before arguing that reparations could lead to negligence on other matters of racial injustices: "I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say 'we've paid our debt' and to avoid the much harder work of enforcing our anti-discrimination laws in employment and housing; the much harder work of making sure that our schools are not separate and unequal; the much harder work of providing job training programs and rehabilitating young men coming out of prison every year; and the much harder work of lifting 37 million Americans of all races out of poverty. These challenges will not go away with reparations. So while I applaud and agree with the underlying sentiment of recognizing the continued legacy of slavery, I would prefer to focus on the issues that will directly address these problems—and building a consensus to do just that." Obama explains he will not pursue reparations because the action could be used as an excuse not to work on other lingering problems for minorities. Here, Obama's comments sound different from Sanders.
Sanders and Obama sound more aligned in these comments by Obama from July 2008, which both Obama and the Sanders campaign pointed out: "You know, I have said in the past—and I'll repeat again—that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed. And, you know, I think that strategies that invest in lifting people out of the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, but that have broad applicability and allow us to build coalitions to actually get these things done, that, I think, is the best strategy. You know, the fact is that dealing with some of the legacy of discrimination is going to cost billions of dollars. And we're not going to be able to have that kind of resource allocation unless all Americans feel that they are invested in making this stuff happen. And so, you know, I'm much more interested in talking about how do we get every child to learn? How do we get every person health care? How do we make sure that everybody has a job? How do we make sure that every senior citizen can retire with dignity and respect? And if we have a program, for example, of universal health care, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because they're disproportionately uninsured. If we've got an agenda that says every child in America should be able to go to college, regardless of income, that will disproportionately affect people of color, because it's oftentimes our children who can't afford to go to college." Obama, as far as we can tell through searching Nexis, has not changed or revisited his stance on reparations since 2008.
Clinton's recent and past comments suggest her ideas for helping the black community are no different from Sanders' and Obama's. Clinton didn't directly answer the question about reparations at the Iowa Brown & Black Forum, but she also suggested investing in black communities and addressing poverty: "I think we should start studying what investments we need to make in | 1 | [
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FMD4042 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The government of China is ringing in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with a report praising itself for its commitment to human rights in Xinjiang, the westernmost province in which communist officials have taken large strides to strip public life of Islamic customs. [Xinjiang is home to most of the nation’s Muslim Uighur minority and borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Authorities in Beijing have expressed concern that Muslim separatist groups in the region are feeding the population of Islamic State jihadists in the group’s Middle Eastern strongholds in Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State recently released a video featuring Uighur terrorists who vowed to return home to conduct terrorist attacks there. China’s media ran the full report from the State Council Information Office on Thursday, which applauds the Chinese government for taking “effective measures to develop the economy, improve people’s living standards, enhance the of the public, promote ethnic unity and progress, and safeguard the basic rights of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. †“Normal religious needs of local people have been satisfied,†China’s Global Times asserts, citing the report. The text of the report asserts that “the people of all Xinjiang’s ethnic groups enjoy the same status and the same rights, and must fulfill the same obligations in accordance with the law. Their political rights as citizens are fully protected. †The report spends much of its energy on “environmental†rights, health care, and economic equality. On health care, for example, the report condemns the free government preceding the communist People’s Republic of China, claiming Xinjiang’s population suffered “a shortage of doctors and medicines, and epidemics of diseases, such as the plague, smallpox, and cholera. †It then goes on to claim that the Chinese government has successfully curbed radical Islamic terror in Xinjiang: Since the 1990s, violent terrorists, nationalist separatists, and religious extremists have plotted and committed a series of violent terrorist crimes, causing loss of life to and damaging the property of people of all ethnic groups … The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has taken a series of measures designed to strike against violent terrorist crimes, strengthen social protection and control, modernize the governance system and capacity, and safeguard the lives and property of all the people of Xinjiang, whatever their ethnic group. These measures include the promulgation and implementation of the Measures of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Enforcement of the Law of the People’s Republic of China. The report then asserts that China has protected freedom of religion in Xinjiang by expanding the government’s power to control religious practices by implementing “Regulations on of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region†and working to “strengthen management of religious affairs in accordance with the law. †The claims in the report echo those of a similar publication released almost exactly one year ago, titled “Freedom of Religious Belief in Xinjiang,†which asserted that “Normal religious activities in Xinjiang are protected by law, and religious organizations are responsible for coordinating internal religious affairs and the government should not interfere. †This year, the Chinese government white paper did not claim that the government had minimized its interference in religion, instead claiming its interference aided the “normal†practice of religion. The new report also emphasizes the government’s push to replace the Uighur language with “Putonghua,†or “common tongue†(Mandarin). “The Constitution stipulates that the state promotes the nationwide use of Putonghua in accordance with the law,†the report notes but asserts that the common use of Uighur in public is a sign the government protects the Uighur language. In reality, the Chinese government announced a nationwide campaign to eradicate languages in January, which corresponded with the development of a plan to promote intermarriage between Uighurs and the Han minority and the imposition of a variety of ordinances that prohibit overly Islamic activity in public. Among the activities prohibited in public in Xinjiang is the wearing of burqas in the capital city of Urumqi, the use of public transportation while wearing any Islamic garb, and the observance of the Ramadan fast by Communist Party officials. “If we think that someone may be fasting, we will invite them to the village office to ‘drink tea’ with us to see if they are fasting or not,†Alim Abdurahman, a Xinjiang official, told Radio Free Asia last year. The Chinese government also forces Muslim shops to carry a variety of alcohol and cigarette brands to encourage the violation of Quranic laws against the consumption of these products. Beijing has also banned Muslim parents in Xinjiang from giving their children overly religious names like “Islam,†“Jihad,†or “Muhammad. †| 1 | [
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FMD4043 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: I returned home the other night exhausted, quadriceps aching, twinges in my foot, salty with sweat. My husband asked me how my evening was. Glorious, I told him. I had spent 90 minutes in a gym crammed with 10 tables and assorted players, all coaxing and smacking a little ball over the net. By 9 p. m. I was exhilarated, depleted, triumphant. I had beaten two young men half my age and lost battles against worthy opponents. To a casual observer, the night was unremarkable. To me, it was a miracle. I had taken up during college, and in my 30s dove in more deeply, climbing the long stairway up to a table tennis center in Westfield, N. J. where I watched Olympic hopefuls and took lessons. Arthroscopy for torn knee cartilage soon sidelined me. Shortly afterward, a distracted driver made an illegal turn at a pedestrian crossing and drove directly into my bum knee. Joint replacements are a poor bet for . The surgeon did his best to repair my crushed knee, inserted a titanium screw, recommended I stay slim, advised against afternoons of power shopping, and told me never to jog or run again. Three months in a cast left my atrophied foot floppy and useless. Standing was excruciating. I hunted for shoes that could cushion my knee and set my sights on walking and climbing stairs again. Years later, I tried to play and limped for a week. I put the game out of my mind. When I was 53, a new challenge arrived. A dimple in my right breast proved malignant, so I underwent lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. By treatment’s end, clothing felt intolerable, and a stroll around the block winded me. My old knee injury hurt anew flesh around the scar felt fragile as old rubber bands. But I wanted to start fresh. I quit eating barbecue, shunned dairy, embraced kale. I attended therapy and a support group. At a $450 course in stress reduction, I learned to befriend painful stretches and breathe new life into atrophied muscles without injuring myself. One day my bad leg was working slightly better. The knee hadn’t been oppressively swollen in a while. I felt a flicker of hope. Could be feasible for me, now — in my condition, at my age? or table tennis as it is officially known, is one of the fastest racket sports, requiring muscular and cardiorespiratory endurance. Players need nimble footwork and upper body flexibility to return balls that can fly over 60 miles per hour, demanding faster response times than tennis or badminton. While energy expenditure tables list the sport as requiring four METS of energy, about the same as archery or bowling, skilled players can peak at 11. 7 METs during a match, said Alessandro Moura Zagatto, a sports physiologist and researcher at São Paulo State University in Brazil. That’s a workout comparable to intense racquetball or moderate rowing. ’s unique visual and spatial demands, strategy requirements and vigor may even offer benefits for the brain. A study of 164 Korean women age 60 and older showed that table tennis improved cognitive function more than dancing, walking, gymnastics or resistance training. Other research suggests may ease hyperactivity disorder. “The great thing about our sport is it can be played by anyone,†said Jimmy Butler, a national USA Table Tennis Association champion who overcame a debilitating muscle condition in his 20s and 30s to reclaim the title at age 44. “I see and . †Four years after completing radiation therapy, I set out to make my own dream a reality. First requirement: clothing that didn’t irritate hypersensitive skin. Silk shell and organic cotton sports bra, check. Second requirement: footwear that didn’t accidentally torque a damaged knee. White bowling shoes, check. My performance goals were realistic: Just be good enough that other players were willing to rally with me. No diving for crazy shots. Remember how to sweat. I arrived at my local table tennis club cautiously, a breathtakingly woman in a sea of men, some in their 20s, a handful over 80. A man with a kind face invited me to hit with him. After 20 minutes I wilted, but went home happy. My knee didn’t implode. I returned the following week, hit balls, lost matches. I fumbled with scorekeeping, but who cared about points? Just by playing I felt like a winner. It soon became obvious that I needed to remember mindfulness while at the table. I got too easily distracted by shouts from my opponent or stray balls flying wildly from other tables. I had to stay focused on the little ball. Keep alert to spin. Don’t rush the attack. Months passed, and almost imperceptibly, my stamina improved. Opponents started to compliment my shots. I won a game. I assumed it was a fluke. Then it happened again. These days, slamming aces feels wonderful. I keep a water bottle nearby as sweat rolls off me. I stop when tired and praise my flimsy knee for its good work. Some nights I play so joyfully, I can almost believe this sport is the fountain of youth. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4044 | 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: Do These Photographs Show the Same Spot in the Arctic 100 Years Apart? Claim summaries: A glacier comparison project documented some stark changes in the Arctic landscape across the span of a century.
contextual information: In early October 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a dire report stating that unprecedented efforts were needed to prevent the destabilization of Earth's climate. The report reignited, at least briefly, interest in global warming and climate change and drew social media's attention toward an image comparison supposedly documenting the stark changes seen in photographs of the same spot in the Arctic taken 103 years apart. This image comparison was part of a 2003 series created by photographer Christian Slund and Greenpeace, titled "Glacier Comparison Svalbard." The series, which featured seven such comparisons, used archival photographs from the Norwegian Polar Institute taken in the early 1900s and contemporary photographs shot in the same locations by Slund. The photographer talked briefly about this project in an interview with National Geographic in 2017: "What's the most remarkable assignment you've done for Greenpeace? It's got to be the glacier comparison that we did [at Svalbard] because it's interesting on so many levels—our access to the archives there from the early 1900s, and then being able to trace where the photographers were, because we didn't know exactly where they shot from. We had to track down where the photos were taken, then go on location and sort of follow their footsteps. It's been quite a few years. I shot this in 2003. Knowledge of climate change wasn't as common; our attitudes towards climate change were different. Now, more or less everyone knows it's a fact. It'd be interesting to go back and shoot from the exact same locations again." We came across a few comments underneath a posting of this viral photograph expressing skepticism that these pictures documented the results of climate change, rather than simply capturing ordinary seasonal changes. The top image, they posited, was taken in the winter, while the bottom image was snapped during the summer. We reached out to Slund for more information about the viral comparison images, and he told us that both photographs were taken during the summer months: "Both of the images are from the summer season. It was July when I took my image, and it should be around the same for the archive pic. You can see it on the lack of snow on the mountains; in winter, the peaks would be covered. Also, the lack of sea ice—there wouldn't be open water like that in the winter." Of course, these photographs alone don't "prove" climate change, but they are nonetheless visual records that document some significant differences seen in the Arctic landscape across the span of a century. Irfan, Umair. "Report: We Have Just 12 Years to Limit Devastating Global Warming." Vox. 8 October 2018. Brown, Rachel. "Pictures Show Climate Change's Dramatic Arctic Impact." National Geographic. 13 March 2017. | 1 | [
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FMD4045 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: This is about to get interesting. The Hollywood elite that has been imposing their liberal moral code on the rest of America for decades (without having to exhibit a shred of moral decency), is just about to be put to the test Charlotte Rampling has accused those complaining about a shortage of black nominees at this year s Oscars of anti- white racism .The 69-year-old, who is up for the Best Actress award, said that people should not be classified adding that nominations should be based on the performance.Responding to stars who have threatened to boycott the ceremony next month, she told a radio station yesterday: One can never really know but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list. Miss Rampling s remarks follow a week of debate about nominations for the Academy Awards, after it was revealed that no black actors were shortlisted for the second year running. There have been calls for a boycott, with Jada Pinkett Smith wife of Hollywood actor Will Smith writing on Facebook that: We must stand in our power. Begging for acknowledgement or even asking [to be nominated] diminishes dignity. It diminishes power and we are a dignified people. Others have demanded that the Academy bring in quotas however this was met with criticism from Miss Rampling.Speaking to French radio station Europe 1 yesterday, the British star said: Why classify people? We live in countries where everyone is more or less accepted. There are always issues like he is less good looking or he is too black . There is always someone who says you are too . So are we going to say that we will categorise all that to make lots of minorities everywhere? She said that she did not think racism played into the nomination process and that the lack of black stars up for awards could be because they have not earned them.She added: [The complaints are] anti-white racism. Maybe the black actors don t deserve to be on the final stretch? Fellow acting veteran Sir Michael Caine also weighed into the debate yesterday. He told the Today programme: You can t vote for an actor because he s black and you can t just say I m going to vote for him, he s not very good, but he s black, I ll vote for him . You have to give a good performance and I m sure people have. I saw Idris Elba (in Beasts Of No Nation) I thought he was wonderful. Via: UK Daily Mail | 0 | [
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FMD4046 | 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 Ree Drummond Leaving Food Network to Sell Keto Gummies? Claim summaries: We found the origin of a strange rumor that claimed Drummond was ending her long-running show, "The Pioneer Woman."
contextual information: In mid-May 2023, a false rumor circulated online claiming that author and food blogger Ree Drummond, better known as "The Pioneer Woman," was fired from or was leaving Food Network to focus on selling a line of weight loss keto gummies. If Drummond had truly decided to leave her TV job, it would have ended her long-running show on the network, which is also named "The Pioneer Woman." To be clear, Drummond has never created or endorsed any weight loss keto gummies products. Her image and likeness were used without permission, just as they had been in June 2022 by scammers who misleadingly claimed she was involved with CBD gummies. For years, scammers have exploited the images and likenesses of many celebrities to sell CBD and keto gummies without their permission. Oprah Winfrey, Tom Selleck, Tiger Woods, and the cast of "Shark Tank" are just a few examples of famous individuals whose names have been misused by scammers to promote these products. Unfortunately for these celebrities, some of the people who have been scammed still believe they were involved in the deception, even though none of them ever endorsed the products. Online commenters have expressed resentment toward the celebrities they once admired, suggesting that the scammers have tarnished the celebrities' reputations in the eyes of the scammed customers. The rumor that Drummond was leaving Food Network originated in ads on Facebook and Instagram, which were paid for by an unknown person or group. Anyone who clicked on the ads was led to scam websites like travel4fun.pro, which hosted pages designed to mislead readers into believing they were reading a People magazine article. The fake People magazine article featured the false headline, "Ree Drummond Confirms She is 'LEAVING' The Food Network After Her Accidental 'Live' Confession On-Air." The article misleadingly claimed that Drummond had created her own line of weight loss keto gummies. According to the story, the candy-like gummies could purportedly help people magically lose weight without diet or exercise. Drummond's supposed affiliation with the so-called "amazing miracle gummy" product clashed with Food Network's relationship with Weight Watchers, the scam article claimed. Furthermore, the story alleged that Food Network producers were unhappy with her weight. To be clear, none of this was true. The dramatic article was fabricated by scammers in an apparent effort to make the weight loss keto gummies appear more trustworthy to those who trust and admire Drummond. Actor Melissa McCarthy and singer Kelly Clarkson were also named in the story, despite having no connection to any weight-loss gummy products. One of the products mentioned alongside Drummond's name was True Form Keto + ACV Gummies. Upon clicking the link in the fake People magazine article, users were directed to the product order page, trueformbrands.com/v1. On this page, the creator of the website falsely claimed that Dr. Mehmet Oz endorsed the product, calling it "the 'Holy Grail' of weight loss," even though he never made such a statement. The product order page also referenced CBS News, NBC, CNN, Women's Health, Woman's World, Honolulu Magazine, and the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Journal. However, True Form Keto + ACV Gummies has never been featured by any of these publishers. These mentions served as misleading trust signals. For any readers who were scammed, we recommend contacting your credit card company or financial institution to inform them about what happened. We also suggest asking your credit card company to block future charges from the seller, as these scams often enroll customers in recurring charges of hundreds of dollars each month. Additionally, the terms and conditions on trueformbrands.com/v1 stated, "If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase of True Form Keto at any time, please call or email us at." The sentence ended with a space and a period, with no phone number provided for customer service. In the past, we have found that this omission of a phone number is common on product-order pages for keto gummies scams. Even in cases where a phone number has been available, it often led to a call center whose agents would not disclose any information about their identity or the name of their parent company, with secrecy seemingly being the norm. We advise readers to steer clear of any products that claim to offer a weight loss "miracle" without the need for diet or exercise. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4047 | 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: President Joe Bidens infrastructure proposal is fully paid for. Across 15 years, it would raise all of the revenue needed for these once-in-a-lifetime investments.
contextual information: After signing a coronavirus and economic relief plan into law, President Joe Biden turned to an infrastructure proposal as his next legislative priority. Cabinet members, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have fanned out to promote the presidents $2 trillion-plus package, while critics of the plan are complaining about the cost. In an interview on NBCs Meet the Press April 4, Buttigieg emphasized that the expenditures would be covered by revenue increases. The vision the president has put forward (in the infrastructure bill) is fully paid for,he said. Across 15 years, it would raise all of the revenue needed for these once-in-a-lifetime investments. The president himself re-emphasized the importance of this point in a speech touting the plan on April 7. Weve got to pay for this, he said. Buttigieg is largely correct, though there are some important caveats to note. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on NBCs Meet the Press on April 4, 2021. (Screenshot) Bidens proposal, called the American Jobs Plan, would provide funding for highways, bridges, ports, airports and transit systems, as well as infrastructure for water, the electric grid, and expanded high-speed Internet access. It would also support retrofitting and upgrading homes, commercial and federal buildings, schools, child care facilities and veterans hospitals, and it would invest in research and development. The proposal also includes items not traditionally considered infrastructure, such as funding to support home health care workers and job training, and pro-union provisions. In all, the proposal comes with a price tag of more than $2 trillion over a decade. To pay for it, Biden would lean heavily on new or higher taxes on corporations, including raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, preventing U.S. corporations from claiming an offshore tax haven as their place of business, eliminating tax preferences for fossil fuels, tightening tax enforcement by adding employees to the Internal Revenue Service, and changing other taxes that hit corporations. Republicans have attacked both the spending and revenue sides of Bidens proposal, arguing that some of the items in it are not really infrastructure, and that raising corporate tax rates could lead businesses to leave the United States. Biden said in his April 7 remarks that hes open to compromise on what a bill ultimately includes. For this article, well focus on whether the spending portions of the plan are equaled by the revenue-raising portions, as Buttigieg said. The White House pointed us to thefact sheetit has released on the plan, which makes that claim, but doesnt get into details. However, at least two independent groups have analyzed the plan and found that Buttigiegs formulation checks out. One was published by theCommittee for a Responsible Federal Budget. It found that the plan has approximately $2.65 trillion in new costs over eight years. Over the first 10 years, the group found, the plan would increase the deficit by about $900 billion. However, over a longer, 15-year period the one Buttigieg cited the plans revenues would match its expenses and would actually reduce deficits beyond that. The other analysis, published by the University of PennsylvaniasPenn Wharton Budget Model, came to a similar conclusion. The Penn group said the Biden plan would spend $2.7 trillion over 10 years and raise $2.1 trillion in that period, expanding the deficit by about $600 billion. However, the group found that over 15 years, it would generate more than $3.6 billion, which would be more than enough to cover its costs. Projections are always just that projections. Rght now, there is not even a formal bill, so the spending and revenue provisions could shift in either direction before theyre signed into law. For instance, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. whose support would be required for any Democratic bill has already said he wont support a corporate tax hike to anything higher than 25%. And under a 25% corporate tax, a lot of revenue would disappear. Similarly, some of the bills spending items could also disappear during lawmaker negotiations. Another asterisk is that these analyses are based on eight years worth of spending and 15 years of revenue increases, which is an unusual method. Typically, congressional legislation is judged based on what happens during a 10-year window. Buttigieg wouldnt have been able to say the plan paid for itself over the standard, 10-year budget window, so his focus on the 15-year time frame is a bit of cherry-picking. And the revenue impacts 15 years down the road are going to be harder to predict than the impacts in 10 years. That said, theres nothing economically significant about the 10-year window, said Marcos Dinerstein, an economist with the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Its just a convention. Just looking at a 10-year window can miss the benefits of policies like infrastructure and research and development that often take a while to start generating returns. Buttigieg said Bidens infrastructure proposal is fully paid for. Across 15 years, it would raise all of the revenue needed for these once-in-a-lifetime investments. Two independent analyses back up the notion that the new spending will be evened out by the new revenue raised in the plan after 15 years. But long-term projections like this are always tricky, and a 15-year time frame is unusual for evaluating the budget impact of legislation; under the typical 10-year time frame, the plan would not be fully paid for. We rate the statement Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4048 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Wall Street regulators began an exodus from Washington on Monday as Mary Jo White, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, announced plans to leave the agency. The decision makes Ms. White, a former federal prosecutor who has served more than two decades in the federal government, the first major Obama administration appointee to step down after Donald J. Trump’s upset victory last week. Other financial regulators are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks. The election of Mr. Trump is a for the S. E. C. — and for that matter, all financial agencies. Ms. White was expected to leave no matter the outcome of the election. But many Democrats had hoped that if Hillary Clinton won, she would choose a strong proponent of regulation to succeed Ms. White, whose policies often reflected a political middle ground. Now, the agency is almost certain to be pushed to the right. Mr. Trump has vowed to dismantle the financial regulatory overhaul Congress passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. And although will more likely be watered down than repealed, his appointments will no doubt shift the tone and priorities across financial regulatory agencies. The ’s biggest move on Wall Street could be his choice for Treasury secretary. Mr. Trump’s short list is said to include Steven Mnuchin, an investment manager and former Goldman Sachs partner who was Mr. Trump’s campaign finance chairman, and Representative Jeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Mr. Hensarling is still being considered, in part because of pressure from Congress, but Mr. Mnuchin is the favorite of Mr. Trump’s Wall Street backers, according to someone with direct knowledge but who was not authorized to speak publicly. A decision is expected within 10 days. Either way, the Trump Treasury Department might rein in the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a collection of regulators who examine financial risks and designate companies as systemically important. The Treasury secretary is chairman of the council and could effectively defang it, according to Ian Katz, a policy analyst at Capital Alpha who predicted that the council might essentially become “a quarterly kaffeeklatsch. †Mr. Trump was elected at a pivotal time for the S. E. C. an agency that had already turned a corner under Ms. White. Unlike Mary L. Schapiro, who inherited a S. E. C. after the financial crisis, Ms. White needed not to save the agency, but to modernize it, a task that the next administration also will face. Ms. White’s departure, which will take effect at the end of the Obama administration in January, will set off speculation about whom Mr. Trump will select to succeed her. Though such talks have barely begun, the field of potential contenders could include Michael S. Piwowar, a Republican commissioner at the agency. Paul S. Atkins, a former S. E. C. Republican commissioner who has advocated deregulatory policies, is leading Mr. Trump’s effort to select a new chair for the agency and could be a candidate. Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager who supported Mr. Trump’s candidacy, is also advising the transition team. “As the head of the S. E. C. you’ve got to get back into reffing the game properly and end the demonization of Wall Street,†Mr. Scaramucci said in an interview last week before his appointment to Mr. Trump’s transition team. As other of President Obama’s financial regulators step down, the firewall around his Wall Street legacy will start to crumble. Timothy Massad, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is expected to leave by early 2017, though he could briefly stay at the agency as a Democratic commissioner. An even bigger change could occur at the banking regulators — the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — which became a thorn in the side of Wall Street under President Obama. Martin J. Gruenberg and Thomas Curry, the leaders of the F. D. I. C. and O. C. C. will probably leave office next year when their terms expire, or possibly even sooner. Daniel Tarullo, the Federal Reserve governor who oversees many of the central bank’s regulatory efforts, is not expected to serve out his term through early 2022. He could leave early next year, which would deliver a blow to proponents of Wall Street regulation. With turnover at the S. E. C. Ms. White’s legacy could be in jeopardy as well. She oversaw a record number of enforcement actions and directed a rapid pace of based not only on but on regulations of her own making. Those initiatives were aimed at improving money market fund regulation and the broader asset management industry. “I think what we’ve done so far has been quite transformative and really modernized that core responsibility,†Ms. White said in a recent interview. Yet Ms. White has not completed more than a dozen rules, nor has she formalized a plan to require that financial advisers act in their clients’ best interests. Now that these initiatives will fall into the hands of a Republican chairman, they may come off the agenda. As it was, Ms. White, a political independent, drew criticism from liberal lawmakers who view her as the quintessential moderate. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who channels the populist outrage over Wall Street excess, even called on President Obama to designate a new S. E. C. leader because the agency had not required companies to disclose political contributions. In her first public remarks on the subject, Ms. White said in an interview that the criticism “really does come with the territory. †“I think I’m a very constructive recipient of constructive criticism,†she said, adding: “It’s not like you like people to beat on your head, whoever they are, however baseless it is. †Before the S. E. C. Ms. White was the first woman to become United States attorney in Manhattan, one of the most apolitical jobs in government. Earning a reputation as a tenacious prosecutor with an independent streak, Ms. White embraced the joke that her office was the United States attorney for the “sovereign,†rather than Southern, district of New York. “She’s not motivated by any special interest,†said Preet Bharara, a prosecutor under Ms. White who is now the United States attorney in Manhattan. “People may disagree from time to time, and, in fact, in any environment, it would be unnatural if there weren’t disagreement from special interests and adversaries. But she’s hyper smart and makes a decision immune from any political wind or political criticism, and I think that’s a good way to be. †Ms. White’s prosecutorial experience — she supervised the original investigation into Osama bin Laden — raised expectations for her enforcement agenda at the S. E. C. And in its last fiscal year, the agency brought a record 548 enforcement actions. In conjunction with Andrew J. Ceresney, the agency’s enforcement director, Ms. White reversed the S. E. C. ’s longstanding yet unofficial policy of allowing companies to neither admit nor deny wrongdoing. such admissions have been made since. Other “firsts†occurred under Ms. White and Mr. Ceresney: the first action against a major ratings firm, Standard Poor’s, and the first action against a company, KBR Inc. for inserting overly restrictive confidentiality agreements that could stifle . Some of the agency’s most novel cases came against private equity firms that failed to disclose fees and conflicts of interest. Ms. White is known for keeping a workaholic’s schedule. Colleagues said it was common for her to hold a 9 p. m. Sunday conference call, before dispatching night emails and placing a 5:30 a. m. call to senior staff. But she also promoted staff morale by holding coffee and doughnut sessions. Every holiday season, she would give a party for her staff at Rosa Mexicano restaurant, where she would hand out gifts to each of her aide’s children. Ms. White, a partial Yankees season ticket holder whose favorite moment as S. E. C. chairwoman came when throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game, said her dream job would be the first female baseball commissioner. “I really don’t think about what I’m doing next until I’m done,†she said, except, “If you have baseball commissioner to offer me, then I can tell you what my plans are. †| 1 | [
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FMD4049 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: We all know by now that Hillary Clinton will morph into whatever she needs to be to win votes to get back to the White House. Here s EXHIBIT 1 on just how far she ll go While speaking to a group of donors last February, Hillary mocked Bernie Sanders supporters and admitted the free college and free healthcare are just a ploy to win the votes of millennials The Intercept had this to say about Clinton s flip flopping:Clinton has been inconsistent in the past about espousing political labels. She has at times touted herself as stalwart liberal. For instance, she said last July: I take a backseat to no one when you look at my record in standing up and fighting for progressive values. But a few months later, she told a group in Ohio: You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty. AUDIO OF CLINTON MOCKING BERNIE SUPPORTERSCLINTON: Some are new to politics completely. They re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents basement. They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don t see much of a future. I met with a group of young black millennials today and you know one of the young women said, You know, none of us feel that we have the job that we should have gotten out of college. And we don t believe the job market is going to give us much of a chance. So that is a mindset that is really affecting their politics. And so if you re feeling like you re consigned to, you know, being a barista, or you know, some other job that doesn t pay a lot, and doesn t have some other ladder of opportunity attached to it, then the idea that maybe, just maybe, you could be part of a political revolution is pretty appealing. So I think we should all be really understanding of that and should try to do the best we can not to be, you know, a wet blanket on idealism. We want people to be idealistic. We want them to set big goals. But to take what we can achieve now and try to present them as bigger goals. | 0 | [
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FMD4050 | 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 the CDC operate as a 'Nonprofit Corporation' that is privately owned? 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 it became 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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FMD4051 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Orlando, FL The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, made a point during the busy inauguration time to call the husband of fallen Orlando Lieutenant Debra Clayton. Lt. Clayton was violently gunned down after making contact with wanted murderer, Markeith Loyd. After a week-long manhunt Loyd was taken into custody.According to WKMG, Lt. Debra Clayton s husband received a phone call from President-elect Donald Trump in the days after her death. Florida State Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Wednesday that Trump and Seth (Clayton s husband) had a brief, very touching, private conversation between two husbands. Lt. Debra Clayton left behind a devoted family and many relationships in the Orlando community.Lt. Debra Clayton was laid to rest during a three-hour funeral service, at the First Baptist Church of Orlando. Orlando Police Chief John Mina posthumously promoted (Master Sergeant) Clayton to the rank of Lieutenant. The crowd stood to its feet in applause.Read more: Blue Lives Matter | 0 | [
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FMD4052 | 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 unemployment rate for Wisconsin workers has reached historic lows. Its never been this low before, ever, ever, ever.
contextual information: If there's one thing President Donald Trump loves to boast about, it's jobs, jobs, jobs. During an April 27, 2019 rally in Green Bay, Trump made sure his supporters in Wisconsin knew just how good the state unemployment rate had become. "The unemployment rate for Wisconsin workers has reached historic lows," Trump told the crowd. "It's never been this low before, ever, ever, ever." As of March 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Wisconsin had a 2.9 percent unemployment rate. But was there ever a time in history when it was even lower? We decided to do some digging. The historical data from the BLS shows Wisconsin has been on a downward spiral of unemployment since the height of the financial crisis in 2009. Since then, the highest unemployment rate recorded in Wisconsin reached 9.3 percent, with the lowest being where it stands now at 2.9 percent. But was there a time it was ever below that figure? BLS spokesman Gary Steinberg says it has been close, but the 2.9 percent is the lowest unemployment rate for Wisconsin on record. Unemployment rate data for Wisconsin are comparable back to 1976, Steinberg said. The unemployment rate of 2.9 percent in both January and February 2019 is the lowest on record. Nationally, Wisconsin's 2.9 percent in March 2019 left it tied with Idaho and Virginia, meaning Wisconsin ranked eighth in the country. North Dakota and Vermont tied for first with a 2.3 percent unemployment rate. Alaska, meanwhile, was at the bottom with an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent. Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development reported the state added 11,400 total non-farm jobs and 19,300 private-sector jobs from February of 2018 to February of 2019. Meanwhile, Wisconsin's labor force participation rate—a measuring stick that looks at the other side of the equation—was 67.5 percent in February, which was more than four points better than the national rate. Our rating: Trump said Wisconsin had the lowest unemployment rate ever at a recent rally in Green Bay. The available data backs up his claim that Wisconsin hasn't had a lower unemployment rate than its 2.9 percent. We rate Trump's claim True. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4053 | 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: Quotes from Hillary Clinton that are reminiscent of Marxist ideology. Claim summaries: A quiz about list of various statements supposedly made by Hillary Clinton.
contextual information: Claim: List reproduces various "Marxist" statements made by Hillary Clinton. Example: [Collected via e-mail, August 2007] A little history lesson: If you don't know the answer make your best guess Answer all the questions before looking at the answers. Who said it? 1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." A. Karl MarxB. Adolph HitlerC. Joseph StalinD. None of the above 2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity." A. LeninB. MussoliniC. Idi AminD. None of the Above 3) "(We) ... can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people." A. Nikita KhrushevB. Josef GoebbelsC. Boris YeltsinD. None of the above 4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground." A. Mao Tse DungB. Hugo ChavezC. Kim Jong IlD None of the above 5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed." A. Karl MarxB. LeninC. MolotovD. None of the above 6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched." A. PinochetB. MilosevicC. Saddam HusseinD. None of the above Answers: (1) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/29/2004(2) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 5/29/2007(3) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(4) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(5) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 6/4/2007(6) D. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Clinton 9/2/2005 Be afraid. Be very, very afraid and voteAnybody (woman) that would vote for her just because they think it's time for a female president has got to be out of their lunatic mind! Origins: This list of purported "Marxist" quotes by former first lady, senator, presidential candidate, and secretary of state Hillary Clinton is (like many collections of utterances from various political figures) difficult to rate as strictly "true" or "false": She did make the statements reported above, but they have all been stripped of any explanatory context, and some of them had portions elided, creating potentially misleading impressions about the nature of those statements. Below we verify the source and complete wording of each statement on this list and provide the context in which it was made. (All of these entries date from between 2004 and 2007, during which time Hillary Clinton represented the state of New York in the U.S. Senate.) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." This statement by Senator Hillary Clinton was not (as commonly assumed) addressed to the general public, but rather to a group of relatively well-to-do Democrats attending a June 2004 fundraiser for California senator Barbara Boxer. Her statement specifically referred to a desire to repeal tax cuts that had recently been enacted by the Bush administration, cuts which many Democrats had criticized as favoring the wealthy: tax cuts Headlining an appearance with other Democratic women senators on behalf of Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is up for re-election this year, Hillary Clinton told several hundred supporters some of whom had ponied up as much as $10,000 to attend to expect to lose some of the tax cuts passed by President Bush if Democrats win the White House and control of Congress. "Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you," Sen. Clinton said. "We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few ... And to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity." This entry is a pieced-together passage from a 29 May 2007 economic policy speech given by Senator Clinton on the subject of "Modern Progressive Vision: Shared Prosperity." The supposedly "Marxist" nature of this statement is undercut when the sentences that immediately followed it (affirming support for a free market economy) are included for context: speech It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few and for the few, time to reject the idea of an "on your own" society and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity. I prefer a "we're all in it together" society. Now, there is no greater force for economic growth than free markets, but markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed. When we get our priorities in order and make the smart investments we need, the markets work well. "(We) ... can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people." "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own in order to create this common ground." "I certainly think the free-market has failed." The above three statements are all out-of-context passages taken from a 4 June 2007 CNN "Presidential Forum" conducted with three Democratic presidential hopefuls, senators John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. The second statement was part of a straightforward expression of the need to for people to reach a consensus (through metaphorically giving up some of their political "turf," not literally giving up their possessions) on how to proceed in order to tackle an issue such as universal health insurance, while the first statement is another pieced-together quote that omits the contextual references to the issues of health care, dependence on foreign oil, and climate change: Presidential Forum We can set the vision. We can even work to articulate the goal. But the pathway is extraordinarily complicated because of how we live today andhow we think of ourselves in relation to our fellow citizens. Take health care. I think we could get almost unanimous agreement that having more than 45 million uninsured people, nine million of whom are children, is a moral wrong in America. And I think we could reach that agreement, and then we would have to start doing the hard work of deciding what we were going to do to make sure that they were not uninsured, because an uninsured person who goes to the hospital is more likely to die than an insured person. I mean, that is a fact. So, what do we do? We have to build a political consensus. And that requires people giving up a little bit of their own turf, in order to create this common ground. The same with energy you know, we can't keep talking about our dependence on foreign oil, and the need to deal with global warming, and the challenge that it poses to our climate and to God's creation, and just let business as usual go on. And that means something has to be taken away from some people. The third statement was part of a passage in which Senator Clinton listed a number of entities (including churches, schools, and the government, as well as the free market) that she felt had failed in helping young people to make responsible decisions (particularly in reference to abortion): Q: Could you see yourself, with millions of voters in a pro-life camp, creating a common ground, with the goal ultimately in mind of reducing the decisions for abortion to zero? A: Yes. Yes. And that is what I have tried to both talk about and reach out about over the last many years, going back, really, at least 15 years, in talking about abortion being safe, legal, and rare. And, by rare, I mean rare. And it's been a challenge, because the pro-life and the pro-choice communities have not really been willing to find much common ground. And I think that is a great failing on all of our parts, because, for me there are many opportunities to assist young people to make responsible decisions. There is a tremendous educational and public outreach that could be done through churches, through schools, through so much else. But I think it has to be done with an understanding of reaching people where they are today. We have so many young people who are tremendously influenced by the media culture and by the celebrity culture, and who have a very difficult time trying to sort out the right decisions to make. And I personally believe that the adult society has failed those people. I mean, I think that we have failed them in our churches, our schools, our government. And I certainly think the, you know, free market has failed. We have all failed. We have left too many children to sort of fend for themselves morally. "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched." This passage was taken from a 2 September 2005 appearance by Senator Clinton in front of constituents in Elmira Heights, New York, where (in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina) she expressed her opinion about the need for federal regulatory oversight of the oil industry in order to curb high gasoline prices and U.S. dependence on foreign oil: The anxiety and anger felt by motorists was evident at nearly every turn in her travels throughout the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. She made clear she shared the concern. "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in our entire economy that they're being watched," she said in explaining her call for an inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission. "I think human nature left to itself is going to push the limit as far as possible, and that's what you need a government regulatory system for: to keep an eye on people to make the rules of the game fair, to make a level playing field and not give anybody some kind of undue advantage." Clinton criticized the new energy bill, which she opposed, as inadequate to solve the country's long-term energy problem. She said the United States has regressed over the past three decades, since the first oil shocks of the early 1970s. "We've had 30 years to do some things we haven't done," she said. "In fact we've gotten, we've gone backwards in many respects. "I am tired of being at the mercy of people in the Middle East and elsewhere, and I'm tired frankly of being at the mercy of these large oil companies," Clinton said. Last updated: 30 March 2015 Fouhy, Beth. "San Francisco Rolls Out the Red Carpet for the Clintons." Associated Press. 29 June 2004. CNN. "The Situation Room: Sojourners Presidential Forum." 4 June 2007. | 2 | [
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FMD4054 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The militant group Boko Haram released a video on Sunday purporting to show the bodies of several kidnapped schoolgirls who fighters claim were killed by Nigerian airstrikes. A masked, camouflaged fighter who appeared in the video said many of the schoolgirls had died in the strikes, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant jihadist groups. The unidentified fighter also demanded the release of imprisoned militants in exchange for the release of the girls. The strikes are part of a broader offensive by the Nigerian military to rid the region of Boko Haram. The abduction of more than 250 schoolgirls from Chibok, a small village in northeastern Nigeria, more than two years ago set off global outrage and a social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls that got the attention of Michelle Obama. Hundreds of other girls and boys have also been kidnapped and murdered by the group. There was no immediate comment from the government or the military about the video, although President Muhammadu Buhari said last year that he was open to negotiating with the group. A spokesman for the Bring Back Our Girls campaign said the video appeared to be legitimate, noting that families of those kidnapped had recognized eight of the girls who appeared in the clip. “We are still reaching out to some parents to see if any can recognize more,†said Jeff Okoroafor, the spokesman for the group, which regularly holds rallies in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, to demand that the government find and rescue the girls. The video is among a handful that Boko Haram has posted online in recent days, as the militant group appears to have split into two factions, apparently over the killing of other Muslims and whether fellow believers should be spared. The group has targeted mosques and markets with suicide bombers, some of whom are young girls and boys. Hundreds of Muslims have been killed. Boko Haram pledged support to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, last year, and two primary factions have emerged. One faction has been recognized by the Islamic State, which broadcast an interview with a new “governor†of the group, Abu Musab in its online publication. Abubakar Shekau had been leading Boko Haram but had not been heard from in months until the release of a voice recording on Aug. 3. Jacob Zenn, a security analyst and an African affairs specialist at the Jamestown Foundation, a research organization based in Washington, said it appeared that the girls in the video were in the custody of Mr. Shekau’s group. Logos seen in the video and a reference to Mr. Shekau as the leader indicated that it was produced by his faction, he said. Mr. Shekau’s faction “has significant logistics capabilities if it has been able to keep so many of the world’s most girls hidden and captive for more than two years now,†Mr. Zenn said. Many analysts believe the girls have been divided among Boko Haram fighters and are scattered throughout the Sambisa Forest, where the Nigerian military has stepped up its offensive against the militants in a battle that has recently included airstrikes. In the video, the camera pans across a group of girls cloaked in robes with hair coverings. At least one is holding a small child, a troubling reminder of fears that the girls have been forced to marry militants. The video cuts to a fighter in camouflage standing before them, calling on the government to release fighters. He conducts a brief interview with one of the girls, as others are grouped behind them. The last few minutes of the video show what appear to be the bodies of several dead girls. Earlier this year, members of Nigeria’s civilian militia found one of the kidnapped Chibok girls wandering in the forest. The girl, Amina Ali, was found with a baby and man claiming to be her husband, although the government said he was a member of Boko Haram. She told her family that the other girls from Chibok were still in the forest and that six of them had died. | 1 | [
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FMD4055 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Legal Insurrection – by Leslie Eastman
About one-year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state’s assisted-suicide bill into law. It fully went into effect this June, with the opening of the first clinic . While there is no data on the number of California assisted-suicides, Oregon recorded over 130 last year as part of their legalized physician-assisted death program.
Now, one young mother says her insurance company denied her coverage for chemotherapy treatment after originally agreeing to provide the fiscal support for it, but indicated it would be willing to pay for assisted suicide instead.
Stephanie Packer, a wife and mother of four who was diagnosed with a terminal form of scleroderma, said her insurance company initially indicated it would pay for her to switch to a different chemotherapy drug at the recommendation of her doctors.
…But shortly after California’s End of Life Option Act, which authorizes physicians to diagnose a life-ending dose of medication to patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live, went into effect, Ms. Packer’s insurance company had a change of heart.
“And when the law was passed, it was a week later I received a letter in the mail saying they were going to deny coverage for the chemotherapy that we were asking for,” Ms. Packer said.
She said she called her insurance company to find out why her coverage had been denied. On the call, she also asked whether suicide pills were covered under her plan.
“And she says, ‘Yes, we do provide that to our patients, and you would only have to pay $1.20 for the medication,’” Ms. Packer said.
Packer attends meetings with others suffering from terminal illnesses. She indicates that the tone of those meetings have changed since the California assisted-suicide law was enacted.
“As soon as this law was passed – and you see it everywhere, when these laws are passed – patients fighting for a longer life end up getting denied treatment, because this will always be the cheapest option.”
Packer attends a support group for terminally ill patients. She said legally sanctioned suicide has changed the tone of the meetings, which used to be “positive and encouraging.” With patients under new societal pressure to kill themselves, she said meetings “became negative, and it started consuming people. And then they said, ‘You know what? I wish I could just end it.’”
Concerned about the enormous potential for abuse, a the national organization, Patients Rights Action Fund, has created a website for patients like Packer. The online resource offers a place for patients, family members, concerned friends to report possible coercion, failure to identify depression or other patient mental health concerns, and complications that arise from the overdose prescription or other aspects of the assisted-suicide process. Were you or someone you know pressured to use assisted suicide, misleadingly known as ‘death with dignity’ or ‘aid in dying’? Did you or a loved one have a chronic, life-threatening illness and personal circumstances where you/they felt like suicide or assisted suicide was your only option? Did a doctor advise you or someone you know of a prognosis of 6 months or less that was wrong by months, years, or even decades? Were you or a loved one denied coverage for a life-sustaining treatment or medication by your HMO or insurance company?
During his Gettysburg Address describing the first 100 days in office if he is elected President, Donald Trump indicated he would work to replace Obamcare with health savings accounts, remove barriers to purchasing health insurance across state lines, allow states to manage Medicaid funds and speed up drug approval inside the Food and Drug Administration.
However, his election would be too late help many terminally-ill Californians who are now experiencing the unintended, but quite predictable, consequence of yet another feel good progressive policy. | 0 | [
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FMD4056 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: China will keep up its years-long battle against smog to ensure blue skies and promote a revolution in clean energy, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of a key Communist Party congress. Improving the notoriously toxic air across the northern regions of the world s second-largest economy has been a cornerstone of Beijing s economic and social policy in recent years. China has ordered factories to cut output in a bid to enforce bigger emission cuts in coming months and avoid a repeat of the near-record levels of choking smog that enveloped key northern areas at the start of the year. In the long term, it has also launched a series of measures to curb the use of coal, the nation s favorite fuel, and boost use of renewable power, like wind and solar. The government will also take measures to improve rural areas by restoring soil and waterways, Xi added, as China moves to modernize its vast agricultural sector. | 1 | [
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FMD4057 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 28, 2016 | Politics , Science The problem we have to solve is, as Howard Zinn told us, not too much civil disobedience, but too much civil obedience.
Your purchases at Amazon.com via affiliate links below will help support FPJ at no extra cost to you.
B ack in the winter of 1982, Air Florida flight 90 took off from National Airport. The first officer noticed dangerous readings on some instruments and pointed them out to the captain. The captain told him he was wrong, and he accepted the captain’s authority. He did nothing. Thirty seconds later the plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge. Everyone on board died except for four passengers rescued out of the icy river.
During the latter decades of the 20th and first part of the 21st century, millions and millions of first officers on spaceship earth noticed that climate and nuclear dangers loomed. But every authoritative captain in sight, from elected officials to CEOs to media pundits, said “Don’t be a fool. I’ve got this.” And millions upon millions sat back and mumbled “Oh, all right, if you’re sure.”
The people pushing through the vote this week at the United Nations to create a treaty next year banning nuclear weapons are engaged in necessary disobedience to mainstream authority and acceptance. The people putting their bodies in the way of a pipeline in North Dakota are disobeying immoral orders.
Ira Chaleff’s book, Intelligent Disobedience , re-examines the lessons of the Milgram and Stanford prison experiments, and other more recent demonstrations of the severe dangers of uncritical obedience. Chaleff highlights some techniques that can facilitate intelligent refusals to obey.
When Milgram put the actor pretending to be given electric shocks in the same room, visible to the person ordered to shock him, obedience dropped by 40 percent. This suggests we need fewer trips to Disney World and more to Hiroshima, fewer student exchanges to England and more to Russia and Iran, fewer summer jobs at the local swimming pool and more at the nearest climate-impacted site in need of assistance.
Milgram also got obedience to drop by 20 percent by removing the authority figure from sight and having him deliver his orders by telephone. This does not suggest demonizing or antagonizing authority figures, but rather distancing and diminishing them. We need to metaphorically bring them down to size, and we need to physically and otherwise get away from them. Throw out your television to get their faces out of your living room. Read the news online as needed. Practice kneeling during the national anthem; it’ll give you a whole new outlook in which hearing a civilian refer to “our commander in chief” sounds frighteningly out of place.
Milgram reduced obedience by 100% by having a second authority figure contradict the first one. As long as people are going to practice subservient obedience, we need to identify and recruit and broadcast all apparent authority figures who contradict the destructive orders of the mainstream authorities. Who counts as an authority figure may vary from person to person, but we don’t have to choose. The more the murkier!
We also need to lead by example. Even when Milgram’s lone authority figure ordered shocks, if the subject of the experiment saw someone else refuse to obey, then 90% of the time he or she would also refuse. This is a huge opening for us. But it does not mean that we can create a little Eco village and thereby save the world. It does mean that doing that will help. But we need examples of people challenging the entire system that deals weapons and subsidizes fossil fuels. And we need lots of examples so that everyone watching can see someone who looks like them engaged in constructive disobedience.
In warfare, militaries condition people to obey immoral orders through, among other things, a number of distancing techniques. It’s easy to murder someone far away or unseen. It’s easier to order someone else to do it. It’s easier to be part of a group doing it together. It’s easier to think of it as defending someone else rather than simply committing murder. We have to reverse all of this distancing. We have to put the victims and potential victims of war and of climate chaos right up close to the vision of as many people as possible. We have to create unavoidable responsibility. The bill in the British parliament that would allow people to choose whether to pay war taxes is one possible approach. We have to make those engaged in ordinary, typical muddling through understand that as long as they fail to take radical action they are engaged in the slow but massive taking of human life.
We should replace the pledge of allegiance with the Nuremberg principles and the Hippocratic oath. The problem we have to solve is, as Howard Zinn told us, not too much civil disobedience, but too much civil obedience. | 0 | [
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FMD4058 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Previous Next Megyn Kelly Could Be Out-Is Judge Jeanine Her Replacement At Fox News?
Although, as of this printing, nothing is official, but numerous rumors are swirling on New York City talk radio circles that F ox News is planning to replace Megyn Kelly with Justice Jeanine Pirro due to plummeting ratings and a total loss of credibility with Fox viewers.
Kelly’s most recent fall from grace came when Newt Gingrich eviscerated her on her own show over her biased coverage of Donald Trump’s alleged issues, while almost totally ignoring Hillary Clinton’s sociopathic and criminal behaviors.
This past Tuesday night on Fox News, host Megyn Kelly provoked Donald Trump supporter Newt Gingrich into a rage by insisting that Trump’s alleged history of sexual predation is a story worth covering. Gingrich, told Megyn Kelly that “ You are fascinated by sex and you don’t care about public policy. ” He followed up that outburst by demanding that Kelly repeat his words about Bill Clinton: “I want to hear you use the words, ‘ Bill Clinton, sexual predator .’ Say, ‘Bill Clinton, sexual predator. ’ ” Being that it was her show and she control the microphone, Kelly ended the interview ended with Kelly telling Gingrich, “ You can take your anger issues and spend some time working on them .” Fireworks on FAUX NEWS! Further, this shift accentuates the fact that Trump is leading Clinton by an overwhelming majority and Kelly has aligned with the losing side and it is going to cost her the coveted career that she has worked all of her life to obtain.
Since the Gingrich interview, Kelly’s already declining ratings, the result of her incessant Trump bashing, took a nose dive into the toilet and emptied out into the local sewer. Megyn Kelly is not likely to recover from the fact that she has been exposed as a Clinton supporter and denier of her crimes. Look for Judge Jeanine Pirro to take her place in the 9-10 PM Eastern time slot. Meanwhile, Sean Hannity’s ratings continue to climb for all the obvious reasons.
The Trump crowd has spoken, Megyn Kelly is on the wrong side of history. | 0 | [
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FMD4059 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Regarding the dissenting justices: Um, what the hell? Aren’t hard-line paleo-conservatives supposed to be against frivolous lawsuits? Of course they are. And of course the King v Burwell case was absolutely a frivolous lawsuit. The entire law could have potentially collapsed over a lawsuit that disputed the existence of seven words in an otherwise massive piece of legislation. Those seven words: “through an exchange established by the state.†That was the basis of the whole thing. The plaintiffs argued that based on those words, the federal government could only provide subsidies for lower income Americans who purchased insurance through a state-run exchange.
In other words, the lawsuit claimed that Obamacare insurance customers in all states that use the national Healthcare.gov marketplace shouldn’t get subsidies to help cover premium costs. What’s perfectly clear in the language, however, is that the governments of each state decides which exchange its citizens will have to use: either a state-run marketplace or the federal exchange. Case in point: Hawaii was the first state to form a state-based exchange: the Hawaii Health Connector. But just the other day, Democratic governor David Ige announced that the Health Connectors was financially unfeasible and opted to shut it down, transferring all customers to the Healthcare.gov. This is purely a state decision and therefore the subsidies ought to still apply.
In Roberts’ majority opinion, the chief justice wrote that in the context of the law as a whole (many more than seven words in length), the claim against the word usage was “untenable.†Of course. To any sentient, thinking human, untenable is right.
So, back to Scalia, Alito and Thomas. The fact that three Supreme Court justices sided with the plaintiff on Burwell proves how ideological and dumb those three justices truly are. To anyone with a basic grasp on reality, the language in the law is clear and incontrovertible. But in the far-right bubble, grasping desperately for anything that could undermine the law is de rigueur for the GOP, including nearly 60 votes so far to destroy the law in spite of the fact that President Obama would never in a million years sign such legislation. The flailing has become so pathetic that three justices in the highest court in the land sided in support of an hilariously frivolous lawsuit.
I’m old enough to remember a time when the Republican Party actively campaigned in support of tort reform, especially in the healthcare field. Indeed, tort reform is still a plank in the GOP platform. But lately, the congressional Republicans have gone all gushy for frivolous lawsuits, going so far as to sue Obama on numerous occasions. Rather than doing its job and actually, you know, legislating, Republicans from Speaker Boehner on down the line have opted instead for silly lawsuits aimed at various actions by the White House. For example, before the Defense of Marriage Act was repealed, Boehner tried to sue Obama and his Justice Department for not enforcing the law. Elsewhere, tea party senator Ron Johnson tried to sue Obama over Congress’ alleged “exemption from Obamacare.†The latter suit was egregiously and offensively frivolous since Congress isn’t exempt from Obamacare at all. In fact, the law requires members of Congress and staffers who want employee-based coverage to get it through Healthcare.gov. Obama merely authorized a rule that was requested by, yes, Speaker Boehner to continue allowing the government to share the premium costs. So, Johnson was basically suing over a semantic trick — the patently false claim that Congress was exempt from Obamacare was intended to infuriate the base and make it seem as if Congress carved out a special loophole for itself, which Obama subsequently signed. The reality is that proud Republican Ron Johnson was merely exploiting the ignorance of the GOP base, assuming it’d go around believing that Congress was truly exempt, even though it’s not at all. Obamacare expert and Yale law professor Abbe Gluck told The Washington Post on Thursday, “[The decision] sends a strong signal to people who politically oppose the law that the court understands the law and is not going to tolerate more of this frivolous litigation that tries to destroy the statute by distorting it.†Here’s to hoping Gluck is right and the Burwell decision is the end of all this nonsense. Really, we’ve reached a point when Republicans who visit the White House will accidentally spill hot coffee in their laps just so they have an excuse to hire the nearest Jackie Chiles rent-an-attorney and stick it to Obama once and for all. (For another fantastic “Seinfeld†reference, see also Simon Maloy’s takedown of the Burwell case here.) | 1 | [
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FMD4060 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Hillary would like American voters to believe the alt-right media (new nickname for media who s not afraid to out her and the Clinton Crime family) is out to get her and they would be correct. Hillary and Bill have been given a pass by the mainstream media for decades. Thanks to alternative media sources, Hillary is no longer able to behave like the queen of the Clinton Crime Syndicate and get away with it. Hillary should be afraid of the alt-right boogeyman they can t be bought and won t be frightened by the Clinton Crime family. And best of all, they re not going away until every American knows the truth about #CrookedHillary #HillarysBoogeyMen #Trump #Breitbart @RealAlexJones #pepe #pickle #Brexit #Putin #Harambe https://t.co/Oj98iIxEAZ pic.twitter.com/L2pQjUmdef BenGarrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) August 29, 2016Here s Hillary interrupting her seizures, coughing fits and 3-day naps to call out the Alt-right : | 0 | [
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FMD4061 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President-Elect Trump Invites An Excited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu To Come Visit “The bond between the U.S. and Israel is based on shared values, shared interests and a shared future. I am sure that President-elect Trump and I will continue to strengthen the unique alliance between Israel and the U.S. and we will bring them to ever greater heights,” he added. 16, 2016 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is looking forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump on “the twin interests of peace and security.”
“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3 (KJV)
EDITOR’S NOTE: After enduring 8 years of a pro-Muslim, anti-Israel president , you can well imagine Benjamin Netanyahu’s excitement at a Donald Trump presidency. At the same time, it will be Trump’s very support that God will use to usher in some dramatic fulfillment of end times events. As we have been telling you – warning you – for over a year now, when Trump moves the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel, get ready to fly. We here at NTEB believe that the move will trigger the Psalm 83 war, or worse, and that the Rapture of the Church will then be right around the corner. If you have something you want to get done for the Lord, do it now.
In a satellite address to the Jewish Federations of North America ’s annual General Assembly in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu urged President Barack Obama to continue America’s “longstanding policy” of supporting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and not pursue other avenues. Israel is concerned that Obama will use his final days in office to push for a UN Security Council resolution that will impose a two-state solution to the conflict.
“I, for one, find great encouragement in the fact that there’s this continuity of friendship,” Netanyahu said . “I very much hope that President Obama will continue the policy that he enunciated,” Netanyahu said, referring to comments made by the outgoing president at the beginning of his first term. “The only way you get a workable and enduring peace is to have the parties agree to it. This is what has happened with our peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan. PM Netanyahu Congratulates US President-Elect Donald Trump:
“We’ve had convulsions in the Middle East, and yet these peace treaties hold because they were directly agreed to by the parties,” he added. “The reason we’ll object to any such effort is because it will harden the Palestinian position, and because it will harden the Palestinian position, it will push peace back.” Netanyahu added that he is hoping to nurture the recent “quiet diplomacy” Israel has had with Arab nations with the future Trump administration.
The day after the Republican candidate rocked the world by winning the election, he invited Netanyahu to visit Washington at the “first opportunity.” The prime minister and president-elect “who have known each other for many years, had a warm, heartfelt conversation” over the phone, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said .
Netanyahu responded by saying that he and his wife Sara were excited to visit the incoming commander-in-chief and his wife Melania. Netanyahu congratulated Trump earlier in the day, calling the president-elect “a true friend of the State of Israel.” Donald Trump vows to protect Israel: “We will work together to advance security, stability and peace in our region,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“The bond between the U.S. and Israel is based on shared values, shared interests and a shared future. I am sure that President-elect Trump and I will continue to strengthen the unique alliance between Israel and the U.S. and we will bring them to ever greater heights,” he added.
The son of the late president Shimon Peres, Chemi Peres, also congratulated Trump in his speech to the Jewish Federations General Assembly.
“I would like to wish President-elect Trump the best of luck,” he said. “I am sure he will maintain the unbreakable link between Israel and the U.S., at the core of which are the unwavering support of Israel’s security and the forever-extended hand for peace.” source SHARE THIS ARTICLE | 0 | [
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FMD4062 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Republican White House candidate Donald Trump stole the social media spotlight during Monday night’s U.S. presidential debate on at least one count | 1 | [
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FMD4063 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Join Patrick every Wednesday at Independent Talk 1100 KFNX and Alternate Current Radio for the very best in news, views and analysis on all top stories domestically and abroad THIS WEEK: Episode 10 This week we briefly cover a few big stories including the upcoming US Presidential Inauguration and Obama s pardon and imminent release of Private Bradley-Chelsea Manning which looks to trigger Julian Assange s surrender to US authorities.In our main feature segment, host Patrick Henningsen is joined by special guest Jay Dyer, author of the new book Esoteric Hollywood, to discuss Hollywood and how deep state politics, propaganda, social engineering and occult symbolism is baked into some of the biggest blockbuster films of our time. Listen Listen to EP 10: Patrick Henningsen LIVE with Jay Dyer on Spreaker.This program broadcasts LIVE every Wednesday night from 8pm to 9pm MST, right after the Savage Nation, on Independent Talk 1100 KFNX over the terrestrial AM band across the greater Phoenix and central Arizona region, and live over global satellite and online via www.1100kfnx.com.LISTEN TO MORE INTERVIEWS AT PATRICK HENNINGSEN LIVE SHOW ARCHIVES | 0 | [
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FMD4064 | 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: Data that has been altered or distorted. Claim summaries:
contextual information: FACT CHECK: Is President Obama compiling a "secret race database" comprised of "sensitive personal data"? Claim: President Obama is compiling a secret race database comprising Americans' sensitive personal data. False. WHAT'S EXTANT: Data collection methods used by agencies such as HUD track demographic patterns, including race and integration trends. WHAT'S /CONJECTURE: The Obama administration is collecting demographic data for a broader racial purpose; the practice is new, and the openly compiled data comprises a "secret race database." Example: [Collected via e-mail and Twitter, July 2015] According to an article in the New York Post, President Obama is collecting a nefarious "secret race database." How much of this is true, and how much is misleading hype? So who are the racists again? Obama is collecting personal data for a secret race database. Yes, Nick $earcy! (@yesnicksearcy) July 19, 2015. This is movie-level horror material, yet it's happening. It's real life. Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 19, 2015. I favor equal opportunity, not government forcing equal results. This is Affirmative Action on steroids: Senator Dick Black (@SenRichardBlack) July 19, 2015. Obama is collecting Americans' personal info for a secret race database. This makes my skin crawl. Alexis In NH (@AlexisinNH) July 18, 2015. Origins: On July 18, 2015, the New York Post published an article titled "Obama Collecting Personal Data for a Secret Race Database." The article made vague claims that President Obama (or agents of the government working on his behalf, described as "racial bean counters") had been quietly collecting sensitive personal data about American citizens for purposes of racial justice. Unbeknownst to most Americans, Obama's racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, and even how their kids are disciplined in school—all to document "inequalities" between minorities and whites. This Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama is already using to make "disparate impact" cases against banks that don't make enough prime loans to minorities, schools that suspend too many black students, cities that don't offer enough Section 8 and other low-income housing for minorities, and employers who turn down African-Americans for jobs due to criminal backgrounds. The paper offered one example of the purported secret racial database's reach, pertaining to Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) data collection practices: The granddaddy of them all is the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing database, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development rolled out earlier this month to racially balance the nation, ZIP code by ZIP code. It will map every U.S. neighborhood by four racial groups—white, Asian, black or African-American, and Hispanic/Latino—and publish geospatial data pinpointing racial imbalances. No explanatory links to this nefarious database were provided, but we managed to hack our way into the program to get the full scoop. Actually, we entered "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" into Google's search box and immediately found HUD's page explaining the program and its purposes. So secretive is this database that HUD has made numerous documents available describing its overall progress, including links to the Federal Register [PDF] and its most current Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing policy. A portion of that openly published documentation is described by HUD as "[updated data use methods] on affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) [aim] to provide all HUD grantees with clear guidelines and the data that will help them achieve those goals": HUD's rule clarifies and simplifies existing fair housing obligations for HUD grantees to analyze their fair housing landscape and set locally determined fair housing priorities and goals through an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). To aid communities in this work, HUD will provide open data to grantees and the public on patterns of integration and segregation, racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, disproportionate housing needs, and disparities in access to opportunity. This improved approach provides a better mechanism for HUD grantees to build fair housing goals into their existing community development and housing planning processes. In addition to providing data and maps, HUD will also provide technical assistance to aid grantees as they adopt this approach. In short, HUD will be using extant data to identify areas in which fair housing laws may not be functionally applied. Similarly, the Federal Register's lengthy (public, easy to find) summary stated: Through this rule, HUD commits to provide states, local governments, public housing agencies (PHAs), the communities they serve, and the general public, to the fullest extent possible, with local and regional data on integrated and segregated living patterns, racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, the location of certain publicly supported housing, access to opportunity afforded by key community assets, and disproportionate housing needs based on classes protected by the Fair Housing Act. Through the availability of such data and available local knowledge, the approach provided by this rule is intended to make program participants better able to evaluate their present environment to assess fair housing issues such as segregation, conditions that restrict fair housing choice, and disparities in access to housing and opportunity, identify the factors that primarily contribute to the creation or perpetuation of fair housing issues, and establish fair housing priorities and goals. The New York Post cited another shadowy instance of "racial bean counting": Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, headed by former Congressional Black Caucus leader Mel Watt, is building its own database for racially balancing home loans. The so-called National Mortgage Database Project will compile 16 years of lending data, broken down by race, and hold everything from individual credit scores to employment records. Again, the National Mortgage Database was hidden in plain sight. In seconds on Google, intrepid searchers could locate the Federal Housing Finance Agency's page devoted to the National Mortgage Database (upon which no mentions of race or racial equality appeared): In 2012, FHFA began a major initiative to build a national mortgage database on first-lien single-family mortgages in existence any time from January 1998 forward. This project is being jointly funded and managed by FHFA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The information will primarily be used to support the agencies' policy-making and research efforts and help regulators better understand emerging mortgage and housing market trends in this evolving and changing finance market. Like the AFFH, the National Mortgage Database was also buried deep in the annals of the publicly accessible and searchable Federal Register. From that point on, the Post's article primarily focused on purportedly nefarious and racially motivated actions by "Obama's brainchild," the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). (In actuality, the CFPB was primarily the "brainchild" of Elizabeth Warren and came into existence as part of Dodd-Frank related financial reforms.) The article claimed the CFPB was compiling separate databases for credit profiles and employment. We were able to locate a Government Accountability Office (GAO) document dated September 2014 [PDF] concerning the collection of credit data. However, no portion of that document mentioned race, and we were unable to locate any documents, articles, or other information relating to race-based initiatives and employment efforts undertaken by the CFPB as suggested by the New York Post's article. A final portion of the article claimed that the Department of Education was enforcing segregation by way of race-based data collection (implicitly, at the behest of President Obama). However, a (not secret) page on the U.S. Department of Education's website indicated that data collection of that description had been ongoing since at least 2000 (eight years before the election of Barack Obama to the presidency). | 0 | [
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FMD4065 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: America Is The Loneliest Country In The World – Is It Because We’ve Abandoned The Traditional Family Structure? 13th, 2013
Of all the nations on the entire planet, the United States is the most lonely place to be. We have the highest percentage of one person households on the entire globe, and the average size of our households has been steadily decreasing. Studies have shown that the number of close friends that Americans have is falling, and we have the highest divorce rate in the world by a wide margin. So why is this happening? Does this have anything to do with the fact that America is abandoning the traditional family structure? Back in the 1960s, the “sexual revolution” fundamentally changed the way that millions of Americans viewed sex and love. By throwing out all of the old boundaries, many Americans believed that they would ultimately be able to have more sex and more love. Today, this manifests itself in a “hookup culture” that is constantly being promoted as “healthy” in our popular music, in our television shows and in our movies. But instead of this “hookup culture” resulting in more sex and more love, most Americans are discovering that it leads to just the opposite. We have become a nation of desperately lonely people that have very few real ties to others.
Never in the history of our nation have Americans been so isolated from one another. Most people get up in the morning, drive to work or school, perhaps do a little shopping afterwards, and then drive home again. The rest of the evening is typically spent in front of the television or on some sort of electronic device.
In addition, most Americans spend precious little time attending social gatherings of any sort these days. Church attendance is at historic lows , and most people don’t take the time or the effort to get involved in other types of social groups.
And even when Americans do go out and try to meet people, the relationships that are formed are very much “on the surface” at best. The truth is that most Americans have very few “close friends”. Just take a moment and consider how many people outside your immediate family actually “love you” and would be there for you no matter what. For most Americans that number is depressingly low.
In a desperate attempt for human love and interaction, an increasing number of Americans have turned to social networking websites such as Facebook to fill that void. For the desperately lonely, some human contact is better than none. In fact, a growing number of people are so desperate for people to talk with them that they will pretend to be someone else online. Many will even use an attractive picture of someone else in an attempt to try to lure others. This has become so common that this phenomenon has even been given a name. It is known as “ catfishing “, and it has grown to epidemic levels.
Other Americans deal with their loneliness by recklessly indulging in food, drugs, gambling, shopping or other addictions. We are a fundamentally unhappy nation, and this is reflected in the fact that we lead the world in antidepressant use. In fact, the total number of Americans taking antidepressants doubled between 1996 and 2005.
Could a lot of this have been avoided if we would have just fully embraced the traditional family structure as a nation?
Wouldn’t most of us be doing a lot better if we lived in homes that were filled with happy, healthy families?
Just consider what the consequences of “free love” and the “hookup culture” have been for America…
*At 26 percent, America has the highest percentage of one person households on the entire planet.
*100 years ago, 4.52 were living in the average U.S. household, but now the average U.S. household only consists of 2.59 people .
*Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple. Today, that number has declined to 48 percent .
*The marriage rate in the United States has fallen to an all-time low. Right now it is sitting at a yearly rate of 6.8 marriages per 1000 people .
*Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are married.
*According to the Pew Research Center, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.
*In the United States today, more than half of all couples “move in together” before they get married.
*The divorce rate for couples that live together first is significantly higher than for those that do not.
*America has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin.
*In 1970, the average woman had her first child when she was 21.4 years old . Now the average woman has her first child when she is 25.6 years old .
*The birth rate for American women in the 20 to 24 year old age bracket has fallen to 85.3 births per 1,000 women . That is a new all-time record low.
*Approximately one out of every three children in the United States lives in a home without a father.
*For women under the age of 30 living in the United States today, more than half of all babies are being born out of wedlock.
For most Americans, marriage has come to be viewed as a temporary agreement that can be abandoned the moment that it no longer makes them happy any longer. This “me-centered” approach to love and marriage has had a whole host of negative consequences for us as a nation.
As the National Marriage Project puts it, a marriage in America now “depends for its survival on the happiness of both spouses”…
Over the last four decades, many Americans have moved away from identifying with an “institutional” model of marriage, which seeks to integrate sex, parenthood, economic cooperation, and emotional intimacy in a permanent union. This model has been overwritten by the “soul mate” model, which sees marriage as primarily a couple-centered vehicle for personal growth, emotional intimacy, and shared consumption that depends for its survival on the happiness of both spouses. Thus where marriage used to serve as the gateway to responsible adulthood, it has come to be increasingly seen as a capstone of sorts that signals couples have arrived, both financially and emotionally—or are on the cusp of arriving.
And our young people are no longer taught to value marriage. Instead, they are told to put off marriage and to go out and “have some fun”. This message is constantly being reinforced by popular culture. For example, posted below is an actual pro-Obamacare ad . Yes, I know that this ad is almost too bizarre to be true, but it is actually a real ad. And as you can see, the messages that it is sending to our young people are not very subtle at all…
We have become a nation where “anything goes”, and most Americans seem to like it that way.
So what do you think?
Is America the loneliest country in the world because we’ve abandoned the traditional family structure?
Please feel free to share your opinion by posting a comment below… What Are The Off-White Boxes That Are Going Up On Utility Poles All Over Seattle? » K
The lack of family structure is part of it. But there is something far more basic, that has died in this Country. The dog eat dog business attitude, the money is the most important thing attitude,and the I come before everyone else attitude, All these things killed this precious concept. What is it? Trust. You can not have a good marriage, or friendship without it. Ask yourself, how many people you know, would you trust with your life? For most it is a rather small number. Sadly for some the number is 0. ISA
o here. I dont trust, nor really care for, most any of you. I learned this in childhood, by watching the true nature of adults. Adult Humans are the virus of the World, of rotting flesh, that is a parasite. This can be proven empirically. Aston Martin
Adult humans except “# Godschosenones?” because saying that all humans are viruses inclusing the shoes is # antisemitic? I see where you are going.. rbolo29 .
It’s because of the apathy of realizing there is no God; so the children play and do what they want. Kim
Probably why so many people attach themselves to their animals. I know people that treat their dog like their child. It’s because it’s all they have. ISA
Some dont treat their animals that way out of loneliness, but a dog just makes a better friend than Humans. Thats the truth. Take it or leave it. Humans are rather crappy things. Kim
Some humans, not all of them. Don’t get me wrong, I love my pet as much as anybody. But some people go overboard. A Dodgy Bloke
I think a number of components go into this. A big one is the sexual revolution I have seen personally how it’s a great thing for guys but a disaster for women. The tragic part is most women don’t see it, the want the same sexual freedom as men, but ignore the damage done. The damage is kids with no father, and a woman who has several children by different guys. The woman wakes up forty alone, has no control over her life dependent on welfare but has ultimate responsibility for what happens under her roof. Everybody wants to be loved in one form or another. I think the culture produces high expectations in what people want or expect in a spouse. Men want somebody young good looking with no issues. Woman are looking foe the same, but some have a attraction to bad boys who they find exciting. People don’t get to and know each other before they wind up in bed. They get caught up in the newness get married and wake up one morning look at their spouse and wonder ‘What did I see in you.” But I have hope that the coming hard times will reverse this because people will have to adapt, or not survive. rbolo29 .
It really doesn’t matter; because we all die in the end and if there is no God to save us; then it’s a total lost cause to even try to be moral and good. Some Dude
fix yourself and become the change you seek in others for those others are all the reflections of the changes you made from within, granting them the permission to let their own light shine.
only then will humanity rise above the din of the dark ages that still reigns with a rationale leading it only to extinction Dedalius Stanton
About to graduate from college within a short timeframe, this fearsome yet truthful article details some chilling events experienced in my academic career. Up unto this point, many of students within my campus follow a self-centered, selfish attitude, unaware that their destructive attitudes harm only but themselves. The idea of “STFU and leave me alone” concept continues to be pushed forth by faculty, peers, and the social environment. Having lived in the dorms, I’ve been through numerous roommates who refuse to talk to anyone, especially to me, stating that I’m too weird or someone who should just drop dead, yet later claim they have no friends and spend most of their time wasting it away, allowing their academic careers reach at a stag point. The same applies to my classes. I know about 70 students by name who will graduate this semester, but how many do I personally know and trust? Sadly, that number is zero. This is not because I don’t engage in conversations, but it’s rather the experiences that others around me only care only for themselves, while ignoring those that may be able to provide lasting friendships and improving the overall quality of life. rbolo29 .
It’s ok; because they will graduate and find there are no jobs waiting for them; except being a manager at McDonalds. Jim Davis
Asst. Manager at best. Aston Martin
The gullible femaleist women from colelge will probably go on dating websites to find elderly rich and wealthy men who are desperate enough to date goods which were expired a long time ago.
I agree I had similar experiences. Most people had their own little groups of friends and never really mingled with others. I think the problem is too, many people don’t know HOW to make friends. Everyone is so self-absorbed. MichaelfromTheEconomicCollapse
I am sorry to hear that you had such negative experiences with roommates. Finding a good roommate these days can be a real challenge. I am glad that I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Michael John Doe
71 percent of young men between the ages of 18 to 34 in America are not interested in marriage:
71% of young men in America do not want to get married
I guess feminism killed marriage. Kim
They can’t afford it. They are barely scraping by on their own. Ditto
Bingo. I live just as the fine article says: I get up in the morning, drive 28 miles to work, drive 28 miles home again, do some shopping, then spend the other three or four hours of my day watching TV or surfing the web. No time or money for anything else. MichaelfromTheEconomicCollapse
You probably burn up a lot of gas money too. I certainly don’t miss the days when I had very long commutes to work.
Michael ISA
Cant afford it, and who would want to be married today? Even the boomer generation is throwing in the towel. If Americans can evolve, which they cant, then its over with soon. You all are still stuck in the model of 60 years ago, if not more, and are dying on the inside.
Good riddance. Lars Lonte
I totally agree with you – just compare Women from Eastern Europa or even Asia with the average Women from the East Coast or Europe (especially (West-) Germany and Great Britain as most US like states and cultures….there is a reason, why Eastern European men usually do not want to marry women from western Germany…. King Mercury
Because American women have literally priced themselves out of the dating market! American women show that they want only guys with big, wide luxury sports Ferraris with all of the latest technology, gigantic mc mansions at least 5 times the size of the Home Alone house, three quarter million dollar or higher incomes, a growing number of them are even going for gangsters and thugs that get that kind of luxury through violent crime and illegal drugs. Jonathan
Women are uncooperative, don’t care, too busy, incompetent at love and domestic life and think it’s cool to emotionally, psychologically, financially, and in every way abuse men and never receive any reciprocation for their bad behavior, nor offer any reciprocation for men’s gifts. The egomania in women has exploded, and the genie can no longer fit in the bottle. rwinkel
It’s a no brainer. Lookup “hisanic paradox” on wikipedia. The abuse of infants in this country is an important factor in the rise of sociopathy and broken families. Infants imprint just like every other mammal on the planet, and American obstetrics is unique in its disregard for children’s dignity and human rights. P.F.
America is in this state because it has turned to sin rather than YAHWEH’S HOLY LAW. Only in our LORD JESUS/YESHUA do we find fulfillment, peace, and joy. When people are filled with joy they share truth and love–when people are moaning miserably inside they become cold and detached. You can’t depend on people to bring you happiness first—you have to seek JESUS/YESHUA who teaches us how to love one another the right way, and then, and only then, will people know joy. america depends on itself to create its own happiness and you’re seeing the negative effects. Back in the 1950’s Biblical values were held strongly in the homes. That’s why you see your grandparents who were married during that time either still alive and married and buried next to each other. What you’ll see in the coming years are old ladies and men wondering around alone who are not married and who will be buried in single graves while the children carry on the negative tradition of their failed ways. Way to go america, you’re doing just fine. David McElroy
Sad, but true, P.F. If it weren’t for hope in Jesus, there’d be no hope at all! MichaelfromTheEconomicCollapse
Michael David McElroy
As the oldest of 12 children from an Irish father who stayed married to our mother, I can testify as to the merciless bombardments of anti-family messages delivered to us. My mother was urged to abort many of my siblings. Teachers and other “counselors” urged us not to spend so much time together, as we were “clannish”. I fell for the encouragement to go to college and make something of myself and “get ahead” before marriage and children. Even our church was discouraging, openly saying we took too much pew space and gave too little money. (Even though we physically labored to help build the building!) I went to college, became a journalist and, after a disasterous cohabitation I thought would lead to marriage, eventually a chaplain. But I also ended up an old bachelor who thought he would have a wife and grandkids by now. My computer is my companion! CollGen2
You are a wonderful person. Your parent’s stuck together. That is the way God’s original design was. Your writing touched my heart today, thank you! All things will work out for good to those who LOVE God and are called according to HIS purpose. HE created each one of us and He also beckons us. He put an end to sin by being the perfect sacrifice on that cross. He beckoned me and I did it my way…..til trouble hit! I have a husband, 3 children and 4 grandchildren. I am alone most of the time at home, answering the phone for my small business. But, most of the time, I am immersing myself in the King James Bible and fellowshipping with my Father. He is the only one who will never leave me nor forsake me. How do I know that? I was in a coma many years ago when He beckoned me. I have tried to do things the “me” way but every road was a disaster until I surrendered my life to Him! The suffering I go through here is nothing compared to the GLORY that awaits me.”! Tim
There are good, faithful men out there who want a family. David McElroy
I’m with Tim, I was one of those guys who wanted to be a faithful husband and father. But I made the mistake of being smitten with a conniving woman who had no maternal domestic interests, being the “modern” sort. Jenn
I’m sorry that happened to you. Not all of us women are that way, but many of them seem to be these days. :-( Aston Martin
Modern westernized women are victims of the you-know-who….research who founded and promoted the femaleist movement and the truth shall make you afraid while you struggle to set free of the international bankers. SafetyViking
Good. Why buy the book when there’s a library in town? godozo
Ugly analogy. Knowledge is meant to be shared, women…not. Even the Founding Fathers and many of the old-school Robber Barons would agree (Carnegie anyone? He funded a nation’s worth of libraries.).
Try “Why buy the cow when the milk is free?”. Lifelong Mates (both male and female) ARE a limited resource, and like milk is worth paying for to keep (or keep the flow coming, depending on the item). wombleranger
I don’t like to be the one to say this but….if you remove spirituality and morals from a society you end up with the western world. America isn’t the only western power suffering this condition come to Canada where anyone with a problem gets a Prozac prescription and it’s free!!! We would be wise to remember the former Soviet Union and it’s devastation of the churches and religions. Now we must ask ourselves are we staring to become a communist nation? To quote William Penn ” .Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants”-certainly is food for thought! A lonely mind is a dangerous mind. Eileen Kuch
Very well put, wombleranger. Indeed, if you remove spirituality and morals from a society, that society starts to fragment. Just look at America today. It’s barely recognizable as the God-fearing nation it used to be.
I don’t know about your Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, but Barack Obama is the worst Presidents we ever had. He’s hell-bent on destroying the old America and turning it into a USSA, a near image of the early 20th Century USSR, where Orthodox Christian Churches were devastated and the religion driven underground.
Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants – William Penn
Great quote, too. wombleranger
Thanks Eileen. It’s comforting to see there are still moral people in this world, now we just need to wake-up the good souls from the deep sleep. It’s an uphill battle to be sure, but as long as i breath i will never forsake my dignity, morals and most of all my God. nilro
Too many nut cases out there, Animals are a better bet. Truman Golden | 0 | [
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FMD4066 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: With deer hunting season upon us, Arby's has decided to get in on the action.
In select locations across six states, the fast food chain will sell the “Venison Sandwich” for three day stints at each restaurant from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28.
Chief marketing officer Rob Lynch, who calls venison “incredibly delicious,” explains in an official press release that Arby's is not afraid to take “risks” when it comes to trying new things. Arby’s is celebrating hunting season with a venison sandwich https://t.co/j3fIKvRhTK pic.twitter.com/fKvTCgg4sm — Fortune (@FortuneMagazine) October 26, 2016
He states:
"We’re a brand that’s not afraid to take risks, and while the venison sandwich is probably the biggest stretch for us yet, it’s incredibly delicious and we can’t wait to get it in the hands of our guests. You won’t leave a hunt empty-handed after stopping by Arby’s.”
The 100% venison sandwiches will be made with “premium cut top and bottom round steaks from the hind quarter of the deer.” Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Georgia are the states that will be serving them up.
So what exactly will this Venison Sandwich taste like?
Arby's describes it like this:
“The Venison Sandwich at Arby’s features a thick-cut venison steak and crispy onions topped with a juniper berry sauce on a toasted specialty roll. The venison is marinated in garlic, salt and pepper and then cooked for three hours to juicy, tender perfection. The juniper berry sauce is a Cabernet steak sauce infused with juniper berries, giving the already unique sandwich another signature twist.”
According to Arby's, the 17 locations that you can get the sandwich are as follows:
Available Oct. 31-Nov. 3:
2044 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. , Nashville, Tenn.
Available Nov. 4-6:
3821 Tower Ave., Superior, Wis.
1690 Park Place Blvd., St. Louis Park, Minn.
704 Highway 33 South, Cloquet, Minn.
348 Lincoln Ave. SE, St. Cloud, Minn.
3275 First St. S, St. Cloud, Minn.
4415 Roswell Rd. NE, Atlanta,
Available Nov. 12-14:
4229 W Vienna Rd., Clio, Mich.
4040 17 Mile Rd. NE, Cedar Springs, Mich.
1215 M 89, Plainwell, Mich.
8685 Birch Run Rd., Birch Run, Mich.
Available Nov. 25-27:
5205 Library Road, Bethel Park, Penn.4260 Ohio River Blvd., Bellevue, Penn.
16 Towne Center Drive, Leechburg, Penn.
2539 W State St., New Castle, Penn.
2648 Ellwood Rd., New Castle, Penn.
3224 Wilmington Rd., New Castle, Penn. | 0 | [
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FMD4067 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Prepare For The Pirates: Direct Democracy Driven Political Party May Gain Power In Iceland
We are not here to gain power, we are here to distribute power.
–Ásta Guthrún Helgadóttir Pirate member of Iceland’s Parliament
While there are all sorts of populist political movements gaining traction across the West, the only one I find genuinely revolutionary and distinctly interesting and productive is Iceland’s Pirate Party.
I’ve covered the upstart party in the past, most recently earlier this year in the post, “The Pirates Are Coming”– Iceland’s Pirate Party Polls at 43% Following the PM’s Resignation . Now, with the Icelandic election just days away (October 29th), the party is back in the news due to an expected strong performance.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND — The party that could be on the cusp of winning Iceland’s national elections on Saturday didn’t exist four years ago.
Its members are a collection of anarchists, hackers, libertarians and Web geeks. It sets policy through online polls — and thinks the government should do the same. It wants to make Iceland “a Switzerland of bits,” free of digital snooping. It has offered Edward Snowden a new place to call home.
And then there’s the name: In this land of Vikings, the Pirate Party may soon be king.
To Jónsdóttir and other Pirate true believers — who define their party as neither left nor right, but a radical movement that combines the best of both — the election here could also be the start of the reboot that Western democracy so desperately needs.
“People want real changes and they understand that we have to change the systems, we have to modernize how we make laws,” said Jónsdóttir, whose jet-black hair and matching nail polish cut a distinctive profile in a country where politics has long been dominated by paunchy blond men.
The sticker affixed to the back of her chrome-finish laptop stands out, too: an imitation seal of the U.S. government, the familiar arrow-bearing eagle encircled by the words “National Security Agency Monitored Device.” At the Pirates’ tech-start-up-esque office in an industrial area of Reykjavik’s seafront, a Guy Fawkes mask hangs from the wall and a skull-and-crossbones flag peeks out from a ceramic vase.
The Pirates have spelled out their positions on issues from fishing quotas to online pornography to Snowden. (Party leaders offered him Icelandic citizenship if he can find a way to get here.) But on some of the biggest questions facing the country, the official party position is to punt to the voters.
To party devotees, that’s fine. The Pirates, they say, are less about any specific ideology than they are about a belief that the West’s creaking political systems can be hacked to give citizens a greater say in their democracy.
“We are not here to gain power,” said Ásta Guthrún Helgadóttir, a 26-year-old Pirate member of Parliament. “We are here to distribute power.”
Like everything else, the Pirate Party cannot be seen in a vacuum. A total implosion of the Icelandic economy was necessary to clear the path.
Iceland’s political status quo—a Nordic-style parliamentary democracy, dominated for decades by pro-NATO conservatives—was shattered when the country went bust in the 2008 financial crisis, pitching Iceland into its deepest crisis since full independence and the republic were declared in 1944. This year, Iceland was rocked again when the Panama Papers leak exposed corruption among top politicos, including the prime minister, who resigned under fire. “People here are angry and frustrated,” says Karl Blöndal, deputy editor of the center-right Morgunbladid. “In the minds of many voters, the Pirates are the only untainted party, and with them Birgitta carries authority. She’s been the face of the opposition since the crash.”
Iceland’s Pirates, though they currently hold only three spots in the 64-seat parliament, are among the highest-profile of Europe’s Pirate parties. The anarchic hacker-led movement, global in scope, focuses on privacy rights and freedom of expression in the digital age. Born a decade ago in Sweden, and since turbo-charged by WikiLeaks’ and Edward Snowden’s disclosures about NSA surveillance, the Pirates have dozens of chapters worldwide, from Australia to Canada, and a headquarters in Geneva. Iceland’s Pirates were the first in the world voted into a national legislature.
Indeed, Jónsdóttir and Iceland’s Pirates see themselves as part of something greater than the direct-democracy uprising they’re leading in the chill North Atlantic. They understand Iceland as the “test grounds for radical progressive changes,” and they stand for an international legalization of WikiLeaks, asylum for Edward Snowden, and legalizing drugs across Europe. They say they’ll turn diminutive Iceland (a country so small its citizens are listed in the phone book by first names) into an international digital safe haven where data, such as whistle-blower revelations, can be securely transmitted and stored.
In contrast to Europe and the United States, however, Iceland refused to rescue the banks with taxpayer money; instead, the failed banks were renationalized. Iceland chose instead to protect its citizens, first by imposing capital controls so that money couldn’t leave the country and, second, by expanding the social safety net. “Iceland did the right thing…creditors, not the taxpayers, shouldered the losses of banks,” said economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz in 2011. The bankers were eventually sent to jail: 26 financiers received sentences totaling 74 years.
The possibilities are endless once you start jailing bankers. Share This Article... | 0 | [
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FMD4068 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: 0 комментариев 0 поделились источник Pravda.Ru
Как пишет Wall Street Journal, ссылаясь на свои источники, санкционные репрессии могут быть направлены против министров и их заместителей из правительства Сирии.
По данным издания, в ЕС не будут тянут время, и, скорее всего, список будет расширен уже на следующей неделе.
Отметим, в настоящее время в санкционных сирийских списках Европейского союза находятся более 200 человек и около 70 организаций. Напомним, недавно еще пять стран, не входящие в ЕС, но поддерживающие политику Брюсселя, продлили еще на полгода санкции против России . В список этих стран вошли Украина, Черногория, Албания, а также Лихтенштейн и Норвегия, входящие в Европейское экономическое пространство.
Что заставило руководителей этих стран принять такое решение, рассказал Pravda.Ru старший научный сотрудник Института славяноведения РАН Петр Искендеров.
- Какие у этих стран причины для присоединения к санкциям?
- Позиция Черногории связана с позицией правящей элиты, которая одержала победу на днях на очередных парламентских выборах, - конкретно, премьер-министра Мило Джукановича. Он провозгласил вступление в ЕС и НАТО своим ключевым внешнеполитическим приоритетом. И понятно, что внешняя политика Черногории полностью находится в русле Брюсселя.
Если говорить об Албании, то эта страна уже является членом НАТО. Она тоже активно пытается продвинуть свою заявку на вступление в Европейский союз и четко солидаризируется по внешнеполитическим вопросам с ключевыми лидерами ЕС, такими как Франция, Германия и Италия. А поскольку все эти страны пока официально не блокируют антироссийские санкции, подобного нельзя ожидать и от Албании. Ее внешняя политика полностью солидаризируется с политикой ЕС.
Лихтенштейн - это карликовое государство, которое финансово и экономически связано с государствами Центральной Европы, прежде всего со Швейцарией, Австрией, Бельгией, Голландией, Германией. Поэтому от этого государства ожидать самостоятельности во внешней политике не приходится.
В Норвегии другая ситуация. Эта страна полностью самодостаточная и в политическом, и в энергетическом плане, она не является членом ЕС, но связана с Брюсселем торгово-экономическими соглашениями. Кроме того, Норвегия является одним из конкурентов России в том, что касается освоения Арктического шельфа, это наш конкуренты на энергетическом рынке, в плане снабжения Европейского союза газом. И в принципе, Норвегия среди скандинавских стран традиционно занимает наиболее ярко выраженную антироссийскую позицию, по сравнению даже с Финляндией и Швецией.
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FMD4069 | 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: Wal-Mart Check Theft Scam Claim summaries: Accounts of check fraud being perpetrated at Walmart stores by employees and customers.
contextual information: Scam: Accounts of check fraud being perpetrated at Walmart stores by employees and customers. SCAM Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2007] Origins: The image displayed above supposedly reproduces a memo from an official with Louisiana's Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) warning employees about a multi-city check theft ring operating out of Walmart stores. According to the memo, Walmart employees had been using cell phones to photograph customer checks and then employing the information obtained from the images to produce fake checks used to buy gift cards. As for the question of whether this memo was actually written by a Louisiana official, we note that the Louisiana State Police (LSP) disclaimed the memo's appropriateness without denying that it originated within the DPSC: On Thursday, July 26, 2007, an unauthorized letter was distributed to employees in the Baton Rouge field office of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of Motor Vehicles, concerning an alleged multi-city fraud and theft ring operating at Walmart involving Walmart employees. It was alleged in the letter that the employees of the store would obtain a customer's checking account information, which would be used to create fraudulent checks. This letter was not official or sanctioned in any way by the Department of Public Safety; unfortunately, it was made public. The Department will be conducting an internal investigation and, at the conclusion of the investigation, will take the appropriate corrective and/or disciplinary action. Members of the public should not rely on information contained in the letter. As always, consumers are cautioned to take steps to limit the disclosure of their personal information and to be aware of their surroundings. Regarding the content of the memo, we note that instances of check fraud have been tied to a then-new practice (used in some Walmart stores) of processing checks not by the "traditional" method of retaining them and submitting them to banks for deposit, but by using them as authorizations to initiate electronic funds transfers (EFTs) and immediately returning them to customers. In some cases, dishonest sales clerks have abused this procedure by deliberately failing to return checks to customers, then re-scanning the checks multiple times and using the ill-gotten proceeds to purchase gift cards and other merchandise. For example, TV station KTRK in Houston reported the following check-theft scam by a Walmart employee in December 2006: A former Walmart employee is behind bars for her role in what authorities are calling a check fraud scheme. When you write a check at Walmart, you hand it to a clerk who then runs the check through an electronic scanner and hands it back to you. Unfortunately, some Walmart shoppers did not get their checks handed back to them, costing them thousands of dollars. Pam Davis never thought writing a $37 check at Walmart would cost her thousands of dollars, but that's exactly what happened. She said, "I had gone to Walmart and written a check for $37 and did not realize I did not get that check back, which is the custom with electronic transfer. You are supposed to receive the check back." Davis says, and authorities confirm, a clerk at Walmart never returned Davis' check at the time of purchase, allowing the clerk to re-run the check through the electronic reader again and again. "Five times, they changed the amounts each time," Davis claimed. "It was almost $3,000." Authorities believe the clerk gave the checks to other people who then went on shopping sprees inside the store. Capt. Mark Herman with Precinct 4 said, "In some of the cases, they were getting $300 Walmart gift cards, clothing, just all kinds of purchases." Constables say the clerk did the same thing with checks written by other Walmart customers. February 2016 also saw the sentencing of a Walmart customer who, along with his wife, defrauded other customers of hundreds of thousands of dollars by peeking over their shoulders to obtain personal information, which the couple used to create counterfeit checks: A man who cashed $300,000 worth of counterfeit checks using personal information stolen by peeking over the shoulders of hundreds of Walmart customers was sentenced to prison. Robert MacVittie and his wife lined up behind customers trying to cash payroll checks at "dozens and dozens" of Walmart stores in 20 states and recorded them providing their Social Security numbers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Melucci said at the hearing where MacVittie received a 34-month sentence. The couple would then use the victims' identities to create counterfeit checks, which they cashed at other Walmarts. Melucci called MacVittie, 35, and his wife Jennifer, 32, "the Bonnie and Clyde of counterfeit checks." More than 400 people had their identities used on the successfully cashed counterfeit checks, Melucci said. Although it is possible a similar type of fraud could be perpetrated by clerks surreptitiously using cell phones to photograph customer checks, we have not been able to verify that this specific form of theft is occurring, much less that it is taking place on a multi-city level by organized rings of Walmart employees. A few tips can be helpful to shoppers to avoid falling victim to this sort of fraud: Be aware of how the stores you patronize process checks. If they scan checks to use them as EFT authorizations, be sure your check is returned to you before you leave the checkout counter. Use your bank's website to monitor your checking account transactions online and notify your bank immediately if you spot any suspect transactions. Using credit cards (or debit cards) rather than checks generally makes it easier to challenge fraudulent transactions and limit your liability for illegitimate charges. Last updated: 7 February 2016 Mandak, Joe. "'Shoulder Surfing' Husband Gets Prison in Walmart Check Scam Targeting Hundreds." WTAE [Pittsburgh]. 4 February 2016. | 0 | [
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FMD4070 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,†while discussing the failure of the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, Gov. John Kasich ( ) called on those on the extreme ends and of the political spectrum to be marginalized. Kasich said, “Well, there’s a way to improve all of this and to safe money and transform the system. look, if you’re on the extreme, whether you’re on the right or whether you’re on the left, you ought to be marginalized. That’s what happens when you bring reasonable Republicans with reasonable Democrats together and then you begin to see the extremes start to move a little bit to be more constructive. Right now when you start with a deck that’s only limited number of cards, then you don’t have a big hand to play. †“Frankly, if Republicans quietly over time will reach out to Democrats, find the constructive ones, you will begin to marginalize the extremes,†he continued. “You know what, when people say in my state, we should drop 700, 000 people, a third of whom are mentally ill or drug addicted and a quarter of whom are chronically ill, we should turn our back on them? That’s not America. That’s not a country that loves all of its citizens. That’s really extreme. Frankly, it borders on mean. †Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 | [
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FMD4071 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: After 9 Months Of Hard-Core Islam Muslim Clock Boy Returns To TX Still Plans To Sue State He Misses For $15 MILLIONCAIR s poster child for how to use Islam to get everything you want in politically correct America comes home Obama boot camp?Ahmed Mohamed, the teen known as Clock Boy, may be back in Texas within days. After nine months of living in his new homeland, Qatar, he reportedly feels homesick. Late Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported Mohamed plans to return to Texas early in the week for an extended visit. The teen s uncle, Aldean Mohamed, said: He miss[es] Texas, and he miss[es] Irving. Breitbart Texas reported on Ahmed Mohamed s earlier yearnings to return to the Lone Star State in December. The uncle also indicated his nephew will catch up with family in the Dallas suburb of Irving and has events lined up with some tech companies. The Dallas newspaper did not disclose any information with whom the teen will meet.Ahmed Mohamed was the 14-year-old Irving Independent School District high school freshman detained last September for bringing to class a makeshift clock-in-a-box which school officials and police initially believed was a hoax bomb. No charges were filed once the situation sorted itself out, but the teen served three days of suspension before his family decided to withdraw him from the school district.A subsequent media firestorm ensued in which mainstream news outlets insisted Islamophobia was behind Mohamed s detainment. Breitbart Texas maintained it was the result of rigid public school zero tolerance policies and a month later, the Associated Press agreed.Last October, Mohamed accepted a fully-funded education scholarship from the Qatar Foundation, an organization with reputed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, over an invitation to the one of the world s most prestigious private research universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This year, MIT ranked #1 across twelve fields of study with other disciplines placing in the Top Five internationally.Fueled by the progressive narrative of victimization, Mohamed traveled to Google s Northern California headquarters, toured the Qatari educational system he now attends, made a Saudi-funded pilgrimage to Mecca, rubbed shoulders with Sudanese Islamic autocrat Bashir, appeared in a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) promo video with Executive Director Nihad Awad, a supporter of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and attended CAIR s 2015 Champions for Justice gala in Arlington, VA. Then, Mohamed visited the White House for Astronomy Night where he met President Obama alongside other invited students.Previously, the Commander-in-Chief tweeted the teen should bring his cool clock with him but that was not possible. The family did not retrieve it until late October despite the Irving Police Department s requests for them to do so a month earlier.While in Washington, D.C., Uncle Aldean, Ahmed, and his father Mohamed Elhassen Mohamed rallied with uber-left California U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, who pushed for a DOJ probe into the Irving school district and police department regarding the legality of the teen s detainment.TIME Magazine listed Mohamed on their 30 Most Influential Teens of 2015; yet, by December, with the Christmas season shrouded by Islamic State attacks in Paris, State Department travel alerts, and Syrian refugees at U.S. borders, sympathy waned for the Islamophobia poster child. Breitbart News reported that the same liberal media that championed Mohamed s every move, lost interest.According to the Dallas Morning News, Uncle Aldean Mohamed said the family still plans to sue the Irving ISD over Ahmed s arrest. After they left for Qatar, the Mohamed family demanded a total of $15 million $10 million from the City of Irving and $5 million from the school district and threatened a lawsuit if they did not receive it. In a 10-page letter to the Irving City Attorney and a similar 9-page letter to Irving ISD s attorney, the family claimed Islamophobia among their clock related incident allegations. Via: Bretibart News | 0 | [
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FMD4072 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Donald Trump wished Americans a Happy New Year by referring to millions of them as his enemies. And then there s President Obama, who did it the right way, and more.On New Year s Eve morning, Trump posted yet another insulting tweet, antagonizing the millions of Americans who despise him.Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don t know what to do. Love! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2016Yeah, that didn t go so well, and people smacked him down hard for posting such an unpresidential message. And then just before midnight, Trump attempted a do-over.TO ALL AMERICANS-#HappyNewYear & many blessings to you all! Looking forward to a wonderful & prosperous 2017 as we work together to #MAGA?? pic.twitter.com/UaBFaoDYHe Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2017But that made people even angrier, because he should have posted that message to begin with instead of the divisive one he chose. President Obama, on the other hand, celebrated the dawning of 2017 by looking back at all the progress Americans helped him achieve for this country despite eight years of Republican obstruction.As we look ahead to the future, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the remarkable progress that you made possible these past 8 years. President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017Facing the worst financial crisis in 80 years, you delivered the longest streak of job growth in our history. pic.twitter.com/Vk3PfRgZqF President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017After decades of rising health care costs, today nearly every American now has access to the financial security of affordable health care. pic.twitter.com/5e4nEcCxIM President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017We traded foreign oil for clean energy, we doubled fuel efficiency standards, & we acted on a global scale to save the one planet we ve got. pic.twitter.com/7alrOtHNIr President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017We brought home more of our troops & strengthened U.S. leadership leading with diplomacy & partnering with nations to meet global problems. President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017From realizing marriage equality to removing barriers to opportunity, we ve made history in our work to reaffirm that all are created equal. President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017And then President Obama wished Americans a Happy New Year the right way.It s been the privilege of my life to serve as your President. I look forward to standing with you as a citizen. Happy New Year everybody. President Obama (@POTUS) January 1, 2017Adding further to Trump s humiliation, President Obama s New Year s greeting got more likes on Twitter than both of Trump s combined. In short, President Obama trumped Trump and demonstrated once again how a real president is supposed to behave. It s a shame we won t be seeing true presidential behavior again for at least four years.Featured Image: Mark Wilson via Getty Images | 0 | [
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FMD4073 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Nicolas Maduro has set his sights on Venezuela s 2018 presidential election after the ruling Socialist Party dominated mayoral polls with the help of a partial boycott by a divided opposition. Enjoying a political breather after a year of ferocious domestic protests and damaging foreign sanctions, the 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez said the government had won at least 90 percent of the 335 mayorships in Sunday s election. Latest official results gave him 21 of 23 state capitals as well as Caracas main district, with full results due later on Monday. The landslide win for the socialists was no surprise, given three of the biggest opposition parties did not field candidates. The elections left Maduro favorite to be the socialist candidate in next year s presidential race, despite the ambitions of rivals within government and an economic crisis that has pummeled the OPEC nation since his 2013 election. Let s get ready for 2018! he told cheering supporters in a Caracas square shortly before midnight on Sunday, next to a statue of Venezuela s independence hero Simon Bolivar. Maduro also declared fixing Venezuela s broken economy a priority. But opponents and even some government dissenters say it is his stubborn adherence to Chavez-era economic policies, such as currency controls, that is to blame for the crisis. Venezuela s 30 million people are enduring one of the worst economic meltdowns in recent Latin American history. Millions are skipping meals, missing medicines, and lining up for hours at shops during acute shortages and crippling inflation. Opposition parties said Sunday s vote was full of irregularities and meaningless, and reiterated demands for changes to the electoral system for the 2018 vote. What we saw yesterday was an electoral farce that in no way represents the will of the people, said Popular Will party leader Juan Andres Mejia, citing abuse of state resources and coercion of government employees to vote. MADURO WELL-POSITIONED FOR RE-ELECTION Three of the opposition coalition s main parties | 1 | [
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FMD4074 | 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 Truth About ANWR Claim summaries: E-mail reports the truth about the environmental impact of drilling for oil in ANWR.
contextual information: Claim: E-mail reports the truth about the environmental impact of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) OF AND INFORMATION Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2008] First, do you know what ANWR is? ANWR = Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now, a comparison: And some perspective ... NOTE WHERE THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AREA IS ... (its in the "ANWR Coastal Plain") THIS IS WHAT THE TV People and others "GREENS" SHOW YOU WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT ANWR ... and they are right ... these ARE photographs of ANWR Isn't ANWR beautiful? Why should we drill here (and destroy) this beautiful place? Well, thats not exactly the truth. Do you remember the map? The map showed that the proposed drilling area is in the ANWR Coastal Plain. Do those photographs look like a coastal plain to you? What's going on here? The answer is simple. That is NOT where they are wanting to drill! This is what the proposed exploration area ACTUALLY looks like in the winter: And this is what it ACTUALLY looks like in the summer: HERE ARE A COUPLE SCREEN SHOTS FROM GOOGLE EARTH As you can see, the area where they are talking about drilling is a barren wasteland. Oh, and they say that they are concerned about the effect on the local wildlife. Here is a photo (shot during the summer) of the 'depleted wildlife' situation created by drilling around Prudhoe Bay. Don't you think that the Caribou really hate that drilling? Here's that same spot during the winter: Hey, this bear seems to really hate the pipeline near Prudhoe Bay, which accounts for 17% of U.S. domestic oil production. Now, why do you think that the Democrats are LYING about ANWR? Remember when Al Gore said that the government should work to ARTIFICIALLY raise gas prices to $5 a gallon? Well, Al Gore and his fellow Democrats have almost reached their goal! Now that you know that the Democrats have been lying, what are you going to do about it? You can start by forwarding this to everyone you know, so that they will know the truth. P.S.: Drilling does not "destroy." It creates jobs, resources and strengthens our economy all while protecting our environment. Everyone benefits, even caribou. Origins: As the price of oil continues to rise with no predictable end in sight, debates over whether the U.S. can and should be producing more oil from domestic sources have been renewed. A primary focus of such debates has been the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), an area which encompasses 19 million acres in the northeast corner of Alaska. The ANWR issue is now a political hot potato batted back and forth between proponents of exploration and development in ANWR's Coastal Plain who assert that the area could become a valuable source of domestic oil production with minimal impact on the environment, and opponents who maintain that the potential advantages to be gained from drilling for oil in ANWR are far too small to offset the despoiling (and potential devastation) of a protected wildlife area.The issue has been complicated by the uncertainty of many factors involved in the opening of ANWR to U.S. oil production, such as the total amount of oil underlying the area, the size of the oil fields that might be found in ANWR, the quality of the oil that might be found in ANWR, the potential production capacity of ANWR drilling operations, how long it would take before ANWR operations began providing significant amounts of oil for the U.S. market, what effects the oil extracted from ANWR would have on world oil supply and prices, and the environmental impacts of oil exploration and development in ANWR. factors The e-mailed slide show reproduced above might serve a useful function in prompting the public to take a greater interest in all the issues surrounding the potential opening of ANWR to oil exploration, but the information it presents is scant and one-sided. Since the ANWR issue is far too extensive and complex to cover in detail here, we'll just provide a brief summary of both sides' arguments regarding points mentioned by the e-mailed slide show, with links to sites (on both sides of the issue) that provide greater detail: Although the ANWR is small in size compared to the entirety of Alaska, at 19 million acres it is larger than ten other states. (As the third graphic shows, ANWR is about the size of the state of South Carolina.) Proponents point out that the proposed development area within the ANWR Coastal Plain is a relatively small patch of 2,000 acres, an area which constitutes roughly1/10,000 of the total acreage of the ANWR. Opponents maintain that a similar drilling operation in Alaska at Prudhoe Bay was originally designated to encompass only 2,100 acres but has since expanded to a total drilling footprint of 12,000 acres spread over 640,000 acres of the North Slope. size expanded Proponents maintain that wildlife continues to flourish amid drilling and other oil production activities in other Arctic regions and would fare just as well near ANWR exploration facilities. Opponents assert that other North Slope oil development activities have caused an average of 504 spills per year since 1996, including "4,532 spills between 1996 and 2004 totaling more than 1.9 million gallons of toxic substances." flourish spills Proponents maintain that the proposed ANWR Coastal Plain development area is primarily a featureless, barren expanse that is frozen and windswept for most of the year, and therefore exploration and drilling activities would have minimal impact on wildlife in the immediate area (or in the greater ANWR). Opponents assert that environmental accidents can have devastating effects far outside the limited areas in which they originally occur. Last updated: 2 July 2008 | 2 | [
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FMD4075 | 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: Do Electric Cars and Batteries Cause Harm to the Environment? Claim summaries: We broke the viral Facebook post down claim by claim.
contextual information: In mid-March 2022, a widely circulated meme was sent to our editorial team for investigation, which we determined contains a mixture of true, false, and unproven claims. In a nutshell, the post argued that eco-friendly electric vehicles (EVs) were bad for the environment, and presented several vague, unsupported facts in an attempt to bolster the argument. The Facebook post we received appeared to have started circulating online on March 12, 2022. The fact-checking website Lead Stories located a complete version of the post, which we have archived. Lead Stories complete version archived The entirety of the post is too long to share here, but we have broken out its primary claims below. For help evaluating them, we spoke with Elena Krieger, director of research at PSE Healthy Energy, a multidisciplinary research and policy institute focused on the adoption of evidence-based energy policy. entirety of the post Elena Krieger It is true that batteries store electricity produced elsewhere, but what that electricity is generated by depends on the electric grid that the battery is connected to. (For more background on this, read "Energy Storage: How It Works and Its Role in an Equitable Clean Energy Future," by the Union of Concerned Scientists.) Energy Storage: California has specifically designed its Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) to encourage charging at times when grid emissions are low, pointed out Krieger. As Jeff St. John wrote in an article for Green Tech Media, the goal of projects like SGIP are to incentivize power-producing technologies that contribute less to greenhouse gas emissions, such as solar or wind, than fossil fuels do. There are controversies with the technology, such as concerns that natural-gas-fueled generators used werent reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. SGIP encourage charging Green Tech Media Battery facilities also allow for power from renewable sources to be produced when the wind is blowing windmills or the sun is shining on solar panels before being stored for later use during times of high consumption. allow An electric vehicle has zero tailpipe emissions, noted Krieger. However, emissions from both greenhouse gases and health-damaging air pollutants throughout the course of the vehicles use depend on how and where the vehicle is produced, what electricity is used to charge the vehicle, and how the vehicle is disposed of. Union of Concerned Scientists analyzed data from 2018 and affirmed that EVs produce significantly fewer emissions than gasoline: affirmed Based on where EVs have been sold, driving the average EV produces global warming pollution equal to a gasoline vehicle that gets 88 miles per gallon (mpg) fuel economy. Thats significantly better than the most efficient gasoline car (58 mpg) and far cleaner than the average new gasoline car (31 mpg) or truck (21 mpg) sold in the US. And our estimate for EV emissions is almost 10 percent lower than our previous estimate two years ago. Now 94 percent of people in the US live where driving an EV produces less emissions than using a 50 mpg gasoline car. almost 10 percent lower than our previous estimate two years ago Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EPA) show that 22% of electricity generated in the U.S. was from coal plants in 2021, up from 19% the year before, so the first part of this statement is incorrect, explained Krieger. Data The second part implies that the generation is proportional to vehicle charging. This assumption may be invalid for two reasons: 1) EV adoption is very high in places like California, which has minimal coal in its power mix, and 2) it depends on when the vehicles are charged, and which power plants dominate at the time the vehicles are charged. It is true that there are rechargeable and single-use batteries, both of which contain toxic materials of varying degrees. No technology is zero impact, but some battery chemistries use fewer toxic materials than others. For example, Tesla is phasing out cobalt from its batteries, albeit likely due to outside pressure, because cobalt is often mined by children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More on that below, explained Krieger. phasing out It is estimated that more than 70% of the worlds cobalt is produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Foreign-owned firms, primarily Chinese, account for about 60% of global cobalt demand to be used in the rechargeable battery industry to be used in cars and electronic devices. Cobalt mining does come with environmental complications that may outweigh its use in rechargeable electronics. The nonpartisan research group Wilson Center reports that quick cobalt extraction contributes to global warming, while mining operations generate incredibly high carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions, both of which can contribute to the greenhouse effect. 60% of global cobalt reports contribute to the greenhouse effect Human rights groups have documented severe human rights issues in mining operations, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. It is estimated that of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children. Council on Foreign Relations estimated Cobalt increases battery life and has been a popular choice for EV batteries, but the U.S. Geological Survey notes that the mineral is also used in a plethora of other goods, including airbags, petroleum and chemical industries, paints, varnishes, dyes, and magnets, among many other goods and processes. popular choice notes Snopes spoke with Brandon Baxley, an LA-based engineer and physicists, who said that Einsteins formula is not the best concept to apply in this case. Einsteins formula is more about how much total possible energy can be extracted from mass like, for example, in a nuclear explosion. It isnt relevant to something like this, said Baxley. If [the original poster] is referencing Einsteins formula, that means they arent entirely clear on the physics of the theory. However, that doesnt mean the argument is entirely incorrect. Baxley noted that in this case, the theory of kinetic energy is a more appropriate concept. This follows that it would take the same amount of energy to move two vehicles of equal weight regardless of whether they are powered by gas or electricity Over the last four decades, the average weight of a vehicle in the U.S. has increased from about 3,200 pounds to nearly 4,200 pounds for a variety of reasons, one of which is due to heavier battery packs in electric vehicles, according to a 2020 report by the EPA. Heavier vehicles require more energy to move than lower-weighted vehicles, but weight is just one component in addition to other factors like velocity and speed. EPA I assume nickel-metal oxide is meant to refer to nickel-metal hydride, which is common in older Priuses. Nickel-cadmium batteries were common for small electronics but aren't used in cars or laptops or anything and are less common now. Lead-acid batteries, such as those used to start most cars, are also rechargeable. Nearly all lead-acid batteries are recycled, although it's worth noting these facilities aren't always safely managed, explained Kireger. Nearly all See, for example, the Excide plant in LA that was polluting a largely low-income Latino community for decades. Lithium-ion batteries are currently recycled at a low rate, largely because it is cheaper to make new batteries than recycle old ones, although there are a lot of start-ups working in this space (e.g. Redwood Materials, founded by former Tesla CTO). This is an area that needs additional funding, research, and regulations. polluting Redwood Materials Krieger explained that many batteries self-discharge at some rate (some higher than others), meaning that if a battery is left unused for a long period of time, it will likely have a lower state of charge over time. She furthered: The "ruined flashlight" sounds like some kind of side-reaction occurred over time, likely producing materials that put stress on the battery and caused it to rupture, leaking out battery acid that damaged the surrounding casement. In terms of batteries being "run down," typically a battery is considered "dead" when it hits some threshold where the voltage of the battery drops below a certain level. The poster is correct that you could theoretically drain a battery even more if you hooked it up to a circuit. The battery isn't exactly "leaking" electricity to the outside. It is likely undergoing additional electrochemical reactions that, ideally, wouldn't occur. I think what typically comes out is the electrolyte, not the electrode materials, since the electrolyte is more likely to be a liquid. You certainly shouldn't touch the electrolyte. It's often acidic. In Oakland, at least, you're not supposed to throw batteries in trash; you're supposed to put them in a separate bag on your trash can so that the hazardous waste can be managed properly and not just thrown in a landfill. I do agree that you shouldn't just throw a lithium-ion battery in a landfill. Ideally, we learn low-energy and cost-effective ways to recycle them all. Lead-acid batteries, as noted, are usually recycled, and I think that is promising for our ability to manage the future lithium-ion battery waste stream. Getty Images This point is part of the continued debate over whether renewable energies like solar panels and wind turbines can be considered green as they require extractive resources to build, many of which can be harmful to human health. debate solar panels Silicon derived from quartz is the primary material used in the production of solar cells, a process that produces greenhouse gas emissions and requires manufacturers to handle toxic chemicals. Solar panels can also be sourced and made from a variety of materials, including silicon-based panels, gallium arsenide, cadmium-telluride (often referred to as "thin film", etc. primary material These aren't usually all made at once (except in relatively rare multi-junction cells); instead, most manufacturers make silicon cells, and some others use other semiconductors such as cadmium telluride. Some parts of these are recycled, some aren't. The production process, like any materials processing, does need to be conducted in a way that protects environmental and human health, said Kreiger. recycled The EPA notes that many of the materials are easily recyclable, including glass (about 75% of a solar panel), the aluminum frame, copper wire, and plastic junction box. Toxic chemicals, including cadmium, may also be present in solar panels that can make recycling more difficult. Even so, at least one U.S. manufacturer runs dedicated recycling facilities that recover semiconductor material like cadmium and tellurium. notes The cited windmill is also slightly off and depends on the size and model the a turbine in question. For example, the Haliade-X turbine, which is among the largest in production, caps out to just over 900 tons. Wind turbines last an average of 25 years and about 85% of component materials including steel, copper wire, electronics, and gearing can be recycled, according to an article published by the Union of Concerned Scientists. As of this writing, it is true that used blades cannot be recycled. It is also true that windmills are energy intensive and that the blades are largely not recyclable. As we have previously reported, some windmills may not recoup their energy-construction costs, but it is untrue to say that no windmills will generate as much energy as was invested in building them. In some cases, a well-situated windmill could pay back the energy costs in under three years. Haliade-X turbine 900 tons article cannot be recycled blades are largely not recyclable may not recoup their energy-construction costs generate well-situated windmill The question is: how long must a windmill generate energy before it creates more energy than it took to build it? At a good wind site, the energy payback day could be in three years or less; in a poor location, energy payback may be never, wrote earth scientist David Hughes in his 2009 book, Carbon Shift: How Peak Oil and the Climate Crisis Will Change Canada (and Our Lives). Data in the meme appears to be quoted from the Tesla website (900 pounds, 6,831 cells; this is old and likely varies by model). As Krieger notes, its difficult to generalize the weight and amount of materials in any given EV as each manufacturer uses a different chemistry and the chemistries are constantly changing. website A 2021 article published in Nature suggested that many EV batteries contain eight kilograms of lithium, 35 kilograms of nickel, 20 kilograms of manganese, and 14 kilograms of cobalt but many companies are moving away from cobalt or advancing various technologies and the usage of certain materials. Nature An aerial view of Moss Landing in California with the power plant pictured in the center. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library It appears that the original poster is referencing the Moss Landing battery project that replaced an old gas plant. Currently, it measures 400 megawatts, and operators are considering doubling it. Exactly what that expansion looks like remains to be determined. battery project that While some of the power charging this facility might come from solar and wind, there's no guarantee it will do so. It just charges and discharges from the grid. It might charge more with solar, since we're starting to see a surplus in the middle of the day, and it might help integrate wind power, and it might do other things like help limit the need for gas plants to ramp up quickly to meet the evening peak, explained Krieger. In short, the post claiming that EVs are no better for the environment than other energy sources is a form of copypasta in which social media users copy and paste content without verifying the claims made within it. A look through social media confirmed that the uncited facts had been reposted numerous times. While there are elements of truth to the post, it largely overgeneralizes the science behind batteries and EVs and does not list sources to verify the claims. As such, we have rated this claim as a Mixture. copypasta A Bit About Batteries. 30 Nov. 2006, https://www.tesla.com/pt_PT/blog/bit-about-batteries. Are Electric Vehicles Really Better for the Climate? Yes. Heres Why. The Equation, 11 Feb. 2020, https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-reichmuth/are-electric-vehicles-really-better-for-the-climate-yes-heres-why/. Are Solar Panels Toxic or Bad For the Environment? | EnergySage. Solar News, 1 Feb. 2018, https://news.energysage.com/solar-panels-toxic-environment/. Are Windmill Turbine Blades Buried in Wyoming Landfill? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wind-turbine-blades-landfills/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Author: Elena Krieger, PhD. PSE | Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy, https://www.psehealthyenergy.org/about/staff/elena-krieger/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Calma, Justine. Tesla to Make EV Battery Cathodes without Cobalt. The Verge, 22 Sept. 2020, https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/22/21451670/tesla-cobalt-free-cathodes-mining-battery-nickel-ev-cost. Castelvecchi, Davide. Electric Cars and Batteries: How Will the World Produce Enough? Nature, vol. 596, no. 7872, Aug. 2021, pp. 33639. www.nature.com, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02222-1. Cobalt Use in Batteries - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=cobalt+use+in+batteries&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS910US910&oq=cobalt+use+in+batteries&aqs=chrome.0.0i512j0i22i30l5.2996j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Copypasta. Snopes.com, https://www.snopes.com/collections/copypasta/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Could Anti-Solar Panels Use Deep Space to Generate Power at Night? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/anti-solar-panels-night-power/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Cutting the Carbon From Californias Self-Generation Incentive Program | GTM Squared. https://www.greentechmedia.com/squared/dispatches-from-the-grid-edge/cutting-the-carbon-from-californias-self-generation-incentive-program. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Did California Tell Residents Not To Charge Electric Cars Due to Power Shortage? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/california-electric-cars-charge/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Did Total Collapse in Wind and Solar Energy Leave Germany in Need of Coal-Fired Power? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/total-collapse-wind-solar-germany/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Do Windmills Consume More Energy to Build Than They Ever Produce? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wind-idiot-power/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Does Antarctica Have Functioning Wind Turbines? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wind-turbines-antarctica/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Electricity Data Browser. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/0?agg=2,0,1&fuel=vtvv&geo=g&sec=g&linechart=ELEC.GEN.ALL-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.COW-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.NG-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.NUC-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.HYC-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.WND-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.TSN-US-99.A&columnchart=ELEC.GEN.ALL-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.COW-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.NG-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.NUC-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.HYC-US-99.A~ELEC.GEN.WND-US-99.A&map=ELEC.GEN.ALL-US-99.A&freq=A&ctype=linechart<ype=pin&rtype=s&maptype=0&rse=0&pin=. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Expansion Plan to Take Worlds Biggest Battery Storage Project to 3GWh Capacity. Energy Storage News, 25 Jan. 2022, https://www.energy-storage.news/expansion-plan-to-take-worlds-biggest-battery-storage-project-to-3gwh-capacity/. Fact Check: Electric Vehicles DO Pollute -- But Engineers Are Reducing Impacts | Lead Stories. https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2022/03/fact-check-electric-vehicles-do-pollute-but-engineers-are-reducing-impacts.html. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Gaines, Linda. The Future of Automotive Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling: Charting a Sustainable Course. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, vol. 12, Dec. 2014, pp. 27. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2014.10.001. Governor Proposes $454 Million to Clean up Exide Battery Recycling Plant. Daily News, 18 May 2021, https://www.dailynews.com/2021/05/17/governor-proposes-454-million-to-clean-up-exide-battery-recycling-plant. Gulley, Andrew L., et al. Chinas Domestic and Foreign Influence in the Global Cobalt Supply Chain. Resources Policy, vol. 62, Aug. 2019, pp. 31723. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.03.015. How Energy Storage Works | Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/how-energy-storage-works. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Katz, Cheryl. The Batteries That Could Make Fossil Fuels Obsolete. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201217-renewable-power-the-worlds-largest-battery. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. New Data Show Electric Vehicles Continue to Get Cleaner. The Equation, 8 Mar. 2018, https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-reichmuth/new-data-show-electric-vehicles-continue-to-get-cleaner/. Redwood Materials. Redwood Materials, https://www.redwoodmaterials.com. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Self-Generation Incentive Program. https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/demand-side-management/self-generation-incentive-program. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. The DRC Mining Industry: Child Labor and Formalization of Small-Scale Mining | Wilson Center. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/drc-mining-industry-child-labor-and-formalization-small-scale-mining. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/drc-mining-industry-child-labor-and-formalization-small-scale-mining. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. The Greenhouse Effect | Center for Science Education. https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/how-climate-works/greenhouse-effect. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. US EPA, OLEM. Solar Panel Recycling. 23 Aug. 2021, https://www.epa.gov/hw/solar-panel-recycling. Vries, Eize de. Haliade-X Uncovered: GE Aims for 14MW. https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1577816?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Haliade-X Uncovered: GE Aims for 14MW. https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1577816?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Were Frozen Wind Turbines in Texas a Major Factor in Power Outages? Snopes.Com, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wind-turbines-texas-power-outages/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Why Cobalt Mining in the DRC Needs Urgent Attention. Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-cobalt-mining-drc-needs-urgent-attention. Accessed 28 Mar. 2022. Wind Turbine Blades Dont Have To End Up In Landfills. The Equation, 30 Oct. 2020, https://blog.ucsusa.org/james-gignac/wind-turbine-blades-recycling/. | 2 | [
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FMD4076 | 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: Under President Barack Obama,Weve got the lowest labor force participation in over three decades, since 1978.
contextual information: President Barack Obamas upcoming State of the Union address gave Republicans and Democrats on the Sunday news shows another chance to make their case about the countrys economic performance over the past five years. OnFox News Sunday,Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer pointed out the country has added 8 million jobs since the health care law passed in March 2010. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, offered a different take on the state of the labor force onFace the Nation. Why are jobs and economic growth so dismal? he asked. Weve got the lowest labor force participation in over three decades, since 1978. And if President Obama wants to give an honest, candid State of the Union address this week, hell address the fact that his economic policies are not working. It's difficult to say how Obama's policies are causing the economy to stall or succeed, but we can examine Cruz's specific claim about labor force participation. Cruz, whose press office did not respond to our request for comment, is correctly breaking down data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The labor force participation rate is another measurement of the health of the labor market. The unemployment rate is the number of people who are not working as a percent of the labor force. There are multiple lenses through which to view jobs data. Another measure, thelabor force participation rate, refers to the percentage of Americans who are considered to be in the labor force as a part of the overall population. To be counted in the labor force, someone must be working or actively looking for work. In December (and also October), the labor force participation rate was 62.8 percent. In January and March of 1978, it was also 62.8 percent. We know what youre thinking: Cool numbers, PolitiFact, but what do they mean? Take a look at the trend. The labor force participation rate had been increasing since 1948, the first year the labor force participation rate was calculated. Then, it was 58.6 percent. It peaked in the late 1990s and 2000 to just more than 67 percent, before more recently hitting its lowest point in 36 years. Its fallen 2.9 percentage points since Obamas first month on the job in January 2009. Whats happening is the subject of an ongoing debate. There is understandable concern about the countrys long-term unemployed anddiscouraged workers. The economic recovery from the 2007-09 recession has been slow, which may have propelled people to go back to school, stay at home with their kids or give up on a search altogether when they could not find jobs in their field. Still, many economists attribute at least a portion of the drop to an unsurprising reason: the retirement of baby boomers, which does not exactly qualify as an American horror story. The trick is to determine how much of the drop represents the impact of a lagging economy, which is worrisome, and how much is due to non-worrisome factors, such as the aging of the adult population, said Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution, ina 2013 PolitiFact interview. Theres no reason to believe things will change anytime soon. The labor force will become older, slowly add workers as the overall population grows and become more racially diverse in the next decade, according to theBureau of Labor Statistics. BLS researchers say the labor force participation rate will continue to slowly fall until hitting 61.6 percent in 2022 -- a projected decline of 1.2 percentage points since December 2013. The past decade saw a much more dramatic drop, declining 3.6 percentage points since December 2003. Our ruling Cruz said, Weve got the lowest labor force participation in over three decades, since 1978. Were pretty confident Obama isnt asking Cruz for State of the Union talking points, and hes especially not interested in one that may suggest todays economic policies arent working. Cruz has his statistics right. But well note at least part of the trend has been years in the making and appears strongly tied to the inevitable aging of the baby boomer population. In other words, its not all Obamas fault, and its not going to change the minute he leaves office. We rate Cruzs statement Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4077 | 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: By 2022, just the interest payment on our debt will be greater than the defense of our country.
contextual information: The hotly contested West Virginia primary for a U.S. Senate seat is now over. But it didnt take more than a few hours for the general election to start. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., appeared on West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kerchevals show, the morning after election night. In the general election, Manchin faces Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in what most observers see as a competitive race. Manchin portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative both as governor and in the Senate in hisinterviewwith Kercheval. He expressed concern about the rising federal debt, which exceeds $21 trillion in the broadest measurement. By 2022, just the interest payment on our debt will be greater than the defense of our country, Manchin said. Is Manchin right? We found that hes at least certainly close. You may not realize this, but as a nonprofit news organization, we depend on and answer to you. Your support directly impacts our abilility to provide objective, factual reporting on issues that matter.Donate now to our Spring Campaign and go on the record as saying facts matter! In 2017, the last year for which complete data is available, defense spending stood at $590 billion. Net interest on the debt stood at $263 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan budget analysis arm of Congress. So defense spending is currently more than twice as big as net interest. However, net interest is expected to grow faster than defense spending over the next decade. Thats according to CBOs most recentBudget and Economic Outlookreport, which projects a variety of budget categories 10 years into the future. (See Fig. 2.1here.) Between 2018 and 2028, CBO projects, both defense and interest will rise, with interest overtaking defense spending in fiscal year 2023. In 2023, defense spending will be $679 billion and net interest will reach $702 billion. The gap will only grow from there. So CBO has it one year later than Manchin said. That said, things could change between now and then and CBOs assumptions are not the only way to make these projections. CBOs projections assume that defense spending will return to tighter levels in 2020, after the current spending bill expires, said Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However, Congress has regularly raised the spending limits since they were first imposed in 2011. And if Congress acts as it has in the past, that would change the calculations. However, CBO does not specify the amounts under this alternative assumption, so that scenario is too speculative to consider. Manchin said, By 2022, just the interest payment on our debt will be greater than the defense of our country. The closest official estimate we could find says that net interest will pass defense spending in 2023, or one year later than Manchin said. But using a different set of unofficial assumptions, it could be different. We rate his statement Mostly True. | 1 | [
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FMD4078 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Print
While Donald Trump talks of repealing and replacing Obamacare and Hillary Clinton talks of reopening the conversation about the public option , the state of Vermont has begun dealing its own personal health care crisis by invoking something called the “all-payer model.”
The Green Mountain Care Board on Wednesday voted to approve this methodology for paying for health care, but understanding what that means requires reading the fine print of the agreement.
By approving the all-payer model agreement, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin seeks to align incentives across Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance so health care providers are paid for keeping patients healthy, not for providing individual services and procedures.
The board’s approval makes Vermont the first state to pursue an all-payer model statewide.
In a statement sent from the governor’s office, Shumlin thanked President Barack Obama and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell for negotiating the agreement with the state, and he said the model would control health care costs and reward doctors for a more preventive approach to care.
“Vermont will now become the first state in America to ensure that your doctor can focus on keeping you healthy, rather than running tests or procedures,” Shumlin said, adding:
By shifting the focus away from the current fee-for-service system to one that rewards primary care and prevention, we will help Vermonters lead healthier lives and more effectively manage chronic diseases, allow doctors to better treat their patients and identify health issues before they become severe, and reduce costs in a health care system that, if left unchecked, will bankrupt our state and Vermont families.
Green Mountain Care Board Chair Al Gobeille called the event “an important next step in provider-led health care reform,” adding that the program will save Vermont $10 billion over the next decade.
However, the board’s action did little to address concerns raised by the Joint Fiscal Office. In a report released Friday , the JFO weighed the supposed benefits of the new system against a list of critiques and uncertainties. Among the uncertainties are the administrative costs of the program, as well as where funding will come from.
The JFO report also notes that the next governor could refuse to go forward with the program. Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott has said he does not support the program.
In a statement sent to local media, State House Minority Leader Rep. Don Turner, criticized the plan.
“The proposal raises many important, but unanswered, questions regarding the ability to cap healthcare cost growth, the use of the ACO model … and the competency of the Shumlin Administration to successfully run another complex regulatory system given its dismal record with Vermont Health Connect,” he said.
Darcie Johnston, director of Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, said she was shocked at the speed with which the board approved the draft. “Our legislators made a huge mistake in giving the GMCB so much power — the power to enter into contracts to further destroy our health care system.”
Amy Cooper, executive director of HealthFirst, an independent practice association representing over 250 medical professionals, told Vermont Watchdog she believes “the concept could be a good one” but nevertheless is “nervous about the State’s ability to implement it, especially with such a short timeline of reviewing the details that were only released a month ago.”
Shumlin will sign the revised draft document at 2 p.m. Thursday in his ceremonial office in Montpelier.
Over the past month, health care officials held public forums to explain Vermont’s 44-page draft agreement with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Still, many doctors and patients feel unsure of what the “all-payer model” will mean for them, in part because of the program’s many complexities.
For starters, despite the administration’s talk of an “all-payer waiver,” the draft document contains a waiver only for Medicare, not Medicaid or commercial insurance — the other two “payers” in Vermont’s health care system. Instead, the document gives state health care officials permission to operate accountable care organizations, or ACOs, under a restructured payment system.
For health care providers, the new payment system will start to replace current fee-for-service payments with a state-run global budget, the goal of which is to reward positive outcomes and overall population health.
Once the agreement is finalized, Vermont will start using its state-approved ACO, called the Vermont Care Organization. That network of health care providers is comprised of representatives from existing ACOs, including OneCare, HealthFirst and Community Health Accountable Care.
The smaller ACOs have not yet committed to being managed by the Vermont Care Organization. They have until 2018 to decide whether to remain as fee-for-service operators or transition to global budgeting within the Vermont Care Organization, as overseen by the Green Mountain Care Board.
Dr. Paul Reiss, chief medical officer at HealthFirst, told Watchdog his ACO is not recommending that physicians sign on with the Vermont Care Organization until details of the offer are known.
“There’s no proposal to change the way physicians are paid under Medicare in 2017,” Reiss said. “We’ll recommend signing on when there are actually offers on the table.”
At recent public forums, both Gov. Peter Shumlin and Al Gobeille, chair of the Green Mountain Care Board, said the Vermont Care Organization would be “risk bearing.” That means the umbrella ACO network, not individual providers, will absorb losses if providers exceed their budget for the year.
While the risk-bearing stipulation may allay providers’ worries about going over budget, page 8 of the agreement states that the ACO is responsible for “at minimum 30 percent” of shared losses. Put another way, providers in some cases will be responsible for paying up to 70 percent of the cost of exceeding the state-determined budget.
Delivering care under a global budget worries some doctors, who may not be able to survive under a budget cap and offer effective care at the same time.
When an audience member at the Norwich public forum asked what impact failing practices might have on the system, Shumlin replied, “You cannot be refused care. … It’s the ACO’s problem to deal with the bankruptcy. … It would not affect care in any way. It might not be the same provider, because they would be out of business theoretically, but someone would have an interest in caring for you.”
Gobeille agreed that private practices might face bankruptcy “because they couldn’t make it work in the independent practice world.” He added that such practices could be absorbed into the hospital system.
Since the draft agreement was announced , some physicians have criticized the plan on the grounds that hospitals may continue getting reimbursed for services at a higher rate, because of their bargaining advantage with insurance companies and the Green Mountain Care Board.
While it’s generally expected that the all-payer model will fix the payment reimbursement differential between Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers, Reiss said he’s skeptical.
“There are no [plans] currently diagrammed on any drawing board to make that happen,” Reiss told Watchdog.
In fact, the draft agreement doesn’t fix the reimbursement differential. Instead, it says by 2020 the state must deliver “a report on options to narrow the Payer Differential between payers.”
The long delay could disappoint independent physicians, who have been told they don’t have to join the state-run ACO if they don’t want. That freedom of choice may be illusory at best, since financial pressure cited in the agreement could coerce doctors to join the network or face financial consequences.
Specifically, the draft agreement says the state will “encourage” providers and beneficiaries to participate. One “encouragement” includes a potential Medicare payment reduction for practices that remain outside of the ACO.
However, in an Oct.19 email exchange obtained by Vermont Watchdog, state Sen. Tim Ashe, told Burlington psychiatrist Robert Emmons that he contacted Ena Backus, health policy chief at the Green Mountain Care Board, and the financial penalty is now removed from the updated agreement.
Funding to help Vermont abandon a fee-for-service model includes a one-time payment of $9.5 million dollars from Medicare. The state also has a verbal agreement with Medicaid for $200 million — likely $110 million in federal money and $90 million in state funds.
It’s unclear where this money, and the administrative expense of Vermont Care Organization, will come from.
On Tuesday, Johnston unsuccessfully called for the board to delay its vote until outstanding questions are answered.
“We believe that doctors and patients have significant concerns, and that the delivery of health care to Vermonters could be significantly impacted. We are concerned about the rationing of care,” the Vermonters for Healthcare Freedom director said in a statement. “…There are too many questions that deserve answers before the Green Mountain Care Board should agree to support such a risky venture.”
Other concerns of Johnston’s include a lack of transparency and the model’s impact on Vermont’s doctor shortage.
A timeline of key events reveals the long road ahead for the all-payer health care model. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4079 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: New U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First†rhetoric and confrontational negotiating style have sparked frantic calls to the White House and Congress from diplomats and lobbyists concerned the United States no longer has their back. When word swirled through Washington on Thursday that Trump might be preparing to ease U.S. sanctions on Russia, worried European diplomats began calling the National Security Council and asking if the rumors were true, said a former U.S. official familiar with the situation. The White House officials could not answer their questions because they, too, have been kept in the dark, said the former official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.Trump’s new United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, sent another shiver through America’s allies on Friday, warning them that if they do not have Washington’s back, she is “taking names†and will respond. “Trump’s foreign policy is totally unpredictable,†said a senior official of the 28-nation European Union, which Trump has said is bound for a break-up. Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson “have said all the right things,†the EU official said. “But this could be like the Iraq war policy all over again, when we saw how a segment of government decides policy, not the secretary of state.†Another Western diplomat said foreign ambassadors were explaining their countries’ positions to Congress in the hope that they would find their way to the White House. Other countries are expanding their lobbying efforts. At the end of last year, Ukraine signed a $50,000-a-month lobbying contract with Haley Barbour, a former Republican chairman and Mississippi governor. In January, the government-run China Council for the Promotion of International Trade hired Husch Blackwell LLP, to lobby about the importation of stainless steel, according to records filed with the Department of Justice. Some uncertainty is normal when a new U.S. president finds his footing and voice on foreign affairs and installs his people in policy-making slots. But in the week since his inauguration, Trump has sent a blizzard of conflicting signals, and key slots at the State and Defense departments and the NSC remain vacant. “We’re trying to figure out who is who,†one European diplomat said, referring to efforts to determine whether long-standing tenets of U.S. foreign policy still apply. One of President Trump’s first major meetings, with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, was canceled due to Trump’s demand Mexico pay for a border wall he plans to build. The two spoke by telephone on Friday after the cancellation. Trump said Wednesday he would back safe zones for refugees in Syria, but gave no indication how he would coordinate this with Turkey, Russia and allies in Europe and the Middle East. Presidential spokesman Sean Spicer’s suggestion the United States would stop China from taking over territory in the South China Sea and Trump’s Jan. 2 tweet that a threatened North Korean test of an intercontinental ballistic missile “won’t happen†could raise the chances of a military confrontation, Asian officials said. Some commentators say it’s too soon for allies to panic. “It is not appropriate to be too worried, but it is not appropriate not to worry at all,†said Fumiaki Kubo, a professor of American government history at the University of Tokyo. A senior official from a member of the Five Eyes nations that make up the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network said it was still important to keep intelligence channels open with Washington. The grouping comprises the United States, Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand. “We will continue to share intelligence with the Americans, who supply the majority of information that circulates among the Five Eyes. If we hold data back from them, they could decide to do the same to us, and then we would suffer much worse consequences.†But others suggested that the greater the uncertainty and the longer it lasts, the greater the chances of miscalculations by other nations that could harm U.S. interests. The high geopolitical anxiety is most evident in East Asia, where China’s ambitions are colliding with longstanding U.S. dominance in the Pacific. During his presidential campaign, Trump suggested Japan and South Korea, which rely on a U.S. security umbrella, should defend themselves or pay Washington more to do so. Defense secretary Mattis will make his first overseas trip next week to the two countries, a choice intended to send a “reassurance message,†a Trump administration official said. “This is for all of the people who were concerned during the campaign that then-candidate, now President Trump was skeptical of our alliances and was somehow going to retreat from our traditional leadership role in the region,†said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Yet Mattis has voiced sharply different opinions from Trump on key questions, including the value of the NATO alliance and the threat from Russia, and that has led officials in Tokyo and Seoul to wonder who speaks for U.S. policy. Trump took a call from President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rogue province, and has questioned Washington’s decades-old adherence to the “one China†principle. “China’s attitude at the moment is very cautious, but that does not mean weak,†said Shi Yinhong, who heads the Centre for American Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University and has advised the government. Allies, though, worry that instead of being based partly on shared values such as democracy, free trade, and the rule of law, their dealings with the United States might become transactional and start to resemble Trump’s real estate deals.â€We are business people. We are not going to govern this country with diplomatic niceties; we are going to govern this country as a business,†said a Western diplomat, quoting a Trump advisor. | 1 | [
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FMD4080 | 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 President Trump Establish a 'Religious Office' in the White House? Claim summaries: A Facebook meme gets the basic facts right but misses some important context.
contextual information: On 3 May 2018, the "Occupy Democrats" Facebook page posted a meme which claimed that the president had violated the constitutional separation of church and state by setting up a "religious office": meme President Trump did sign an executive order in May 2018 to establish a new faith-based initiative within the White House, but nobody from his administration called it a "religious office" that description appears to have come from Occupy Democrats. Furthermore, Trump's initiative represents significant continuity of, rather than a departure from, the previous two administrations. Although every detail and working of the new initiative has not yet been outlined, it certainly does not represent a radical change. Trump's White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative bears a striking resemblance to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which George W. Bush set up in 2001, and which Barack Obama continued during his administration but renamed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. set up renamed In brief, Trump's executive order which he signed on 3 May 2018, the National Day of Prayer replaces the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships with the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative, keeping it within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. executive order The executive order also sets out the following: Beyond that, Trump's order is somewhat vague on the exact workings of the initiative and the duties of the advisor who will lead it: One potentially significant provision in the executive order calls for those in charge of the Faith and Opportunity Initiative to contact the Attorney General if they see potential executive branch violations of a religious liberty memorandum published by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in October 2017. The Sessions memorandum reiterated the positions set out by Trump in an earlier executive order, in which the President wrote: memorandum executive order It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce Federal laws robust protections for religious freedom.... All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall, to the greatest extent practicable and to the extent permitted by law, respect and protect the freedom of persons and organizations to engage in religious and political speech. President Trump has prioritized enhancing legal protections for religious freedom, including when it comes to obligations placed on faith-based organizations that receive federal funding, the freedom of employers and employees to abstain from practices (particularly in health care) which they feel compromise their religious beliefs, and in calling for an end to the Johnson Amendment, a long-standing provision that bars religious 501 (c)(3) non-profit groups from engaging in electoral activism. prioritized provision In his 2001 executive order establishing the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, President George W. Bush emphasized that a driving force behind the policy was a desire to "level the playing field" in the disbursement of federal funding, and enhance the funding opportunities available for religious non-profit organizations especially those focused on poverty, addiction, crime and other social issues: executive order The paramount goal is compassionate results, and private and charitable community groups, including religious ones, should have the fullest opportunity permitted by law to compete on a level playing field, so long as they achieve valid public purposes, such as curbing crime, conquering addiction, strengthening families and neighborhoods, and overcoming poverty. This delivery of social services must be results oriented and should value the bedrock principles of pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness, and neutrality. The Occupy Democrats meme is largely accurate. In May 2018, Trump did indeed establish an initiative within the White House which would give faith-based organizations what the administration called a "voice in the White House." However, the description of the initiative as a "religious office" did not come from the Trump administration itself, and that is not its official name. called Furthermore, Trump's 2018 initiative represents significant continuity from predecessor offices set up by George W. Bush in 2001 and Barack Obama in 2009, although the exact focus, workings, and influence of Trump's initiative remain to be seen. On 5 May, the "Being Liberal" Facebook page and web site published an article with the headline "Trump quietly signed an Executive Order allowing government to fund religious groups." article This is very misleading, and ignores the fact that the federal government has been providing grants, funding and tax write-offs to religious non-profit organizations for many years, including during the Obama administration. Trump's creation of the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative did not usher in that state of affairs. Bush, President George W. "Executive Order 13199 -- Establishment of White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives."
The American Presidency Project/UCSB. 29 January 2001. Obama, President Barack. "Executive Order 13498 -- Amendments to Executive Order 13199 and Establishment of the President's Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships."
Federal Register. 5 February 2009. Trump, President Donald J. "Executive Order on the Establishment of a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative."
White House. 3 May 2018. Sessions, Jeff. "Memorandum for All Executive Departments and Agencies -- Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty."
Office of the U.S. Attorney General. 6 October 2017. Trump, President Donald J. "Presidential Executive Order Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty."
White House. 4 May 2017. White House. "Fact Sheet -- President Donald J. Trump Stands Up for Religious Freedom In the United States."
White House. 3 May 2018. Updated [8 May 2018]: Added examination of "Being Liberal" article. | 1 | [
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FMD4081 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The family of a young protester who went missing in Argentina nearly three months ago identified his body on Friday, said a brother of the dead man to journalists after leaving the morgue. Investigators discovered a body on Tuesday in the Chubut River in Patagonia, near where Santiago Maldonado was last seen at an indigenous rights protest on Aug. 1. We recognized Santiago s tattoos so we are convinced it is Santiago, said Sergio Maldonado, the brother, after the family identified the body in Buenos Aires. Some government opposition and rights groups have said state security forces took Maldonado, a 28-year-old craftsman, after police reportedly clashed with Mapuche Indians who claim territory throughout southern Argentina and Chile. The groups allege President Mauricio Macri s government covered up Maldonado s whereabouts. Macri s government says there is no evidence showing security forces detained him. The disappearance and death of Maldonado has overshadowed Sunday s midterm congressional election in a country where potential cases of abuse by security forces are particularly sensitive. Argentina s 1976-83 military dictatorship secretly detained, tortured and killed people in clandestine prisons, and rights groups say up to 30,000 people disappeared. The judge overseeing the Maldonado case said an autopsy completed late on Friday showed no signs of injury on the body. Now the cause of death needs to be determined, Judge Gustavo Lleral told journalists. Former leftist President Cristina Fernandez, who is seeking a Senate seat in Buenos Aires province, has criticized the government s handling of the case, and mass protests and social media campaigns have demanded to know what happened to Maldonado. The president s office said on Friday that Macri had contacted Maldonado s mother to offer his condolences. Mourners left candles, flowers and cards outside the morgue in Buenos Aires, while protesters gathered at the Plaza de Mayo. | 1 | [
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FMD4082 | 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 Sheep Walk Through Gate Despite There Being No Fence? Claim summaries: A photograph purportedly showing a group of sheep passing through a gate despite the absence of a fence is frequently shared as an example of "the trap of thinking."
contextual information: A photograph purportedly showing a group of sheep squeezing through a gate despite the absence of a fence is frequently shared as an example of "the trap of thinking." A herd of sheep is leaving the stall. There is no fence, only the gate... "The Trap of Thinking." However, whether or not the sheep are stopping to think about it, there is actually a fence in the image displayed above. This image was taken by Australian photographer Scott Bridle in 2012 and shows a group of sheep passing through a gate at Brenda Station. While the encircling fence may be hard to see in this particular photograph, fence posts are clearly visible in a higher resolution version. Furthermore, fenced-in sheep can be seen in two other images Bridle took of Brenda Station in 2012. Finally, Carolyn Ferguson of Scott Bridle Photography confirmed to us that there was indeed a fence in this photograph: "Yes, there is definitely a fence." Update [July 6, 2022]: Headline reformatting, SEO/social updates. | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4083 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The Whale , The Dog or The Zebra ? Players line up beside a small kiosk in a poor neighborhood to choose animals in a lottery game that has become a craze in Venezuela even as the oil-rich country suffers a fourth year of brutal recession. It seems more and more Venezuelans are turning to gambling in their desperation to make ends meet amid the country s unprecedented economic crisis. Though more people lose than win overall, the illusion of a payday has become more alluring as Venezuelans endure the world s highest inflation, shortages of basics from flour to car batteries, and diminished real-term wages. Among multiple options from race courses to back-street betting parlors, the roulette-style Los Animalitos (or the Little Animals) is currently by far the most popular game on the street. Most people I see playing the lottery are unemployed, trying to make a bit extra this way because the payouts are good, said Veruska Torres, 26, a nurse who recently lost her job in a pharmacy and now plays Animalitos every day. Torres often plays more than a dozen times daily at the kiosk in Catia, spending between 5,000-10,000 bolivars, but sometimes making up to 50,000 or 60,000 bolivars in winnings | 1 | [
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FMD4084 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Donald Trump defended embattled U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore on Tuesday, saying the Alabama Republican had denied allegations of sexual misconduct and emphasizing that he did not want Moore’s Democratic opponent to win. Trump previously said that Moore should step aside if the allegations were true. Speaking to reporters at the White House before leaving Washington for Florida, Trump left open the possibility of campaigning for Moore, saying he would make an announcement on that next week. The president also ripped into Moore’s opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, describing the former prosecutor as liberal and soft on crime. The comments represented a shift in strategy for the White House, which previously tried to keep its distance from the controversy sparked by a Washington Post report detailing accusations by four women that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. More women have since spoken out with allegations of their own. “He totally denies it. He says it didn’t happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also,†Trump said. Trump’s position was a break from that of other national Republicans. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other prominent lawmakers have pressed Moore to quit the race. It also contrasted with comments from his daughter Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser who told the Associated Press there was a “special place in hell for people who prey on children.†She said she had no reason to doubt the women’s accounts. Moore, 70, has denied any wrongdoing. The married Christian conservative has said he is the victim of a witch hunt and has declined to drop out of the race. Reuters has not been able to confirm any of the accusations independently. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump himself faced accusations from several women that he had in the past made unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate personal remarks about them. Trump denied the allegations, accusing Democrats and the media of a smear campaign. Trump supported Moore’s opponent, Senator Luther Strange, in the Republican primary race for the open U.S. Senate seat vacated by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but he backed Moore after the former Alabama chief justice won the nomination. Republicans hold a slim 52-48 majority in the Senate. They are eager to hold on to that advantage to pass Trump’s legislative agenda on taxes, healthcare and other priorities. Since the accusations against Moore were reported, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has said repeatedly that Alabama voters should decide the election and called the allegations “troubling.†The White House also backed the Republican National Committee’s decision to withdraw support for Moore. But the administration’s position appeared to start evolving this week when White House counselor Kellyanne Conway criticized Jones during an interview with Fox News and said the White House wanted a Republican to win the seat in order to support Trump’s plan for a tax overhaul. Trump, who had declined until Tuesday to answer questions about the Alabama race, was prepared with a list of complaints about Jones when facing reporters on the south lawn of the White House. “I can tell you one thing for sure: We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Jones,†Trump said. “I’ve looked at his record. It’s terrible on crime. It’s terrible on the border. It’s terrible on the military. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody that’s going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment.†Before the allegations came to light, Moore was heavily favored to defeat Jones, a former federal prosecutor, in the special election on Dec. 12. Two opinion polls last week showed Moore now trailing Jones. “Doug believes the women, and that the people of Alabama will hold Roy Moore accountable,†Jones’ spokesman, Sebastian Kitchen, said in a statement. Among those prosecuted by Jones when he was a U.S. attorney in Alabama were two former Ku Klux Klan members for their involvement in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four girls. | 1 | [
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FMD4085 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: MEXICO CITY — It might have been any other day in El Salvador, but as the hours ticked into evening it became notable not for what happened, but for what didn’t. An entire day had passed without a single murder in one of the world’s most violent places. There was no particular reason the count was zero on Wednesday, Howard Cotto, the director of the National Civil Police, told local reporters the next day. Indeed, the police had registered 99 murders in the first 10 days of 2017 — an average of almost 10 a day. Gang violence in El Salvador, an impoverished Central American country of 6. 5 million, has given it one of the highest murder rates of any nation that is not at war. Youth gangs battle one another over extortion rackets that extend to the smallest of businesses, and no one seems to be immune from the bloodshed, which is also exacting a toll on the police. Mr. Cotto noted that violence began to decline last year, which ended with 5, 278 murders. Although the average was more than 14 a day, it was still 20 percent fewer than in 2015. Yet even with the decline, the murder rate was more than 80 homicides per 100, 000 residents last year, compared with five per 100, 000 in the United States in 2015, according to the most recent F. B. I. figures. Two years ago, the government of President Salvador Sánchez Cerén threw out a fraying truce that the previous government had worked out with the gangs. A crackdown sent heavily armed security forces into the streets. Police commanders gave their officers virtually free rein to shoot “if they must†in encounters with criminals and promised legal support in cases filed against them. The most powerful gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and two rival factions of Barrio 18, responded with a new wave of violence and targeted police officers and soldiers. The violence has fueled an exodus. Each year since 2013, tens of thousands of Salvadorans, many of them women and children, have braved the journey across Guatemala and Mexico to seek protection in the United States. About 40 percent of Salvadorans would like to leave the country, according to a survey published this week by the Institute of Public Opinion at the Central American University José Simeón Cañas in San Salvador. The percentage is the highest in a decade, the institute said. More than 17 percent said that somebody in their family had been forced to leave El Salvador because of threats and violence. The survey is based on interviews with 1, 262 Salvadoran adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. Wednesday’s pause in killing did not last. On Thursday, two gunmen riding a motorcycle fatally shot an police officer in a town north of San Salvador, the capital, according to the attorney general’s office. That night the owner of a car wash in the capital was killed in a violent San Salvador suburb, and the police suspected that her death was related to extortion payments often demanded of business owners, according to local news reports. Spokesmen for Mara Salvatrucha, the nation’s largest gang, recently proposed a dialogue with the government that they said could ultimately lead to the gang’s dissolution, according to the online newspaper El Faro. Such negotiations are deeply unpopular with Salvadoran citizens. “They have to stop murdering citizens, extorting families, killing police, murdering soldiers,†Vice President Óscar Ortiz told the local newspaper El Mundo in response the gang’s overture. He promised that the government would continue its crackdown. “We will not stop, we will continue attacking those who insist on acting outside of the law, and this year we will do it even harder,†he said. | 1 | [
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FMD4086 | 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: Ninety percent of people born in the 1940s ended up doing better financially than their parents. But those born in the 1980s, the much-maligned Millennials, have only a 50-50 chance of doing better (financially) than their parents, despite being the best-educated generation in our history.
contextual information: Candidate for California governorDelaine Eastinsays she wants to create an economy that works for everyone. But with the states affordable housing crisis and deep poverty, Eastin believes thats not happening now, especially for young people. People become cynical, she wrote in an Oct. 11, 2017op-edin theSan Francisco Chroniclebecause the path to a brighter future is becoming more remote. Eastin continued: Ninety percent of people born in the 1940s ended up doing better financially than their parents. But those born in the 1980s, the much-maligned Millennials, have only a 50-50 chance of doing better (financially) than their parents, despite being the best-educated generation in our history. Millennialsare typically considered the children of the Baby Boomers and older Gen Xers. They were born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. We wanted to know whether Eastin was right about this dramatic decline in children doing better than their parents. We set out on a fact check. Eastins background Eastin is one of several Democrats vying to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018. She served in the State Assembly from 1986 to 1994 and then as State Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1995 to 2003. She was the first, and remains, the only woman to hold that position. In addition to her desire to create a more equitable economy, Eastin has advocated for greater investment in education, the adoption of universal health care and continued work on climate change during her run for governor. Our research We asked Eastins campaign for evidence supporting her claim about millennials and their financial prospects. Jon Murchinson, her campaign spokesman, told us the statement is based on conclusions in aDecember 2016 studyby the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. The study is called The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility since 1940. Its findings, indeed, show that the fraction of children earning more than their parents has plummeted -- from 90 percent for children born in the 1940s to 50 percent for those born in the 1980s. The study accounted for inflation, taxes and other changes between the generations. Its basically a coin flip as to whether youll do better than your parents, Stanford economistRaj Chetty, one of the studys authors, said in anews releaseannouncing the studys publication in December 2016. SOURCE:The Equality of Opportunity Project Reached by email this week, Chetty told us Eastins characterization of this trend appears accurate. David Grusky, the studys co-author and director of Stanfords Center on Poverty and Inequality, added that Eastins statement is a fair summary of our headline conclusion. The Stanford study doesnt examine whether millennials are the best-educated generation in our history. That part of Eastins statement, however, was substantiated in a recentsurveyby the Pew Research Center. It found 27 percent of millennial women and 21 percent of millennial men had completed at least a bachelors degree by age 33. That was slightly higher than the percentages for men and women at the same age from Baby Boomer to Generation X populations. Inside the study While Eastin appears to have correctly represented the reports findings, we wanted to know how the Stanford researchers came to their conclusions and whether other researchers agreed with them. Grusky told us the report used millions of Internal Revenue Service records and Census data to compare income between parents and children. The report specifically looked at people born between 1940 and 1984 and measured household income for parents and children when both were 30 years old. Even after accounting for changes between the generations, such as millennials entering the workforce at an older age than their parents, Grusky said the findings on upward mobility did not change significantly. Only slightly more than 50 percent of children at age 40 had higher income compared with their parents income when their parents were 30 years old. Unequal growth The Stanford study also accounted for the rapid economic growth experienced during the Baby Boomer generation, when the nations post-World War II economy created a surge of new jobs and industries. Assuming both generations had experienced the same economic growth rates, Grusky said only 62 percent of millennials would do better than their parents. The key factor holding back broader financial success of this younger generation, the report concluded, was todays inequality of growth. Financial success, Grusky said, has become concentrated among a smaller share of families compared with the recent past. Ensuring that financial success is distributed more widely would make a lot of headway toward millennials doing better than their parents in future years, the researcher added. The report found declines in upward mobility for millennials across all 50 states. The biggest drops took place in Rust Belt states such as Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, Grusky said. Millennials in states such as California, New York and Massachusetts saw, on average, less substantial declines. SOURCE:The Equality of Opportunity Project For this study, Grusky said, researchers were not able to factor in student debt or address how people of different races and ethnicities are affected by the mobility trends. Behind the starting line Tom Allison, deputy policy and research director atYoung Invincibles, said the Stanford research is right in line with theconclusions reachedby his Washington D.C.-based group. Young Invincibles advocates for expanding economic opportunities for young adults and encouraging them to get involved in the political process. Allison said the Stanford study is both transparent and relies on credible public data. Factors from the Great Recession to student debt to globalization have all put millennials behind the starting line compared with their parents, he said. That is a cornerstone of the American Dream, Allison continued, that if you work hard and play by the rules, then you can exceed the living standards of your parents. And weve seen a precipitous decline in that. Our ruling Delaine Eastin recently claimed millennials have only a 50-50 chance of doing better financially than their parents, while those born in the 1940s had a 90 percent chance of doing better than their parents. Her claim is supported by a 2016 Stanford study, The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility since 1940. Stanford researchers found stronger economic growth combined with a broader distribution of that growth during the Baby Boomer generation drove greater upward mobility for people born in the 1940s. They said financial success has become more concentrated in recent decades, leaving millennials with much lower odds of doing better than their parents. Even after accounting for changes, such as inflation and millennials starting work at older ages, they found todays younger generation faces comparatively smaller odds of earning more than their parents. Other research, notably by the advocacy group Young Invincibles, agreed with the Stanford findings. We rate her claim True. TRUE The statement is accurate and theres nothing significant missing. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. | 1 | [
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FMD4087 | 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: Do Falling Coconuts Kill More People Than Sharks Each Year? Claim summaries: This factoid has been repeated so often it might as well be true, but "research" on which it is based is a press release for a travel agency with remarkably comprehensive health insurance coverage.
contextual information: A popular trope used by those seeking to recast the shark as a misunderstood beast is to compare the risk sharks pose to humans to the purported risk posed by ripening coconuts. These sweet-tasting, nutrient-rich tree nuts the logic goes kill more people by falling out of trees than do sharks. This is an ostensibly simple question to investigate, as it requires knowing only two things: the annual death rate from unprovoked shark attacks and the annual death rate from falling coconuts. trope The annual death rate from sharks is pretty straightforward. The University of Florida runs a comprehensive database of shark attacks and fatalities: The International Shark Attack File. According to their research, there has been an average of six deaths annually over the past decade. research Problems emerge, however, when one tries to get a handle on how many people die each year as a direct result of injuries sustained by falling coconuts. The most commonly cited figure is that 150 people die each year from falling coconuts. No published research, however, has come up with any reliable estimate of this statistic whatsoever. Perhaps ironically, it appears that this number, as well, gained a sense of legitimacy from the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, when a researcher there quoted the statistic in a press release for a local event: press release "Falling coconuts kill 150 people worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributable to sharks," said George Burgess, Director of the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File and a noted shark researcher. "The reality is that, on the list of potential dangers encountered in aquatic recreation, sharks are right at the bottom of the list," said Burgess, who was one of three scientists participating Tuesday in a National Sea Grant College Program and NOAA Fisheries sponsored press briefing on sharks and the risks of shark attacks at the National Press Club. Investigating the specific claim of 150 coconut deaths each year, syndicated skeptic column The Straight Dope reached out to Burgess in 2002 to ask what his source was for that statistic, and discovered that, ultimately, it came from a British travel-insurance firm named Club Direct: reached out When I called Burgess, he told me he had gotten this statistic off the Internet specifically, from a widely reported press release from the British travel-insurance firm Club Direct, saying that "holidaymakers hit by falling coconuts will be guaranteed full cover under their travel insurance policy. The news follows reports from Queensland, Australia, that coconut trees are being uprooted by local councils fearful of being sued for damages by people injured by coconuts. 'Coconuts kill around 150 people worldwide each year, which makes them about ten times more dangerous than sharks,' says Brent Escott, managing director of Club Direct." According to the column, this press release also cited a 1984 study from the Journal of Trauma titled "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts". That study the recipient of a 2001 Ig Nobel award for research that "cannot or should not be replicated" did not set out to calculate the global annual death rate from falling coconuts, however. Instead, using simple physics and four years of data collected from a remote Papua New Guinean hospital, it sought to demonstrate that the risk to human health from falling coconuts was a real one. From a physics standpoint, the paper argued: 1984 study recipient If a coconut weighing 2 kg falls 25 meters onto a person's head, the impact velocity is 80 km/hr. The decelerating force on the head will vary depending on whether a direct or glancing blow is received. The distance in which the coconut is decelerated is also an important factor. Thus an infant's head lying on the ground would receive a much greater force than that received by the head of a standing adult, that dropped as it was struck. For a stopping distance of 5cm and a direct blow, the force would be 1,000 kg. From a number of fatalities standpoint, however, the data did not actually directly identify a single fatality, though it did anecdotally report one death: Nine trauma admissions resulted from falling coconuts during the 4-year study period; during this time a total of 355 trauma cases were admitted. Thus 2.5% of trauma admissions were caused by falling coconuts. Injuries were to the back, shoulders, or head. [...] The health worker who referred Patient 1 for craniotomy informed us about another person in the same village who had died instantly a few years earlier when struck on the head by a falling coconut. While it might perhaps be possible to use this limited data to come up with a rough global estimate, no study has actually attempted to do this with systematic methodology. As such, there is no way to debunk the claim with 100 percent certainty. We can say, though, that newspaper reports of death from falling coconuts are far more sparse than reports of death from shark attacks. A 1973 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin detailed the tragic death of a 2-year old girl struck by a large number of falling coconuts on a beach, while claiming that as far as they could tell, this was the first newspaper report of such an incident in the area: Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 28 July 1973. Credit: Newspapers.com The fact that this 1973 story has been cited decades after the fact (for example from a 1999 edition of the Honolulu Advertiser below), at least superficially reinforces the notion that death from falling coconut is a rare (but real) occurrence: The Honolulu Advertiser. 14 January 1997. Credit: Newspapers.com We rank this as unproven because accurate, published estimates on the global annual rate of death from falling coconut do not yet exist. Given the dearth of firsthand accounts of death from falling coconut, however, it seems unlikely that they pose more of a threat to human health than do sharks even if death from either event is extremely unlikely. Turnbull, Leslie. "How to Avoid Being Eaten by a Shark."
This Week. 29 May 2017. Florida Museum. "International Shark Attack File"
Accessed 30 May 2017. UniSci. "Falling Coconuts Kill More People Than Shark Attacks."
Accessed 30 May 2017. Barss, Peter. "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts."
Journal of Trauma. November 1984. Improbable Research. "Portrait of an Ig Winner: Dr. Barss."
Accessed 30 May 2017. Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "Baby Dies After Being Hit by Falling Cluster of Coconuts."
28 July 1973. The Honolulu Advertiser. "Coconut Danger in Park."
14 January 1997. | 2 | [
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FMD4088 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The meeting between Donald J. Trump and the nation’s tech elite was hyped as something out of “The Apprenticeâ€: The new boss tells his minions to shape up. It turned out to be a charm offensive, a kind of “Dancing With the Silicon Valley Stars. †“This is a truly amazing group of people,†the said on Wednesday in a conference room at Trump Tower in Manhattan. The gathering included Jeff Bezos of Amazon Elon Musk of Tesla Timothy D. Cook of Apple Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Alphabet, Google’s parent company and Satya Nadella of Microsoft, among others. “I’m here to help you folks do well,†Mr. Trump said. He kept going in that vein. “There’s nobody like you in the world,†he enthused. “In the world! There’s nobody like the people in this room. †Anything that the government “can do to help this go along,†he made clear, “we’re going to be there for you. †And that was just in the first few minutes. The candidate who warned during the presidential campaign that Amazon was going to have antitrust problems, that Apple needed to build its iPhones in the United States instead of China, was nowhere to be seen. Even after the press was ushered out, the meeting continued its genial way. Among the topics discussed, according to several corporate executives and a transition official briefed on the meeting, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, were vocational education and the need for more of it, the promise and peril of trade with China and immigration (Mr. Trump wants “smart and talented people hereâ€). The also asked the executives to see if they could not apply data analysis technology to detect and help get rid of government waste. There are plans for quarterly meetings of a smaller group of tech executives, to be organized by Mr. Trump’s and adviser, Jared Kushner, said one of the executives briefed on the meeting. They will focus mainly on immigration and education issues. The meeting lasted more than 90 minutes, longer than expected. Mr. Trump was seated next to Peter Thiel, the tech investor who is a member of the ’s transition team. In another sign of Mr. Trump mixing family, business and government hats, three of his adult children — Donald Jr. Ivanka and Eric — also attended. “I won’t tell you the hundreds of calls we’ve had asking to come to this meeting,†Mr. Trump told his guests. Everyone laughed. To get to the conference room, the tech leaders entered the golden elevators of Trump Tower the same way anyone would — by punching a button. This gave the news media, cordoned off a few feet away, time to shout questions. None of the executives took the bait. Neither did they talk on the way out, although by that time the building was being closed for Trump Tower’s holiday party. Safra Catz, the of Oracle who attended the meeting, gave a thumbs up. Mr. Bezos later issued a statement that said he found the meeting “very productive. †“I shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech — agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing — everywhere,†he said. The technology world had been in turmoil as the meeting drew near. Some argued the chief executives should boycott the event to show their disdain for Mr. Trump’s values. Others maintained they should go and forthrightly make their values clear. And still others thought they should attend and make their accommodations with the new reality. “There is a wide spectrum of feeling in the Valley,†said Aaron Levie, the chief executive of the cloud storage company Box. Complicating the debate was the fact that the most fervently elements in Silicon Valley seem to be the and venture capitalists, few of which were invited to the meeting. (Alex Karp, the chief executive of Palantir Technologies, was the only head of a privately held tech company at the meeting.) Some tech companies were also notable for their absence. Twitter, the ’s medium of choice for communication, was not invited. Twitter declined to comment on why it was not included. A campaign official complained last month in a Medium post that Twitter had killed a #CrookedHillary emoji. On Wednesday, Sean Spicer, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, said that Twitter had been left out of the meeting because of space considerations in a gathering that many other technology executives were “dying to get into. †In the days and hours before the meeting, various factions made their positions clear. A group of engineers and other tech workers issued a statement asserting that they would refuse to participate in the creation of databases that could be used by the government to target people based on their race, religion or national origin. The proclamation immediately drew more than 500 signatories, including employees at Google, Apple and Microsoft. During the campaign, Mr. Trump did not rule out the idea of a database of Muslims. Another group of entrepreneurs assembled virtually this week with the same goal of preventing any erosion of civil liberties. They also accepted “a responsibility to partner with communities where the effects of rapidly changing technologies have hurt our fellow Americans. †Among those signing were Aileen Lee, a venture capitalist Dave McClure, of the 500 incubator and Lenny Mendonca, an angel investor. Mr. Levie, of Box, was a Hillary Clinton supporter but believes in engagement with the new administration. “We have to face reality that this is the next four years, and the best way to make sure our values are upheld is actually push on them,†he said. Other tech chief executives also took the same route. Hours before Mr. Trump’s meeting with tech leaders, the announced that Mr. Musk and Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, would be among those joining his Strategic and Policy Forum, which is already stacked with businesspeople from finance and other industries. Ginni Rometty, the chief executive of IBM, had previously joined the forum. More than values and policy are at stake in the relationship between the administration and the Valley. Money is, too. In the wake of Mr. Trump’s victory, Forrester Research is cutting back its growth estimate for the United States tech market in 2017 to 4. 3 percent from 5. 1 percent. One reason is simple caution, as large multinational manufacturers navigate a new and unpredictable administration. Another reason: less tech spending by the government. “There are so many cabinet secretaries who are explicitly hostile to the mission of their agencies,†said Andrew Bartels, a Forrester principal analyst. As for 2018, there are so many ways things could go that a forecast is impossible. “It’s up for grabs,†the analyst said. So, too, is the relationship of Mr. Trump and the tech industry. For the moment, though, Silicon Valley seems to have dodged a bullet. | 1 | [
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FMD4089 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee asked the government ethics watchdog on Monday to review comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plugging “The Lego Batman Movie,†a film one of his companies produced, for a possible ethics violation. In a letter to Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub, Senator Ron Wyden said he was concerned that Mnuchin had violated his ethics agreement signed in January in his comments on Friday at the end of a live interview with the Axios news website. Mnuchin had agreed to divest his interests in Ratpac-Dune Entertainment Holdings LLC within 120 days of his confirmation, and “not participate personally and substantially in any matter that has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of the entity†unless first obtaining a waiver. RatPac-Dune, co-founded by Mnuchin with producer-director Brett Rattner and media billionaire James Packer, has produced and financed a number of Hollywood hits in recent years, including “Avatar,†“Mad Max: Fury Road†and “The Lego Batman Movie.†At the Axios event, Mnuchin was asked in a question from a reader for a movie recommendation. “I’m not allowed to promote anything that I’m involved in. So I just want to have the legal disclosure, you’ve asked me the question, and I am not promoting any product,†Mnuchin said. “But you should send all your kids to ‘Lego Batman.’†The comment drew laughter from the audience at the Washington event. Wyden said the Finance Committee had received no notifications regarding Mnuchin’s holdings in RatPac-Dune and assumed the Treasury chief still held that interest. “I am concerned that Sec. Mnuchin’s comments, may be seen to have a predictable effect on the financial interests†of RatPac-Dune, Wyden said in his letter. In a statement, a Treasury spokesman said: “As his statement reflects, the Secretary clearly recognized that he generally may not promote private interests and specifically gave the legal disclosure that he was not promoting a movie, but answering a question he was asked directly.†The OGE recommended last month that the White House should consider disciplinary action against President Donald Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway for her on-air comment on Fox News Channel promoting the clothing and jewelry line of Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump. Conway said people “should go buy Ivanka’s stuff.†The White House later told the ethics watchdog that Conway had acted “inadvertently†and without “nefarious motive or intent to benefit personally.†| 1 | [
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FMD4090 | 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: Latino small businesses are 1 in 4 new businesses, but only 1% of venture capital funding goes to Latino businesses. Claim summaries: Latino small businesses account for 1 in 4 new businesses, according to a 2021 brief from Democratic members of a congressional committee and research from a nonprofit., A 2021 report from a consulting firm found that from 2007 to 2017, Latino-owned businesses received roughly 1% of funding from the top 25 venture capitalists and private equity firms., The report also said that Latino-owned businesses got less than 1%, or approximately $680 million, of the $487 billion invested by the top 500 largest venture capital and private equity firms in 2020.
contextual information: During an interview with Noticias Telemundo, Vice President Kamala Harris said that Latino entrepreneurs don't get as much financial support as other business owners do, and the Biden administration wants to change that. Venture capitalists need to invest more in Latino-owned businesses, Harris said. Latino small businesses are 1 in 4 new businesses, but only 1% of venture capital funding goes to Latino businesses, HarrissaidApril 21. Yes, we've got to change that. We wondered whether Harris claim was true. A Harris spokesperson told PolitiFact that the data comes from a 2021reportby the global management consulting firmBain & Co. Bain & Co. analyzed data from several sources for its report, including: CrunchBase, a company that provides business data on public and private companies; A 2021 brief from Democratic members of CongressJoint Economic Committeeabout Hispanic businesses and entrepreneurship; and Data from theStanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, a collaboration between Stanford University and the Latino Business Action Network, a nonprofit organization advocating for Latino entrepreneurship. Those sources relied on data covering 2007 to 2021 and predictions for 2022. Bain & Co. did not define Latino-owned business, but the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiativesaidthey are companies with 50% or more ownership that identifies as Latino or Hispanic. The Joint Economic Committees brief said that nearly 1 in 4 new businesses are Hispanic-owned. (TheU.S. Small Business Administrationhas also used this statistic, citing the committee brief as its source.) Staff for Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., who chaired the committee when the report published, told PolitiFact the figure comes from a 2018 report by theFederal Reserve Bank of New York. (The report includes data up to 2016.) The Federal Reserve Bank of New York also shared this statistic in a2019 tweet. An October 2022 report by theEwing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that provides grants to other nonprofits and businesses, said that in 2021 nearly a quarter of new entrepreneurs were Hispanic or Latino. The foundation used data from the Census BureausCurrent Population Surveyfor its analysis. TheCensus Bureaus 2021 Annual Business Surveyoffers a different and lower figure for the share of Hispanic-owned businesses. That survey showed that in 2020, there were approximately 375,000 Hispanic-owned businesses, and about 12.4% were new (operating for less than two years). But the two surveys are not directly comparable, because the survey samples, questions and size may not be the same, said Patricia Ramos, a Census Bureau spokesperson. The Current Population Survey data centers on the labor force people who are working or actively looking for work. The Annual Business Survey focuses on business and business owners by demographics; it also excludes data for businesses without employees. Small Business Shoeshine Stands Jairo Cardenas owner the Alpha Shoe Repair Corp., polishes a boot he is repairing, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in New York. (AP). Bain & Co.s report said that cumulatively, Latino-owned businesses received roughly 1% of capital from the top 25 venture capital and private equity firms between 2007 and 2017. Separately, the report noted that Latino-owned businesses received less than 1%, or approximately $680 million, of the $487 billion invested by the top 500 largest venture capital and private equity firms in 2020. LatinxVC, a group that helps Latino businesses get funding from venture capitalists, cited the 1% Bain & Co. figure on itsState of Latino/a VCs Second Annual Report, published in November 2022. Crunchbasereported that Latino-owned companies received $2.7 billion or 1.7% of $161.4 billion from venture capitalists in 2020. Private equity firmsgenerally invest in companies from any industry, and venture capital firms focus on innovative sectors, such as technology. Most Hispanic-owned firms are related to construction, administrative support, and transportation and warehousing, according toCensus Bureaudata. Based on existing research, the statement on venture capital funding for Latino-owned businesses seems to be in line with existing estimates, saidBarbara Gomez-Aguinaga, associate director at the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. Ilene Grabel, an economics professor at the University of Denver, said that historically, Latino entrepreneurs have not received significant financing from traditional banks and instead turn to venture capitalists for funding. Still, Latino-owned businesses need to enroll twice as many investors as white-owned businesses to get the same level of funding, according to the Bain & Co. report. Harris said, Latino small businesses are 1 in 4 new businesses, but only 1% of venture capital funding goes to Latino businesses. The 1-in-4 statistic is supported by a 2021 brief from the Democratic members of a congressional committee and research from a nonprofit that provides grants to other nonprofits and businesses. A Census Bureau survey found a smaller percentage of new Hispanic-owned businesses in 2020 12.4%. The claim about 1% of venture capital going to Latino-owned businesses matches estimates from a consulting firms 2021 report. Thats based on investments from 25 venture capitalists and private equity firms from 2007 to 2017. Investments in 2020 from these companies was under 1%, according to the report. Another source pegs that investment as high as 1.7%. We rate this claim Mostly True. CORRECTION, May 17, 2023: This fact-check was updated to clarify Rep. Don Beyers former leadership of the Joint Economic Committee. | 1 | [
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FMD4091 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Joy Reid is known for her racist slant on the news. She s one bitter and angry woman we ve reported on numerous times for her over-the-top rhetoric. This latest rant is surprising even for Reid. She goes after critically injured congressman Steve Scalise with the aide of a NAACP board member. Steve Scalise cannot defend himself right now The left has no shame!Reid: There s a whole country out there and a lot of people, at least in my Twitter timeline, and it s a delicate thing, because everybody is wishing the congressman well and hoping that he recovers, but Steve Scalise has a history that we ve all been forced to sort of ignore on race. He did come to leadership after some controversy over attending a white nationalist event, which he says he didn t know what it was. He also co-sponsored a bill to amend the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. He co-sponsored the House healthcare bill, which as you said would gut healthcare for millions of people including three million children and he cosponsored a bill to repeal the ban on semiautomatic weapons. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise is still hospitalized in critical condition but liberal MSNBC host Joy Ann Reid didn t let that stop her from portraying Scalise as an extremist just three days after an angry left-winger shot Scalise and tried to assassinate dozens of Republican congressmen in Alexandria, Virginia on Wednesday.House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was in imminent risk of death when he was flown to a trauma center Wednesday after being shot during an ambush of a GOP congressional baseball team practicing on a Virginia field. He will be in the hospital for a considerable period of time, presumably weeks, said Jack Sava, trauma director at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, who spoke Friday about the Louisiana Republican who remains in critical condition at the hospital in the District.Sava added that Scalise was as critical as you can be when he came in after a single rifle shot traversed his body from his left hip through internal organs to the other hip as witnesses said he was fielding ground balls.The shot fired at Scalise left perhaps hundreds of bullet fragments internally, many of which may never be removed because surgery might be more dangerous than leaving them in place, Sava said. That circumstance is not uncommon for that type of injury, known as a transpelvic gunshot wound, the trauma surgeon said.Sava said Scalise will require surgeries soon for abdominal and bone injuries, in addition to the two he has undergone to repair a bone in his leg broken by the bullet. The congressman sustained substantial damage to organs and blood vessels, Sava said, and remains in intensive care.How can these idiots keep arguing with a man who is critically injured in the hospital? It s horrible because he cannot defend himself! | 0 | [
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FMD4092 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: November 8, 2016
Notoriously mild-mannered editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, made his move to trigger Article 50 today, arguing that 49 articles about Brexit in his paper each day just wasn’t enough to get his message across.
‘We’ve tried everything. ‘Take a Bow Britain’, ‘Enemies of the People’, ‘You’re all a bunch of European-loving t****’, noted Dacre placidly. ‘However, some people remain unconvinced by the softly-softly, measured, evidence based headline-making that is our hallmark. It’s time for more drastic measures.’
All features in the paper will now be expected to have a Brexit angle, with the exception of the daily filler piece on the dangers of statins, for which copy is already in the can for at least the next five years.
Early sightings of tomorrow’s paper reveal a front-pager on the big overnight news from the US, revealing ‘Meghan Markle looking Supreme, that’s the Judgement of everyone, as she looks for a quick Brexit back to Stateside’. Crossword answers must now be drawn from a series of approved words, which include Brexit, May, Article 50, invoke, the, people, have, spoken, timetable, for, exit, now, now and NOW! The regular free garden seeds promotion will feature a new ‘sovereign Brtain’ bloom which the paper hopes will blossom ‘sometime in 2017′, but which the planting notes caution will need much attention and care from May.
Some at the paper are said to be uncomfortable with Dacre’s new editorial policy, but they know that arguing with him is ultimately a futile exercise. ‘Colleagues say that likes to impose his will on the paper’, said one insider. ‘At least that’s what I think they meant when they talked about that big cock on the Mail.’ 8th, 2016 by chrisf chrisf UK News 0 | 0 | [
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FMD4093 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: With murders and shootings soaring in Chicago this year, the city’s police chief and state lawmakers announced on Friday they will push for new laws setting harsher sentences for repeat offenders of gun crimes in Illinois. The law, which would be known as the Violent Gun Offenders Sentencing Act, is in its infant stages and would provide presumptive guidelines that judges would have to follow when ordering repeat criminals to serve jail time. Judges would be required to implement penalties on the higher range of existing sentencing laws. “Part of the goal is to incapacitate, get these violent offenders off the street,†state Senator Kwame Raoul said at a news conference announcing the proposed legislation. Raoul said he would sponsor the legislation along with Senator Antonio Muñoz and Representative Michael Zalewski, all Democrats. Chicago, the third-largest U.S. city, has had 307 murders so far this year, up 50 percent from the same period last year, and 1,548 shootings, up 52 percent from the same period last year, according to police statistics. Police have blamed the violence largely on gangs and a proliferation of stolen guns. There were nearly 500 homicides last year, and gun violence is up in 2016, police say. More than 50 people involved in shootings and murders in Chicago this year would have been in prison at the time of the incident if the proposed tougher sentencing policies were in place, the police department said in a statement on Friday. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the law is not designed to penalize responsible gun owners, but focus on the individuals “who tell us ‘I don’t care.’†Legislators in the state capital, Springfield, have frequently rejected gun control measures proposed by lawmakers from Chicago. A proposal made in 2013 by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to impose tougher sanctions for illegal gun possession did not get through the state Assembly because of opposition from black lawmakers who said it could lead to higher incarceration rates for blacks in Chicago communities already struggling with high numbers of former inmates who cannot find jobs. | 1 | [
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FMD4094 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Swedish economist Tino Sanandaji has hit back at claims Sweden would collapse without illegal migrant workers saying the notion was a “fantasyâ€. [Mr. Sanandaji, a noted economist who has been outspoken about the consequences of unrestricted mass migration, wrote a post on his Facebook page in response to comments made by Swedish journalist Ã…sa Linderborg who said Sweden could not function without illegal migrants. “It is a fantasy that the economy would collapse without a few thousand undocumented migrants in occupations,†Sanandaji wrote. “Sweden worked demonstrably a few years ago when there were few illegal immigrants. †According to the economist, illegal migrants have a very small impact on the overall economy because so few of them are employed. “Paperless migrants are a tiny fraction of the labour force and is in excess in professions that can easily be done by others. Low wages, no social benefit. It reflects the low productivity of the marginal service occupations that are barely required and can be easily replaced. †Hitting out at left wing parties who are often he noted: “An illegal sector distorts competition and crowds out the unemployed who are looking for the few simple jobs that remain. It is harmful and unwanted and opposed by the traditional left. †The economist, of background, did not stop with his criticism of left wing parties calling them an “immigration cultâ€. “They romanticise … undeclared work and wage dumping and have now begun to argue that the economy ‘needs’ a subclass. †He then accused the left of creating a new class of poor, something that Sweden has attempted to fight through social programmes for decades. “Cultural Left’s new slogan can be summarised as ‘We want what the United States has! ’†he said, comparing the mantra to those in the U. S. who claim that without illegal migrants, the economy would collapse. Mass migration and its effect on the economy has been the subject of a book by Sanandaji entitled Mass Challenge. The book became controversial in some circles in Sweden including a library which refused to stock the book claiming it was promoting racism. Economists across Europe have spoken out against the purported economic benefits of mass migration. Economist Johan Javeus claimed that migrants were a “ticking time bomb†in Sweden which will harm the Swedish economy. In Germany, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) wrote a report claiming that mass migration would likely harm economic growth rather than improve it. Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart. com | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4095 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: By Claire Bernish at thefreethoughtproject.com
Revelations from the Wikileaks release of John Podesta’s emails yet again prove mainstream, corporate media serves as Hillary Clinton’s personal cheerleading squad — and is devoid of any iteration of journalistic integrity.
Thanks to Wikileaks and the Intercept , in fact, we now have a list of no less than 65 mainstream “reporters” whose campaign coverage constitutes propaganda for the Clinton campaign — and no wonder, considering the obscenely lopsided drivel presented by their outlets.
As (actual) journalists Glenn Greenwald and Lee Fang reported on October 9, the Intercept exclusively received documents obtained by the source known as Guccifer 2.0 evidencing Clinton campaign tactics to court journalists portraying the former secretary of state in a positive light.
“As these internal documents demonstrate,” the Intercept reported , “a central component of the Clinton campaign strategy is ensuring that journalists they believe are favorable to Clinton are tasked to report the stories the campaign wants circulated.
“At times, Clinton’s campaign staff not only internally drafted the stories they wanted published but even specified what should be Quote: d ‘on background’ and what should be described as ‘on the record.’”
One internal strategy document dated January 2015 — months before Clinton officially kicked off her campaign in April — with the curious heading “Earned Media/Next Steps” exposes how the campaign made an albeit infrequent practice of crafting supposed news pieces from beginning to completion.
Under the — not-at-all oblique insult to the fundamentals of journalism — heading “ Placing a Story ,” the memo’s Quote: :
“As we discussed on our call, we are all in agreement that the time is right [to] place a story with a friendly journalist in the coming days that positions us a little more transparently while achieving the above goals.”
Specifically named as a suggested journalist plant is Maggie Haberman of Politico , whom they note will assist in doing “the most shaping” of the narrative they have in mind. | 0 | [
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FMD4096 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: Something wicked happened in Idaho s rural Magic Valley. The evil has been compounded by politicians, media and special interest groups doing their damnedest to suppress the story and quell a righteous citizen rebellion.On June 7, a brief news item appeared on local Twin Falls, Idaho-based KMVT about a reported sexual assault that possibly occurred near the Fawnbrook Apartments five days earlier. Unconfirmed accounts of the alleged crime on conservative-leaning websites, plus reports from area members of anti-jihad activist Brigitte Gabriel s Act for America group and longtime watchdog Ann Corcoran s Refugee Resettlement Watch blog, culminated in coverage on the powerhouse Drudge Report.The social media groundswell, untethered from the constraints of political correctness, forced government authorities to respond.Pro-mass immigration advocates may not like the sources of some of the original reporting that forced the case into the sunlight, but the watchdogs got more right than wrong. These critics now have Twin Falls political leaders sputtering to cover their backsides and police brass defending themselves against explosive charges that they dragged their feet.Instead, the professional journalists dwelt on a few early factual errors about whether the boys were from Syria and whether a knife was used and filled their dismissive articles with can t we all just get along propaganda from refugee resettlement advocates and contractors with vested financial interests in the game.What these professional journalists, (who are working overtime to discredit anyone who reports about what happened) are conveniently leaving out of the story is the fact that the 5 year old girl who was reportedly sexually assaulted by three young refugee boys in GOVERNMENT FUNDED housing, was a special needs girl and that these young boys also reportedly peed in her mouth. But the media is far more concerned about getting the refugees country of origin correct. They ll never mention that these boys are more than likely Muslim, and that in their culture, rape is in most cases perfectly acceptable. They re more focused on the fact that it may have been falsely reported that the boys used a knife to threaten her. Do we really care if these young criminals used a knife? Do we really care if they came from Syria or Iraq? Americans see their way of life and their children s security being threatened by the invasion of Muslim refugees who have no intention of assimilating with Americans. That s what we care about!Police and the local prosecutor s office grudgingly confirmed that an investigation had begun into the incident. The victim: A mentally disabled 5-year-old girl. The alleged perpetrators: Three boys, ages 7, 10 and 14, from Sudanese and Iraqi immigrant families (predominantly Muslim) who have been in the country for less than two years all but confirming that they are refugees.What happened? The case is under seal because it involves minors, but prosecutor Grant Loebs said there is videotape of the alleged sexual assault (a fact which local activists first divulged). Two of the boys are in custody. It s not clear what happened to the third.Here s the sickening thing: The people who should have been asking tough questions like, you know, mainstream journalists have spent more time attacking local whistleblowers and bloggers than they have spent demanding answers and holding public officials accountable.Why? Consider the backdrop. Residents in Twin Falls have been worried about the impact of an increasing influx of refugees, many from jihad-coddling countries, over the past several years. Their concerns about crime, welfare, health care, and schools echo those of communities across the country who are bearing the coercive brunt of Beltway bleeding hearts refugee resettlement policies enacted in a shroud of secrecy.Members of the Twin Falls City Council smugly likened refugee resettlement critics to white supremacists. Regional newspapers including the Idaho Statesman and the Spokane Spokesman-Review rushed to discredit the on-scene reporting of internet writers such as Leo Hohmann, who had interviewed a witness to the crime for World Net Daily. Jolene Payne, an 89-year-old retired nurse who lives at the complex told Hohmann that she spotted one of the boys taking pictures with a camera outside the apartment complex s laundry room. She went inside and found the 5-year-old naked with two of the younger boys naked standing over her. The worst thing was the way they peed all over her clothes, she recounted.Davis Odell, a community resident who has been in close contact with the victim s family said the boys dragged the unnamed girl into a utility room in the Fawnbrook Apartments, a low-income, subsidized housing complex in Twin Falls, and assaulted her in an attack that ended when a neighbor happened upon the scene and called police. They stripped her naked, and urinated in her mouth, Odell told FoxNews.com, citing his conversations with the girl s family.Neither the Twin Falls Police Department nor Loebs confirmed the details given by Odell. Loebs did confirm that the incident was reported on June 2, and that two juvenile suspects were finally charged Thursday and arrested a day later. The prosecutor did not say why just two arrests had been made, and said the case is sealed due to its sensitive nature and the minors involved. The callousness of local officials and indifference of local and national media reminds me very much of an international incident that went viral on YouTube earlier this year in the eastern German town of Bad Schlema located in a region overrun by Muslim refugees.A concerned grandfather whose granddaughter under the age of 10 was sexually harassed by Muslim migrants protested to mayor Jens Muller. In response to his plea for help, Muller told the elderly man to direct his family to not walk in areas where refugees would be. Just don t provoke them and don t walk in those areas. Via: Townhall | 0 | [
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FMD4097 | 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: Hulk Hogan Death Hoax Claim summaries: Wrestler Hulk Hogan is not dead; he's the target of yet another celebrity death hoax.
contextual information: In August 2014, Facebook users begin seeing posts that featured what looked to be an image from a video of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan bloody and prone, with text indicating that "Hulk Hogan died after having a deadly head shot today as revenge": Is this true? R.I.P Hulk Hogan died after having a deadly head shot today as revenge However, no matter how often this hoax is recirculated on social media, Hulk Hogan remains alive, and no such bloody video of him exists to be seen. As of 20 November 2017, Hogan was still well enough to be commenting on that day's destruction of the Georgia Dome: Georgia Dome The first time the Georgia Dome exploded was Hollywood Hogan vs @goldberg. Now they had to implode it. They should have just called me and Bill again brother. HH pic.twitter.com/A9n3hr18Jl @goldberg pic.twitter.com/A9n3hr18Jl Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) November 20, 2017 November 20, 2017 (The bloodied photo of Hulk Hogan actually came from a 2009 promotional 'incident' in Australia when Hogan was 'attacked' by fellow wrestler Ric Flair.) incident Users who did click through on such links were taken to a faux Facebook page which eventually led them down the trail of the usual survey scam, directing them to "like" or "share" links with their Facebook friends and complete online surveys, all with the goal of getting them to enrich scammers by disclosing sensitive personal information, spreading malware, buying products, and signing up for costly, difficult-to-cancel services. survey scam | 0 | [
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] | 0 |
FMD4098 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: President Donald Trump is asking Congress for $1.6 billion to begin building a wall along the border with Mexico, far short of the amount needed for a project sharply criticized by Democrats and even some conservative Republicans. An internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan in February estimated the total cost for the wall at $21.6 billion, but the White House’s budget proposal for 2018, released in full on Tuesday, included a request for just $1.6 billion. Two Republican aides in Congress said the modest request is an acknowledgement from the White House that full funding is not realistic given opposition from Freedom Caucus conservatives in the House of Representatives as well as Democrats in the House and the Senate. Unless Trump is able to rally broader support and win more funding for construction in another fiscal year, his plans for a “big beautiful wall†that he promised during his election campaign last year may not be realized, the aides said. The budget, which includes 10-year projections for spending for most areas of the government, did not include a 10-year plan for funding wall construction. “We are absolutely dead serious about the wall,†White House budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Tuesday. He said the Trump administration was still reviewing prototypes to determine whether to build fences, a brick and mortar wall or some other type of structure. The $1.6 billion would allow the administration to build small parts of the proposed wall. Trump has said he will find a way for Mexico to repay the United States for construction of the wall but that Congress would need to fund it first. Members of the House Freedom Caucus said earlier this year that Trump would have to show how he would offset the cost of a wall, which Democrats flatly oppose. Facing opposition, the White House pulled its request for full funding for the wall in the 2017 fiscal year and said it would revisit the issue in the next budget. One of the congressional aides said Trump still lacks the support needed. “Nothing has changed politically on the wall.†So far, the DHS has solicited bids for prototypes of a wall using $20 million in existing funds, but no government contractors have been selected to begin construction. A DHS memo shared with a Senate committee last month said the agency would be able to build 34 miles (55 km) of a levee wall in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and replace 14 miles (23 km) of fence in San Diego with $1 billion. | 1 | [
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] | 1 |
FMD4099 | Task: Please determine whether the text is 0. Fake or 1. True. Answer directly without explanations. Text: LONDON — One of the most influential musicians and style icons of his generation, David Bowie, who died in January, was less well known as an art collector. But as he told Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times critic, in 1998, “Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. †On Thursday evening, Sotheby’s launched its “ †sale, an auction of some 350 works, or about 65 percent of his total collection, on behalf of Mr. Bowie’s estate. Buoyed by the huge amounts of publicity and public interest, the sale of 47 lots tripled its low estimates raising 24. 3 million pounds, or $30. 3 million. The collection of “The Man Who Fell to Earth†created a string of 12 auction highs for artists as the allure of the David Bowie provenance pushed the values of Modern British art to a new level. Among the works with wide international appeal, a Basquiat painting, “Air Power,†from the collection of Mr. Bowie — who played Andy Warhol in Julian Schnabel’s 1996 movie “Basquiat†— sold for £7. 1 million with fees, or about $8. 8 million, against a low estimate of £2. 5 million, or $3. 3 million. It sold in the room to a European collector who declined to give her name. The 1984 acrylic and oil stick composition, painted in shades of brown and red and featuring one of the artist’s trademark masks, had been bought by the British musician in 1995 at Christie’s in London for $120, 122. Though at times the room was subdued, and at times there was more posting of pictures on Instagram than bidding, competition on the telephones ensured some exceptional prices. After an early phase of acquiring Memphis Group furniture and design objects (about 100 lots will be offered by Sotheby’s on Friday) Mr. Bowie began systematically buying art only in 1993, in his after a chance encounter with his first adviser, Kate Chertavian. But from that point on he became passionately acquisitive. The core of his collection is 20th century British art — so called Mod Brit such as Peter Lanyon and David Bomberg and Ivon Hitchens — which at times made his taste look like that of a retired English businessman rather than an pop star. Yet his multifaceted creative life also made him an admirer of German Expressionist prints, Outsider Art, Marcel Duchamp, Damien Hirst and African contemporary. “Bowie was a true collector,†said Christina Shearman, a art adviser based in New York, where Mr. Bowie lived during his final years. “His acquisitions were not commercially motivated he cared about the art, not the market. His was a deeply personal, eclectic collection, reflecting his British roots and his real passion for art. †The collection took up all eight rooms of Sotheby’s exhibition space and attracted 37, 608 visitors during the exhibition — a record for any auction at Sotheby’s in London, according to the company’s press office. The art trade predicted that Frank Auerbach’s expressive and thickly impasted 1965 “Head of Gerda Boehm,†estimated at £300, 000 to £500, 000, would fly. The hammer finally fell at £3. 8 million, or $4. 7 million, to a telephone bidder. The price was a new auction high for the artist. “I want to sound like that looks,†Mr. Bowie had said of the painting in the 1998 interview with The New York Times. He had bought the work, whose paint layer was still not completely dry, according to conservators, in 1995 at Christie’s for $87, 102. Another work with international appeal was Damien Hirst’s psychedelic 1995 spin canvas, “Beautiful, hallo, painting,†which the artist had made in collaboration with the musician (who wore a brand new, quickly ruined suit). Measuring seven feet in diameter, this sold for £785, 000, or roughly $975, 000, against an estimate of £250, 000 to £350, 000. Mod Brit has in the past been a niche national market, but Sotheby’s ramped up the cataloging of Mr. Lanyon’s imposing 1961 black and white abstract, “Witness,†by calling it a “great American painting. †Mr. Lanyon was born, lived, and died in Cornwall, in the far west of England, but the painting’s resemblance to contemporary works by greats such as Robert Motherwell and Franz Kline helped it achieve £797, 000, just under $1 million, to another telephone bidder against an estimate of £250, 000 to £350, 000. The price was also an auction high for the artist, whose 1960s abstracts were influenced by glider flights. All the lots sold but total success was ensured by lowering reserve prices on works that failed to attract much presale interest. That included Francis Picabia’s enigmatic painting of a seated mythological figure, “Mendica,†one of Mr. Bowie’s earlier art purchases, bought at auction in 1988. Estimated at £ £800, 000, it was knocked down for £401, 000, or about $500, 000, with fees. “You get a sense of his character,†said Josh Andraos, an art student, 20, at the packed Wednesday preview, summing up why so many people wanted to see the art that had been owned by Mr. Bowie. “It’s very British, but it varies. It all depends on what he’s thinking and feeling. This is the head of Bowie himself. †| 1 | [
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